“I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the ...

The obstacle is the path.  ~Zen Proverb The training of attention through my line of work—the Alexander Technique—happens in a particular way, through the application of certain principles. We take the obstacles, in this case a pupil’s habits, and work ...

We look but we do not see. We listen but we do not hear. We touch but we do not feel. There is a wonderful Buddhist story about an apprentice to a Zen monk who arrives at the monastery a complete novice and is put to work in the kitchen. “When do my lessons ...

One of the most valuable indicators of well-functioning coordination is eye movement. I have noticed for a long time now that there are different types of gaze in musicians. The ‘well-trained’ musician of today often exhibits what I call blinkered ...

In my last column, I mentioned getting to know some of your habits at the cello…the worst ones can become your best friends, in that they will offer the richest material for work on yourself. So now we step into the arena. Looking at oneself is not easy. The ...