Body Learning: The Alexander Technique

Robert Rickover

A podcast devoted to all aspects of the Alexander Technique, a method of learning how to release harmful tension and perform all your activities with greater ease and freedom. read less
Health & FitnessHealth & Fitness

Episodes

Newly available documents about Alexander Technique developments from the 1940s - 1980s: Part 5
Jul 24 2023
Newly available documents about Alexander Technique developments from the 1940s - 1980s: Part 5
Amanda Cole, an Australian academic researcher, writer and performer, is the author of "Marjorie Barstow and the Alexander Technique - Critical Thinking in Performing Arts Pedagogy." She is also a long time student of both the classic and Barstow-inspired versions of the Technique. She draws on multiple sources, including a significant collection of written correspondence between F. M. Alexander, Marjorie Barstow, Frank Pierce Jones and Professor John Dewey that provides a new, and very different, perspective on the history of the Alexander Technique. This is the fifth in a series of her conversations with Robert Rickover about her discoveries. Robert is an Alexander Technique teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. This episode focuses primarily on the influence of Professor John Dewey's influence of Marjorie Barstow's group teaching.More information about Amanda: https://amandacolemezzo.com/More information about Robert: https://alexandertechniquenebraska.com More information about F M Alexander: https://alexandertechnique.com/fma More information about Professor John Dewey: https://alexandertechnique.com/dewey More information about Marjorie Barstow: https://marjoriebarstow.comMore information about the Alexander Technique: https://alexandertechnique.comInformation about ordering Amanda's book from Amazon: https://marjoriebarstow.com/bookPart 1: https://youtu.be/KpKE7U0uBHk Part 2: https://youtu.be/0KZMpPAcCug Part 3: https://youtu.be/p2IIh8r9FKw Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3fRz6W0cfs Part 5: https://youtu.be/AyxvQv1ofak Part 6: https://youtu.be/aEtwPff7qj8
Newly available documents about Alexander Technique developments from the 1940s - 1980s: Part 3
Jul 24 2023
Newly available documents about Alexander Technique developments from the 1940s - 1980s: Part 3
Amanda Cole, an Australian academic researcher, writer and performer, is the author of "Marjorie Barstow and the Alexander Technique - Critical Thinking in Performing Arts Pedagogy." She is also a long time student of both the classic and Barstow-inspired versions of the Technique. She draws on multiple sources, including a significant collection of written correspondence between F. M. Alexander, Marjorie Barstow, Frank Pierce Jones and Professor John Dewey that provides a new, and very different, perspective on the history of the Alexander Technique. This is the third in a series of her conversations with with Robert Rickover, an Alexander Technique teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. This episode is primarily about the gap between Alexander's stated hopes for the future of the Technique, and his actual behavior.More information about Amanda: https://amandacolemezzo.com/More information about Robert: https://alexandertechniquenebraska.com More information about F M Alexander: https://alexandertechnique.com/fma More information about Professor John Dewey: https://alexandertechnique.com/dewey More information about Marjorie Barstow: https://marjoriebarstow.comMore information about the Alexander Technique: https://alexandertechnique.comInformation about ordering Amanda's book from Amazon: https://marjoriebarstow.com/bookPart 1: https://youtu.be/KpKE7U0uBHk Part 2: https://youtu.be/0KZMpPAcCug Part 3: https://youtu.be/p2IIh8r9FKw Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3fRz6W0cfs Part 5: https://youtu.be/AyxvQv1ofak Part 6: https://youtu.be/aEtwPff7qj8
Your Body and your Mind: More Tightly Knit than you could ever have Imagined - Part 3
Feb 22 2023
Your Body and your Mind: More Tightly Knit than you could ever have Imagined - Part 3
Robert Rickover continues his discussion with Imogen Ragone, an Alexander Technique teacher in Wilmington, Delaware, about F. Mathias Alexander's use of the term "psycho-physical." Our previous conversation was about why he used that phrase, and some of the implications of the meaning he assigns to it, and can be seen here: https://youtu.be/b9NxHqCLuX8 In this podcast, they discuss more implications that flow from Alexander's concept of mind/body unity - specifically how an understanding of it can help us avoid one of the major obstacles faced by students - and teachers! - when self-directing and inhibiting. Imogen's website: https://ImogenRagone.com Robert teaches in Omaha, Nebraska. Website: https://AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com Both Imogen and Robert also teach online. For more information about the Alexander Technique: https://AlexanderTechnique.com Here is part of what Alexander wrote in his second book, Constructive Conscious Control, and which is quoted in the interview: "I wish to make clear the sense in which I use the word psycho-physical. The term psycho-physical is used both here and throughout my works to indicate the impossibility of separating "physical" and "mental" operations in our conception of the working of the human organism. As I wrote in (my first book) Man's Supreme Inheritance, 'In my opinion the two must be considered entirely interdependent, and even more closely knit than is implied by such a phrase."  (emphasis mine)Part 1: https://youtu.be/b9NxHqCLuX8 Part 2: https://youtu.be/-KQmTjo_Vf4
Your Body and your Mind: More Tightly Knit than you could ever have Imagined - Part 1
Jan 24 2023
Your Body and your Mind: More Tightly Knit than you could ever have Imagined - Part 1
Robert Rickover talks with Imogen Ragone, an Alexander Technique teacher in Wilmington, Delaware, about F. Mathias Alexander's use of the term "psycho-physical" - why he used it, and the implications of the meaning he assigns to it. This is the podcast that inspired our conversation: bodylearning.buzzsprout.com/382/313810-mind-body-unity-and-the-alexander-technique Here is part of what Alexander wrote in his second book, "Constructive Conscious Control", and which is quoted in the interview: I wish to make clear the sense in which I use the word psycho-physical. The term psycho-physical is used both here and throughout my works to indicate the impossibility of separating "physical" and "mental" operations in our conception of the working of the human organism. As I wrote in (my first book) "Man's Supreme Inheritance", "In my opinion the two must be considered entirely interdependent, and even more closely knit than is implied by such a phrase." I am forced to use the words "physical " and " mental" here and throughout my argument because there are no other words at present which adequately express the manifestations of psycho-physical activity present at these various stages, not in any sense because the "physical" and the "mental" can be separated as such. I wish, therefore, to make it clear that whenever I use the word "mental," it is to be understood as representing all processes or manifestations which are generally recognized as not wholly "physical," and vice versa the word " physical " as representing all processes and manifestations which are generally recognized as not wholly "mental."Part 2 of this topic: youtu.be/-KQmTjo_Vf4 Imogen's website: https://ImogenRagone.com Robert teaches in Omaha, Nebraska. Website: https://AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com Both Imogen and Robert also teach online. For more information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com