Sciences and Philosophy
Many things were found since F.M. Alexander discovered the Technique. Some notable people started understanding the benefit of his work, and because of it, starting researching to better understand the process.Even though Alexander didn't come from the scientific realm, his work was confirmed by many scientists and philosophers. Below are some of them:
John Dewey (1859-1952)
Philosopher and educator, in his words: "It (The Alexander Technique) bears the same relation to education that education itself bears to all other human activities."
Rudolf Magnus (1873-1927)
Physiology of posture. "Primary Control" His scientific theory confirms Alexander's work showing that posture is consequently influenced by the position of the head ("where the head leads the body follows").
George Coghill (1872-1941)
Anatomist. "Anatomy and the problem of behavior", the "wholeness", the functioning of each part was related to the functioning of every other part. So long as the functioning of the various parts were "integrated" with each other, all would be well; but if some parts started functioning "individually", without reference to other parts, problems would arise in behavior.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
Novelist. "He (Alexander) has certainly made a new and unrecognizable person of Aldous, not physically only but mentally and therefore morally. Or rather, he has brought out, actively, what we, Aldous's friends, know never came out either in the novels or with strangers."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Playwright. "Alexander has established not only the beginnings of a far-reaching science of the apparently involuntary movements which we call reflexes, but a technique of correction and self-control which forms a substantial addition to our very slender resources in personal education."
Raymond Dart (1893-1988)
Anatomist and anthropologist. Dart, like Alexander, decided on the path of re-education, rather than learning something new, they were rediscovering something forgotten.
Dr. Frank Pierce Jones (1905-1975)
"Inhibition is a positive, not a negative force. Some degree of inhibition is essential not only for a good life but for any life at all... Inhibition is a physiological process which does not need to be conscious in order to operate. Bringing it up to the conscious level not only establishes an indirect control over anti-gravity responses, but facilitated the learning of new habits and the unlearning of those that are old and unwanted."
