The F.M. Alexander Technique

by Marian Goldberg

We are often unaware of habits that cause us stress and interfere with our ability to respond effectively to the stimuli in our daily lives. How can we change our habits so that we can respond more effectively and achieve better functioning? This fundamental problem is addressed and dealt with in the Alexander Technique, a method that has been recognized for one-hundred years as a unique and remarkably-effective technique of mind-body reeducation.

What Happens During an Alexander Technique Lesson or Class?

(Much of the following has been taken from Chapter 4, "The Alexander Lesson" in Fitness Without Stress by Robert Rickover.)

When I speak to new pupils on the telephone before their first lesson, I find they often have questions about what will go on during the lesson and about the teaching process itself.

Posture and the Alexander Technique

Good posture is effortless: Stiff posture is bad for your back

Question: “What’s the worst thing you can do for your posture?”

Answer: “Sit up straight”.

You don’t believe me? Judge for yourself.

Marjorie Barstow

Master Teacher of the Alexander Technique

Photo Courtesy of Holly Sweeney

There isn't anything either right or wrong when dealing with co-ordination. There are degrees of movement. Life is really moving from one position to another. We never stop and say, "This is right--this is my posture, this is the way I ought to be". If we do that, we're stiff trying to hold that posture. It isn't natural for our bodies to be held in positions. - Marjorie Barstow, quoted in Practical Marj

Marjorie Barstow, from Lincoln, Nebraska was the first person to graduate from F. M. Alexander's first training course in 1933. After working as A. R. Alexander's assistant in Boston and New York in the 1930's, she returned to Lincoln.

She continued teaching until shortly before her death in 1995 at age 95. During the last 2 decades of her teaching, she attracted thousands of students to her workshops Lincoln, and around the world, with her unique approach to teaching Alexander's discoveries.