The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique

History

BATTSA The Bristol Alexander Technique Training School has been in existence for almost 20 years. It was first established in 1989 and was run by Diana Mason. To begin with she started the training with just a few students and gradually as time went by more people joined the training. She was assisted by Paul Collins and after Diana stepped down from running the school Paul took over. During this time the school was turned into an Association, which meant that the trainees as well as the teachers had more input into how the school was run.

Paul was the head of training from 1989 until 1994. The head of training role was then taken on by Ali Burrows, one of the teachers working at BATTSA at the time. Ali went on to run and develop BATTSA over the next 13 years until her untimely death in April 2007.

Ali’s contribution to the development of BATTSA has been huge. She poured large amounts of her energy and time into developing the school as skilfully as she could. She was passionate about ideas, about living a true and worthwhile life and about using the Alexander Technique as an aid to achieving this. She enjoyed working with all sorts of people and loved to encourage her students to take ‘just one more step’ beyond where they might habitually have gone had they been left to their own devices; helping them experience something beyond the familiar by stepping into the unknown .

Ali Burrows, former
head of BATTSA

She was an advocate of staying very fluid with any decisions that were made and believed that the present moment was often a wonderful place to make a decision from! Ali helped people work very creatively with their emotional responses to life. Rather than push feelings away she would encourage people to stay with them through applying Alexander’s principles and in this way they could come to understand their feelings rather than being ‘run’ by them.

In doing all this Ali has created the amazing school that BATTSA has become. We appreciate her contribution, dedication and love of the Alexander Technique, of BATTSA and its students.

We think of BATTSA a bit like a garden. Ali planted this beautiful garden and tended it caringly over the years. There may now be some plants that will need some attention and other new ones to be planted but the garden itself will remain a wonderful, rich and fertile ground. Here people will come to learn, grow, change and find their own sense of life satisfaction by applying the principles of the Alexander Technique in their lives.

Bristol Alexander Technique Training School Association (BATTSA)

History