A handful of people in an intimate riverfront studio gradually stretched their muscles under the guidance of soft-toned instructors, as quiet music filled the air. Astoria is thousands of miles away from the war-torn Middle East, but the room in that moment felt even farther.
Christopher, a veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and his wife Kimberly Gibbs, a Ki-Hara stretching instructor, held the first in what they hope will become a regular resistance stretching class offered to military personnel for free. The couple’s hourlong class made its debut Tuesday night at RiversZen Studio on 31st Street.
Gibbs was a U.S. Marine Corps staff sergeant who saw combat in multiple deployments from 2001 to 2014. An infantryman, Gibbs’ muscles endured stress as he was required to carry heavy equipment.
He recalls eight close calls involving improvised explosive devices that detonated near him. He usually was inside a vehicle, but slight concussions were common.
“I was definitely rocked really good,” he said.
The final explosion caused a temporary blackout, a headache and back and neck pain that persists years later. He also copes with post-traumatic stress disorder from his multiple deployments.
The couple moved from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to Astoria in 2014 to be close to members of Kimberly’s family. Christopher, who is not usually inclined to seek medical treatment, instead tried, as much as possible, to work with his wife on a resistance-stretching program.
Ki-Hara forces participants to move their arms and legs in rotational
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