In December, RIAT graduated another AmSAT-certified Alexander Technique teacher—Clare Robert, who gave these remarks at the ceremony.
Good evening and thank you for being here — I am touched and honored by your presence.
Especially because it’s dark, it’s late, cold, raining, you already have had a busy day, there’s a list of things you have to do dancing in your head, and since you knew you were coming to a party, you skipped lunch and now you’re wondering how long this event will take before you get to go back to the delicious buffet that awaits us all.
Or you’re on zoom, and while it’s easier than having to trek to NY, you still have put on hold the very many things that await you when you turn off the computer.
No, I am not reading your minds, I am reading mine…
With the added stimulus, that I want to say something coherent about this experience of 5 years and counting of the Alexander Technique to a mixed audience of those who know about the Technique and my friends and family who have only a glancing idea of what in heaven’s name I’ve been doing riding the train to NYC to learn about this psychophysical? Non doing? Hands on work? and wondering all time — wait —wasn’t she a minister? And didn’t she retire? What happened to Clare?
What happened is that I had an experience, in 2018 — thanks to Rachel Bernsen — my first Alexander teacher in New Haven. After that first lesson I felt so free of tension and ready to fly that I had to know what had happened. They say that when a student is ready, the teacher appears—but I wasn’t ready or expecting a life changing experience, I just wanted to improve my posture
Oh — before I go any further, knowing what I know, to not push through —now let’s pause, and I invite all of you devotees and novices alike to let the whole persons we all are come into more harmony, by letting our neck be free, our head to move forward and up so our backs can lengthen and widen and our sitting bones find the chair as our knees move forward and away and our breath goes and comes and our feet find the floor as we awaken these directions passed down — handed down— pun intended — from generation to generation of Alexander Technique teachers.
Ok there, that’s better, “lovely” as Nan would say as we find our primary coordination and we come to our whole selves…freer, lighter, happier.
And this can’t be taught from a book, lecture or sermon ….
As I well know from my former work where I was — for lack of better description — a professional talker — it’s relatively easy to say something and far more difficult to live it true.. In the AT world, one’s hands and whole self speak, far louder than any exhortation that one could give.
AT in fact was the missing piece — a way to bring to life some of the intellectual questions that had animated my earlier studies. —to embody, to understand them in new and unexpected ways.
As trainees we hear over and over, before placing hands on a student, to come back to ourselves, —the way we are coordinated, head neck and back, find our feet, directions flowing up. These are primary. These come first. Without that attention to oneself, we might put hands on a student but we won’t be practicing the Alexander Technique. And this interplay between teacher and student, is akin to the perennial ethical question we all ask: how do I care for others while caring for myself?
I am grateful beyond words to all who have helped me understand and embody as I am able, this Technique that has given me a joyful way to pursue that perennial question.
I thank my teachers especially Nan who is the center and leader of the Sapientia Initiative. Thank you Nan for your enlightened personal support all these years. For your flexibility and patience, while holding me to a high standard. And for creating this space where we taste and experience life in a different way.
I am grateful for all my principal teachers, Ariel, Lori, Caren, Nadav, Fanny, Emily, Eleanor, Serena, Lane, Peggy, Karla, Kristen, Anne, Rebecca, Kristen, Robin, and to all the volunteer teachers, Melissa, Sue, Becky, Genia, Gayl, Steve B, and Steve M.
And for my teachers in Connecticut.
For Michaela Hauser Wagner who during the pandemic met with me weekly and helped me sustain my fledgling practice during that year with patience and graciousness.
And Joan Frost who conveyed the technique in her manner with such a refined confidence that I began to feel that I could learn to be a teacher.
Your precious support was invaluable.
Thanks go to all my fellow trainees who have been my teachers , Donny, Lyss, Becca, Steven, Cameron Rachel, Nadav, HanFei, Diana, Carlos and Patrick. We share a unique bond. You have supported me with kindness and questions. And the best conversations… and snacks…
And to Jess and Ariana who make it all work, administratively, including organizing the party that awaits us.
For my family and friends, thank you for being who you are, loving and kind supportive through all my personal reinventions…
Finally, the hero of the story is my husband Patrick, who supported me through these years of training, in ways too multiple to list. He has been there all the way for 45+ years. And—not a small thing — drove me to the metro north station and met me on the return trip, faithfully, each time I took the train, countless times…
My heart is full of gratitude to you all.
Clare Robert
Clare Robert completed her AmSAT certification (1600 hours) at the Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique under the direction of Nan Walsh and associate directors Lori Schiff and Ariel Carson. She has studied privately with Joan Frost, Rachel Bernsen, and Michaela Hauser-Wagner. Clare came to AT with a background in ministry, ethics and contemplative practices. She received a master’s degree from Yale Divinity School, where her thesis examined questions relating to self-care and our responsibilities to others.