Two Brilliant Figures Leave us

This year, two brilliant figures in the Alexander world passed away.

I have been moved to write about them both, a footnote to the tremendous influence they exerted upon the development of Alexander's discoveries. This is not an obituary; it is my salute to them both.

David Gorman passed away on February 7th after a long battle with a neurological illness†, while Marie-Françoise Le Foll passed away on May 14th, 2026. I only heard this morning - an unexpected pulmonary embolism led to 4 cardiac arrests from which she never recovered. Her death was sudden, unexpected and swift.

Of the two, David was probably the better known, but Marie-Françoise was no less influential in her work. I invited them both to work with my trainees. Marie-Françoise was also an Associate Director of BodyChance for many years.

She was very much a Parisian woman - proudly walking around Tokyo in her high heels, and confiding to the serious Japanese woman in her class about how she had to be a “little ticky” with her husband Michel, while simultaneously moving her hand forward in a snake-like movement. She inspired the ladies.

“I don’t care about the Alexander Technique,” she once declared, “I care about people’s consciousness.” And she was very true to this view. Long before I encountered the “4 questions” and “turnaround” work of Byron Katie, Marie-Françoise taught me a similar way to work with people’s beliefs…

She would ask you to utter a sentence about your difficulty. If someone in class had requested help about some physical discomfort at work, she might first encourage them to utter a statement. For example, they might respond with - “I don't like working at that office”, and Marie-Françoise would then write that sentence on the whiteboard. She would turn to the student and ask;

“Which of those six words has the greatest charge on it?”

“Office” might come the reply.

Then: “What does ‘office’ mean to you?”

And again Marie-Françoise would write the student’s reply on the whiteboard, with a line running from the word ‘office’ down to the new defining sentence below.

I witnessed her iterating this way many times, and with every iteration, the cause of a person’s confusion - the effect on their coordination that Marie-Françoise was investigating - would emerge in full clarity within the student’s cognition. Relief from their physical pain came in the form of a deeper psychological understanding of how it was being created in the “office”.

This was just one of her many teaching innovations - she was an intuitive and almost reckless teacher, following her instincts creatively all the way.

David Gorman might seem to be on the opposite side - careful, steadfast, also leaning into the psychology but in an almost academically rigorous way. And yet, he has developed his own version of Marie-Françoise’s exercise. At the 1984 F.M. Alexander Memorial Lecture in London, he presented the paper that laid the groundwork for his later “Learning Methods” work: “Thinking About Thinking About Ourselves” ※

I won’t diminish his work by trying to simplify his circuitous essay here; my intention is only to salute him with awe for the depth and sagacity of his insights.

Another endearing characteristic of David was his sweet, practical nature - he expressed a natural humility that often accompanies great thinkers. I learnt this in negotiating with him for his visit to our Golden Week residential in Japan in 2008. The previous year I had spent over three months - and countless emails - negotiating with our guest for 2007. It was exhausting…

Imagine my delight and surprise in finalising David’s visit with just one email and a chat over the phone.

David had nothing to prove. The end was his biggest challenge, as he faced a neurological illness with quiet courage and clarity. I had the honour of a long conversation with him by phone last year and even in the midst of his decline, he had not lost his enquiring mind.

David and Marie-Françoise both trained teachers. They leave a legacy of talent behind them - a strong current of influence that will continue for many decades to come.

For them both, my heart goes out to their partners Eillen and Michel, and to David’s son Elliot, who spent some days at my apartment in Tokyo as part of his love affair with Japan.

David and Marie-san‡ - you are missed. I salute you both.

With love

Jeremy

※ Gorman, David. “Thinking About Thinking About Ourselves.” In Looking at Ourselves: Exploring and Evolving in the Alexander Technique. Learning Methods Publications. NOTE: No publication date is listed, but the book remains available through David's website — now lovingly maintained by his son Elliot — at learningmethods.com
† David’s Obituary is here: https://www.ridleyfuneralhome.com/obituaries/David-Arthur-Gorman?obId=47450871 
‡ Marie-san was the shorthand my Japanese students affectionately used - “san” is an honorific and Japanese often like short, easy-to-pronounce names.

The photo shows my last night with Marie-Françoise Le Foll - joined by her husband Michel and God-daughter Angelica.