Testimonials
Susan White began taking Alexander lessons to relieve ongoing back pain:
“I've taken lessons with Jill for several years, but right from the first lesson my chronic back pain improved. Many other benefits were gradual. I noticed, for example, that I was moving more smoothly, that my digestion had improved and my doctor had reduced my blood pressure medication.
“Jill is a kind and patient teacher and her teaching room is a calm and relaxing place in which to explore the technique. After a lesson I always feel lighter, more positive and more confident.
"Jill and the Alexander Technique have helped me to realise that I have a choice about how I use my body. This awareness has spread to other areas of my life and I now feel more in control of myself and my life.”
Karen Johnson was sceptical about AT but is rapidly overcoming years of back pain. She wrote this after four lessons:
"I have suffered back pain for a long time and the last 14 years have been a merry-go-round of doctors, drugs and complementary therapies. Add that to a busy job and lifestyle and you find yourself faced with the possibility that you may never be able to resolve the problem.
"My first session was (me) firing questions at Jill! She didn't seem phased, and I started to ease into the process. I followed her instructions between sessions, and found I could focus on my body, its movements and its tensions.
"I have had 4 sessions, but I stopped getting pain in 2. I am now feeling stronger and even confident in my back and my usual cocktail of painkillers is no longer necessary. I cannot explain how strange and fantastic that sounds and feels to me.
"I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the technique and in particular Jill, who has been fantastic."
Harry Phelps uses the Technique to improve his running, swimming and cycling:
"As a triathlete, I wanted a way of improving my performance in all three sports without further tiring myself with weights or more workouts. I tried yoga and Pilates but found that, as long as I was still practicing my bad postural habits, I was just wasting energy and getting needlessly tired.
"Jill taught me to find my balance in everything I do and now I can run without tiring because my breathing is easy and I’m well aligned, I feel much more relaxed in the water and have found a balance that was eluding me before, and my cycling has become effortless as I can stay free of tension for long periods. I have more freedom in everything I do and I can practice my sports more frequently, to a greater quality, so I get maximum benefit from them and don’t get tired or burn out.
"I thoroughly recommend Alexander Technique and Jill as a teacher to anyone looking for a holistic, time efficient way to improve in sport as well as all other aspects of life."
Jo Guiney, part time teaching assistant and housewife, has a neuropathic condition that was giving her severe pain in her lower legs and affecting her mobility:
"I recently started attending Alexander Technique lessons and am finding the practices to be really useful. I was a 'low back-pain sufferer' for twenty-something years and was also diagnosed with a degerenerative condition (Hereditary Motor Sensory Neuropathy) about five years ago. The combination of these ailments affected my mobility and quality of life, to the point where I became extremely depressed and dependent on painkillers to get through the day.
With help from my amazingly compassionate and gentle A/T teacher, (Jill Payne of Beckenham, Kent) I find I am beginning to improve my posture, no longer take any medication and can now walk about for at least two hours instead of only 10 minutes! I cannot recommend this technique highly enough, especially for those who feel they have tried everything else to no avail. I urge you to give it a go."
Student Sarah Doyle learned the Technique to overcome Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI):
“I first went to Jill during my exam period last year because I was experiencing a lot of pain in my writing wrist and intermittent pain in my shoulders and back. As a pianist I have had a lot of trouble with this for a few years but have always been told to go to the osteopath or just take painkillers.
“Jill made me feel very at ease and by the time the lesson was over I could definitely feel a difference. I felt taller and lighter, like I was walking on air. I had weekly lessons and feel like the technique has made a huge difference. Having just started at university I am no longer able to take constant lessons but am able to draw on both the physical methods of relaxation and the way of thinking which the technique teaches to help me remain relatively stress free.”
Trudy Kerr is a professional jazz singer who was having voice problems. She wrote this testimonial after ten lessons:
"From the first lesson I began to see immediate improvement in my vocal technique. What I didn't expect from the sessions with Jill was how the Technique would have such a great impact on my everyday life. I found Jill's lessons to be very calming, relaxing and thought provoking. The Alexander Technique has made me approach life at a slower pace, I feel more centred as a person and far more confident, and in general better equipped to handle whatever life throws my way."
Mark Ingrams, a City lawyer, found Alexander lessons helped him to recover from serious work-related stress:
“Having Alexander lessons over two years has made a great difference to my life. Jill is able to give a sense of how the ability to stop, think and consciously free our movement can help regain the natural balance and posture that get lost over years of bad habits.
This has resulted in less stress, greater freedom and ease of movement and a much better sense of my body and posture. It helps when using a computer, standing and sitting and for sport (running, gym and golf).
“The freedom and ease of movement encouraged by the Technique also affects my mood and general sense of wellbeing. Overall, the Technique is a great antidote to the mental and physical demands of modern life.”
Carolyn Mason found great relief from a whiplash injury:
“Having tried several types of therapy I visited Jill on recommendation and the Alexander Technique has alleviated my condition enormously. Jill taught me to be more aware about my posture and how subtle adjustments in everyday movements and a few minutes of gentle practice daily can change bad habits to good ones, gradually improving life both mentally and physically.
“Lessons with Jill always leave me feeling free from tension and pain and endorse the fact that this technique really works.”
Chris Adams thought Alexander lessons might improve his young son's confidence:
“My ten year old son was having a difficult time at school last year and his confidence dropped. This became apparent in his posture and demeanour so I arranged for him to have some Alexander Technique sessions with Jill Payne. Not only is he really enjoying the sessions but they have helped him relax and find his natural posture again. This has had a great effect on his confidence and enjoyment of school.
"I would thoroughly recommend Jill Payne as a very skilled and effective teacher.”
Ruth Moreland, HR consultant, came to the Technique because of ongoing back pain and a nagging sports injury to her knee:
“Jill is an experienced and very personable Alexander teacher. I started having lessons with her after no sustained results from other therapies. After about half a dozen lessons the pain in my back started to lessen and I grew considerably more comfortable and confident when using my left knee.
“My situation is now much improved. My posture is more balanced, walking is smooth and flowing and I now realise sitting and standing can be comfortable pastimes!
"Jill has a very natural teaching style that instantly makes me feel calm and relaxed... at the end of each lesson I feel like a different person. I now have monthly lessons and continue to be amazed at the results.”
Frank Mulder is a pianist who frequently travels abroad. He uses the Technique to manage an arthritic hip and change old habits of thought and response:
“The most important idea taught to me by the Alexander Technique is that of being able to stop. As a piano teacher I often witness pupils trying to overcome a difficulty by too much force, and they increase the problems instead of solving them.
"Similarly, in order to avoid physical pain we tend to find the wrong ‘solution’. Through the Technique one becomes aware of the moment to stop and reconsider. After being guided through our response to the stimulus we are re-educated and able to enjoy a better use of the body.
Through the Technique and Jill's training I feel healthier and more able to overcome physical and mental difficulties."
Chris Ash is a freelance composer:
"As a musician I am seeing real improvements in my playing and composition since starting Alexander lessons."
Jocelyn Howe is a community worker whose mobility problems were making her work impossible. Regular lessons have restored her confidence and mobility:
"In my first lesson with Jill I experienced my sitting bones; I experienced my hips; I experienced the poise they could bring to the whole me. Above all I experienced total acceptance of my 71 year-old body and personality.
"How did I get here? My leg and knee were extremely painful and I could not use public transport - my lifeline. A friend suggested that the AT may be of help, and so it is that AT is becoming my way of life in the hands (literally) of Jill Payne.
"Provided I keep up the AT principles my leg is no longer a trouble and the Technique is positively helping me to manage a bout of hip pain.”
Graham Smith, full-time father and ex-bodybuilder, took lessons five years ago which helped with a back injury and migraines. He continues to benefit from those lessons:
"I had heard that the Alexander technique can greatly improve discomfort and pain by retraining one's posture, but from the first lesson with Jill I discovered that there was a lot of mental training that has been of huge benefit in the way I have viewed life since.
"A couple of years ago I became ill with depression. Although this was a very difficult time I drew strength from the many discussions with Jill during my lessons, and when the decision to leave my company of 22 years came I knew it was right and I was not fearful of the future.
"My son started Taekwondo and it reignited a 20 year-old passion in me. I recalled that AT taught me not to focus on what we can’t do but on what we can.
I agreed to restart as a white belt...and my dream was achieved when my instructor presented me with my black belt. I am now a certified instructor and umpire and I’m looking forward to attending an international instructor’s seminar in 2012.
"I continue to use the Alexander technique. A particular benefit has been the lying down posture. I have found that this can realign my spine even to the extent that it clicks back into place (and it) has helped to reduce the migraines so much that I am even able to recognise the triggers to stop them."
Matt Wood drew on his Alexander lessons during his successful treatment and recovery from abdominal cancer:
“Your tuition has helped me to accept circumstances without losing control, work with and minimise discomfort and fatigue and 'find space'. Thank you.” Read Matt’s full testimonial
“What follows are several experiences that exemplify how your tutelage helped me through some tough moments. I'm extremely thankful.
“I'll start just after the operation to remove the tumour, which left a cut and bruise diagonally across my lower-left abdomen. The nurses were keen that I should walk before being allowed home, but we differed in our approach to getting up from bed. Flanked either side by a nurse ready to pull me up to a sitting position, I paused after their call to action of, "Right let's sit you up." That pause, that moment you'd taught me when, usually, an automatic reaction would take over. I explained what I'd like to do, then slowly rolled onto my side and let the pendulum motion do the work of sitting up.
“The slow pace of my movements was causing some concern but no matter because both nurses were surprised that I'd sat up without assistance. And so it was for the next month, as the bruising healed at home.
“The next vivid memory of using what I'd learnt came in much tougher times. Hooked up to a whirring toxic-drug machine for up to 16 hours at a time, 5 days a week knocks the stuffing out of you. During one of these sessions my mind turned to the 'thought-directing-muscle' aspect of the Alexander Technique. Lying on my back on a bed I assumed the balanced, knees raised, spine-lengthening position we'd practised. I became more settled and, for the first time since treatment began, started to accept what was happening and let it be - not in a defeatist sense, but a more positive outlook.
“Up to that point I must have built up a lot of tension as I resisted needles in arms (just watch those veins disappear!) and felt out of control. There was still one aspect of my predicament that I could control - my approach, my perspective. I felt calmer as time passed, clock watching lessened and I'd think of the catheter in my arm and the drug machine dripping and think "so what?" Not nonchalant I hope, but more relaxed and accepting – after all, the drugs were there to help. I can't claim to have felt this way throughout the chemotherapy, but there were certainly defining moments when this awareness and relative calm saw me through.
“Another example was lying on a bench (on my back again) waiting to be remotely motioned through a huge CT scanner; an alien environment and time enough to grow anxious, waiting for instruction and the bench to move. Again, alone for a few minutes as the technician took cover in an x-ray proof observation room, my thoughts turned to the Alexander Technique. My thoughts were running away with themselves - what's going to happen next? What will the results of the scan be? What must this backless, flowery gown look like...? Then I started to think about the greater-awareness aspect of the Alexander Technique that you'd talked me through. and I became more aware of what was around me, to open up my peripheral vision. I felt calmer, and physically relaxed into my position. Certainly, when I next had a CT scan my approach to the event had changed, and I eased into the circumstances.
“Before my diagnosis I'd only just begun to learn the Alexander Technique but, when you're drawing on reserves, hope and a need for direction come to the fore. Over three months of chemotherapy, and an ongoing period of recovery, your tuition has helped me to accept circumstances without losing control, work with and minimise discomfort and fatigue, and 'find space' (particularly amongst medical paraphernalia) In the three examples described here, and other times besides, your instruction has been crystal clear.
"Your tuition has helped me to accept circumstances without losing control, work with and minimise discomfort and fatigue and 'find space'. Thank you."