F.M. Alexander Technique

What if F.M. Alexander…?

 

What if F.M. Alexander, the originator of the Alexander Technique, had been born in 1969 in New York City, instead of 1869 in Tasmania? What would the Alexander Technique look like today? How would it differ?

How can exploring these questions benefit us as Alexander Technique teachers and students?

 

 

F.M. Alexander Books

 

If Alexander’s later incarnation wrote books, might they be Ebooks, and audio books? Would he be producing videos to promote his work?

In some of F.M.’s writings, you could start reading a sentence on Wednesday morning and not finish it till Thursday night. How might his style of writing be different?

Would he try to get reviews in the New York Times, and other influential newspapers?

Would he have asked celebrities to endorse his work? Would he have pushed to be on TV? Oprah, meet F. M.- F.M. meet Oprah. Hello, Dr. Oz. Good morning, Sanjay Gupta.

 

Marketing the Alexander Technique

 

I took the slooow elevator from the 5th floor to the 1st floor at ACAT (The American Center for the Alexander Technique) with a group of Alexander teachers. We were all participating in a workshop.

They were all talking about how “word-of mouth” is the only true way to get Alexander Technique students. They were also speaking disparagingly about marketing and advertising, because that’s what their “mentor” believed. (I’m always relearning how Alexander teachers are not immune from accepted, rigidly held, habitual beliefs.)

By the time we got to the first floor the conversation had turned to how few students they had, and the complaining about lack of students continued all through lunch, and all the way back. What would the one-hundred-year-younger Alexander have said? Would he have spoken up by the time we passed the third floor the first time?

We get a glimpse of Alexander’s views on marketing by seeing how he marketed. We’ve seen samples of his brochures, flyers, and pamphlets. Curiously, he never used the internet. Was he just too “old school?”

Would he have hired a publicist to get the Alexander Technique name into newspapers, the radio, and TV?

Would the current F.M. Alexander have a website? (I can’t even type that question with a straight face.)

What would be the name of his work? Would it be called the Alexander Technique?

 

Alexander Technique professional organizations

 

Would there be an AmSAT, ATI, and other such organizations? Would Alexander be a member?

If these organizations existed, what would they be doing?

How would F.M. Alexander protect his work?

 

F.M. Alexander’s personality

 

Would Alexander still have his same views regarding dancing, and race? Would he be using words like “savages”?

The original F.M. was about to speak to a group of medical people. When he saw how poor their use was, he refused to speak and walked out. Would the forty-something-year-old New Yorker F.M. been as judgmental regarding people’s posture or use? Would he still refuse to speak to a group, if many in the group were slumping? Should current Alexander Technique teachers refuse in a similar situation? Why not?

Mr. Alexander observed a student outside his teaching room immediately after his lesson. The student’s head was back and down, and F.M. proceeded to throw a book at the student’s head. If that happened today, can you say “lawsuit?”

 

Alexander Technique jargon

 

Would he still be using terms like “means whereby”, “end-gaining”, and “inhibition”?

Sigmund Freud has long won the “inhibition war”, because today’s understanding of inhibition has negative connotations. These implications include being overly-controlled, the inability to act in a relaxed way, anxious, self-conscious, nervous, and suppressed. Further, “Behavioral Inhibition” is a psychological condition whereupon a person totally freezes in unfamiliar situations. They can’t talk, or move. Alexander Technique inhibition is quite different, and quite positive.

Would Alexander still use the same terms today?

And, if not, why do we?

Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC

Mark@MarkJosefsberg.com