Finding Quiet Strength: Emotional Intelligence, Embodied Awareness,

Finding Quiet Strength (FQS) is a practical philosophy that connects to both ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience. Judith's work enables a calm, confident, and coordinated approach to life, helping us to be centred, grounded and develop a sense of poise and equilibrium. At some point, most of us need help with the challenges of life. FQS is a practice of being present in a way that develops our emotional intelligence and embodied awareness enabling us to navigate the many ups and downs of being human. This beautifully illustrated book helps us to develop a deep and gentle self-acceptance. Through this self-acceptance, FQS helps us work on an embodied resilience and become more aware of what we can let go of and change. A core element of this work is inspired by F.M. Alexander's principles of inhibition and direction, stopping, thinking and connecting. With practice, we can take a moment to pause and consider how we might be limiting ourselves and begin to notice the interconnection of our mindset with our bodies. Often the patterns of worrying and anxiety that we embody can be below our conscious radar and can start to limit the joy, peace and ease which we find when we feel in charge of ourselves. Finding Quiet Strength integrates Alexander's discoveries with Chi Kung and Tai Chi. These ancient traditions help us recognise the signals of threat that trigger old patterns of defence and fear and restore us to a sense of being centred and to regain conscious control. FQS works on the relationship between thinking in stillness and thinking in activity to find a sense of wholeness in whatever we do so we can feel at home with ourselves in all situations and our lives can become more joyful. Finding Quiet Strength practices develop: * Understanding of the interconnectedness of the mind, body and emotions. * Sensory awareness, with an emphasis on an appreciation of the somatic sense of the body in stillness and movement. * Through an exploration of balance, the connection between breathing, embodiment and the environment. * An understanding of how to listen to our nervous systems to recognise the signals of threat and safety. * A deep understanding of what it is to think clearly, breathe well and move easily. * Being able to be present with what we are doing while we are doing it.

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword 4 Who this book is for 9 Introduction and welcome 11 Calm: The embodied mind 19 Confidence: Structure and breath 41 Coordinated movement: The embodied sense of movement and ease 87 Curiosity: Integrating our senses 123 Creativity and purpose: Empowering our energy 147 Courage and conclusion: A quiet revolution 155

About the Author :
Judith Kleinman AGSM MSTAT Judith originally trained as a musician at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, going on to be a member of English National Opera and performed with LSO, London Classical Players and at the National Theatre. The mind-body connection involved in practising and performing music fascinated her. To explore this connection more deeply, Judith trained to be an Alexander Technique teacher with Patrick Macdonald and Shoshanna Kaminitz, qualifying in 1989, then went on to train to be a tai chi and yoga teacher in London. She is part of the Alexander team at the Royal College of Music and head of department at the Junior Royal Academy of Music. She is also co-head of training at LCATT, The London Centre for Alexander Technique and Training. Recently she has been a visiting teacher at the London School of Musical Theatre. For the last twenty years Judith has collaborated with Sue Merry to build connections between the worlds of Alexander and education and created a thoughtful training for AT teachers interested in working in that world. Judith has also written several books including The Alexander Technique for Musicians with Peter Buckoke (published by Bloomsbury, 2013), and more recently The Alexander Technique for Young Musicians with Fuensanta Zambrana and Peter Buckoke (2019), a reference book aimed at Key Stage 3 students. Further publications include Alexander in Secondary and Tertiary Education (2018), a book for teachers looking to integrate Alexander principles in their teaching. Judith developed Finding Quiet Strength to unite the influences of the various disciplines she works with. She regularly writes articles, gives workshops and talks in the UK, Europe and the USA, both to the wider public and the music and education worlds.

Review :
'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, 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 : '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 : '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 : 'This work 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. This work 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 us. 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 Kleinman, my 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 and psychotherapist