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Since my experience with GardenFit, I’m able to garden more carefully. We worked on balance, and I’m much more conscious of my stance and position when gardening. Not just from being on the show, but also from watching the show, you learn how to protect your body, particularly as you get older, from the strain of gardening.

I call myself a picker because I love to pick fresh herbs from my garden that I’m going to cook with every day, and I love to pick fruit, especially for my daughter. Adam gave me excellent ways to make sure I’m not raising my shoulders when I’m picking high.

The show really punctuated the importance of balance in my garden and in my life. Which in turn resonates in my new work. I needed to address some physical things, and it opened up a new world for me.

The most surprising thing I learned from my GardenFit experience is that one doesn’t need equipment to focus on posture. I enjoyed when Adam had me lean against a tree to straighten my spine. Ever since, I always consider my posture in the garden and while I’m sitting at the pottery wheel.

GardenFit so beautifully weaves a love of outdoor spaces with mindful wellness, helping us care for both our own health and the health of our gardens. I’ve always felt that gardening is a powerful metaphor for life - nurturing, observing, and allowing things to grow and flourish in their own time and in their own way when provided with the right conditions. The hip reset stretches they shared have already been incredibly helpful.

Working with Madeline and Adam changed my view of how I move about in the garden, especially the way that I bend over. Since working with Adam, I’m more aware of how I hold my body, so I don’t lose focus on staying in the right position as I work.

Before Madeline and Adam visited, I never paid much attention to my form, and suffered as a result. Working with them made me realize that if I didn’t do something soon, I wouldn’t be able to work in the garden much longer. And when I’m out in the garden, I am more conscious of how I carry myself.

As a full-time farmer on a fairly large scale, I am constantly bending over to seed, plant, and cut flowers all day, every day, as a matter of course. There was one particular reset that Adam taught me - the 'rotation twist' - that really targeted my stressed-out back and made me stand inches taller (literally, I think!). But the real key to that exercise being useful to me was that I can do it on the move - I don't have to stop my workday to fit it in and 'stretch'. In fact, it's been so easy to fit in that it's become a habit and I do it all the time without thinking about it.

I love Garden Fit’s message that taking care of your body while taking care of your garden is also a meta message of longevity, expressed in the spirit of a garden. We do pass on our spirit in our actions.

I was honored that Garden Fit toured and filmed my private garden to share it with the PBS world. Adam taught me to take care of my hands while I am keeping my garden pruned so I can swing on the piano at night.

My rotator cuff was a big issue. It used to hurt a lot whenever I lifted my arms to do any kind of pruning. After talking with Adam, I realized how small pivots and posture changes, along with adjusting how I hold my tools, could make a huge difference. Those changes gave me better strength and positioning, helped me work more efficiently, and allowed the muscle to actually heal in ways it hadn’t before.