Twisted Bodies...Training Bodies Intelligently

Whether it's for a group class or private training, finding a knowledgeable, quality instructor is a difficult task for most people. It's a little intimidating to put the care of your body into the hands of another individual. Especially one who will be challenging your physical shortcomings. Here are a few questions you should ask  yourself and your potential trainer... Are they a certified trainer? If so, where did they obtain their certification and how long have they been instructing? This is not to deter you from training with a newly certified instructor. There are many "freshly certified" instructors that have been training independently, have a degree in physical fitness/dance/kinesiology or were professional dancer/performers prior to entering the field. That being said, research their certification to be sure it is credible and requires practice/mentor hours. Do they have experience/work history? Have they put in the hours of continuing ed

Don't You Have A Life? We get it, we're cool, the studio is fun, you want to be part of the crowd, you don't want to miss out on anything, the list of reasons goes on and on and on...... But, really DON'T YOU HAVE A LIFE? We like having you in the studio, we really do, just repeat these words to yourself "Training Bodies Intelligently".  It's our studio motto, yes, and it is so much more than words on a wall or website. That phrase is everything we stand for, it is what we have built our business from and what we hope to inspire and instill in each of you.  We get it, you open up your laptop or log into that pink app on your phone, and the excitement hits, your adrenaline shoots up, and that euphoric feeling begins and before you know it you have scheduled your entire life away for the next month.  Each hour, day after day, you find yourself cloaked in a pink haze listening to Hippie Sabotage and following the directions of your instruct

You have a goal. Good news, step one has been accomplished. Now, how are you going to attain your goal? Is it realistic? Are you ready to commit? If you answered yes to all of these questions then read on and let's do this together! Goal setting 101   Have a realistic and attainable goal.   Being realistic about your fitness level is most important. If your goal is to be able to do a handstand in the next 3 months then mind over matter simply isn't enough. Know your weaknesses and be ready to improve upon them. Create a pathway. Consider your goal to be the top rung of the ladder and you are currently standing on the bottom. You've got some steps to take - slowly and carefully so that you don't fall and injure yourself. Using handstand as an example - you've got to be able to balance your weight...upside down. Think about what has to happen in your body. Core strength, balance and stability, wrist and upper body strength, not to mention ju

Yoga. Often I tell people they should try yoga. And often I watch their faces contort with such abhorrence that I can barely make out the person I'm speaking to. Yoga. Why the fear? Why so much hate and disdain? Why so many excuses? I'm not flexible...I don't have any balance...I'm too fidgety. PEOPLE! (yes I'm shouting) This is why you start doing yoga! Allow yourself to be a beginner. When you learned how to ride a bike did you just hop on and ride like the wind? No, you had a few stumbles but you kept trying because you wanted that freedom. That is exactly what you will experience with your yoga practice. But in the end...freedom. Freedom to connect from within yourself, freedom to feel and move and freedom of your worries and cares even if just for a moment. With all that being said, let me take you back to the start of my yoga practice... 5 years ago I could not touch my toes. Seriously. I couldn't do the splits, I couldn'

The Curious Case of Creative Movement Part 2 What It Is As an incoming freshman at TWU, I thought I knew what movement was, what dance was, and how to create it and perform it.  I thought wrong.  I had excellent training growing up, far superior to most young girls going to dance studios.  We were required to take Pilates, taught good foundational elements, excellent technique, and I had some of the best teachers in the nation.  I was afforded opportunities to take classes from world renowned teachers and artists of dance.  I attended classes with professionals from Joffery, American Ballet Theater, The Royal Winnepeg Ballet, and former prima ballerinas from the Russian Ballet Academy.  I went in a strong confident dancer that freshman year and was knocked flat on my ass with knowledge that made my brain melt and my heart hurt.  I was attending one of the top ten universities in the nation for dance and felt I had made a huge mistake.  Then a comment from one of my prof

The Curious Case of Creative Movement Part 1 The Back Story Before we get into the deep parts of what creative movement is, why it's important and so on.  I feel it's necessary to share a little personal history, in hopes it will help others better understand why this is so important to me and quite possibly you as well. I can still rock the Goodship Lollipop! Throughout my entire life I have danced.  In the beginning it was movement for movements sake.  I was a young child and simply enjoyed moving.  I enjoyed the way it felt to spin, roll, flip and sway.  I enjoyed how the music moved inside me, the vibration, and how it became an extension into the physical world.  After a few years of incessantly bothering my mother everyday all day with "Me go to dance school mommy?", she finally enrolled me in private studio to study dance.  She thought it would be a short lived 3 year old's adventure in movement, little did she know that 30 years later that