Testimonials |
 Graduates tell their own Stories of Training
Caroline Dale - Alexander Teacher After my 2nd Alexander lesson with Anthony Kingsley, I knew I wanted to become a teacher. Two years later I joined the North London Teacher Training Course. It was an exciting, challenging and somewhat frightening step. During the next 3 years I developed not just skills for teaching The Alexander Technique, but valuable skills for personal development, to use in my future life. I questioned many of my held beliefs and convictions during these three challenging years. I understand now what a great opportunity that was. Training as an Alexander teacher has given me the opportunity of turning a dream into a vocational and professional reality. Anthony Kingsley is a progressive, challenging and inspiring teacher, and I have been privileged to have been trained by him. “….. what’s keeping you….?” FM Alexander (to a racehorse he had placed a bet on) London, October 2004 Jude Tisdall - Alexander Teacher From October 1997 until December 2000, I trained with Misha Magidov at the North London Teacher Training Course. Prior to my training, I was Deputy Principal at a major Drama School, and had taken Alexander lessons over a period of five years. I loved my work, but increasingly realised that I wanted to complete a teacher training course in the Alexander Technique. Initially, I wanted to train in order to have time to work on myself, and had no thought or desire to become a teacher. In Spring of 1997, 1 applied to, and was accepted onto Misha's training course. Once accepted, I then had to negotiate with my employers a way of continuing to work whilst training for twenty hours a week. Thankfully my employers were supportive, and so I began training in Autumn l997. Incredibly, shortly after completing my training, I resigned my post. Since then, I have sometimes wondered how, and indeed why, I continued to work almost full time whilst training. Old habits die hard I think! When I was asked to write about my training, I looked back at some of my notes: September 30th “Today is the first day. Many feelings. Excitement, nervousness, shyness. I had planned and worked towards this, and now as I sit in a church hall in Golders Green (the old location) with aching bones, I think why? By the end of that first session, I did not know where anything was - legs, arms, heels, back – let alone the primary control." October 15th “I am exhausted, tired and confused, but also thankful to have this opportunity. My overriding feeling is of being so fortunate to be part of this school, and privileged at having found this work. I have a sense that everything is available to me and possible." Spring 1998 "Today I feel like a lump, and not just a lump but a resistant lump. I am hanging on to my habits for dear life. However, I do think more clearly and rationally, and know that nothing stays the same. Tomorrow I will not be a lump. Well at least not the same lump." During my second term I write of walking down stairs and having a full awareness of my back staying back as I descend the stairs. An amazing undoing of holding in my lower back, and a sense of freedom impossible to describe. I notice from my writing that my immediate response was the need to pin down this feeling and recreate it! When I look back at these notes, many memories flood in. Happy, frustrating, difficult times. Times when I was unable to get of my own way by being unable to let go of my habitual reactions. In fact, I was totally unaware of the need to do so. However my notes also show that the most constant learning, was the growing realisation of the possibilities of this work; that at those times when I was able to get out of my own way, when I was able to recognise my habits and my need to be right (my need to fee1 right), the possibilities were absolutely amazing. I can truly say that these years, in terms of my own development, growth and realisations, were the most important years of my life. That is not to say that they are the sum total of my learning, but rather a starting point. I continue to learn and to be inspired. I continue to be frustrated. But more and more l am present in this wonderful life, and am increasingly clear and responsible for my choices. I was extremely fortunate with the variety of teachers I had when training, as well as before and since my training. All have contributed, supported and inspired me. Misha and Judith Magidov, Don Burton, Anthony Kingsley, Maya Galai, Joan Diamond, Jamie McDowell, Patricia Lassalle, and Ted McNamara. I continue to take lessons. I have my own private practice, and I also teach drama and music students. I have worked in London, and also in Denmark, Dublin and Kathmandu. My wish is that I continue to be inspired, directed and lead by this work. The Alexander Technique. What is it? I think it could be called a technique for living! The Alexander Technique has enabled me to live at the centre of who I am - sometimes! And for me, one of the excitements is that this is an ongoing process. London, October 2004 Margaret Mary FitzGerald - Alexander Teacher Training as an Alexander Technique teacher, I believed, could enhance the benefits to my health and general well-being that I had already gained from my initial Alexander Technique course of private lessons. Training at The North London Alexander Teachers Training School took place on four mornings a week, from 9 am until 1 pm. My boss, a Member of Parliament, agreed to keep me on as his secretary, with release for training, provided all his work was completed as usual. This bargain was kept, but not without difficulty, especially during the first year. I felt incredibly tired as I absorbed all the new training, and worked through until 7 or 8 pm, (sometimes later as well as some weekends), then commuted back to the suburbs. Training was a thrilling experience as one slowly grew to understand more and more what it was that Alexander had unravelled in the previous century. I shall never forget the absolute kick I got from "putting hands" on a fellow pupil's back, and being able, for the first time, to feel muscles soften and release. Working with a wide range of personalities, teachers and pupils alike, was great fun and sometimes challenging, as the Alexander Technique work is both close and personal. Supervision by STAT, with assessment at the end of the second year, sees trainee teachers on the home straight until that glorious moment at the end of the third year - Graduation Day - when the certificate is received and one's Alexander Technique life begins another most exciting stage, as an Alexander Technique teacher. London, November 2004 |
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Working with a wide range of personalities, teachers and pupils alike, was great fun and sometimes challenging, as the Alexander Technique work is both close and personal. Supervision by STAT, with assessment at the end of the second year, sees trainee teachers on the home straight until that glorious moment at the end of the third year - Graduation Day - when the certificate is received and one's Alexander Technique life begins another most exciting stage, as an Alexander Technique teacher. - Margaret Mary FitzGerald
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