I am using Zoom, which means that a recording of your session is included in the fee, and is yours to keep.
All group class fees are ‘suggested-rate-or-any-donation-welcome’
All booking is via direct contact with me, by email or phone call – all my contact details are here
Please note that a brief description of all my regular classes appears here first, and thus this list may not be in a sensible order, date-wise!
You will find more detailed descriptions of all my regular online classes on this page.
I will be having a Xmas break –check with me for class dates if you are not already on my mailing list
Awareness Through Movement Online Classes on Zoom
Tuesdays @ Noon
12 pm – 1.00 pm BST
£10 per class, or any donation welcome
This class is a general class and suitable for all levels of ability – we sometimes have time for a group chat afterwards for anyone who does not need to dash away. I find that these chats are very valuable for deepening all our understanding of what Feldenkrais is all about.
Thursdays @ 5pm
5pm – 6pm BST
This is a very gentle class and particularly suitable for anyone with chronic issues with injury, pain, or fatigue.
£10 per class, or any donation welcome
*Regular attendees will receive all the recordings even if they miss a class, and we are currently switching between 6pm and 5pm BST as is convenient for the majority of the attendees
These are ongoing classes, so the intention is for you to commit to attending on a regular basis: once a week is good, twice a week is better. Feldenkrais is about learning to learn; these are skills that you will develop over time with practice, and the benefits you will experience are also cumulative.
Potent Well-Being
Sensory Self-Awareness for Self-Healing
Wednesday Evenings
7–8.30 pm BST / 12–1.30 pm EDT
Online + Recording
£15 – or any donation welcome
These extended evening classes focus on my Feldenkrais-based self-healing strategies, and the recordings are intended to make it very easy for you to develop these skills for yourself. I am exploring the evening format with the intention of supporting better sleep as well as pain relief and self-calming. I do realise that those of you joining us for elsewhere at different times of day may not be looking for such a soporific experience!
*Please note that you can choose to join us for the first hour of the class only, as I am aware that may make joining the class regularly more manageable for you. The first hour of the class is an adapted Awareness Through Movement lesson, and after a short refreshment break we continue with a general discussion of any aspects of Inner Voice that interest us as a group.
Dr Stephen Porges PolyVagal Theory provides an explanation for the efficacy of breath and voice practises at a neurological and evolutionary level. Our nervous system is focussed on our safety, and our sense of safety is fundamental to our sense of wellness. The vagus nerve manages both our older reptilian stress management circuits and our newer mammalian circuits, and we can use the management of our to soothe ourselves, increase our sense of safety, and shift our nervous system into our rest-and-recuperation mode – the neurological state that switches on our self-healing mechanisms, and helps to promote our physical and mental resilience.
Every time we inhale we briefly stimulate our sympathetic state-of-readiness (known as our fight-or-flight mode), and then, as we exhale again we shift back into our rest-and-recuperate mode – so all we need to do to soothe our nervous system is to exhale for a little longer than we inhale – it is that simple. This is I am sure the reason why there is so much evidence that singing is proven to be good for the health. When you examine the evidence you quickly discover that it is all based on research into communal singing, but once you understand Porges theories then you can easily see how to use these practices in a way that is effective even when you are singing while home alone.
BOOKING IS BY EMAIL – as it is for all my classes, courses and workshops!
Contact Details Here – if you want to reserve your place on this, or any of my online workshops. Please note that you can always let me know that you are interested in a particular workshop or course, and then confirm with me closer to the time, once you are certain.
Daily Immersive Classes
Monthly Courses–a class a day for five days
Effortless Shoulders & Hands
Our hands enable all the ways that we interact with the world, and with the people we love
– this workshop is about improving both the sensitivities and the abilities of our hands, and the whole self connections of our hands and our arms.
April 7th – 11th
Online – Recordings & Notes included
Times: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday: 2–3.30pm BST ~ 9–10.30am EDT ~ 6–7.30am PDT
Wednesday: 12–1.30pm BST ~ 7–8.30am EDT ~ 4–5.30am PDT
£100 (suggested fee, or any donation welcome)
This daily class series will focus on freeing, and then re-integrating our hands, arms and shoulder girdle with our whole self, with a focus on ease in our neck, and a better, more dynamic whole-self organisation built on the foundation of our natural and effortless inner core stability. Our hands are so used to working hard all day that we are often more aware of effort in our shoulder girdle, so naturally this course will focus on this whole complex structure, from finger tips to collar bones.
We will also be exploring the potential for improving motor awareness in our hands, building a clearer sense of our hands as a sensory detection system. We will…
Mobilise our hands…
…by exploring ways to integrate the whole shoulder girdle into the skeleton in motion
Sensitise our hands…
…boosting our sensory awareness by fine-tuning the way we use touch, and…
Energise our hands…
…using awareness practices adapted from classic Qi Gong forms
Our Hands Are A Powerful Way To Access New Learning…
We are still in the early days of understanding just how important “neuroplasticity” [our brain’s capacity for life-long learning] is when it comes to our ongoing well being, but what is well understood is that our hands are two of the most densely connected structures within our brain.
Hands are so influential because they are not just the structures we use to manipulate our world, but also the structures we use for so much of our sensing of our world. In this model of the sensory-motor nervous system the eyes, ears, lips, and feet are also very significant – if you make a 3D representation of this “somatosensory homunculus” you get an unattractive little ‘man’ with big eyes, a big mouth, big ears, big feet and truly enormous hands – and as you can see in the picture above, there are subtle differences between the two brain maps with movement having an even more dramatic effect of the brain’s image of our hands than our sensory capacity. Article and course description continues here…
These are very practical courses and you will receive notes and supporting materials to help you maintain the improvements you gain from your immersive Awareness Through Movement experience.
Why Come Along To An Immersive Class?
I am keen to make the benefits of regular lessons available to as many people as possible, so once a month I teach a week-long course of daily classes on a particular theme, and in the Summer I teach two Summer Schools, one with a general theme and one with a vocal theme.
You do not need to be able to make it to every class in order to sign up for my immersive daily courses – if you miss a particular session you will have the opportunity to catch up before the next one, as you will receive your recordings and any extra materials I am providing each day as we go along. This means you are welcome to simply join us whenever you are free throughout the week.
You are also welcome to sign up to receive the Course recordings and extras even if you are not able to join us live at all. I am scheduling intermittent Q&A sessions on Zoom in different time slots, with the intention of giving more people access to the individual attention which I am keen to include as an essential element of all my online teaching. Please note I am always happy to respond to individual voice-message questions on WhatsApp. Please do get in touch with me if you would like to chat about any of my classes, or to make a booking.
Potent Voice Sunday Workshops…
Vocal Strengh & Stamina
Improving your vocal health can also improve your general health – come and find out how!
April 13th
Online + Recordings & Notes
NOTE LATER TIME!*
5pm – 8pm BST ~ 1pm – 4pm EDT ~ 10am – 1pm PDT
£45 (suggested fee, or any donation welcome)
More information soon…
This class will focus on how you can use your natural breathing co-ordination to develop clarity, power and sustain in your singing or speaking voice. Many popular singers use a lot of ‘free breath’ in the voice and rely totally on their microphone technique for volume control. Free breath in your voice can cause dryness and discomfort in your throat, and develop into inefficient and damaging speaking and singing habits.
Once you understand the relationship between your breath and your vocal quality, power will come naturally and easily whenever you need it. Next we will explore how to adjust your laryngeal muscles in order to maintain a healthy and happy singing or speaking voice – with the added benefit of increasing your pitch range.
We will then go on to explore how to coordinate this way of ‘opening the throat’ with the kind of internal muscle control that gives you direct access to easy and flexible volume control.
The fee includes recordings and notes to make it easy for you to continue practising at home, and to minimise the need for note taking during the class.
*I am trying out a different time slot to see if it suits more people on either side of the Atlantic!
People my Potent Voice workshops are beneficial for:
Singers, presenters, performers, and anyone interested in the voice, and any aspect of self-expression
Anyone dealing with chronic stress issues, or breathing problems/conditions
Anyone dealing with chronic tension in the face, tongue, jaw, neck, and throat
Anyone interested in meditation, chanting, and neural self-regulation
Anyone who feels that emotional inhibition is limiting their capacity for self-expression and self-assertion.
Please do contact me with any questions you may have, and note that BOOKING IS BY EMAIL, so you can contact me via this link if you want to reserve your place for any of my online events.
You are also always welcome to sign up for the recordings and notes of any course should you be unable to join us live.
…All online sessions include recordings and notes. For more details click here for workshops, and here for regular classes…
More upcoming dates for your diary…
Unleash Your Potent Voice – Daily Immersive Course: June 9th-13th
Ease, Power, Stamina & Resonance
Summer 10-Day Immersive Course
A Deep Dive Into Your Senses
August 11th–15th & 18th–22nd
Individual Vocal Training Sessions
Rather than lower my standard rate for one-to-one sessions online, which is £70 for a 75 minute session, I am offering one-to-one online sessions as “suggested fee or donation”, for the time being. The extra time is necessary for discussion and feedback. I can accept payments via BACS, and, if that is inconvenient for any reason, PayPal.
Functional Self-Integration Lessons
For anyone who cannot travel and for whom home-visits are too expensive you might like to consider individual online sessions – I am very happy to chat with you to see if we can work effectively this way.
*Suggested-fee-or-donation rate applies.
Many years ago I recorded a short lesson about breathing – here is a link to this lesson in the archive on the Feldenkrais UK Guild website – enjoy!