Suddenly my phone is screaming at me…

(Who is calling at this late hour!?)

"Hallo, BodyChance Studio.

I'm sorry, but now we are close—"

"Please can you help me!?"

(I think: shouldn't we at least do names first?)

"Who is this speaking?"

"Oh I'm sorry, my name is Harry."

(I guess he needs to have this conversation now…)

"What's the problem Harry?"

"I am in a lot of pain. I can't stand it."

My first crisis happened within 2 years of my 18 years of living in Japan happened in Kyoto.

Jaldhara had our young daughter Angelica in the pram, and had just said goodbye. I turned, and started heading down the escalator to go to Tokyo…

And I tripped. I tumbled down the stairs.

And - by a remarkable confluence of unexpected factors - dislocated my arm. OUCH!

The worst part was being alone. Speaking no Japanese. Having no idea what to do next.

Carol at first thought:

"My God, Jeremy has an ego on him. Fancy calling his workshop "Golden Week". Bit over the top isn't it?"

Of course I heard all this AFTER - while we were laughing. I was able to inform Carol, that Golden Week was not a name I made up for BodyChance's annual residential - it was what the Japanese called it!

Golden Week happens in the first week of May every year. It is a Japanese version of Easter. Three public holidays, near a weekend, and everyone goes home to see family.

There is a secret to BodyChance's Golden Week residential, and I am going to reveal it.

Anyone who follows my feed on Facebook knows there is a frenzy of activity every May.

During the Japanese holidays of Golden Week (what a great name!) BodyChance holds its annual residential. We started it in 1999, and still going strong.

Back in the 70s, when I first arrived in London to train, the big scandal was group teaching.

Of course, EVERYONE KNEW you could not teach Alexander's discovery in groups. It was almost a heresy back then, a betrayal of principle. What are you thinking!?

Except that "unreasonable" teachers started to teach in groups.

The story I heard - back then - was of an infuriated Dr Wilfred Barlow, at the last STAT AGM he ever attended, pointing a finger quivering in anger at Walter Carrington:

"It is because of you!"

I have a confession to make.

My original motivation for creating my 2 year certificate course in “BodyThinking” was fear of what would happen if I didn’t. It was 2003 and I was worried.

Fear is not always a negative thing: running away from a fire is clever.

Here’s the story of the fire I was running away from…

One of my mentors, Brendan Nicholls, was incredibly circuitous in the way he assessed a new business partner. He was driven by a fractal idea that goes like this:

“How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything”

FM said it in a different way:

“If you apply the principle to the carrying out of one evolution, you have learned the lot.”

What does this mean?

I have been reading Richard Koch's (no relation) 80/20 Principle to decide if I will spend $10,000+ flying to Chicago in September to be part of his 3 day seminar on the Star Principle.

The Star Principle is a biz concept Richard built atop of the 80/20 Principle, and it helped him amass a fortune of $250 million. You don't often find guys like this giving seminars - good to listen. Not cheap.

Two lines jumped out at me, one funny, one serious. First the funny one:

Recently, I felt I wasn't doing enough for you all in ATSuccess Basic, and then it was time to post this summary of my answers to your questions for the last two weeks… 2,420 words.

Hummm...

That is 200 words of advice on your questions every day: I'd say that's enough. What do you think?

For those not in my ATSuccess group - here's a sampling of the encouragement and advice you can have access to. Not just any marketing program - a program full of Alexander Technique teachers who really get it. Maybe it's time for you to join?

Many of you have embraced Facebook advertising, seeking out your avatars and actually having fun finding people who love to be your students, before they even know it. Amazing!

To-day's blog is a basic primer, mixing together different concepts I've already covered, but putting them all together in a simple road map to manage your learning curve to greater understanding, skill and joy.