F.M. Alexander
Frederick Matthias Alexander was an Australian actor during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
After continually losing his voice in performance, Alexander’s doctor told him to rest and not use his voice. His voice returned, but during his next performance he lost it again. His doctor said he didn’t know how to help him and so Alexander began to examine himself and his own behaviour.
F. M. Alexander (1869 - 1955)
By watching himself in mirrors, he found that his physical actions were creating tensions that interfered with his speaking. When he was able to identify these patterns of behaviour, he was able to pay attention to ‘how’ he carried out an action (what he termed the ‘means whereby’), rather than concentrating on the end result (what he termed ‘end-gaining’).
Alexander found that by identifying long-standing habits affecting the natural balance of the head, neck and back, his vocal and respiratory problems disappeared. Through the use of his hands, he saw that he could also communicate his message to others, enabling them to use themselves more naturally whatever they may be doing.
"Alexander pointed out that trying to do the ‘right’ thing is a trap into which most of us readily fall, because we try to do it without investigating what really happens in the attempt. What usually happens is that we just do the same thing again but with extra tension; in other words, we do it as before only worse.
Man's supreme inheritance (Alexander's phrase and the title of his first book) is the ability to choose whether to act in one way, or another, or not to act at all. If we are really to do what is needed. We must change the ‘normal’ concept as to what has to be done, and choose means whereby we act in a different, yet coordinated and appropriate manner."
Patrick MacDonald
Master Alexander Teacher
‘Each time it is a discovery. You're not trying to do anything or reproduce an experience you had. You don't know what it is for your needs to go forward... You are discovering it anew each time.’
Margaret Goldie
Master Alexander Teacher
"For in the mind of man lies the secret of his ability to resist, to conquer and finally to govern the circumstances of his life."
F.M. Alexander