Embody Friendship

Dominika Gaines, GYROTONIC® Master Trainer, recently came to town to teach an Apprenticeship Review for four blossoming teachers. She graciously agreed to stay at my condo, sleeping in my tiny windowless guest room. Over the week as she shared my home and my studio, I was reminded of the bonds that Gyrotonic creates among so many of us. 

Minneapolis weather put on a fine show for Dominika, acting a finer host than I could ever be. The leaves began to color at the very edges at the beginning of the week, then washing over some entire trees by the end. During her week in Minneapolis, Dominika was able to slow down, watching weddings in the park, people in love, kissing on benches. One evening after teaching, we hurried over to Guthrie Theatre's Endless Bridge to witness dusk falling over the Mill District and the Mississippi River. She reminded me of the beauty of this city, right in my own backyard. 

Gyrotonic brought Dominika and I together nearly 10 years ago, when she was my Foundation trainer. Over 12 days, she taught me how to touch with clarity and warmth. "Gentle, Susan! Touch people like you're touching your children." She taught me to honor not only my strength but my tenderness, too. Though she is much farther down the Gyrotonic path than I, embodying a wisdom of movement that is hard to match, we are now colleagues, business women and fellow studio owners.  

But just as important, we are women of this age and time, trying to balance our passions and our practical natures. In the mornings, we drank coffee, standing in our pajamas around the kitchen island talking about life in our 50s -- the best and worst of it -- the earthly and the sacred; skin and sleep, love and sex. The thread through it all is Gyrotonic, the method of movement that has made us travelers and hosts alike, bringing us to studios and sometimes homes all over the world, and bringing so many together in friendship.

It was raining when Dominika arrived back home in Phoenix today. Change is afoot. Fall is here and in the desert, too, though it's presence is far subtler. With friendship as our anchor, welcome to Fall. Welcome to Gyrotonic, the most graceful embodiment of change I can imagine.

Embody Youth

I heard Ruth’s voice first: a concise message in a clear unwavering voice, telling me why she was seeking training in the Gyrotonic method. She’d had two hip replacements, two knee replacements and some back surgery, she said, but was otherwise in good health. She’d been referred by her Certified Advanced Rolfer, Briah Anson. She also mentioned that she was 93 years old. She did not mention her age as a disability or an excuse, but simply stated as a fact. She set the stage for me to do the same.

Still, when Ruth first walked into my studio, I was concerned. She came with her driver and hobbled with a cane. She was bundled up against the Minnesota winter. There were so many layers to remove, boots to take off, that we barely made eye contact for five minutes. I led her over to a stool, ready to catch her if she fell. But, though she walked unevenly, her direction was clear, her pace energetic. When we sat to face each other in the middle of my light filled studio, our eyes finally met. Hers were sharp and sparkling blue. The life force in her was palpable. Her smile was quick.

Every session is an experiment, GYROTONIC® Master Trainer Juergen Bamberger, who has taught the Gyrotonic method for over 25 years, once said to me. Indeed, that is the only way to approach teaching and learning. I did not know what to expect with Ruth. I have never worked with anyone that age. In fact, I’m not sure I have ever held a conversation, certainly not a lucid one, with anyone that old. But Ruth set the stage from her first phone call. I treated her exactly as she showed up to my studio that day: full of vigor, intelligence, focus and determination.

I was in awe of her, and still am, each time she walks into the studio for her weekly sessions.

“You are amazing.”

She smiled politely.

“You don’t know that, do you?” I asked.

“Not really,” she said. “People tell me that I’m their role model, their mentor. But I feel quite ordinary.”

Each week, Ruth seems to grow younger, walking better. Ruth is 93. She is able to sit with more ease on the Tower bench, at one point demonstrating to me how easily she can now swing her leg over the Pulley Tower bench. Watch the video here.

93 is not cute or sweet or sad or anything else. Age is just a number. In Ruth’s case, the number of years she’s been on earth with such strength and light is remarkable. As my own mother, more than 10 years younger than Ruth, struggles with dementia, I hold onto Ruth as an example of aging with grace, courage, clarity and good health.

She plans on getting back on the golf course this spring. From the looks of it, she’s got a mighty swing.

Embody Goodbye

Marcelle, whom I wrote about in Embody Courage, passed away last week. She did so with grace, courage and even levity, the same way she showed up in my studio each week to gently move her body, loosen her joints and lift her spirits. I did not know her well or for very long, yet the moment she walked through my doors to learn the movements of Gyrotonic, she became as much my teacher as I was hers.

Her written words were little blessings and gentle goodbyes. “My plan is to be there,” she wrote in a text message about her session, “if not to work out, to see your smiley eyes and pretty face and to share in the wonder of your new space.” She did show up, one last time in May, and we sat in my new studio, bathed in the sunlight that poured through the garage doors. She sat on a little stool, gushing about how beautiful my space was. Love emanated from her emaciated body.

When I couldn’t make it to her birthday party, the last one she celebrated, because I was preparing to leave the country, she wrote: “Dear friend, I am so glad you took care of yourself! Finally, we’re learning to do that!” She went on to wish me a lovely trip to Italy with my daughter, “filled with all the joys and beauty. Trusting that the relationship with your daughter will grow to new intimacy. You have shown me what resilience is like. Thanks for the light that you are and I look forward to its continued brilliance in my life. Love to you. Happy trails. Marcelle.”

The point is not Gyrotonic, but compassion. Gyrotonic is a vehicle — a highly tuned vehicle at that — through which we can share universal healing energy. So when movement was no longer possible for Marcelle, we just sat together in the space of Embody Minneapolis and talked, her vitality shining over the entire studio. Where Gyrotonic ends, a great spirit continues. In the end, we are all energy. Gyrotonic is an excellent way to cultivate and share that healing energy that is available to us all.

Happy trails to you, Marcelle. I will miss you.