Renaissance Man Notables Tess Mccormack-Raso, Society Columnist Andre Fritz Is a Big Man

Renaissance man

Notables – Tess McCormack-Raso, Society Columnist

Andre Fritz is a big man. He is over 6’ tall, wide muscular shoulders and very strong arms. One of his teachers called his hands, “the size of small household pets.” In spite of all his bigness he is a gentle giant.

He said, “Some people see me as this big guy who gets things done and I do, but the favorite part of my work is the head and neck because it is very fine and very delicate. When I’m working on you, I’m very calm inside. So, it’s a healing time for both of us.”

Healing is his business. Perhaps it was also his fate.

Andre said, “When you are young you think life is forever and then all of a sudden something happens and it kind of puts you in touch with your own mortality.”

His happening came early one beautiful Saturday morning at the age of twenty-three. He was riding his motorcycle to meet some friends for breakfast. The sound of a honking horn caused him to turn his head and he didn’t see the car that had turned into his path. That split second decision nearly cost him his life!

He woke up the next day in a hospital bed dazed and in excruciating pain. For the next two years, after a series of agonizing operations, he was told he would never walk normally again. He remembers thinking, “If it’s this hard now, what am I going to do when I’m 50?”

Fate introduced him to Rolfing, a structural integration developed by Ida Rolf, a biochemist, in the early 1930’s. She was very dissatisfied with the available medical treatment of her day and searched for ways to help her own children who were born with a genetic abnormality. She believed the body was malleable, like plastic and therefore could be sculptured.

Rolfing as it is more commonly known today, is a systematic approach to releasing the effects of sudden trauma to the body or the cumulative effects of stress, tensions, slumpings, emotions and their resulting misalignments. These misalignments create imbalance and impairs function on all levels, but are most often felt as chronic pain, stiffness or decreased flexibility of movement.

Fritz says, “I first heard about Rolfing when I was visiting a friend in California. I had been walking on crutches for a long time and he urged me to try it. He bragged about how wonderful he felt after his Rolfing sessions. Since I hadn’t felt ‘wonderful’ in a long time, I decided to try it when I got back to New York.”

Andre went to the city, saw a lecture demo and signed up for 14 sessions. “During the last seven sessions,” he said “I had two people working on me at the same time. It was very, very intense.” Although he says he never got the big emotional release he thought he would get, he got something much more important. “I realized my body was changing back to…or as good as…it was before my accident. Additionally, I was really pleased to discover that it had corrected another problem that I had. My pigeoned toes! When I noticed that my feet were no longer turned in, I remember thinking…’maybe there really is something to this!’

Andre Fritz was born in New York City in 1947. His mother, Yvonne, was warm, wonderful and college bred. His French father, Raoul, was a strict disciplinarian with a great mind but with a limited education but excellent cooking skills. He worked as an Executive Chef at an exclusive Country Club on Long Island.

“When I was 18,” Andre says, “I was working with my Dad at the Club. I’ll never forget one Labor Day holiday. There was a big dinner dance planned for the weekend and as we made preparations my Dad got a telephone call telling him that his brother, who lived in France, had died. Needless to say, he quickly made plans to leave. He told me he had called the second Chef to come and replace him and assured me I had nothing to worry about. He instructed me in his usual authoritative voice, ‘Just call in some extra help and do your job. You’ll be fine!’ The next day I waited for the second Chef to arrive. He never showed up! Worst yet, he quit! I was on my own.”

For the entire week his father was gone, Andre was left to run the kitchen; i.e. order the food, cook the food and prepare the menu. “I never worked so hard in my life. I worked 12 to 16 hours a day, but I pulled it off. The club members never knew my father was gone. When my Dad came back, I waited for his praise. I should have known better. My work or the success thereof was expected. For me, however, it was an experience I have never forgotten. It was my leap into adulthood. I learned two very important things; although I worked very hard, I liked it; and secondly, I had landed on my feet. It gave me a tremendous amount of confidence in my own ability. I had to give myself that approval because my Dad didn’t.” But, Andre added reflectively, “that’s just part of the old school. They never gave compliments or pats on the head because they didn’t want you to get spoiled.”

Andre says his father was very bright, very strict and very artistic. He ruled the family with an iron hand, the European way. “But my mother was the most influential person in my life…more than anyone or anything else. My mother is my heart. She showed me what love is…that you give and you don’t ask for it to come back. I will be indebted to her for the rest of my life. She is why I am the person I am today!”

In 1970, Fritz graduated from Stony Brook University and earned a Master’s degree from Temple University. To help pay his tuition he worked as a chef, using the skills he had learned so well from his father.

For fun, Andre took several college courses in the art of massage. “I remember my Dad giving me massages as a kid and I loved it. He had the idea that hands can heal, so it was a very natural thing for me to do. So, when I started to work on other people, it was just an extension of that. My friends used to say, ‘Andre, you have great hands.’ But, I never really knew what that meant.”

Although it was never a conscious thing, in retrospect, Andre’s hands were always his greatest assets. After college he used them again to start a building business. Although it was a successful venture, his heart was elsewhere. When he had enough money to support himself, he went back to school. He moved to Boulder, Colorado where he lived for the next two years and studied at the prestigious Rolf Institute and the Guild for Structural Integration.

In 1993, Andre Fritz opened his office in Valley Cottage. The sign outside his office reads: Certified Practitioner, “Holistic Bodywork for Personal Transformation.”

“I vowed when I began doing this work that I would combine the best of what the old teachers taught me…work hard, work deeply and get the most results. At the same time, I realized that I had to support the emotional processes as well. When you’re dealing with people on a one-on-one situation, you have to sensitive to their needs, be it physical, emotional or both. So, I adapt to whatever comes through my door.” One of my teachers said, ‘Andre, you were born to do this work. You like people, you have the perfect temperament and you have great hands.’”

Andre’s oldest client is 87 and his youngest is 22 months old.

The baby had fallen down the stairs and his leg was bent. The doctor put him in a cast, which was appropriate, but because he was walking with a cast he was completely distorted and had twisted his body. He complained about neck pain, so his mother, who is a client of mine brought him in and asked if I could help. When I examined him, I realized that one leg was much higher than the other, which had caused him to twist his neck upward, thus the pain. His mother held him on the table for about a half an hour and I was able to get all the knots and cricks out of his neck and back. She brought him back after the cast was removed and I checked him again. When he started to get antsy and wanted to get off the table, I knew he was alright. Children’s bodies are so flexible, so I didn’t have to do a whole lot.”

His 87-year-old patient once told him that, ‘getting old is not for sissies.’ Andre agreed. “You have to do whatever you can to maintain quality of life. One of the things that happens as we age, is that the tissues dry out and you tend to lose the range of motion around joints that cause a lot of postural misalignments. My work is to stretch the body and open it back up to a more flexible and open place. I believe Rolfing gives you more mobility and flexibility so that you have better movements that will make it easier for you to do whatever you want to do.”

Andre says that Americans today are overfed, but undernourished. Right now the only thing that extends life to any degree is calorie restrictions. But, there are things we can do to help…’Eat less and exercise more.’ Unfortunately some people think exercise is work. Fritz says, “The answer is to find something you love to do, then it won’t seem like work. When I’m not working, my pleasures include biking, roller blading, swimming and cross country skiing. No one has to force me to go for a bike ride because I thoroughly enjoy it. I look forward to getting into a place where I am not thinking and I’m totally relaxed.”

Recently a client gave him a gift…a rose quartz crystal rock with the inscription, ‘Healing’. She said, “When I saw this stone Andre, I thought of you. Your heart is in your hands.” Andre put this small crystal in the palm of his hand and its size appeared to diminish. He started at it for a moment, then looked up at his patient and smiled. “It is who I am,” he said quietly. “It’s what I’m all about. Thank you.” Andre used it as his new logo.

Andre wants to be remembered as a Renaissance man. “When I was 13 I read Don Quixote and I loved the concept of it. I am constantly growing and changing so that I always have something to look forward to. Every person who walks through my door can teach me something.”

These days, Andre’s life includes steady work in his two offices, Valley Cottage and Goshen and a home on 16 acres in Orange County. He and his wife Elisa have converted a dilapidated old farmhouse into a beautiful home that they share with their two dogs, Samba and Mambo. They have a large garden where they grow their own vegetables and Elisa has started her own family business supplying specialty items and flowers to local restaurants. Sunday morning is a family day and Andre can be found cooking breakfast for his family, including his mother.

To Andre life is a process and a journey and every moment has a potential awakening. “I’m probably the biggest little kid you know.” He says with a warm smile. “The Chinese have a great saying, ‘A truly great man retains the heart of a child.’

That’s Andre Fritz, the gentle giant. HANDS

Hands are one of the tools God gave us to enjoy life. We use them for work, for protection and for expressions without words.

1. Without hands the Blind could not see. (Braille) 2. The deaf would not hear. 3. A child learns the word ‘no’ by the light slap of the hand. 4. A warm touch on the check tells them they have nothing to fear. 5. We give thumbs up when things are well. 6. Thumbs down when they are not. 7. We flash a ‘V’ for victory when we have won a battle. 8. Our Astronauts sent a message around the world: it was “A-OK” 9. The world clapped their hands in response. 10. A hug says ‘I love you.’ 11. A slap brings fear. 12. Andre uses them for healing. 13. We take them for granted.

“My hands…my mind… my heart are my greatest assets. My heart is my Mom’s; My brain is my Dad’s… My hands are my own.”

Andre Fritz

Rockland County Times, September 30-October 6, 2004 Page 6