Transcript of Video: “A New Life”

The video has five sections. Here they are:-

1. Lady with a Hip Replacement

“I was recovering from a hip replacement and, after three months' physiotherapy at the hospital, I was discharged … complete with walking stick … and, without the walking stick, had a very bad limp and my balance was very bad and I was very liable to trip.

“I wouldn't have dreamt of going walking on my own, for instance, and last year I decided I'd go to Northumberland and walk Hadrian's Wall.

“I would recommend AT to colleagues and friends and, actually, I do do that because there are quite a few people that I see and you can recognise that they're not using their body properly.

“My teacher is Philip Pawley and I can thoroughly recommend him: he's patient, kind and knows what he's doing. He's given me a new life.”

2. Malcolm Williamson talks about the Alexander teacher training

“I'm Malcolm Williamson. I used to play the viola professionally and I teach at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. I also train Alexander teachers. The Alexander Technique developed from work by an Australian actor, Frederick Matthias Alexander, who, in around 1894, was having problems with his breathing and voice. He wanted to find better ways to use himself and to improve the way he was performing.

“The Alexander training takes three years, but before that, most people had many years of Alexander lessons themselves. Because of where it all started, professional actors use the technique: people like Julie Andrews, William Hurt, Paul Newman, Robin Williams, and people like Paul McCartney and other musicians like Yehudi Menuhin and Sting have all used the Technique.

“All sorts of people come to Alexander teachers for help, usually with health problems. They can have confidence that the Alexander teacher has had a thorough three-year training and that they're highly skilled in observing how a person uses themselves in daily activities and giving them advice on how to do things better. ”

3. Yoga Teacher

“My interest in the Technique came from my interest in yoga. At the time when I heard about it, I thought that this would be a useful thing for me to learn … just a development of what I understood yoga to be: progressive relaxation of the body and a relaxed sense of body awareness. The Alexander Technique has had a quite powerful effect on me as a person and on the way I teach yoga. I think the Technique would be suitable for many people: people who have injuries, people who have aches and pains in their bodies … but also other people that just want to learn how to relax a little more.

“Almost all sports people could benefit from experiencing the Alexander Technique. In the past I have recommended a number of my students to come to Philip for Alexander lessons. I think that the Technique could teach them some of the things that the yoga couldn't. The Alexander lessons could take up where the yoga left off.”

4. Lady with Osteoporosis

“When I came to Philip Pawley, I was very hesitant about walking at all: I could hardly get in a car, I was told that the only thing I could do now was take pain killers and learn to live with it.

“Since starting with the Alexander Technique, it has boosted my confidence tremendously. It does so much more besides just helping you with the osteoporosis. It helps your whole life-style, your whole well-being.

“My family was very involved with me when I was ill, before I started the Alexander Technique, because they had to come and do various things for me, but I can do things for myself now. I can drive myself, I do my own housework, I look after my husband, and, basically, I'm quite independent.

“Philip Pawley is an excellent Alexander Technique teacher. I know because of the difference it's made to me having these lessons.”

5. Opera Singer

“I first came across Alexander Technique when I was exploring ways to improve my singing. I wanted to sing from my soul, and Philip Pawley's web-site identified loads of thoughts that I was having about getting out of my own way.

“A thirty-minute lesson with Philip Pawley may not sound much, but you do an awful lot in that session: you are guided very gently but very firmly to move in a way that's so much freer than you ever imagined.

“I've also found that my balance is much better, my weight is equally distributed between both feet, which means that I have lost all my lower back pain, which enables me to stand straighter and to sing with much more freedom.

“I have got enormous benefit out of a series of thirty-minute sessions with Philip Pawley. My whole stance has improved and I'm singing better. ”