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Reading List for Alexander Technique Teachers

Alexander's four books (five if we count - as we should - his collected Articles and Lectures) constitute the basic, primary-source reading list of all dedicated Alexander teachers, and they bear constant, multiple visits. Following Alexander's works, books by first-generation teachers such as Wilfred Barlow, Walter Carrington, Frank Pierce Jones, Patrick Macdonald, and Lulie Westfeldt make for excellent reading and studying material. Further on in a serious reader's list there would be books by second- and third-generation teachers such as Ted Dimon and myself (though I would certainly not prevent any reader from perusing, say, Indirect Procedures before tackling Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual!).

Teachers have often referred to a number of books by authors who, though not involved in the Technique (and sometimes even wholly uninformed by it), seem to address issues directly or indirectly related to it. Among these authors are Eugen Herrigel (Zen and the Art of Archery), Shunryu Suzuki (Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind), Karlfried Graf Von Durckheim (Hara: The Vital Centre of Man) and Krishnamurti. These are all worthy texts - I in particular have a deep debt to Herrigel, whose book I first read (at the urging of Barney Lehrer, then my cello teacher) at about the same time I took my first Alexander lesson in 1978.

In this essay I propose to add a few more books to the bibliography of the inquisitive Alexander teacher and student. The books are listed below; in time I'll attempt to discuss them, show how they relate to one another (end-gaining is the operative word), and suggest ways readers can use them, both in their teaching and in their daily lives.