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
Thank you Mark! They are great questions and in my view most pertinent! Today I’ve been struggling with marketing and selling the Alexander Technique to several people! A new enquiry has probably decided not to bother now, I am left feeling frustrated! And of course not for the first time! It’s one of those days where I am wondering why I bother!! I know that these are exactly the days that you have to dig deep into personal resources accept the gift of learning and continue…but in a different way! But how?! What language? What approach? Your blog made me smile at least, and I take great comfort knowing I am not alone in my quest 🙂
Thanks Angela! You are not alone, but almost. We know how incredibly effective the Alexander Technique is. And yet, people are suffering with pain, and have never heard of the AT. Can you imagine someone saying “physical therapy?” “chiropractic?” I’ve never heard of it! I think we need to be out there, we need to be able to accept insurance (if we choose) and we need an organization who’s job it is is to support Alexander Technique teachers! We don’t have that.
We need to get rid of the notion that “non-doing” means not doing anything. We need to ditch the idea that inhibition means in-action, keep your mouth shut, sit there and just wait for everything to come to you.
We need to realize that although we teach the greatest Technique ever invented in this universe, it doesn’t automatically mean that we’re good at spreading the word about it. Some people are experts at that, and that’s all they do. We need to pool our money and hire them. We certified teachers of the Alexander Technique spend hundreds of dollars a year being members of AmSAT, ATI, STAT, whatever, and then have to still do our own marketing because people don’t know what we can do.
It’s a crime, literally, in my mind, a crime that people are suffering, going through needless surgeries, ruining families, and “we” try to stay “pure”. Some people and organizations are more interested in protected their precious technique, than helping people.
Let’s keep the conversation going.
Yes, yes, yes!! Love your comment ” We need to realize that although we teach the greatest Technique ever invented in this universe, it doesn’t automatically mean that we’re good at spreading the word about it. Some people are experts at that, and that’s all they do. We need to pool our money and hire them. We certified teachers of the Alexander Technique spend hundreds of dollars a year being members of AmSAT, ATI, STAT, whatever, and then have to still do our own marketing because people don’t know what we can do.”
Totally agree with you, today that’s been such a source of frustration. Tomorrow is another day, and we’ll see what it brings, hopefully one step nearer to the required direction that you mention for pooling our resources and hiring marketing experts to bring AT to the public, NOW! I’m up for it…..anyone else????? Thanks again Mark, brilliant blog 🙂
Fabulous, Mark! Thank you so much! As much for the smiles – many of them – as for all the rest! This leapt out “and then have to still do our own marketing because people don’t know what we can do.” I have felt this for 30 years….. We qualified as teachers, not marketers, website designers, publicists, promoters, sales-people. Yes, it’s expanding my world as I look to those things – having been fixed and stubborn for far too many years – yes, I admit! But it’s not my forte, it’s not my passion, it’s not my skill, and each time I hear someone, especially someone I know, asking me about which osteopath I recommend, I have to seriously inhibit my Inner despair and frustration. (This week’s special was, “Annie, do you know x? I’ve an appointment tomorrow, but I booked it three months ago as that’s his waiting time, and I wondered if you knew anything about him and whether he will help the pain in my back?” He is a local chiropractor….three months’ waiting time?!?!??)
And I so agree with the ‘if it’s meant it will just happen’ approach not being as tempting as it first looks….. This is work that is fuelled initially by Intention, intention to live, act, function, play, work, experience….. Inhibition is a part of those things, not all of them – even if, to me, inhibition is the thing that sets our work apart. I have no idea what the intention is of, in my case, STAT…..absolutely no idea, other than I, along with other teachers, am to make this work ‘famous’ and then they will publish the articles I/we write. Not impressed, never have been, and feel sad.
End of rant! Thank you for a fun, wise, illuminating and thought provoking blog. I will go ponder on the 2013 type FM…..what fun! I think I need to think up a few versions, in fact!
Thank you so much Annie!
You said:We qualified as teachers, not marketers, website designers, publicists, promoters, sales-people. Boy is that the truth! That’s why it would be great if we could have those people work for us; a win-win situation. Alexander Technique teachers are supposed to teach the Alexander Technique. As far as chiropractors- around here they accept insurance. So people pay one quarter of what we may charge. It’s not exactly a level playing field.
Please keep in touch about this!
It certainly amazes me that we AT teachers seem to be so ‘on our own’ when it comes to what might be termed ‘PA Support’. However, we are all creators so we need to create them! My concern here has been about, again, how hard it seems to be to describe the AT to anyone. (Although what we think becomes true, of course!) I know a lady who has become what she calls a ‘Spiritual Mama’ to several ‘holistic’ friends of mine, and they are doing great things with her now added admin and promotion support. But we never found a mid-line between ‘Mind, Body, Spirit Fayres’, ‘Making things for people to buy at a table’ and the/my somewhat abstract content of the AT with nothing to look at or buy as such….. I am sure it is possible, but I often wonder if it isn’t going to be a former student who ‘gets a bit more of it’ than someone who has never experienced it. BUT, good marketers, promoters etc, frequently have no idea about the product, so…. I dunno!
btw, have you come across Fiverr.com? Brilliant system where all manner of things can be done by people in far away places for just $5 http://www.fiverr.com I used them for a logo design – didn’t use it in the end, but for £3.32 (here) it was well worth the go, and it helped me make new choices. They copywrite, find info, design, proof-read….you name it, someone will do it for you somewhere!
I hadn’t thought about that with chiropractors – good point! And the fact that we might get 1% GP/doctor referral and they about 50%….
Cheers, Mark – lovely blog and conversation!
Hi Mark,
I so enjoyed reading this! You ask some splendid questions. Tempted as I was go through and answer every last one in order, common sense and the need for prose prevailed. So here’s what I think; you may want to get a coffee, it’s rather long.
FM Alexander was an astonishingly successful businessman. He built (and rebuilt) a flourishing business not just once, but FOUR times. The first time was completely from scratch. No contacts, no network, no promotional materials, just one letter of introduction. The proceeds of his business supported not just him, but his wife, daughter, mistress, mother, sister, brother and various other family members in a very comfortable lifestyle over many years.
He did all this in a very unfriendly environment. When he arrived in the UK it was roughly Downton Abbey series 1. Extremely rigid social conventions and class distinctions governed almost all of society. Where you came from, your family background, who you went to school with was vital. ‘Not what you know but who you know’ was ten times more applicable then than it is now. Alexander came from a long line of nobodys and deported convicts in an obscure part of the British Empire.
Nobody makes that sort of turn around in a few years without advertising, marketing, PR, spin, agents, publicity and every means of self-promotion at their disposal. I think Alexander would be an expert at modern marketing because he was a master of early 20th century marketing. Celebrity endorsements? His books are full of them. Universal Constant In Living is practically one long celebrity endorsement. Websites, DVDs, podcasts, TV appearances, Oprah – you bet.
The long sentences and wordy explanations were also very much part of their time. The soundbite had not been invented. Newspaper headlines still used grammar and punctuation (not just exclamation marks). We would consider them quaintly verbose. What was important at the time was sounding like you were rational, scientific and highly-educated. The language was not designed to catch people’s eye but to establish your credentials. However, I think he would struggle more with this issue than many others, because of the complexity of the ideas. People complained to him during his lifetime that his sentences were too long; but when challenged failed to make them shorter without losing meaning. I still reckon his key terminology would be different, to take into account all the psychology and neurology we have now that he didn’t have then. I suspect he would have gone for big, snappy headlines, but kept the long explanations in the small print.
A brand name? Not so much. He was the brand. Less like pilates and more like Anthony Robbins.
A professional organisation? Nope. Now as then, over his dead body. Not sure about the book-flinging. He had a very bad temper!
Should we change his terminology? He was the pioneer, inventor & developer. It was most definitely his technique, he had the freedom to do with it what he chose. We are not, and therefore feel ourselves constrained to follow him, to a greater or lesser extent.
Hope the coffee was good
Karen
The coffee was excellent, and so was your well-thought out reply! I think you make some excellent points, and I learned quite a bit from it! (more later) Your answers are part of the reason why I wrote this post. I think it will help us get out of the rut we’re in. Constrained to follow him? I think we are, but do we need to be?
I hope one day the Alexander Technique will be more recognized. We have to get out of the box we’ve put ourselves in. Habits are hard to break!
Thanks again, Karen.
Wonderful stuff, Karen…thank you from me, too! Yes, if FM could build his business in that era, we certainly can do it now, surely! And I admire (now) his straight-to-it-I-am-worth-it high fee request; heaven knows where we got the idea that we can give this work away…. I am going up and up, at last – in the fee department at least. 😉 (I don’t think we can say it was because ‘proper folk didn’t have jobs’ but lived on private incomes; FM worked on his ‘properness’ hard, but charged handsomely, as we know and you point out so well with all those he supported.)
On a brand name, as I understand it, FM loathed the term ‘the Alexander Technique’? He wanted ‘the work’ (now used (brilliantly imho) by Byron Katie. Maybe that’s one thing we can all take a look at; why did he so dislike the title we all use….? It’s not working very well, so maybe he had a point!
I wonder…..yes, is he ‘looking down’ saying, “Oh for heaven’s sake, I told you, don’t get stuck on what I say. I said to go out and make it your own. THINK! CCC of the Individual – of and by YOU! Not of and by me!” The principles are ones he discovered, not made up, so they are the constant he wrote about. The way we share those, teach those, illuminate those – well, that’s up to us, now, in 2013! (#excited, as you can see! Thanks for the stimulus!)