In Conversation with Michael Frederick - Alexander Technique and the Inner Work

In this conversation, which was conducted in two parts at the International Alexander Technique Congress in Dublin 2025, I speak with Michael Frederick. Michael is an internationally recognised teacher in the field of psycho-physical re-education. He trained as an Alexander Teacher in England with Walter & Dilys Carrington and in America with Marjorie Barstow (all master teachers trained by F.M. Alexander in the 1930s). He studied in the U.S. and Israel as a Feldenkrais Practitioner with Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais and has extensive training in the Yoga tradition of TKV Desikachar from Chennai/Madras, India. Michael also trained as an actor at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Bristol, England. As founding director of the first three International Congresses on the Alexander Technique, he has organised and taught over 250 workshops in the USA and Europe since 1978. Michael 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, Michael organised Alexander Technique Master Classes with Marjory Barlow (F.M. Alexander’s niece) and Elisabeth Walker in San Francisco, Basel, and Paris. He has also conducted presentation skills seminars for upper-level corporate management in companies such as Du Pont Corporation, Merck Pharmaceuticals, and AMOCO. He is the former Chairman of the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT). He is now Co-Director and on the Alexander Training Institute-Los Angeles (ATI-LA) Board of Directors. Michael teaches in Los Angeles, Ojai, and Santa Barbara, California. Michael was voted the best Alexander Teacher in Los Angeles Magazine’s "Best of LA." He studied in the mid-1970s with Suleyman Hayati Dede, Sheikh Muzaffer Özak, Hasan Shushud in Turkey and with Sheikh Muhammad Nazim in London. From 1976 to 1978 he taught theatre at the Brockwood Park School in Hampshire, England founded by educator philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti. About the Interviewer: Ruth Hommelsheim is an Alexander Technique teacher and photographer based in London. After many years in the art world, she came to London to train with Anthony Kingsley at the Alexander Teacher Training School (ATTS) and graduated in March 2023. She runs a private practice in Shepherds Bush and is now also an assistant at ATTS. Her journey with the Alexander Technique has been deeply transformative, inspiring her to explore and share the profound wisdom of this practice. These conversations aim to capture the personal stories and deep insights of experienced practitioners who have dedicated their lives to understanding and teaching the Alexander Technique. https://poiseandpresence.info/ Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:48 First hearing about AT 01:40 Coming to England 02:21 Having lessons and getting married 03:15 Michael and his wife Laine went to train with Walter Carrington 03:53 About Walter and what formed him 06:54 Walter’s kindness when Michael’s son died 08:14 Dilys was tough 09:26 The value of studying abroad 10:55 Going back to the states after the training in 1979 11:25 Krishnamurti 13:11 Organising residential AT courses from 1979 15:38 Planning to make a movie on AT 17:09 An International Congress on AT! 17:38 Bringing the main four branches of AT together 20:13 Nervous if it would work out 20:58 The two polar opposites meeting 22:50 The first Congress worked as a peace conference 25:30 2025 was Michael’s last congress 26:44 Find good people and let them do what they do 27:51 The community 29:11 PART TWO 29:15 All the main teachers in one place at the first Congress 30:19 Plus the next generation teachers 31:22 Passing on the baton 32:14 Michael’s development and search 32:51 Training with Moshe Feldenkrais 34:28 Preferring the Alexander Technique 35:05 AT and the inner freedom 35:35 The role of the teacher 36:34 The price for lessons back in the day 37:56 The difficulties nowadays 38:43 Pros and cons of full-time training 40:14 Zen in the Art of Archery and trying hard 41:37 Michael got into the AT because of the inner work 42:39 Krishnamurti was debunking your beliefs 44:02 Marj Barstow would do the same 44:42 The Carringtons 45:59 Having lessons with Marjorie Barlow, Elizabeth Walker 46:16 Lessons with Peggy Williams and Marjorie Barstow 47:42 The differences 48:26 All these people were excellent teachers in their own right 49:19 His grandmother and the spiritual path 50:53 Getting into sufism 52:31 Magical experience 54:20 The liminal zone 55:35 The inner work is one of subtraction and negation 56:03 Feldenkrais: when I work everything is more alive 57:38 His own teaching with actors in LA 58:34 You have to pay it forward 59:43 A last note on Walter 1:00:42 The ultimate faulty sensory feedback is me 1:01:56 End #alexandertechniqueconversations #alexandertechnique #podcast #interview #videopodcast #MichaelFrederick #RuthHommelsheim