I had a few areas of pain when I started; low back chronic pain, shoulder pain lingering from an injury and frozen shoulder, and over use injury in both hands. I wanted to start a strength and balance exercise program to complement my hiking. I had tried a few times with online classes and ended up injuring myself, especially trying to hip hinge with weights. I had my initial consult with Esther, in which she said that I could avoid injury because the method is gentle and gradual. She also made a great match with my Elements teacher. Sigrun Franzen was a perfect fit for me as my "posture coach." She listened and acknowledged my issues, while carefully assessing me as I began to learn the basics of the Gokhale method. She also told me about her own transformative experience. I felt encouraged and supported. I trusted that I could learn a new way of moving in my daily life as we carefully and gradually moved through the lessons. Her experience as a hand specialist was particularly helpful to me with my hand/wrist/forearm injuries. When I explained about how I had tried online classes before, and injured myself, she encouraged me to go slowly, back off if anything was at all uncomfortable, and to "show and tell her" what was going on so we could problem solve it together. I was very pleased with how much improvement I started experiencing early on and continued to do so thorougout our lessons. I also really appreciated that we put together a plan for me going forward. This was very important as I do not want to lose what I have gained, and want to continue my improvement journey. I am extremely grateful for this course and for my teacher.
