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The Club

The CoachingClub is a “Q&A” style weekly masterclass for Alexander teachers who want to refine their skills, add new tools to their repertoire or increase their ability to reach and teach more students. 

 TheClub is a recurring membership where members, depending on their plan, meet via Zoom either once, twice or three times per week.       

The research I’ve been doing into the viability of a totally HandsFree approach to Alexander teaching has yielded some surprisingly powerful methods & strategies that have proven extremely valuable to Alexander teachers of all stripes. 

It Takes a Village

TheCoachingClub is super practical and all about problem solving. It’s a place online where Alexander teachers can gather each week to broach and solve the real issues that members are facing day in & day out in their teaching practice. 

The Club is a community and a learning lab. A collaborative online space  where Alexander teachers from all over the globe can compare notes, share questions and find answers together.

I have been coaching and training Alexander teachers for over 35 years and spent more than 10 apprenticing with Marjorie Barstow. I draw upon that experience to create a challenging but collegial atmosphere in the Club that, even when intense, is always supportive & accepting. 

As “Learner-In-Chief”, I lead the charge, but the magic of our meetings is in the collaboration. The knowledge shared in the Club and the feel of the gathering itself  has been known to stir memories of the wonderful workshops you’ve attended or the very best days of your teacher training.

New Tools & Études

Primal Alexander™

As a complete teaching system, I call my HandsFree approach Primal Alexander™ (P.A.). P.A. is a comprehensive set of techniques, skills, activities & explorations that I originally developed to meet the challenges of teaching beginning students online. 

But…

In the last four years, what’s been especially satisfying for me has been seeing just how valuable P.A. is proving to be for Alexander teachers, especially when it comes to their own skill refinement, group teaching, observation and proactive self-care.

The two facets of Primal Alexander™ that any Alexander teacher can borrow and take advantage of immediately are an awareness process called 3EasyQuestions™ and a collection of home-study activities called TheÉtudes.

3EasyQuestions™

3EasyQuestions™ is the approach to constructive conscious control that I teach to students. It’s based on the fact that when a person directs their attention to places of relative ease in their body, the head/neck reflex is gently facilitated.

When exploring the possibility of easier movement, after inhibiting, in the gap between stimulus and response, instead of traditional orders or directing, you quickly assess these three things about yourself in sequence:

1. Where you’re currently noticing places of relative ease,
2. What effect noticing that ease is having on your general Use and finally…
3. How that general effect is changing as you begin to move.

This gentle, but focused curiosity about the ease you’re currently experiencing shifts your attention in a way that circumvents your usual habit patterns. It facilitates the Primary Control which reorganizes your movement on the fly allowing you to move outside of your habit with increased ease.

As a form of Constructive Thinking, 3EasyQuestions™ allows the actual direction to come from the natural response of autonomic nervous system to a conscious you’re making rather than responding a feeling-based concept of forward, up, head, neck or body that is habitual.    

3EasyQuestions™ is a new take on constructive conscious control that is so easy to implement that it can be taught to a brand new student in a first lesson. However, in the hands of an experienced teacher, it also becomes a potent self-healing tool that reveals and erodes even deep habit patterns that usually are imperceptible. 

TheÉtudes™

TheÉtudes™ are the “lightweight” home study activities that students do for a few minutes every day. They form the practice material they use to actualize what they are learning in the group classes.
Like the Études in classical music pedagogy, these are studies; opportunities for  students to learn specific skills in a simplified, focused setting. When done regularly the Études…

• Give students a structure to practice & experiment with their directing.
• Keeps them engaged with their studies between lessons.
• Empowers them in their own learning
• Provides a way of facilitating the Primary Control on their own.
• Proves to them that they can improve their own Use whenever they want.
• Teaches Inhibition, Non-doing and Directing quickly.
• Improves their sensory appreciation.
• Develops the awareness needed to apply the Technique in any activity.

The Primary Concern

In my classes I often reference a concept I call “The Primary Concern” which is the root formulation of the self-experimental process. It takes the form the question: 

What’s Happening To Me As I________?

                                         (the activity you’re doing goes in the blank)

If you can ask and answer that question in the midst of an activity, that’s the beginning of “thinking in activity”. It’s the key to understanding how the “end” you’re trying to gain is affecting your Use…your present and future ability to function efficiently (the “means whereby”).Asking that question brings the “end” and the “means whereby” into the same frame so that you’re able view the changes in each simultaneously. That way, when the way you’re doing something begins to interfere with your coordination, you become aware of it and have a chance to make a change. 
That’s the big picture of how the Études function in Primal Alexander. Through consistent daily practice they quickly teach a student the value of and an easy way to begin “thinking in activity”.

“Anyone can do what I do,
if they will do what I did.”

Re: Evolution of a Technique

I remember reading that quote for the first time as young, slightly fanatical Alexander enthusiast and feeling like Alexander tossing out a challenge…challenging me to buckle down and apply what he had discovered more seriously.

Did I aspire to someday being able to do what Alexander could do? Yes, I did. Was I willing to sit in front of mirrors for years and years to achieve what he did…Apparently not, because I never did!                              However, as the years went by, I came to realize that spending all that time in front of the mirrors was not what Alexander did as much as it was how he did what he did…What he actually learned how to do in front of those mirrors was to…

Experiment on himself!

Experiment on himself!

For me, the key to getting the most out of Alexander’s discoveries is to follow  him down the road of self-experimentation. We have a huge advantage over Alexander. Because as a result of his efforts we know, without a doubt, that there truly is gold at the end of that particular rainbow. 

Primal Alexander™ is a step by step approach designed to improve your Use by teaching you how to experiment with movement in a way that lessens habitual excess tension. By applying a different kind of directing and a graduated series of self-study “études”, Primal Alexander™ provides students and teachers with a straight forward, easy to follow blueprint for improvement.

It’s a self-healing process that uses Inhibition & observation to create a gap between stimulus and response that allows our native movement intelligence to preempt our habitual way of moving while it reinforces the neural pathways that lead to better Use now and in the future.

In TheCoachingClub with the help of 3EasyQuestions™ and TheÉtudes™ you will learn how to identify and untie the psycho-physical knots that limit your effectiveness as practitioner and teacher of the Alexander Technique. 

With those two tools and objective feedback from me and the other members, you’ll be able to enhance and refine your teaching much more quickly and easily than you could on your own.

If you’re interested, you could also acquire HandsFree Teaching skills that will enable you to teach authentic Alexander Technique in situations where hands-on guidance is not optimal or perhaps not even possible.

But, the bottom line is that you’ll discover a simpler way to “stick to principle” more fully and more often while teaching and in your daily life so that you can more deeply enjoy and share this wonderful work with the world. 

Choose 1, 2 or 3
classes/week

Saturday 12PM
Tuesday 5PM -Thursday 3PM
Times are Eastern U.S. Timezone

Classes are 90 Minutes

Each class begins with the études. The balance of the class is a Q&A
format master class

Every Class is Recorded

Recordings are available same
day and can be accessed for
1 month after the class

Members Only
Facebook Group

Very active for posting questions,
assignments and getting
my feedback via video

Daily Étude
Broadcast

Once a day I’ll do our études
live on Facebook & talk about
their form and function

MidWeek
Live Private Talk

Every Wednesday at 4 PM Pacific
I share my thoughts about
recent classes

Core Curriculum…

3EasyQuestions™​

A Different Kind of Direction

Besides being an effective means whereby even brand new students can get their own heads to move forward and up in their very first lesson, 3EasyQuestions™ is a power tool for teachers.

After inhibiting, Question#1 facilitates the HNR increasing Ease throughout. Question#2 sets the stage by acknowledging the improvement which Question#3 frames as an experiment.

In each phase of the process our neurology is changing because in response to the original intent, you’re making conscious choices outside habit, leaving space for more natural responses.

3EasyQuestions™ works hand in glove with The Etudes™, a series of activities so simple they help us shift our focus from the results of the movements to the process we use to get them.

For teachers 3EasyQuestions™sets the stage for your being able to know exactly when you are interfering with your Use and gives you a concrete way use that interference to improve.

SubtleMovementEmpathy™

Enhancing Your Hands-On

Like any activity, hands-on work is subject to a ton of hidden habits. Like any skillset, the quality of your hands-on is a function of the quality of your Use. 

SubtleMovementEmpathy™ is a graduated progression of self-studies that will accelerate the development of both your sensitivity and your ability to convey direction to your students. 

It exploits the depth of the intercommunication that occurs as a result of our mirror neurons and other mechanisms within the human nervous system.

You’ll learn how to leverage the simultaneity of the way we  communicate and bring more clarity, finesse and power to your hands-on kinesthetic guidance.

Teacher’s are finding that they can give their students even more help and in a way that promotes their independence and feeds their enthusiasm for more learning.

TheÉtudes™​

The Practice of Ease

Inhibition, non-doing, directing, constructive thinking, non-endgaining etc. are more than just concepts, they are skills. Skills that, in order to be mastered, need to be practiced.

I realized that if I wanted my students to progress quickly, I had to create skill building études whose focus would be on developing their thinking as opposed to just getting results.

TheEtudes™ that we will be exploring start with TheTeacher’s12™, a collection of activities that will help you to become more aware of when and how you interfere with your coordination.

As with all Primal Alexander activities, the purpose is to always be addressing The Primary Concern:  What’s happening to me as I_______? How is the way I’m doing this affecting my Use?

Awareness of the effect of the choices you are making while in the middle of  doing things is the essence of “Thinking in Activity” and The Études™ heighten your ability to do just that.

More Topics…

Group Teaching

Whether in person or online in a small class or onstage in front 500 there’s a vibe you can utilize. Introduction to HiveMindfulness™

Keener Observation

Being able to perceive the most subtle of changes in a student is essential to every style of teaching.
Learning the art of SeeingWithYourWholeSelf™

Marketing Hacks

Teaching w/o touching… Giving potential students the power to teach themselves will open
up new possibilities.
MeansWherebyMarketing

Teaching
By Voice

The voice can do a lot more than just convey concepts. Tone, phrasing , dynamics, emotion and meaning work together to induce amazing changes: VoiceTouch™

Special Benefits…

Community

IT TAKES A VILLAGE
I think it does “take a village” to teach this stuff or at least the synergy that happens when the learning is a communal affair is magical. This certainly holds true for the development of teaching skills as well.

The quality of the peer-to peer learning that occurs even when people are not in the same physical space is astounding. We can share so much with each other even via video.

The regular opportunity to come together & work
with like-minded colleagues sharing the challenges and the victories that are part and parcel of what Alexander discovered is truly precious.

It’s great to now be able to continue to add so easily to the group learning riches that were such a big part of our original training. And to able to do it in way that is so time & cost efficient is a gift.

Proactive Self-Care

MAGNANIMOUS SELFISHNESS
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a teacher began the very first time I ever attempted teaching. It was the final day of my 1st Summer workshop in Nebraska with Marjorie Barstow.

After watching me fumble around for 10 seconds or so, Marj gently took my hands down off of my poor “student” and said: “Mio, you are the most important person in any lesson. If you can’t take care of yourself, how can you hope to help them?”

It took me many years before I began to understand the deep wisdom in those words. Our power as teachers comes from our skill in entering learning states & then helping them do the same.

I like to think of it as “magnanimous selfishness”. By being proactive in our own self-care we automatically share the regenerative wisdom
of our truest psycho-physical selves with others.

Home Improvement

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
As nice as it can be to travel to a residential workshop in pleasant place, you can’t beat the convenience of your having a learning community
that meets in your own living room!

Not to mention the time and money you save not having to travel, pay for a room, pay for food, give up your
daily routine, sleep in a strange bed and ultimately
spending much less time learning life altering
lessons with like minded colleagues.

The immense value of having consistent access
to an A.T. collective that actually gets to meet
every week once, twice or even three
times can not be overstated.

We all work hard to continue to develop our
work on ourselves and our teaching. Having an
easily accessible community for support and
“course correction”is a wonderful benefit.

We have FUN!

SERIOUS FUN!
Meeting Dr. Frank Pierce Jones in 1972 and coming into contact with Alexander’s teachings quite literally
saved my life. I was a young musician flirting with
disaster. Dangerously close to going off the deep end.

Frank epitomized what it means to be “a gentleman and a scholar”. Marjorie Barstow, on the other hand, was quintessence of straightforward, clear-eyed, unadulterated self-examination. They each created
intensely positive learning environments I strive to model.

Alexander work can at times be gut-wrenchingly personal and deeply confronting. We can really get down to the DNA of who we are, who we think
we are and who in the future could become.

We have a ton of serious fun in our classes. It’s essential. Being able to share a self-deprecating chuckle at our silly selves is the healthy leavening that takes the edge off the seismic transformations that are part and parcel of
applying Alexander’s discoveries in public.

3 Ways To Join…

4 Classes/month

Basic
$ 247
/month

• $61/Class

SAVE MY PLACE

8 Classes/month

MostPopular
$ 347
/ month

• $43/Class

Save MY PLACe

12 Classes/month

BestValue
$ 397
/month

• $33/Class

SAVE MY PLACE

Here’s What Other
Teachers Are Saying…

Mio’s approach is simply the most direct, clear & global one I’ve come across.

Mio is a fun and engaging teacher. He is excellent at really applying the Alexander technique while he teaches a group. He won’t let you get away with half thinking in activity. The constructive changes are instant and lasting that’s what I find most important and stimulating while learning with him.

Working with Mio for the last year or so, I’ve enjoyed experiencing the ease, simplicity and intelligence of my body’s natural coordination. This class gets to the core of Alexander’s thinking process rather than the procedural techniques he passed on.

Eleni
Vosniado

I begin teaching all my lessons with the Primal Alexander™ HandsFree approach

For many months now, before I use any hands-on contact, I begin teaching all my lessons with Mio’s Primal Alexander™ HandsFree approach to teaching the Alexander Technique.

The experimentation at the heart of Primal Alexander™ puts students in charge of improving their own coordination and makes them much more successful at it.

Jim
Froelich

(This) enhances my awareness especially when I’m working in person with hands-on 

I really enjoy and have greatly benefited from the way Mio’s teaching has influenced and enhances my awareness especially when I’m working in person hands-on with my students. with

I highly recommend Mio’s class to all Alexander teachers whether you want to learn to use if to learn to observe subtle changes in your students without using your hands or if you want to refine your presence and ability to use your hands in your teaching.

Eileen
Troberman

The Facebook group between classes was incredibly valuable…

I was really glad to have the opportunity to encounter the Primal Alexander études again a year later and see how much they have evolved. I’m so grateful to have gotten more information on these really effective tools .

What I found most valuable was the opportunity to see how other people were bringing these tools into their own lives and experiments. The Facebook group between classes was incredibly valuable. It really helped me stay with my own experiments and it was also really valuable to see what other people were up to.

The group assembled was wonderful and the whole way the teaching process has been honed over time really makes me look forward to having the opportunity to learn more soon.

Tori
Matsos

Mio has given me tools that can infuse a deeper sense of ease into any experience.

When I began attending classes, Mio’s emphasis on self-observation and wondering about ease really began to spill over into my daily life. My understanding of the Technique became much clearer – to the point that one of the most stressful years of my life also became one of the best.

Over recent months, I have watched my technique transform and my musical expression deepen with unimaginable ease. I now have the  tools to continue doing this for myself. I am now comfortable calling myself a “violinist” again, and I know this is only the beginning – which I find extremely exciting!

Jennifer
Roig-Francoli

Now, thanks to the class, I’m feeling that as I get older my future will be bright, it will be fun and it will always be full of new wonders

Before Mio’s class I couldn’t imagine learning A.T. online.To me, A.T. was about how I moved my body. With online lessons I’ve found that the key is my thinking. By experimenting and observing I can improve myself by myself and the speed of change is amazing!

I can take a lesson anywhere even in a hotel room on business. I’m much more relaxed and can express my emotions more easily around people. I used to get stressed by demanding too much of myself and had a vague sense of anxiety about my future. Now, thanks to the class, I’m feeling that as I get older my future will be bright, it will be fun and it will always be full of new wonders

Satoshi
Sashida

I seem to be much more alert & sensitive to the nuances within each moment.

Lately my constructive thinking has become more dynamic.  I seem to be much more alert and sensitive to the nuances within each moment.  My tension early warning system is proactive, offering me the opportunity for choice. In a split second!

What strikes me is how simple this all is. I’m able to use constructive thinking in a laboratory-like setting which has been very valuable for integrating it into other aspects of my daily life.

I miss our weekly sessions.

Rob
Kaplan

Mio is great at teaching without ever making you feel like you’re wrong.

Since working with Mio my way of understanding AT has gotten so much deeper. I feel a lot calmer these days and I can see things more as they really are. I’m much less judgmental and I’m beginning to understand just what “Non-Endgaining” really means! My self-confidence has grown a lot, and no matter what happens, I’m able to deal with things much more constructively.

In our classes we experience an incredibly warm and tender atmosphere which in my experience is very rare. Mio is great at teaching without ever making you feel like you’re wrong. We freely share our experiences and what we’re learning and that makes our personal changes even more powerful. There is truth here.

Akiko
Kodate

I hope in this life everyone has a chance to work with him. Thanks, Mio!

What can I say about Mio? Well, for starters, no single person has had a more profound effect on my physical well being. Meeting him was the beginning of a long period of being pain free. And not pain free in the sense that someone healed me…but pain free in the sense that I now have ‘control’ over my own well being.

What Mio teaches is that A.T. is something you both do for yourself and allow to happen. I’ve spent most of the last decade trying to forget everything I ever learned, from yoga directions to Alexander’s classic directions…All you have to do is Notice the Ease…It’s so much more effective and simple!

I hope in this life everyone has a chance to work with him. Thanks, Mio!

Bruce
Winstone

BUT WAIT,
THERE’S MORE…

7 Early Bird Bonuses…

$50 OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

HEY! 50 bucks is 50 bucks!

Value: $50

A PRIVATE MINI-LESSON

These half hour meetings are great for getting at any issues that haven’t been addressed in the group classes. A chance to focus on a explore 1 topic in depth.

Value: $100

MONTHLY MARKETING CLASS

Teaching HandsFree opens up a world of new marketing possibilities. Prospects will be able to sample your actual teaching, you can build an online community around your teaching and offer a meeting place online for your private students.

Value: $150

ACCESS TO VIDEO LIBRARY

I have a ton of videos of me teaching online and culled from that…Dripped

Value: $150

LESSON AUDIT with COMMENTARY

In the commentary series you get to see me teaching lessons with stop and go commenting plus you’ll get to see the lesson play out in real time. Very instructive.

Value: $150

1 ÉTUDE COACHING SESSION

A concentrated session where we take a close look at the details of the Études and how you’re performing them. We’ll also take a look at the effectiveness of your directing (Constructive Thinking).

Value: $150

VIDEO REVIEW

This is an in depth look at any activity that you ‘d like to have help with but on video so that we can talk about what you’re doing and what you can see about what you’re doing.

Value: $150

An Extra $900 in Value!

Will Disappear In:

Days Hours Minutes Seconds

Burning
Questions

How does the membership work?

TheCoachingClub is monthly recurring membership. You can stay for as long as you like. 

How does the schedule work?

There are 3 Class times per week. Saturdays at 12 Noon, Tuesdays at 5PM and Thursdays at 3PM in the Eastern U.S. Timezone. 

If you choose the BASIC (4 classes/month) or the MOST POPULAR (8 classes/month) packages  you will be limited to the same 1 or 2 classes each week. BEST VALUE members are of course free to attend any class.

Every class is recorded so that if you have to miss a class you’ll still have access to the material.

How do I actually get to the class?

All the classes happen on the Zoom video conferencing platform. Zoom is a free program.

30 minutes before each class you will receive a link for that class. You click the link and you’re there.

If it’s your 1st time ever, clicking the link will take you to a page where you can download the free software and then join the class

If I choose the 4 or 8 class package can I come to any class?

No. You’re limited to the same one of two classes respectively.

How are the videos delivered?

The videos live on the Vimeo platform. You will have your own personal video collection populated by videos of the classes you have attended. I will send you the link and password for your collection.

How much time do I have to watch the videos?

You will always have access to the video from each class for one month from the date of the class that holds if you choose leave TheCoachingClub. 

Can I see the videos from other classes?

Normally, no…however, there’s an auditing upgrade available on request.

THANKS!