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The Alexander Technique came about
through the efforts of a young up-and-coming actor,
at the end of the 19th century in Australia, to surmount
crippling problems of breathing and voice production
(see Chapter 1 of the Use of the Self in which F. M.
Alexander explains in detail how he overcame chronic
hoarseness and loss of voice on stage).
This demonstration of improving the use of the human
vocal apparatus was thus the first application of the
Technique, by F. M. Alexander himself. And though he
was later dubbed ‘the breathing man’, F.
M. Alexander’s own recovery was in fact due to
an improvement of his general coordination, breathing
being but one of the numerous functions of the body
and good breathing a “symptom” of good general
health.
It was this comprehensive aspect of the Alexander Technique
which ensured that it became very rapidly of interest
beyond the narrow field of the voice professions. It
was becoming evident that F.M. Alexander’s methods
could literally benefit everyone. His success took him
to London in 1904, where he continued to develop and
practice his technique until his death in 1955.
Prior to 1930, the year in which Alexander agreed to
set up a training school for teachers of the Alexander
Technique, only a handful of close associates had been
trained by him in an informal way. When F. M. Alexander
died, Walter Carrington, director of the training school,
took over the school in his own name. The only other
school, operating since 1950, was run by Dr Wilfred
Barlow and his wife Marjorie, niece of F. M. Alexander,
both of whom were trained by F. M. Alexander.
Progressively, other schools opened and, so far, over
3000 diplomas have been awarded worldwide, following
a course of at least three years’ specialized
training based essentially on the model laid down by
F. M. Alexander and Walter Carrington.
A key event was the setting up in London in 1958 of
the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT)
by a group of teachers who had been trained by F.M.
Alexander. STAT is the central organization in a network
currently composing some fifteen associations worldwide
which make up the network of the STAT Affiliated Societies
(ATAS: Alexander Technique Affiliated Societies).
The Belgian association, AEFMAT, Became an affiliated
member in 1996. All of these associations reciprocally
recognize diplomas awarded by the training schools falling
within their sphere of responsibility.
Other independent Alexander Teachers associations,
of which ATI is the most well-known, have been set up
outside the STAT network, but the training provided
by some of the schools they recognize can in some instances
diverge substantially from the established model.
In London, F. M. Alexander’s pupils numbered
some of the leading actors and actresses of the day.
The acting profession has always found that the exacting
mental and physical demands on stage require a form
of discipline that the Alexander Technique has been
able to fulfill particularly well.
The reputation of the Alexander Technique has spread
progressively to all sections of the population and
to all fields of activity. It is enjoying growing influence
at the present time as people are becoming increasingly
aware that, in the last resort, they alone must take
charge of their lives and cannot depend entirely on
what the teaching and medical establishment, however
reputable, may prescribe.
Human evolution would seem such that the Alexander
Technique, which seeks to enhance conscious control,
is precisely suited to the present (and, indeed, future)
needs of modern individuals for human beings, at least
in the western world so far, cannot rely any more completely
and solely on their instinctive reactions to adapt to
their fast changing environment that they themselves
are creating. We need more than ever to stop and think
before allowing habitual behavior to rule our lives.
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