| The August 14, 2000 issue of Time Magazine | | | | "...an obsessive student of the game who |
| features an article about Tiger Woods titled | | | | reviews videotapes of old tournaments for |
| "The Game of Risk - How the Best Golfer in | | | | clues about how to play each hole." Alexander |
| the World Got Even Better". Although I have | | | | too was an obsessive student of his |
| no specific interest in the sport of golf, I | | | | performance and in the end his obsession paid |
| do have a long-standing fascination with the | | | | off not only in providing a solution to his |
| general theme of the article: how can someone | | | | voice problem, but later in the discovery of |
| learn to do something better? | | | | a process that could be taught to others who |
| | | | wanted to improve the quality of their |
| That's precisely what the Alexander Technique | | | | physical functioning. |
| is all about. And while Tiger Woods has | | | | |
| probably never heard of it, it's interesting | | | | "What is most remarkable about Woods," the |
| that his quest for a better golf swing | | | | article continues, "is his restless drive for |
| parallels in many ways the process F. | | | | what the Japanese call kaizen, or continuous |
| Matthias Alexander - the developer of the | | | | improvement. Toyota engineers will push a |
| Alexander Technique - went through a century | | | | perfectly good assembly line until it breaks |
| ago. | | | | down. They'll find and fix the flaw and push |
| | | | the system again. That's kaizen. That's |
| Alexander was a Shakespearean reciter who ran | | | | Tiger." |
| up against limitations in his ability to | | | | |
| perform well on stage. At that time there | | | | And that's Alexander, too. Never content with |
| were no microphones and speakers and so he | | | | the progress he had already made - first in |
| had to fill an entire auditorium with just | | | | solving his own voice problem and later in |
| the power of his own voice. Like Woods he was | | | | developing better ways to teach others, and |
| very talented at his profession but he also | | | | to train teachers in his Technique. |
| knew that there was room for improvement. In | | | | |
| particular, he found that his voice gave out | | | | Wood's first instructor, Rudy Duran, |
| during a longer performance and that he had a | | | | commented that he has "the ability to stay in |
| tendency to gasp for breath on occasion. | | | | the present during a tournament and focus on |
| | | | hitting one shot at a time." |
| Neither his doctors nor his vocal coaches | | | | |
| were able to help and so he set off on his | | | | Alexander, too, discovered that in order to |
| own, using a system of mirrors to monitor his | | | | change his way of speaking he had to learn to |
| performance in order to see precisely what | | | | stay focused on what he was thinking and |
| was causing his difficulties. If he were | | | | doing in the present. Much of what Alexander |
| living today, he would probably use | | | | Technique teachers do to help their students |
| videotapes of himself to see what was going | | | | with today is teach them how to develop this |
| on. | | | | skill for themselves. |
| | | | |
| That's what Tiger Woods did in order to | | | | It's no wonder that so many leading |
| improve his swing. "I knew I wasn't in the | | | | performers in the fields of acting, music, |
| greatest positions in my swing at the | | | | and dance have studied the Alexander |
| Masters," Woods said. "But my timing was | | | | Technique and have publicly endorsed it. It |
| great, so I got away with it. And I made | | | | turns out that this ability is also very |
| almost every putt. You can have a wonderful | | | | useful for people who don't consider |
| week like that even when your swing isn't | | | | themselves to be performers but whose |
| sound. But can you still contend in | | | | "performance" of activities in their daily |
| tournaments with that swing when your timing | | | | lives has put harmful stress on their bodies, |
| isn't good? Will it hold up over a long | | | | often to the point of causing pain such as |
| period of time? The answer to those | | | | backache or stiff shoulders and necks. |
| questions, with the swing I had, was no. And | | | | |
| I wanted to change that." | | | | Learning how to monitor your thoughts and |
| | | | actions in real time is a valuable skill for |
| The article notes that Woods has become | | | | anyone to master. |