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Author listings with pictures: B
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The descriptions were written by Jean M. O. Fischer and do not represent
or necessarily reflect the opinions of the publishers and authors. |
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| Balk, Malcolm + Shields, Andrew |
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Malcolm Balk* + Andrew Shields
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Master the Art of Running
- Raising your performance with the Alexander Technique
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| 2006 pb, 160 pages, illustrated, 220 x 175 mm, UK, Collins & Brown. 1843403390. 9781843403395.
In print: general.
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| A revised and expanded version of The Art of Running. |
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| Writing from his own experience, with humour and without jargon, Balk introduces the Technique and explains the many ways it can help running (jogging is not discussed). He presents a persuasive argument for the benefits to be derived from the Technique. He describes the characteristics of good and bad running styles and discusses how to run well, how to run badly, the dos and don’ts in running, breathing, and arm and leg movements, among other things. Many case histories and photographs of good running style. |
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Malcolm Balk* + Andrew Shields
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The Art of Running
- With the Alexander Technique
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| 2000 pb, 144 pages, illustrated, 215 x 175 mm, UK, Ashgrove Publishing.
Out of print.
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| A teacher of the Technique and an experienced runner presents his application of the Technique to running. |
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| Ballard, Kathleen J. |
| Before becoming an Alexander Teacher, Kathleen Ballard BSc PhD was a lecturer in the Department of Physiology at the University of Glasgow. During and since her training she has further explored the scientific literature on anatomy and neurophysiology as well as observing the postural reflex mechanisms at work in herself and her pupils. Drawing on knowledge of both fields, she presents her understanding of what directions mean and how they work. |
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Kathleen J. Ballard*
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On Learning and Teaching the Alexander Technique
- F. M. Alexander Memorial Lecture 1989
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| 1990 (1995), 17 pages, bklt, illustrated, 2nd ed., UK, STAT.
Out of print.
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| A teacher and a lecturer in physiology presents her understanding of what directions mean and how they work. |
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| Barker, Sarah |
| This DIY book instructs the reader on how to learn the Technique, without a teacher, through “right and wrong” photographs of everyday activites like leaning forwards, moving arms and legs, walking, bending the knees, sitting and lying. Inhibition is not mentioned. Optimistic and over-eager to promise many benefits from a cursory knowledge and practice of the Technique. |
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Sarah Barker*
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The Alexander Technique
- The revolutionary way to use your body for total energy (Learning to use your body for total energy)
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| 1978 (1991), 144 pages, pb, illustrated, 2nd ed. 1991, USA, Bantam Books.
Out of print.
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| A very optimistic guide on how to do the Technique yourself. |
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| Barlow, Marjory |
| This is a reprint of Marjory Barlow's 1965 F. M. Alexander Memorial Lecture. The author recapitulates Alexander’s process of discovering the Technique before discussing the Technique in general. She does not go into detail but keeps the talk cheerful and freely flowing, touching on such diverse subjects such as “knowing oneself”, “being present” and the close interrelation between the perceiver and the perceived. The talk is spiced with anecdotes of Alexander. It is also reprinted in More Talk of Alexander edited by Wilfred Barlow. |
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Marjory Barlow*
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The Teaching of F. Matthias Alexander
- The 1965 F. M. Alexander Memorial Lecture
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| 1966 (1993), 12 pages, bklt, UK, Marjory Barlow.
In print.
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| This lecture is included in both An Examined Life and More Talk of Alexander. |
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| Marjory Barlow is reminiscing about Alexander, the Technique, and her life in no particular order (tellingly, there is no contents page). The lack of structure means there is some repetition. The editor has taken Barlow’s statements prima facie; that some historical information, which is in conflict with other sources, has not been verified leaves the reader unenlightened. (The misspelling of names does not help, but this has been corrected in later reprints.) Possibly the strongest aspect is the parts which discusses teaching, chair work and lying-down work. Throughout, Barlow’s enthusiasm, her interests, her difficulties, and her hopes for the future of the Technique are revealed, making this is in many ways a very personal recollection. Appendices contain her two memorial lectures and some recollections of her teaching by teachers who trained with her. |
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Marjory Barlow* + Trevor Allan Davies* (ed.)
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An Examined Life
- Marjory Barlow and the Alexander Technique
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| 2002, 333 + xvi pages, pb, no contents page, USA, Mornum Time Press. 0964435241.
In print: Mornum Time Press.
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| In this interview Marjory Barlow is reminiscing about Alexander, the Technique, and her life. |
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| Barlow, Wilfred (1915-91) |
| Dr Barlow trained with Alexander in 1938–45 and subsequently worked with Alexander until 1949. He utilises his experiences as both a teacher of the Technique and a consultant rheumatologist to introduce the Technique from a medical viewpoint: how use affects our health. The many illustrations of people’s posture and X-rays of heads-and-necks show examples of misuse. A classic, somewhat medical, introduction which has stayed in print for many years. The later paperback edition has been revised, updated and reset, and contains a new foreword. |
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Dr Wilfred Barlow*
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The Alexander Principle
(- How to use your body without stress)
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| 1973 hb (1990, 1998, 2001 pb), 254 pages, illustrated, 130x198 mm, UK: Gollancz (Orion). USA: Healing Arts Press. 0752843907. 0892813857.
In print: general.
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| A classic introduction by a doctor who trained with Alexander. |
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| Wilfred Barlow (1915-1991) qualfied as a doctor in 1941 and as a teacher of the F. M. Alexander Technique in 1945. For this book he has carefully selected 36 articles on many and varied facets of the Technique including education, psychology, theology, art, science, and medicine. Some of these articles first appeared in the Alexander Journal in the 1960s and some are edited articles of Barlow’s own research into the Technique with additional information. Barlow has also included articles critical of the Technique: his report on the libel action which Alexander brought and won in South Africa, Dr Skynner’s impression of his first twelve lessons, and Dr Barlow’s own recommendations for the qualities pupils should seek in a teacher of the Technique. The 2005 Mouritz edition has been revised and reset. |
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Dr Wilfred Barlow* (ed.)
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More Talk of Alexander
- Aspects of the Alexander Technique
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| 1978 hb (2005 pb), 304 (340) pages, illustrated, UK, Gollancz (Mouritz). 0575024356. 0954352270.
In print: Mouritz
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| 36 articles on many and varied facets of the Technique. Most are from the 1950s and 60s, and some are classics. |
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| Contains eight articles: “Instinct and functioning in health and disease” by Dr Peter Macdonald, “The F. Matthias Alexander and its relation to education” by I. G. Griffith, “End-gaining and means-whereby” by Aldous Huxley, “F. Matthias Alexander and the problem of animal behaviour” by A. Rugg-Gunn, “The work of F. M. Alexander and the medical white paper” by Dr D. S. Radcliffe Drew, “Knowing how to stop” by Dr Wilfred Barlow, “The F. Matthias Alexander Technique” by Frank Pierce Jones, and “Some objections answered” by Dr Wilfred Barlow. Most of these have been reprinted elsewhere since. The “Foreword” by F. M. Alexander is an excerpt from his The Universal Constant in Living. |
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Wilfred Barlow* (ed.)
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Knowing How to Stop
- A Technique for the Prevention of the Wrong Use of the Self
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| 1946 bklt, 61 pages, UK, Chaterson Ltd.
Out of print.
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| Early articles on the Technique by pupils of Alexander. |
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| Bentley, Joni |
| The author introduces the Technique and the primary control and includes a short biography of Alexander. Psychological aspects of riding and learning to ride are discussed, such as attitude, attention and emotions. Being in the present is emphasised with exercises. There is a exercise in “suppling” [sic] and releasing. The seat is discussed in detail: the sitting bones, pelvis, the legs etc. (including how someone else can work on the legs while the rider is mounted); the dressage seat, the light seat and the jumping seat. There are exercises in walk, halts and half-halts; rising trot, sitting trot and canter are discussed. The chapter “Building contact” contains exercises for developing a sensitive contact with the horse. The author introduces her own “Darth Vader” breathing technique and covers the semi-supine. There are questionnaires to monitor progress, case studies and many illustrations. |
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Joni Bentley*
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Riding Success Without Stress
- Introducing the Alexander Technique. Book 1: Developing self-carriage in the rider
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| 1999 hb, 186 pages+xxii pages, ill., 224 x 220 mm, index, UK, J. A. Allen. 0851317014.
In print: general.
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| A comprehensive step-by-step method of applying the Alexander Technique to riding, but the exercises and the "holism" can take it off-message. |
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| Berjeron-Oliver, Sherry + Oliver, Bruce |
| RSI is here very broadly (and loosely) defined. The authors illustrate the benefits derived from a practice of the Technique with an abundance of case histories. There are exercises for activities such as keyboard use, driving, walking and reaching for something but they leave out the principle of non-doing and rely mostly on feeling. New terms and expressions are introduced, for example “Command your Advantage” (which means something like employing a conscious use of one’s primary control), and “interrupt your Risk to visualize your Advantage” but they are all ill-defined. |
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| Too promising and too superficial as regards the challenge of "eliminating" RSI with the Technique. |
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| Binkley, Goddard (1920-87) |
| After having lessons in the Technique in New York, Binkley moved to London in 1950 to have lessons with F. M. Alexander and subsequently trained as a teacher (1953-57). Often referred to as “the Binkley diaries” this is the most extensive and vivid record of how Alexander taught. Binkley re-edited his manuscript a few times over the next 30 years and included relevant paragraphs from Alexander’s books and autobiographical material, making the book a detailed and personal case history. It shows indirectly – by the attitude expressed in the diary entries – how profoundly and subtly the Technique works. With notes on people and places by Fischer and MacFadyen. |
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Goddard Binkley* + Jean M. O. Fischer* (ed.)
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The Expanding Self
- How the Alexander Technique changed my life
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| 1993 hb, 178+xviii pages, 11 b/w photos, index of names, no dustjacket, UK, STAT Books.
In print: STAT publications
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| The Binkley diaries from the early 1950s is the most extensive and vivid record of how Alexander taught. |
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| Bloch, Michael |
| Alexander’s life story is exciting by any standards: from Tasmania to London, from elocution to an extraordinary innovative and effective method for health and self-development. This is a scholarly, well- researched and excellently written biography by a long-time pupil and professional biographer, Michael Bloch. In telling the story of the life and work of Alexander, Bloch conveys a sense of Alexander's personality and provides a psychological insight into the man behind the Technique. Bloch is not a teacher and so limits his comments on the Technique to a critical examination of Alexander's writings (he is not impressed) and contemporary reports by Alexander's pupils. Bloch’s attitude is respectful but not reverential. In the epilogue he examines whether Alexander qualifies as a ‘guru.’ This is a modern and highly readable biography which will appeal to teachers and pupils alike and which makes Alexander less enigmatic. |
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Michael Bloch
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F. M. - The Life of Frederick Matthias Alexander
- Founder of the Alexander Technique
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| 2004 hb + pb, 276+xii pages, ill., index, England, Little Brown. 0316728640.
In print: general.
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| A modern and highly readable biography by a professional biographer. |
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| Bouchard, Ed + Wright, Ben |
| The book sets out to view the work of Alexander, Stanislavski and Freud in the light of (mainly) Charles S. Peirce’s semiotic analysis of knowledge and action. It relates the ten levels of Peirce’s semiotics to the learning of the Technique. Conscious and preconscious stages in learning are categorized and set out in divisions and subdivisions. Inhibition and Freud’s “free association” is paralleled and similarities are drawn with Stanislavsky’s methods. The Technique is introduced and described, and relevant muscle physiology is explained. The terminology is not consistent and it can be somewhat confusing in places. |
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Ed Bouchard* + Ben Wright + Michael Protzel* (ed.)
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Kinesthetic Ventures
- Informed by the Work of F. M. Alexander, Stanislavski, Peirce and Freud
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| 1997 pb, 175+xii pages, illustrated, 158 x 228 mm, index, USA, MESA Press. 09419380610.
Available on-line in pdf.
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| A view of the work of Alexander, Stanislavski and Freud in the light of (mainly) Charles S. Peirce’s semiotic analysis of knowledge and action, but it all becomes very analytical and philosophical. |
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| Bowden, George C. |
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George C. Bowden
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F. Matthias Alexander and the Creative Advance of the Individual
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| 1965 hb, 192 pages, UK, L. N. Fowler & Co.
Out of print.
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Review
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| Brennan, Richard |
| This book sets out to explain how the Technique can alleviate physical stress and help to reduce mental and emotional stress. One chapter introduces the Technique; and worry, anxiety, depression and the link between stress and emotions each have a chapter of their own. The book lists physical and emotional symptoms, gives practical advice on how to deal with stress reactions, and describes some of the potential benefits of the Technique. The emphasis throughout is on attitude and quality of life. Sound advice, but somehow it is only touching the surface. |
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| Light introduction on how the Technique can alleviate physical stress and help to reduce mental and emotional stress. |
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| Subtitled “A step-by-step guide to improve breathing, posture and well-being” the book has chapters on inhibition, directions, semi-supine, sport (riding, cycling, running, tennis, pool, golf, football), pregnancy and childbirth, what to expect from lessons, case histories, etc. The book is illustrated throughout, often with large colour photos demonstrating right and wrong ways of performing a variety of activities (walking, riding, playing an instrument and the subjects mentioned. Although there is nothing novel about the presentation it is sound and polished text: a glossy, coffee-table introductory book to the Technique. |
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Richard Brennan*
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The Alexander Technique Manual
- A step-by-step guide to improve breathing, posture and well-being
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| 1996 hb + pb, 144 pages, colour ills., index, 290 x 224 mm, UK, Little Brown. 0316874973.
In print: Alexander Technique Centre, Ireland.
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| A glossy, coffee-table introductory book to the Technique. |
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| An easy introduction which explains basic Alexander vocabulary. Each chapter contains some exercises which illustrate the points made and which are designed to observe and improve one’s use. Covers in detail how to get into the lying-down position and up again. The paragraphs on postural and voluntary/involuntary muscles contain mistakes. A revised edition was published as Alexander Technique - A Practical Introduction. |
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Richard Brennan*
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The Alexander Technique Workbook
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| 1992 pb, 136 pages, line-drawings illustrations, UK, Element Books (Vega Books).
In print: Alexander Technique Centre, Ireland.
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| An easy introduction with some basic exercises. |
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| A revised edition of Brennan’s first book, Health Essentials: Alexander Technique, using many of the pictures from Masterton’s Alexander Technique in a Nutshell. It is a very basic introduction to the Technique, simplifying many aspects at the expense of containing inaccuracies (still confused about voluntary and involuntary muscles). The text is presented in small bite-size paragraphs or boxes. |
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Richard Brennan*
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Alexander Technique:
An Introductory Guide to Natural poise for Health and Well-Being - New Perspectives
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| 1991 (1999), 128 pages, illustrated, 198 x 130 mm, index, UK, Element Books.
In print: Alexander Technique Centre, Ireland.
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| A revised edition of Brennan’s first book, Health Essentials: Alexander Technique. |
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| This is a basic easy-to-read introduction to the Technique. It simplifies many aspects of the Technique but at the expense of containing inaccuracies and inconsistencies. The chapter titles are: “What is the Alexander Technique?”, “The History of the Alexander Technique”, “What Can the Technique Do for You?” (which over-emphasizes the curative aspects of the Technique), “How Does the Alexander Technique Work?”, “Helping Ourselves”, “Practical Exercises” (lying down) and “Taking it Further” (how to go about having lessons etc.). |
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Richard Brennan*
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The Alexander Technique
- Natural poise for health
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| 1991 pb, 114 pages, illustrated, UK, Element Books (Vega Books).
In print: Alexander Technique Centre, Ireland.
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| A somewhat too simplistic introduction to the Technique. |
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| Brown, Richard A. + Thompson, Lester W. |
| This contains two papers: “The Research Contributions of Frank Pierce Jones” by Richard A. Brown who sums up Jones’ research on the Technique extremely well with informative illustrations.
“Frank Pierce Jones’ Views On The Alexander Technique” by Lester W. (Tommy) Thompson is subtitled “Its Practical Application in Pursuing The Possibility of Changes in Moral And Mental Attitude and the Extension of the Range Within Which Free Choice and Free Will Can Operate.”
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Richard A. Brown + Lester W. Thompson*
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The Scientific and Humanistic Contributions of Frank Pierce Jones
- on the F. Matthias Alexander Technique
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| 1988 pb, 55 pages, illustrated, USA, Centerline Press.
Out of print.
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| Two papers on the work of F. P. Jones. |
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| Brown, Ron + Alexander, F. Matthias |
| These summaries were made in the late 1940s by a journalist and pupil of the Technique, Ron Brown. They were to be included in a book which unfortunately was never finished. As the summaries were read and approved by Alexander they can be regarded as providing an accurate chapter-by-chapter summary of all his books. Sometimes this condensed form omits stages in Alexander’s arguments, and by themselves the conclusions can appear dogmatic. However, most of the time the abbreviated, forthright approach clarifies many points, crystallizes the reasoning behind the arguments, and brings out the full force of Alexander’s practice and theory. |
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Ron Brown + F. Matthias Alexander
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Authorised Summaries of F. M. Alexanders Four Books
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| 1992 pb, 148 pages + one separate errata page, illustrated, 156x234 mm, UK, STAT Books.
In print: STAT publications
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An "approved" chapter-by-chapter summary made in the late 1940s by a journalist and pupil of the Technique. |
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| Burge, Paul |
| This is the 1991 F. M. Alexander Memorial Lecture, in verse and with stage directions. It contains an artist’s impression of Alexander’s work as the evolution of consciousness. Consciousness forms representations (concepts) of movements and these, being reflections of the functioning (of matter), are expressed, through use, by the means of sound. And sounds, being reflections of functioning and of use, influence the use of oneself and others, thereby becoming substance. In short, how matter becomes words and words matter. |
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Paul Burge*
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The Matter About Words
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| 1994 bklt, 34 pages, A5, UK, STAT Books. 0951930443.
In print: STAT.
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| The 1991 F. Matthias Alexander Memorial lecture: a poem on Alexander’s work as the evolution of consciousness. |
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| Byles, Marie Beuzeville |
| The Technique is not primarily about being straight, there are no exercises, it is not a posture therapy (as the books states) etc. A well-meaning, but misguided book. It contains the extraordinary statement that Alexander’s books have “no practical instructions” (yet refers to “monkey” in Alexander’s CCC).
Suffering from serious disabilities the author had lessons with Alan Murray in her 70s; these improved her condition. One chapter contains her diary of her lessons. One of the exercises which Alexander certainly did not do is to lie on the floor and lift the coccyx. The author is also keen on visualization and surrendering to the life force. A curiosity.
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Marie Beuzeville Byles
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Stand Straight Without Strain
- The original exercises of F. Matthias Alexander
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| 1978 hb, 98 pages, illustrated, index, UK, L. N. Fowler & Co.
Out of print.
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| A curiosity - full of misunderstandings about the Technique. |
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Copyright 2001-2007 © Mouritz Ltd. All Rights reserved.
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Figs. 1-3: Standing to attention in
The Syllabus of Physical Exercises for Public Elementary Schools, London, 1909, HMSO.
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