Riverside Initiative’s Teacher Certification Program (RIAT) is solidly grounded in the pedagogy of first generation teachers— Walter Carrington and Peggy Williams. We provide a clearly structured learning environment that includes room for creativity and experimentation.
The Alexander Technique is a technique for living! RIAT aims to provide the best resources possible for living and thriving in our unprecedented time of change.
Our philosophy is based on a three-fold aim:
- to foster greater self-understanding, well-being, and functioning of the individual
- to foster diversity, inclusion, collaboration and participation within the community
- to provide the resources and professional skills to participate more effectively and creatively in an increasingly globalized world.
RIAT value’s a student’s independent thinking. We identify and promote self-care as the essential prerequisite for caring for others with sensitivity and grace, and values intelligence, flexibility, and the cultivation of its underlying strength.
It’s an exciting time for new ideas and imaginative possibilities. RIAT aims to increase the Technique’s positive influence by demonstrating its transformational potential and providing a learning environment that draws from, and is committed to, outreach and community building.
RIAT’s Teacher Certification Program explores the depth and breadth of a 110-year-old tradition of teaching the Alexander Technique. We draw from: the Carrington model of training; Nanette’s apprenticeships with Peggy Williams and Pearl Ausubel; her past co-directorship of ATNYC with John Nicholls; as well as her own training in diverse traditions at ACAT, the oldest training course established in the United States.
RIAT’s Teacher Training is practical, pleasurable, and highly personal. We are dedicated to cultivating an awareness of, and involvement with, the profound and far-reaching implications of the Alexander Technique.
Our three-year Teacher Certification Program (TCP) is approved by the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT), with Nanette Walsh as its Director, and supported by Ariel Carson and Lori Schiff as Associate Directors. It offers study with a diversity of senior teachers and skilled faculty and draws on the talents and resources of experienced guest teachers and affiliates.
Training to become a teacher of the Alexander Technique involves undertaking a unique form of self-study that focuses on personal development. In-depth study of a student’s use in practical procedures and activities is an essential prerequisite for the refined hands-on skills that are the hallmark of good Alexander Technique teaching. Daily individual work with teachers, and small supervised groups engaged in developmentally structured activities, aid in the self-discovery process. Throughout the training students are practically immersed in the fundamental principles and practices of the Alexander Technique.
