Still getting the hang of the layout here – consider this a short introduction to the pages covering different aspects of working with me, and never hesitate to get in contact with me for a chat, via the contact page.
Testimonials
Comments and Stories about Awareness Through Movement
A first Experience Of Feldenkrais:
I did not know what to expect from, or after the first Feldenkrais workshop I attended. I found the sequences gentle and relaxing. It was liberating and exhilarating to feel different parts of me bead, neck and shoulders moving independently – as they did so there was a sense that they were strengthening. During the course I learnt that these gentle movement lessons could heal pain experienced in the body. I was, at the time, experiencing discomfort in my knees when going downstairs. I was also experiencing pain in my right shoulder which had begun approximately three weeks before the workshop.
The day after I was completely free of pain, both in my shoulder and my knees. I walked downstairs in a way which would be considered usual as a way of descending stairs. I had not descended stairs in this way for approximately three years. I had either relied heavily on the handrail for support, or taken the steps one at a time – how wonderful it was to be pain free.
Marion Goldstraw (2008)
After my Bodymindfulness Day:
I did sleep well, thank you, and people have observed today that I seem even calmer than usual in the face of some unusual work nonsense. Was also singing in the car on the way home last night and my voice was much louder, clearer and notes more easily sustained than usual. Result.
Lorna Bowden – Feldenkrais Practitioner
After a Moving With Ease And Grace workshop:
Many Thanks Maggy – I really enjoyed our afternoon and was super calm and energised last night, preparing for a shoot today – result!
Nel Haynes
After A Quick Coaching Session:
A big thank you to Maggy Burrowes for her expert help and guidance with my back through working techniques with the Feldenkrais Method – small movements, big gains!
Darren Ward (my lovely neighbour)
A New Way Of Walking
I’ve noticed such a difference in my feet & the way I walk since last Thursday. I normally wear down the outside side of my (flat) heels with most of my shoes and now I’m really noticing how I’m now walking more in the middle, although it feels strange as if I’m actually turning inwards and becoming knock-kneed, although I know it hasn’t gone from one side to the other completely. Anyway brilliant result and I keep doing bits of it when I remember, moving the outer edges of my feet as I sit typing etc.
…and an update:
Nice class tonight and walking down the hill felt nicer, more stable than usual. What I felt was my legs felt stronger at the very top as if they were holding my pelvis up, difficult as you know to put into words, but very noticeable.
Hilary Newman,Medical Secretary
Walking With A Bounce, and A Twist
I appreciate the work you did. I have noticed a difference in my walking in a way of a bounce forwards and back and a turning of hip forward and back, yeah! Didn’t notice that move in me before till I did the workshop!
Roxi Sharif
Best Sleep Ever!
I attended your class night at Jill’s studio in Wapping. I just wanted to say that I had the best sleep ever last night – 10 hours solid and today all the tightness I usually carry in my hips has been released. I have had a Feldenkrais session before now and really did not see the point in it however, Jill encouraged me to try again and I’m so glad I did. Thank you for a great lesson and amazing insight.
Suzanne Boguzas
A Human Worm!
Thanks Maggy, for liberating my inner worm!
Margaret Branson
Waking Up With A New Back
I want to thank you so much for your Core Resilience workshop yesterday. I found the content very interesting, with a natural flow and pace that enabled me to really explore what I was doing. And this morning I woke up with a new back! My image of my back has changed significantly, with a sense of it being more ‘whole’, and it feels strong yet supple. This has had an impact on my whole organisation and today, activities that were previously uncomfortable or awkward have felt natural and easy. I also look and feel about two inches taller! Thanks also for the lesson notes; it’s very reassuring to have them, because I know I have the tools to use if my disorganised habits should return.
Susie Lofts – Feldenkrais Practitioner
After 8 hours of Feldenkrais as part of a Meisner ‘No Filter’ Acting Training Course…
“Revolutionary”!
Thank you again for your kind, considered and gentle classes. They really have been refreshing. Very different in style and tone to anything I’ve experienced. I particularly enjoyed last week’s session with the shoulder stretch. The feeling being quite revolutionary. It removed a nagging clicking and dropped my tense shoulders to a place, last seen in a galaxy long ago.
Testimonials for Functional Integration one-to-one sessions
Maggy’s incredibly knowledgeable and intuitive touch tuned in to my constantly changing needs at every stage of pregnancy. From delicate and queasy to extremely tense and in substantial discomfort, the one-to-one Feldenkrais work always met me at my level of need and guided me through to the next stage of pregnancy with ease and lightness, leaving me feeling deeply relaxed. It literally enabled my body to ‘update’ itself and find the best posture, release uncomfortable tension and re-balance to feel whole, integrated and beautifully supported as my weight and shape dramatically changed, and in the later stages of pregnancy gave huge relief from PSD and chronic shoulder and back tension. I found the results to be much longer lasting and beneficial then pregnancy massage, which gave very temporary relief, but didn’t help my body to deal with the demands on it on a day-to-day basis.
Experiencing this amazing work enabled me to sleep more deeply at night, feel much more balanced and agile, and continue to commute long distances to work right up until my due date.
Genevieve Maxwell
Fantastic! What a great idea [to run Pregnant Pauses ATM classes]. you helped me so much with managing my pregnancy, I’m sure it’ll be a big success.
Rebekah Lee
Regarding Hypermobility Syndrome:
I did a stretch-type class recently, for the first time almost a year, and the difference in me is incredible. I feel as though a huge piece of firm-weave elastic is running right the way through me: I’m as flexible as ever, but my approach is slightly different, in terms of how I move myself into a stretch position (maybe turning to a very slightly different angle), and I’m more measured in the way I move. The result is that I feel better, safer, and more supported in what I do. I know exactly how far to go, and am aware that, sometimes, I could reach further, but choose not to do it, as if I use that extra capacity it would take me out of my “safe” zone. In short, I feel stable and in control in a way that was not so before. Additionally, after going to a class like that after a long break I would have expected some muscular soreness the next day – but not this time!
Lorna Bowden – Feldenkrais Practitioner
Testimonials for VocalDynamix
Just recently I had a wonderful double training session with a young singer, and received this wonderful letter the same evening:
Thank you so much for today. That was such valuable stuff. she was singing all the way home in the car and said it felt freer. She came home and got straight on the piano to sing ‘Hello From The Other Side’ (not sure if that’s the right name) which goes quite high and which she loves but finds tricky in places. She said it felt freer, clearer and that she could go higher with more ease and without it going ‘wierd’ or weak, so she is pretty pleased. I have suggested to her that she get stuck in and play with all this stuff straight away so she doesn’t just forget it.
Vic and Laurel
– this is exactly the sort of result I hope for so I was delighted!
“Maggy Burrowes is a rare find: talented (very) ; charismatic (very); subject knowledge (excellent); and ability to convey such knowledge -unequalled ! She has dynamism, a strong sense of humour and patience with such an attractive personality as to make Anatomy (usually dullish in the medical sense) into a fascinating study of the voice in her VocalDynamix course. I have attended two of these courses with Maggy and I can’t stress enough how enjoyable and informative they are.”
Fiona Grinham
“The course was a real revelation to me. I’ve done so many voice classes over the years but never one that dealt so thoroughly with how the voice actually works. Most classes concentrate on breathing and never really touch on what you do with your throat in order to manipulate sound. I’m so much more aware of what my voice is doing and I’ve started really listening to other people’s voices to analyse how they work. Perhaps the most important thing for me was to discover the possibility that I had more than one possible vocal sound. I had long been under the misconception that I was born with a particular voice (singing & speaking) and that’s what I have to work with. Ridiculous as it may sound it never occurred to me that I should try listening to, and singing like, other singers to increase or diversify my own range/sound/tone – I just didn’t think it was possible to change what I already had. I recommend the course to anyone who’ll listen.”
Nicole Arkless
“Thanks very much for your wonderful voice course. I am still working through the material and have a much larger range at each end of the scale. It was really interesting to have speech contextualized into its effect on laryngeal movement and brought me a new awareness in that area and a sense of how voice production affects the diaphragm and its attachments to the spine, rather than just the other way round.
The untrammelled, quite deep (for me) voice that your workshop gave me at the end was gratifying but it changed into something different later. Your workshop also changed my listening. Yes it it true that I still sing out of tune (i can hear it now) but I had an experience towards the end of your workshop – I stepped out of the passageway from the studio into the street and all the cars and trucks and drills and birdsong were a symphony! It was so weird – I never usually listen much let alone savour such sounds and I certainly never realised they were all at different pitches. I must stress that I am not musical and this was not my usual perception of the world.
I would recommend VocalDynamix to anyone.”
“It was liberating – discovering the connection between my breathing and my belly began the process of releasing inhibitions I had held for as long as I could remember. I could feel that my whole body was involved in my emotional expression and the sound of my voice. It was particularly exciting for me as I am a head person – I came away with more confidence to be myself – more spontaneous somehow.”
Anne Kennedy
“I find Maggy’s workshops highly informative, inspirational, fun, and a big treat for the voice, body and spirit. Maggy has the unique professional combination of being a Feldenkrais practitioner, singing teacher and jazz performer, and she offers her knowledge and experience in a warm, relaxed and sensitive manner. I cannot recommend these workshops highly enough to anyone interested in learning more about their voice and body.”
[MA, BSc (Hons), State Registered Music Therapist (SRAsT (M)]
…and I was particularly charmed by this one…
“Dear Maggy,
I was the one who joined your workshop on December 3rd. Thank you for the heartwarming lecture with nice atmosphere. Afterwards, I have felt some changes of my voice and energy of singing. Actually, I ended my school curriculum on the last Friday, and now I can sing with my “natural voice” far easier than three month ago. Less constraint of my throat and stress within me. My major purpose to come to London for learning singing was to find my natural voice. So I did it!! I appreciate the opportunity to see you and have a workshop. I would return to Tokyo on Christmas day, very soon. This time I am sure to keep singing even in the busy days in Tokyo.”