About the Designer

Both TruComfort® systems were designed and developed by Thomas G. Lemens using concepts derived from the Alexander Technique. A patent covers his design.

Mr. Lemens was the founder and Director of The Institute for The Alexander Technique, an Alexander teacher training school located in New York City. From 1983 to 2002 the Institute provided a four-year training course leading to certification as a teacher of The Alexander Technique. Since 1976, Mr. Lemens has also maintained a private teaching practice in both Manhattan and Westchester.

Mr. Lemens trained as a teacher of The Alexander Technique under Patrick MacDonald in London from 1973 to 1976. Mr. MacDonald was one of the small number of students trained by F.M. Alexander who went on to found their own schools to teach the Technique.

Mr. Alexander developed The Alexander Technique near the turn of the last century as a result of his observation that he and most of his countrymen in Australia and later England did not properly use the musculature of their bodies. Teaching his pupils how to restore the proper use of their musculature helped to alleviate many somatic illnesses. It has since gained international recognition for its effectiveness as a method for teaching proper use of the human body.

The value of the Alexander Technique was cited by Prof. Nickolaas Tinbergen of Oxford University on the occasion of his receiving the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1973:

"I... characterize, and recommend, the Alexander treatment as an extremely sophisticated form of rehabilitation, or rather redeployment, of the entire muscular equipment, and through that of many other organs." (The full text of Prof. Tinbergen's Nobel lecture discussing the Alexander Technique appeared in the journal Science. If you would like a hard copy reprint of this article, contact us by phone at 800-392-0363, fax 914-762-6106 or email at contact@trucomfort.com.)

Mr. Lemens is board certified as a private teacher and a training teacher by the Society of Teachers of The Alexander Technique in London (STAT) and by the North American Society of Teachers of The Alexander Technique (NASTAT) -- now known as the American Society of Alexander Teachers (AmSAT). He was a founding board member of NASTAT and served as the first chairman of its Research and Education Committee and subsequently as director of its Training Course Coordination Committee. He is also a Registered Movement Therapist with the International Movement Association.