How do you know what’s true?
After a 10-week intensive of the latest research, I was awarded a Fascial Fitness Trainer Certificate. Looking back on my career, I realize that I have followed the paths of both science and spirituality to learn about my true self and the highest truth. Have you ever wondered how you know what is true?
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, 1-7, speaks to this knowledge: “The sources of right knowledge are direct perception, inference, and scriptural testimony.” It is my desire for truth through the study of science and spirituality; direct perception through the experiences of my mind and body, the logical inferences of science, and my study of others’ commentary that have led me to where I am today.
Did you know that I was a personal fitness trainer before becoming a yoga instructor? In 2010, I became certified after being unable to find work as a freelance graphic artist in rural North Carolina. One personal training gig led to another, until I was invited to teach yoga at a church in Wadesboro, NC. With just a weekend workshop in yoga, I began.
In 2011, I enrolled in Exercise Physiology classes at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) that were prerequisites for a master’s program. By the end of that year of study, I realized that a master’s at UNCC wasn’t a good fit for me. It was science, but neglected the experience of movement. I would have been conducting experiments on rats! Even though I loved learning the science, I wanted the physical, direct experience, so l traveled to Rishikesh, India to learn more about yoga.
Over the next 15 years I worked as a both yoga instructor and a personal trainer. In April of this year, I visited nearby Kripalu to take a workshop with Thomas Myers, author of Anatomy Trains. His workshop focused on seeing clients’ structural problems; i.e., problems with posture or movement due to soft tissue dysfunction. Tom’s workshop was insightful, but was geared toward massage therapists. A classmate, though, told me about a more practical fascial training program designed for yoga teachers and trainers. It was this program I recently completed.
My fascination with soft tissues, or fascia, began 15 years earlier when I began soft rolling using The MELT Method to help me recover from a shoulder injury. I have since learned that fascia is what is between the mind and the body. It is what transmits energy from the mind to the body.
I now incorporate this knowledge into my private training and group classes, as well as in my own training in Aikido. From this program, I learned more about the need for and benefits of sensory perception, rebound training, different types of stretching, and myofascial rolling. These training methods supplement what yoga postures, breath work, and meditation, do for your mind and body. You will look better, with healthier, hydrated skin and fascial tissues; feel better, with more spring and energy; age better, without chronic pain and stiffness; and BE better, with a stronger, more integrated mind and body.
Ask me what fascial training can do for you. Email me at leslie@lesliesnow.com.
