Moving Ideas – October 24-25, 2015 – Zürich
photo by Bruce Fertman
An Introduction to the Alexander Technique
By Bruce Fertman
The Alexander Technique
Whether we are dancing, hammering a nail, singing a song, working at a computer or walking to the store, we possess an inherent capacity to move freely and naturally. Moving naturally promotes ease, power and expressiveness.
Unwittingly, we often interfere with our inherent design. Poise, grace and ground give way to effort, tension and fatigue. The Alexander Technique gives us practical knowledge of the principles governing human coordination. The Alexander Technique teaches us how to be, at once, relaxed and ready, soft and strong, light and substantial, firm and flexible.
Through study, we become capable of redirecting excessive effort into useful energy. As we become more effortlessly upright, we also find ourselves coming down to the ground, to a place where we can function simply, comfortably and appreciatively.
Who This Workshop Is For
This workshop is for anyone who has a body. If you want to learn how to be more comfortable physically, how to move more easily and pleasurably, then this is a good workshop for you. People who require especially fine coordination also find the Alexander Technique enormously helpful – performing artists, musicians, martial artists, athletes, movement teachers, bodyworkers, physical, occupational, and speech therapists often study with Alexander teachers.
Photo: Tada Anchan Akihiro
About Bruce Fertman
Bruce has been teaching people how to move well for 50 years.
His training is extensive: 16 years of training with Marjorie L. Barstow, the first person certified to teach Alexander’s work; 8 years of study in Tai Chi Chu’an with Cheng man Ching’s six senior American students; 8 years of training with Shuji Maruyama, apprentice to Ueshiba, founder of Aikido; student of the Uresenke School of Tea in Kyoto, Japan under Iemoto Soshitsu Sen, 15th generation grand tea master; studied Argentine Tango with Pablo Vernon and Gustavo Naveira. Currently studying Kyudo, Zen Archery in Osaka, Japan.
In 1982 Bruce Fertman founded the Alexander Alliance, a network of schools devoted to preserving and evolving the work of Marjorie L. Barstow (1899-1995). The Alliance conducts teacher-training programs in the Alexander Technique in Germany, Japan and the USA.
Annually, Bruce introduces the Alexander Technique to people in Europe, Asia and the USA. He is author of Where This Path Begins, Renderings of the Tao Te Ching.
When Bruce teaches, he is the embodiment of his work – attentive, sensitive, beautiful, coordinated, ready, calm, and unified.
His pace, and patience, his quiet confidence allows people to unfold and open, layer by layer. He is a profoundly human man, completely real. In Bruce’s class, you feel as if you are sitting by a deep, soft lake.
He works devotedly with his hands, like a loving sculptor. The superfluous falls away, leaving only life’s inner vitality, effortlessly expressing itself through you. His touch is like a butterfly settling down on the very turning point of your soul. And then you know, “That’s who I am, that is who I could be.”
– M. Tueshaus
Alexander Teacher / Tango Teacher / Equestrian / Germany
Workshop Details
No prior experience necessary.
People of all ages welcome.
Limited to 20 participants.
Date: 24./25.10.2015, 10am – 6pm
Organizers and assistant teachers:
Magdalena Proyer and Johannes Gassner
Location: Technopark Zürich
(close to train stop Zürich Hardbrücke)
Course fee: CHF 280.- (Students CHF 200.-)
Workshop language: English
(partial translation to German possible)
To register call +41 (0)78 888 16 64
or write to Alexander.Technik@gmx.ch
Individual lessons (CHF 100.–/45ˈ) can
be arranged on Monday, 26.10.2015.
To learn more about Bruce Fertman,
the Alexander Technique and
the Alexander Alliance:
