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Explaining the Technique (Mouritz 2004 edition)

Submitted by Jean Fischer on Tue, 18/05/2021 - 15:43
Subtitle: 
The Writings of F. Matthias Alexander
By: 
Walter H. M. Carrington and Sean Carey.
Material type: 
Book (unspecified type)
AT Focus: 
Alexander Technique
Original edition: 
Explaining the Technique
Vol./ Issue/Edition: 
Mouritz 2004 edition
2004
December
15
Format: 
Paperback
Size: 
192 x 126 mm.
Language: 
English
ISBN/ISSN/DOI/ID: 
ISBN 095435222X / 978-0954352226
Publisher: 
Mouritz (Austria)
Additional notes: 
Second revised edition. 2004. Mouritz (UK).
Mouritz Bibliography
Topic area: 
teaching the Technique
Cover image: 
Later edition flag: 
An earlier edition of this exists
Biblio ID: 
CAR004PE1
Base ID: 
CAR992PE1
Short Description: 
Question and answers on Alexander’s writings by one of the foremost exponents on the Technique.
Mouritz description: 
Alexander’s writings are used as a springboard to discuss not only what Alexander meant by certain passages and what he did not mean, but also to answer critics of Alexander and his books. The value of some present-day approaches to teaching is discussed and Carrington draws on his experiences in evaluating them which he does forthrightly. Alexander’s writings are put in their historical context – sometimes with anecdotes – in order to explain the development of the Technique and Alexander’s approach. Covers many topics from Anatomy to Zen, e.g. hands on the back of a chair, the nature of the primary control and the role of words in giving directions.
Publisher Description: 
An intelligent and succinct guide to Alexander's writings: Not only are the main themes of each book discussed but also specific points which help to elucidate Alexander's thinking and teaching.

Walter Carrington is renowned for his insight into the teaching and training of the Alexander Technique. He trained with F. M. Alexander in the 1930s and has been training teachers in the Technique continuously since 1946. Since 1955 Walter Carrington has been reading from Alexander's books to his students and commenting upon the texts.

In these conversations with Seán Carey Alexander's four books are investigated. Not only are the main themes of each book discussed but also specific points which help to elucidate Alexander's thinking and teaching.

Many diverse subjects are explored: diet, psychoanalysis, Zen, politics, democracy, individualism and also many practical teaching considerations, such as breathing, the use of the hands and the rôle of language in teaching.

Various criticisms levelled at Alexander and his technique are also addressed. Interesting and pertinent passages from Alexander's books are examined - always from the practical perspective of teaching and learning the Technique. In this way many issues which may appear outdated in Alexander's books are given a modern setting and shown to be as relevant as ever.

This intelligent and succinct guide to Alexander's writings is essential reading for anyone wishing to better understand and appreciate the Technique.

"In my opinion, this is the most important book to be written on the Technique since Alexander's own works."
Peggy Williams in the Foreword.

Errata: Page 130, line 2: for ‘body’ read ‘bony’. Page 148, line 17: for ‘in out’ read ‘in our’. Page 178, line 1, for ‘out’ read ‘our’.

Contents: 

List of illustrations
Foreword by Peggy Williams
Preface and acknowledgements to first edition

1: Introduction
How it all began
Comparable disciplines and techniques
Breathing and treatment
The books and self-help procedures
Huxley, Shaw and Dewey
Dart, Coghill and Sherrington
A piece of autobiography

2: Man’s Supreme Inheritance
Alexander’s vision
Race, eugenics and romantic primitivism
Exercise and physical culture
Relaxation, deep breathing and rest cures
Hypnotism and faith-healing
Counselling, misuse and visual cues
Children and the"little school"
Furniture and left-handedness
Posture, standing, walking and running
The use of the chair
Self-generated movements
Sensation and feeling
Antagonistic actions
Positions of mechanical advantage and stereotyped teaching
Arms, hands and thumbs

3: Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual
On earthly inheritance
Mental, physical and a lowly evolved principle
Bradman and Alexander
Poetry in motion and the tottering biped
Pavlov, Montessori and educational"hot-housing"
Politics
Psychoanalysis and trauma
Food, alcohol, tobacco and sex
A dark side?
Happiness and its absence
Fear of falling
Feeling and the senses
Working with injuries
Alexander’s stroke
Principles and procedures
A flat back
Hands on the back of a chair
The whispered"ah"

4: The Use of the Self
Time lapse and some history
Defining the problem
The primary control
Spirals
Directions and language
Stimulus and response
A blueprint and its many versions
Misuse, diagnosis and vegetarianism
Golf, groups and application work

5: The Universal Constant in Living
A loose structure and self-help
Misuse, health and disease
Assisting Alexander
Anatomy, physiology and osteopathy
Pregnancy, childbirth and infant development
Fitness and specific exercise
Words, anti-gravity and modernity
Change
Mind and body
Alexander’s individualism
Authoritarianism and human destructiveness
Operational verification

About the Authors
Bibliography
Index

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