Features
To teach online or not to teach online? That is the question! Richard Brennan offers reflections Touch comes before sight, before speech. It is the first language and the last, and it always tells the truth. Margaret Atwood
I
am well aware that I may be walking into a minefield by writing this article, but I feel it is a too-important issue to stay quiet about, which may well dictate the future of Alexander’s work. I am well aware that some teachers think teaching online Alexander lessons is a wonderful idea while others think it is not possible or even worse… a very dangerous idea. I am sure that this article will not sway either one, because whatever we think we automatically assume that it is 100% correct and I include myself! In other words to quote Alexander: “Everyone wants to be right, but no one stops to consider if their idea of right is right.”1 Hopefully this article may help those who have yet to form a solid opinion about online Alexander Technique teaching. While I am writing I am also mindful of the quote by Lao Tzu when he said: “He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.” But here goes anyway! I also know there are quite a few Alexander teachers already teaching online and who are very in favour of it, and some who do not and are very opposed to it. I am not trying to make anyone wrong or right by expressing my view, but perhaps to offer some food for thought, or perhaps even help some people to stop and re-consider their opinion about the subject. During a recent ISATT (Irish Society of Alexander Technique Teachers) meeting someone said that teaching online was a “real opportunity”…. but an opportunity for who I thought? For the pupil? For the teacher? To further our business? To make money? To spread the word about the Alexander Technique? To enrol pupils from other counties, countries or even from another continent? I think it is essential to answer this question before we decide whether to teach the Technique online or not. So in this article I will try to explore the question “Why teach online?” And also: “Who is really benefitting?” To be absolutely clear I am not talking about teachers who are giving Zoom lessons to other Alexander teachers, to students on a training course or even someone who has already had a lot of Alexander hands-on experience. I am asking whether or not it is a good idea to teach a new pupil who has had little or no hands-on lessons or not. First of all I would agree online lessons provide an opportunity to discuss the principles and procedures that underlie the work, but without the experience our hands can impart, is there very much point, except with people who have already had the experience of a one-to-one hands-on lesson already? And of course it is a real opportunity to reach more people and even give group lessons to many people at one time, and even to promote the work or to promote ourselves, but is it a good means whereby that I can give a person a pure and definite Alexander experience? In my first year of teaching I asked one of my pupils on
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their fourth lesson what they would like from their lesson. She said immediately: “I would like the champagne feeling.” I asked her what she meant by that. She replied: “Well I always feel so light and bubbly after each lesson, so I call it ‘the champagne feeling!’” I thought this was well described and knew that feeling well; in fact it was that similar feeling of ease, lightness and aliveness that got me interested in the Technique in the first place. We are not teaching a technique like playing the piano or golf, we are helping a person have a new experience of what it feels like when they stop trying and tensing and when they use themselves with poise and ease; but at the same time the Alexander technique does involve learning a practical skill that you acquire in a similar way as learning to drive a car or fly a plane. Would you book an online driving lesson or an online flying lesson? My guess is: “Probably not!” There are many add-ons to the Alexander Technique like the Conable body mapping, or learning to sit using better Mandle-type furniture, or even some extra breathing techniques other than the ‘whispered ah’ - any of which may be helpful additions to teaching the technique. Some of these can easily be taught online, but they are not the essence of the work and if taught online as such could easily give someone the wrong impression or confusion in relation to what the Technique is really about. Perhaps it is useful to go back to why Alexander used his hands in the first place. It was purely because people were misinterpreting his verbal instruction; in fact, they were often doing exactly the opposite. Due to the fact he was in the same room and could see what they were doing in three dimensions he could see how mistaken they were when relying on their kinaesthetic and proprioception senses. In Zoom lessons it is only possible to see people in two dimensions so when teaching online we are immediately at a disadvantage. Also in my experience someone may not look tense, but it is only when you put hands on that you can really know what a person is really doing to themselves. Perhaps some experienced teachers may be able to teach effectively about the principles or the procedures of the technique, but what about a new teacher with only a few years of teaching and whose majority of training has been hands-on? I personally think it will be detrimental to our work if online teaching starts to replace the traditional hands-on lesson and I say this from practical experience. I have given a few Zoom talks to new people and trainees of other training courses, but only to encourage them to explore the hands on work further.
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Would you book an online flying lesson or driving lesson? My guess is: ‘Probably not!’
