Testimonials

What people say about the Alexander Technique
Alexander Technique testimonials
Voice coaching and Singing testimonials

What people say about the Alexander Technique

John Cleese, comedian and actor
"I find the Alexander Technique very helpful in my work. Things happen without you trying. They get you to be light and relaxed. You must get an Alexander teacher to show it to you."

Joanne Woodward, actress
"I was dubious about the effects of the Alexander Technique when I first went in to experience it, but found out almost immediately that the benefits were total - both physically and mentally - and, happily, have also been long-lasting."

British Medical Journal
"Alexander's work is of first class importance and investigation by the medical profession is imperative."

Professor George E Coghill, Nobel Prize Winning Anatomist and Physiologist
"Mr Alexander's method lays hold of the individual as a whole, as a self-vitalising agent. He reconditions and re-educates the reflex mechanisms and brings their habits into normal relation with the functioning of the organism as a whole. I regard this method as thoroughly scientific and educationally sound."

Tony Buzan, author of 'Use Your Head, The Evolving Brain'
"The Alexander Technique transformed my life. It is the result of an acknowledged genius. I would recommend it to anyone."

Paul Newman, actor
"The Alexander Technique helped a long standing back problem and to get a good night's sleep after many years of tossing and turning."

George Bernard Shaw, playwright
"Alexander established not only the beginnings of a far- reaching science of the apparently involuntary movements we call reflexes, but a technique of correction and self- control which forms a substantial addition to our very slender resources in personal education."

Professor John Dewey, American philosopher
"'It is one thing to teach the need of a return to the individual man as the ultimate agency in whatever mankind and society collectively can accomplish. It is another thing to discover the concrete procedure by which this greatest of all tasks can be executed. And this indispensable thing is exactly what Mr Alexander has accomplished."

Aldous Huxley, author
"'The Alexander Technique gives us all things we have been looking for in a system of physical education: relief from strain due to maladjustment, and constant improvement in physical and mental health. We cannot ask for more from any system; nor, if we seriously desire to alter human beings in a desirable direction, can we ask for any less."

Roald Dahl, author
"The Alexander Technique really works"

Nikolaas Tinbergen, Nobel Prizewinner for Medicine and Physiology, from his Nobel Prize acceptance speech:
"The Alexander Technique is based on exceptionally sophisticated observation, not only by means of vision, but to a surprising extent by using the sense of touch. I noticed with growing amazement, very striking improvements in such diverse things as high blood pressure, breathing, depth of sleep, overall cheerfulness, mental alertness, resilience against outside pressures, and also in such refined skills as the playing of a stringed musical instrument."

top

How the Alexander Technique has helped Suryagita's pupils

"I have worked with many holistic practitioners and I am confident that Suryagita is in the top rank of practitioners, both through her knowledge and her style, which is based on sensitivity to the individual while building on the important teachings of F.M. Alexander. Suryagita's approach is highly facilitative and adaptive, not only to the individual's health needs, but also to their life circumstances. Each lesson builds on the previous one, enabling the client/pupil to make sense for themselves and to internalise and embed the important learning and physiological adjustments. I am sure those who engage with her work will benefit."
Professor Bob Sang
Chair of Patient and Public Involvement in Health, London South Bank University and Honorary Member of The Patients' Association, UK

"My first contact with Alexander Technique came about almost by accident, when I substituted for my wife (who was ill) at a pre-paid one day workshop held by Suryagita in November 02. It seemed like a good idea for me to go as I was suffering from a repetitive strain injury. The only help from the medical profession in respect of the RSI had been for the doctor to recommend the use of painkillers. I also suffer from lifelong asthma and an increasingly poor posture.
I enjoyed the workshop and felt some immediate benefits to my posture so I started to have weekly lessons with Suryagita. The lessons seemed like a bit of an anti-climax after the one-day workshop. Each lesson involved pretty much the same procedures: standing up from a sitting position and then sitting again while Suryagita physically guided my movements with her hands.
These 'physical instructions' were very subtle and difficult to comprehend. I couldn't understand what was the right or wrong way of doing these movements.
Lying down on a table 'semi-supine' was the other part of each lesson, where Suryagita stretched my arms, legs and neck a bit. I also dutifully practised my 'semi-supine' at home for about 15 minutes on most other days of the week. After about 3 months I was definitely standing straighter but felt self-conscious and a bit stiff with this new posture. I was also starting to wonder if there was any point in continuing as no further benefits seemed to be forthcoming and I was still suffering with RSI.
Then one Friday evening, two days after a lesson I felt the most extraordinary internal 'release' in my lower neck. Over the course of the evening it felt as if I was dragging my neck ever upwards from within my upper torso, where it had been sunken, and collapsed like a closed telescope for years. The overall impact was very emotional and liberating.
I felt that I had been hiding inside my 6'3'' body for years, self-conscious of my height. I was now growing up to my full and natural height.
At intermittent periods over the last few months, new areas of release kept opening, both within my neck, my back, my shoulders, my legs and arms. I still get these sensations - in fact their frequency increases as they move to new parts of my body and then back to previous areas where the process of further straightening and release of tension starts up again.
It's now a year since I went to my first lesson and now I see Suryagita for an Alexander class once a fortnight. I can honestly say that having Alexander Technique classes with Suryagita has changed my body and my life around. I feel more confident, happy, my breathing is better. The RSI has almost disappeared. I had thought the RSI had been purely down to using a computer every day for about 14 years, but I now realise that this was only one of the contributory factors. A lifetime of hunching, slouching and increasing stress due to day to day living have also been to blame. My asthma has vastly improved and my posture is a million times better. And I feel good about myself and confident in my body when I move and walk.
And just when I start to think my body is finally sorted something else starts improving. I don't go around broadcasting the benefits of Alexander to all and sundry but it has become a central and vital part of my life, that helps me cope with all the day to day stresses and I wouldn't do without it. I would definitely recommend anyone to give it a go and to stick at it. After all, how difficult is lying down flat on the floor for 15 minutes a day?"
Alan Buck
Town Planner, Brighton and Hove Council
6 November 2003

"A.T. lessons during pregnancy helped my baby move into optimal foetal positioning. My back pain improved and during labour, which was a natural delivery, I was more able to relax."
Claire Donaldson

"I have been having Alexander Technique lessons with Suryagita for over 3 years and have always found her very patient, friendly, encouraging and also flexible as to what we focus on in the lessons. Suryagita has even inspired me to do the Alexander Technique teacher training, which I am planning to start this year. I am sure I wouldn't be doing this without Juliet's encouragement and support."
Ruth Thomas
Computer Programmer

"I'm walking taller, my stomach has flattened and my breathing has improved."
John Kelly
Company Manager

"I am writing to you about my experiences with the Alexander Technique, and how you have helped me in my life.
I first heard about the Alexander Technique at the Croydon Buddhist Centre after reading their literature about alternative therapies. Before then, I practised meditation and yoga to help me to overcome my mild cerebral palsy. However, I felt that something was missing.
What was it? Well it was posture. It was bending like a banana. Because of my partial sightedness I had to bend to the left and as a result my posture was out of synch, and it caused bad habits which I was not aware of.
By frequent sessions with Suryagita, and by allowing my neck to be free, slowly the bending became less, which meant that my posture improved, and the quality of my life is slowly improving.
Thank you Suryagita for all your help over the years, and I hope that great things will happen to gain my life back."
Michael Ivas
2 November 2003

“I have found my Alexander Technique lessons with you to be an extremely valuable, nourishing and enjoyable learning experience. I wanted to rejoice in the sensitive, creative and enthusiastic way you taught me. I felt a lot of trust, confidence and respect for the way you conveyed something quite subtle and intimate. I feel it has had a tremendously beneficial impact on my meditation practice and how I relate to my body. You inspired me to carry on long enough that much of what I learned feels a part of me (though of course I know there is so much further one can go with it). I greatly enjoyed our voice lessons as well and many things you mentioned have stayed with me and have also enriched the way I hear voices.”
Mary Clark
December 2004

top

What people say about Suryagita's voice coaching and singing lessons

"I teach voice to actors and it has been hugely instructive to have a teacher such as Suryagita who carries several disciplines of awareness within her practice. I have benefited hugely from Alexander lessons with her, through my increasing postural awareness but also in the way I could stretch and grow as a teacher myself. I appreciated her sensitivity and her focused presence, as well as her sharing her reflections on the work. Whoever is fortunate enough to be her student in the future will be enriched by the wisdom and sensitivity of her practice."
Jane Boston
Head of Research and Development, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London

I have rediscovered the joy of singing.
It was not until I was singing and enjoying the last song of the day, that I realised that this one day workshop with Suryagita had reversed completely the humliation received decades ago by a stupid remark by my High School headmistress. To the whole high school choir she remarked that I looked like a goldfish opening its mouth.
I actually came to the workshop to free my voice for clapping and singing the music I am practising for performance, and so also for freedom for my voice in my teaching. I had not expected to come home and be able to apply the newly found freedom, energy and confidence to playing the viola.
Celia Wood
Violin and viola teacher
Auckland, New Zealand
October 2005

"I hadn't had a singing lesson since my school days, but Suryagita made me feel very comfortable and able to have a go. I so enjoyed it that I've booked lots more.
Suryagita's voice lessons are very profound. You live with what you consider your normal voice all your life and then discover with Suryagita's excellent coaching enough volume to rattle the windows. Her coaching comfortably extended my vocal range considerably from what I had been able to reach before. I can now consider songs I never thought I could tackle.
Suryagita's voice workshops were so much fun even if you had never sung before. The songs were from all over the world but were easy to sing and were lovely.
I would never have believed that I would be able to sing songs in counterpoint at my first ever singing workshop but Suryagita managed to teach us in one session.
The enthusiasm that Suryagita's voice workshop generated literally raised the roof. I can't wait for the next one."
Alan Cunliffe
Manager

"At a weekend workshop (on Non-Violent Communication) I attended recently no-one could hear me and people asked me to speak more loudly. After some voice lessons with Suryagita I attended a second workshop. I felt more confident and able to participate. I also felt reassured, and when I spoke in the group no-one asked me to repeat myself!"
L.
Classroom Assistant