Welcome to
ATeducationresearch.com

-Mission-

Making articles available that further historical, empirical, and theoretical explorations into Alexander Technique (AT) education to bring out a deeper understanding of how AT education came to be, what it is, and what it can be.

-About the Documents-

The Theory and Practice of New Method of Respiratory Re-Education is a previously unknown 1907 booklet by the Alexanders found recently by Jeroen Staring at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) Library in Sydney.

Why Do We Tense Our Necks? is a new article by New York AT teacher Michael Protzel. Based on his extensive self-explorations, Michael posits that how we direct the gravity-compelled fall of our body weight determines coordination quality. Whether or not we are aware of do so, he says, we direct the trajectory of our fall on an ongoing basis. "Committing weight," he finds, is an act of a living, conscious being rather than merely a mindless response to gravity -- an act that we can profitably bring into conscious control.

An Opinion Exchange: 1908 Letters to the Pall Mall Gazette Editor is a collection of an editorial column, letters sent to the Gazette Editor between January 1908 and September 1908, and a short a book excerpt -- all on tuberculosis and deep breathing exercises. The article highlights Alexander's participation in a lively discussion that occurred on the editorial pages of one of London's great evening papers, the Pall Mall Gazette, where Oscar Wilde and GB Shaw made regular contributions. In 1927, The Pall Mall Gazette merged with the Evening Standard. Before then, the exchange of opinions expressed through these letters suggest the Gazette Editor offered a service met today by online internet forums.

We are most pleased to offer Rosslyn McLeod's pioneering 1987 Alexander Review article "F.M. - Critiques, 'Consumption' and Commentaries." Australian ATed teacher, musician, and historical researcher McLeod provides a glimpse of the young Alexander on the Australia stage -- interacting with audiences, fellow performers, and reviewers.

Other articles by Jeroen Staring and Rodney Mace are on the early history of F.M. Alexander.

The primary historical documents include turn century science-writer Caleb Saleeby's chapter on playing cricket. It is from his 1904 book The Cycle of Life. Today, Saleeby is most known for his Victorian views on race and eugenics. In this article, in contrast, Saleeby makes a wonderfully concise application to sports of Sir Charles Sherrington's pathbreaking neuro-physiology and William James's psychology. He does so at least four years before Alexander first presented his core idea of inhibition. According to Saleeby "inhibition...is at once the anthesis of volition and its highest expression." Saleeby applies the construct to an able batman's non-responding by not flinching at the stimulus of a 60 mph cricket ball careening toward the batsman. Alexander first introduced the idea of inhition to his writings in 1908.

Alexander performed on in Auckland with Alphonse Loisette in 1895. Alexander called him a "good and helpful friend." Find out who he was and what he wrote.

Though contemporaries in what some would find to be similar endeavors, it is unlikely that Alexander (1869-1955) and Bess Mesendieck (1864-1958) knew of each other in the early 1900s when this was written.

In the selection from the 1959 Dialogue on John Dewey, Horace Kallen recounts his 1918 conversations and lessons with Alexander.

Check back often. More articles coming soon.

Ed Bouchard (AT teacher)

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