OURINSTRUCTORS
Steven Sierra, Co-founder
Steve has over 20 years experience in the health and fitness industry. He got his start
as co-owner of Phoenix fitness gym in Allentown, PA. Steve, as co-owner of his gym, embraced the personal trainer lifestyle and added 30 pounds of muscle mass to his frame. Eventually the cost of maintaining an unnatural and forced physique size, coupled with a very inflexible body, created a tremendous amount of inflammation and joint pain. His creative nature put him on a path for a holistic way to heal his body. This led him to experiment with many flexibility modalities with some success, but they all fell short.
His goal was to correct his imbalances, heal his injuries and recover from all forms of tension while maintaining strength. This journey to help himself and others led him to
co-create the Ki-Hara method with Anne Tierney.
Ki-Hara's ability to seamlessly fuse many types of therapeutic modalities has guided him to healing many others. His client base ranges from some of the top professional athletes in the world, such as NBA stars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, Olympic gold medalist Dara Torres, NFL players Dion Simms and Brandon Flowers, among many others in professional tennis, golf, and hockey. He has also helped people with some of the most severe injuries, like paralysis and brain injuries. As a Ki-Hara master trainer, Steve has trained over 600 Ki-Hara practitioners, has created 2 DVDs, numerous training programs, and has been featured in over 20 publications.
This visionary body wizard is always developing and creating new stretches and when taking a break you can find him relaxing with his three dogs, releasing some stress at
the gun range, and for certain, thinking about creating new stretches.
Anne Tierney, MS, Co-founder
As a stretch therapist and trainer, Anne, with more than 10 years experience, has worked on numerous professional and Olympic athletes, like Dara Torres, Alex Rodriguez, Chad Pennington, Allan Houston and more. As well as executives, children and seniors. She co-created Ki-Hara® Resistance Stretching with Steve Sierra and they have released 2 DVDs and been featured in more than 20 publications.
Although her stretch mastery lends itself that she was born stretching people, she previously worked at Standard & Poor's Corporate Value Consulting Practice in NYC. As
an overachiever, she graduated Magna Cum Laude and obtained a masters in economics. In addition, is also a master at accumulating trophies. She was a three-time Academic All-American, NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee, the all-time leading scorer and rebounder at Lehigh University (to name just a few of her accolades).
When she’s not working or teaching (she is almost never), you can find her playing basketball, bossing Steve around, telling the best stories, or negotiating with her son
on why, if we had dessert for breakfast, that counts as dessert for dinner.
Susan Bianchi, MS
Susan has been with Anne and Steve (right arm) from the very beginning. She teaches
Ki-Hara Level 1, 2 and 3 certification courses nationally and internationally and was responsible for course development for Level 3. Susan has over 15 years of experience working with the most elite athletes in the NFL and WTA, to those with chronic and sometimes debilitating conditions. Susan has her Master of Science degree in Exercise Science and Wellness, holds certifications through NASM, NKT and the CHEK Institute.
A seeker of human potential she continues to stretch her own potential, writing for publications, leading retreats, working one on one with clients and continuing to create healthy movement.
When she isn't working you can find her on her bike, on a trail or most likely in
Costa Rica.
Carrie Collins
Owner of Stretch Chi, Carrie Collins, discovered Ki-Hara while searching for a solution for her own physical pain after many years as a professional pianist. Carrie has worked as a Ki-Hara Master Trainer and Instructor for ten years. In those years, she has trained all walks of life from athletes to musicians to individuals with disabilities. Her expertise is in pain management and problem solving injuries. In 2013, she published her book and online course called Life Renovations, which pairs Ki-Hara Resistance Stretching with life style changes, meditation and an anti-inflammatory diet. As part of her life's mission to bring Ki-Hara to the world, she has taught Ki-Hara in 11 US States and 4 countries.
Carrie has 20 years experience as a professional pianist and teacher under her fingers. She still teaches piano on her days off and of course, her students know how to stretch. It's not uncommon for her to run from a performance in heels to her studio to change into sweatpants and teach class! She's a genius at napping and eating cookies.
Chuck Rowland
Chuck is a Ki-Hara Instructor based in New York City. He has spent over 15 years as a fitness professional, holding an advanced personal training certification from PTA Global. He also holds NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist and Performance Enhancement Specialist certifications. In 2008, he established Fit Avenue NY. His clients’ backgrounds vary from the deconditioned to the Olympian.
Prior to switching to the fitness industry, Chuck had a long career at Citigroup. He was
a division human resources manager in international operations, and a business analyst in retail banking.
On the personal side, Chuck is a member of the board of directors for Fencing in The Schools, a non-profit organization. In fact, he has picked up the sport himself, and is
now a competitive fencer.
Tara Hawkin
Tara Hawkin, RMT has experienced several different aspects of the health and wellness industry. She began her career as a personal trainer, before discovering and becoming a Ki-Hara Resistance Stretching Instructor and finally graduating from the West Coast College of Massage Therapy in April 2013.
Tara treats holistically, preferring to see the body as a global system rather than focusing on a specific injured area. She finds this approach to be effective in resolving injuries or issues and restoring the body back to optimal balance and function. This is one of the reasons she finds Ki-Hara to be so compelling as she can usually address the entire body from head to toe in sixty minutes.
Tara loves staying active, and partakes in several different types of workouts especially running, lifting and, of course, resistance stretching. She appreciates the drive for improvement that she sees in her follow athletes everyday. Tara knows this is her opportunity to let Ki-Hara and Massage Therapy do what it does best, improving performance and enhancing body awareness.
Nathan Bodewitz
Nathan is a Ki-Hara practitioner, Ki-Hara instructor, and strength coach in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He discovered his love for movement as a young athlete growing up in the mountains of northern BC. His pursuit of coaching intensified when he was exposed to high performance training modalities during his time at the University of Calgary as a varsity wrestler and Kinesiology student. Since then Nathan has dedicated his life to help others achieve and exceed their fitness and lifestyle goals through his creative, purposeful and compassionate coaching style.
Ki-Hara Resistance Stretching is an essential part of Nathan’s client movement experience. The flexibility technique has allowed him to problem solve years of tension and compensation patterns in a matter of minutes. As a practitioner it is very gratifying to provide instantaneous results to your patient.
When Nathan isn’t in the gym or stretching he can be found in the mountains on his bike or skis. His current goals include opening a gym in Calgary and creating his own obstacle course racing series.
What some happy Ki-Hara clients are saying:
"We musicians make completely unreasonable demands upon our bodies, hearts, minds and spirits in an effort to achieve artistry. As a violinist, I've found Innovative Body Solutions to be superbly integrating on all levels. The work heals old injuries and prevents new ones and, most importantly to me, has allowed my playing to progress to the most satisfying levels I've ever experienced."