Body Learning Part 1

a. Summarize the life of F.M. Alexander
Alexander was born in Australia to a large family on a large farm. He was raised to be self-sufficient and had many respiratory problems which led him to be educated privately. He continued to learn about his passion for theatre he had while growing up. He had trouble making money and holding jobs due to his illnesses and temper, so he decided to fully pursue acting. He found he had a persistent trouble with respiratory problems and hoarseness and his doctors suggested rest. This solution wasn't good enough for him so he began to observe himself in the mirror and found he had patterns of misuse in the way he used his body. By changing and fixing his manner of doing his voice problems improved. These experiments led to what we know as the Alexander Technique. His practice became more well known and controversial as he began training and treating people using this technique as he moved around, from Sydney to London. He wrote multiple books that reached out to supporters all around the world. After winning a lawsuit against him in 1948, he grew very well and it is said his best teaching was done in this time. He died in 1955.

b. Summarize Use and Functioning, The Whole Person
The Use of self is all about choices. "The choices he made about the Use of his organism were fundamental because they directly affected his functioning and therefore influenced all his other choices." We have a million choices to make every day. We can literally change our lives at any minute just by making a different choice, and that is very important. Alexander calls choice "man's supreme inheritance." It is important to make good use, and not bad use. Both bad and good use have effects of our emotional and physical beings. Learning how t use your body correctly will make you a healthier and happier person. Many of our problems arise from a separation of body and mind, causing a conflict with our emotions. The whole person is our mind and body together. 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." Nothing you do is purely emotional or strictly physical, it all relates back to each other somehow. Learning how to integrate the two and how they work to make you who you are can help one gain their full potential.