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Personal Details

Valerie Wycoff

Phone:: 021 295 3979
Email:: valerie@valeriewycoff.com
Website:: https://www.bodyvoicealive.nz/about-valerie/

I'm committed to life long learning, and whole hearted living, and enjoy teaching Nonviolent Communication as well as Feldenkrais. My own problems with neck and spinal tension, and performance anxiety are what led me to discover Feldenkrais as a way of unfreezing my body, moving more easily, and being more comfortable in the world. My clients so far have ranged from teenagers to nonagenarians. A specialist area of my practice is Feldenkrais for performance - especially for singers, speakers and instrumental musicians. I have taught workshops for private music teachers and their students, for local orchestras, for the University of Canterbury, and Institute of Registered Music Teachers. My background is in performance in opera, plays and musical theatre. I have taught singing for 35 years and taught Movement for Performance at National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art for 12 years. I enjoy working with musicians and their instruments/voices for lessons to apply Feldenkrais to their musical performance. I work in person and online (zoom) for personalised Awareness Through Movement and also teach face to face in Christchurch. I invite you to phone me for a 15 min complimentary consultation to see if we're a fit for working together.

Individual Session Details

23 Joyce Crescent, Ilam, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
By appointment. Personalised session to help you with comfort and confidence in your daily work and play activities. If you use special equipment or instruments we can discuss venue to suit. (My studio has pianos you can use)

Our client testimonials

"Now I can mix concrete again by hand, despite an old back injury."

- Norman
"Feldenkrais has improved the way I walk and helped with knee problems."

- K.B.
"Gentle and reflective sessions over 6 months helped me to stop fighting against an injury I thought could only be fixed by an operation. In many respects I function better than I did before my injury and I am a lot more aware of my whole body too."

- Robert L
“I have had back problems for several years, and could find no permanent relief for the pain. I also more recently had a knee replacement operation, but this unfortunately accentuated my back problem. But after several sessions my improvement has been amazing.”

- Norma
“My chronic shoulder pain is less and my hunch is a little less, my spine straighter and balance better.”

- Kate
"Since attending Feldenkrais classes, I have learnt how to use my structure better. Consequently, my back is so much better and I haven't needed to go back to the physio."

- Eila
"What a revelation. For the first time in my life I felt strong in my core and pelvic floor."

- Susanne M.
"My back is very curved and I used to need to use three pillows to sleep. Now I only need one and I am straighter and taller.”

- Judith
I had chronic back pain, brought about by poor posture and long periods of sitting/working at a computer. Over a series of gentle lessons, my posture has improved and my back straightened. I no longer have chronic back pain.

- Sharon S
"Feldenkrais represents a revolution in human health."

- Smithsonian Magazine
"Having trust that your skeleton will hold you rather than you holding your skeleton."

- Michelle
"I have back muscles that ripple like a lynx."

- B. Wood
" I have found that Feldenkrais has been most beneficial for me in my recovery from a stroke. My whole body is freeing up, my breathing and my balance have improved, all of which help me regain my confidence in life."

- Ross M.
“The Feldenkrais Method has added a whole new dimension to my overall health -- physical, emotional and intellectual. Classes have really helped with a serious form of OOS that produced chronic migraine-like headaches.”

- Alan
“I have cerebral palsy and used to fall a lot, maybe four times a week. Now it is a year since I fell and I am learning to cook and draw.”

- Yewtze
"After a massive stroke, Tristan has made incredible progress. He’s now walking pretty effectively is almost independent in daily care, has a much larger vocabulary and new snippets of his old personality keep revealing themselves. All in all a much, much better prognosis than anyone expected!"

- Janine for Tristan
"[Feldenkrais] is not just pushing muscles around, but changing things in the brain itself so that the person can gradually adjust . . . to what we call a normal image . . ."

- Karl Pribham, MD, PhD, Neuroscientist
"Feldenkrais has helped me move and rest more easily and with greater comfort. Classes promote my sense of well being, challenge me to keep on learning and refining what I have learnt and best of all, they are a pleasure."

- Kerry
"I am stronger, more flexible, and can move efficiently with less effort. I feel more comfortable with my body.”

- Nomi
Feldenkrais has also enabled me to continue enjoying my favourite summertime recreational activity at an age where many others have retired owing to muscular and other physical conditions.”

- Alan
"I am in my 70s and have done some Feldy classes for a few years and went with my daughter-in-law to Chi Gong and she couldn’t do the movements but I could.”

- Gwenda
"I reckon rolling is one of the joys of life."

- Joanne
"As a swimmer, Feldenkrais has given me an awareness of how important the hips/pelvic area is in my sport as well as life in general. As a short person, after attending Feldenkrais lessons, I walk taller."

- Mary Garner
“The key and joy of Feldenkrais is the self help aspect and that you can do it anywhere any time without special equipment.”

- Lynn
"I can't say enough good things about the Feldenkrais Method. I believe it's made the difference between continuing my competitive running career and retiring prematurely."

- - Chris Boyd, U.S. track and field champion
I’m a tennis player and a few years ago my right shoulder got really sore. With Feldenkrais sessions, the tension that had been in my shoulder was dissipating and I could now truly relax it. Now I’m am a convert to the Feldenkrais method. And the best thing about it all? Now I’m serving harder than ever.

- M. Turner
“The Feldenkrais exercises are ingenious and simple”

- Yehudi Menuhin, Concert Violinist
She has become a speed crawler.

- Kylie (mother of child with downs syndrome)
"Aiden has made huge progress since doing Feldenkrais. He is now jumping just like his sister."

- Kate (mother of child with global developmental delay)
Every week I see my child transform. Feldenkrais has facilitated a new life for my son."

- Diana (mother of child with downs syndrome)
"Her pain is pretty much gone. She doesn't complain any more. She is so much more coordinated together in her ordinary movements and in swimming."

- Patrick
I realised that there was something enormous taking shape in the Feldenkrais lessons. There would be a shift. A change. Something new. It was amazing to see how my son's walking has progressed in just 3 months time.

- Karen (mother of child with cerebral palsy)