I was born the 20th of january 1959. I studied Math and Technic in school, which gave me a strong liking for reasoning and solving problems. By 1986, in ran my own (small) company of communication, helping french high tech companies (mostly Chemical and Medical ones) translate scientific concepts into plain ideas.
My interest in the Technique arose in 1980 through reading a scientific paper by a leading surgeon on dentistry which explained that most cervical pain didn't come from malocclusion as it was believed, but that both local problems (back pain and poor jaw bite) stemmed from the same global problem of direction and control of the muscular system. His concise explanation of the FM Alexander Technique --that he recommended as a "unique solution to the coordination's problem"-- was really enticing but also insufficient to my eyes so I ordered FM's four books. I've been a dedicated reader and a passionate student of these books ever since.
Ten years later, in 1992, I moved to England to study the Technique with Ray Evans et Ron Coyler. After qualifying in 1997, I stayed three more years as an assistant teacher in Ray's school before coming back to the south of France where I live today. During my years in England, I achieved a vast school-project of translating and publishing FM Alexander's four books into French.
I've a particular relationship with FM's books. To me, they represent FM's true legacy in the form of an imposing gold mine. I've been digging in various streaks for the last 20 years, but I couldn't have gone very far without the help of three scientists whose ideas are like heavy tools to progress in the dark : LS Vygotsky (pedagogy, methodology), AR Luria (Neuro-psychology), NA Bernstein (bio-mechanics). Due to this work, my pedagogy has been transformed ; nowadays, I teach using hands-on only with pupil with severe cognitive disorders. Otherwise, I teach using language and geometry in french, english and spanish.
My special interests are:
- teaching Conscious Control of the postural mechanism,
- studying self-speech (instructions or orders) as a means to develop the executive functions and the higher mental functions,
- experimenting how using a conception (a psycho-mechanical representation) can change the use of the self.
In 2006, I started a training course in the south of France (34) and continued to devote my time 1) to build a scientific understanding of the writings of FM Alexander and 2) to develop psycho-mechanical procedures allowing a teacher to work with people with severe psychophysical handicap (ASD, DCD, epilepsy, brain injuries) and with or without verbal language.
In 2013, I joined a scientific research program called ENVEPI (Environment Epilepsy - http://www.epilepsy-tiger.org/spip/spip.php?article22&lang=en ) which investigated the possibility of reducing cognitive disfunction by enhancement of the executive functions in children with epilepsy through the learning of the FM Alexander Technique.