Alexander Post

       The life of F.M. Alexander was one of self-discovery and practice. He loved horses and Theatre, especially Shakespeare. He was in school, but had respiratory issues and was taken out of school to be privately educated. At sixteen, financial troubles forced him to leave the country life and move to Mount Bischoff. He worked several jobs, and in the evenings he studied music, drama, and taught himself the violin. His violent temper, recurrent illness, and his distaste for commercial life enabled him to keep a job for very long. This led to him devoting himself to a career in acting. In performing his one-man shows, he found that his voice would fail and he would get very hoarse. The doctors he went to recommended that he rest his voice. There was a point where he rested his voice for two weeks, because he had a big show. During the show, his voice failed and this was a cause for great concern. The doctors recommended more rest, but he decided to take matters into his own hands and see if it was something in his performance that he was doing wrong that caused his voice to fail. He stood in front of a mirror and looked at him self while speaking. He noticed that his neck stiffened, which caused his head to retract, he depressed his larynx, and he took in breath with a gasp. He could not control all of these things, but was successful in pulling his head forward rather than back. This resulted in his voice not failing, and he did not have any lingering respiratory issues. The doctors were shocked and surprised, but were intrigued at his methods, and began to come to him on how to help some patients. These practices grew and led to alexander opening schools and training actors and non-actors on how to use their body properly. His practices ultimately increased quality of life, and trained people how to use their body properly. He died of a short illness in 1955, and his work has always been remembered. 

            "Few of us, hitherto, have given consideration to the question of the extent to which we are individually responsible for the ills our flesh is hier to." We have a choice to use our body properly, to make it more effective on stage. Alexander's bad habits caused problems with his functioning. Using the techniques of Alexander gives you better posture, which allows you to use your body better not just in everyday life, but on stage as well. His methods actually prevented illness and diseases. The toughest thing, is realizing that there is something wrong, and you want to change. Our power of choice is something Alexander calls, "Man's Supreme Inheritance." It is about using yourself in better ways to function, live, and perform. 

            Alexander argued that, "all training, of whatever kind, must be based on the understanding that the human organism always functions as a whole and can only be changed fundamentally as a whole." I think this relates to our discussion of mind and body acting against each other. If your body wants to do something, and your mind is telling you know, then you are not really acting as a whole self. We behave as if all of the things in our body work opposite of each other rather than thinking of ourselves as a whole being. A good point is made that in our education system, we are judged on our test scores, and understanding of the material. This teaches us to use our mind and learn. In physical education, we use our bodies more, but it is seen as just another school subject. I thought the interesting part was the term physical education and how the term suggests that the body and mind can be educated separately. I honestly do not think that is the case. You need your mind, just as well as your body for physical education. If we use our body and mind together, we become a whole person. This will in turn improve our use and functioning of our body as well. 

            I enjoyed reading this, and it all made sense. I never thought of the term physical education like that. Also, I did not know much about Alexander's life prior to this reading, so it was nice to see read about his journey and how he better used his body to become successful.