Frederick Matthias Alexander was born in Tasmania, Australia in 1869.  He was a premature baby and experienced health difficulties throughout his childhood.  In 1889 he moved to Melbourne and began to pursue a career in acting.  Although he was a successful actor he often experienced hoarseness while performing and at times lost his voice entirely.  After seeking medical help and finding no explanation for his symptoms, he took the matter into his own hands and started investigating why he was experiencing these ailments.

He figured that he must be doing something that was causing this hoarseness and discomfort.  He began to observe himself in mirrors and realized that he was unnecessarily pulling his head back while speaking in an attempt to project his voice.  Through trial and error he was able to eradicate himself of his symptoms and improve his overall functioning.  He came to realize that patterns of misuse were present not only while he was speaking but in other activities as well.  Others caught word of his discoveries and went to study with him to learn about his work.

At the beginning of his career he was known as The Breathing Man because of the notable impact his work had on respiratory functioning.  In 1904 he moved to London where he began to further develop and share his technique and in 1930 he started the first teacher-training course.  Many influential figures of the 20th century experienced lessons with F.M. Alexander and praised his work, including philosopher John Dewey, anthropologist Raymond Dart, nobel prize winner/ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen, and playwright Goerge Bernard Shaw.  Patrick MacDonald and Walter Carrington are among the first generation teachers trained by F.M. Alexander that continued on to educate and greatly impact many future teachers of the Alexander Technique.