From passionate amateur golfers to lifelong skiers, avid gardeners to former ballerinas, read some client success stories and discover how Jacki is helping people of all ages and backgrounds stay active with the bodies they have now.
Lynn
Passionate Amateur Golfer, Discovering the HOW
Lynn was already a dedicated amateur golfer. Covid increased her passion; she took online golf and strength training lessons. Her instructors were clear on what she needed to improve but struggled to help her figure out how.
We worked together to discover how to keep her hip from kicking out on the upswing, how to shift weight across her feet, how to lengthen and twist her spine in the swing, how to keep her arms long across her body in the upswing, how to use her shoulder blades to drive the swing, how to coordinate her abs and pelvic floor in the swing, how to time her breath with the swing, how to release hidden tensions that interfered with pointing the club. And it continues.
Lynn attends weekly Zoom classes with occasional private chats. Over time, the pieces are falling together, and she is performing on the course better than she ever has. She continues to fine tune her approach by improving her pelvic floor awareness.
Gail
Skier Sidelined With Sciatica - Complementing and Completing PT Treatment
Since retiring, Gail enjoys sports daily: winter alpine skiing and summer kayaking. Gail is an elegant skier and a strong paddler. Until something snapped and she had pain shooting down her right leg. Skiing was out for the season.
The PT clinic diagnosed sciatica and prescribed exercises. However, as an experienced Awareness Through Movement student, Gail knew that she needed a more holistic approach to her recovery. She was concerned that the isolation stretches and strengthening recommendations were doing more harm than good because they were not engaging her whole body.
Through weekly, private sessions, Gail learned the how’s and why’s of the prescribed exercises, and the feeling of when she was moving safely. She learned how to twist her torso and roll her knee inward to relieve the tension on her piriformis, which seemed to be the root of the tension and pain. She practiced using her breath and pelvis to release her low back and activate her lower abs to eliminate unnecessary tension and to support her healing. She began working with her feet and ankles to help align her legs in her hip sockets, which also helps keep the pelvis and back aligned. All of this to use her entire body to support her torso, instead of just a few brave lower back muscles.
Gail has made significant strides in returning to her full abilities. And she is applying these new movement patterns to avoid future breakdowns.
Ronnie
Devoted Athlete Finally Releasing Long-Injured Shoulder - Walking a Straighter Line and Balancing Ski Turns
Ronnie has been skiing every winter day for decades. Many years ago, she injured her shoulder, resulting in that shoulder becoming tight, her arm unable to reach above her head, her torso twisted slightly so that she sidles a little when walking and has definite strong and weak side ski turns. She has tried many therapeutic approaches, finding some pain relief with acupuncture. But she wants to keep skiing well into her 80s, and is not content to just alleviate her pain.
As a lifelong learner, Ronnie had the mental and emotional strength to take on a new modality, Awareness Through Movement. She began her studies with a few private sessions to analyze how her injury has affected her overall body patterns.
I saw that Ronnie showed excellent side-to-side weight shifting - she is an expert skier - but she wasn’t as flexible rocking her pelvis forward and backward, a movement that keeps the spine staying supple and strong.
In her first lessons, she explored finding more arch in her spine. She practiced relaxing the stuck shoulder by exaggerating the hunching pattern, engaging the ribs on her stuck and looser sides, and connecting the shoulders to their opposite hips. Ronnie’s work is to keep softening the shoulder while building up the lower body support - that means her lower abs, her pelvic floor - and getting more flexibility in her spine. With her determination and body awareness, she should be getting in and out of kayaks this summer and rocking it on the slopes for as long as she wants.
Suzanne
Traveler, Sculptor Won’t Be Stopped By Early Onset Parkinson’s - Balance, Walking and Strength
Undaunted by the early onset of Parkinson’s, Suzanne refuses to let her body stop her from doing the things she loves: travel and art making. She takes regular online Awareness Through Movement lessons to continually re-tune her balance, walking, and coordination. She finds getting down on the floor and being guided to gradually build up movement patterns helps her find her feet and ability to move (more) at will.
Of course, there are days when the meds aren’t quite right, or she is too tired to participate, but she attends whenever possible as part of her personal treatment plan.