Meet Carrie Collins of Stretch Chi in Loop

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carrie Collins.

Carrie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
When I was in my mid-20s, I was working full time as a professional pianist in San Francisco and my body was suffering. I was in so much pain and had so many imbalances that I couldn’t raise my arms over my head for long enough to blow dry my hair. I even had to hold my arm up to brush my teeth. I couldn’t turn my head to check the blind spot in my car. I had TMJ and was getting severe headaches on a regular basis. As a 20 year old, I felt like I was 50 – it was no way to live.

I started searching for options to help fix my pain. Physical therapy, yoga, Pilates, Alexander Technique, Feldenkreis and deep tissue massage didn’t help – some made it even worse. I tried everything, even having my chakras aligned and having my past lives read. I was desperate.

One day in 2003, I came across an article about how TMJ could be caused by tightness in the quadriceps. While that didn’t make sense, I knew my quads were tight. In fact, I’d never been flexible anywhere in my body. Around the same time, I found a classified posting on craigslist for someone who stretched people. His ad talked about lining up your skeleton through stretching and strengthening your muscles – I knew that was exactly what I needed. So, I took a risk and made an appointment.

I gave the address to my boyfriend and told him to call me in 15 minutes to be sure I wasn’t walking into a serial killer’s home. Bjorn Holtan, now a good friend, stretched me on his dining room table in his studio apartment in the Mission District in San Francisco. I noticed a drastic change after the first session. Within two months, people were commenting on how much my body had changed. The pain was completely gone. I could touch my toes for the first time since birth. I didn’t expect it, but I suddenly had muscle tone too – abs even! And all I was doing was laying on a table for 90 minutes while he pushed and pulled me around! My headaches went away and I felt younger and more free than I had since I was a child. It was amazing and I was hooked.

I moved to Chicago after working with him for only 4 months, but I always kept an eye on what was happening in the Ki-Hara Resistance Stretching world. I decided to get certified in 2007 just for my own knowledge, but ended up with a full client base. I opened a studio in Lincoln Square in 2008 and became the first exclusively Ki-Hara studio in the world. I loved helping people get out of pain and sharing this knowledge of Ki-Hara with others, so I shifted careers from music to stretching people full time.

In the past decade, it’s been quite an adventure. During my training, my mentors stretched Dara Torres (5 time Olympic Swimmer) and we watched her take home a handful of medals in Beijing at 41 years old. I also taught workshops, retreats and certification courses that has taken me to 11 U.S. States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, England, Mexico and Italy.

In 2015, I closed my studio in Lincoln Square and moved my studio to the Fine Arts Building in Chicago’s Cultural Mile. The Fine Arts Building constantly buzzes with musicians, artists and dancers. I’ve always loved it and always wanted to have a studio there. In my studio now, I teach group Ki-Hara classes, private sessions and teacher trainings.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Yes and No. Running a business is a constant struggle, and even harder when no one knows what it is that you’re doing. I’m constantly changing and growing, the economy goes up and down, clients come and go. I’ve traveled to teach Ki-Hara and had to balance being away with having a brick and mortar studio. I’ve had other trainers working for me and decided that it’s better on my own. Financially, it’s been up and down in such drastic waves that it’s hard to plan for anything. At the same time, I know that that work I do helps others in such a powerful way that I don’t regret it for a second.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Stretch Chi – what should we know?
My business, Stretch Chi, specializes in Ki-Hara Resistance Stretching. Ki-Hara approaches the muscles in a totally different way than most flexibility training in that we stretch the muscles with resistance. When muscles stretch against a force, they become stronger, more stable, more active and most importantly elastic. I don’t know of any other training method that creates elasticity in the muscles – the ability to shorten and lengthen proportionally. This gives my clients more stability in their body, movement that is functional and safe. This method works for everyone from children to the elderly, from professional athletes to those in chronic pain. Ki-Hara Resistance Stretching isn’t a fad, it isn’t a quick fix workout, it doesn’t make you sweat more, it doesn’t give you rock hard muscles; Ki-Hara teaches your brain to communicate with your muscles. It resets neuromuscular patterns that come from compensation. It stretches your muscles from the belly of the muscle instead of the tendons and breaks apart dense tissue, and sometimes even scar tissue. To me, Ki-Hara is a full body reset. It makes my clients feel younger, with a spring in their step.

Our biggest comparison is probably yoga, but there are many differences between Ki-Hara and Yoga. A client of mine described it this way, “In yoga you’re working with the coffin of your body. With Ki-Hara you open the coffin.” We are able to fix the walls that people seem to hit in their yoga training (or other areas). We often say that Ki-Hara makes everything you do better.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Faith and purpose – not from a religious standpoint so much – but faith in myself and my goals. The ability to trust myself – to trust my gut. I have made some really crazy decisions in the course of my career. Luckily I started as a musician, which is clearly not a stable 9-5 job with benefits and paid vacation and water coolers and holiday parties. Opening Stretch Chi was a huge leap and I’ve had to take a lot of risks. I always think of Kurt Vonnegut’s quote, “We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” It’s possible that most of my success has come from taking a deep breath, jumping off very tall cliffs and having a little more time to develop my wings before hitting the ground. Sometimes it’s terrifying. I’ve sacrificed a lot of things that most people wouldn’t sacrifice. Family, relationships, financial security, etc. To me, my purpose in this world is different – it’s to facilitate people to find the courage to be their best selves. Often that starts by removing muscular tension and retraining the brain to feel safe in movement. People trapped in their bodies can’t make positive change in the world. I’ve seen so many clients and students come out of their shells – that’s real success. I know that as long as I trust myself and my purpose, I will continue to be successful.

Pricing:

• Group Classes $5-10 depending on packages
• Private Sessions $125-200 depending on packages

Contact Info:

• Address: 410 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 841
• Website: www.StretchChi.com
• Phone: 773-800-0244
• Email: carrie@stretchchi.com
• Instagram: clcollins78
• Facebook: KiHaraChicago
• Twitter: StretchChi
• Yelp: stretch-chi-chicago