Balance Center opened my eyes to a whole new way of not only relieving back, and joint pain, but if you stick with it beyond intro classes, they teach a cultivation of body awareness like I have not learned anywhere else. It's better than any yoga or mediation classes I have taken because it's immediately useful and tangible. Plus they are so hands on in the balance classes that I and every class attendee gets hands on guidance at for every yoga-esque pose we are doing. I know exactly when I am doing something that is injuring my back or joints as the instructor won't allow you to continue an exercise that is hurtful for you. I used to think my knee pain was something I have to live with, but then I learned, I can position my leg so that my knee can feel less stress and after 3 weeks, the pain was completely gone...no surgery, no drugs, just awareness of how I use and hold my knee. Same thing happened for my shoulder in three months time. My back started feeling better right away. Balance instructors teach you how your pains are your guide to tell you do something different. The Balance Center tells you what to do and how to become more aware of the pains and the tightnesses. At the more advanced levels, they teach you how to engage your anti-gravitational muscles. I have learned how to be lighter in my joints and it's some of the hardest exercises I've learned to do, but they are so worth it. I've tried so many things: personal training, yoga, pilates, lifting weights. No other method has given me these results. In fact, the other methods gave me more pain, which I was blaming on age, but I know know that it was a badly position pelvis that throws everything out of whack. I've been attending the yoga-like balance classes for one year and it's changed my whole life... no more back, neck, shoulder, joint or foot pain. I can feel it coming on sometimes, but now my awareness shows me how to combat the cause of the pain and get rid of it. Plus, I feel and therefore look better and I've regained my height from lengthening. Who knew you could grow "taller" in mid life. No more nagging pains. I can be more myself. I can sit and stand for long periods of time with nothing hurting: that's something I wasn't able to do a year ago. I know it sounds too good to be true, but this stuff is based on the work of a woman in Paris, named Noelle Perez, who pioneered the work by studying cultures around the world who have little or no back pain. Even those these groups are not necessarily near each other, they all stand and sit and move the same way and that's the way the Balance Center teaches. Jean Couch, the owner and lead instructor, is a real gem. All of the instructors at the balance center have done their own empircal research and study what Noelle Perez began. They have also studied with the French teachers. The Balance Center is the only place that has gotten me motivated to sign up for yelp so I can give a review. It's the real thing and everyone is worth the effort you give and pampering you get when you take on being in Balance. If you have pain, you must check this out. If you don't have pain, and want to learn body awareness, or learn how to exercise so you don't hurt yourself, or learn how to improve in your sport or If you want to learn how to be in your body so your neck and shoulders don't hurt at the computer....the balance center can help. read more

The Balance Center has provided me with reliable relief from severe back pain. I am indebted to founder Jean Couch for her dedication in training myself and others about practical exercises and techniques for aligning our posture to minimize pain. By regularly practicing her exercises and techniques, I now have minimal pain and seldom require anti-inflammatory medication. I was experiencing increasing pain in the lumbar area. It became difficult to program for any length of time at my computer. The orthopedic physician saw from the x-rays that I had degenerate discs. He recommended anti-inflammatory drugs and therapy exercises. Although I practiced the therapy exercises each day, they did not alleviate the pain. The anti-inflammatory medication (naproxen) lessened the pain but continual usage is not recommended since it irritates the stomach lining. The pain became progressively worse. I was very discouraged and wondered if I would spend the rest of my life with continual back pain. To compound the situation, my thumb was experiencing increasing pain while playing the piano. An orthopedic physician who specializes at Kaiser Permanente on musician injuries recommended I study with piano instructor Barbara Wilkens whose techniques he recommended for playing injuries. As a Balance Center instructor, Barbara immediately suggested I attend the free introductory talk. Because of Barbara's recommendation and my positive impression of Jean Couch, I immediately took the Foundation Series of classes. My back condition progressively improved which allowed me to dramatically reduce anti-inflammatory medication. As an added bonus, developing improved posture allowed my skeleton and muscles to align allowing noticeably increased sensitivity and control while playing the piano. I was able to play musical passages which before balance were beyond my capability. Having practiced these techniques and regularly taken classes over many years, I am convinced of their effectiveness and strongly recommend them to others. I want to offer many thanks to Jean and her staff for the blessings of her work and the Balance Center. read more

I met Jean Couch when she traveled to Fairbanks, AK to teach Balance fundamentals at our Summer Arts Festival. I now travel to Palo Alto, CA and Esalen, on the Big Sur coast, to continue with intensive courses as I have found them so beneficial. Each time the deepening of my practice in postural alignment and the mechanics of healthy movement has left me decompressed, de-stressed, and delighted! As a physical therapist I am gradually learning to introduce the concepts of Balance to my clients. They have proven helpful not only for back pain but also for tension related dysfunction in the arms and legs. I have seen clients strikingly surprised by a rapid change in their self perception as they experience improved postural alignment in sitting, standing, and lying on side or back. If you are within driving distance of Palo Alto count yourself lucky to have the resource of The Balance Center so easily available. If you ever travel to the Bay area it's worth some extra time to experience a private session or participate in a weekend course - and recommended before the occasional back discomfort becomes chronic pain. I have however met many people who have overcome chronic pain with consistent use of the fundamentals of Balance. The website (www.balancecenter.com) offers a well rounded introduction to Balance, Jean Couch and other instructors as well as guidelines to experience standing posture in Balance. Class schedules are also included and I find the costs quite reasonable when I consider the expense of my annual insurance deductible. This work has a lasting impact - go meet Jean and see for yourself! read more

kristine 06/20/2008 In 2002 I went on disability for lower back pain. I was off work for 5 months and during that time it became my job to search for the treatment that would cure me. I went to 4 different doctors, 3 times I received injections into the spine, 3 chiropractors, 3 acupuncturists, 2 physical therapists, 2 massage therapists. Not one of these professionals could give me a magic pill or the answer to my pain. My massage therapist suggested I go to the Balance Center. She said I could go to a free class taught by Jean Couch and I might find the answer to my pain. I attended the free class. I didn't remember all that Jean taught nor did I get out of any pain that day, but what I did remember, inspite of the pain, was that what Jean was teaching, made total sense and I signed up immediately for 15 more hours of instruction. It was the best 15 hours I have ever spent. She taught us how to make shifts in our body to put our skeletal system in alignment when we are sitting, standing, bending, walking, and sleeping. The pain in my lower back disappeared. The information she gave me put me in control of my own body. I don't need the work of any of the professionals I visited in those 5 months. I learned how to take care of my own body with the simple guidelines Jean taught. I practice every day and I attend classes in balanced Yoga at the center. A pain-free body is worth it. I've seen many people that have been helped at the Balance Center. Everyone can learn ways to look younger, straighter, and more comfortable in their body. I highly recommend it. read more

I have taken 3 workshops with the Balance Center. In each workshop they take before and after pictures. Placing all the pictures in a row gives a profound display of the dramatic improvements working with Jean and Jenn can make in your posture. Before I started classes I was not aware that I had bad posture or that I was particularly uncomfortable. Over the course of the classes I learned what bad posture looked like (namely mine!) and how to correct it. In the classes we learned a variety of simple exercises to correct our posture. Many of these exercises can be done during your daily routine of sitting and standing so there is no need to "work out". Balance is more about a change in how you use your body than some new exercise program designed to stretch and strengthen. We also get a lot of hands on adjustment that helps us find our natural form. Over the course of the class I began to understand the posture Jean was leading us to. Even more importantly I could develop a sense of how unbalanced and balanced posture felt. I quickly realized that unbalanced posture is very uncomfortable! I had been living in discomfort for years and didn't even realize it because I was so habituated to the chronic stress in my body. Now that I stand straighter I feel more relaxed and happy in my body. I know that these changes aren't just cosmetic but will also protect me from degenerative back and hip problems later in life which could lead to chronic pain, hip replacements, or back surgery. read more

I am a competitive adult figure skater who was facing the end of her life on the ice after 18 months of a persistent back injury. My injury had progressed to the point where back spasms were a regular occurrence, ribs would pop out of place unexpectedly, and at least one disc was herniated. It was a dark time and in desperation I attended a Balance Center workshop at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. It started with a few hours here and there without pain, progressed to mostly being pain free and off of all pain medications, and from there I've been able to reclaim the joy of movement in my life. It is now 4.5 months since I attend the Balance Center's weeklong course and I have just returned to the ice. I can not express the joy that I feel to have my skating life back. And, what is even more amazing - despite being off the ice for almost 2 years, I am stronger and more stable on the ice than I was before. I credit this to the strength and range of motion that I gave gained with constant attention to moving with the mechanical alignment I learned in the class. It's a continual process and I have a long way to go...but I am confident that the future is bright and full of rainbows and sunshine once again. I'm terribly excited to see just how far I can progress with this new knowledge. THANK YOU BALANCE CENTER! read more

The Balance Center fosters my strongest beliefs- taking charge of your own health, addressing the causes of problems instead of suppressing symptoms, and uncovering inner resources and energy. I found myself in intense lower back pain after a cross-country trip to a 3-day conference, and was terrified of having a permanently slipped disc and pinced nerve. Intrigued by the Balance Center after having met Jenn a number of months back, I went to their intro class and was immediately captivated. The concepts of balancing our weight onto our skeleton as it's designed and releasing all the tension from muscles that have been overcompensating for our chronic lack of such balance feel so amazing, and I'm just beginning to scrape the surface of all the potential those concepts offer for the mind-body-spirit complex. I was completely pain free after about a week and it will never come back. It's a lot of work to really change from the inside out, but to me it's the only way. I had done yoga for 20+ years, and Balance offers a level of depth of experience in my own body that yoga never reached. I heard the principles are an expansion of teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar that had never been articulated clearly to students. Jenn has been my amazing teacher for the Foundations course. read more

After attending a free class at the Balance Center, I came away saying to myself, "This is so logical! Jean Couch is such a great teacher! Geez, I wish I had taken this class years ago!" Three and a half years later, I'm still saying the same things to myself and now to you. After the initial free class, I attended a series of longer, more detailed, hands-on sessions called the Foundation Series. My classmates and I learned to sit, stand, walk, lie down, and bend in ways to protect our spine and joints and to transfer our weight to the big muscles designed to support it. We saw pictures of people from all over the world with the natural posture and grace that we, in our intense, high-tech culture, have lost. What a contrast!!! Now I attend Yoga-in-Balance classes also taught at the Balance Center. I am physically stronger and am free of back pain. My back, shoulders, even feet have become shapelier and more agile. I have a set of skills that will allow me to remain confident of my physical abilities as I age. And, I can practice these skills anywhere, anytime without expensive equipment. I encourage you to check out http://www.balancecenter.com for more details and a schedule of classes. read more

The Balance Center saved me from more years of pain when I was suffering from RSI (Repetitive Stain Injury) from long hours at the keyboard. I still spend long hours at the keyboard but without suffering!! If you have back, neck, knee, shoulder pain, it is worth checking out. The introductory class is free, and I know of people who have canceled a scheduled back surgery because they felt so much better after an introduction to the simple techniques that Jean Couch teaches. What I learned at the Balance Center has changed the way I sit, stand, walk, and sleep. The Balance techniques are based on solid research among populations in the world that do not have back and joint pain. And founder Jean Couch, who is a gifted teacher with a great sense of humor, travels regularly to Paris to learn the latest research and refinements to the process from Noelle Perez, who did the original research on which the Balance Center's techniques are based. People who study at the Balance Center also find that what they learn not only makes them feel more comfortable in their body, but it makes them look younger and more attractive as well. Highly recommended! read more

Before going to the Balance Center, I had hip pain and could not sit for more than an hour or so. I had been doing months of physical therapy and had a cortisone shot, but was still in pain. I was standing up at work to relieve my hip but standing all day gave me back pain. After one session at the Balance Center my back pain went away completely and my hip pain went mostly away. As I continued to practice, I got the bonus of my pain going away in my shoulder. Before, I couldn't carry groceries or trash or use the mouse with my right arm despite months of physical therapy and a cortisone shot. But now my shoulder pain is gone. I consider that a bonus since I thought the Balance Center was more for back pain - actually it helps all your joints, including shoulders and jaw. Another bonus, after a couple weeks since going to the Balance Center, my husband said I look in better shape and thinner and asked if I've been working out more - I hadn't been, just had better posture! Try the free class, even if you just do that you will be glad you did, I just wish I'd gone sooner! read more

To find balance is to know when you are out of balance. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to take classes from Jean Couch and Jennifer Sherer, two incredibly knowledgeable and compassionate teachers at Balance Center. Like many people, I didn't know that I was out of balance with tense muscles and misaligned bones. I also paid little attention to how I moved and how my body functioned as a whole. Jean and Jenn gave clear instructions and their gentle correction provided excellent guidance. More importantly, they taught me how to tune in to my body and helped me trouble-shoot along the way. By constant practice, I became more aware of my posture and noticed physical and emotional changes. Finding balance is a journey filled with surprises and wonder, like a quote from T.S. Eliot: "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." read more

"Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime." This ancient proverb is what is so magnificent about the Balance Center - you really come away learning about your back and how to sit, stand, walk, and sleep in correct positions. It is a life-changing class that educates you in a very deep way . I have had a history of lower back problems and did the usual - some muscle relaxants, some exercises, etc., but there is nothing that has had the impact on my back health like the classes at the Balance Center. All of the instructors are excellent, and after finishing the basic foundations series, I've gone on to more work in Advanced Foundations and am continuing to be amazed by Jean Couch's knowledge of the human body. Going to the Balance Center is like going to a wonderful spa for your back! As Jean says, "it's your birthright to be in balance." Give yourself a gift of health and balance! read more

I met Jean nearly 3 years ago and completed her class in Feb. of 2006. Before I had been going to the Chiropractor for 7 years off and on with Chronic Hip Pain. I would get relief for 6-9 monhts after going for 1-3 months and then after another 6-9 months, it was back again for the treatments. As I mentioned, it's been nearly 3 years now and I have not been to a Chiroprator since. I love Chiropractic and grew up with two Uncles who were Chiropractors and I love it but as I said, I was going every 6-9 months and I didn't have insurance to cover it. Obviously that can be very costly. Well, think about how much I've saved over the last 3 years. Now cross that with the amount Jean charges for the course and I am in the profit zone. Jean's information at the Balance Center is what I can "PROFOUND" information. Go to the FREE classes and benefit, go to the full class and gain a lifetime of a pain free life. read more

Almost 30 years ago I bought a book written by Jean Couch called The Runners World Yoga Book. I was very impressed by the content and style of the book and used it for many years with my yoga clients. I'd always wondered what Jean was up to , so when I found that she'd created the Balance Center I just had to check it out. On her website I found that she was teaching a revolutionary style of alignment that seemed to be the perfect antidote to back pain. As a Physical Therapist specializing in back care this was very exciting to me. So I traveled from NYC to Palo Alto to study with Jean and was just blown away. You could not hope to find a more knowledgeable, accessible and fun teacher than Jean. I have used the method that she teaches with my clients with tremendous success! I'd recommend a trip to the Balance Center to anyone who is curious about how they can heal or prevent back pain. read more

UPDATE: Just got back from a 5-day-intensive with Jean and Jenn at Esalen Institute... AWESOME! It was fascinating to observe the change in the 20 participants' bodies and faces as their pain level dropped and the comfort level increased. The instructors took everybody's Before and After pictures which was quite a revelation. I found a picture of my slouched, tense self with my toddler son (who then still had great alignment) comparing it to the workshop picture: Wow, I look and feel BETTER than 18 years ago! All through my adult life I have struggled with "bad posture". The usual advice "stand up straight, chest up" didn't help - besides it was very uncomfortable. Taking the Balance Foundations class has profoundly changed my posture in just 7 weeks! Jean's teaching is brilliant and very easy to follow (she's funny, too). If you want to feel better and look better: go to the Balance Center. read more

Jean Couch and the Balance Center are an integral part of my orthopedic massage practice and the way my body thrives each day. I've referred several clients to Jean for more in depth, private instruction and they've been extremely impressed with Jean's buoyant energy, brilliant presentation and useful information which helps them their bodies to feel freer, look better and live pain free. Since Fall of 2007 I have been hearing the amazing changes that moving the body into balance and then relaxing can make for my clients. I attended the free class to hear more and now am learning the Foundations of Balance in a weekly 2 hour class. Every day I use these elegantly presented ideas in my work with my clients. I am eternally grateful we have this precious gem right here in Palo Alto and encourage everyone who sits or stands and has back pain to attend Jean's free class to see for themselves! read more

I have had poor posture for years and after having kids, I started having worsening back and neck pain. I signed up for the week-long intensive with Jean Couch at Esalen in Feb 2008 and after that week, I no longer have pain. It has opened my eyes to how "out of Balance" most of us are. I am horrified to see my daughter losing her natural alignment as she begins to imitate everyone around her. My 3 year old has a curved posture but my 1 year old still has a perfectly straight back. It's an incredible contrast. Incidentally, I am an Internal Medicine MD and many of the back, neck, and joint problems that I have seen in my patients can be partly if not wholly attributed to the long term effects of being "out of Balance". Jean Couch teaches skills that can reverse some of these problems, but I feel the main thing is PREVENTION...especially for our children. read more

The Balance Center is a blessing! Earlier this year, my back and neck pain had become very uncomfortable and I had difficulty sitting at my computer station. Plus, I was spending too much time and money with chiropractors and acupuncturists. I would have a treatment to relieve the pain and a few days later it would return. After 2 months of practicing balance, I completely eliminated my back and neck pain. It is very easy to improve your posture and the benefits are endless. I am now able to take care of my own body based on the easy guidelines taught at the Balance Center. As my posture continues to improve, other things are getting better too--sleep, digestion and I'm an inch taller! Plus, the yoga classes are fantastic. Take one of the free classes to learn more about balance. I highly recommend it! read more

I had been studying and teaching hatha yoga for over 20 years when I first walked into the Balance Center. I sat for a 2-hour presentation and my whole vision of physical alignment shifted...I was so intrigued that I signed up for the beginning series of classes. I have been studying Balance for years now, and as a result, I sit, stand, sleep and walk with much more comfort. Balance helps me feel free and strong in my body. It's good stuff. It takes on-going practice, but I have found it well worth the investments of time and energy I have put into it. If you feel aches, stress, pain, it may be as simple as misaligned bones and muscles. If you are looking for an option to pills and surgery, try Balance. If you just want to look better, try Balance. Good luck. read more