Client Spotlight: Chia Yin Hsu
Our longtime client Chia Yin Hsu recently caught our eye as an inspiring success story. Over the years, Chia Yin has explored all of our movement offerings- Pilates and Gyrotonic®, privates, duos and trios, workshops, mat classes and barre.
Overall strength and flexibility, as well as treating chronic neck, shoulder and arm pain were our goals when Chia Yin started taking lessons with us. Classical Pilates served as a launching pad for Chia Yin into a new body awareness. Working on her shoulder issues, Gyrotonic proved most effective at healing the damage from years of computer work. As her body has come into balance we’ve seen her “sway back” posture transform into that of a dancer!
Recently we’ve noticed a huge leap forward in Chia Yin’s progress. We attribute some of that to the amount of time she has been spending on the Gyrotonic Archway and Ladder. For her, working in different planes of gravity has been great for challenging her body and creating new movement patterns. We’ve also seen her overall coordination improve exponentially, as different parts of her body connect to her new and healthy spine.
We love working with Chia Yin because of her openness and her communication about how the process is going for her. We enjoy teaching her anatomy and sophisticated ideas about movement, because she works hard to integrate the information and take it into her daily life.
Chia Yin says:
“I started at reFORM several years ago. Since then taking lessons here has been a continuously delightful experience of discovering how my body moves.
The studio offers a great mix of exercises for developing strength, flexibility, and balance, and teaches classes at a variety of skill levels. The intro classes were a real eye-opener for me, since I’ve not had any training in dance or yoga before. The more advanced sessions I’m in now are no less exciting and enjoyable, from mat and barre to gyro. I especially love gyro, maybe because at first it seemed very alien but also intriguing, and later it just seemed pretty natural, though this doesn’t mean I’ve mastered many gyro moves. What I find really impressive – whatever the format or level of the class – is the way my instructors have of gently and at the same time very effectively guiding me to doing something I didn’t think I would know how to do.
reFORM’s instructors are all wonderful. Each – Kelli, Teresa, Matt, Fanina, Lyra, for instance – have their own take on which aspect of the body to emphasize and how best to coach you to do a set of movements. Their takes are complementary, and add up to a very well-rounded approach. What also stands out for me is the reFORM instructors’ shared outlook in teaching through a gradual approach, one that is both attentive to your individual make-up and demanding. They lead you from doing something fairly simple and attainable, to something that, somehow, imperceptibly and sneakily, is quite challenging. And this is what is so delightful about coming here.
Since I’ve started coming to reFORM, I’ve become more convinced Pilates and all the related forms of fitness training reFORM offers is the way to go.”
Thanks, Chia Yin!