Sunday 31 January 2010

Weekend Wanderings

I compared de-caff cappuccinos in Cafe Nero and Caffe Internationale (?) near Piccadilly Circus before and after watching Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll with my friend S, at the Odeon Panton St. Coffee wise, nothing between them. But Caffe Internationale had table service and looked great for old fashioned teas with cakes and scones.

It was a fantastic film – just as Ian Dury would have wanted it I think, surreal and full of heart and rebellion, showing it as it was. I love his music. I think I was infected with his spirit as I was compelled to complain afterwards about the poor quality of sound – I know I’m not so sharp in my hearing these days but at times the projector or the air-conditioning, some whirring sound near the back, was louder than the softly spoken Andy Serkis. Maybe Screen 4 is not the best place to watch this film....anyway, the management were completely brilliant, and offered us free ticket vouchers, as well as agreeing to check it out immediately with their projectionist etc.

There’s a very English habit of not complaining about things, as though it’s impolite. But it seems to me, if no-one lets the management know, then how can it be changed? And maybe the next audience will have a better time. It’s the same with restaurants, if the meat is tough or something is not cooked well.....I’m sure the restaurant would want to know.

On my Alexander training in 1980 there was an American student, Ph, who was always the first to put her hand up and volunteer for demonstrations by a visiting teacher, always rapidly ask questions, whilst the rest of us were still in our British middle class deferring habits of ‘o no, after you’ - putting ourselves forward may have seemed rude. And our own thoughts of our ‘pushy’ American cousin would not have been favourable! Later, when I was talking with Ph on a social occasion, she owned up to her horror at how rudely we were treating these guest teachers by NOT rushing forward for work. I enlightened her to the British custom and her jaw dropped in amazement.

Apart from our personal habits we have our social habits too. The unspoken messages. This came up and explained very well when I was supply teaching at Islington Green School in 1980’s. We had 27 different languages spoken in the school at that time, and we had training in social customs of different cultures. I remember particularly learning how in the West Indies it would be the height of rudeness for a child to look at a teacher in the eye, particularly if they were in troublet. Compared to our ways – ‘Look at me when I’m speaking to you!’ woud be the response.

I went swimming again at Ironmonger Row baths. I am making the most of it before Islington Council close it for renovation in May. I am sad for this, as I know one of the things that will be lost is the glass panels in the roof, that made yesterday’s swim so delightful, having sunshine sparkling onto the water. I was experimenting with floating on my back and also saw the shadow of a plane tree in the large high frosted window at the end, waving in the wind....I realised I had unified my attention much more and was really taking in the environment as well as my use and my task. My task usually is to improve my stroke, so I slip effortlessly and powerfully through the water. I changed that today. I decided not to bother too much about all that. And I had a lovely time AND enjoyed the environs. That’s right, I gave up some of my end-gaining. I still had my intention to swim for half an hour and open myself to change, but then it all became much less of an effort – 'less is more' magic. There were only two others in the slow swimming lane, so it was really, really pleasant. One day I may end up in the fast lane. If I want.

Before my friend A came round for supper I finished reading The Mermaid Madonna by Stratis Myrivilis – a joy, so delicately written, like sipping a mature red wine, not to be gulped, but every sentence savoured.

And best of all, I caught David Tennant being Hamlet on BBC4. It was just that snippet when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive followed by the Players. And in that snippet, 2 of FM’s favourite quotes: ‘There’s nothing right nor wrong but thinking makes it so’.....Hamlet himself says that which I hadn’t realised. And then later ‘What piece of work is a man?’ Hmmm. That was a treat. And Tennant is rather good. No wide eyed Doctor Who there. And sometimes he wasn't pulling his head back. I suppose in Dr.Who he has to show some fear......

Saturday 30 January 2010

'Friday is Fish, is everybody happy?'

Actually didn't have fish yesterday, although severely tempted by a bag of chips on my way home after a full day of teaching in Turnham Green. £1.30 for a bag of chips!!?? (cue trembling elderly voice ..''I remember in the old days.....") However they did smell good , but inihibited my urge as it isn't pleasant for others on the tube platform to watch me gorging and I had had a light supper already...
When I walked up the stairs in the morning (thinking of stepping in to cardboard boxes- not) to the second floor of ArtsEd I was in gloomy thought. The weather was cloudy, cold and gray, I was tired.....and then I came across young Tariq a first year drama student, practising his lines loudly as I walked by. It was very random, something like 'He didn't understand why I wanted to cross- dress and the purple waistcoat was so important!' and I walked past grinning at the absurdity and my blessings to be working in such a creative place. Mood changed completely, and the day was fun and easy - lots of teaching assistants made the second year classes seem more like an Alexander training going on - so much help for them, in a non-doing way. The hour for lunch which is required to be filled with clearing up one classroom, walking 15 minutes over to the Catholic Centre down to road, and preparing the next one seemd to happen in acres of time , and the humous falafel wrap was quite tasty. My darling MA students in the afternoon were just quietly getting on with it, lying down thinking of their upper limb, using us teachers well to come up and out and into the world. That's the important thing - into the world. Using the present connection to the outside world, to release us out of the cage of our habits.
Imagine if I had been so caught in my cloudy gray cold mood this morrning, that I hadn't heard Tariq?
I was also working on spirals in my MA tutorials. Getting them out of the 'cardboard box on two legs' and 'we should only get up out of the chair in the 'proper' Alexander way' syndrome. What joy to see them spiral up out of and spiral back into the chair, still with this clear 'up' direction...
Next I visited my dear friend Jane in the early evening who lives nearby. It happened she was recovering from a cold and having trouble with her neck. She is an actor and director and has such sensitivity that despite terrible pain and restriction she was able to release a little. Just the warmth of someone's hands touching lightly can be so soothing. And I did enjoy the chicken casserole too!
Life is full of choices sometimes. Today, Saturday, the choice of what film to see with another friend that suits us both. Ian Dury it is. And what a beautiful blue sky I can see as I write this- uplifting after all the days of clouds....I quite like clouds - watching them change shape, but the light is different. And I do like the light of a clear blue winter sky. The rooftops of London sparkle in the sunshine. Specially with an early frost.

Thursday 28 January 2010

Coincidence?

I had a joyous morning with my 1st year groups at ArtsEd this morning: more experiments in breathing. I brought in some models of ribs which I dished out and then I remembered the real goat ribs I had in my locker which I had found three years ago on the mountain near the Old Village in Alonnisos, so I trotted off and brought them in, so we could compare. Then a 5 minute meditation, the Mindfulness of Breathing taught me by the Friends of the Western Order of Bhuddists. It's so simple and so profound and for many of the students the first time they have experienced that sort of focus. One who always uses so much effort to get around of course nearly nodded off, and found it a little alarming. They are to practice this for themselves this week, and let me know how they get on. When I worked with them hands-on in individual tutorials later, I really felt I had conscious people under my hands - when I placed my hands on their backs, either side of their ribs, they were all responsive and alive. Fantastic. They are coming on so well and I think it's due hugely to the body mapping. Here's to the Conables! When I was on my training I found Barbara rather formidable in her US certainty: Give me a student and I can help them change in 6 weeks ....(didnlt FM say the same?). I remember being very relieved when questioned she admitted to having some students who didn't quite get it and failed. Phewf! Now I understand how she could say it though. Yes, I can help people change in 6 weeks , not all, but a lot.
The aftrenoon was spent again helping with 12thNight 3rd Year Production - I was using the Higher Creative Self exercise to get them into the physicality if their characters. Aguecheek and Belch, Maria, Sebastian, Viola...all appearing before my eyes, and making me smile. Three private lessons in the physio room (I am so glad I don't use it too often - that loud air conditioning device would drive me mad) and then off smartush to be back in time for a coupe iof lessons at home.
On the tube I often look at my watch, or have a slight concern at getting somewhere in time. I refused to do this today. I know the route so well, I know how long it takes, I just inhibited looking at my watch. After all if I arrived late there would be nothing I could do about it anyway. And I just enjoyed the book I was reading instead. I read so much more since I gave up the car. And I am lucky that I have no claustrophobia. I think I find it a little womb-like the tube. Except when it's too much of a crush and i'm surrounded by VERY TALL people. I'm only 5' 3" after all ....(still not shrunk I am pleased to say despite my lightening bones.
Now one of my students tonight told me an amazing story - she was at the Wigmore Hall recently and the person behind her asked her to sit lower in the seat as she was blocking the view. OK it's an indication of her expanding height, but most extraordinary was that I had the exact same experience there 30 years ago when I first started having Alexander lessons in my 20's. I was mortified and felt I was being asked to pull down and hurt my back, and my fiance at the time thought I was being over sensitive.... Tonight my student and I found a way of sitting lower in a chair without pulling down. Not so easy but possible. And a good discussion as to the poor design of audience seating at Wigmore Hall!

Wednesday 27 January 2010

A philosophical day


Congratulations to my student Rhia for bringing little Matilda into the world last weekend. She was having such an easy time inside, she didn't want to come out! So despite our endeavours to free her up, UCH helped out after all.

I have spent an interesting hour or so, thinking about an ill-thought-out newsblog from my website. I edited it without more ado when certain objections were put and I realised I hadn't explained myself well at all.

I am still amazed when students of mine take the teachings of FM and use them in a real way to help them through life. In otherwords they are owning the Work for themselves, and I am but a facilitator for their learning. The Work is great, and they learn despite my teaching!

What would it be if there were no national boundaries at all? After all the birds know of none, nor does the weather. Nation states are more recently created in the history of civilisation. The only boundary that can easily be seen from space is the great wall of china. We have habits of mind and body, and there are cultural and social habits, designed to organise us. If we can organise the Self differently - which is what AT does I think - then the world may be organised differently. We certainly receive the world differently, as our perceptions change. Often this change manifests in just being nicer people - 'I don't know why but my husband seems to be more calm and easier to get along with....' could be he's had the Alexander lessons, (often the case) or could be the wife has had the lessons and perceives the husband differently...

So a very philosophical day today. I visited UCH also this afternoon not to see the new baby, but to have more conversations with a specialist nurse about my bones. They are lighter than they should be for my age. I suspect there could be a factor of Alexander in this - floating around a little easier may not be giving the bones enough stress to thicken them up! Now I have a choice to let it be, exercise more, continue having high levels of calcium and other key minerals in my diet, or continue the medical intervention with a yearly jab. Hmmm.

Afterwards I went into the Wellcome Foundation exhibition called I AM, about personal identity and had fun looking at myself in a 'real' mirror. usually we see ourselves back to front, not as others see us. This reverses the image so we see oursleves as others do. I really do seem to drop my head to the right an awful lot when I am not consciously directing. Is my use pattern obeying structural reform though, with the light bones I have, particularly in L4. My discomfort in back and ribs may well be to do with this. Thank goodness for semi supine and all my Alexander training. Where would I be without it??

A late lunch at the Friends Meeting House Cafe in Euston Road was delightful, as I met my Friend Molly unexpectedly from our local Quaker meeting in Bunhill. She comes to my drop-in Alexander sessions I run there on a Wednesday evening.
There is a correlation of inhibition with Friends practice and AT. In meeting for Worship no-one says anything unless moved to do so in the moment. We meet ourselves, each other and the spirit in the stillness. Stillness is very moving. I was moved to start the drop-in sessions when I saw a photograph of a new sculpture at Woodbrooke Study Centre. It depicts a circle of Friends sitting in meeting for Worship and they were all rather scrunched up, pulled down and collapsed! As though Spirit was having to be squeezed out of them... Compare this to other depictions of Quakers in the old days, sitting very straight-backed and upright,their heads gently bowed from the top of the neck, the atlanto-occipital joint and their hats and bonnets firmly on!
I like two suggestions from 'Faith and Practice too: 'Walk cheerfully' and 'live adventurously.' Very Alexandrian!
The picture at the top is of some Friends lying down at Bunhill Meeting.
Woodbrooke Study Centre in Birmingham http://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/ is the former home of Quaker George Cadbury and there is a very interesting article on the Cadbury legacy and the sad Kraft takeover on the following website


Tuesday 26 January 2010

Alexander Swimming


I went swimming this morning at the Ironmnoger Row Baths nearby. I intend to go two or three times a week but sadly this doesn't always happen. So I made sure today. I love practising Shaw Method there. My crawl is no longer the frantic thrashing and I have learnt that backstroke is more like sidestroke, or crawl upside down. Both much improved. And my breast stroke ......well, this is more of a challenge, to remember to really duck under and up and it's most enjoyable when I seem to find the flow, but it is a little haphazard. Today I found it by the end, and really felt my head leading rather than my arms. It felt more contained and powerful, using the water well. I do enjoy floating along, but...without end-gaining - I really would like to go a bit faster! Sigh. if you want to find out more about Shaw Method Swimming you can go to www.artofswimming.com

Today there were hordes of little girls in the changing room with their frazzled teacher 'Put your socks on last Veronica, otherwise they will get soggy'......and the girls squeak like little guinea pigs as they rush through the rather cool shower. It will be lovely when they have done the place up, but I shall sure miss it for the 2 years it wil be closed....

Of course swimming in Alonnisos is the best as the photo shows.....that was at Steni Vala last year.
Tonight I was at my Chi Kung class with Master Lamb. I did metal, water and fire positions. The chap next to me was shaking again. It was a very chatty session - Master Lam is insistent we don't try to quieten the mind as we are all beginners and need more to relax. I found it very useful this evening to relax my eyes ....zzzzz

Alexander Monday

Yesterday I was teaching MA theatre students at ArtsEd. in the morning.
I foudn out what they knew already about arms, and then filled in the holes. The Anatomy Colouring Book is still very useful for getting them to subliminaly learn by colouring in the bones or muscle groups. I had borrowed the big skeleton from the pupil's school which sits and grins at them in their 'Quiet Room', so we left the hall and went upstairs to look at him (Big Fred) , His forearm turns very well, so is very useful. My little Fred is good at showing the movement of the shoulder girdle but his elbows are a bit wired up and stiff. (O why o why have they stopped making Little Fred? He is an 18 inch Johns Hopkins Skeleton which is the cutest and most flexible chap I have come across. ) But we also did some great creative work - another 5 minute 'Happening' devised entitle 'Trying to Get it right' which ends with the quote from Hamlet ' There's nothing right nor wrong but thinking makes it so'....., and we also played with not end-gaining when using text, imagining the words coming to you from the other person standing opposite. So picture if you will two people standing opposite each other, looking into each other's eyes, not doing anything except being in an Alexander directed state and one saying 'I love you' 3 times. Very powerful stuff. I changed the text, so we had 'I hate you,' 'May you rot in hell!' and 'Please don't leave me' all spoken solemnly three times each. Except for the two guys who couldn't hack it and kept giggling! There's always one. Too profound, and the defences come up. It's a jolly useful exercise to get actors out of the habit of poking their necks forward and pulling down everytime they have to utter an emotional torrent. Less is more and all that. I call that habit, 'doing the chicken' , and as we know terribly bad for the throat although it hasn't stopped Emma Thompson or George Clooney making a name for themselves....
After all that excitement, went home for a late lunch and a cancelled lesson meant I could chill out and watch The African Queen! I do love that moment when Bogart gets covered in leeches.... after the private lessons, I decided, free choice and all that, inhibiting my reactions for a new response, to NOT open up my laptop, but read and go to bed early. Hurrah!

Sunday 24 January 2010

The weekend

I saw a lot of friends and family this weekend. More than one had a bad back. I hinted that lying in semi-supine might be a good idea....
I stayed with a friend in Portsmouth and spent a lot of time sitting on the floor when eating drinking port (mmm!) or watching tv. Why are you sitting on the floor? he exclaimed. It was true there were several cumfy chairs and cushions and a HUGE sofa. O the torture of the cumfy chair! (cf Monty Python and the Spanish Inquisition.) I was perplexed. I had sort of found myself on the floor without consciously thinking. ' Er.....because I'm used to it I suppose' I replied. I think I find it more comfortable. You see, I don't actually have a sofa in my living room..... and it means at any momet i could just rollover, put my knees up and have a quick semi-soop anytime I liked. Family is always interesting. I love my siblings very very much. We don't live very near each other so we always get together once a year for dinner to catch up and actually see each other in the flesh. What is intersting for me is to see the family use patterns and pull-downs, and inhibit going into rapport with that, but stay up and out and in my directed state. There but for the grace of FM go I. None of them have had a couerse of lessons. I have given them all a little hands-on from time to time when in need through pain, or to still their curiosity.
I do want to use this space to trumpet my brother Tom's good character. He retired from being a postie on a rural round in the New Forest, which he's been doing for 15 years..? Anyway he had HUNDREDS of thank you cards from the people on his round - i turns out he used to do shopping for them, round up their sheep whene they got out, catch their stray horse....AND last autumn he was nominated and given a Good Neighbourhood Award. I am so proud of him, not least because he is so self effacing and we only discoverd today when my sister in law mentioned it in passing.... That's just doing it, isn't it? No fuss, no bother, not trying hard to get things right, just living his life with kindliness and authenticity.

Friday 22 January 2010

End of the working week

A whole day at ArtsEd helping students with their use. A slight blur as I look back. Fabulous that one young woman who had had an acccident and hurt her neck in the xmas hols, experienced full movement again with no pain. A young man found his chest resonating with the sound of Noel Coward's words....and another grinned happily as he released his legs and found some spirals to flounce off as Garry in Present Laughter.
Walking from one venue ot the next I actually found time for an unpleasant sandwich from Marx and Sparx - sweet pickle, and sugar in the malt bread- bleah.
Time to free myself to some dreams zzzzzzz

Thursday 21 January 2010

An Alexander Day part 303

So today I taught at the ArtsEd, the theatre school in Chiswick. 'Twas with first years and I did mapping of the lungs and diaphragm. As usual with singing and drama students where much emphasis is placed on diaphragmatic breathing and the expansion of the lower ribs, the students get the idea that their lungs are seated much lower, and always have gasps pf amazement when they see the lungs so high up. I use the catalogue from Body Works which makes it all so very clear. The diaphragm also becomes more three-dimensional in their minds, instead of a flat dividing line between chest and abdomen. Then I divided the group into 3 : one group had hands-on with me any my assistants Maria and David, graduates from the Carrington's school, whilst one group lay down in semi-supine, and another group coloured in a picture of the diaphragm. Colouring in means they learn easily and kinaesthetically. I forgot the Bach background music and the sweets, but both those things stimulate learning too.
In the afternoon I worked a warm up for the 3rd years who are about to tour a schools' production of 12th Night, and gave a couple of private tutorials to those in Colour of Justice. Then headed for home, cutting off from human existence and burying my thought into the Evening Standard. I always used to attract strange or drunk people wanting to talk to me, but since Alex Training, I just don't get bothered by them anymore. Nor do I get the 'Cheer up love it may never happen!', that used to infuriate me as sexist, patronising and unfair. How dare anyone comment so loudly or what I should or shouldn't look like?!! Maybe it is also that society is changed...that guys just don't call out like that anymore? I shall have to ask my drama students...
Annoyed that the interchange between Bank and Monument is still unfinished, I decided instead to simply enjoy the long walk outside in the cold air.
Two private students at home this evening and preparing lessons for tomorrow and Monday for Arts. I am writing a new 'Happening'. Precise instructions for 16 people to improvise on stage over 5 minutes - eg
Walk slowly across the stage from one corner to the other. If you meet someone else, give a tut of annoyance, turn and walk the other way. Repeat.
I have several already written but for 11 people. I write them for the MA course to help them think in an Alexander way whilst performing. They have been increasing the numbers gradually on the MA course. Humph. I enjoy this writing however.
I am being well prepared as I am having a social weekend with friends and family and won't have much time for any preparation.
Very tired now and have decided to turn in rather than finish it all. I'm stopping, not end-gaining. Just stopping. All will be well.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Another day in the life.....


Another day of admin. I was sending postcards off to other Alexander teachers and trainings. Here's the image I am using. Isn't that water so clear and inviting? It's one of my attendees from last year. I took it after we had walked silently down the mule track to the local bay first thing in the morning thinking our Alexander directions, or thinking of spatial direction, or noticing all the purple things, or whatever the thought was for that day. Then we had a little Tai Chi , followed by a Shaw Method swimming lesson with Jan Jordan, before puffing back up the hill to the village for some hands-on. Pretty idyllic. So , it's worth spending the time putting the word out, so other people can enjoy this very special place and time.
I relinquished my swimming time for this, which I was sorry for - I like to continue my Shaw Method in the local pool whilst City folk churn up and down and I meditatively float along.
Some private lessons in the afternoon and then a wonderful visit from Eleni, a young student from Thessaloniki just in her second term at Anthony Kingsley's training. She had lessons with me on Alonnisos and in Thessaloniki, so it's always gratifying when someone takes the work deeeper.

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Another day in the life of.....

An admin day today, joyfullly relieved by two private lessons, one being an 'emergency' booking from a pregnant student of mine who is overdue by 10 days and I had offered to 'free something up'. Nothing dramatic happened but watch this space.
This evening I braved the cold evening and went to the first Chi Kung class of the year with Master Lam down in Lambeth North. It's a beginners' class. I love being a beginner. I have a uneasy spine which Chi seems to exarcebate sometimes. I remember on my 2nd Initiation for Reiki, I sat for an hour with my eyes closed in a straight backed chair whilst the initiator did his stuff over the three of us, and my spine seemed on fire. I do my best not to narrow or interfere, to come out into the whole, direct myself up, inhibit my reaction to extreme discomfort but invariably it is only good old semi-supine that sorts it out again. Tonight there were two new people and unusually both got the shakes.
I had this myself in an Alexander lesson with Margaret Edis early on in my Alexander Life. I didn't know I had hip joints at the time and she gently touched them and whoosh! off I went ....started at the legs and then my whole body started trembling. She and Judith my other teacher laid me on the table and worked on me as I shook. It was very exhiliarating, and it made me laugh that something so wildly involuntary was happening. I had an incredible ache in the hip joints when I finished - they had just had quite a workout after all- but I can honestly say they never felt the same again -that extreme tightness I held had gone.
I shall sleep well tonight. Last night I dreamt when my students left the building a huge Gonzilla creature was tossing people about and eating them. I retreated into my flat and looked out of the window the other side to see that the Gherkin office block had fallen over and smoke was pouring out of it. At that moment my usually quiet neighbours decided to have a party in my teaching room, gaining access via a secret panel in my bathroom.......more change on the way I guess....

Monday 18 January 2010

Day in the Life of an Alexander Teacher 1

I was teaching this morning at ArtsEd on the MA course, after a tussle with several photocopiers that decided to jam the paper. Sigh. Inhibited my desire to sob, thrash the machines with a branch from a tree (cf. Johm Cleese attack of car in Fawlty Towers) or lay down on my back and kick my heels in the air........and I managed to sort it out and stroll over to MA building (aka Catholic Centre) via the park, imagining the trees coming towards me, thinking of the space above my head, the space behind me, and noticing how heavy my bag was. In my bag were: several model vertebrae, a model sacrum and coccyx, my lesson plans, a book of photographs of close-ups of the body, a spare thermal teeshirt in case it got cold, Stratis Myrivilis' The Mermaid Madonna needed for a good read on the tube, hairbrush, cough sweets, blah-di-blah ( a woman's bag should always hold some secret items) and a stack of photocopies. It really is time I found a way of travelling light.
My lessons needed a lot of props today - I videoed the 2 groups doing a 5 minute 'Happening' that I re-wrote last night called The Moon Like A Bone in the Sky', during which 15 of them all have different instructions to move about the room, possibly something to say, and relating to each other now and then, whilst remembering their 'directions'. So they are working in the moment, not end-gaining, and the proirity being their Alexander Thinking, rather than the subtext, action, emotional zone of a play or character. It was very thrilling to watch - something like a 60's Happening, and I left the video with them so they could watch themselves during the week. It becomes so clear when they are in the moment and in a non-doing state, and when they feel they have to DO something to be entertaining. Then I gave them a participatory lecture on the spine. Hence the vertebrae in my bag and on site already was a model spine and little Fred, my 18 inch Johns Hopkins skeleton which is irreplaceable now they've stopped making him. Then after handing out the photocopies and they had wriggled their backs against each other, we played at running towards each other and embracing in an inhibitory and non end-gaining manner.....all my students seem to like that exercise very much indeed. The morning sped by. I videoed two of the students' manner of use as they sat, stood, spoke and sang in the break, so no time for a cup of decaff. My two assistants - Paul and Grace, AT teachers who are helping out voluntarily to learn the ways of Pen - were very helpful in packing things away and lugging all the props back upstairs. Then there was my appraisal meeting over lunch with Keith, head of the movement department in the School of Acting who is my line manager. So useful to discuss things and ensure my teaching is continuing to facilitate the students well and an opportunity to put things forward I might like to change in the timetabling for example....Apparently I do more professional development that most. Part of the job of being an Alexander Teacher I guess.
Later at the post office I got my passport photos done. Very slick machine, with the ability to choose out of three different poses. I chose the first one of course - despite the parting not being straight. I actually can't percieve with any accuracy the centre or straightness of my head anymore. My head is tipped to one side ever so slightly, and one eye is much stronger than the other, albeit with a distortion in the macula, so I literally can't tell whether my parting is at the centre or not. I instantly see it's not in a photograph. I have been working with this in my lessons with Sue Laurie and with my own experiments in front of the mirror. My habitual pulldown is to the right, so when I direct myself up there is still that slight sensation of my going up and leaning to the left....Anyway I accustomed myself to the thought of having this photo leering at me for the next ten years everytime I go through passport control, and set off back to Old Street in time for two private lessons, and a brief discussion with my brilliant web designer Kim on ideas for my Greek Island Alexander Holiday website. www.alexanderingreece.com
STATNEWS, our society's quarterly magazine had arrived today, so time to scan through this before checking my emails, communicating with friends, my sister, having supper, winding down, and writing this up. Plan to read a little of 'The Girl who kicked a Hornet's Nest' before nodding off. I have not lain down in semi supine today. o well.