AmSAT Annual Conference and General Meeting

You will be able to validate your attendance (Check-In to sessions) using your personal schedule.

11:45am EDT

Thursday June 25, 2026 11:45am - 1:15pm EDT

Limited Capacity seats available

Title
Description: We are more often taught how to give lessons to others than we are taught to give them to ourselves. Yet working on one's own use is the core of the Technique, and the foundation of its applications to any activity. How does one go about teaching oneself? How do YOU go about this? Do you use an actual technique? Let's look together at what we are up to in this realm, and see if we can improve on and clarify what we already have going. We will start this workshop by 'working on ourselves' as we each understand this, and then do our best to articulate what we are up to, first in pairs or small groups, and then to the larger group. Erik will take it from there. Years ago he decided to see if he could give himself a better lesson than he was able to get from someone else. This workshop is meant to awaken that exploration in others.

Speakers

Erik Bendix

Erik Bendix trained in the Alexander Technique with Frank Ottiwell, Joan and Alex Murray, and Walter Carrington. He assisted Vivien Mackie's work with musicians, taught anatomy for five years at the Schapera’s Cincinnati training course, represented the Technique at the 2012-13... Read More →

Thursday June 25, 2026 11:45am - 1:15pm EDT
W2

Workshop

10:00am EDT

From Teacher to Partner: Integrating Coaching Skills into Alexander Teaching

LIMITED

Friday June 26, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am EDT

Limited Capacity seats available

In this interactive 90-minute workshop, I explore how integrating health coaching skills has deepened my work as an Alexander Technique teacher. Many students experience meaningful change during lessons yet struggle to carry that insight into daily life. Coaching tools did not replace Alexander principles—they strengthened them. By refining how I listen, question, and respond, my role shifted from expert instructor to collaborative partner, while remaining grounded in awareness, inhibition, and direction.

Participants will be introduced to four coaching competencies that complement Alexander work:
1) Deep listening — Hearing not only physical habits, but also values, fears, motivations, and readiness for change.

2) Powerful questioning — Inviting curiosity, self-awareness, and alignment with what matters most to the student.

3) Reflective language and affirmations — Building self-efficacy and easing perfectionism without turning lessons into praise or therapy.

4) Stages of change awareness — Meeting students where they are rather than assuming readiness for action.

Through brief teaching segments, live demonstration, discussion, and guided partner practice, participants will explore how to integrate these skills into both private lessons and group classes. We will experiment with practical language shifts, question frameworks that evoke insight, and simple structures for designing small, realistic “micro-experiments” between sessions to support integration.

This coaching-informed approach preserves the essence of the Alexander Technique. It clarifies intention, strengthens trust, and supports student agency. Rather than pushing for change, we learn to create conditions in which change is more likely to emerge.

Suitable for trainees and experienced teachers, this session offers concrete tools, practical phrases, and a clear framework for integrating coaching skills without diluting core principles. Participants will leave with greater confidence in facilitating lasting learning and supporting students beyond the teaching table.

The workshop is designed to accommodate diverse learning styles. Participation options include seated or standing engagement, observation-only roles during partner work, and verbal or written reflection formats. Partner exercises emphasize consent, psychological safety, and opt-out flexibility. By modeling adaptability and responsiveness, this workshop embodies meeting the moment—supporting inclusion, agency, and sustainable performance for diverse learners and teachers alike.

Speakers

Aik Hooi Lee

Aik Hooi Lee is a pianist, certified Alexander Technique teacher, and health and wellness coach who integrates artistry with holistic mind–body practices to support creativity, resilience, and sustainable performance. Trained at the American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT... Read More →

Friday June 26, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am EDT
W2

Workshop

11:45am EDT

Alexander Technique for People Living With Parkinson's: Self Management and Self Care

LIMITED

Friday June 26, 2026 11:45am - 1:15pm EDT

Limited Capacity seats available

Medical studies have shown that the Alexander Technique is beneficial for those living with Parkinson's. Some of the benefits include improved physical alignment and balance, freer movement and breathing, improved mood, and more efficient use of the self in daily functioning.

Join Bill Connington to learn how the Alexander Technique can be of real practical help in daily living for People Living With Parkinson's. Bill will help you understand more about this condition, and how Alexander teachers can give vital help to those living with it.

Through mindful awareness, learning simple self-cues, and strengthening the mind-body connection, People Living With Parkinson's can proactively influence the use of themselves, and develop a constructive self management of their own lives.

Bill has been evolving this work over seventeen years. He will present new ideas and discoveries in this important application in the Alexander work.

Bill has learned over and over that the most important benefit that the Alexander Technique can bring to PLWP is hope.

Speakers

Bill Connington

Bill Connington is a Lecturer in Acting at the graduate acting school of Yale University. He also teaches classes for People Living With Parkinson's for Yale Hospital. Bill is the former Chairman of the Board of the American Center for the Alexander Technique, and the author of three... Read More →

Friday June 26, 2026 11:45am - 1:15pm EDT
W2

Workshop

10:00am EDT

The Impulse for Voice and Song

LIMITED

Saturday June 27, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am EDT

Limited Capacity seats available

Olga Averino was my principal voice teacher. In her book, “The Principles and Art of Singing,” (published by the Institut for F.M. Alexander’s Teknik, Denmark), Averino writes, “The process of good singing is a process of physical and psychological coordination. In itself it produces no sound, but it creates the conditions which allow the imagination to produce the sound.” Averino called this impulse, and stimulating the understanding and experience of impulse was the gift she gave me and the generations of singers she taught. Impulse, a vital force present in every living thing, is the connecting power between body and mind. Understood from a vocal perspective it is what ignites the diaphragm to sent air up and through the vocal resulting in sound. From an Alexander perspective, it is the dynamic synergy between the muscles of posture, movement and respiration. Our awareness of and connection to impulse make singing, or any activity, centered and seemingly effortless. When we sing “on impulse” we become energized and focused and our voices ring with authenticity and nuance.

The main goal of our workshop is to experience the aliveness and freedom that come from singing and speaking on breath and impulse. We will explore ways of uncovering impulse in ourselves, bringing it to consciousness and working with it. We will discern the difference between “allowing” and “doing” as it relates to voice and become aware of natural, reflexive breathing. Group singing of simple songs will inspire joyful, rhythmic and expressive singing. There is no previous singing experience necessary to attend this class, and it is open to the general public as well as Alexander Technique students, trainees and teachers.

Speakers

Jean McClelland

Jean McClelland received her B.A. from Vassar College and did graduate study at Boston University in opera and vocal performance. She was certified by the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) and the American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT) in 1991 and studied... Read More →

Saturday June 27, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am EDT
W2

Workshop

10:00am EDT

Acting and the Alexander Technique: entering and “owning” the room

LIMITED

Sunday June 28, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am EDT

Limited Capacity seats available

Description:Iin this workshop, we’ll use Alexander technique principles to explore entering an audition, the introduction known as the “slate”, and what it means to take up space as a performer.

Accessibility: the workshop will be designed to give individualized guidance to each participant and their own entry and performance “slate” as they enter the room. Participants will be encouraged to be who they are, sense their space, and utilize Alexander principles to find what works best for them in their body.

Speakers

Jenna Hokanson

Jenna Hokanson is an AEA actor, Alexander Technique Teacher (AMSAT 1600 hrs certification), and martial artist living in Brooklyn, NY.
A North Carolina native, she graduated with a BFA Acting and BA Arts Administration double major from Elon University in Elon,NC.

Jenna received her Alexander Technique Teacher Training Certification with Balance Arts Center in Manhattan under the guidance of Ann Rodiger and has her Second Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo. She's also proficient in photography, specifically headshots and portraits. Jenna’s worke... Read More →

Sunday June 28, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am EDT
W2

Workshop