Page 12 - BusinessWest 2023 Healthcare Heroes

HEALTHCARE HEROES OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
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ne of Cindy Senk’s first experiences with yoga wasn’t a posi- tive one.
Her back was very painful on the right side. “The yoga teacher came up in my face and said, ‘you can do better, you can do better’” — but not in an encouraging way, she
recalled.
“It was almost hostile — this in-my-face attitude,” she went on. “I
was really taken aback by that. I felt like, you don’t know me; you don’t know my health history; you don’t know what I’m feeling. I wanted to say, ‘get out of my face,’ but I didn’t — I just stepped back, and I never went back to that yoga studio.”
The experience drove her when she launched her own fitness and training practice, Movement for All, 20 years ago.
“I decided I would never be that teacher. I would never put someone in that particular place,” Senk told BusinessWest. “My philosophy as a teacher is to educate and empower my students, my clients, to make the choices that feel right because they feel it in their body. They know how they feel.”
That philosophy has led her not only to success with Movement for All, but 40 years of successes with specific populations, like people
with arthritis, older individuals, and clients with cognitive challenges — because she understands that everyone, no matter their challenges, can thrive when they’re not treated in a cookie-cutter way.
Community Health Cindy Senk
Personal Trainer and Owner, Movement for All
Kelly Gilmore understands this. One of three clients who nominated Senk as a Healthcare Hero, Gilmore, a department chair at West Springfield High School, was hospitalized with a condition that diminished her mobility, stamina, and overall physical and mental state so severely that she couldn’t return to her teaching position.
“None of the numerous medical specialists that I continued to see regularly could offer a path toward improvement, beyond pain relief,” she wrote. “I set out to find a healthcare/ fitness professional that was committed to helping me restore my health, strength, and mobility. Cindy offered exactly that. She met me where I was and created a personalized plan to move me to where I needed to be. She empowered me to take charge of my healing, unlocking the power inside of me, one step at a time.”
“My philosophy as a teacher is to educate and empower my students, my clients, to make the choices
that feel right because they ” feel it in their body. They know how they feel.
She Inspires Others to Improve Their Mobility — and Quality of Life
By Joseph Bednar
Starting a yoga regimen sitting in a
chair, rather than on a mat on the floor,
Gilmore began, within the next few months, to move freely, climb stairs, and go on walks. “Most importantly, I was in charge of my classroom again, offering my students the energy and vitality they deserve from their teacher.”
That’s real impact on clients with real problems. Multiplied over four decades, it’s a collective impact on
Senk >> Continued on page H14
H12 2023
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