Jennifer Harmer enjoys giving people the tools they need for a healthy body free from pain and discomfort.
She danced professionally for many years, and could feel my body breaking down from the demands she was placing on it. She knew there had to be something out there to help her feel free and at ease in her body again. Jen began teaching Gyrotonic, and that work, paired with the Qigong, really enabled her to dance with ease for the last five years of her dancing career.
Synthesizing the sophistication of moving three-dimensionally on the Gyrotonic machine with the ease of movement and breath in Qigong made for a perfectly balanced pairing in my mind. A lot of the concepts used in Gyrotonic, the “Awakening of the Senses”, drumming the body, the spiraling, the lengthening and strengthening of the body with-in the same action, are rooted in the ancient movement system that is Qigong.
Jen started studying the martial art Bagua with an incredible teacher, Joseph Zeisky, and was really intrigued about the concept of ‘internal alchemy’. The more she learned about Eastern healing systems, the more she realized how movement is as much a daily part of life as eating and sleeping– it is not considered a separate entity in those cultures. Healthy movement is not just ‘working out’ or ‘breaking a sweat’ but it is about maintaining vitality, longevity, and a supple, strong body as we age.