About LearningMethods

...how can it help me? ...and what will I learn?

About

"I believe that any teaching is fundamentally ineffective, whatever the method, unless it helps people feel, experience and become confident of their essential resourcefulness, their real self, their inborn freedom and security, their uniqueness and universality, from the inside of themselves and by themselves."

— paraphrased from Akihisa Kondo

Who is it For?

People who come to the work are just ordinary people like you and me. Some are performers (actors, musicians, dancers, athletes, etc.), or professionals (psychotherapists, body-workers, teachers), or business people.

Some are mothers, husbands, parents, lovers. Some are people with chronic problems they've had as long as they can remember, others are there because of an issue that that has just come up but which they cannot solve. Some also come to learn more about how they can help others better or teach more effectively.

In fact, the work is for anyone curious and interested in learning more about their problems, understanding themselves, and how to make their own and other people's lives better...

How Will the Work Help You?

Whatever your background or experience, the LearningMethods workshops and classes are there for you to explore any issue or problem that has come up for you in your life and that you want to understand and to change.

Here are some of the common issues that people bring up:

Tension and pain

on-going or in activities like playing an instrument, driving, using a computer

Nervousness and stage-fright

in performance situations, giving a speech or presentation, or socially

Stress and strain

business demands, deadlines, being caught in rushing, personal crises, etc.

Learning blocks

difficulty or frustration in rehearsal/practice, in studying or in learning new activities

Phobias and fears

fear of flying, fear of heights, fears of driving, other 'irrational' fears, etc.

Relationship issues

on-going misunderstandings, conflict or arguing, being stuck in reaction, jealousy, etc.

Compulsions and dependency

eating disorders, quitting smoking, over-indulging, anorexia, etc.

Self-worth and judgment

self-judgment or worry of what others are thinking, low self-esteem, envy and comparison

Worry, fear for the future / stuck on the past

worrying about bad things that could happen, or unable to let go and move on

Or you may simply want to learn more about yourself, or take your already-existing teaching or helping skills in a new direction…

What Will You Be Learning?

Through the process of exploring and understanding your own issues, as well as by witnessing the explorations of others, you will find that you are learning to:

Systematically explore

your own experiences and thoughts to be clear what is happening in your life

Recognize the difference

between a symptom and its cause so you can liberate yourself from having to endlessly deal with symptoms

Understand the messages

of your emotions so that you can act instead of react and no longer be a slave to your feelings

Be more in touch

with what the sensitivity and intelligence of your marvelous system is telling you

Uncover inaccurate beliefs

and misconceived interpretations that keep you caught in problems

Let change into your life

without fear of the unknown and discover the pathway to what makes you happy

Get out of the way

of your intention, stop trying and making effort so that your innate co-ordinations can organize what you want

Be clear about your own value

and abilities and not get caught in worrying about what others think

Be yourself with ease

and acceptance, both alone and with others, and see others as they are so you can respond appropriately

Communicate more effectively

with more understanding of other people's point of view and so that they understand yours

You CAN be liberated from the habits and problems of a lifetime. And this can happen a lot more easily and quicker than you might think.

What is the Format of the Work?

Depending on your situation and preferences, you can work with a LearningMethods teacher in individual (private) classes, small group sessions of several people for several hours, or in a workshop over 4 to 10 days. Some teachers also work with on-going groups which meet regularly to keep a continuity and progression of work.

Whichever way you choose to work, these are practical and applied sessions driven totally by your own questions, problems, explorations, experiments, responses.... and learning.

The emphasis is on helping you learn how to gain the practical tools you can use in your daily life to find out for yourself and solve your own problems.

It is usually surprising to people just how easily and quickly their major life issues can begin to move and be transformed when they have the tools to really find out what is happening and make practical real-life experiments.

Individual Classes or Small Groups:

You can take an individual class (usually at least 1-2 hours in length) or you can share a longer session with 1, 2 or 3 others (especially helpful for people working through relationship or shared issues). It may take only one or it may take several sessions for you to understand your issues deeply enough that you can make changes on your own in your daily life.

Workshops:

The work is also often done over 4 or 5 days in a small intimate workshop with 5-8 participants. This length of time is ideal, not only to be able to take the time you need to fully explore your issues, but also to be able to revisit them as you make experiments and changes. The number of participants is kept small to ensure a depth of personal and practical work as well as an intimate atmosphere within the group.

Sometimes people are a bit anxious about joining a group and feel like they may be exposing themselves and their problems to others. But most people, in spite of their initial fears, find that the process is very easy and comfortable once they are there. You will certainly find a welcoming atmosphere of like-minded people who genuinely are interested and who want to better understand themselves and other people.

There are huge advantages to working with others:

You will likely find others who share similar problems and whose experiences and solutions can help you

Articulating your experiences out loud is essential to being clear

There is tremendous support and understanding available to us when we all go through things together

Where is the Work Being Taught?

Along with the numerous workshops and individual sessions in cities in Europe and North America, these are some of the places where the work has been taught:

For actors at:

• Conservatoire de Théâtre – Avignon, France
• Shaw Festival Theatre – Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada
• The Citadel Theatre – Edmonton, Canada
• Rencontres de Théâtre du Gard – Nîmes, France
• Théâtre de Périscope – Nîmes, France

For singers at:

• Royal Academy of Music – Stockholm, Sweden
• Göteborg Opera – Göteborg, Sweden
• University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, USA

For instrumental musicians at:

• Royal Academy of Music – Stockholm, Sweden
• Swedish Royal Opera Orchestra – Stockholm, Sweden
• Academy of Music – Malmö, Sweden
• Göteborg Opera – Göteborg, Sweden
• ProMusica – Le Thor, France
• Music Department, Australian National University – Canberra, Australia
• Orchestral Academy, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival – Germany

For dancers at:

• Pôle National Supérieur de Danse, Mougins, France

How Do I Find Out More?

The best way is to come and experience the work for yourself. For details of courses or to make an appointment, contact us by e-mail, by phone or by writing. Any LearningMethods teacher will be happy to answer your questions. You can locate the closest teacher from the list of qualified teachers.

You can also explore this LearningMethods web site for more information. There are numerous articles on-line, as well as pages about studying the work, training to become a teacher, links to other teacher's sites and more. You can also order some of the articles and books in printed form.

About the Developer of LearningMethods

David Gorman developed the LearningMethods work out of over 30 years of research and teaching experiences. He has a background in both science and as an artist and has always had a fascination with exploring human structure and function. In the mid-1970s he spent many nights dissecting and drawing in the human anatomy lab.

David has been studying and using the Alexander Technique since 1972 and has been teaching since the late 1970’s becoming well-known worldwide for his innovations to the work and notorious for challenging the orthodoxy of the profession. He has been invited to teach all over the world in universities, conservatories and training colleges, at conferences and symposia, and with performance groups and health and medical professionals.

In 1980 he published an illustrated 650-page work, The Body Moveable and in 1997 the first edition of this collection of articles and essays, Looking at Ourselves. David has also been deeply involved in the professional organization of the Alexander Technique. He was one of the founding members of CanSTAT (Canadian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique), chairman of the founding committee of NASTAT (now AmSAT, the American Society for the Alexander Technique), the architect of the Affiliated Societies mechanism for Alexander Technique professional organizations to recognize each other, and the author of the original Sponsorship and Certification process of ATI (Alexander Technique International).

In 1982, his teaching was revolutionised by his discovery of a new model of human organisation with its profound implications of our in-built and natural tendency toward balance, ease and wholeness. He extended these insights into a new way of training teachers of the Alexander Technique and from 1988 to 1997 in London, U.K. he trained 45 teachers, assisted by two wonderful teachers, first Margaret Farrar and then Ann Penistan.

However, further explorations in his own and other training groups made it clear that a huge part of our problems lay not in the “body” but in our consciousness and way of seeing things — our underlying belief systems and how we misinterpret daily experiencesand then react to these misunderstandings. At this point it also became apparent that his discoveries and the changed teaching methods they implied no longer could be squeezed in under the premises and pedagogy of the Alexander Technique.
Recognizing the need for a new and more effective approach to help people uncover and liberate themselves from these circular traps, David developed the LearningMethods work to teach people how to gain command of their exquisite in-built clarity of perception and powerful tools of intelligence so they can successfully navigate their lives.

Since the beginning of the work in 1997, David has completed the training of a growing number of LearningMethods Teachers, many of whom are now teaching the LM work in universities, colleges and conservatories. He continues to evolve the Apprenticeship Teacher Training Program having recently added online live video conferencing as part of the training. He gives workshops in Europe, North America and Asia as well as writing about the work and raising another young son.

Current Status

As of 2024, David Gorman has officially retired from the teaching aspect of LearningMethods and the Alexander Technique. However, his printed works continue to be sold (you can find them on the books page).

Country/region

About​ Learning​Methods