New!
Living the Alexander Technique
Volume II
Aging with Poise
by Ruth Rootberg
Eleven Alexander Technique teachers—Nelly Ben-Or, Shaike Hermelin, Giora Pinkas, Barbara Kent, Vivien Mackie, John Nicholls, Michael Frederick, Ron Dennis, Ruth Murray, Ilana Machover, and George Lister—speak with Ruth Rootberg about their lives, their work, and their approach to using their Alexander skills as they face the challenges of aging with vitality, curiosity, poise, and passion.
“Ruth Rootberg’s wonderful interviews illuminate the challenges and benefits of applying Alexander’s principles and practice in the journey from youth to elderhood. These stories will provide inspiration for anyone who is curious about how to age with grace.”
—Michael J. Gelb
Author of Body Learning and Brain Power
“A veritable goldmine! There are nuggets of wisdom, insights, experience and enthusiasm to be found in every one of these interviews. The thread running through all of them is one of passion for the Technique and integrity in adhering to its principles, as each person applies them to living their life in their own personal and fundamental way. Everyone’s journey is different, – yet the essence of the Technique shines through each person’s story. A book to be read, studied, pondered and discussed by every student of the Alexander Technique.”
—Anne Battye
Alexander Technique teacher
“Aging with vitality is the dominant theme to watch for as you read Ruth’s remarkable interviews with some of my “beloved” mentors. Her book is a treasure trove filled with stories of lives well-lived. You will read about the grace and humor these AT teachers exhibit as they apply Alexander’s principles to their daily lives. Teachers and students alike will love getting to know and learning from these master teachers.”
—Judith Stern
Alexander Technique Teacher and Physical Therapist
Ruth Rootberg is a certified Alexander Technique teacher, Designated Linklater Voice teacher, and Certified Laban Movement Analyst. Her first volume of interviews, Living the Alexander Technique, was published in 2015. Ruth comes from a classical voice and theater background and integrates these passions into her practice. She lives and teaches in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Order Online:
Direct from the publisher at: Levellers Press
Print & Kindle available at: Amazon
Also available at iTunes, Nook, Kindle, Kobo, and GooglePlay
Bulk orders (over 5 & 10 copies): 413 256-6425
or at: levellerspress1@gmail.com
Signed Copies or International Orders: Email Ruth Rootberg
Living the Alexander Technique
by Ruth Rootberg
Nine distinguished teachers of the Alexander Technique—Elisabeth Walker, Frank Ottiwell, Anne Battye, Joan and Alex Murray, Sarnie Ogus, Rome Earle, Ann Mathews, and Jane Heirich—speak with Ruth Rootberg about their lives, their work, and their approach to using their Alexander skills as they face aging, loss of loved ones, and the challenges of illness and injury. With over 400 years of combined teaching experience, they reveal how the Alexander Technique provides a dependable pathway to meet the ongoing challenges of daily living.
This book is a wonderful resource for Alexander Technique students, teachers, and anyone who seeks models of aging with dignity and passion.
“Students and teachers of the Alexander Technique will gain valuable and thought-provoking insights from these personal stories and life lessons, generously shared by master teachers of the profession.”
—Missy Vineyard Ehrgood
Teacher of the Alexander Technique
and author of How you Stand, How you Move, How you Live
“In an age that ‘worships youth’ it is important to learn to overcome our fear of growing older and, ultimately, of death. This is an important book because it gives you a template for aging gracefully. The spirit of enjoying whatever each day brings and of continual learning at every stage of life infuses each of these master teachers as they discuss the Alexander Technique as a practical tool that allows life to be ‘just a little easier.'”
—Michael Frederick
Alexander Technique Teacher, training director, and founding director of the International Congresses on the Alexander Technique.
“I think it would be wonderful if, when a person turns 65 and receives a Medicare card, eligibility for the card would require lessons in the Alexander Technique.”
—Sarnie Ogus
Alexander Technique teacher
Order Online:
Direct from the publisher at: Levellers Press
Print & Kindle available at: Amazon
Also available at iTunes & iBooks, Google Play, and Nook
Bulk orders (over 5 & 10 copies): 413 256-6425
or at: levellerspress1@gmail.com
Signed Copies or International Orders: Email Ruth Rootberg
Excerpt from Living the Alexander Technique
Finding (again) the Essential First Step
Frank Ottiwell
Frank: I’m in a place now where my illness has prevented me from functioning in the world. I mean, not completely. It’s not that I don’t get out; in fact, I’m going to the theatre tonight. But I get taken everywhere; I’m not driving.
Ruth: Sometimes I am not sure, in tracking my own journey as a committed but aging student of the Alexander Technique, whether I’m discovering something new since my training days, or rediscovering something that I had already learned, but forgotten. Are you saying you have discovered a degree of specificity that was unknown to you in your younger, healthier days?
Frank: No, not really, though it often seems so completely new and fresh in the moment that it is only when my rational mind wakes up that I have to remember that I have been through this before, with the help of a teacher. What is different, I suppose, is my situation, and in that new situation I am fooled into thinking that I have made all these fantastic discoveries myself! Periodically, over the years, I would have realizations or insights and think: Now, that’s what the Technique is really about. [We laugh.] Maybe this time it really is a new beginning. We’ll see.
Ruth: What led to a “new beginning” this time?
Frank: For one thing, I am becoming more and more aware of myself moment to moment. Because of my lack of so much of my customary ability, many physical activities have become quite difficult. I remember soon after I came home from the hospital, I was walking across a room and became aware that I was moving very awkwardly and holding myself together intensely, in a sort of all-over grip. I’m sure it was a misguided attempt to prevent falling—the scourge of old age and brittle bones—but in that moment, something cleared. I realized I was behaving as though I had never experienced the Alexander Technique. It was a shock, but in retrospect, a blessing. I had, once again, found the essential first step in the Alexander work: recognition of what I was doing. I don’t take any credit for that important moment. After all, I was stopped in my tracks by it. I think it was my Road to Damascus.
Frank Ottiwell was born in Montreal in 1929. In 1949 he moved to New York to study acting, and in 1954 began Alexander Technique lessons with Judith Leibowitz. In 1956 he entered Judy’s first training course for teachers, qualifying in 1959.
Order Now
Buy online at: Levellers Press
Print & Kindle available at: Amazon
Also available at iTunes & iBooks, Google Play, and Nook
Bulk orders (over 5 & 10 copies): 413 256-6425
or at: levellerspress1@gmail.com
International Orders: Email Ruth Rootberg