Now more than ever we need to share these tools and techniques with young people, especially girls. When societal expectations encourage our girls to make themselves smaller to fit in and be accepted, we need to show them how to stand tall and own their space. We need to help them to feel at home in their bodies, to feel confident in who they are. We need to guide them towards finding quiet strength. Only when we allow this shift to happen can we move closer to a more gender equal society.
Abi Wright – Alexander Teacher and Founder of She Stands and co-founder of Festival of The Girl.
I learned a lot from working with Judith Kleinman. She was able to locate in me a stillness and equilibrium I didn’t know I had, and that has stood me in good stead for all the vicissitudes of work and domestic life.
Nick Hornby – Author
Our work together has brought me awareness of the space within the
body and the space outside the body, each side or part of the body
being as important as any other – so being front and back aware,
visualising the sides of the body, and being aware of the top of the head
downwards and the soles of the feet upwards. A whole body.
This has lead on to observing the breath, how it creates movement
within the body beyond the lungs, its interaction with other organs, and
the connection between the inner body and the space outside the body.
A connected body.
Patrick Voullaire
The Alexander Technique has taught me over the years that the very first, and by no means easy task is to notice what’s going on inside the body/mind rather than rushing to change anything. This is a profound principle, which counteracts the rather ferocious demand to change our age old bad habits.
As a psychotherapist I get excited every time patients discover for themselves that being able to pay attention to unhelpful patterns is already a sign of change. Alexander technique and psychoanalysis have in common that both make us aware of our embodied self in its spatial and temporal dimensions, which connects us to our fellow humans and the world around. In other words moving and being moved physically and emotionally starts from a place of stillness.
So this is also a grateful testimony to Judith Kleinmann, my Alexander teacher of many years, who has taught me – in more than one way – to ‘sit well’ with myself and my patients.
Lotte Bredt – MBACP Counsellor/Psychotherapist
‘Finding Quiet Strength’ is a portal into that state of consciousness that allows us to find presence, a unified field of attention that takes in ourselves and the world around us. So much of the time we are narrowed in our thinking, locked inside our own habitual perceptions, unable to change though we do our best to concentrate hard, try to get things right, please others and strive busily and ineffectively. We have forgotten the golden rule to stop, to raise our head to the sky, to allow our eyes to see and breathe in the beauty of the world around us that sustains us, to sense the ground under our feet, our very existence stemming from and dependent on this living blue jewel, hurtling through the cold stars. Finding Quiet Strength we can be reunited with the rapture of living, connecting in a profound way to the Earth and all that is in it. We are of the planet, the planet is in us.
Penny O’Connor – Author Alexander Technique for Actors A Practical Course
Finding quiet strength is a capability within us all, however, what is important is learning how to access it, and even more importantly practice it, so these skills are available to us all the time, especially when we need it the most.
In life we often think we have it all planned out, on some level we take comfort in thinking we know what’s going to happen. At least, we think we know and then something else happens instead. Finding quiet strength is what we all need to be able to journey through our lives. We may not know what’s going to happen in life but with this approach, we can know we’ll find the strength to face whatever life throws at us.
Knowing I was already several years into learning and practicing the skills to find the quiet strength that Judith embodies and has shared with us through this book was of immense comfort to me as I faced my toughest challenge to date. In 2020, I had brain surgery to remove a tumour and needed to recover physically, mentally and emotionally from the trauma. Developing these skills literally saved me – I don’t know how I would have recovered without knowing these practices.
I’ve come to learn the hard way that a prerequisite for finding quiet strength is to know you are enough as you are. It’s from that place of deep acceptance that you will find the quiet strength within you. If this doesn’t come naturally to you (and let’s be honest, you are most definitely not alone with that), you can use the practices that Judith has described to find the place where you can feel safe enough, to build your resilience, to find your strength so that you can deal with anything that life throws at you.
The wonderful advantage of the practices in Judith’s book which help you to find your quiet strength, is that they are immediately accessible and practical…you can practice them any place, anywhere and at anytime. As soon as you can notice that you don’t feel comfortable, or are perhaps dealing with a difficult situation (or anticipating one) you can practice any of the strategies immediately and without it being obvious to anyone else! It’s like packing a rucksack with your own personal life survival kit!
Sarah Oliver – Alexander Teacher and Cornille Science of Motion Practitioner
Working with Judith has helped me profoundly to discover afresh the essence of what this work is about. Her use and choice of language is refreshingly clear, encouraging and illuminating. I am feeling a greater sense of confidence and pleasure in communicating principles and instructions, with a heightened awareness, understanding and appreciation of the nervous system in myself and others. I find the term ‘Primary Freedom’ very inspiring.
Diedre Crean – Alexander Teacher
‘In my work as a solo violinist, chamber musician and teacher internationally for over 3 decades, I’ve found good body use to be centrally important. Being aware of breathing, finding balance, ease and quiet inner strength, especially at very demanding times such as live broadcasts, is invaluable. This can enable the music to have free expression and being a channel for it in the moment of performance. Judith Kleinman is a marvellous teacher and exponent of this through the Alexander Technique.’
Madeleine Louise Mitchell – Violin Soloist
Working with Judith and her team has been a transformative experience for the students at the London School of Musical Theatre. The postural improvements and tangible benefits to their wellbeing are both evident and encouraging. The students derive enjoyment from the learning which is applicable to all aspects of their progress as students of the arts. As a trusted teacher of Alexander Technique Judith provides a simple yet comprehensive daily toolkit for life.
Susan Raasay – Head of Drama at LSMT
Sport is full of opportunities to give ourselves more time and space, to think in activity and to think in stillness. We could, for example, utilise a moment of space before taking a penalty to consciously quieten our thoughts, check our breathing and stay in control of our nerves. We could also think ‘on-the-go’ by encouraging muscular and mental release during a long bike ride, or allow ourselves a split second of body awareness in the middle of a tennis rally. No matter what the situation is, the benefits are multiple and they all lead to easier movement, greater coordination and an inner calmness that can’t fail to improve performance.
Andy Smith – Alexander Teacher, RunSMART Practitioner
I’ve noticed that when I ignore my nervous system being on high alert, I feel totally overwhelmed, anxious and more likely to have irritable or confrontational outbursts. When I’m feeling overwhelmed like this, connecting into the ground and actually seeing the room around me calms my nervous system and makes me more available to then connect in a calmer (and more reasonable!) way with others.
Felicity Matthews – Viola player at ROH and Alexander Teacher
I love Judith’s work. The drawings, words and thoughts are just lovely – their message is as calming as it is bursting with positive ideas. Easy to dip into yet rewarding to read, there are some great tools for life in this book.
Arabella Weir – Actor Comedian and Writer
I first met Judith Kleinman at school when we were 11. It seemed already decided that I would be an artist and she a musician. Although at A level she took her art exam early and got top marks of course! Her natural facility and fluid figurative lines express movement in the body but also the feelings inside. Some drawings feature unusual and unexpected balancing acts absorbed by quiet strength. Sometimes funny and at times autobiographical but always positive with a message of well-being.
Michelle Franklin – Artist
We must realise that the only life we have begins within ourselves. That the ripples we see far out — of ocean levels rising, and plastics floating and the havoc of ever more violent storms — aren’t something separate from us, but emanate from the way we choose to be with and within our own tissues.
The AT is a way of coming to know this not only in our hearts and minds, but in our bones. Of embodying the recognition that a sustainable and benevolent way of being within our world begins with a sustainable and benevolent way of being with ourselves, not just when we formally “practice”, perform or “get it together”, but through the banal or graceful unfolding of our every-day.
Anna Goldbeck-Wood – Alexander and Yoga teacher