Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Fenendael.
Hi Christina, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I discovered Rolfing® via my education as a classical dancer. One of my favorite composition teachers and choreographers, Danny Shapiro (of Shapiro & Smith Dance, I highly recommend checking out their work) once told me a story of a truly astounding transformation he experienced while going through a Rolfing® Ten Series as a young adult, and I was fascinated!
However, it was many years before I was in a position to be able to experience Rolfing® myself. I moved to the Bay Area, CA, a week after earning my B.F.A. in Dance from the University of MN in 2003 and initially worked at all sorts of dance jobs–teaching young children, giving private ballet lessons to adult beginners, doing choreography for theatre, and performing in small dance companies.
Soon it became evident that I needed more income, so I became a Certified Personal Trainer and worked first in several gyms, health clubs, and boutique fitness studios, then settled in at a high-level sports physical therapy clinic. There I honed my skills immensely through continual ongoing training and education.
I performed the job duties of an athletic trainer and physical therapy assistant and soon found my niches working with dancers, martial artists, yogis, climbers, and performers in general. I also specialized in helping patients return to safe, highly-personalized yoga practices after serious injuries or surgeries, with the ultimate goal of allowing them to return to group classes where appropriate (with the knowledge of how to modify poses for their own specific needs).
Around that time, I returned to dancing professionally, but in a much more lighthearted fashion in the entertainment industry.
Unfortunately, the clinic work took its toll after 5 years due to massive burnout (no employees ever received even a cost-of-living increase despite actively pursuing ever-increasing levels of expertise and education, for instance, and my hours were gradually whittled down so I lost my health insurance and benefits, forcing me to work through injuries, tragedies, and illnesses), so I quit and started doing freelance dance and training gigs full-time.
I had an absolute blast during this time, but was soon ready to get back to my habits of continuing education, so I enrolled in several hard science prereqs in order to eventually apply for Doctorate in Physical Therapy programs. I was a full-time student and working several jobs, but I got top grades in my Chemistry and Anat/Phys courses and enjoyed the discipline.
After some reflection, I realized that I didn’t WANT to be a physical therapist, despite the mutual respect between PTs and Rolfers® (and my own positive experiences helping people in the clinical setting), in part due to the disaster that is the US health insurance system (in my opinion).
I knew all along that I wanted to be a Rolfer® due to my own career-saving experiences with my own Ten Series a few years prior (I was struggling with major TMJ dysfunction that caused my jaw to lock or dislocate onstage during performances in a dinner theater, but Rolfing® intraoral work completely cleared up my issues).
So, I switched tracks and applied to the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute of Structural Integration and knew I’d finally found my “home.”
When I graduated, I then did additional education in Seattle to practice legally as a healthcare provider in WA state. The pandemic put my brand-new business more-or-less on hold, but I managed to keep practicing with family and friends until it was deemed safe to work with the public.
I did circus training in Mexico for 3 months about a year and a half ago and also operated as a practitioner-in-residence, which further deepened my understanding of working with high-level performers. I moved back to Minneapolis last fall and started over from scratch building a clientele. I’m excited to help people in my hometown after leaving 20 years ago!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being a full-time working artist made returning to school extremely challenging, especially in the Bay Area, where everyday survival usually had to take precedence.
But I lived extremely simply and saved where I could, took out a school loan, and was supported in part by loved ones when things got extremely rough. Then once I was fully trained and licensed to practice in Seattle, the city shut down due to COVID-19 and I was unable to work.
Once things were reopening, my then-partner and I moved from Seattle to Boulder, CO, and I gave up my rent-controlled apartment in Oakland, CA, that I had held onto out of nervousness while living in Seattle with him, at his insistence.
Unfortunately, he ended the relationship a month later, so I had to start over again, and wound up traveling quite a bit for about a year, offering Rolfing® to aerialists in Mexico, nomadic workers in AZ, CO, & MN, and ultimately landing back in Minneapolis to finally open my permanent practice in a stable, rented office.
Now, I’m just doing my best to find a community again here after 20 years away, and am reaching out to as many people as I think I can help as possible!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Rolfing® is a hands-on bodywork discipline that can create lasting, positive change for clients in terms of posture, pain-relief, efficiency of movement, body awareness, and athletic performance.
It works on the fascia and affects the central nervous system via receptors embedded in connective tissue, and also utilizes simple movement and “mapping” exercises to help allow clients to identify existing movement patterns and explore new options that may be more effective/efficient/comfortable.
While I happily work with people from all walks of life, I have special experience working with performers, and I have extra training in intraoral massage that can be especially helpful for people with histories of jaw, facial, head, or neck pain.
What matters most to you?
Helping people and doing good for the world!
I take the motto, “Do No Harm,” EXTREMELY seriously and my everyday existence as well as my professional life reflect this to the very best of my ability.
I’ve lived a charmed life despite the challenges I have been through, and for that I am grateful.
Nothing makes me happier than bringing positivity to the world, whether via relieving someone’s physical pain, making people smile and forget their troubles for a moment when I’m onstage, watching my wildflowers grow, finding homes for my foster kittens, or providing healthcare for the community cats that live behind my home (another of my current projects!).
Pricing:
- Rolfing® Ten Series Sessions, $150/75-90 mins
- Post-Ten-Series “Tune-up” Sessions: $150/75-90 mins
- Intraoral Massage Sessions: $150/60-75 mins
- Sliding-scale options available
Contact Info:
- Website: Kineticpotentialrolfing.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/kineticpotentialrolfing?igshid=NGExMmI2YTkyZg==
Image Credits
Tom Xa and Stu Polkinghorne
