#Alexander Teachnique

[bodyalive]

Follow Up Notes to the Uruguay Workshop AT Teachers and Trainees.

To My New Uruguay AT Friends,

When I teach, whether in workshops or online, I follow up with notes. So here, I will finish giving you the list of AT principles I began at our workshop, the principles that have fascinated me for half a century. 

Often, we think to ourselves in words. But sometimes, most of us also think in images. For me, directions, or messages, can be imagistic. With practice, we can get good at sending messages from our brains to parts of our body, or to our whole body, and sometimes even to the space around our body. Good images are full of information that can tap into our innate integration, that can energize our primary governance, or primary pattern, or primary movement. You want to find images that possess geometric power and beauty, that are three dimensional, that move beautifully or that are beautifully still, (like mountains). Fluid images can be particularly effective. (The octopus). 

If they are to work, images need to be precisely located in the body and they must resonate with the body’s physiological design. Imagining a little baby sound asleep, laying upon your diaphragm, breathing, and you watching that baby as it sleeps and softly breathes can free your breathing in a way that trying to breathe correctly could never do. That image would not work for your feet, but imagining that you have huge, soft, furry bear feet does work for the feet. 

Images can communicate, instantly, a large amount of information: size, shape, texture, timing, quality of movement, direction of movement, initiation and sequencing of movement, etc. It might take ten pages of words to express what we see and feel in one second when we see a great photo or painting. Images can also be positively emotive for people, that is, they sometimes communicate positive feelings which can help us feel peace and poise. The full moon over Mount Fuji. The mermaid swimming in the ocean. I mention just a few of the images we played with during our day together. I have hundreds of images that help people move well and feel well.

[Thanks Bruce Fertman]

[radlanddinosaurs]

3) Bob Ross is Important

Only a tiny fraction of the world’s population would know the importance of Bob Ross. Those who grew up watching his televised shows in the 80s, and those aspiring artists who spend their weekends binge watching his shows for free on YouTube and Twitch. 

You see, Bob’s popularity and presence kind of diminished after he passed away in 1995 at the age of only 52 due to lymphoma. He was very well known for his permed bushy hair and his unorthodox way of teaching traditional wet-on-wet painting. But recently he has gain a whole new generation of audience thanks to the internet.

His show The Joy of Painting ran from 1983 to 1994 on the American channel called PBS. It was actually a successor to an earlier show called The Magic of Painting which was hosted by Bob’s mentor Bill Alexander. The Joy of Painting had 31 seasons with a total of 403 episodes. Many would think that he did it for 31 years but no. It’s because he did two seasons every year with 13 episodes in each season. 

Now why is Bob Ross important? Well for starters, his technique to traditional painting was really simple and friendly for beginners. In his show, every episode was about half an hour, and in each one he painted a full painting from start to finish. It’s really something to behold. For any artist, it’s very helpful to watch Bob’s teachnique and how he dealt with speed and efficiency while not comprising any details. He made painting look easy. It’s even more helpful if you’re an observational learner.  

While most tutorials are structured, stern, strict to fundamentals and theory, Bob taught us to relax and enjoy painting. He often gave important tips and tricks that are still relevant even for digital painting. He would always emphasized that anyone can do it and you don’t need years of practice to create a nice painting.

If you watch The Joy of Painting enough, you would know that he frequently delivered quotes and sayings that were encouraging and wholesome. His life lessons and advices are another important part as to why you should spend some time watching Bob Ross. It’s almost like therapy and an escape from the stressful things of reality. Where today people tend to love inspirational quotes on social media, Bob was like the equivalent for people back then. It’s also better because he said it directly to you while teaching you how to paint.

Even that he’s now gone, he is important for the fact that his show can still effectively teach and inspire young people to learn art. He is important for the fact that in today’s smartphone society and social media extreme toxicity, he can be like a father figure for millennials on the internet by being down to earth and focusing on what actually matters in life. 

Where to watch The Joy of Painting:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxcnsr1R5Ge_fbTu5ajt8DQ

https://www.twitch.tv/bobross