The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique

BATTSA Teachers

Permanent Staff | Visiting Teachers | School Alumni

Permanent Staff

Caroline Chalk - Head of Training

(Qualified A & J Haahr 1984)

Understanding that the way we think can improve our quality of life is a subject that has fascinated me since I started having Alexander lessons at the age of 11. I had problems with headaches and was painfully self-conscious. Once I started lessons my headaches disappeared and my confidence began to grow.

I continued with lessons throughout my teens and found applying the Technique to my music and sports - especially my horse riding which soon became a passion of mine - improved my performance and enjoyment enormously. The Technique was making a huge impression on my life and I was becoming more and more enthusiastic about the possibilities that it offered to everyone and so decided to train to be a teacher in order that I could pass these possibilities onto others.

I did my Alexander training with Jeanne and Aksel Haahr (Carrington trained) in Totnes, Devon and qualified in 1984. Since qualifying I have worked with a wide range of people from many walks of life and love the way the application of the Technique enables people to make the very best of whatever they are engaged in. I am also a qualified and experienced therapist and bring relevant skills in communication and personal development to my role as head of training.

I have a private teaching practice working with individuals & groups. I enjoy the mixture of teaching the general public as well as working on the training course. It is important to me that I teach people at all levels because this means I am constantly in touch with what I am training others to do! I have worked at BATTSA since 2003 and find it very rewarding being able to work at a more advanced and in-depth level with trainees.

I have two dogs and enjoy lots of walking in beautiful places. I love singing and am part of a choir which meets regularly and when I make the time I play the piano a bit, ride horses, play tennis and anything else that catches my interest!

I value the input and companionship of the core teachers at BATTSA very much. I am also grateful to all the visiting teachers that come to BATTSA with their own individual ideas, views and outlooks on applying the Alexander Technique to life which contributes hugely to my continual learning process.

Colin Tully

(Qualified A & J Haahr 1983)
Composer and musician

The AT could be described as a method which explores how the mind effects the body. At the age of ten, long before I'd ever heard of Alexander, I made my first experiments with influencing a physical outcome with a mental attitude.

During a game of golf I discovered that if I didn't try too hard or even adopted a 'couldn't care less' attitude I generally found that I would have a better chance of hitting a golf ball where I wanted it to go. This, I thought, was my own unique discovery (which sadly did not lead me to become especially good at golf, just a slightly less moody child for my father to play his game of golf with!)

When, at the age of nineteen, in my first Alexander lesson my teacher said the words 'don't try' as he took me in and out of the chair, it connected with my earlier golf experience. So, there I was in this lesson, being asked to 'try less hard', 'make less effort' and I again noticed that my mental attitude could affect the physical outcome. I noticed with a rising sense of relief that an enormous heaviness, of which I had been hitherto unaware, was no longer pressing my body down.

As I strolled home from this lesson, the physical lightness was matched by a different and more optimistic mental outlook. More things seemed possible. The future was bright. I was hooked and went back for more!

Several years of private lessons ensued, followed by a training course, 1980 - 83 at Dartington College, Totnes, Devon, which for me was a blissfully, self - indulgent journey of self-exploration. Fortunately, the reality of passing on Alexander's principles to other people, i.e. teaching, has brought me back down to earth. Occasionally, one does get difficult pupils but in a general sense, Alexander teachers can count themselves lucky to be in a 'person based' profession with possibilities of really making a difference for people.

So what was the 'enormous heaviness' that was weighing me down as a teenager? Awkwardness, perhaps, or emotional difficulties which most of us go through at that age.

Another factor was an obsession with playing various musical instruments. Piano, guitar, flute and saxophone all left their impression on my physical structure i.e. I was hunching over at the piano, twisting to play the flute etc.

Needless to say the Technique has helped me a lot in the relationship with my instruments and playing, not just in a purely physical sense but helping to keep me free and constructive within a greater range of musical environments.

Nowadays my professional life is happily split between playing saxophone, (I run my own band) exploring the 'use of myself' in music and teaching the Alexander Technique to pupils and trainee teachers.

Perhaps, however the most daunting field of exploration is in my loving relationship with my two high energy daughters of 10 and 13, who daily threaten to transform me back to the grumpy man I might have become!

Belinda May - Assistant Director

(Qualified BATTSA 1999)
Teaches anatomy at BATTSA

About 20 years ago I was given a book, the Alexander Principle by Wilfred Barlow, which I dutifully decided to read. By the end of the book I was so fascinated I decided to have some lessons and so began my association with the Alexander Technique.

At the time I suffered from headaches and "poor posture", throughout my life I had always being told to stand up straight, but had never imagined the two were connected. I found that after a lesson I had a very different sense of co-ordination, it felt good, and in time my head aches left me, my posture was improving along with my confidence. So I continued with more lessons until one day I decided to train as a teacher as soon as my youngest child started school.

I qualified from BATTSA in 1999 and set up my teaching practice at home in Blagdon, North Somerset. I have helped on various introductory courses including a weeks course for musicians in France. I have also held introductory courses for Somerset Council Adult Learning programs.

At the beginning of 2003 Ali Burrows - then head of training - asked me if I would like to come and teach at BATTSA and take the anatomy session, I naturally said yes. I feel very lucky and privileged to work there for many reasons. Working with the trainees in depth as they study the Technique and learn to apply the principles to their lives; helping them on their journey to become teachers and the wonderfully supportive atmosphere of the school. I find teaching the anatomy session fascinating, the more you learn and discover about the workings of the body the more you realise you cannot separate mind and body.

Lucia Walker - BATTSA's Moderator

(Qualified D & E Walker 1987)

Lucia Walker Lucia qualified as an AT teacher in 1987 after training with Dick and Elisabeth Walker. Since then she has taught individuals, groups and on teacher training courses in Europe, America and Japan. She also continues to work as an independent dance teacher and performer specialising in improvisation.

In teaching Lucia likes to use games, discussion, touch, stillness and activity to explore Alexander's principles in ways that are relevant and enjoyable. She loves the way Alexander work supports the ability to find greater wholeness and confidence in our lives.

For more info on the moderator's role click here.

Linda Jordan

(Qualified J Haahr 1990)

I found my way into the Alexander Technique via a sore neck and arm – generated by learning to play a clarinet with more enthusiasm than knowledge. After a year of lessons I wanted to study the technique in greater depth but certainly didn’t want to be a teacher. I qualified in 1990 (Jeanne Haahr) and the teaching just happened anyway.

I have been teaching at BATTSA since then; as a core teacher, as Assistant Director and as a visiting teacher. I have also trained with Steven Shaw in the Art of Swimming and qualified as a Shaw Method teacher in 2001. I teach A.T. privately at my home in Devon and continue to play my clarinet – without a sore neck!

Teaching Term

Recently qualified teachers from the Training School are encouraged to do a teaching term of one day a week.

Visiting Teachers

To complement our core teachers we have regular visits from experienced Alexander teachers from around the world, some skilled not only in the Alexander Technique but also in specific areas, e.g. swimming; running; group teaching; acting and voice; music; anatomy, etc.

We welcome visitors to the workshops (see information below) where they can join in on the day's activities. Visitors are welcome to come at 9am before the workshops starts and share work with teachers and trainees for the first hour. The cost is £27 a day.

Spring and Summer Terms 2008

Glenna Batson — The Three Dimensional Body

A Workshop on the Myofascial Anatomy for Alexander Technique Teachers and Trainees.

11th February 2008 — 10am–4pm

Glenna Batson, PT, DSc, MA, mAmSAT qualified in the Alexander Technique in 1989 from the Alexander Foundation. A former dancer, she draws from multiple forms of movement expression and somatic education as catalysts for teaching and personal growth. Associate professor of Physical Therapy at Winston-Salem State University, Glenna is Alexander Technique teacher in residence at the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has taught numerous workshops on the art and science of the Alexander Technique in the USA, Austria, Australia, Germany, Ireland, and Japan, and has presented at several AT Congresses.

Vivi Hansen, MSTAT—The Alexander Technique applied to Climbing

23rd April 2008 — 9am–1pm

Vivi trained at Battsa qualifying in 1997. She has a private practice where she works with individuals and groups. Vivi is a professional runner and athlete having competed for her country, Denmark. So, she is well qualified to lead us in a fascinating day on climbing. She is also a qualified Pilates teacher.

Lucia Walker, MSTAT - Contact Improvisation

May/June 2008 (date to be confirmed)

For more information on any of the workshops please contact Caroline: caroline@battsa.co.uk

School Alumni

All teachers on this list are members of STAT.

UK

Bristol

Ms Anna Christy
Ms Lisa Clarke
Claire Coveney
Christine English
Jackie Evans
Ms Lesley H. Harrison
Mr David Harrowes
Julia Norman
Charlotte Ostafew
Miss Sandra Tancock

Cambridgeshire / Norfolk

Mrs Susan Reid

Devon

Nick Cann

Gloucestershire

Mrs Sarah Anne Chubb
Joanna Greaves
Judy Schunemann

London

Rosie Hayles

Oxfordshire

Mrs Matilda Leyser

Somerset

Ms Fiona Clogstoun
Ms Vivi Hansen
Mr Stephen Linley
Mrs Belinda May
Mrs Hellie Mulvaney
Maki Quayle
Ms Jill Ray BHS(SM) BHSH
Mrs Susan Trott

Wales

Ms Sarah Tovey

Wiltshire

Susan Stewart

Worcestershire

Pam Street

Overseas

France

Ms Deborah Cranston

Germany

Anne Pommier

Ireland

Miss Anna Gordon
Bel Spencer

Singapore

Mr Hwa Boon Lee

Bristol Alexander Technique Training School Association (BATTSA)