Last September, after 7 intense in-class days, a 7 page test, an essay (which is now on the Yoga Tune Up® blog), and a mountain of context grids and anatomy homework, I became a Licensed Yoga Tune Up® Practitioner. Here I am a year later still stoked to be part of this community of movers and shakers. Here’s a few reasons why this is awesome for me, but more importantly, for my students:
1. It’s eye-opening: As Yoga Tune Up® founder Jill Miller often says, this practice reveals our body’s “blind spots.” These might be areas where we are weak or restricted, but very often they are places that we just can’t quite feel. Being able to actually sense your body is one big step forward in learning how to appreciate your body.
2. It’s great for every body: How many practices do you know that are actually built upon fine tuning each pose for the individual practicing it? Take the seemingly simple Downward Dog. This a pose you might encounter 20 (million) times in a regular Vinyasa class as you flow from plank to high lunge to standing and back again. For some lucky people this might feel great, but for those of us with tight shoulders and hamstrings, it’s hardly a resting pose. Instead of treating Downward Dog as a mere linking pose, a Yoga Tune Up® class will break it down into manageable pieces that will deepen your strength and mobility. Or as one of my students said after class, “My shoulders are tired, but feel loose.” Tired – meaning she worked hard, but loose, meaning free and comfortable. And that’s ultimately my goal as a teacher – to get my students to work hard in a way that makes them feel great.
3. It’s seriously playful. Does your practice involve poses called “Propeller Arms” or “Dancing with Myself”? Do you get to “Body Surf” around the studio on a blanket? It’s not that I think that fun is better than serious, but I love how mixing the irreverent with the sacred making for some great learning and a great time.
4. It’s not just about yoga: Even though it’s called Yoga Tune Up®, the principles of this practice make it applicable to almost any movement modality. Good alignment is good alignment. I came to this training as a Pilates teacher with a so-so personal yoga practice, but I take what I learned in this training into every session and class that I teach – whether I’m teaching a private, a large group class, or even just myself.
5. The Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Balls: If you’ve heard about Yoga Tune Up® before this blog, you know why I’m saving the best for last. These grippy, pliable rubber pain erasers help you massage away layers of tightness and soreness from your own muscles and joints. It’s not just that the various sizes help target each area of the body so precisely that makes these balls amazing, it’s that they put your body care back into your own hands (or feet). Jill Miller put it best: “Self-care is the new health care.”
Curious to try out this practice for yourself, check out my current class schedule. See you on the mat!
fire belly pilates 