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Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869-1955) was a Shakespearean actor born and living in Australia.
Early in his career he suffered from persistent vocal problems, which could not be helped by rest or medical advice. Recognizing that his problems resulted from something he was uncontiously doing with himself, F.M. began to study himself in movement using mirrors.
He quickly realized that all of his movements seemed to have a negative impact on the relationship between his head, neck, and back and was getting in the way of his ability to perform. He called this relationship the Primary Control.
When this head, neck, and back relationship is working well, the person is well co-ordinated but when it is out of balance, there is a distinct possibility many problems, such as back and neck pains, breathing and vocal difficulties, headaches, to name a few.
Over the years that followed, Alexander experimented with ways to re-educate his body and to “wear the head properly”. Not only did this work eliminate his voice problems, it also resulted in a marked improvement in his health and well-being.
Following his personal success with this knowledge, Alexander began teaching in Australia in 1894. His first students were people with vocal difficulties, however he soon realized that working with the neck, head and back relationship tended not only to alleviate vocal and respiratory problems but also to dramatically improve the overall health of his pupils.
In 1904, Alexander was invited to London, England to develop and share his work. Although he made a number of trips to New York and Boston, he made London his home and eventually began training Alexander Technique teachers in 1932. He continued teaching until a few days before his death in 1955.
Some of Alexander's notable pupils were Aldous Huxley, George Bernard Shaw and the American philosopher John Dewey.
Alexander wrote four books over his lifetime: Man's Supreme Inheritance: Conscious Guidance and Control in Relation to Human Evolution; The Use of the Self: Its Conscious Direction in Relation to Diagnosis Functioning and the Control of Reaction; Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual; and The Universal Constant in Living.
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