Body Recall promises gain without pain By Andy McDonald   A lifetime of fitness.

To many that might sound like an arduous life of jogging, push-ups and sit-ups. Not so, says Dorothy Chrisman, founder of Body Recall.

Chrisman, a physical education instructor at Berea College, says she long subscribed to the conventional wisdom about exercise; to make gains, there had to be pain. That was until she created the Body Recall exercise regimen - a safe, gentle exercise program designed to increase range of movement, flexibility and enhance one's sense of health and well being.

It was 1978 when a fitness craze swept the nation. Jogging was in vogue, as were other rigorous exercise regimes that were development for younger bodies. But Chrisman says there was a need for a program that could serve the needs of older clients, and which could serve senior adults through their entire lifetime. Body Recall was the result - a sweat free, pain free program of simple movement and stretching that helps clients "recall" the flexibility they enjoyed earlier in their lives. Since then, the program that was founded in Berea has spread to 47 states. Chrisman's book, Body Recall, has sold all over the United States.

"The idea is to keep mobility and range of motion," Chrisman said, noting that many people who allow themselves to lose that range of motion in their later years can become virtual prisoners of their own bodies - constrained by what they perceive is the body's limits. Body Recall, says Chrisman, liberates people through motion to realize they can enjoy health and fitness and open the door to a richer life. "You have to have a program that will open the door to joy, pleasure and success," Chrisman says, noting Body Recall can open the door to self-reliance and better fitness. "It's a great package if people will only try." So in a world where ads for prescription drugs fill the airways, promising cures for any and every ailment, can Body Recall promise the same flight into health? Body Recall instructors don't even try lure people with promises - they saw word of mouth about the programs good results are evident enough.

Dorothy Chrisman

"We don't promise, but we do say get involved," says Chrisman. "I boldly say there's no end to discovery, and it's exciting that the ones who break through with that knowledge are the ones who were once supposed to be over the hill."

Luke Woodie recently joined as Body Recall as co-director, hoping to spread the message that lifetime fitness can have benefits not only for seniors, but for people of all ages. And the more people who get the message, the better off the community will be, says Woodie.

"Healthy people help make healthy families, and healthy families help make better communities," Woodie said.

Author's note: Body Recall classes are offered at the center located on Mt. Vernon Road. Learn more about the benefits of Body Recall by visiting www.bodyrecallinc.org or by calling 986-2181.