Fundamentally what F. Matthias Alexander discovered and taught was a means of crossing the gulf between the known and the unknown, the old and the new, through the mastery of habit. As such, he may well prove to have been one of the great liberators of mankind.
Edward Owen, 1955

This is a collection of 124 articles and letters written in support of the F. Matthias Alexander Technique, during Alexander’s lifetime. It consists predominantly of articles and letters published in newspapers, magazines and medical journals.They were written mainly by pupils and teachers of the Technique.

These letters and articles were in most cases a means to an end: to direct people’s interest, especially teachers’ and doctors’ interest, to the benefits and potentialities of the Technique and so to consider the Technique as a means for health and well-being for all. They are mainly educational in nature, setting out to introduce the Technique concisely, or to explain the workings and teaching of the Technique. They testify to an enthusiastic and unwavering support of Alexander and his work. In some cases these writings set out to correct misconceptions about the Technique in letters and articles by other people. This collection also provides some extraordinary case histories as people write about their own cases with candour.

Authors include: Carla Atkinson, Alice E. Bagguley, John Bastow, Dorothy L. Beck, Arthur J. Busch (aka Michael March), W. H. Marshall Carrington, James Ching, E. J. Crundall, C. H. Douglas, Mungo Douglas, Dorothy S. Radcliffe Drew, John Duncan Dunn, Waldo Frank, I. G. Griffith, T. G. N. Haldane, Thos. D. Hall, Sir Ernest Holderness, S. H. J. Holland, Frank Holliday, Oscar Köllerström, Esther E. Lawrence, W. L. F. Lee, Alexander Leeper, The Earl of Lytton, J. E. R. McDonagh, Patrick J. Macdonald, Dr Peter Macdonald, Dr R. G. McGowan, Louise Morgan, Dr A. Murdoch, Charles Alexander Neil, Marie Ney, A. B. Olsen, Edward H. Owen, A. G. Pite, H. Rex Palmer, C. H. Rolph, A. Rugg‑Gunn, Erika Schumann, Lucy Silcox, Irene Tasker, Gerald Wragg, Macleod Yearsley.

In Alexander’s technique ‘means whereby’ create their ‘ends.’ The use of prevention follows the contention that if something is wrong the ‘cause’ must be prevented as a primary principle before any attempt is made to do what is right in the right way, the latter being the familiar primary consideration.
Dr Macleod Yearsley, 1925