Bates Method Teacher Profile: Brigitte Cavadias
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Brigitte Cavadias mBAVE4283 Chemin du Collet de Choucou 42 rue du Cherche-Midi Website: www.altevi.com |
Background
Having been slightly long-sighted all my youth, I became presbyopic in my forties, wearing reading glasses at first and ten years later, I was wearing varifocals from the minute I woke up to when I went to sleep. It is after experiencing a dramatic incident caused by a distortion in my varifocals (what I was seeing through them made me think I had a brain tumour!) that I then decided I had to get rid of these glasses and, if possible, of any glasses.
I found a Bates teacher in Paris, and started my vision re-education. It was quite a revolution for me to find out what I could do for my eyes, and a revelation when I could see so much without glasses, and even start reading with my naked eyes under certain favourable conditions...
A few months later, having moved to London to start my Alexander Technique training, I found Miss Sage who offered to train me as a Bates teacher. I accepted gladly, and so found myself training in both disciplines in the same time, and it was for me a good opportunity to find out how complementary these two disciplines were.
From 1992 to 1995 I taught the Bates Method in Paris, many of my pupils being my Alexander colleagues. I moved then to Provence and, having a bigger house, I started to teach not only one to one, but also to small groups, and in small workshops, not only in Provence but also in Paris, in the UK and in Switzerland.
In 2001, together with my friend and Alexander colleague Marjory Fern, from New Zealand, we created ALTEVI, which means : ALexander TEchnique and VIsion (www.altevi.com). With Rosa-Luisa Rossi from Switzerland and Lucia Walker from UK, both Alexander teachers working on vision and who soon joined in the Altevi group, and with the participation of Nina Hutchings, Bates teacher, we are organising each year a large workshop, either in France or abroad. In our teaching, we apply the principles of the Bates Method and the Alexander Technique.
Practice
Having lived in London from January 2004 to August 2008 I have created and completed a Bates Professional Training Course for Alexander teachers and students which included a weekly cheap Bates Clinic open to all. Back in France since September 2008,I teach privately in Paris and in Provence.
I teach vision regularly in Alexander Technique Professional Training Courses ( Paris, London, Brighton, Bristol). I also give workshops for professional development in France and in the UK.