(Links to several articles by Robert’s students can be found at the bottom of this page.)
Listen to interviews with some of Robert’s students:
Bryan Todd, Lincoln, Nebraska, President of the marketing firm Perry S. Marshall & Associates:
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Damien Fox, Attorney, Toronto, Canada:
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Susan Kruger, the founder of StudySkills.com and the author of SOAR Study Skills:
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Braden Fox, fire fighter, Toronto, Canada:
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Mavis Curry, Des Moines, Iowa, retired:
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Jerry Campbell, Lincoln, Nebraska, Accounts Manager, Nebraska Book Company:
“I have appreciated my Alexander lessons with Robert. He is a very experienced and attentive teacher whose gentle guidance is accompanied by a well-trained eye. Each lesson teaches me more about myself and equips me with a sense of renewal and additional energy to meet the challenges of the day.”
– Ron Leslie Schroeder, Legislative Aide, Nebraska Legislature
“Robert Rickover is a master teacher and a terrific person to learn from. He uses the Socratic method to ask you to introspect and discover for yourself what a particular position, direction or movement does while also being a wonderful instructor for information and reinforcement of concepts you’re learning. After about 9 sessions he let me go off to practice awhile what I had learned, with the expectation that I could and would return as I wished to have more training or if I had questions. In terms of Alexander technique, it requires focusing on movement to learn but that easily fits into daily activities like walking or resting. I learned that my habit of collapsing on the couch to relax was actually causing me problems and that the slouching I thought I was doing came from much lower in my spine than I had thought, rendering useless the posture correctors that always seemed to make things worse. Robert is warm and friendly and easy to work with even remotely, and despite the number of talented Alexander technique teachers in NYC, I reached out to him amidst the pandemic as I struggled with my workload, wanting to do something good for myself while caring for others (I am a NYC psychiatrist at Columbia and in private practice). I wasn’t sure ZOOM lessons would work but they certainly did! I’ve never had such a good combination of practical, theoretical, didactic and Socratic methods from a coach of any kind and give Robert my highest recommendation!”
– Susan C. Vaughan, M.D., Director, Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, New York City
“Robert’s exceptional ability to listen to both what you are saying and to what your body is saying allows him to give inspired reminders of what we all know to be true – that our bodies work beautifully if we just get out of our own way! I find group lessons to be particularly helpful, as I learn so much from watching master teachers work with other students.”
– Karen Libman, Associate Professor of Theatre, Grand Valley State University, Grand Valley, Michigan
“Robert Rickover has been a faculty member in the Nebraska Wesleyan University High School Solo Singers Workshop for many years. He is responsible for teaching relaxation strategies using the Alexander Technique to high school singers ages 15 through graduating high school seniors. Robert is wonderfully patient and thorough in working with this age singer. His effectiveness is demonstrated by the fact that his class is elective and yet it has strong enrollment. His reputation as an Alexander master teacher provides the workshop with balance and allows us to offer an important class that will help young singers maintain healthy vocal habits for many years. We very much value his contributions to the workshop.”
– William A. Wyman, Workshop Director, Professor of Music, Nebraska Wesleyan University
I took about 9 online zoom lessons with Robert, which came about due to back pain. I was happily surprised how effective the online lessons were in helping me to think differently about the use of my body. Robert helped to put me on the right track and has given me lots of tools to use throughout my daily life as a father, teacher and trombonist. Without the online zoom format, I would have never been able to take lessons from Robert, and I’m very thankful that I was able to. – Scott Forney, Music Teacher, Dayton, Ohio
“Thanks for your excellent instruction. It is making a big difference in how I exist in this world.” – Kristin Pfabe, Professor of Mathematics and violinist in the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra
“I happened to read a Journal Star article about Robert and the Alexander Technique. At the time I had been experiencing discomfort in my back while sitting at my computer desk and also while twisting my back. The Alexander Technique intrigued me as it seemed pretty non-invasive. I’ve enjoyed my sessions with Robert and learning how to use my body more efficiently. I have less pain while sitting now and also more movement while twisting. I also had another unexpected benefit. I happened to be going through a job search during my time with Robert. During one session we agreed to focus on interviewing. The next week I had an interview at was extremely confident and felt like my entire body was integrated during the interview. I got an offer the next day and ended up accepting it. Who would have thought that a little back pain would turn into a new job a few months later? I would highly recommend Robert and the Alexander Technique.” – Curt Jamison, Database Developer, Lincoln, Nebraska
“Robert possesses a wonderful blend of verbal and hands-on skills, enabling him to educate both the mind and the body with clarity and ease. His natural, easygoing manner makes the embodiment of the Alexander Technique seem very attainable. After learning from Robert for just a few hours, I’m noticing shifts in lifelong postural habits that had been hindering my work as a massage therapist. I’m using more of my body in my strokes and putting less strain on my hands. I come away from my office at the end of the day feeling generally tired but without such concentrated fatigue in my arms and wrists. Thanks to Robert and the Alexander Technique, I may have a much longer career!”
– Sue Radosti, Massage Therapist, Sioux City, Iowa
“I recently had nine lessons from Robert Rickover. The benefits were immediate and substantial. Robert has studied with a number of Alexander master teachers. He has distilled the best in their teaching and synthesized it in a most original manner. Robert’s approach is very laid-back and down to earth. He focuses on the essentials and avoids confusing terminology. However, this simplicity results from a mastery of his subject. I believe that almost anyone would experience improved body use after even a single lesson from Robert. I certainly look forward to more lessons with him.“
– Robert Leon, Chartered Accountant, Toronto, Ontario
“The Alexander Technique, like any skill involving fine mental and physical coordination, requires motivation and understanding from the student. Of utmost importance is the help of an experienced teacher. Lincoln is fortunate to have such a teacher in Robert Rickover. His training is exceptionally broad. Through much teaching experience he has evolved a very helpful approach: always encouraging, listening to questions, giving very articulate answers, and carefully monitoring progress. As a retired musician and teacher I especially appreciate the fact that he is sensitive to the needs and capabilities of his students. His goal, as I see it, is to begin a process of re-education that is useful at any age and will remain with the student for the rest of his or her life.”
– Priscilla Parson, retired Professor of Music, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska
“Robert is a wonderful Alexander Technique teacher. His work with a group is always well-structured, useful and fun.”
– Joy McKinney, Physical Therapist, Seattle, Washington
“As a classical pianist, singer and mother of two young children, I put a lot of physical demands on my body. After my second child was born I began experiencing chronic neck pain which was inhibiting many of my daily activities. I saw a workshop offered by Robert Rickover and remembered vaguely from college that the Alexander Technique was a method of releasing inappropriate tension from the body. I attended the workshop and Robert turned out to be a wonderful teacher. He was able to be flexible and adaptable to the individual student while at the same time giving the class a solid foundation in the Alexander Technique. As a result, I am finding out how to greatly diminish my chronic pain and have discovered a method of releasing unwanted tension both as a singer and a pianist. I highly recommend Robert Rickover as an Alexander teacher and am very grateful for the fine wisdom that he so expertly imparts to his students.”
– Kate Saulsbury, Sioux City, Iowa
“Robert Rickover is a master teacher of the Alexander Technique in a group setting. He combines a thorough knowledge of the Technique and related schools of movement education with an ever-spontaneous use of each individual’s learning process to instruct the remaining members of the group. What I have gained in group study of the Alexander Technique with Robert has been of daily value for me-both professionally in my work as a storyteller and personally in my quest for more conscious and efficient movement.”
– Joe Hayes, Storyteller, Santa Fe, New Mexico
“I started taking Alexander Technique classes with Robert by mistake. I was looking for another technique named after someone else by the same last name!
“I am very very happy to have discovered the Alexander Technique, even if I landed there by chance! And although I originally went for help with my singing, I have had some additional results that I did not expect in the first place: one is that I used to have very painful periods, but a medical reason was never found for that. Through the work the pain lessened and then disappeared. I remember even going to a lesson folded in two by the cramps (well, almost NOT going to lesson) and finding it was the best thing I could have done! I guess that the compression of my posture was causing the pain, and now that I have “decompressed” somewhat, my system can work without interferences!
“And of course, my overall posture, which is not just a thing that looks nice, but I came to realize that I can do things and get less tired, because, as Robert explained, if the relationship between your neck and head is not functioning well, if are mal-using the system, you are spending a lot of energy that you shouldn’t have to!”
– Irene Beibe, Instructor in Spanish, University of Miami
Several of Robert’s students have written articles about the Alexander Technique: