https://poiseandpresence.info/, https://linktr.ee/ruthhommelsheim

Ruth Hommelsheim AT, London (2026)

16/03/2026

Alexander Technique Conversations #27: Jörg Aßhoff

In Conversation with Jörg Aßhoff - Alexander Technique and Consistency
https://youtu.be/VTDc0cfXsEc

In this conversation I speak with Jörg Aßhoff, Alexander Technique teacher and teacher trainer based in Berlin.

Jörg Aßhoff began his professional path in theatre. Between 1982 and 1988 he completed a theatre training with a strong focus on body-oriented work. During this period he worked extensively with methods such as Mime Corporel Dramatique, the work of Jerzy Grotowski, and the Feldenkrais Method. From 1988 to 1990 he performed his own stage program and also led acting classes. His encounter with the Feldenkrais Method awakened his interest in the Alexander Technique, and from 1990 to 1993 he trained in Freiburg as a teacher of the F. M. Alexander Technique with Dan Armon and Wilfried Hanefeld.

Since 1993 Jörg Aßhoff has been working as a teacher of the Alexander Technique. Alongside his private practice he has taught at speech therapy schools and adult education centers, and for fifteen years he taught Alexander Technique at the Berlin University of the Arts.

From 1998/99 to 2003 he was co-founder, organiser, and assistant at the Alexander Technique school of Dan Armon in Berlin. In 2004 he founded his own teacher training program, the “Alexander-Technik-Schule Berlin,” which he continues to direct today. Teaching is conducted mainly in English and attracts students from many different countries.

In addition, Jörg Aßhoff has for many years been invited as a guest teacher and moderator in teacher-training programs in Germany and France. Over decades he maintained close contact with Shmuel Nelken and Shaike Hermelin, who were among his important teachers and lasting influences. Since 1990 he has also been deeply engaged in Zen practice, which has accompanied and influenced his work up to the present day.

06/03/2026

In this conversation I speak with Irmel Weber, Alexander Technique teacher and Tango dancer based in Berlin.

*Irmel Weber (born 1954) is a teacher of the F.M. Alexander Technique and a long-standing member of the German Alexander Technique Association (ATVD, formerly G.L.A.T.).

She has been teaching the Alexander Technique since 1993 and has been involved in the professional training of Alexander Technique teachers from the very beginning of her career. She completed her own training from 1990 to 1993 with Danny McGowan at the Training Centre for F.M. Alexander Technique in Berlin. From 1993 to 1999 she worked there as a full-time assistant (over 3,200 hours), playing a key role in the training of more than 30 future teachers.

In 2001, following Danny McGowan’s departure from Berlin, she founded the Ausbildungszentrum für F.M. Alexander-Technik Berlin (AZATB), a training school recognised by the ATVD and supported by 19 international Alexander Technique societies, including those in the UK, USA, and Switzerland.

Irmel Weber has served in various leadership roles within the German professional association, including as First Chair and later as spokesperson for the training commission. From 2015 to 2022 she again served on the ATVD board. She also organises international gatherings for Alexander Technique teachers, including the 2011 International Congress in Lugano, Switzerland, which welcomed more than 400 participants.

Together with her assistant Heike Sheratte, she has developed AZATB into an internationally recognised training centre and a meeting place for continuing professional development. She regularly invites highly experienced teachers from Europe and the United States to offer guest seminars.
With a background as a dancer and dance educator, she brings particular expertise to the connection between the Alexander Technique, dance, and movement, and has also worked extensively with musicians. Over the decades, she has gained broad experience teaching people of all ages and professional backgrounds.

23/02/2026

Alexander Technique Conversations #25: Michael Frederick
https://youtu.be/pJSjpfUiyhY

This conversation, recorded in two parts at the International Alexander Technique Congress in Dublin 2025, features Michael Frederick.

Originally trained as an actor at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England, Michael’s path into the Alexander Technique grew out of his work in theatre. He trained as an Alexander Teacher in England with Walter and Dilys Carrington and in the United States with Marjorie Barstow — all master teachers trained by F.M. Alexander in the 1930s.

Alongside his Alexander training, he studied as a Feldenkrais Practitioner with Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais in the U.S. and Israel, and undertook extensive study in the Yoga tradition of T.K.V. Desikachar in Chennai, India. In the mid-1970s, he also studied with several Sufi teachers in Turkey and London. From 1976 to 1978, he taught theatre at Brockwood Park School in Hampshire, founded by philosopher and educator Jiddu Krishnamurti.

Michael later conceived and founded the International Alexander Technique Congresses and served as Director of the first three Congresses, creating what became a major international gathering for the profession. Since 1978, he has organised and taught more than 250 workshops across the USA and Europe.

He worked for two years at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute and taught for over a decade in The Old Globe Theatre’s MFA Acting Program at the University of San Diego. From 1994 to 2000, he organised Alexander Technique Master Classes with Marjory Barlow and Elisabeth Walker in San Francisco, Basel, and Paris, and has led presentation skills seminars for senior corporate management, including Du Pont, Merck, and AMOCO.

A former Chairman of the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT), he currently serves as Co-Director and Board Member of the Alexander Training Institute–Los Angeles (ATI-LA). Michael teaches in Los Angeles, Ojai, and Santa Barbara, California, and was voted Best Alexander Teacher by Los Angeles Magazine.

19/02/2026

Alexander Technique Conversations #24: Robyn Avalon
https://youtu.be/Pl9osxGMSxw

In this Conversation I speak with Robyn Avalon, accomplished AT teacher and teacher trainer in Santa Fe, USA.
Robyn has been studying Alexander’s Work since 1975, being first introduced to it as a young professional performing artist.

Robyn is the Founding Director of the Contemporary Alexander School, offering self-paced, non-residential teacher training programs in Santa Fe (NM), Portland (OR), Tucson (AZ), LA & NYC; as well as being Co-Director of the Alexander Alliance Europe, offering workshops, teacher training, and post-graduate studies throughout Europe. Robyn is also the Creator of Living in a Body™, a Professional Body Mapping Certification Course translated into multiple languages and taught worldwide.

Robyn’s primary studies were with Marjorie Barstow, Bruce Fertman, and the Alexander Alliance, and she now continues Marj’s lineage in her own training programs. In addition, Robyn has also had the pleasure of being mentored by numerous first and second generation teachers over the past 45 years, and enjoys exploring ways to bridge all styles.

At this point in her career, Robyn’s main interests include training Alexander Teachers in Group Teaching/Crafting of Alexander Games; teaching in real life situations and activities; incorporating Body Mapping (LIAB™), bridging classical and contemporary styles of the Work; and helping to bring more awareness to Equity and Diversity issues within our profession.

17/02/2026

Alexander Technique Conversations #23: Jeremy Chance
https://youtu.be/rAHxnbB1HcU

In this conversation I speak with Jeremy Chance, accomplished Alexander Technique teacher and teacher trainer based in Japan.

Jeremy has spent the last 25 of his 45 teaching years building the work in Japan.
Jeremy first experienced Alexander’s Discovery in 1968. He began teaching in 1979 and over his career has been involved in many projects: founding AUSTAT in Australia, publishing the DIRECTION Journal (now available from Mouritz), writing “The Principles of the Alexander Technique” available in seven languages and from 1999, founding and running BodyChance – a teacher training school in Japan.

He has worked with hundreds of Alexander teachers in multiple countries and cultures. Some of the most successful teachers today can trace their roots back to being exposed to the ideas in his 12-Step ATSuccess plan. He also built BodyChance in Japan – before COVID, we had over 140 trainees attending every month. Jeremy understands how to gather students!

Jeremy is now the Principal and Consultant to Zen Place BodyChance Training School – which is slowly introducing the work into 130 Zen Place Studios spread all over Japan.

03/02/2026

Alexander Technique Conversations #22:
In Conversation with Tommy Thompson
https://youtu.be/qQbCzsZa6nI

In this conversation I speak with Tommy Thompson, accomplished Alexander Technique teacher and teacher trainer in Cambridge/Massachusetts.

Tommy has been teaching the Alexander Technique since 1975, having been introduced to the work through Dr. Frank Pierce Jones at Tufts University, where Tommy served as Assistant Professor and Managing Director of Tufts Arena Theater. Dr. Jones, who trained directly with F. Matthias Alexander and his brother A.R. Alexander, was the world's foremost scientific authority on the Alexander Technique in his generation. In 1975, Dr. Jones sent Tommy to assist Princeton University's world champion heavyweight rowing crew, many of whom went on to become the 1976 Olympic rowing team. With Dr. Jones' blessing, Tommy left university life that same year to dedicate himself to teaching the Alexander work.

Since then, Tommy has guided thousands of students—including Alexander teachers and trainees, professional and Olympic athletes, musicians, dancers, actors, physicians, trauma survivors, and those with life-threatening illnesses—toward more fulfilling lives. He founded the Alexander Technique Center at Cambridge in 1983, which was awarded Best of Cambridge in Alternative and Holistic Health. He taught at Harvard University for 12 years in the Institute for Advanced Theater Training and is a founding member and first Chair of Alexander Technique International (ATI), which honored him with a Lifetime Membership Award.

23/01/2026

In this conversation I speak with Caren Bayer, Alexander Technique teacher and teacher trainer in New York City.
https://youtu.be/sl_1GIff7rc

Caren Bayer, director of Manhattan Center for the Alexander Technique, has maintained a private practice in New York City since 1984, as well as leading workshops and master classes internationally.

She received her certification in London from Patrick MacDonald, a student of F.M. Alexander, and her post-graduate certification from Rivka Cohen, who has taught and certified teachers worldwide. Caren was a faculty member at the Rivka Cohen School for the Alexander Technique and the Institute for the Alexander Technique under Thomas Lemens, both certified teacher-training programs in New York City. Caren has also been on the faculty of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and currently has a teaching affiliation with The New School for Social Research.

A former dancer, and longtime student of the martial arts, yoga and meditation, Caren brings 30 years of movement research and awareness to her teaching.

She is grateful to her teacher, Master Cheng Hsiang Yu for the knowledge he imparted through t’ai chi, shaolin, and sword.
https://carenbayer.com

15/11/2025

Alexander Technique Conversations: Nelly Ben-Or
https://youtu.be/Prp-kgu8npk

In this conversation I speak with Nelly Ben-Or MBE, renowned concert pianist and Alexander Technique teacher living in London.

A Holocaust survivor born in 1933 in Lwów, Poland (now Ukraine), Nelly's story is one of remarkable resilience. During World War II, she and her mother escaped the ghetto where her family was imprisoned, assuming false identities and posing as Roman Catholics to survive in Warsaw. It was there, while her mother worked as a maid, that a family discovered Nelly's extraordinary musical gift and arranged for her to receive piano lessons—a twist of fate that would define her life's path.

In 1957, Nelly came to England to take lessons and later train in the Alexander Technique with Patrick Macdonald, qualifying in 1963 as the first pianist ever to become a teacher of the technique. She has since established herself as a distinguished concert pianist and groundbreaking educator, teaching piano and the Alexander Technique at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama since 1975, where she is now a Fellow and Professor. Today, she is internationally recognised as the world's leading authority on applying the Alexander Technique to piano performance—a field in which she has specialised for over forty-five years.

Throughout her career, Nelly has performed and broadcast in numerous countries in recitals, with orchestras, and in chamber music settings. Her extensive discography includes many recordings for the BBC, spanning repertoire from the 18th to the 20th centuries. She continues to give masterclasses to pianists worldwide, sharing her unique expertise and pedagogical approach.

In 2020, Nelly was appointed MBE in the Queen's Honours List for her invaluable services to Holocaust education, honouring her dedication to preserving these crucial historical memories.

07/11/2025

In Conversation with Richard Brennan
https://youtu.be/uD7cQ-M93SM

In this conversation I speak with Richard Brennan, an experienced Alexander Technique teacher, author and Director of Training at the Alexander Technique Centre based in Galway, Ireland.

After suffering from chronic back pain and sciatica in the 1970s, Richard eventually found relief through the Alexander Technique in 1984. He qualified as a teacher in 1989 and has since established a thriving practice in Galway. He started Ireland's first Alexander Teacher Training College in 1998 and co-founded the Irish Society of Alexander Technique Teachers (ISATT) in 2004

Richard has taught at universities internationally and was the director of the 10th International Alexander Technique Congress in Limerick (2015) as well as the director of Alexander Teacher’s Conventions (2013 – 2026). He is the author of nine books on the Alexander Technique, translated into 22 languages, and has been featured in major newspapers, magazines, and on National radio and Television in UK, Ireland, Croatia and Montenegro. His practical approach focuses on helping people find solutions to pain, stress, and performance obstacles, making the Alexander Technique accessible to a wide audience.

01/11/2025

In Conversation with Carsten Moeller - Alexander Technique
https://youtu.be/B1BGXm_ifSE

In this conversation I speak with Carsten Møller, Alexander Technique teacher and teacher trainer in Denmark.

Carsten lives and works in Copenhagen, where he runs a private Alexander Technique practice and directs the Center for Alexanderteknik, which he founded in 2004.

He trained as an Alexander Technique teacher with Joseph Artzi from 1986 to 1989. In addition to his private teaching, Carsten has taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, and the Danish National School of Performing Arts (Den Danske Scenekunstskole), working with actors, directors, and the dance department. He has also been invited to teach staff at various private companies and public institutions, and has led workshops for Finstatand Dflat, as well as in Germany.

Beyond his Alexander work, Carsten has practiced Ki Aikido since 1983 and runs his own dojo in Copenhagen. He has taught Aikido internationally in Brazil, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Sweden, and Scotland.

Carsten is also a certified Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist (since 2017) and an IFS (Internal Family Systems) certified practitioner (since 2021).
*

27/10/2025

In Conversation with Dan Armon - Alexander Technique and Poetry

https://youtu.be/9TBtyKPfWR0

In this conversation I speak with Dan Armon, senior Alexander Technique teacher and acclaimed Hebrew poet based in Tel Aviv.

Dan Armon was born in Jerusalem in 1948. He studied Hebrew literature and theatre at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and after his studies worked at a children's theatre in Tel Aviv and for a daily newspaper. His first book of poetry, published in 1977, was followed by several additional volumes, and his literary achievements have been recognised with prestigious honours including the Prime Minister's Prize (1998) and the Pinski Prize for Theater (1999).

He trained with Shmuel Nelken—who was among the first to bring the Alexander Technique to Israel and had studied with F.M. Alexander himself—beginning in 1976, and has been teaching the Alexander Technique since 1978. Later he was invited to open a training school in Freiburg, which he ran for 3.5 years. From 1998 to 2022, he was head of training of the "School for F.M. Alexander Technique" in Berlin (later renamed the Alexander Technique Centre Berlin). Over more than two decades, he shaped the training of around 150 teachers with an approach that combines meditative depth, artistic thinking and refined somatic awareness.

As both poet and teacher, Dan Armon brings a unique integration of language, stillness and movement to his work. His teaching is known for its emphasis on the development of sensitive, responsive hands and for guiding students toward what he calls "the still point"—a state of alert presence beyond habitual reactivity. He now lives and works in Tel Aviv, and regularly returns to Germany for workshops and teaching engagements.

24/10/2025

In Conversation with Delphine Miller - Alexander Technique and the ability to stay back

https://youtu.be/QnAGnUu9YF4

In this interview I speak with Delphine Miller, experienced Alexander Technique teacher, teacher trainer, and Occupational Therapist based in London.

Delphine has roots in the performing arts stretching back to her time at the Art’sEducational School. She holds professional qualifications in Drama and Psychology, Occupational Therapy as well as in the Alexander Technique. After qualifying, Delphine worked for a number of years as a teacher trainer on Misha Magidov’s North London Teacher Training Course before becoming a member of the training team at Anthony Kingsley’s ATTS in North London.

Alongside her busy private practice in Crouch End, North London, Delphine has worked as a resident Alexander Teacher at the Bloomsbury Alexander Centre. She also has run workshops in adult education institutes. Linking with her work at senior level in the NHS she has collaborated on an innovative research project on the benefits of Alexander Technique for people with M.E. /Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Though practice and study she has developed a specialised knowledge in the application of the Alexander Technique to pregnancy and childbirth, and she currently provides seminars on this topic as part of the training offered at the ATTS.

In recent years Delphine has been teaching many musicians, including those studying at music conservatories such as the Royal Academy of Music. This has has developed partly due to her son Miles Mindlin, an established Jazz guitarist who has had regular lessons from an early age. During his time at the Royal Academy of Music and Manhattan School of Music, he has been vocal to his colleagues about the value the technique has brought to his performance and practice.
*

Ruth Hommelsheim AT

16/03/2026

06/03/2026

23/02/2026

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17/02/2026

03/02/2026

23/01/2026

15/11/2025

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