“CJ and Ellie are passionate educators
who teach with a conviction, and create an atmosphere of huge encouragement and communal support. This is a gift that extends well beyond the boundaries of the body or the walls of a gym. It is an attitude that permeates how to live well.”
“How are we to know what aging feels like? What is acceptable/reasonable discomfort? How many professionals does it take declaring what is “normal” before we relent? Feeling somewhat resigned with a sprinkling of self-disgust, I visited CJ Potter with these unanswered questions. With absolute confidence in possibility, he tackled binded mobility and began teaching me about connective tissue and skeletal health. From the very start I felt heard, respected, and deserving of the effort to heal.
Over twenty-five years of compensated movement due to overuse and uninformed training had been ingrained in my body. Bilateral knee replacement eliminated pain but also created unhealthy movement patterns of holding in fear. I walked into his office and CJ immediately looked at my full right side and simply nodded in knowing. Within several months of training, including steady KINSTRETCH classes and daily CARs routine I am stronger and hopeful for greater improvement. Increased range of motion in every joint capsule is changing balance, fluidity in my walking, and even allowing me to write with significantly decreased pain.
CJ and Ellie are passionate educators who teach KINSTRETCH with a conviction that challenges passive acceptance of the training. They push for –and insist upon- an understanding and ownership of the process. Further, they create an atmosphere of huge encouragement and communal support. This is a gift that extends well beyond the boundaries of the body or the walls of a gym. It is an attitude that permeates how to live well. Patient and relentless.
CJ is explicitly clear that this is a relationship based on a collaboration of trust. His remarkable intuition dictates how far and in what direction he guides movement, but he will not settle for less than my summit. So glad I bothered. So hopeful for what lies ahead. So grateful.”
—M.B.
“Over twenty-five years of compensated movement due to overuse and uninformed training had been ingrained in my body. Bilateral knee replacement eliminated pain but also created unhealthy movement patterns of holding in fear... Within several months of training, including steady KINSTRETCH classes and daily CARs routine, I am stronger and hopeful for greater improvement.”
“Beyond grateful for CJ working hard to help ‘slay my tissue dragons.’ With every stride I take, I’m so much more aware of everything working together. I don’t want to relive this year but I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
“Core to extremity: A concept that I have thought about a lot lately, and seems to be the theme for my year. Digging into my core values personally, and how that plays out in our bodies has been quite a journey. For the past 6 months, I’ve been working closely with Excelsior Bodywork to rehab an overuse injury in my ankle.
Analyzing my fascial structure and how life, training, injuries, gravity and stress has played a roll in creating compensations in my movement patterns. We focused a lot on my feet the first few weeks. I have wide feet and bunions. Years of dance, figure skates and shoving them in narrow shoes didn’t help. I’ve been wearing correct toes a couple hours a day to regain mobility and strength in my feet. It’s amazing the difference in 6 months in my toe spread! Looking “upstream” at my hips, trying to get full range of motion which would lead to a stronger, more powerful hip. I’ve spent a lot of time in the water this year. CJ worked on locked down tissue in my core through shoulders, so that my reach with each stroke was as mobile and efficient as possible. Each week as I applied the bodywork to my training, taught me something I’ll never forget. What lies at the core and foundation is everything. It’s what propels you forward or holds you back, because it extends into every extremity of your life. Beyond grateful for CJ working hard to help “slay my tissue dragons.” With every stride I take, I’m so much more aware of everything working together. I don’t want to relive this year but I wouldn’t change it for anything. There’s a whole lot of gratitude going on lately. #patient #relentless #gratitude #corevalues #coretoextremity #correcttoes #beautyfromashes #bodywork #fascialrelease #slayyourdragons”
— L. M.
“Like a mantra, CJ and his method are patient and relentless.”
Like a mantra, he often shares with athletes and clients alike; I have learned that both CJ and his method are patient and relentless. When I began working with him over a year ago, I was timid at best. I knew the work to change my patterns and terribly unhealthy tissue would require tremendous work for practitioner and client… Change is hard. Being open to it, as CJ often encourages, is important especially in this work.
I’ve released old patterns of holding my body, and allowed the changes to occur to me instead of resisting them. Beyond the marked changes I experience during the sessions, the visible differences I’ve noticed are as simple but crucial as my standing posture. Working on my feet the majority of my work week has enforced adaptations that do not support healthy tissue or structure. CJ has been paramount to changing that for me. Furthermore, I’ve learned to have a greater sense of awareness in how I carry my body in training, my migraines have lessened, I stand taller and through his cues I’ve simply learned how to move better in my life. Knowing that I can revisit these sessions over the years to maintain healthy tissue gives me great ease and confidence that this is the beginning of a new way to just be. Getting started is always the first and hardest step; wish I did it sooner, but grateful I did. ”
— S.L.