Who was FM Alexander?

Frederick Matthias Alexander was a Shakesperian actor during the early 1900's who battled health problems all his life. As a professional orator, he would lose his voice quickly after the start of his performance. After exhausting many medical treatments with no lasting results FM thought that he was the cause of his own health problems. Following, he spent the next 8 years in front of a mirror examining the cause and effects of his own use. He realized that when he spoke, he threw his head back and down which pressed on the larynx making it difficult to speak.

After further investigation, he realized once he identified and stopped those bad postural habits he was able to then find the correct head, neck and back relativity in opposition to the floor. He never lost his voice again. His peers, encouraged him to create a technique that supported these findings.

Some of his more notable students his time included John Dewey, Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple, Statesman Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton, Lord Sir Stafford Cripps, Dr Dorothy Drew,

“You can’t do something you don’t know, if you keep on doing what you do know.”  F.M. Alexander