“I accidentally discovered Essentrics on PBS while keeping my mother-in-law company! Aging Backwards 1 came on and it caught my attention, as I was in chronic pain at the time.
I have now been teaching Essentrics for 5 years. Athletes through seniors, ranging in age from 14-80. Across the board I see dramatic changes in body awareness, flexibility, range of motion, strength, posture, and balance.
I had a bicycle accident in 2009, resulting in 3 surgeries and much physical therapy. Essentrics was the final key in helping me to rebalance my body and get me out of pain. It didn’t stop there. This practice has given me a strong, toned, and flexible body, one that I did not think possible for someone in her sixth decade of life. I knew what a gift Essentrics was for me, and I wanted to share this gift with others.
When my students tell me how much easier it was to climb the hills on their hike. How they noticed that they somehow “ditched their slouch!” How agile they felt when climbing over some rocks or that they no longer groan when getting out of a chair! How their shoulder, hip, knee, back or foot pain is now gone! In younger athletes I see their rounded shoulders open up, restoring full range of motion in shoulders and hips, giving them so much more power and speed!
My younger students are getting the message that “slow is hard”, and that we don’t have to work in pain to get stronger and more flexible. My older students are understanding that the old person shuffle, and the aches/pains that come with it are not part of “normal” aging, but rather when we use all 650 muscles in a balanced way we can reverse and or prevent stiffness/pain, move our bodies more freely, and live more actively!
“I didn’t know Essentrics existed until just five months ago but I am now a believer. The increase in my body awareness, flexibility and balance is amazing. One day, I suddenly realized my gait was different and I know the outcome of a recent slip on the ice would have been more negative without the strengthening work involved with this program. Also, as a mental health professional, I very much appreciate the degree of concentration and coordination involved in Essentrics and know it will provide long term benefit to my mental functioning. This is exactly the type of fitness program I was looking for! I cannot say enough about how impressive Donna Ginsberg is as an instructor. While I am expending mental energy focusing on coordination of movements for myself, she is offering individualized attention and instruction to a number of participants at the same time! Simultaneously she is demonstrating movement, and providing verbal cues and educational information, showing just why she is a Level IV instructor. I am so happy she has brought Essentrics to our area!”
–Crystal L.
As I continue growing my knowledge of human movement and function as an integrated whole – I also hope to recruit more instructors in my area to grow this amazing practice! I look forward to keep playing with the different techniques we use in this program and creating my own workouts and, in the next year, I would like to begin mentoring some of our level 1 & 2 instructors!”
-Donna Ginsberg
