Workshops
in 2008-2009 — Tommy Thompson
Sample Workshops
— Tommy Thompson
Weekend Workshop
Series — Resident teachers — Sept. / Feb. / Apr.
Summer Residential
— Resident teachers — Summer to be announced
Postgraduate Teacher
Training — Resident teachers — July to be announced
Tommy will be conducting workshops in the following locations in 2008-2009:
A workshop about Meeting Yourself, Being Yourself based upon who you have become, and not who you were, with practical exercises and group work using one's hands to convey this possibility...
Lausanne, Switzerland in April 12,13; Schwyz, Switzerland in April 19,20
Alexander's teaching was predicated upon self referral and self monitoring
He
advocated using kinesthetic perception as the initial tool of
awareness to identify habitual and unconscious behavior previously
unrecognized.
Once
identified, he
provided the person with a "means whereby" to cease to reinforce
those aspects of reaction behavior that might interfere with a more
preferred
and expanded range of human potential in all relationships.
Throughout my 30 plus years of teaching' I have found "self referring" to be a natural, indispensable and organic sensibility that is inherent to our design.
We really do not have to
work at
restoring optimal primary control to augment our experiencing of the
events in
our lives. We need only acknowledge it. However, without conscious
monitoring
of our response in both mundane and extreme circumstances, we do often
tend to
react to ourselves having the experience, and neglect to experience
what we're
actually experiencing. Thus, we know what we feel and think in
reaction, but we
might not really know what we actually feel and think....
Lugano, Switzerland at AT Congress in August 16-20th
My
workshops are often geared to specific groups such as:
athletes, musicians, actors and dancers, physicians or
their patients, fencers, Alexander teachers,
Alexander trainees, and various sections of the general public
interest. Special workshop formats are available for colleges
and universities, festivals and Alexander Technique teacher training
programs. My workshops can be individually designed for
specific interests and needs. The following are
descriptions of workshops I have given, and still do from time
to time.
If you are interested in scheduling a
workshop, please contact me at
Enhancing Relationships and our experience of them through using principles of Alexander Teaching
We are born into relationship.
Indeed, from our first to our last breath, we are never out of
relationship, to other people, to our planet and to our world of our
creation. Within this simple truth lie all our experiences in being
alive.
Given the quality of our response to all we are in relation to, either
our relationships are difficult or easy, unfulfilling or
meaningful. But, ultimately, any relationship to anything or
to anyone is simply one’s experience.
What makes the difference? And, how can we
make a difference?
Here are questions to ask ourselves. Are my relationships
meaningful and fulfilling, or are they habitually difficult and
unsuccessful? Has my way of being and processing experience
enhanced the quality of my relationships to: the people I
encounter briefly on a daily basis; to my more enduring relationships
with my family; my friends and my loved ones; and do I feel at ease in
relationship to the planet and all that it offers?
This workshop will focus on using the principles and concepts which
form the basis for the Alexander teaching, to foster and enhance
meaningful relationships -- with everything and everyone. The
participants will work individually, in pairs and in groups to explore
this theme.
Prior to the workshop each participant is encouraged to think about
relationships in their life; about those that have proved to be
unsatisfying and complicated, and those which have always been easy and
engaging. This kind of thinking, prior to participation in the workshop
will increase the possibilities of each participant’s individual
contribution and transformation.
Mainly when you teach, if you wish to touch the heart of the person, you teach from your vision of what life means to you. If you don't, then you're teaching something to which you aspire but certainly not where you are in the moment.
Prior to this workshop, I'd like to have you write down your vision of life in simple terms. and how the Alexander work fits into that vision -- in what ways? You will bring this journal to the workshop.
Since the Alexander work is about how we use
ourselves to experience life based upon how we are designed to function
and not apart from that, then whatever we write down about our vision
must pertain to a vision of life. How can life be lived to maximize
living it well...
We'll share these visions Thursday evening over dinner, work through
them during the workshop and see how they change as we come closer to
our own individual experience of what we actually envision. Of course
we'll explore the Alexander work to do this, and all will be recorded
in a journal. Then the person themselves can decide whether
they wish to teach their vision or the technique.
It is suggested that participants bring pictures of their
vision from magazines/etc showing the way they wish for life
to be lived and not lived and a story that exemplifies the desired or
preferred vision of life and the opposite. Also participants
should be prepared to share the most positive experience of the AT they
have had to date and how this has reinforced their vision and also the
experience that gave them the most discomfort and how that experience
affected their vision of life from a negative point of view.
Each person will be requested to share a brief story about how they
have been led to pursue the AT as opposed to yoga or meditation, etc.,
and will be asked to explain why they have chosen to teach the work
rather than just incorporate the work into their lives to promote their
preferred vision of life.
Self Referring Without Losing Touch with the World Around You
Two Day
Workshop for Teachers, Trainees and New Comers
And, in fact ... expanding your experience of 'self' in doing
so. In this workshop we will delve
into habitual and non-habitual aspects of 'self
referring' as a natural, organic sensibility that is built
into our design. Alexander's teaching was predicated
upon self monitoring, using kinesthetic perception as the
initial tool of awareness.
Poise, Presense and Being Alexander Technique Workshop for Dancers Given by Tommy Thompson
Fee: $35 per registrant
To Register: Please mail check, made out to: “Tommy Thompson, Alexander Technique Center” two weeks prior to the workshop date to:
Alexander Technique Center at Cambridge 1692 Massachusetts Avenue, Third floor Cambridge, MA 02138In this workshop you will learn how to bring the principles and concepts central to the Alexander teaching into issues specific to your own life as a dancer. Free your performance by undoing the habitual tendencies in thought, feeling, and perception that reflect in a dancer's movements and impede their performance.
Our
focus will be
on how desired change occurs quite naturally when you change the way
you process information, and allow the information you receive to
inform your experience rather than selecting the information you think
you need to have the experience you desire. When this occurs
you needn't do much at all to elicit the change you wish for.
Introductory Alexander Technique Workshop
Cambridge,
Massachusetts
Friday, August 4th 7 PM to 9 PM and
Saturday, August 5th
The fee for each
workshop is $150
(please mail a deposit of $50 one week prior to the workshop date, and
for those who wish to participate in more than one workshop, you may
deduct $25 from the
second workshop)
Each workshop
will focus on clarifying
for the participant how to bring the principles and
concepts central to the Alexander teaching into
issues specific to your own life. Our focus
will be on how change occurs quite naturally when you change the way
you process information, and allow the information you receive to
inform your experience rather than selecting the information you think
you need to have the experience you desire, and how when this occurs
you needn't do much at all to elicit the change you wish for
Three weekends a year, in September, February and April we offer two-day introductory workshops for the public on Friday evenings and all day Saturday. The focus of these workshops is on exploring the guiding principles of the Alexander Technique: its practical application and its potential meaning in our lives.
Stay tuned for more details...
Stay tuned for more details...
Three weeks in July we offer an intensive Postgraduate training for Alexander Teachers and Trainees. The focus of this course is to make practical the theoretical basis of Alexander's teaching, and to broaden the scope and implications of the Teaching.
The course is taught by the ATCC faculty and invited guests. Separate brochures with specific information are available by May prior to the course dates. Teachers in training at ATCC are required to attend. Attendance is included in training tuition.
Stay tuned for more details...
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