Writings & Illuminations
Welcome to Bruce’s Blog.
For the past 10 years, I have been writing about the overlap between movement and meaning, between body and being, between sensory life and spiritual life, and between culture and coordination. Being a photographer, I also express my ideas via images. They are another way into my world. My blog is also a place to go to find out about upcoming events.
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Bruce’s Blog

Glimpse into Inlets to the Soul with Bruce Fertman
What was it like taking “Inlets to the Soul” with Bruce Fertman?
About Bruce Fertman
Questions? I am Always Here!
Why It Is Good to Receive Our Newsletter
Teaching by Hand/Learning by Heart by Bruce Fertman – Now A Kindle Book – $9.00
What Students Have to Say about Grace of Sense
Mit Händen Lehren/Von Herzen Lernen
GERMANY – Quintessence – A Documentary On The Alexander Alliance Germany
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Bruce’s Blog

Offerings & Essays
Above, you will find offerings and opportunities for study. Below, you will find my musings as a mover, artist, teacher, and seeker. Enjoy. Share your thoughts with me. Write anytime.
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What Makes Me a “Physiologian”?
by Bruce Fertman | TOP POSTS
My work never has and still does not fit into any of the conventional fields of study one finds in higher education. I don't feel like a physical education teacher, nor a psychologist, nor a philosopher, nor a theologian. I feel like I am either all of these or none...
The Tearoom is Everywhere
by Bruce Fertman | TOP POSTS
In memory of Brother Joe Keenan who taught me how to fold a fukusa. A man in my neighborhood, who knew I taught bi-annually in Japan, invited me to be his guest. He told me he was studying Chanoyu, Japanese Tea Ceremony, at LaSalle University. I had seen this in...
On a Trail of Beauty, Lively, May I Walk
by Bruce Fertman | TOP POSTS
On a Trail of Beauty Look into the photo above these words and in the distance you will see a road. For hours I walked, everyday, for one week, upon that road. I saw no one. Not a soul. This road leads to the Valley of the Gods inside Navajo Country. Now, I am not...
Good to Know
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Often, I have told my students that we can change the body more through the heart than we can through the mind. But only now am I attempting to work out a methodology for profoundly changing the body through the workings of the heart. In Grace of Sense Continues to...
Life Line
by Bruce Fertman | TOP POSTS
A philosophy professor at Hampshire College studied with me each year for several years. That was 35 years ago. Annually, I was invited to Hamphire College to teach the Alexander Technique for the Five College Dance Department. One day after class, she came up to me...
Rushing Waters
by Bruce Fertman | TOP POSTS, Uncategorized
It seems logical to assume that time moves from the past into the present and then forward into the future. But what if it is not time but we who move from the past to the present and then into the future. Perhaps time itself does not move in the same way we do. I see...
What Grace of Sense is Really About
by Bruce Fertman | TOP POSTS
When Covid struck, I decided to travel inwards. I wrote two books, as yet unpublished. One is entitled, In Good Company - The End of Living Alone, the other, Robes of the Desert - What It Means to Live a Non-Egocentric Life. Not knowing if anyone would resonate with...
Resonance
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Hartmut Rosa is a sociologist and author of a very big and good book entitled, Resonance. He also wrote a book entitled, Acceleration. Acceleration he sees as one of the major problems of our time, and Resonance he sees as the solution. The more I read Rosa,...
Love Runs Downstream – Passing on The Alexander Alliance to the Next Generation
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on the Alexander Technique, TOP POSTS
It’s been an exhilarating three weeks! During this time, I taught in person and, for the first time in 3 years, I again used my hands to teach. I also graduated from my school. I was in the 40 year program. Most everyone graduates in 4 years. I was my slowest student...
Glimpse into Inlets to the Soul with Bruce Fertman
by Bruce Fertman | Billboards, Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Clive Salzer did a beautiful job making a trailer for my free live online class entitled, Inlets to the Soul. It really captures my way as a teacher and in 10 minutes gives you something simple and profound to practice. Please share this link with your friends and...
What was it like taking “Inlets to the Soul” with Bruce Fertman?
by Bruce Fertman | Billboards, Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Saturday, April 23rd, 13:00 Berlin Time Sunday, April 24th, 8pm NYC Time Register: www.graceofsense.com/inlets-to-the-soul/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA_OmYB47x4
The Narrow Road
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Here in Japan, the cherry blossoms appear, and with their arrival it is impossible not to think about the transience of one's own life. Now that I am old, I find myself turning to "old age art", art composed by people as they neared their end, Matisse's strong, joyful...
The Tale of Three Tails – Part I
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
THE TALE OF THE THREE TAILS The Relational Body Nothing exists in isolation, at least not from what I can see when I look around me. Look around. Isn’t everything in relation to something else? Aren’t the stars in relation, one to the other? Isn’t that how we figure...
The Thread
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
There’s a thread you follow. It goes among There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain to them about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold...
The Sensuous and the Sacred
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
One day years ago, wondering around Rome I happened upon a small church. There she lay. Immediately, though knowing nothing about her, I felt I knew her. I gazed at her, I do not know for how long. Suddenly, I remembered I had my camera. I began to photograph her from...
Turning the World Inside Out
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” John Muir One day, I too came to this same realization. Because of where I live in New Mexico, the world around me is hard not to notice. In...
The Top Ten Myths About the Alexander Technique – In 20 Languages
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on the Alexander Technique, TOP POSTS
The Top Ten Myths about the Alexander Technique You are likely to find your native language. ENGLISH BRUCE FERTMAN * SPANISH VERO CABRAL * PORTUGUESE LIGIA CATARINA TEIXERIA * ITALIAN DANIELA SANGIORGIO * FRENCH CORINNE CASSINI * FINNISH RIIKKA ALAKARPPA * SWEDISH...
From The Same Immaterial Fabric
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
A student asks, “What is this inner body of which you so often speak?” The inner body is neither physical nor metaphysical. Not of the body and not beyond the body. The inner body lives within the body, It is the body within the body. The inner...
Still Life
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Pare it down and you’ve got two things left: ground and space. Ground is any object in the universe that has mass. Any object that has mass exerts a gravitational pull, or force, on every other mass. As far as gravity is concerned, humans are objects right along with...
Without Apology
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS, Writings from The Way In - The Way Out
Babies don’t interfere with themselves. Babies don’t judge, correct, or evaluate themselves. They can’t make a mistake because they don’t know what it means to make a mistake. Babies can’t fail because they don’t know what it means to fail. Babies are moved to move....
My Letter Of Resignation
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
At the ripe age of 64, I hereby announce my retirement. Below, you will find my letter of resignation. June 15, 2015 To Whom It May Concern, I have quit. I’ve quit being overly ambitious. What I have is exactly what I want. And what I want is exactly what I have. And...
Your True Face
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Ninety percent of the time I work with people with their eyes open. I want them to see the world, and be in the world. At the same time, when people first experience deep kinesthetic lightness, often their eyelids close naturally, as if they were holding a flower...
The Culmination Of Character
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
According to Aristotle, the psyche, (meaning soul, breath, animating spirit, mind), is the form of the body, in that it forms the body, is the origin of its movements, and is the body’s final aim and purpose. The psyche sculpts the body, yet is itself without body,...
Meditations On The Sensory World
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
There are three senses most of us know little about. They’re rarely acknowledged or consciously cultivated. They’re vital to us and we could not live without them. They’re senses that tell us more about ourselves than about the world. We learn hardly anything about...
Not This And Not That – A Kinesthetic Koan
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Take habits. Little habits, like cracking one's knuckles, or burping, or sighing, or saying um in between sentences. Or bigger habits, like getting angry, or gossiping. What would happen if we didn't suppress the urge to do something, and we didn't relieve the urge by...
The Great Undoing
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Unafraid, unashamed, unaffected. Unassuming, unarmed, unanalyzable. Unbound, unblocked, unbraced. Unburdened, unbridled, unbiased. Unchained, uncorked, unclenched. Unclassified, unconventional, unconditional. Uncovered. Uncertain. Undisguised, undistinguished, undone....
Prayer
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
It's happening. I am with my grown, thirty-five year old daughter in Korea, in Japan, visiting temples and shrines, lighting incense, hitting gongs and ringing bells, bringing our palms together, bowing in unison, saying thanks, making wishes. Finally, there I am...
Visceral Love
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Gravity. George Clooney was still Up In The Air, but this time he was way, way up in the air, and dressed in a space costume. Saundra Bullock was good, for sure. But it doesn’t matter at all because this film is not about any particular person. This film is not even...
One Small Gesture Of Kindness
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
A mother, 70, has a son with cerebral palsy. He is now 40 years old. The mother is small and the son is not. For years the mother has lifted her son from his wheelchair to the toilet, and back again. I ask her to show me how she lifts her son up. The mother moves...
Down Here In A Place Just Right
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
They say mathematicians and astrophysicists peak early. War heroes too and ballet dancers. You don’t know when it will happen or what will happen when it does. Over the hill, a has been, burning bright and then burnt out. Forsaken. Forgotten. I’m wondering about these...
Finding Your Peaceful Body
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
Watch... Anchan, as a videographer, catches the beauty in one person after another just as they are returning to their peaceful body. If you are a person for whom self-kindness does not come easily, and that is true for so many of us, then I think, by watching...
Being Fed – What No One Ever Taught Us About The Act Of Eating
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
It’s important to understand the difference between what I call our Real Body and our Cosmetic Body. If our motivation for wanting to change our relationship to food, and to ourselves, arises from our Cosmetic Body, then nothing we do will likely work. It won’t change...
The Slightest Shift – Turning Pressure Into Peace
by Bruce Fertman | Bruce's Writings on Grace of Sense, TOP POSTS
The Slightest Shift - Turning Pressure into Peace Love thy neighbor as thyself. I never got this. From early on there was I lot I did not like about myself, let alone love. It’s relatively easy for me to love other people, and virtually impossible for me to love...