Wizard of Consciousness

Wizard of Consciousness

Do you like that? It’s me apparently. (Not in the picture - that's Faye. Though I think she is one too.) I am not an AT teacher but a wizard of consciousness using Alexander Technique as my magic wand or book of spells. It all sounds quite thrilling – intimidating maybe to some- but made me gurgle with delight.

You might be able to tell I was at an Alexander and NLP workshop run by Annie Kaszina.

I thought it up because of my experience when I was attending the International Congress of Alexander Technique at Lugano in 2008. I just felt we were all wizards descended quietly on the world of muggles, walking around incognito. I would come down to breakfast at our little hotel every morning and see lots of fellow wizards sitting up eating their muesli or croissants, and in between a few muggles stooping low over their cereal, growling at the world......It was so lovely to witness this – that for once there were more if ‘us’ than them. Sometimes it’s lonely out there.....

The workshop was fab, not least because as usual there were quite a few teachers I knew, so another chance to catch up and swap stories. One I was amazed to discover was someone I had taught many years ago and was now in her eighth year of teaching herself. She knew my ex-husband who was also a Nicheren Daishonin Buddhist and coincidentally so is my new lodger. I liked the coincidence – the Buddhists are out to get me!

This connection or coincidences have visited again this week – at Quakers this morning I met a woman who has a house on Skopelos, the next door island to Alonnisos and knows a fellow Alexander teacher who lives there and who I’ve arranged to meet when I am over in April. O and the night before I met new friends who have a house on Skiathos, another island of the archipelago....

Perhaps there is some wizardry afoot after all.....

Teaching at Artsed has been winding up for the Easter break and I have been very inpressed with the level of acting by both BA and MA students, and dare I say, with their use patterns on stage. This Alexander stuff seems to work! Every year I video the students at the beginning of the course and at the end. For the MA’s it is a two term course, so time to video them again and compare the two. Such an eye opener for some of them to see how far they have come. And for me too. One or two have really worked at it and transformed themselves. I am very proud of them.

The other bit of wizardry this week is to have suddenly set up an Event on my ‘I like lying down in semi-supine’ Facebook Group. I invited everyone to lie down some time after 2pm today, Sunday, and put up a pic and report on where they were and what happened. I Tweeted it too, so am hoping there may be a few. Already there are 3 pix up – one of 2 year old Faye, who wanted to copy her big sister Scarlett. It is sooo cute!! That's her at the top of the page. The ultimate wizard.