January 9, 2015
I’m still flying high from the fabulous five day workshop in Malibu at the Serra Retreat: http://serraretreat.com/
I’m still flying high from the fabulous five day workshop in Malibu at the Serra Retreat: http://serraretreat.com/
Michael Frederick, a senior Alexander Technique teacher (Standing in photo below) (http://www.amsatonline.org/teacher/michaelfrederick) established this workshop 35 years ago: http://alexandertechniqueworkshops.com/
This was my first time to attend and I was blown away by the richness of the experience. First there is the physical space itself perched atop a hill in Malibu complete with gardens and views of the Pacific Ocean.
The attendees included ten senior teachers, many certified teachers, students in training courses, students who take lessons regularly and those who had never had any experience at all with AT! And, what a variety there was!
a Methodist minister who is going to retire and do story telling at libraries
a Lutheran minister with a lovely voice
a woman studying to be a cantor with an astonishing voice
many instrumentalists – bassoon, oboe, flute, viola, piano, guitar, Native American flute – as well as many singers including Deborah Domanski: http://deborahdomanski.com/
I could go on and on. Each participant had an interesting story to tell.
And a very special person, Gilla Nissan, led daily meditation sessions in the chapel in addition to giving a talk on the meaning of Hebrew letters one evening. Then she spontaneously came up with the idea of inviting one of the Franciscan friars to come to the chapel for an open discussion. She asked him questions, which he candidly answered. He likes the new pope and welcomes the changes that are occurring and he hopes, will occur. Words cannot describe this amazing inter-faith dialogue. I wished it would have been recorded in some way. Gilla’s website is: http://thehebrewletter.com/
Gilla inspired three of her followers to come to the workshop without knowing anything about AT! One of these is an equally amazing woman who is working for interfaith dialogue. She speaks at least 4 languages, is extremely creative, tireless and delightful. On New Year's Eve we had a party and a talent show where she premiered a song from a musical she is writing on interfaith dialogue and it was great! The previous day she made up AT inspired lyrics to Santa is Coming to Town and sang that at the party as well. It was very funny and spot on. Her website is: http://www.minefieldsandmiracles.com/Bio.html
As if that wasn’t enough, we were treated to a daily lecture/demonstration by a well-known motivational speaker, Michael Gelb, who’s written fifteen books. The first is called Body Learning and is a clear introduction to AT. As a bonus we each got a signed copy of his latest book, Creativity on Demand. (Michael is in a black shirt in the center) http://michaelgelb.com/
a Methodist minister who is going to retire and do story telling at libraries
a Lutheran minister with a lovely voice
a woman studying to be a cantor with an astonishing voice
many instrumentalists – bassoon, oboe, flute, viola, piano, guitar, Native American flute – as well as many singers including Deborah Domanski: http://deborahdomanski.com/
I could go on and on. Each participant had an interesting story to tell.
And a very special person, Gilla Nissan, led daily meditation sessions in the chapel in addition to giving a talk on the meaning of Hebrew letters one evening. Then she spontaneously came up with the idea of inviting one of the Franciscan friars to come to the chapel for an open discussion. She asked him questions, which he candidly answered. He likes the new pope and welcomes the changes that are occurring and he hopes, will occur. Words cannot describe this amazing inter-faith dialogue. I wished it would have been recorded in some way. Gilla’s website is: http://thehebrewletter.com/
Gilla inspired three of her followers to come to the workshop without knowing anything about AT! One of these is an equally amazing woman who is working for interfaith dialogue. She speaks at least 4 languages, is extremely creative, tireless and delightful. On New Year's Eve we had a party and a talent show where she premiered a song from a musical she is writing on interfaith dialogue and it was great! The previous day she made up AT inspired lyrics to Santa is Coming to Town and sang that at the party as well. It was very funny and spot on. Her website is: http://www.minefieldsandmiracles.com/Bio.html
As if that wasn’t enough, we were treated to a daily lecture/demonstration by a well-known motivational speaker, Michael Gelb, who’s written fifteen books. The first is called Body Learning and is a clear introduction to AT. As a bonus we each got a signed copy of his latest book, Creativity on Demand. (Michael is in a black shirt in the center) http://michaelgelb.com/
In his lectures Michael zeroed in on the key points of the Alexander Technique, which I’ll send out to you next week.
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