Body Learning: The Alexander Technique

By Robert Rickover

Body Learning: The Alexander Technique episodes

January 25, 2024 A simple Alexander Technique self-direction that can change your life
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Robert Rickover and Imogen Ragone discuss a simple and powerful new Alexander Technique self-direction with far-reaching implications for all facets of your life. Imogen teaches in Wilmington, Delaware. Imogen's website: ImogenRagone.com Robert teaches in Omaha, Nebraska. Website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com You can learn more about Alexander Technique directions in general here: BodyLearningCast.com/teachers/directions . More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com Other related videos: A Simple and Practical way to Explore and Use Alexander Technique Inhibition - youtu.be/a-XOiSmu42A A Brief History of Alexander Technique Directions (from 2015) - bodylearning.buzzsprout.com/382/271700-a-brief-history-of-alexander-technique-directions Effective ways to use Alexander Technique Directions - bodylearning.buzzsprout.com/382/136406-effective-ways-to-use-alexander-technique-directions

Mind Your Mind puts this direction in a broader context: bodylearningblog.com/mind-your-mind/
36 min
November 10, 2023 A Little Bit of Nothing
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Marjorie Barstow would often say, at the end of one of her four week long Alexander Technique workshops: When you get home, and people ask you what you learned in Nebraska, don't tell them 'a little bit of nothing.' In this conversation, Imogen Ragone and Robert Rickover discuss the implications of this admonition from several different points of view. Imogen teaches the Alexander Technique in Wilmington, Delaware. Imogen's website: ImogenRagone.com Robert teaches in Omaha, Nebraska. Robert's website: AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com Imogen and Robert also teach online. More information about Marjorie Barstow: MarjorieBarstow.com More information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com
15 min
July 24, 2023 Newly available documents about Alexander Technique developments from the 1940s - 1980s: Part 6
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Amanda Cole, an Australian academic researcher, writer and performer, is the author of "Marjorie Barstow and the Alexander Technique - Critical Thinking in Performing Arts Pedagogy." She is also a long time student of both the classic and Barstow-inspired versions of the Technique.

She draws on multiple sources, including a significant collection of written correspondence between F. M. Alexander, Marjorie Barstow, Frank Pierce Jones and Professor John Dewey that provides a new, and very different, perspective on the history of the Alexander Technique.

This is the sixth in a series of her conversations with Robert Rickover about her discoveries. Robert is an Alexander Technique teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. In this conversation, Amanda and Robert discuss the importance of this new perspective for Alexander Technique teachers and students today.

More information about Amanda: https://amandacolemezzo.com/
More information about Robert: https://alexandertechniquenebraska.com More information about F M Alexander: https://alexandertechnique.com/fma More information about Professor John Dewey: https://alexandertechnique.com/dewey More information about Marjorie Barstow: https://marjoriebarstow.com
More information about the Alexander Technique: https://alexandertechnique.com
Information about ordering Amanda's book from Amazon: https://marjoriebarstow.com/book
36 min
July 24, 2023 Newly available documents about Alexander Technique developments from the 1940s - 1980s: Part 5
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Amanda Cole, an Australian academic researcher, writer and performer, is the author of "Marjorie Barstow and the Alexander Technique - Critical Thinking in Performing Arts Pedagogy." She is also a long time student of both the classic and Barstow-inspired versions of the Technique. She draws on multiple sources, including a significant collection of written correspondence between F. M. Alexander, Marjorie Barstow, Frank Pierce Jones and Professor John Dewey that provides a new, and very different, perspective on the history of the Alexander Technique.

This is the fifth in a series of her conversations with Robert Rickover about her discoveries. Robert is an Alexander Technique teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. This episode focuses primarily on the influence of Professor John Dewey's influence of Marjorie Barstow's group teaching.

More information about Amanda: https://amandacolemezzo.com/
More information about Robert: https://alexandertechniquenebraska.com More information about F M Alexander: https://alexandertechnique.com/fma More information about Professor John Dewey: https://alexandertechnique.com/dewey More information about Marjorie Barstow: https://marjoriebarstow.com
More information about the Alexander Technique: https://alexandertechnique.com
Information about ordering Amanda's book from Amazon: https://marjoriebarstow.com/book

Part 1: https://youtu.be/KpKE7U0uBHk
Part 2: https://youtu.be/0KZMpPAcCug
Part 3: https://youtu.be/p2IIh8r9FKw
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3fRz6W0cfs
Part 5: https://youtu.be/AyxvQv1ofak
Part 6: https://youtu.be/aEtwPff7qj8
39 min
July 24, 2023 Newly available documents about Alexander Technique developments from the 1940s - 1980s: Part 4
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Robert Rickover continues his discussion with Imogen Ragone, an Alexander Technique teacher in Wilmington, Delaware, about F. Mathias Alexander's use of the term "psycho-physical." An earlier conversation was about why he used that phrase, and some of the implications of the meaning he assigns to it, and can be seen here: https://youtu.be/b9NxHqCLuX8

In this video, they explore the subtle physical manifestations of simply thinking about speaking as a way of experiencing just how tightly-knit "mind" and "body" actually are.More information about Amanda: https://amandacolemezzo.com/
More information about Robert: https://alexandertechniquenebraska.com More information about F M Alexander: https://alexandertechnique.com/fma More information about Professor John Dewey: https://alexandertechnique.com/dewey More information about Marjorie Barstow: https://marjoriebarstow.com
More information about the Alexander Technique: https://alexandertechnique.com
Information about ordering Amanda's book from Amazon: https://marjoriebarstow.com/book

Part 1: https://youtu.be/KpKE7U0uBHk
Part 2: https://youtu.be/0KZMpPAcCug
Part 3: https://youtu.be/p2IIh8r9FKw
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3fRz6W0cfs
Part 5: https://youtu.be/aEtwPff7qj8
Part 6 https://youtu.be/AyxvQv1ofak
34 min
July 24, 2023 Newly available documents about Alexander Technique developments from the 1940s - 1980s: Part 3
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Amanda Cole, an Australian academic researcher, writer and performer, is the author of "Marjorie Barstow and the Alexander Technique - Critical Thinking in Performing Arts Pedagogy." She is also a long time student of both the classic and Barstow-inspired versions of the Technique. She draws on multiple sources, including a significant collection of written correspondence between F. M. Alexander, Marjorie Barstow, Frank Pierce Jones and Professor John Dewey that provides a new, and very different, perspective on the history of the Alexander Technique.

This is the third in a series of her conversations with with Robert Rickover, an Alexander Technique teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. This episode is primarily about the gap between Alexander's stated hopes for the future of the Technique, and his actual behavior.

More information about Amanda: https://amandacolemezzo.com/
More information about Robert: https://alexandertechniquenebraska.com More information about F M Alexander: https://alexandertechnique.com/fma More information about Professor John Dewey: https://alexandertechnique.com/dewey More information about Marjorie Barstow: https://marjoriebarstow.com
More information about the Alexander Technique: https://alexandertechnique.com
Information about ordering Amanda's book from Amazon: https://marjoriebarstow.com/book

Part 1: https://youtu.be/KpKE7U0uBHk
Part 2: https://youtu.be/0KZMpPAcCug Part 3:
https://youtu.be/p2IIh8r9FKw
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3fRz6W0cfs
Part 5: https://youtu.be/AyxvQv1ofak
Part 6: https://youtu.be/aEtwPff7qj8
36 min
July 24, 2023 Newly available documents about Alexander Technique developments from the 1940s - 1980s: Part 2
Send us Fan Mail
Amanda Cole, an Australian academic researcher, writer and performer, is the author of "Marjorie Barstow and the Alexander Technique - Critical Thinking in Performing Arts Pedagogy." She is also a long time student of both the classic and Barstow-inspired versions of the Technique. She draws on multiple sources, including a significant collection of written correspondence between F. M. Alexander, Marjorie Barstow, Frank Pierce Jones and Professor John Dewey that provides a new, and very different, perspective on the history of the Alexander Technique.

This is the first in a series of her conversations with Robert Rickover, an Alexander Technique teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. This episode provides an overview of her findings. Subsequent videos will go into greater detail.

More information about Amanda: https://amandacolemezzo.com/
More information about Robert: https://alexandertechniquenebraska.com More information about F M Alexander: https://alexandertechnique.com/fma More information about Professor John Dewey: https://alexandertechnique.com/dewey More information about Marjorie Barstow: https://marjoriebarstow.com
More information about the Alexander Technique: https://alexandertechnique.com
Information about ordering Amanda's book from Amazon: https://marjoriebarstow.com/book
22 min
July 24, 2023 Newly available documents about Alexander Technique developments from the 1940s - 1980s: Part 1
Send us Fan Mail
Amanda Cole, an Australian academic researcher, writer and performer, is the author of "Marjorie Barstow and the Alexander Technique - Critical Thinking in Performing Arts Pedagogy." She is also a long time student of both the classic and Barstow-inspired versions of the Technique. She draws on multiple sources, including a significant collection of written correspondence between F. M. Alexander, Marjorie Barstow, Frank Pierce Jones and Professor John Dewey that provides a new, and very different, perspective on the history of the Alexander Technique.

This is the first in a series of her conversations with Robert Rickover, an Alexander Technique teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. This episode provides an overview of her findings. Subsequent videos will go into greater detail.

More information about Amanda: https://amandacolemezzo.com/
More information about Robert: https://alexandertechniquenebraska.com More information about F M Alexander: https://alexandertechnique.com/fma More information about Professor John Dewey: https://alexandertechnique.com/dewey More information about Marjorie Barstow: https://marjoriebarstow.com
More information about the Alexander Technique: https://alexandertechnique.com
Information about ordering Amanda's book from Amazon: https://marjoriebarstow.com/book
28 min
February 22, 2023 Your Body and your Mind: More Tightly Knit than you could ever have Imagined - Part 3
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Robert Rickover continues his discussion with Imogen Ragone, an Alexander Technique teacher in Wilmington, Delaware, about F. Mathias Alexander's use of the term "psycho-physical." Our previous conversation was about why he used that phrase, and some of the implications of the meaning he assigns to it, and can be seen here: https://youtu.be/b9NxHqCLuX8 In this podcast, they discuss more implications that flow from Alexander's concept of mind/body unity - specifically how an understanding of it can help us avoid one of the major obstacles faced by students - and teachers! - when self-directing and inhibiting.

Imogen's website: https://ImogenRagone.com Robert teaches in Omaha, Nebraska. Website: https://AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com Both Imogen and Robert also teach online. For more information about the Alexander Technique: https://AlexanderTechnique.com

Here is part of what Alexander wrote in his second book, Constructive Conscious Control, and which is quoted in the interview:

"I wish to make clear the sense in which I use the word psycho-physical. The term psycho-physical is used both here and throughout my works to indicate the impossibility of separating "physical" and "mental" operations in our conception of the working of the human organism. As I wrote in (my first book) Man's Supreme Inheritance, 'In my opinion the two must be considered entirely interdependent, and even more closely knit than is implied by such a phrase." (emphasis mine)

Part 1: https://youtu.be/b9NxHqCLuX8
Part 2: https://youtu.be/-KQmTjo_Vf4
23 min
January 24, 2023 Your Body and your Mind: More Tightly Knit than you could ever have Imagined - Part 1
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Robert Rickover talks with Imogen Ragone, an Alexander Technique teacher in Wilmington, Delaware, about F. Mathias Alexander's use of the term "psycho-physical" - why he used it, and the implications of the meaning he assigns to it.

This is the podcast that inspired our conversation: bodylearning.buzzsprout.com/382/313810-mind-body-unity-and-the-alexander-technique

Here is part of what Alexander wrote in his second book, "Constructive Conscious Control", and which is quoted in the interview: I wish to make clear the sense in which I use the word psycho-physical. The term psycho-physical is used both here and throughout my works to indicate the impossibility of separating "physical" and "mental" operations in our conception of the working of the human organism. As I wrote in (my first book) "Man's Supreme Inheritance", "In my opinion the two must be considered entirely interdependent, and even more closely knit than is implied by such a phrase." I am forced to use the words "physical " and " mental" here and throughout my argument because there are no other words at present which adequately express the manifestations of psycho-physical activity present at these various stages, not in any sense because the "physical" and the "mental" can be separated as such. I wish, therefore, to make it clear that whenever I use the word "mental," it is to be understood as representing all processes or manifestations which are generally recognized as not wholly "physical," and vice versa the word " physical " as representing all processes and manifestations which are generally recognized as not wholly "mental."

Part 2 of this topic: youtu.be/-KQmTjo_Vf4 Imogen's website: https://ImogenRagone.com Robert teaches in Omaha, Nebraska. Website: https://AlexanderTechniqueNebraska.com Both Imogen and Robert also teach online. For more information about the Alexander Technique: AlexanderTechnique.com

28 min

About Body Learning: The Alexander Technique

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A podcast devoted to all aspects of the Alexander Technique, a method of learning how to release harmful tension and perform all your activities with greater ease and freedom.