FM Alexander (1869-1955)

The Alexander Technique is named after the man who discovered and developed it - Frederick Matthias Alexander . He was an actor in Melbourne, Australia, towards the end of the 19th century who specialised in Shakespearean recitation, something for which he had a great passion.

As he gained more success in his career, he began to experience various problems, most noticeably a hoarseness in his voice when reciting. Everything came to a head after an important performance where Alexander virtually lost his voice altogether. Seeing a doctor and receiving treatment had given him no long-term benefit and he was unwilling to go on with the doctor’s recommended treatment.

It was at this point that Alexander asked a very important question - “Is it not fair, then, to conclude that it was something I was doing that evening in using my voice that was the cause of the trouble”

“Is it not fair, then, to conclude that it was something I was doing”

This question started a long and ground-breaking investigation. Alexander set up mirrors and observed himself day after day, sometimes whilst talking normally, and sometimes whilst reciting. After a while, he made a very significant discovery. He writes in his third book, The Use of the Self, "I saw that as soon as I started to recite, I tended to pull back the head, depress the larynx and suck in breath through the mouth.”

“I tended to pull back the head, depress the larynx and suck in breath”

Alexander began to understand the significance of what he had observed in himself, and how this knowledge could be of use in preventing problems. He realised that out of the three tendencies he had observed, the pulling back of the head was the most important, as it had a fundamental, diminishing effect on the freedom and flexibility of the whole system. However, he found that if he was able to inhibit this tendency, then things went much better.

He began to observe other people and realised that other people interfered with this relationship between their head and body. He realised this was a universal tendency. Alexander started teaching others what he had learnt, through a combination of verbal instruction and hands on techniques, which evolved over the years. And in 1931 he set up his first teacher training course, in order to teach others how to teach his work.

Alexander was able to overcome the problems he had faced in his reciting, however he never returned to the stage professionally. He dedicated the rest of his life to teaching and writing about “the work,” as he called it.

The first person Alexander gave a teaching certificate to was a woman named Marjorie Barstow (not to be confused with his niece, Marjorie Barlow.) Marjorie Barstow was Don Weed’s teacher, and Don weed was mine.