Client Success Stories
Real Results from the Alexander Technique
“I had been having chronic shoulder pain. A combination of therapies, including Alexander Technique helped immensely. Cathy’s skillful work focused my awareness of movement habits and inefficiencies that were causing the pain. Cathy has a gentle and soothing manner that encourages confidence and healing. I trust her to provide the care that will benefit me the most.”
— Vicki Bourns, Program Manager
“Alexander Technique works! I have been suffering from chronic back and neck pain for years. I was researching on the internet different remedies for relief when I came across the Alexander Technique. Taking lessons from Cathy has made a huge impact in helping me to feel better. AT has given me the skills to learn how I can use my body more freely, release tension, and inhibit the use of poor body mechanics. It has made me more in tune with how I carry myself throughout the day and has helped reduce my pain substantially. I would recommend lessons to anyone! Cathy is fantastic! She has definitely helped change my life for the better.”
— Stephanie Bisping, Project Manager University of Utah Department of PediatricsI first met Cathy Pollock about 10 years ago. At that time I was suffering from severe back pain and did not want to go to the doctor because I did not want to have surgery. I work as a surgical researcher and am well aware of invasive back surgery is. A co-worker told me about something called “Alexander Technique”. She did not know what it was, just that the claim was it could help “bad” backs. With nothing to lose I called Cathy. She had a special running on 5 sessions so I signed up. We spent the first session sitting and standing in “monkey”. Very strange but, after just a few sessions I noticed I felt better and carried myself better for at least a little while after each lesson. After a year of weekly lessons my mother remarked that the way I carried myself was very beautiful. But best of all, my back pain was greatly diminished. Recently I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, ankylosing spondylitis. This was what was causing my lower back pain. In spite of this condition, my posture is very good, my forward flexion is better than average, and I ride horses several times a week. Most people who know me are completely unaware I have a “bad back” and I attribute this to the work with Cathy.
I am a life-long rider. Over the past 3 years I have become very serious about riding dressage. I own 3 Lusitano horses, take lessons twice a week and travel to Portugal twice a year to study Classical Dressage with the top riders in Portugal. Alexander Technique has been a major part of my riding; because to ride well, one must be able to sit in perfect alignment while the horse is in motion and allow the horse to move. This cannot be achieved through muscle strength; it must be achieved through alignment. Through my awareness of “use” I can respond appropriately to a situation and instruction and help the horse rather than interfere with the horse. We have a saying in horsemanship “The horse you lead is the horse you ride”. I would add to that, “your posture on the ground is your posture in the saddle”. So many riders are not advancing because of their lack of understanding of their own use”. I see riders who are not aware of their habits struggling week after week with their horses, while not addressing the real issue which is incorrect “use”. I really believe A.T. will result in real riding breakthroughs for most riders.”
— Misti Seppi, Equestrian“I was seeking help after neck surgeries that left me unable to feel normal. I had tried many therapies but needed more so I did a workshop with Cathy and a course of sessions and learned new ways of moving and thinking of my body which really helped me develop new habits that are helping me find betterment. She is a wonderful qualified guide in wellness. Gratitude for our time working together.”
— Jan Tice“I am a violist with The Utah Symphony. I have studied the Alexander Technique with Cathy Pollock for many years, and it has been an invaluable experience. I believe that the Alexander Technique saved my career, enhanced my enjoyment of playing the viola and performing with the Utah Symphony, and changed the way I approach all other activities in my life. Cathy’s teaching of the Technique is intuitive; she teaches the student how to be free in the technique more than she teaches the technique to the student. In other words, she honors each student’s different needs and doesn’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Like many people, I came to Alexander Technique because I was in severe pain. After nearly a decade of playing professionally, I had developed a repetitive strain injury. I knew that I was going to have to make changes in my viola playing, but I didn’t have any idea where to start. In addition to physical therapy, I began Alexander Technique lessons. Cathy quickly sized me up and I began making changes in my playing right away. As I learned more about physiology, alignment, and my own movement habits, my viola playing became freer, easy, and pain free. I felt at ease in long orchestra rehearsals where once I would have been fatigued and achy.
I believe that every musician and music student should experience the Alexander Technique. I believe that it can complement and enhance what any private instrumental/vocal teacher teaches about musical and physical freedom, and can fill in the gaps in some private instruction as well. I sincerely wished that I had learned the Technique while I was in college, and prevented some of the problems I was to later experience. On the other hand, I am so glad I experienced the playing problems that I did because it brought me to Alexander Technique.
The Alexander Technique has made my viola playing, professional life, and my private teaching much easier and more enjoyable. It has given me tools to adequately assess my own habits of tension, make corrections based on those assessments, and those of my students. I strongly believe that the Alexander Technique has a place in every music curriculum.”
— Julie Edwards, Violist, Utah Symphony“Cathy!! You rocked it with my lesson! I walk better, taller, sit stronger, lift weights more safely… all because you taught me something so simple!!!”
— Hannah Cord Baker, Model, Actor, Mom“I am a family physician. My spine courses about 40 degrees off plumb, and for all my teen years I wore a brace about my torso. By my late forties, I had accumulated injuries to my pelvis from bicycling. After a couple years of failed treatments for coccyx pain, I found Cathy. She and I worked together for about ten sessions, and through the treatment I felt as if I had passed backward from creaking senescence toward happy toddlerhood, and became more in touch with my everyday movements. Much of this has stuck with me despite over a decade having intervened. I would recommend The Alexander Technique, and Cathy’s practice to anyone whose chronic physical pains demand a thoughtful renovation of movement.”
— Dr. Jennifer Bell“I teach middle school music and had chronic tension in my shoulders, and headaches from stress. I was always tired and had to rest a lot. After having just a few Alexander lessons, I began to use my body so efficiently and easily that my headaches were gone and I was filled with energy. I used to go to the chiropractor every three weeks. Now I haven’t gone to him in two years. My body is pain-free! I love the way I feel! People always tell me I have the most graceful posture and they don’t realize it’s from the Alexander Technique. I cannot say enough about my lessons with Cathy Pollock. She is a complete professional with a very gentle touch and many wise words to lead the student down the path to wellness.”
— Beth Basham Music Teacher/Choir Director
“My time spent studying the Alexander Technique was delightful. Cathy is a patient and intuitive guide who is able to convey the science behind the Technique while infusing a sense of playfulness into the practice. As a physician, I believe the AT can alleviate many chronic problems that are generated by failing to use our bodies in a way that achieves a maximum mechanical advantage and fluidity. The lessons also facilitated my ability as a singer to express myself without undue muscle tension. I recommend her highly.”
— Kathie Allen, M.D."There are teachers, and then there are teachers with insight and the capability to inspire and open up the world; Cathy is in the latter category. She makes the A.T. so accessible and easy to apply to my life. Studying with Cathy has improved my own teaching; I have improved my communication, and hence my problem-solving skills with my voice and piano students. Understanding the A.T. in my own body better enables me to understand it in theirs. Cathy’s skills rank up there with the east and west coast big-city Alexander teachers and at a fraction of the cost!"
— Chari Whitney-Erickson Music Teacher Malamute lover, Sled dog musher“I live with Rheumatoid Arthritis and I’ve worked with Cathy for the last 16 years. She has helped me cope with recoveries from 5 arthritis-related surgeries over that time period. She has helped me to immediately find relief from muscle pain, headaches and has taught me how to move through my life with so much more ease physically. The work I’ve done with Cathy has literally changed my life.”
— Kait Kingston