Who was F.M. Alexander?

Challenged by a recurring throat and voice problem he began an intensive program of observation and experimentation in an attempt to solve his problem. It took nine years of persistant exploration and brilliant reasoning and his discoveries have since benefited many thousands of people all over the world. His work is a shining example of clear, scientific thinking and practical, down to earth application.

Alexander was an Australian actor living in Melbourne and Sydney at the turn of the century. He developed his technique over approximately a ten year period of research and experimentation.

It began when, as he was pursuing his career as an actor and reciter, he developed a debilitating throat problem leading to hoarseness and the loss of his voice. This was a very serious matter to the young actor and lead him to seek medical attention. The medical practitioners of the day were unable to diagnose the problem or to help at all except to advise complete rest for his voice. This was advice was followed leading up to an important acting engagement but he had not even completed the recitation before his voice problem returned leaving him in a most distressing condition.

The medical advice was no longer acceptable to him and so he turned his brilliant and penetrating mind to solving the riddle. With incredible patience, persistence and tenacity he worked alone with only a few mirrors and his implacable reason to unravel the mystery and in doing so discovered the principles of how the human organism operates. Through his meticulous observation and experimentation of his movement and co-ordination during speaking, reciting and other activities FM was able to determine exactly what it was he was doing himself that lay at the root of the problem. He also discovered that the predominant Cartesian worldview of the time was in fact erroneous and that practically speaking, there was no real separation between the mind and the body.

From this realization FM was able to make real changes throughout his 'psycho-physical mechanism' as he described it, through conscious constructive control of his thoughts and actions. FM quickly saw that the mis-use he found in himself was widespread amongst the whole of society and he realized that his work had opened the door to a whole new approach to education and personal well-being, as well as revealing some profound truths about how human beings actually operate in the world.

For a full and fascinating account of Alexander's story see his book entitled 'The Use of the Self'.