About the Alexander technique

About F M Alexander & The Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique has been taught around the world for over 100 years. Its origins lie with Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869 - 1955), a Tasmanian actor/reciter, whose voice loss and strain threatened to end his stage career. After the remedies of the day failed, he looked at the possibility that he was doing something during performance that caused his problem. After much self-observation he realised he didn't have a voice problem. He had a problem of tension in his whole body that had been so much part of him that he had been completely unaware of it. He also realised that his voice problem was really a symptom of his whole body problem. Up until that point, and even today, people rarely consider that it could be something they are doing that is causing a problem, whether it's a bad back or difficulty swimming. Alexander found a process that resolved not only the voice problem but also other conditions which he had suffered since childhood. The popularity of his Technique developed initially among musicians and actors who found it could enhance performance, and then spread more generally as a process to help reduce or resolve physical discomfort, postural issues and stress management.