Frederick Matthias Alexander (Tasmania, 1869 - London, 1955) was an Australian actor and proclamator. His rising carrieer became endangered because he almost lost his voice. Despite the advice of different medical doctors and specialists he didn't recover easily.

He deceided to have a close look at his habits and gained the insight that it was the way he used his voice that caused the problem. He found out that he pulled his head backward and downward when talking and that this habit disturbed his natural balance and freedom. So he knew he had to find a better way to use his body.

After some years of observation and experiments he developped a new approach to coordination and movement.
With his new found method he regained his voice and succeeded to improve his overall health.

He became well known and a lot of actors visited him in search for advice. Alexander became known as the breathing man and even medical doctors adviced their patients to visit him.

To widen the audience for his approach he emigrated to London in 1904. He started an education for trainers in 1932 and continued his teaching until the year of his death in 1955.

His method became internationally known as Alexander Technique. Nowadays there are more than thousand teachers in different countries all over the world.

In the Netherlands there are some fourty teachers who teach the Alexander Techniek.