F.M. Alexander was born 1869 in Tasmania. As a young man he started a carrier as a Shakepear-reciter, which was interrupted harshly by problems with his voice. All the medical advices, cures and medicines didn't help to keep him performing. One day he got the idea, with the help of a mirror, to observe himself what he was doing when he recites, because loosing his voice only happend when he was speaking aloud. He found out, that he causes the problem himself. During a long period of time he observed what he was doing: When he recites he tenses his neck, pulling his head back and down, which causes a shortening in the spine, which gives tension in his legs and feet. He discovered if he releases his neck, all the other tensions in the body became less. The primary pattern was found.

The next problem he met was, that only the wish to recite already engaged all the habitual tensionpatterns and there was no way he could activly surpress these reactions. Alexander found that there is only one way to change his

unconscious, habitual bad self-use: He had to resist to temptation to directly react to stimuli, and instead to react by giving himself a certain »order« not to pull his head back. In the course of the following action he had to give himself this same order along with other orders necessary for a sucessful action.He called this »holding back« of habitual response »Inhibition«, and the orders are called »directions«

After Alexander started sucessfully practicing his method of conscious use of the self, his voice problems disappeared. Around the turn of the last century, he was successful not only as an reciter, but also as a teacher of the technique he developed from continuous self-observation and reflection. His clientele included in the meantime not only actors, musicians, dancers, etc., but rather more and more people who realized that their health problems could be lessened or even eliminated through improving their own use.

Various circumstances led F. M. Alexander 1914 to Europe. He worked in London, where he attracted a core of regular students almost immediately.

His first book, Man's Supreme Inheritance, in which he describes the principles of his work, appeared in 1910.

Just as in England, F. M. Alexander quickly attracted students and advocates of his work in the USA, which he first visited in 1914. Meanwhile prominent people of the time such as George Bernard Shaw, Prof. John Dewey and Aldous Huxley were among his students.

In ten years that followed, Alexander worked continuously, dividing his time between the USA and London.

His second book appeared in 1923: »Constructive Conscious Control Of The Individual«.

In 1927, he founded the »Little School« together with the Irene Tasker, a Montessori teacher. Here children received instruction in the now famous »Alexander Technique« which he developed, in addition to their normal curriculum.

Finally, after many requests from his students, Alexander began to educate people to teach his technique. The first class of future Alexander Technique teachers started in 1930.

Alexander described the development of his technique of self-observation to self-change in his third book, »The Use of the Self«, published in 1932.

His fourth book, published in 1941, »The Universal Constant in Living«, contains different discussions and essays concerning his method.

F.M Alexander died 1955 in London.