The Alexander Technique was created or discovered by F.M. Alexander. He was born in Tasmania in 1875 and moved to Sidney Australia where he worked as an actor and reciter. He found that he often lost his voice whilst working but it didn’t happen when speaking normally. After trying various medical interventions which did not work, he decided to look at what he was doing when reciting that he did not do when speaking normally. Alexander discovered that he was tensing his neck in such a way that it prevented his voice from working properly. Presumably he only did this whilst acting due to the stress of the situation. He found that if he relaxed the muscles in his neck that were pulling his head out of alignment with his spine, the voice problem went away.
His breakthrough occurred when he realised that the problem was resulting from something he was actually doing rather than being a medical problem. He therefore worked out how not to do it and the problem went away.
This is the crux of the Alexander Technique; learning not to do the things that cause us pain or discomfort. This is not as easy as it might sound due to force of habit. Things we do habitually tend to feel right and normal, and when we don’t do them, or do something differently, it can feel strange and wrong, so we tend to go back to habit where things feel normal. The change that the Alexander Technique allows to come about is to change what is normal to what is natural! Alexander realised that things that feel wrong might actually be better for us, so he termed the term “faulty sensory appreciation” meaning, what we feel is right may actually be causing the problem!
Alexander brought his ideas to London in 1904 and developed them into the Alexander Technique that we know today which has wide applications to everyday life. He taught many eminent people both in the UK and the USA and set up the first school in London to help others to teach the Technique.
The Alexander Technique is now taught by qualified teachers throughout the world, in both one-to-one sessions and groups. Musicians, actors, sportsmen and women and many people with bad backs and other pain have benefited from having lessons.