The Wellbeing Centre is hosting a morning of demonstrations and discussion called 'Freedom from Back, Neck, and Shoulder Pain', 10:30-12:00 on Saturday, 9th November. I will be sharing the Lotte Berk Technique as a means of prevention! Join us if you can...

Esther's new book! It is very Harry Potter - alongside the text there are films for each section! Created for Apple iPads and laptops.....find it on :
http://store.blurb.co.uk/ebooks/442332-the-tilt-technique

a lovely comment from France...

Well, another beautiful autumn day here in West Berkshire!  I have just had a great class and am feeling good!

A comment has come from France and it has inspired me to write this post:

Hello! it is great you are back. Good to read your comments. Write a book or make a dvd with Esther so that finally we know what is the authentic Lotte Berk. I live in France and probably will never be able to attend your class, you know... 

Thank you for your warm welcome.  It is always lovely to hear from people who read the blog! I think it is a great idea and have mentioned it to Esther but in the meanwhile....

If you would like to see Lotte Berk in action you can purchase a copy of a truly original recording Lotte made in 1982 from the website of her daughter, Esther Fairfax: 
                                                  www.lotte-berk.com. 

Also, Esther is currently working with her son on a project.  It is a series of 50 short films documenting the technique and its history.  It incorporates the subtle changes and refinements that Esther has made to the technique over the past 49 years yet maintains Lotte's wonderful lexicon of movement.  I am looking forward to it!  

And if a book might interest you instead ... I am writing an encyclopaedia documenting all the exercises so they are not lost. I hope to have it finished in the New Year! 

Hopefully that will give enough of a flavour of the authentic Lotte Berk Technique....

If not, Esther is still training ... maybe you could  pop over and see for yourself! 

x

When I feel strong I can do anything!

So I have the training, lots of experience and now I am busy figuring out how to start my own business.  Such a different type of work than I am used to!  There are so many great resources available now. I am so thankful for the internet...but why is it so hard to make a website look how you would like it to look? It has taken me two weeks and still it is not there.... but it will be ... I even splashed out on the dot com web address!  

I have also been designing publicity leaflets and writing articles for the local press.  It is such fun to harness so many different skills into the service of Lotte Berk - and a real challenge.  

Every day after school my boys come home and ask, "Did you have any students today?"  On the playground as I wait for my youngest to come out of school the other mums ask, "How many in class today?" It is not a big number...I'll be honest.  But I have students (!) and knowing how well these exercises work and how fun the classes are I trust that students will come.  

As I start to spread the word about Lotte Berk and my classes I have been thinking a lot about my responsibility towards women and girls.  I really do not want to be another person jumping on the bandwagon about how women's bodies should look.  I do not want any woman to feel like they are not good enough or that they need to change to be lovely, to be loved.  What I would like to share is that when we feel strong and when we look after our bodies we are more confident, more free and live a richer life because we are not limited by our bodies as much.  I love that Esther still has a spring in her step at 79 years old.  I love that I feel strong in myself.  When I feel strong I can do anything! 

I think that is what I like best about the classes.  They are for everyone.  It doesn't matter what size you are, Lotte Berk will strengthen your muscles.  Lotte Berk will lift your posture so you stand taller.  Lotte Berk will work every area of your body, like a tune up so that your muscles and joints, organs and skeleton are all protected and work as well as they can. I like that.  

Classes!

Oh, and if you fancy attending my classes, they are at
St George's Hall
206 Andover Road
Newbury, RG14 6NU

Classes are Mondays and Wednesdays 9:15-10:15 am
£10/session

Please book in advance...and wear tights or leggings

You can contact me, as always, at lotteberkoriginal@gmail.com

Long lost blogger......

Hello!!!!!!!

Apologies.  I know I have been quiet. It has been a real time of change and growth for me and I have dropped off the radar a bit...but now I am back!

I realise I left you on a cliffhanger... So to pick up where I left off and fill you in on what I have been up to, well...

After my observed session teaching my 'guinea pig' I passed my diploma with flying colours!   Even though I have been at Esther's studio since 2006, teaching my own classes in 2007-2008, generally assisting with classes and training new teachers and have even taught one-to-ones with private clients it really meant something to me to finally get my official diploma...but it was scary!  Esther was dressed beautifully in her professional clothes (no leotard!) and sat stoically with her notebook watching as I put the lovely Lydia* through her paces. When we finished Lydia said I was the best student teacher she had had (she has been a guinea pig quite a few times) and Esther showed me her notebook - she had no notes because I had done the class perfectly.  I was especially complemented on how I connected with Lydia and how I explained the movements. So...all those nerves for nothing!  That said, nerves are good - they kept me sharp and served me well.  Phew.  All those hours (years!) in class and all that time absorbing Esther's technique have paid off! It has been so good to study at the feet of a master and someone who knows the technique in such depth and has perfected it further over the last 49 years of teaching (!).  Thank you, Esther.

So now I am being really brave and overcoming lots of fears and have started my own classes.  I do not know why this past year I have been sort of stuck.  I feel like I have been a  caterpillar in a chrysalis and now, at long last, I am ready to spread my wings.  Some kind of transformation has taken place and I am now ready.  Even though I have been quiet on the blog, every week I have been in class at Esther's helping when needed, and not really sure where I fit in all this.  Where has the time gone?  I have been busy with my private life, with family, with singing, songwriting, art,  healing some things that have been broken ... and then suddenly I just knew I needed to start my own classes.  Now.

So I have!

At the moment it is a bit quiet.  I don't mind that.  I just remember Esther slinging her records over her shoulder, hopping on the back of her husband's motorcycle and driving to doctors' surgeries and village halls when she started and I know that the best things are earned.

I am going with the 'build it and they will come' philosophy with my classes. I am not slick and well marketed .. but I am accepting this, my authentic self, in keeping with the ethos of the original Lotte Berk, and her singular daughter, Esther:

                                                                    Be honest

                                                                    Be selfish

                                                                    Be yourself

          Watch this space!


* a pseudonym

Today in Class....

It felt like a perfect class today.  Maybe it was my new leotard but it just felt great and I am feeling stronger and stronger, especially in the stomach work (my weak spot). Esther is getting ready to push me out of the training nest.  I have my guinea pig next week and will teach her a full class, watched by Esther's eagle eye.  Then...off to start my own classes! Gulp!

I am not going to give you an exercise today.  Instead I ask that you hop over to the 'The Tilt!' page (in the sidebar at the left) and have a try at that crucial movement.  Happy tucking!

See you next week....I'll let you know how it goes!