Learning Neat Secrets and Life Tricks – A session with Jules Paxton

I have been writing about health, beauty and fitness for over a decade. I don’t want to say that I have seen it all, but I have certainly done the rounds of the gyms and personal trainers.

A session with Jules was interesting because the teaching was so unexpected. I kind of recognized the odd bit from yoga but I loved the way he de-yoga-d it, if that makes any sense. The teaching he gave me was, at first, almost too easy. He showed me, quite quickly, how to ‘align’ myself. And so far so good, I thought. There was no pain, no deep forward bends, no breathlessness (and no chanting).

And I really thought that yes, this was good but ‘is that it’? Can it really be this simple? Granted I only had a short session with Jules but where was the pain? The pain, of course, was outside in my life, along with the stress, the anxiety and all the countless neurotic thoughts and fears that seem to more or less dominate my waking consciousness.

And when Jules asked me at the beginning of the session if I had any problems I said ‘Yes. The usual media coffee-fuelled state of heightened neurotic misery’.

But I took his technique away with me and Jules’ recommendation that every time I felt swamped by all my self-doubting and self-hating or fearful thoughts (like why don’t I earn enough, why don’t I own two houses, why do I look so old) I should simply stop, take stock, pull back and practice the alignment or conscious movement exercises he taught me.

“I feel like I’ve learned an essential life trick”
And that’s what I did. Whenever I felt the depression or stress or fear coming on I pulled back (and at work I nipped out into the corridor) and aligned myself according to Jules’ teaching. It only took a few minutes. Sometimes just seconds. And how did I feel? Taller, calmer, quieter,
more focused and confident.

So now I feel like I’ve learned an essential life trick. And I use it all the time. At work. Home. Even in my yoga class where I feel that I know this amazing secret that breathes new life into my practice.

“You come to Jules with a problem - he gives you the fix.”
And there was something about Jules that made me lift my game. Something about the way he inhabited his own body, the strength he seemed to project. And also his compassion, enthusiasm and positivity. I think he’s an interesting healer and trainer, I’d like to go and see him again,
with a list of wishes...stronger lower back, younger looking skin, how to do perfect handstands...he told me that's how he likes to work. You come to Jules with a problem - he gives you the fix.

- Tony Marcus

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