How to Loosen Up – The book

During the time that I was originally learning the Alexander Technique and while I was training as an Alexander Technique teacher, I encountered a number of challenges that suggested there were some opportunities to improve how the technique could be taught. However at the same time, this situation also higlighted the unique advantages of the technique and why it is so important for so many more people to be able to learn it more easily.

Soon after I completed my teacher training, I also had the opportunity to meet some of the leading edge teachers and innovators in the technique and I also learned several separate disciplines which helped me to be able to decipher what was going on in a person’s mind as they were learning and applying the technique.

As a result, I developed a way of teaching the technique which made it far easier to understand and apply, and much quicker to learn.

When I first started learning the Alexander Technique, I was told that I would need at least 30 1/2 hour sessions at 2 sessions per week just to get to the most basic level of proficiency; equivalent to scales or simple tunes on an instrument. In practice, although I started to feel benefits quite early on, I had to continue a long way past the first 30 sessions to having 2 sessions per week for two and a half years (about 100 hours tuition, counting out holidays) before I then started training as an Alexander Technique teacher. It then took another two and a half years of full time training before the penny finally dropped and I at last understood what the technique was actually about and I could fully apply it to myself without needing continual top-ups from a teacher.

I can now get most people to that same level of self sufficiency (which means that you no longer need me) within 10 to 15 1 hour sessions.

It took me over seven years snce then to hone my technique to more or less where it is today and since then I have been trying to write about it. There have been several obsticles to this. One was that it is far easier to demonstrate and explain to someone face to face than it is to write about it. Another was that my writing style was rather clumsy. After much practice I seem to have developed a style that is easy enough to read without oversimplifying the message.

After several attempts, I am now about two thirds through writing a comprehensive book which I feel satisfied with. This looks on track to be published before the end of 2014.

I will then develop various multimedia courses to make it even easier to learn and will start giving workshops for pupils as well as for established Alexander Teachers who want to learn my methods.

Contents

Here is a list of the contents written or planned so far

• Chapter 1 The Alexander Technique
  The benefits
  Returning to your natural state
  Relaxing below the plateau level that most of us call relaxed
  About poise, tension and habits
  Alexander’s story
• Chapter 2 Releasing and Realigning
  Understanding poise and tension
  The Power of Thinking
  The Primary Control
  Unreliable sensations
• Chapter 3 Habits and Choice
  Alexanders problem with habits
  True choice
  The monkey trap
  Being open and staying open
• Chapter 4 Managing and Resolving your Emotions
  How They Affect Your Body
  Techniques
  Flow states for staying in the best condition
• Chapter 5 Learning the Technique
  Learning with a Teacher
  Learning on your own
  Learning with a partner
• Chapter 6 The Alexander Technique and Health
  How the technique can help with a range of conditions
• Chapter 7 Applying the technique
  Performance areas
  Everyday situations
  Attitude to life
• Appendices
  Notes for established Alexander pupils and teachers
  etc

Previews

If you want to become a pupil of mine, I will be happy to send you a preview of what I have written so far. You will also be welcome to my notes for pupils, available in .pdf form.

Updates

If you would like to be kept in touch with developments on this, then feel free to stay in contact through my HowToLoosenUp page on Facebook, or you can register for my email newsletter by sending a request to new-book@loosen-up.org