About Aila Juvonen

Aila Juvonen, originally from Helsinki, Finland, received her music degree from Sonoma State University in 1985.  Teaching band, choir, and private voice and piano in Palm Beach County, Florida, she began her education in the Alexander Technique with private lessons from Rose Bronec.  Moving to Charlottesville, Virginia, Aila completed her training and received her certification as an Alexander Technique teacher from the North American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (now called American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique) in 1994.  Aila is a member of Alexander Technique International. She has taught movement and Alexander Technique at Allegany College, Longwood College, South Lake Tahoe Community College, Robert Fripp's Guitarcraft course, and American Spirit Institute.  She is currently on the faculty at the Virginia School of Massage.

She maintains a private practice in Charlottesville where she resides with her family.  Aila continues to work with musicians and performers of all ages.  This year, Ms. Juvonen expanded her practice to include a part-time teacher training course for students interested in further studies.

About F.M. Alexander

Frederick Matthias Alexander, F.M. as he preferred to be called, was born January 20, 1869 in Wynyard, Tasmania the oldest of ten children. As a young child, he loved the theatre and by the age of six had started practicing recitation.  This form of "declamatory thespianism" became his specialty." 

In his late teens, Alexander developed a problem of losing his voice as the result of reciting.  Alexander consulted his doctor, who prescribed rest for his voice.  This helped restore his voice, but at the next performance, Alexander’s voice disappeared before the end of his recitation. 

This was an important moment in Alexander's life.  He now recognized that his problem was caused by something he was doing.  His doctor agreed but could not provide any clue as to what that might be.

 F.M. set out to uncover his problem by observing himself physically in the act of recitation.  Using mirrors, he began to observe his own movements and thoughts while attempting to recite.  In his book The Use of the Self, Alexander describes point by point his process and discoveries.

"Having the true scientific spirit and industry," his student Bernard Shaw later wrote, "he set himself to discover what it was that he was really doing to disable himself in this fashion by his efforts to produce the opposite result.  In the end he found this out and a great deal more as well.  He established not only the beginnings of a far-reaching science of the apparently involuntary movements we call reflexes, but a technique of correction and self-control which forms a substantial addition to our very slender resources in personal education."

Having taught his technique for some time in Australia, in 1904 F.M. Alexander moved to England at the urging of Dr. W. J. Stewart to teach his technique there.   Alexander's practice grew as doctors referred their patients for help.  His brother Albert Redden (A.R.) came to London to learn the technique and assist his brother in teaching. 

By 1914, Alexander was ready to expand his practice to America and went to New York to spread the technique.  His success there led him to split his time between London and America for the next ten years.  In 1931, a teacher-training course began in London with the enrollment of eight students.

Despite his busy teaching schedule, Alexander took time to write four books on the technique: Man's Supreme Inheritance, 1910, Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, 1923, The Use of the Self, 1932, and Universal Constant in Living, 1941.

In 1947, at the age of 79, F.M. had a bad fall and suffered a stroke which resulted in paralysis of his left hand, leg and face.  Despite the doctor’s unfavorable prognosis, F.M. fully recovered through the use of the Alexander Technique and was back to teaching by the spring of 1948.  F.M. continued to teach until his sudden death October 10, 1955. 

Alexander had many students over the years, including some who achieved great renown in their fields.  Among his well-known students were the Archbishop of Cantebury, Aldous Huxley, Raymond Dart, Bernard Shaw, and John Dewey. 

Today we thank F.M. Alexander for his inquisitive intelligence.  The Alexander technique has helped thousands of people in many different ways.  The process that F.M. discovered is newly discovered by every student and trainee that applies themselves to learning it.  Today the heirs of F.M. Alexander number in the thousands, and the technique is taught around the world.