READING ABOUT THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE |
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Just as such skills as riding a bicycle are learned through direct experience, so is the Alexander Technique. Its history and principles can be described in words but the learning occurs through having the experience to associate with them. That's what happens in lessons. |
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Books by F. M. Alexander Alexander wrote four books in which he detailed how his work evolved, the concepts that grew from it, and their import and applications: Man's Supreme Inheritance:
Conscious Guidance and Control
in Relation to Human Evolution in Civilization * (1910, 1918) Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual * (1923) The Use of The Self (1932) The Universal Constant in Living * (1941) *Available through Mouritz, largest publisher of books on the AT  |
Recommended
introductory
books
There are dozens of books introducing the Alexander Technique. The following are personal recommendations - each author an experienced teacher. Body Learning Michael Gelb ... How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live Missy Vineyard ... The Alexander Technique: A Skill for Life Pedro de Alcantara ... (First published in 1976 as Body Awareness in Action ) Frank Pierce Jones Results of 25 years of original scientific research into this work. Jones relates the story and development of the AT and explains some of the underlying mechanisms that govern human functioning, including how the conscious mind activates anti-gravity reflexes. |
| xx Books about the AT are widely available in bookstores, libraries and online. Other sources: |
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High-quality books exploring various aspects of the AT by small presses Curiosity
Recaptured: Exploring Ways We Think and Move
Thinking Aloud
and The Act of Living (Tributes to Walter at his
Memorial Service in 2005 with photos) An Examined
Life Living
the AT Vol. I and II
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Mouritz A specialist publisher of high-quality books on the Alexander Technique with a comprehensive website. In addition to new editions of three of Alexander's four books, books published by Mouritz include: Articles and Lectures: compilation of all of Alexander's known lectures and writings not included in his books as well as early articles on the AT The Philosopher's Stone: a unique collection of diaries and notes from pupils' lessons with F. M. Alexander c.1918 - 1953 F. Matthias Alexander - The Man and his Work: memoirs of training in the Alexander Technique from 1931-34 by Lulie Westfeldt: the only teacher from Alexander's first teacher training course to write about her experiences both as a student and then as a teacher for 26 years Personally
Speaking: interviews with Walter
Carrington in which he shares insights into the
history and teaching of the AT More
Talk of Alexander: 36 articles selected
by Dr. Wilfred Barlow on various facets of the AT
including education, psychology, theology, art,
science and medicine by such contributors
as: Aldous Huxley, John Dewey and Nobel-prize winner
Nikolaas Tinbergen. First
published in 1978.
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