What did Miss Goldie understand?

I was fortunate to work with Miss Goldie, between 1990 and 1995, after finishing my training with Misha Magidov. She was kind, but uncompromising, in teaching me the technique as she had understood it from Alexander, & which she felt much of the rest of the profession had missed. I felt she broke down everything I had learned so far, & rebuilt it as she wanted, a scary process! I then worked with others who had worked with her, & also Erica Whittaker, (who had been on the first training course), to attempt to understand the essence of her teaching, & why it was different from that now mostly taught.

These workshops introduce teachers to the essence of her understanding, (as I understood it), & help them begin to introduce it into their own work, not just with their pupils, but more crucially, on themselves. All workshops are place limited to twelve maximum, so I can work with everybody individually, as direct experience is crucial to understanding this work.

The first workshop contains the keys to this process, & is the prerequisite to working with me. For a real understanding I recommend doing this workshop at least twice. The subsequent workshops develop & consolidate the work, & take it into hands on work. For those who really want to understand this work, I also recommend taking private lessons or personal intensives with me.
If you would like a workshop for teachers in your area, please contact me.

My booklet “Lessons with Miss Goldie”, is an account of my lessons with her, & also contains my analysis of what I felt she was about. It can be ordered from me: price £10 plus £4 postage to Britain, €10 in Ireland, other countries on request. Click here for payment options.

What did Miss Goldie understand? Workshop I.

"COME TO QUIET" : A ONE DAY WORKSHOP

Miss Goldie worked alongside Alexander for thirty years and he held her work in high esteem. She clearly perceived herself as the guardian of his true technique, which few others, in her opinion, had really understood. Her urgency in her last years to convey this knowledge was apparent to those who worked with her.

In this workshop I will attempt to convey my understanding of some of Miss Goldie's vast knowledge of this deeper, subtle level of this technique. I will use games, procedures and hands-on to convey the differences, as the words she used are, largely, the same as those used by other teachers. We will then discuss experiences. For this workshop I will focus on a deeper level of inhibition, and the importance also of saying yes and allowing life to flow; use of the eyes, and keeping the mind in the brain, rather than wandering through the body to check sensations.

This course aims to teach you Miss Goldie`s understanding of working on yourself in everyday life; so we, like Alexander, can use everyday tasks as a means of making discoveries about the technique and ourselves. Miss Goldie considered that only from this basis could we be true teachers of Alexander`s work.

The emphasis is on really how to stop, and "come to quiet" as Miss Goldie would say. We will explore true stopping, not just pausing; only from which can an entirely new way of carrying out an action come about. We will use a variety of games, including ball catching, vision games, picking things up, walking towards something, to experience this first hand.

Through these we will also explore our reactivity to stimuli and our tendency to go into various "Alexander modes" which are not what Alexander was teaching, and which stop us developing the technique for ourselves.

We will discuss how to use this approach with pupils.

It is hoped that by the end of the day participants will begin to be able to explore these approaches to everyday situations and tasks at home.

Price: £70 for the day. Full notes on all concepts & games included.

Deposit of £25 required on booking .

Click here for payment options once your place has been confirmed.

What did Miss Goldie understand? Workshop II.

In this workshop we will explore natural breathing: the breathing the body wants to do for itself. I have been exploring this for many years with myself, & with pupils & teachers, & have now worked with several routes to natural breathing, each of which bring in a different part of the breath. We will work with each, & then explore integrating them.

Natural breathing links with the three parameters we explored in Workshop 1, ie mind in the brain, eyes out on the subject, & coming to a true stop, all of which bring us into the present & to quiet. So this, always, is where we will start.

There are four approaches to accessing our natural breathing I would like to explore with you.

First, we will consider why Miss Goldie worked so much around the lower ribs. Both she and Erica Whittaker considered that many teachers of the technique were fixing here, to a greater or lesser degree, to maintain the prized straight back. To allow natural breathing here brings in a different quality & strength to the back, including what Miss Goldie called the lifter muscles.

Secondly, we'll explore breathing into the pelvic floor, (as Pilates teaches, though in a much more doing way!) This brings us into a different relationship with the legs & feet.

Thirdly, we'll explore breathing into the belly centre, the hara, as taught by eastern methods like Qi gong. This is the centre of gravity of the body, & centres & stabilises our body & being.

Fourthly, we'll bring the awareness of breathing back to the upper body, neck & head. This brings lightness & quickness of movement, & also joy.

These are, of course, all part & parcel of the same thing, which is an expansion of the whole torso, the whole body, even the whole being, on each in breath; & a complete out breath, with corresponding movement through the whole body & being. Each part of the breath, in & out, has both pure relaxation & yet real work being done.

We will finish by bringing the awareness of full natural breathing into tasks involving hands and arms. This is also about letting the whole body be fully alive, right through to fingers & toes, as we so rarely are.

This is a two day workshop, split over a few months. This will give a chance to explore it alone & with pupils for a few months, & then have another tuition day to further the understanding in mind & body. It can take several experiences before the body allows the fullness of breath & outbreath.

I feel it essential that we are able to be with the body breathing in this way in order to work with hands on, in the way that Miss Goldie did. This therefore is the preparation for workshop three, where we explore my understanding of what Miss Goldie wanted of us when working on pupils.

Price: £70 for each day. Full notes on natural breathing included.

Deposit of £25 required on booking .

Click here for payment options once your place has been confirmed.

What did Miss Goldie understand? Workshop III.

TAKING ALL THIS INTO HANDS ON WORK

One day workshops, or retreats, as requested by on-going groups.

In this workshop we consolidate your understanding of material from workshops 1 & 2: stopping, finding visual space, breathing, awakening the whole body to consciousness through to fingers and toes. We then explore the natural progression of this into hands-on work, seeking always for the way the first teachers taught, with its immense power & strength.

Workshop programme.

Dates:

Workshop I :

London, Saturday June 18^th 2011.

London, Saturday September 24^th 2011.

Workshop 2 : 2 day workshop:

Sunday 25^th September & Sunday 27^th November 2011

Venue:

All workshops will be held at Crista Galli, 52 Porchester Rd, Bayswater, LondonW2, which is near Paddington, Royal Oak and Bayswater tubes, has good eating places nearby,& is easily findable.

Fee:

All workshops are £70 per day. £25 deposit required on booking.

Please contact me if you would like to reserve a place on any workshop.

Concessions available for AT students (5 th term and up only), and for those who are struggling financially. Please contact me about this.

Click here for payment options once your place has been confirmed.

Personal Intensives in Ireland

Come to further your development as an Alexander teacher, and advance your understanding of Miss Goldie`s work.

With teachers, I find it optimal to do sessions of one hour in length, for which I charge €60. These sessions start where you are at: whether coming to quiet through no-games, or focusing on awareness of where we are as we talk, so that we can communicate & be fully alive, yet in quiet.

Sessions may include clearing emotional issues, if these are blocking you from coming fully to quiet or fully alive. For this I use Rainbow Reiki & dowsing through self-kinesiology, for fast identification & deep clearing of blocks. We can then develop the work to explore issues of your choice, or let the work evolve as it will. Instrumentalists or singers can also usefully explore this approach with their music.
I suggest intensives of two days, each with a morning session, & another in the afternoon, although I’m open to other formats to suit you. Come singly or bring a friend or partner.

To reach us, fly to Shannon airport, which does cheap flights including those through Ryanair etc.; look up their websites for details & to book. Ryanair flies to Shannon from Gatwick, Luton or Stanstead, & in the North, Liverpool or Leicester, Bradford or Birmingham; Bristol in the West. There will be other airports with different airlines. We are one hour from Shannon airport, & we can collect you from there. We will need to make a petrol charge of €20 each way. You can also hire a car from Shannon (look at Hertz on the Ryanair website for more information).

There are lovely B&B`s locally. List available from us on request. We will give you lunch; local pubs do good, inexpensive evening meals.

If you would like to proceed, contact me first for potential days & dates.

Private lessons for teachers or students of the technique in the UK.

There is usually the possibility of private lessons on the days before or after workshops. The format for lessons is as described above in Intensives. Please contact me if you would like to arrange a lesson.