Meet Alexandra Ellis, a member of our teaching team who leads weekly Yoga Tune Up® and Mobility for Performance classes in Los Angeles and YTU trainings nationwide.
How did you discover Yoga Tune Up® and why did you decide to become a teacher?
I found YTU in 2012 at the Symposium for Yoga Therapy and Research. My first experience involved putting the therapy balls in my upper traps and while I didn’t fully understand what it was, in that moment I knew I KNEADED it! I had just completed my bachelor’s in Exercise Biology from UC Davis and was struggling to bridge the gap between yoga, movement, and biomechanics when I started teaching in yoga studios. YTU is the perfect complement to both – intelligent movement that is designed to help people navigate their bodies in any practice they do. I also love that YTU unleashed my creativity, allowing me to teach classes that are always different and yet feel like they are curated for my students’ bodies.
What advice would you give a new student just starting a YTU practice?
YTU is unlike any movement class you’ve ever taken, but you are guaranteed to feel better when it’s done. This is a class that is designed to complement all the other workouts you do – from cycling, CrossFit, strength and conditioning, soccer…you name it!
The Yoga Tune Up motto is “Live better in your body”. What does that mean to you?
Living better in your body means that you are able to live pain free to do whatever you want to do. To not be ruled or governed by your limitations, but to be empowered by the awesome body that you have.
If you could only choose one YTU movement or therapy ball technique to take with you on a desert island, what would it be?
The one move I can’t live without is Neck Gnar with an ALPHA ball – there is nothing like unleashing the tension of your upper traps and neck. While any size of Roll Model Ball will do, the ALPHA is queen for this.
In the video below, Alexandra offers one of her favorite ways to tackle tension in the jaw and neck:
More information on Alexandra Ellis and her teaching schedule can be found here and at www.AEwellness.com.
Creativity and pain free. Power rather than limitation. Intelligence of movement. The inviting raisons to join the community up to become teacher… world wide ! are so inspiring and give potential of healing and progressing to the person ! Merci !
I totally agree on the upper traps and neck release! Nothing beats that although there are sooo many techniques and incredible things we can do with the balls. Plus they make massages so affordable because you are doing them yourself so you don’t have to pay someone in order to feel good in that spot you’ve been dying for. So happy that I found YTU
I am currently training to become a YTU teacher and I knew when I came that I was seeking something I had yet to find, but I couldn’t put it into words. The best I could come up with was I wanted to learn more about the movement of the human body and help people move better, but I didn’t want to become a doctor, PT, or massage therapist to do it. I found in this article that Alex put it in to the right words, I came to learn about intelligent movement. The body is so sophisticated, and with YTU I am learning how to navigate my own body and I have the tools to help others learn to navigate their own. We must take responsibility for our own tissues!
As a current YTU Level 1 Trainee, I see Alex in action first-hand as she gives insightful suggestions and succinct answers to the most confused of questions. Thanks, Alex!