MEMBER PROFILE: Steve Baldwin

As a long-time member of the Bond Wellness Center, Steve Baldwin says he attends almost as much for the social aspect as for the physical fitness aspects that come with being a member.             

“You kind of ‘check in’ with folks here, and you meet them from all different age groups,” he explains. “Everyone is really wonderful, and I feel like I’m part of a community here. It keeps me in touch with people.”

HEALTH AND WELLNESS SEMINAR: Healthy eating

Six Strategies to Enjoy Healthy Food that Tastes Great

Small changes in the way you select and prepare food can have a big impact on your health, without sacrificing taste. Enjoy Healthy Food that Tastes Great was the first in the 2013 Health and Wellness Seminar series. The seminar offered strategies for enjoying healthy foods, and recommended that small changes are easier and more sustainable.

STAFF PROFILE: Suzanne Capizzano

Suzanne Capizzano is doing her part at keeping Bond Wellness Center members in balance. As an instructor in Qigong, she’s leading four different group classes, all with the goal of helping promote better balance through paying attention to weight shifting movements and the body’s alignment, as well as through creating a quieter mind.

Class participants are asked to practice specific movements regularly. “We do these movements in our daily routines anyway, but now they are done with specific attention on how they are being done,” Suzanne says. “When you come to a class, I ask about your goal and incorporate it into the program.”

Members can choose from four classes: Gestures for Health; Qigong Move and Be Well; Qigong DaoYin System; and Inner Stillness. Each class promotes balance and harmony within the head, heart and body. Suzanne guides participants to understand proper alignment of hips, knees and ankles, while paying attention to their core and hip stabilizing muscles.

Participants have included people with Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and those recovering from a stroke. In the Qigong DaoYin class, she focuses on meridian points that stimulate pathways to specific organs. That stimulation promotes circulation, increases oxygen intake, and strengthens the immune system.

By practicing certain gestures, participants begin to feel the changes in their bodies and can connect the movement in their mind. “It’s a delight to see the enlightened expressions when the student integrates the knowledge, sensation and act together. They often help each other as well,” Suzanne adds. “There are some students who have been enrolled since the program started seven years ago. That’s dedication.”

Suzanne worked as a Physical Therapist Assistant for 17 years and did continuing education with the Alexander Technique, craniosacral therapy and Feldenkrais with Qigong. She taught in a Qigong/Tai Chi program at Spaulding Rehabilitation hospital in Massachusetts as part of stroke recovery therapy, leading participants in different levels of balance from sitting to standing. 

Suzanne received her certificate in Qigong from the Beijing Sports University, Beijing, China in 2011. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and Development from Southern Illinois University, and is a Board Examiner for the Granite State Quality Council promoting quality standards in healthcare, business and education. In June, Suzanne will be part of a training program as part of New Hampshire’s “Fall Risk Reduction” program, a coalition of health care professionals. She hopes to bring the program to the Bond Wellness Center eventually.

Suzanne worked as a Physical Therapist Assistant for more than 9 years in the Rehabilitation Department here at Monadnock Community Hospital. In 2012, she founded her own firm,  Better Balance. Suzanne also teaches “Better Balance for Healthy Aging” at multiple facilities including the Bond Wellness Center, assisted-living centers in New Hampshire, Keene Physical Therapy in Sports Medicine, Heywood Hospital in Massachusetts, and Keene State College’s Cheshire Academy of Lifelong Learning.