Uncovering the wonders of Gyrotonic

By RUTH WALKER
Published on Tuesday 14 February 2012 00:00

JOHN had been badly injured in a helicopter accident, leaving him struggling to walk and in constant pain. Every day was a hardship for this once active man.

Having spent thousands of pounds on chiropractors, osteopaths and physiotherapists and endured two unsuccessful operations on his back, he was growing increasingly frustrated when he eventually found his way to Gyrotonic as a last resort.

“He got complete relief," says Finlay Menzies, of Glasgow's The Movement Studio. “He is able to walk unimpeded and is really bouncing now. He's almost a different person."

Morag had been a runner, regularly competing in 10k races, until she slipped a disc and developed sciatica in both legs. It left her virtually crippled, bent over like a question mark and, like John, visits to the chiropractor and physio had failed to bring any relief. Now, after a year of Gyrotonic, she is doing something she never thought would have been possible: she has started to run again.

A miracle? Not entirely, says Menzies, but some of his clients might disagree.

The brainchild of Romanian ballet dancer Juliu Horvath, Gyrotonic is a system of exercise focusing on core strength, using a machine (otherwise known as the White Cloud) made up of a handcrafted wooden bench and a tower of pulleys, ropes and weights. It all resembles some kind of medieval torture implement rather than an instrument of healing. But, combining elements of swimming, yoga, tai chi, dance and pilates, it can provide relief for those with persistent, chronic back pain as well as other muscular skeletal problems such as frozen shoulder, sciatica and lumbago. It's also beneficial for those who have suffered a hernia or who have shoulder, neck and other problems associated with posture. Oh, and if you just want to improve your flexibility, have better coordination or develop the body of a ballerina, it's good for you too.

A one-time pro golfer and a regular on the ‘tartan tour', 41-year-old Menzies was introduced to Gyrotonic by his wife Kate, a former dancer with Scottish Ballet who had turned to the exercise herself after injury and then returned to dance stronger than ever. “I reached the stage where I just wasn't improving and I didn't understand why," he says. “Around the same time as I was reaching the end of my tether, I got an injury. Kate persuaded me to try Gyrotonic, and the effect was very powerful. It took my pain away and allowed me to go back to playing golf. In the last couple of years I played the best golf I'd played since I was 16."

The system of pulleys and weights means the body is always supported, while the exercises concentrate on stretching, lengthening the muscles and opening up all the joints. I'm a little sceptical, but Rhona Maclean, also a former ballet dancer, takes me through my paces at the Edinburgh Body Tonic studio in a session that leaves me surprisingly energised and at the same time relaxed. Each exercise flows into the other as my stiff joints obediently crack. Maclean is hands-on, guiding me into each position, but I am still required to do the work – this is no toning table exercise.

At one stage I’m sitting on the bench, pushing round the handles in wide arcs; in another I’m lying down, feet held in mid-air by the weighted pulleys, moving my legs in controlled circles and scissors. Maclean is enormously encouraging – she says I'm a natural – and communicates throughout, and I can almost picture myself as a lithe, graceful ballerina with endless limbs and swan-like neck. Almost.

“If you can imagine taking a really good yawn – a big stretch," says Menzies. “Adults don't usually do this very often any more, but children have much more time for it. They do it instinctively. Gyrotonic is like that feeling," he says. “And the strength that's required to make a yawn – it's not just a static stretch – that's the sort of exercise you're doing."

Maclean agrees. “That's a great way of describing it." And, indeed, at the end of the hour I feel thoroughly stretched and walking tall.

“You will feel narrower," says Menzies. "You'll feel the shape you should be. It's the feeling you would get if you were wearing a tight skirt." He adds hastily, “I'm a man, but I'm reliably told that's the feeling."

Not only will you feel stronger and more elegant, you could become slimmer as a result too. “You see people at gyms who work a lot on their abdominals on the understanding that they'll get thinner. What happens is that your abdominal muscles bunch and there's no thought given to your breathing. Very quickly with Gyrotonic you have a grace and an elegance. If you imagine a ballet dancer – they don't have that sharp, chiselled muscle you get from a gym. We're looking to lengthen the muscles."

More than that, however, he says it's about making the most of yourself; being the person you were supposed to be. “It's a well-being thing – becoming the shape and getting the posture you were designed to have." n

• The Movement Studio, 10 Claremont Terrace, Glasgow (0141-586 7199, www.themovementstudio.co.uk) – £180 for five sessions; Edinburgh Body Tonic, 15-19 York Place, Edinburgh (07810 234618, www.edinburghbodytonic.co.uk) – £400 for ten sessions

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