I’d been at this for too many years to think much of these conversations, as a mother of three little ones.  I did NOT want to spend any more of my time, money, or mental energy on this. Just let me lay in peace with my heat pack, moving only when beckoned by family duties, and I’ll just cross my fingers that someday I won’t be walking around wearing this mask of pain, as one physiotherapist had called it. I had been at this for 8 years. After my first child was born something in my lower back and hips went weird, scans hadn’t showed anything of significance. I was told to seek out my own therapy and find what worked for me. From Osteopaths to Chiropractors to cortisone shots and yoga classes, I had not found what worked for me. Finally I was handed a pain killer prescription. This did not fly with me. And thankfully with my friend either.

When I finally went and saw Ian, walking into the gym was terrible for my nerves (he later taught me nerve flossing). It’s amazing in there, so inspiring what these extreme athletes are doing. While he was busy shouting out orders from across the gym to the super fit clients, throwing looks at people telling them they were doing something wrong or why hadn’t they been in in a while, cracking a joke and laughing loudly, he finally saw my pathetic stride and hollered me over. He is like no other. I don’t even quite remember what he did with me in those first days except that he had exercises and techniques I had never before seen, a lot of “try this”, “try that”, “how did that feel”… hours spent one on one, and sometimes while he was again shouting at others, but he was thinking, he was sorting some algorithm out regarding my injured weirdness in his magical brain. And he did it. He had me relaxed (eventually) and rolling, strengthening, and stretching in techniques I had never been privy too. He treated my pain carefully, individually, and thoughtfully.