“We can throw away the habit of a lifetime in a few minutes if we use our brains.”
F.M. Alexander
*1869 in Wynyard, Tasmanien, +1955 in London, UK
F.M. Alexander – The development of a technique
Frederic Matthias Alexander was a passionate and successful actor and reciter when serious voice problems threatened his career.
His doctors were unable to provide him with lasting help or explain the reasons for his hoarseness and lack of voice. After many unsuccessful treatments and attempts, F.M. Alexander asked himself a rather simple, but not easy question: is it me who is causing these problems? – What am I doing to myself that is affecting me so negativly? How can I begin to solve my problem myself?
In the years that followed, he persistently and with a great will to research got to the bottom of these questions. With the help of mirrors and years of experiential scientific experimentation, he observed himself and his reactions to recitation very closely. Step by step, he cured himself – more comprehensively than he would ever have thought possible: in his search, he discovered principles that not only healed his voice, but also had an extremely positive effect on his physical and mental growth and well-being.
These principles – inhibition and not doing, projecting directions in the body, the neck-head-back relationship – proved to be so elementary for the human organism that Alexander developed his technique from them and began to pass them on to others.
F.M. Alexander literature
In his writings, F.M. Alexander reveals himself as a man who is intelligent, far-sighted, committed to freedom and self-responsibility of man and human civilisation, and therefore a convinced and vehement advocate of his technique.
F.M. Alexander wrote several books about his work. In “Use of the self” he writes about the steps that led him to develop his method. The Alexander Technique Professional Association (ATVD – Alexander Technik Verband Deutschland) has compiled a description of his books and many other references. ATVD Literature