How to Learn the Alexander Technique: A Manual for Students

By William Conable and Barbara Conable

Book Overview

A primer for students of the Alexander Technique, a well-known method for improving freedom and ease of movement and physical coordination. This book provides the first authoritative account of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962259527
• ISBN13: 9780962259524
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Andover Pr
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.3" x 8.8" x 0.8"

Customer Reviews

Body Awareness

I'm finding this book very helpful for learning about my body & the way it's meant to move & be used. I didn't realise how little I knew even though I've studied anatomy & physiology previously in my life.

Excellent supplement

After taking 5-6 lessons from an Alexander teacher, I still had trouble "getting it". Many of the concepts and techniques seemed very abstract, and I had a difficult time putting it all together. While this book is no substitute for a teacher, it did help me begin to really understand and apply what I had previously been exposed to. The section on body maps was particularly helpful. I would highly recommend this book.

An Excellent Student Resource

To learn the Alexander technique, you need a teacher. You CANNOT learn it from a book. The technique involves communication of a kinesthetic sense from the teacher to the student through hands-on learning. With that said, this book is a valuable resource to a serious student who already has, or would like to find a teacher. The sections on body-mapping are particularly useful, and can be applied even if one is not studying the Alexander technique. Body mapping is a practice predicated on the concept that we have concepts of our bodies, body maps, that do not accurately reflect our anatomy. Consequently, when we try to move, we often try to move in ways that we are not constructed to move. By changing our maps of our bodies to accurately reflect our anatomy, we can move and exist in the world with much greater efficiency and ease.

a wonderful supplement to taking lessons

I feel moved to respond to some of the reviews below, which seem to me to judge the book more in terms of what it is not, rather than what it is. This is an excellent book to read *as* you're taking lessons; the book provides a wonderful companion to your ongoing learning, offering some fascinating insights on body perception and habits of movement, insights that have stuck with me half a decade after I first read the book. It's a great book to browse through, reading chapters as they relate to your interests. What the book is *not* is an introduction for absolute beginners who've not heard of the technique before; it is intended for people who have taken or will take Alexander lessons, and in this it succeeds admirably.

The nearest thing to a "do-it-yourself" book.

There seems to be a lot of controversy about whether someone can learn the Alexander Technique without a teacher. My own experience started with taking lessons from a teacher, but I've met several people who learned quite a bit on their own - not just learned it intellectually (which doensn't do much good anyway) but also were able to apply what they had learned to improve their posture, coordation and balance in very concrete ways."How to Learn the Alexander Technique" is a great starting-out place for anyone who's interested in the process but either doesn't have a teacher or would prefer to do as much on their own as possible. But it would be unfair to dismiss the usefulness of the Alexander Technique if you don't succeed. After all, most people have lessons in learning how to drive a car and so it's not surprising if you end up needing at least some lessons in learning how to "drive" yourself in a better way.Ultimately, I think the best place to get a deeper understanding of the Technique is from Alexander's own books. But a very good first step is the Conables' book, "Body Learning" by Gelb and "Fitness Without Stress" by Rickover. Also a book called "Freedom to Change" by Jones.