I WAS LUCKY TO FIND THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE

I have a background in the Biological and Domestic Sciences, as well as Dance and Theater.  An interest in expanding my understanding of what it means to be educated led me to an assistantship with the Director of the Living/Learning Program from 1973-75 at Southern Oregon State College.  I also performed during that time for the Oregon Shakespearean Festival under dance historian Judy Kennedy.  I graduated from the Drama Studio of London Theater Conservatory program in 1981 and performed in theater and educational film for more than a decade.  I am grateful to have been introduced to my Alexander Technique teachers, Linda and Ed Avak, while studying theater, as there were only a few certified teachers in the western U.S. at that time.  

CERTIFICATION

I later trained with Linda and Ed Avak to become a teacher, and gained the only recognized certification at that time given by the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique - STAT - in the United Kingdom.  I am also certified by the U.S. affiliate of that organization, The American Society for the Alexander Technique - AmSAT.  I have 38 years of experience in the field, have taught the public for 28 years, and have trained teachers for 18 years.  I have served on AmSAT's Board of Directors and its Credential Review Committee, and have been appointed by the Board to review training course application and re-application processes.  I currently serve on the Training Directors Committee.

TRAINING TEACHERS

The teacher training that is offered at OCAT is the only program in the Pacific Northwest recognized by the Affiliated Societies, the network of professional organizations worldwide that are an outgrowth of STAT.  STAT was formed in the United Kingdom in the 1960's by teachers trained directly by F. M. Alexander to protect the work, the public, and secure the historic standards in teacher training.

SCIENCE

A highlight of my experience with the Alexander Technique was being involved with studies at Oregon Health and Sciences University’s Neurological Sciences Laboratories from 2003-05, under Dr.’s Tim Cacciatore, Victor Gurfinkel and Faye Horack.  I was a subject in numerous experiments myself, as well as the teacher of subjects being tested for relief of back pain.  I am grateful to have had several years of interaction with these brilliant scientists who find the Alexander Technique worthy of rigorous study.  I continue to bring current findings from scientific research to my private lessons and teacher training.

PRESERVING THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE

I have come to understand myself as an Alexander Technique preservationist, and see that no form of the work is as valid, and revolutionary, as the one exquisitely detailed in F. M. Alexander's own writings.  I look forward to working with people who want to explore F. M. Alexander’s work and the science that supports it.  I offer private tutorials to the public, the occasional small group class to students with sufficient basic skill secured from private lessons,  Alexander Technique teacher training, postgraduate training, and speaking/introductory sessions.