How Alexander technique was discovered and how it works

FM Alexander gradually developed his technique from the late 19th century onwards as he made a series of discoveries about the coordination and use of the human body and how this affected the whole psychophysical human being.

How was the Alexander technique discovered?

Alexander was originally a young actor who had reoccurring voice problems that threatened his ability to work. He went to the doctor and was given advice to gargle and to rest his voice, but this didn’t help him and his voice problems continued to occur.

Recognising he was causing his problems

At this point, Alexander realised that it must be something he was doing with his throat – how he was using or misusing it – that must be causing his problems. As his doctors couldn’t tell him what he was doing, he set out to watch himself with mirrors while he recited a passage out loud to find out what it was.

Alexander noticed that when he recited he pulled his head back, depressed (or vertically flattened) his throat, and sucked in breath through his mouth in a way that produced a gasping sound. He also found he did the same during speaking but to a lesser degree. The way he habitually used himself in speaking, an everyday activity, became exaggerated during reciting, a time of stress or excitement.

While Alexander was unable to directly stop flattening his throat (or larynx) or gasping in breath, over time, he was partially able to stop the pulling back of his head – and he noticed this reduced the other two problems.

Finding the master reflex affecting the body and whole self

From this, Alexander realised that the relationship of the head to the neck and the rest of the body – the way the head was oriented – formed a master reflex (or primary control) that affects the tone and behaviour of the whole body. (Note this master reflex is clearly seen in the physical startle pattern and fight–flight, freeze, and fawn stress responses.)

Discovering the primary directions for use of the body

Alexander then experimented with altering the position of the head in relation to the body, and realised that putting his head forward also produced a pulling-down effect and flattened his throat. He also noticed that when he flattened his throat, he unintentionally raised his chest, and this hollowed his back and shortened his spine and overall height.

From this, Alexander realised he was misusing his whole torso, not just the specific parts of his body used in speaking. He found that he needed to ensure his back was lengthening and widening to make certain he didn’t hollow it, raise his chest or shorten his height. He spent a lot of time building up this new and deliberate response and use of his body. This response would eventually become Alexander’s primary directions:

“To let the neck be free, to let the head go forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen, altogether, one after the other”.

Recognising the force of habit

When Alexander thought he was able to prevent his head from pulling back and down and keep his back from hollowing, he turned his attention to maintaining these directions to his body while reciting. To his horror, he found that he was unable to maintain his new reasoned direction of his body. He realised the strength of his habit was just too strong.

Discovering his sensory awareness was faulty

By watching his mirrors, Alexander discovered he was actually pulling his head back at the moment he started to recite, just as he thought he was putting it forward and up. This led him to realise his feeling of what he was doing was not a proper guide to what was actually happening. His sensory appreciation was inaccurate as his brain and the sensory receptors governing his sensation and perception were not telling him the truth. Later on, Alexander found that this was also true with all his pupils.

Alexander came to realise that while his old familiar use of his body felt right, he would have to be prepared to feel wrong. Any new way of using himself was bound to feel unfamiliar and wrong, precisely because it involved doing something outside his previous experience.

Learning to stop and not respond in his habitual way

Alexander came to discover that the only way to prevent his wrong instinctive reaction to a stimulus to speak was to stop and to refuse to make any immediate response. In this way, after having stopped (or ‘inhibited’) his automatic reflex response, he could then make a new reasoned response as the way was now open for him to do this.

Over time and with practice, Alexander was able to stop his old automatic responses. He could then bring about the new ones he had reasoned out both up to and during the gaining any particular goal (or ‘end’). His throat and vocal problems disappeared, as did the respiratory and nasal difficulties he had had since birth. In the process, he noticed a great enhancement in his health and psychophysical wellbeing.

Helping others with his discoveries

When Alexander later began to teach others what he had discovered, he noticed similar improvements in their general health when they also learned to stop their habitual reactions and apply his conscious directions (his ‘means whereby’) to their daily activities and life situations.

The science behind the Alexander technique

When Alexander was developing his technique the scientific mechanisms behind how it worked were not clearly understood. However, now the science is finally catching up. Find out more about the scientific mechanisms behind the Alexander technique here.

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