My work is a constantly evolving blend of whole body movement conditioning techniques that I have used to heal my own body and those of my clients. My system integrates intelligence with intensity by combining elements of functional strength training, yoga, Pilates method floor work, Gyrotonic, and my own interpretation of movement-conditioning styles such as interval calisthenics, dance, martial arts, Qigong, and Feldenkrais. This integrative combination produces comprehensive capabilities that include power, endurance, speed, agility, and flexibility.
The progressive goal of integrating these training modalities is to bring the body, mind and spirit together into a single unified experience that promotes a balanced foundation, a playful happiness and a return to the natural state of peace and contentment that is waiting for us all.
It is my experience that cookie cutter training sessions and workouts that use too much man made fitness equipment do not achieve this goal, and even if they did...it wouldn't be as much fun. Isolation exercises are appropriate for specific therapies, but overall it severs the body in pieces affecting the attunement, coordination, and peace of the person. Isn't it about time we moved out of the training paradigm created by bodybuilders? Integrative Movement uses low-tech/high-effect methods from existing elements: gravity, opposition, three-dimensional movement, expansion and contraction and most importantly breath.
My teachers have taught me that all physical practices hold the possibility of integration, therefore my work is the practice of infinite variation. All that’s needed is the intention, vision, creativity and pursuit to make it so. I have come to know that through all my hard work and physical play, I am transformed. Every lift, jump, set, step, catch, stretch and session contributes to a primal connection that I am addicted to.
If you are looking to get in shape without the nonsense that typifies the fitness industry, you have arrived. Now let's get started.
The Foundational Modalities
Functional Strength Training
For years I was obsessed with the desire to only develop my external body. I achieved my physical fitness goals from admiring well-developed physiques in magazines, to adapting their formulas and ultimately becoming a sought after fitness model whose photos were taken to be in those magazines. Along the way I studied and trained with many bodybuilders and sport specific athletes. However, my body structure, chemistry, and heredity could not keep up with this style of training and I suffered many injuries.
The knowledge I learned through my rehabilitations was the most valuable professional information I have ever received. My injuries taught me how to strength train the body without the excessive damage, over training, and isolated movements. I use weights with clients who need more strength and for those that desire a more toned aesthetic, but I do it in a way that is functional, demands the awareness and dynamic action of the whole body, and is pain and injury-free.
Aside from free weights, I use functional movements derived from martial arts, interval sport calisthenics, and gymnastics. My tools are medicine balls, resistance bands, physio-balls, balance boards, ab wheels, sandbags and much more.
Yoga
I do a great deal of Yoga, but prefer to teach and study flexibility and postures outside of the proverbial rectangular mat and without the religious imagery and motifs that are often abused. From the relaxing, to the vigorous, to the restorative, I teach postures in a progressive form attempting to adhere to tradition by encouraging a natural progression to higher levels of conditioning. I like to present yoga as a moving art, often repeating a pose while moving across the studio floor, increasing it's possibilities and playfulness. The word yoga is from the Sanskrit, meaning "union." This is a good word for my practice because it reminds me of the goal which, of course, is integration. It is from here that I feel free to reinterpret traditional practice.
I believe that all yoga and exercise for that matter is but a preparation for the most important yoga posture of all... final relaxation. This conscious relaxation is how I finish each training session, invigorating and refreshing both body and mind.
Pilates
Principles of Yoga, Martial Arts and Gymnastics combine to form this unique and now very popular system of conditioning. Designed during the First World War by Joseph H. Pilates, the method emphasizes mental attentiveness and control, sometimes known as contrology.
I teach Pilates mat work using the body's resistance against gravity with increasingly challenging sequences to help align posture, stabilize the spine and enhance the body's core strength. For advanced clients I vary resistance to the designed movement sequences using giant thera-bands, Swiss balls and other exercise 'toys'. www.pilatesmethodalliance.org
Gyrotonic
Whereas Pilates tends to be core oriented and linear, Gyrotonic, a discipline designed by gymnast/yogi/dancer Julio Horvath, expands the possibilities of human movement. Gyrotonic is designed to move as we do and increase the range of human movement while simultaneously adding resistance for strength.
In every session I therapeutically use three dimensional Gyrotonic movement sequences to warm up the internal body, stimulate the energy points, increase flexibility while at the same time increasing strength.