Free of pain for nearly 10 years now is a wonderful gift.
My story of training with Andrea – so far.
It has been a pleasure for me to have Andrea as a special part of my life for the last ten years, during which time I have had weekly training sessions with her. I have found Andrea to be a delightful mix of being very professional, talented, and always studying and learning more, while also being very warm hearted and friendly.
What I have appreciated so much in these one on one sessions with Andrea is the instruction, guidance, inspiration, and feedback, that I have received so consistently from her, and that she is observing me in ways I could never observe myself. So there are always refinements that can be made in the exercises she is teaching me, and this goes even further, as it has spontaneously allowed me to observe my habitual patterns, both physically and emotionally. So I have found this process to be invaluable, and to have a depth beyond what I thought possible. Also Andrea has always been willing to listen to me and respect me and my body’s unique needs. I have never felt pressured to do anything that was not right for me personally, while always being encouraged to move beyond my limits.
I decided early on that I did not want to waste Andrea’s time or mine. So I have taken these sessions seriously, and then practiced consistently by myself six out of seven days a week, hardly ever missing. I like to do these exercises first thing in the morning, before I have eaten or anything else in the day has interfered. I practice for an hour a day, and use this as a very nurturing time for myself, my health and my body, often with pleasant music playing and in a warm room. I also practice Yoga, and do these exercises also during this hour each day, but whatever I am doing I am always using what I have been taught by Andrea, particularly regarding breathing and posture as just a few examples.
I have a couple of breaks from my sessions with Andrea during the year when I am away on holidays, but I always keep practicing all the exercises every day then, and I am always very happy to return to training with Andrea again, very much enjoying her excellent help and good company.
My full time profession, for over thirty years now, is as a masseuse and Polarity Therapy and Cranio sacral bodywork practitioner, and I have taught many classes myself. I have witnessed over and over again how much these hands on the body treatments help individuals, when they cooperate by helping themselves, and how much people suffer needlessly by not helping and taking care of themselves. So I have seen what an effective combination it is to have bodywork, and also to exercise, eat nutritionally, and live a life that reduces stress and magnifies happiness and love as much as possible.
I have said so many times to those I have treated or taught, “ You can sell your house, you can sell your car, but you only have one body for your whole life time, so it is most important to take care of it“ So I have definitely wanted to take my own advice, and training with Andrea has been a most important and fruitful part of this process.
To add to my story, ever since I was a little girl I have tended to tilt my neck to the right. I can even see this in a school class photograph when I was six years old. So after many years of this,
I developed severe neck pain. I never want to return to that. Even at night lying in bed I would have to meditate for a long time so that the pain would subside enough to let me sleep. In my waking hours the pain was always there, and I often felt as if mineral water were being poured down my right arm, the tingling and discomfort was so obvious. In daily life simple activities, like tearing two paper towels apart, for example, was horribly painful. I tried many treatments, but the effects were very short lasting.
I was very much helped eventually by my brilliant Cranio sacral teacher, but I knew that I had to have an essential way of maintaining this very much needed relief and healing. This is where my training with Andrea has been such a life saver, so necessary and very important. And this definitely gives a clue as to why I am so grateful for her presence in my life, and why I am so committed to practicing regularly what she has taught me. Some people tell me that I am very disciplined. Well this may be partly true, but I am mostly highly motivated to do what has helped me so much, particularly in not returning to that horrible nerve and neck pain that had so totally dominated my life. To have been free of this for nearly ten years now is a wonderful gift. I take care of my neck in many simple ways, but this ongoing exercise program that Andrea has given me is fundamental to my health, happiness and wellbeing.
And of course I do what I do now, not just as recovery and maintenance, which it certainly is, but as the very full enjoyment of caring for my body and really my whole being altogether.
Jan - August 2019
Side note update 27.4.21 - Jan’s last session was March 2020 and then the pandemic hit. She chose not to use Zoom and we had our first face-to-face session last week mid April 2021 after 13 months. It was amazing re-connecting and checking in - Jan is back on track and still doing her routine consistently . . . now with some new tweaks and corrections. She continues to do her work as a massage therapist and ride her bike.
