An Alexander Technique teacher trains to use hands to convey Mr. Alexander's work in ways that can distinguish hands on work from bodywork such as massage or energy healing. It is the quality of touch coupled with focused attention and awareness in both teacher and student that can transform one's quality of being and moving. In fact there are several distinct approaches to touch that any one Alexander teacher may use in the course of instructing awareness, inhibition, and direction. Sarah Barker will present her approach to using hands to guide students' awareness, to promote the ability to quiet and release end-gaining habits and to reorganize the students' balance and coordination. She will share exercises for increasing sensitivity and power in the touch. Participants will work with partners to experiment and clarify their use of hands and interestingly enough how to respond to Alexander touch. Everyone is welcome: long time teachers, teacher trainees and students of the technique. We will explore together, deepen our appreciation of touch and proprioceptive re-education and share insights and understanding.

A nationally recognized leader in movement training and a respected actor trainer, Sarah Barker teaches at the University of South Carolina. Recognized for her innovative work teaching the Alexander Technique for actors she trains Alexander Technique teachers in Japan and North Carolina. Sarah is author of "The Alexander Technique" (translated in five languages) and "Moving with Ease", an instructional DVD. Sarah Barker has coached and choreographed more than sixty productions and acted professionally and in university productions. She conducted one study of the effect of Alexander Technique on balance in the elderly and is developing several future studies.

During this interactive workshop we will explore the non-doing aspects of consciousness and awakening by combining principles of the Alexander Technique and Iron Shirt Chi Kung standing postures taught within the Healing Tao system. The Healing Tao system is a particular path to consciousness with a Taoist perspective. We'll explore our innate connection to the Universe and practice methods of consciously accessing this universal connection. Join me and learn to take a conscious stand in your life! Iron Shirt Chi Kung standing postures are especially fun to explore for Alexander teachers and trainees who are looking for new ways to craft their hands-on contact with a student. After workshop attendees explore integrating Alexander Technique principles with the Iron Shirt Chi Kung postures it will be time to give Alexander lessons to each other and explore a new world between your hands!

Alexander Technique principles encompass Human intelligence, the natural forces of mother Earth and Universal unity. Evolving consciousness can be misunderstood as something one needs to 'do' in order to happen. While taking courses, studying and practising are pathways to higher consciousness, an awakened moment doesn't really involve 'doing' anything for it to happen. The Alexander Technique offers insight into what might hinder our best efforts of living a more conscious life. In this workshop my hope is for you to learn to explore change within stillness that allows for the unexpected moment while standing in relationship to the universe. The path to consciousness is a journey, a journey full of shifts in awareness and changes in perception and new understanding. Your journey may take you down a particular pathway and it can occur in a single step. You may experience an awakening all at once like a huge aha! moment and it can be a growing awareness, an emergence of Self over time. Join me and explore the Posture of Consciousness within your own being in relationship to the great ultimate universe we live in!

Jamee Culbertson studied with Tommy Thompson in Cambridge, MA. USA and received her certificate of training in 1992. She is a founding member of ATI having served as Chair on the Board for two terms and lead two other committees in service for the growth of ATI for over 12 years. She is also a certified Healing Tao instructor teaching courses in Chi Kung, Tai Chi and meditation in the Boston area. Jamee has been teaching and developing the Posture of Consciousness workshop in North America and in Asia over the last 5 years and is thrilled to be bringing this workshop to the participants at the 2012 ATI AGM in Papenburg, Germany.

We generally think of the Alexander Technique as applied to movement. We counsel students to avoid holding or fixing any particular posture or position. In this workshop session we will discuss, explore and experience stillness as a movement form; discovering how, beyond engaged and well-directed movement, the Technique is also critical to a realization of the dynamic stillness essential to meditative absorption.

R.J. Fleck holds advanced degrees from the Universities of Toronto and California, and completed doctoral studies at Stanford University in music performance and composition, computer science and digital audio engineering. He is an accomplished pianist; teaches music, Alexander Technique, Pilates and computer skills; and manages a small computer lab from his home in the Little Portugal neighbourhood of downtown Toronto. For the last several years, he has been devoting time to embodiment practices such as the Alexander Technique, Pilates, Tai Chi, Yoga and Vipassana meditation. He completed certification at the Susan Sinclair Alexander Technique and Pilates Centre as a teacher of the Alexander Technique in 2007 and achieved his Pilates certification in 2009.

A facilitated, international discussion for trainees and new teachers, of the challenges, struggles and triumphs of teaching the Alexander Technique today. Topics to be discussed might include: building a practice, social media and marketing, client retention, finding your voice as a teacher. Together we, as a growing, young community, will share ideas, strategies and stories of our success and failures so we can all learn and move forward. Julie Rothschild and Shawn Copeland are no strangers to collaboration. First meeting and teaming up in the journeys of Alexander Technique Teacher Training, the two became instant friends. Combining their talents, the two soon two found themselves on stages together in Athens, GA and Puebla, Mexico performing an original work "For Our Time" where they explored the intersection of movement and music. The third installment of these two led to the most recent ATI AGM 2011 in Boulder, CO. Now the two have come together to share and discuss the triumphs and stumbles of the first years of teaching.

Shawn Copeland qualified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique in 2006 after a five year apprenticeship with Marsha Paludan. Those who have guided his learning and influenced his teaching include Sarah Barker, Glenna Batson, Dale Beaver, Bill Conable, Donna Doellinger, and Robin Gilmore. He maintains a private practice in Greensboro, NC where his work specializes in working with musicians. He also teaches Alexander Technique at the Eastern Music Festival and at the Summer Clarinet Clinic at Stetson University. He has taught Alexander Technique at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and continues to teach clarinet on the facilities of Coastal Carolina University and High Point University. Shawn is currently studying Nervous System Energy Healing with Carol DeSanto and Jim Kepner in Cleveland, OH.

Last year we introduced you to three different primary modes of learning: visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. We'll review the three learning styles and then explore them even further in this follow-up workshop, showing you ways to shape your lessons so that they'll appeal to each of these learning modes. We will use awareness games to tease out different kinds of "means-whereby" that speak clearly to the modern student.

Bob Lada is a Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique having received his certificates from Tommy Thompson and from Alexander Technique International. Bob is a professor at Berklee College of Music and teaches at the Alexander Technique Center of Cambridge, Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies, American Repertory Theater and Harvard Extension School as well as in private practice in Cambridge, MA. He has taught workshops throughout the USA and Europe and is a charter member of Alexander Technique International. Bob's background is in athletics and analytics and he looks at the Technique as a tremendous aid in getting out of one's way in performance situations so that creativity and skill can come through. His perspective on AT is to take all the energy that you use to keep yourself upright and transform it into something that's available for your creativity. He is currently working on videos about the Technique which will be posted on his website.

Debi Adams is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique having received her certificates from Tommy Thompson and from Alexander Technique International. She is also a Music Teachers' National Association (MTNA) Certified Teacher of Piano. Debi is a founding member of ATI. Debi holds a M.M. Degree in piano performance from Boston University. She currently teaches Alexander Technique at The Boston Conservatory where she has recently started a teacher-training program. She also teaches at the Alexander Technique Center at Cambridge with Tommy Thompson. She maintains a private practice in piano and the Alexander Technique and performs in the Boston area. Debi has taught workshops throughout the U.S. and in the Czech Republic. Her workshop website can be viewed at www.thewelltemperedpianist.com. You can also find her at www.DebiAdamsAT.com. Debi's interest in the Technique stems from her own experience recovering from hand injury. The Alexander Technique was last in a long line of investigations toward healing, as it was the only discipline that sufficiently addressed her needs. She feels a responsibility to share this important work with others and has since published articles in various music and Alexander journals.

How do you design a workshop? There are many ways, and the key way that Cathy organizes Alexander Technique workshops mirrors F.M. Alexander's story in The Use of the Self. In this workshop, she will use the theme of "Celebrating Twenty Years" to create a workshop design and explain how she is structuring it as she teaches it. Please come prepared to be participants in the workshop!

Cathy Madden is a Principal Lecturer for the University of Washington School of Drama, Director of the Alexander Technique Training and Performance Studio in Seattle, Associate Director of BodyChance, and a frequent guest at Training Programs and Performance Schools in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand. She is a former Chair of Alexander Technique International, a Sponsoring Teacher, and Chair of the Vision/Mission Committee.

Alexander Technique Teachers are professional voice users, particularly if they teach in-group classes. This workshop will address help to raise consciousness about vocal issues and how to address them to improve our teaching. Just as the overall "use " of a teacher is important and sets an example for the student, so does the teacher's voice usage impact the student's vocal ease. This workshop will give teachers some basic vocal anatomy as well as guide teachers in developing more confidence in their vocal delivery and how they talk about the technique. Exploration will include ways to develop more resonance and range in the speaking voice so as to speak with ease, expressiveness and effectiveness. Feindel works in a positive and supportive manner.

Janet Madelle Feindel is a professor at the School of Drama, Carnegie Mellon University. She has coached at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Shaw Festival, Canadian Stage Company, Theatre for a New Audience (NYC), in Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Public Theatre, The Rep, Quantum Theatre, Jewish Theatre of Pittsburgh. Film/TV credits include: Queer As Folk (US); Dream Team, Street Legal, Love and Hate, Burle-que. She has worked with and taught many actors including: F. Murray Abraham, Martha Henry, Brian Bedford, Zach Quinto, Cote de Pablo, Megan Hilty, Aaron Staton and Matt Bomer. Her book The Thought Propels the Sound is published by Plural and her articles appear in Congress Papers 2005, 2009, as well as a chapter in Performer's Voice (Plural). She has presented at conferences internationally including ATI AGMs, International Congress on the F.M. Alexander Technique; Choice for Voice (London, UK); Canadian Voice Care Association and the Care of the Professional Voice Symposium. She is a Designated Linklater Voice teacher, a certified Fitzmaurice Voice teacher and a graduate of Alexander Alliance, 2003, ATI certification 2003 and continues ongoing study with master AT teachers.

In this presentation we will evaluate the overlap between the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, the Russian philosopher, and the work of Alexander. Bakhtin's work engages with issues of the body, self-actualization, self-understanding, dialogic relations, and answerability, all categories that relate directly to AT. Alexander's principles can be broadened as regards Bakhtin's insights. Robert Barsky's work on Bakhtin will supplement Marsha Barsky's AT and dance practice. We propose that both Alexander and Bakhtin are concerned with the processes or the "means whereby," one builds and constructs new possibilities for movement in space, in relationship with others,-- both present and absent, past and present. The approaches of both Bakhtin and Alexander, when considered in juxtaposition, are from these standpoints complementary, providing rich possibilities for movement practice, not just physically but in terms of the development of an artistic voice. Professor Barsky will present theoretical insights relating to the overlap, and Marsha Barsky will offer some sense of how the practice could unfold or evolve on the basis of this dialogue between two seminal, but as yet never juxtaposed, figures. Marsha will also direct participants in movement explorations that provide some ground for understanding the overlap herein articulated.

Marsha Barsky is a certified AT teacher and an Assistant Professor of Dance at Middle Tennessee State University. An MFA in dance performance and choreography, a certified yoga teacher, and the founding director of Company Rose. Personal websites: www.marshabarsky.com; Company Rose: www.rosedance.org

Robert Barsky is the author of six books on language theory, and a professor at Vanderbilt University. Alexander Heard Distinguished Service Professor (2011-12); Editor, AmeriQuests (www.ameriquests.org); Department of French and Italian, Vanderbilt University; Personal website: www.robertbarsky.org.

My cat Sigmund has perfect Use. He's lithe and moves beautifully. He's also alert and clearly living in the moment. Whatever he's got, I want it! 16th century Zen master Han-shan said "I took a walk. Suddenly I stood still, filled with the realization that I had no body or mind. I felt clear and transparent." I want that too! But maybe it's the same thing – a Zen Buddhist told me that a description of enlightenment is indistinguishable from a description of good Use. And the Alexander Technique was described by Marjory Barlow as "the secret of Zen for our time." In this workshop we'll see if we can find clarity and transparency; no mind or body. And discover how that affects our lives and our teaching.

Peter Nobes trained with David Gorman and has been teaching the Alexander Technique in central London since 1993. He is based at the South Bank Alexander Centre, which he founded in 2001, and enjoys taking Alexander into the workplace. Since 2002 he has run workshops and classes in Europe, Canada and the USA. He is a Sponsoring Member of ATI and was on the governing Council of STAT from 2003 to 2006. Peter plays blues harmonica, builds wooden boats and has a love/hate relationship with Argentine Tango.

L'ESPACE D'ACTION OU LA RENCONTRE DU DIEU HAPTOS ET DE LA REINE GRAVITE ET COMMENT NOUS SOMMES TOUS LE FRUIT DE LEUR UNION

L'haptos c'est comment j'échange avec le monde, comment je l'appréhende. Au lieu de partir d'une question du corps, nous partirons d'une question de l'échange, et donc de ces deux fonctions haptique et pondérale. Nous allons nous intéresser à ce qui, à travers le regard, les mains, les pieds, me situe par rapport au monde. C'est à dire, comment je prends le monde ? Comment le monde me touche ? Qu'est-ce qui se joue à ce niveau là ? Plutôt que de partir du corps et de problèmes mécaniques. Le point de départ de cette rencontre est la disparition de «la notion de corps» par rapport à «la notion d'espace d'action». Un renversement philosophique radical !

THE SPACE OF ACTION ORTHE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN THE GOD 'HAPTOS' AND THE QUEEN 'GRAVITY' AND HOW WE ARE ALL THE FRUIT OF THEIR UNION

The Haptos is how I interact with the world, how I comprehend it. Instead of starting with an inquiry into the body, we will begin with an inquiry into an exchange; that of the two functions haptic and ponderal. We will concern ourselves with that which, by using our eyes, hands and feet, connects us to the world. That is to say, how I perceive the world ? How the world touches me ? What is it that is playing at this level ? Favouring this concept over the body and the problems of mechanics. The starting point of our encounter is the effacing of «the notion of body» in relation to «the notion of space of action»; a radical philosophical reversal!

Gilles was trained in Paris with Marie-Françoise Le Foll and the United States with Franck Ottiwell, Bruce and Martha Fertman, Tommy Thompson and started teaching the Alexander Technique in 1990. He is currentely teaching dancers, actors and musicians and has run a training course set in Bordeaux and Paris since 2006. Gilles has also studied and taught Contact Improvisation since 1990 as well. Through the study of human movement -coordination- and the practice of dance movements -creativity- Gilles Estran's teaching is based on a model of total being, balance and poise as functions of the mind. If F.M. Alexander's principles have become his essential support for pedagogy, Contact Improvisation remains an essentiel tool for enhancing and experimenting with them. With this in mind the Argentinian Tango provides an ideal educational process based on « Touch » and « Connection ».

The human organism, when working well, provides a sense of ease and an integrative experience of who we are relative to what we do. When we impede this natural functioning through our unconscious commitment to habit and who we think we need to be to be us, quite often we lose this interconnectivity and support. My approach to teaching over the past 36 years has been to place the potentiality of the self as core focus, believing that the experience of one's interconnected self gives us more authentic freedom to fulfill our potential. No matter how deeply rooted the habitual patterns of behavior are in someone, there is always more to the person than their habits reflect; perhaps even who they truly are, or certainly wish to be. The workshop will consist of hands-on work individually and collectively, with exercises designed to give the person a way of working with themself outside of the workshop.

Tommy Thompson, Co-founder, Charter member, and past Chair of Alexander Technique International (ATI), a former Assistant Professor of Drama and Managing Director of Tufts Arena Theater at Tufts University, has lectured and given over 350 workshops for Alexander teachers and students in the United States, England, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Canada, Spain, Italy, Israel, Austria, the Netherlands and Japan. He has taught on teacher-training courses for over twenty trainings worldwide. Co-author of Scientific and Humanistic Contributions of Frank Pierce Jones, Tommy has contributed numerous papers on the Alexander work, Tai Chi, and Theater to Alexander and Theater journals, periodicals, Martial arts journals, and newsletters. Tommy presented papers at both the First and Second International Congresses for Alexander Teachers, and was one of the Second Generation Teachers invited to give master classes at the Third International Congress in Switzerland in August of 1991. In addition, he delivered a paper on "Inhibition as Direct Experience," which was published in The Congress Papers. He was one of the teachers selected to give Continuous Learning classes at the last Alexander Technique Congress in Lugano and will give the same at the forthcoming congress in 2011. In 1976, Tommy was special assistant to the 1976 Olympic USA Heavyweight Rowing Crew. In 1982, he was co-founder of Alexander Technique Association (ATA) of New England and the Frank Pierce Jones Archives and the F. Matthias Alexander Archives, housed in the Wessell Library at Tufts University, and was the organization's director for six years. Since 1983, Tommy has directed a Teacher Training School for Alexander teachers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where for the past 35 years he has taught the Technique to professional and Olympic athletes, dressage riders, scientists, physicians, musicians, dancers, actors, and children.

Passionate as I am about the Alexander Technique I have struggled with selling it. It seems AT teachers and health practitioners in general live on the breadline. This does not have to be. What I want to share is what I have learned (and am continuing to learn) to help me get out of my way in this area of life. If we can't sell ourselves, Alexander Technique will not survive in this growing culture of consciousness.

Fiona Cranwell is an Alexander Technique teacher certified through the ATI sponsorship process in 2004. She kept on her old life for some years juggling restaurant work with teaching. Four years ago she moved to the big city and decided to commit to AT as a sole source of income. Studying business, life coaching/mentoring programs and as a member of BNI (Business Networking International) she has learned a lot about how business in the "real world" is done. Realizing her business is not separate or outside of herself she is working through a program to collapse the blocks to selling in a practical and active way. Just like AT did for her stressed body. She has not made millions yet but is noticing a rise in clients and a difference in how she goes about it.