Testimonials

The earliest civilisations maintained their history, culture, and values through storytelling.

Tania Cotton and Keith Partridge came to me late in my career but allowed me to fill a dream and express the pride I experienced daily as a hospital administrator. The expression is perhaps overused but they are my “dream team”.

Even in this era of social networks and instantaneous access to data, storytelling remains the most powerful tool of communicating TRUE stories that reflect the values of people, companies, and our society.

It’s all because of emotions. Nothing touches deeper or is remembered longer than the true story of hope, despair, sacrifice, achievement, and joy. All the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster – the emotions I saw every day of ordinary occurrences that make a person, a service, a company, and yes…. a hospital, human.

I have known Tania and Keith since 2013 and their own lives are filled with experiences like I saw for over 35 years from nurses, doctors, scrub nurses, midwives, and all the many other professionals dedicated to health and human performance.

In the environment of a small teaching hospital that included tertiary services like 24-hour emergency care, open heart surgery, renal dialysis, sports medicine, joint replacements, oncology they captured patients from the onset of their medical problems and documented their fight to recovery to a normal life.  During each of these adventures of health and human performance we did not know the outcome. We did know that we had patients with strong wills; with proven achievements; with what they took merely as ordinary lives –  each and every life was unique.

From an idea to a storyboard to filming, production and editing Tania and Keith worked in tandem. One complementing the other to bring the message of hope to patients that were told they could no longer practice their favourite sport, continue their career, take care of their families.  Some patients and their families have even had to face death in the face of a debilitating illness or injury.

I like the term “everyday heroes”.  Every company has them. I had an abundance of them.

Showing others, immortalising our values on film in a true story was important for me as a small recognition to our hospital staff of devotion to patient care…and to patients. Thank you Tania & Keith!

Within our family, we have had many different and difficult health challenges over recent years.  The journey we have each been on as individuals has helped us find a ‘new normal’ as a whole family.  Working with Tania Cotton and her MovementWise team has enabled us to embrace the expertise that is out there.  We have been able not only to overcome specific health issues but also to work towards performance goals that have taught us how to combine moving correctly, eating healthily and enjoying the benefits of a work life balance.  Our health threats have been turned into performance opportunities and we feel as if life is not longer restricted by limitations but has now open up to a world of exciting possibilities.

“When you hear the words cancer you immediately associate it with death.”  This is exactly what I felt when I first heard Dr Kholic, our ‘cancer’ doctor, say those words…But I realise now that with the right help, you can recover from such an apparent, desperate situation.

When I met Tania Cotton and Dr. Finn Mahler, I had lost all hope. When I was told that I had a herniated disc, that meant to me – the end of sport, the end of my mountain exploits, the end of my passion! This was a very difficult moment for me because I believed I simply had to accept this and live with it. I was then shown how everything could change if I were to understand my body and my posture better. With Tania I had to relearn simple every day tasks such as walking, carrying my rucksack, running, climbing – in order that my body could move without being overloaded. I re-found hope. Today I have returned to all my mountain activities, freeride snowboarding, wingsuit flying – to a high level of performance and I do not have any pain any more. My herniated disc has been completely resorbed but the most magical outcome of this experience is that today I have a real connection with my body and I understand how I can progress with it.

French Original Version

Lorsque j’ai rencontré Tania Cotton et le Dr Finn Mahler j’avais perdu tout espoir. Lorsque l’on m’a annoncé que j’avais une hernie discale cela voulait dire pour moi finit le sport, finit la montagne donc finit ma passion ! Un moment très difficile car je pensais simplement devoir accepter et faire avec. Lorsque j’ai commencé à comprendre que tout pouvait changer grâce à une meilleure compréhension de ma posture et de mon corps. J’ai dû réapprendre avec Tania des choses simple de tous les jours tel que marcher, porter mon sac, courir, grimper afin que mon corps puisse travailler juste sans le surcharger, j’ai retrouvé espoir. Aujourd’hui j’ai repris toutes mes activités de montagne le snowboard freeride et la wingsuit au plus haut niveau et je n’ai plus jamais eu de douleur. Mon hernie c’est complètement résorbée mais le plus magique dans cette rencontre c’est qu’aujourd’hui j’ai une réelle connection avec mon corps et je le comprends mieux pour avancer avec lui.

I have spent most of my 30+ years of working and personal life engaged in outdoor activities. Although I did not realize it at the time this also entailed living with various niggles and injuries – the wear and tear of a life in the mountains.

In my early to mid-thirties recurring lower back pain threatened to stop my outdoor work and play – forever. This was a hard place to be physically and psychologically.

Working as a mountain guide was both my way of earning a living and my way of creating meaning in my life, it offered me, along with skiing and climbing, personal satisfaction, enjoyment and fulfilment.

I reached a point when I seemed to spend as much time injured as active.   When I sought medical advice I was told by a ‘medical expert’, that basically I should give up the outdoor activities I was doing. I was offered no hope, no way forward.  This was a particularly low point in my life – as these activities were an integral part of both my working life and my social life.

Someone suggested I see Tania Cotton. Within a few sessions I learnt how I could move in new ways that allowed my body to heal and improve. Tania’s attitude was very much “I am not going to do it for you. I am going to show you how you can get better by understanding and dealing with the cause of your pain and injuries. I will also introduce you to others who can also help you progress along your health and performance journey. We all need to work together. This requires full and active engagement from you”

Her intervention and advice and the advice of various experts she guided me towards added at least 15 years of active guiding, climbing and skiing to my life.

But the Story is not over yet.

Dr Finn Mahler

In January 2015 I had an awkward fall mainly due the lack of mobility in my well-worn hip joint. The result of my fall was a tear to the rotator cuff muscles of my shoulder. A poor diagnosis by a tired and overworked accident and emergency doctor led me to believe it was not serious and would repair itself.

Three sleepless months later, Tania Cotton had referred me to Dr. Finn Mahler. Ostensibly my appointment with him was to discuss treatment for my hip but very quickly he noticed my weird shoulder movements and within days I was on the operating table of Dr. Alexandre Läderman, probably one of the foremost shoulder surgeons in Switzerland if not Europe.

The real heart of the story is that I got access to the right people at the right time and in the right order and then they all worked together as a team. Modern medical treatment as I experienced it is an interdependent process. In addition to the multidisciplinary team of health experts, there is the patient’s commitment – they have to fully participate in the healing process.

Dr. Finn Mahler is a man who understands this need for an interdependent team to create the best possibilities for a positive outcome.   In this way he treated me not as an injury or a disease but as a whole person in the context of a real life. I was told honestly and openly what my options were. This allowed me to make informed decisions that were coordinated by him without delay.

Dr Alexandre Lädermann

I can safely say that Dr. Läderman saved my shoulder. If I had not had that operation at that time I would probably have lost the mobility and strength necessary for climbing, guiding and other outdoor sports that I love.

Moreover, if he had been a less skilled or less meticulous surgeon, I may have had an ‘average’ repair that would not have been up to the rigors of mountain guiding work and rock climbing. To this day I still remember Dr Laederman coming into the hospital room the day after the surgery and saying, “ I was able to do a BEAUTIFUL repair”.

I am still amazed at what I can do with this surgically repaired shoulder. His words of reassurance were important – they provided me with the essential encouragement that is necessary for the long hours of rehabilitation required to rebuild and rehabilitate after injury and surgery. Nine months after the operation I was back on the rock for the first time.

Dr Panayiotis Christofilopoulos

I was still suffering from a worn out hip joint. Decreasing mobility and pain were not only a threat to my agility but also to my cardiovascular fitness and overall health.

Dr. Panayiotis Christofilopoulos operated on my hip in a way that minimized the damage to muscle, allowing me to get back on my feet the same day and off crutches in a few weeks. Nevertheless I was conscious to let the repair have plenty of time to heal before I took myself in to the mountains again. Even though my hip movement felt solid and smooth I waited a full 6 months before putting on my skis for some easy skiing.

Tom Clark

Having access to professionals who understand not just your medical needs but your performance challenges is what can give you back your life.

Tom Clark was my physiotherapist, a movement specialist who understood the demands of my mountain activities. He was able to show me how to develop my movement and muscles in a way that would enable me to get back to performing my sports. He also prepared me to be able to do my job as a mountain guide. It is not just a simple case of the surgeon repairs you and away you go. The guidance of an expert like Tom is crucial.

Filming ‘My Story’ – a life changing experience…

Health is a journey – it’s a living, breathing story of life and its challenges: injury, illness, and the effect all these things have on a human life.   Health care is not a medical intervention or a 15-minute doctors appointment. There are effects at many levels, psychological, physical, and relational.

Tania Cotton and Keith Partridge followed my health journey through many of the key moments – before, during and after back pain, shoulder and hip surgery. They captured my story as I experienced it including many of the emotions that I felt. They showed my story in the context of the key players involved in my surgery and rehabilitation.

My only regret about the film is not to have been able to watch Dr Alexandre Laederman do his beautiful repair to my damaged shoulder. I believe this would have been so interesting and worthwhile for both others and myself. Seeing him work would have given an insight into what he really did to help me and what he can do to help others.  The film does not reflect how functionally disabled I was from my shoulder injury – so the impact of my ‘return to the rock’ climbing at the end of the film, is perhaps lost.

Watching Dr. Christofilopoulos sawing off the head of my femur and replacing it with some space age materials during surgery – shows people what wear and tear, ‘arthritis’ really is and how our body is made of moving parts that we need to look after.

The story shows the process of my rehabilitation that took place in the gym, in the pool, at home, on the rock face and on the ski slopes. Tania and Keith were there for all of that. How many film makers have the skills and determination necessary get to all these places at the right time?

I can vouch that the edited film does indeed capture the key elements of my medical adventure as I experienced it. Watching ‘my film’ really makes me appreciate how far I have come and has educated me on how I want to work with and look after my body now and in the future. It is a great experience to be able to look at an authentic version of the events as I experienced them and to be able to share these with others. My hope is that this will encourage other people to find the right team, make the right decisions and progress along their health journey in a way that enables them to live and enjoy life fully.

Robbie Fenlon

18 February 2017

Working with Tania and has given me an amazing gift, the power of knowing that no matter how impossible a challenge appears to be, if I just put my mind to it and keep going I can achieve it anyway.  I learned this during a very difficult physical challenge in the mountains but it forever changed the way I view my capabilities in all aspects of my life.  I am eternally grateful, thank you Tania.

French Original Version

Merci pour tes ‘methodes’, les + efficaces que j’ai connues en 15 ans!!!

Un grand merci pour m’avoir soutenue tout au long de ma carrière.  Au plaisir de se revoir bientôt!

Bien amicalement

English translation

Thank you for your ‘methods’, the most effective I experienced in 15 years!!!

A big thank you for having supported me throughout my career.  It will be a pleasure to see you again.

Warm wishes

Having suffered from depression throughout most of my teenage years I had already learnt that staying active and keeping moving were super important as that was one of the only things that made me feel better. After 2 pretty serious injuries in the same year,  the ways in which I could stay active and keep moving had to change. And it was through working with Tania and her team at MovementWise that I was able to learn how to adapt and truly learn how to stay moving in the right ways. I look forward to continuing to work with Tania and to hopefully one day be fully recovered from my injuries!

I have been treated by Tania since 2004. I was introduced to her whilst I was on holiday in Chamonix. My left knee was deteriorating, fast. In 1992 I had a fall while rock climbing solo which resulted in a fracture/dislocation of my left knee. Added to that was a condition from birth on my left arm – I have only 30% use of it due to birthing complications. In 1992 I had had three operations to repair as best the damage to the knee.

In the intervening years I had been able to climb and mountaineer to a reasonable level but in 2005 it was giving me some concern. The left knee was beginning to just suddenly give way – not a good thing at any time. I had had an arthroscopy – it’s a bit like a clean-up and inspection of the knee joint. I knew that an artificial knee joint beckoned me with increasing certainty. So, I met with Tania. She was introduced to me as a physio – but a physio who had strong views on balance and posture. At the time I thought that posture was all about standing like a soldier on sentry duty. Tania, when I met her, was not like the other physios. Other physios had basically pulled and pushed the joint and given me some exercises.

Tania took a much more mechanical view of what was left of my body. She explained how a particular muscle group governed another part of the body and if you didn’t control it or stand or sit correctly then it would cause problems and pain. At this point I had been very lucky in not having any real pain. I have friends who have had proper pain from joints – the sort of pain that wakes you up during the middle of the night.

At this time as well I was carrying some excess weight, to say the least. The expansion of my corporate career had also expanded my waistline. In a very constructive manner Tania urged me to lose weight – excess weight only adds to the existing problem. But she was savvy enough to realise that modern life has its habits – but savvy enough again to tell me to make the choice for the best of my knee.

Tania showed me the real need to good posture and body carriage at all times. And it worked on me.

In 2006 I registered as a candidate for an International Mountain Leader – in France this is an Accompagnateur de Haute Montaigne. This involves a big logbook of over 40 mountain routes, two formal training programmes and two demanding formal assessments involving speed and navigation tests over high mountain terrain. It is usually a three year term.

Tania was a major reason why I passed both summer and winter IML assessments. I passed in just over 18 months from start to finish. She showed me how to position and carry my body to get the best results from what I had left of it – which was a fair amount in all fairness. After all, I still have four limbs.

It is now 2014 and I am still monitored by Tania, although with a bit less frequency – just to ensure that I am doing what I need to be doing to get the most out of my left leg and arm. Tania is a mixture of having a great knowledge of the subject; great pragmatism & practicality as to how best adapt your body to your sport or everyday life; and all with an engaging coaching style.

The fact that Tania had had a few injuries herself also lends itself to a great amount of sympathy – she knows the pain!!!

I live in London but travel to Tania in France – that is my mark on the excellence of her treatment, advice and coaching.

Tania asks Barrie, what are his three ‘take home messages’

1. What was the biggest difference you made to the quantity and quality of your 1. exercise habits  2. eating habits when you wanted to improve your performance and lose weight.

In terms of exercise I followed a plan with the least possible stress and weight on the left knee –  as proscribed and demonstrated by Tania Cotton. I consciously changed my posture and weight distribution. My own interpretation on quantity and quality of exercise was to ensure that I sweated a lot – that was the measure of the success of the training –  mainly on the bike or cross-trainer. I also placed greater emphasis on strengthening the quads and gluts. Change of eating habits centered on smaller portions and NO processed or manufactured foodstuffs such as hams, bacon etc. and more water. But I ate as many fresh vegetables as I wanted. I neither drink alcohol in any discernible quantity nor smoke tobacco – or indulge in recreational substances.

2. Before we met, what did you think about your ability to run (quality of movement, speed and efficiency).  Did you believe you could pass the timed orienteering part of the IML exam before you learnt to move efficiently? How did you manage to change your limiting beliefs?

My ability to run in any speed or efficiency was hampered by the physiological impact of my injury and but also the psychological one of not wanting to chance anything too much. And I didn’t believe I could pass a timed speed test  – but I did, in one of the fastest times ever recorded for the course, once I had ‘relearned’ how to move with economy and purpose.

3.. Do you remember any ‘light-bulb moments’ (things that made sense, things that you felt differently when doing a movement etc.) during the time we have worked together?

Yes, I do, very clearly. You were trying to show me how to run up and down a slope with economy and efficiency. You showed me several times and I could NOT get it nor emulate your demonstration. I was quite near to telling you that we should give it a rest for the day. It was also at a critical time in my preparation for the whole IML Assessment. I was still 15kgs overweight and not looking as though I was making progress. You told me to watch you closely – you repeated this several times, so I watched you closely –  I watched all of your movements of both upper and lower body. Then I tried it again as closely as I could – and it was the easiest I had run since BEFORE my climbing fall. It gave me great inspiration to believe that I could actually nail this award. It really was a turning point and I am still very grateful for it.

Tania is one of the best health experts I have ever met.  She has a sixth sense: her power to analyse an issue and identify the solution, together with her infectious belief that you can succeed, is quite extraordinary.  We live in a world of science, not miracles, but Tania’s science makes miracles happen.  She helped me to completely change my posture – turning a slouching, timid chrysalis into a tall, confident public speaker to audiences of 800, 1000, 1300….  Thank you Tania.

My weight loss challenge:

The combination of unhealthy eating (everything slow roasted on a timer to be ready whenever I arrived home from work) and middle age spread (what a taboo!) meant I grew and grew after my husband’s death.

The 2 things that shocked me were :

• A very close friend commenting “you have a pretty face” – and looking at the photos I could see I certainly had an awful body – and in fact a rather horrid fat face and several chins. We don’t really see it as a brief look in the mirror can be ignored.
• My annual walking trips to Chamonix : one year I could barely do up my walking shorts, the next I had to buy a new pair and the next year yet another pair. I do not think they make them any larger.

It was finally that pair of shorts that did it. I had been told about the possibility of having my meals delivered. So I ordered them and started eating differently the first day back home.

I had never believed in “de-tox” but I do now. I felt awful for 3 weeks – terrible headaches and all sorts. But I stuck with it. Then the scales started to give gentle encouragement. The meals service was very supportive – ensuring I liked the food, felt it was enough and not to worry if, after the initial burst, the weight fell more slowly.

The first big breakthrough was 10 weeks later : for the first time in years, when clothes shopping (in Amsterdam) I fitted regular sizes. I found a fabulous and flattering outfit. My cousin and my good friend, I believe, were genuinely encouraging that this was a great step forward – and that I looked so much better.

So what of the food? I am a terribly fussy breakfast eater – so I do my own (fruit, full fat Greek yoghurt and ground seeds). As I got into the eating I found I didn’t want to eat as much – so reduced from a whole banana to 2/3rds of one (plus some soft fruit). One key feature has been being prepared to throw away food – so if I feel I have eaten enough breakfast I bin the remainder.

The delivered food arrives overnight everyday (but I can cancel at 2 days’ notice). I receive a lovely salad for lunch, dinner that takes 4 minutes in a microwave plus 2 snacks which vary hugely from a non-dairy chocolate mousse on many Mondays to gorgeous banana muffins, poached pears, raw fruit with nuts, savoury dips with raw vegetables etc.

The food company also support you as you learn HOW to eat differently, so I can now happily cater for myself when away from home.

But what I have found is that my taste and the cravings of my body, have changed. My “sweet tooth” is hugely reduced. And if I holiday somewhere without a lot of fresh fruit, salad and vegetables, my body really does crave it.

In restaurants (and I eat out a lot) I do not yearn for the red meat, big Savoyarde cheese dish (“oh no!”), so my mind is catching onto what my body wants.

For my lifestyle, the delivery of meals is a godsend: I have yummy food within minutes of arriving home, have no waste, do not have to eat broccoli for 10 days to get through the one head bought in the supermarket etc.

What has been difficult? Well, I’ll answer a different question: (not difficult in fact) the only thing I have given up eating are chips – and I find I have no feeling of loss; but it really helps me in a restaurant when it means I’ll ask for a vegetable or salad. I also do not join the office “birthday cake” rota (no good at cooking and not wanting to eat them!)

And I do not buy cheese (except for dinner guests). That would be my “grazing” downfall.

What I have not given up is partying and alcohol.

What has been reinforcing? Sending huge clothes to the charity shop. And then sending “saved” “bigger” clothes (in case I put the weight back on) to the charity shop.

• Being “happy” to wear swimsuits and shorts
• Seeing photos!
• Buying clothes – fitting “normal” clothes and having a choice.

But most of all…

I keep a log of all my ski touring and summer walks. And in the summer there is one “daily” walk (my “outdoor” gym). So the height gain and path are identical. I used to take 45 to50 minutes, but that rose to 55 minutes. And then, a year later it was 42, 40, 39… and now it’s 35 or 36 minutes. That was transforming in terms of my mental appreciation of the whole issue. I was not fitter (quite the reverse) so the speed was purely down to not lugging so much weight. And the visual of having ditched massively more than heaviest rucksack we ever carry, ski touring.

So, nowadays, although I still have my meals delivered, the reality is that I eat (a lot) and am away from home around 160 days a year. So, in fact, I only eat the delivered meals on, perhaps, 30% of days.

And the mountain guides I ski tour with comment that I am now faster.

And my rowing ergometer 1 hour distance in 2012 was more than before 2008.

The threats? Sharing a household without “healthy” food.

My weight loss statistics:

8.2009             97kg

8.2010             78kg

8.2011             73kg

8.2012             76kg

Now                74kg

1979                74kg (Rowing Blue at Cambridge University age 21)

I am 60 years old.  I am Executive Coach working with clients in business and other large organisations in both the public and private sector.  I had a successful corporate career for 30 years working as an HR Director.  For 50 years of my life I enjoyed very good health but in my fifties I had an early diagnosis of breast cancer (DCIS). This was treated by a lumpectomy and radiotherapy. Four years later I had a second occurrence where a small tumour was detected in the same breast. I had a mastectomy, reconstruction, chemotherapy and over a year of Herceptin. The reconstruction was a DIEP flap which utilises tissues from the abdomen. This was successful but I was in a stooped position for sometime after surgery.

I have always had poor posture and have worked on this with various physios and yoga teachers throughout my life.

I met Tania when I was recovering from a freak accident where I had a complex compound fracture in my right leg. I was non-weight bearing for 6 weeks and partial weight bearing for a further 6 weeks. My shoulders really bore the weight on crutches and this did not help my posture at all.

My previous physiotherapy sessions had often been limited to 30 minutes and were always confined to a treatment room.

During my first session, Tania spent some time exploring the key drivers for my poor posture and movement habits: tall for my generation; working at a desk for extended periods and using a computer; stooping to feel part of the group; leaning in to talk or listen to the client during one on one coaching sessions rather than opening up and sitting upright, but relaxed. Nobody had taken the time to really understand the underlying causes of my bad postural habits before. I had a shared session with my sister in law who is also very tall and she needed to become aware of her poor movement habits so that she could improve the way she delivers speeches in front of large audiences. It was so informative for us to share a double appointment, as it was easier to see and understand problems and pick up tips watching someone else transform poor movement habits to more efficient ones that looked so much more fluent and elegant. I could also see how much younger she looked when she moved well and she had so much more ‘presence’!

In my second session Tania came to my home. We went to the shops together so that she could see how I walked outside. I met a friend of mine on the way and she noticed how my newly acquired tall, relaxed body collapsed as I shrunk down a size and leaned forward towards him to engage with him. When Tania took a photo of me in this position, I could not believe how awful it looked – it was not how I had imagined it in my head.

Changing posture and movement habits of course takes time. But after two sessions with Tania of quality time I have been able to radically improve the way I hold myself and move. I do have the occasional lapse but because we have spent time together, and in different environments, I soon remind myself of the basic principles of getting into a better position – setting myself up to succeed and moving in a more efficient way. Tania also looked at how my partner moved when doing the cooking and DIY – learning how small changes will make a big difference to him has really helped him understand the importance of my postural cues too.   He has seen the striking difference between my old bad habits and the new posture and movement patterns that put less stress and strain on my body. When I adopt these new postures I feel less tired over time and we can now remind each other without feeling as if we are nagging.

A huge and unexpected benefit of improving the way I sit, stand and move, is that my friends think I look younger and slimmer – if only they knew my secret!

“Working with Tania has helped me re-connect to my body in an entirely new way, that showed me how unaware I had been of my posture and movements. Her passion and care are part of the remedy, as she joyfully refuels our hopes and determination towards a life of ease and well-being, free of pain. Tania is the best guide possible on this beautiful journey, which for me goes way beyond the physical, to a whole new practice of embodiment, and ultimately, a deeper understanding of what it means to be a human being.”

Dear Tania & Keith,

The screening of the film was a wonderful success! It brought tears of joy to the teachers and parents who were at the premiere. Simply put it was a terrific evening.

I hope you share my pride in what we have created. Congratulations!

Jay