Student: Jill, what do you actually do for your personal yoga practice?
Me: I practice what I teach.
Student: You mean you don’t do anything else? Spinning? Or running? Or Zumba? I mean, how do you get your arms to look like that?
Me: I don’t mean to sound cryptic … but I practice what I teach.
It’s true. I have been practicing yoga and multiple movement arts since I was 11 years old, and the yoga practice I teach in the classroom (I began teaching part-time at age 19 at The Omega Institute) has evolved and changed with me through the past two decades. The work I share in my classes, workshops, conferences and videos all resonates with my own discoveries in my personal “jungle gym” of a practice.
Every movement, every moment.
One maxim that I hold to be true is that every moment counts, every movement counts. (Thank you, Zobha, for making this your awesome brand statement!) I would add to this: How you hold yourself in every movement amounts to moments that matter to your longevity.
In other words, we have choices to make in every moment about how we use our body to accomplish an action. These choices include our posture while standing in line, talking on the phone, sitting at our desk, during exercise or watching TV. Practice using your body in daily life the way a first-chair violinist maintains their precious instrument. Keep it in tune. Treat your body with impeccable form during all of the “small things.” This adds up to better posture over time. Practicing with your body in inefficient positions creates deficits in the body that can create imbalance, discomfort and pain.
You literally take your yoga practice with you wherever you go. Make it matter. Connect to the smaller actions in life. They add up!
How I stay in tune: A portrait of my daily practice
But if you are really curious as to what my daily yoga practice entails … here is what a good day looks like for me. My yoga practice is full of variety, and what I’ve pulled together below is just a small slice of a much larger pie. Of course, a year from now, this might all look totally different!
Typically, my practice begins with an early morning walk with my dogs. Here are Cassius and Deli doing “sit and stay” before their walk.
Back from the walk, some deep self-massage with my Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Balls. Targeting myofascial tension, stimulating proprioception and prepping my body for practice.
Opening my hips and working my abdominals on my foam roller. A Supple Psoas is a prelude to all other hip movements.
Playful dynamic warm up, also known as dancing (with my current fave, Robyn). Yes, that’s me on the right! I typically don’t need my wig and costume to get my boogie on, but occasionally it’s fun!
Shoulder stabilization with Matador Circles to strengthen the entire rotator cuff.
Monk Walks with Side Bends for whole-body integration. This pose makes the side of your core groan with glee!
Getting core-geous on the Balance Ball along with some Uddihyana Bandha. This is harder than it looks 🙂
It’s even more fun to squat with friends!
Asymmetrical Twisted Triangle with a yoga block makes my hips happy.
Backbending. Notice how this pose comes near the end of my practice? I do backbends after I am very, very warm.
A fun Handstand and a moment of upside-down equipoise.
Unwind almost everything with Leg Stretch #3, a version of Twisted Triangle.
Veeparita Korani Mudra: This partial inversion helps to tune down the nervous system for meditation.
- Savasana: Deep, restorative Corpse Pose.
Playing with the dogs again. This time let’s play ROPEY!
Practice what you teach – and teach what you practice. Taking care of your body throughout the day, as when doing the small things is a great reminder that it is not just what you do on your yoga mat that will affect your overall health and vitality. This is the true blessing of staying present and in tune!
Thank you for this article, looks like a lot of fun, every moment and every movement counts. I definitely going to choreograph my own daily practice to have meaningful and enjoyable routine to prepare the body physically and mentally.
Love it! I agree that each of us has the choice to take control of our daily movements to get a better posture. You are very inspiring with your daily pratice. Thanks for sharing 😉
OMG Jill!! That playful dynamic dance picture!!! Made my day ? i love seeing this! It really reminds me that fitness/movement should be FUN and how it could relate to our every day every movement!
Thanks for sharing your practice! This simple breakdown of actions makes so much sense and provides a great template to follow.
Thank you for this post and for sharing an example of your daily practice! Love the violin maintenance analogy 🙂 As a violinist, I have learned the hard way that my body is an equally important instrument. I really do see how every day actions effect my body on a larger scale- my ability to play my instrument is impacted by everything I do. I love that YTU gives us permission to honor small actions, to play and to shake routines and poses up.
Since I started YTU I’ve noticed how I tend to push my hip out to one side at the kitchen counter doing dishes or brushing my teeth. Little things do matter. I was always so focused on my posture while doing yoga. When you start to understand the body more clearly it becomes clear that it’s really everything we do habitually outside of our practice that matters the most.
This piece reminds the reader that nothing is isolated, that awareness of movement is not limited to a time frame, that every moment is a moment to strengthen, improve, and enjoy.
Many ideas fire fly in my head (!) : many superbs attitudes described in the article illuminate my beliefs! J
Of these good words, I want to keep in mind the process of taking care of our body: even in all the smallest things, treat our body with respect and with impeccable form. And go forward gradually by accumulating each of these small gestures towards changes and improvements for what we have most valuable : our self. Posture change, all change.
Beautiful ! Merci !
Thanks Jill for sharing your daily routine! I think the most important is to listen to your body everyday and play with it to do your “training”. We don’t need the same massage or the same exercices routine to respond to our body at the moment!! I’m training people and juste finished my YTU level 1 and my vision is so different right now in every class I teach (Buti Yoga, Pound Fit, HIIT, Spinning). I feel complete right now and I understand Why and How!
Thank you for this reminder, Jill. One of the most important lessons I took away from my recent YTU training with Ariel Kiley was that how you do something is how you do everything. This came up in regards to our sankalpas that each of us crafted throughout the week and meditated on often. It’s easy to justify self-destructive behavior and diminish it’s significance when you promise yourself that when it really counts, you will change. I’m continuing to work on my Sankalpa! I love now to consider how this rings true for not only the mind, but the body too. That every movement in every moment matters. That if you are careless about your posture while washing dishes, that will translate into your posture in tadasana, or your posture while running that marathon. Our bodies and minds deserve better than we treat them!
I can understand how you would be asked this question! Bringing your practice into every moment is essential to our well-being and shows us how to notice all of the bad habits we carry with us everywhere we go. It reminds me of the time I used to carry my toddler on only 1 hip all the time and twisting and turning around all over the place doing what I need to do. I feel so empowered with all that YTU has brought to me already and it feels like just the tip of the iceberg.
Thanks for sharing your routine. “We have choices in every moment” I will use this next time I am standing/sitting around waiting for someone or something because in those times I start feeling trapped. I have the choice to use the time to check in with my posture, alignment and breath instead of letting my mind convince me I am being held against my will.
WoW! Je conserve cette routine pour me l’approprier et je pourrai constater les améliorations dans mon propre corps! Un gros merci Jill!
I enjoyed reading about your daily practice. I especially liked how you remind us that small, daily movements add up (and of course all the fantastic strength training!).
Thanks for sharing, this was awesome to read and see :). It has inspired me to try to incorporate Yoga (not just asana of course), more free movement, with proper alignment/stabilization in more elements of my daily routines.
Hi Jill and all:) I searched for Monk Walks and found this blog:) I freakin’ love that you offer so much strength training as part of Yoga Tune Up. I knew it was in there form watching your DVD’s but now having been in Level 1 all week, I see and appreciate that it is a significant art of your work. Going from a fitness girl/teacher to then a yoga teacher and then having found you via my foray into CrossFit 4 years ago, I love how my instincts are validated by your Yoga Tune Up model. And I have been wondering about your practice, so thanks for sharing this. My favorites in your series of poses include Monk Walks and Frog Crawls, not your typical “yoga” poses! Thank you so much for expanding the definition of yoga. Being at home in your body is yoga and Yoga Tune Up is the best method I have found yet.
Thanks for answering this question in such detail! Many teachers I’ve asked in the past have given vague answers. Your answer not only gives me a glimpse into your personal life, it shows me you’re human! Oh, and it gives me an idea of how to sequence a personal practice of my own.
This is inspiring! And I love that your practice is so much more than a set of physical exercises; incorporating dogs, the outdoors and dancing!! So often our practice looks and feels like work after a while. I’ve started trying to bring a sense of play back into how I train for better movement- jumping in with my ever active 6 year old on the play structures, turning cartwheels together and racing around the yard! At the same time, she is interested in my yoga, my YTU Therapy Balls and loves pouring over my anatomy books with me. I suppose if I wish for her to live in a happy healthy body, I also need to practice what I teach with her!
Thank you for sharing your daily practice, Jill. I like to start my day with a dog walk too. I appreciate the reminders to be more mindful of how we move, sit, etc. throughout the day.
Love the idea of conscious movement throughout the day. Being aware of our movement, posture and alignment 24/7 so that we can practice until we die! Thanks Jill.
I love the simple answer – “I practice what I teach”. We are always growing, improving, changing, and adapting. We must practice what we teach so that we can allow it to grow and develop as needed. Something that sounds great when you think about may not feel right on the mat – and something you discover on the dance floor may be just what you want to bring into the yoga class. I love the connection between our lives and our practice. Thank you so much for sharing!
I LOVE THIS!
I often wonder how others practice, I like to mix up my daily practice and I think I will take a few lessons from your blog and integrate them into my own. I especially like how you integrate some fun and playfulness into your routine. I also believe it’s important to incorporate practice into daily life when you can; your blog is a good reminder to keep the message balls always at the ready and maybe even at the corner of my desk as a reminder to take even two minutes for some practice throughout the day.
Thanks
Playfulness is such an important part of the day. Dancing to my own style of not so graceful Zumba or yoga trance dance or just plain old hilarious 80s style of letting loose sure changes my mood and energetic level. I know that more people need to let loose and not be so hard on themselves with such driving habits and thoughts that intense physical training is a daily must for a sound fitness and health regiment.
Thanks for sharing! It is so true that our “practice” is not just the hour (or more or less) that we may come to our mat, but every moment of every day. I have been challenged to evolve my home practice after having a baby (now a year and a half) and now on the journey of pregnancy number 2…each new adventure in life presents new challenges and new opportunities to create time and space for ourselves and make conscious choices about how to maximize that time. I’d be interested to see how your practice evolves as a mom!
I love how you begin and end with the dogs ( me too) and now a babe too I believe. I suspect the baby fills up some middle time:). It is very refreshing to see hear how you emphasize “impeccable” in all the small things as just the word impeccable makes me sit a little taller and form my thoughts with a little more grace. And practice what I teach – also words that foster accountability to who we are in every moment. Thanks. Rings very true.
What an awesome post, Jill! I love that you acknowledge your history and that your current practice is an integration of many different kinds of movement experiences and practices, and that the real practice is always in this moment, which is always moving, dancing, and evolving. I am currently practicing noticing what kinds of movement feels like home in my body and what kinds of movement I am NOT drawn to, or wouldn’t think to try, or that I outright avoid. This has already had the effect of transforming the transition from downdog into lunges into a living laboratory for my hips and core. I’m very accustomed to shining light on mental/emotional/relational blind spots. Thank you for the invitation in YTU to turn that light on my movement ‘shadow’.
Thanks for sharing your practice! It’s educational. I love how a home practice evolves. Mine has been in a big state of evolution in the past couple of years through my twin pregnancy…and then the hard part: raising twins! Balance and my practice look different than they used to, and I know that will continue to evolve. Now that I’ve been able to sleep through the night I take on more, but a lot of my practice is what you discuss: awareness and focusing on healthy movement during my day. 🙂
Interesting post. I recently drove from NYC to Wilmington DE after a weekend with Lillee Chandra’s Yoga Tune Up class. Ever few miles I caught myself sinking into the seat and was suddenly HIGHLY concerned about my lumbar spine and erector spinae! It was the best posture I’ve ever had behind the wheel!
It all makes sense: the little movements and held postures add up, so do it with conscious intention. When I was younger, my music teachers taught me to play with good posture. 20 years later, I sit up with great posture every time I play without even THINKING about it. If I can apply that to every instance where my posture needs improvement, they too will become second nature.
Thanks Jill. I think this post is awesome and gets the point across that variety is a vital part of a healthy fitness/lifestyle routine. I often find people who are totally wed to a single ideology or type of fitness practice, which isn’t a bad thing, but I think they miss out on the opportunity to develop their bodies more holistically. It’s so important to have balance and thanks for showing your version of it!
Just reading what your daily practice looks like makes me want to get moving! I too have noticed a difference in my body by paying more attention to my form as I move about my day. This blog entry will need to be updated once the baby is born. It will be interesting to see and note how life changes with a little one around!
Thank you for sharing your personal practice…it is inspiring. I am starting to incorporate yoga tune up poses in my daily practice and I have to say that it is working…My posture is better, I feel flexible and gaining strength!
Love it! I’m always wondering how to challenge my daily practice and how other instructors do-this is a great basic template.
Jill,
THANK YOU for providing a realistic portrait of a daily practice. For years movement (not just Yoga) has provided healing and joy in my life and I include dancing, swimming and even baths as part of a healthy practice. All of these (and more) contribute to my overall well being – physically, mentally & emotionally.
Thanks for representing 😉
Yummy, I’m bookmarking this for after I’m done your training. My dog, Foxy, helps me with my well-being, too. 2.5 years ago, I set a goal to go to the beach every week. Something about that enormous, powerful body of water that touches every continent makes me feel present and connected. At the time, I didn’t come close to achieving that goal. However, when I got Foxy, I found out that her favorite thing in the world is playing fetch on the beach. It’s crazy how happy she gets about it. Because of her, I make it out for a run or a walk on the beach at least once a week, often more. It’s nice to have a wellness buddy who’s ALWAYS up for it.
I love my morning walks with my dogs! Fitting in socializing and yoga is fun. I always enjoy a good sweat, but know that when it cant be fit in there is always the present moment to at least have my mental practice of yoga. Even if I could just take the stairs instead of the elevator at work, that is my present moment exercise. The sky is the limit. And there is youtube as well if I am ever bored or uninspired with my usual.
Its almost been a year. Would love to see the new update to this one now, Jill… 😉
Great run down of what you do on a day-to-day basis and some additional movements to add to my own personal practice. The home run for me was how you hold yourself in every moment is the key to your longevity. I certainly was checking in with my core, hips and feet tonight while making a salad and brushing my teeth among other things. Lots of new habits to form!
Jill,
Thank-you for bringing attention to the fact that every moment matters! I often see people that have a very focused movement practice during the time in which they train, but once it’s over, very little awareness is given to their posture. I believe that the habitual movement patterns people use during daily activities are much more influential to our health than the few hours we spend practicing.
Thanks for sharing what you do. Practice makes permanance, and we all have choices everyday in how we move on what we want that to look like. I think with this practice it will help me to be strong and supple as I age.
Bringing what I practice on my yoga mat into my daily life is key to total mind body connection.
It is helpful to see the experts use the practice for themselves. thanks for sharing.
Incorporating integrative body movement into daily life is essential. Sitting in a class for 8 hours (on the floor no less) I am reminded constantly about my forward rolling neck and shoulders and then reeling it in. That is daily practice.
Personal/home practice is vital to health, longevity, and sanity. The biggest misconception I had in the beginning was that it had to look like a yoga class or I had to practice for 90 min. Home practice is a time to explore who you are in all aspects. Try those poses that don’t work for you and figure out why. Through that exploration we find what our body needs to do habitually and balance out those daily life movements that aren’t helping us be our best.
Eventually we take the practice out into our life by consciously correcting the old inefficient postural patterning.
It makes waiting for the subway or driving to work more interesting, productive, even meditative.
Then that in turn enhances the time when we get back on the mat.
This post is inspiring because it reminds me, that we are all so different with unique experiences that whatever it is we teach can be a completely enlightening experience for someone. It’s great that you only teach what you actually practice.
Making every movement count – how true this is! I have been aware of how I sit and stand for many years and now it almost always comes automatically. In fact when I do find myself slouching, it feels very unnatural. The only problem with this postural awareness is that I want to keep correcting ALL of those people I see, shifting from hip to hip with arms crossed, rounded shoulders and pouchy bellies standing in that check out line in front of me!
I was also wondering how you get your arms to look like that! It completely makes sense that although you aren’t working out 24 hours a day, you are ALWAYS active in some way. It’s about finding the little things to keep you moving. Parking further away from the grocery store so you have to walk across the lot, always taking the stairs, getting up to talk to people rather than calling them at work. All the little things count!
After this week of training I find myself correcting my Tadasana where ever I am:)
I really resonate with what you said on the first day: 1) I am a student of my body. 2) I am a student of what I teach. 3) I study my students. If we are teaching and sharing from our personal experience, no one can invalidate the teaching because it was true for us and when we reference back to our experience while studying our students we become relevant teachers who can help our students create an experience of their own. So many students just want to mimic everything the teacher does because they see thru the teacher a result they want to achieve. However with this way of practicing and being a student of what I teach, I can better illuminate the student’s own path to what they need instead of saying, this is what I did and you should too if you want x,y,z.
Getting a template of your daily practice Jill is very helpful. It gives me some ideas as to what I will integrate into my own practice. I like the walk with the dogs. Connecting with the outdoors in this way is so important. In fact I just read a study that said that if you exercise outdoors your creative juices will flow more freely than if you were to do the same exercise indoors. So here’s for doing Yoga Tuneup by the beach!!
Wow! I love how you put the twisted triangle in the corner! Wish I would’ve thought of that today.
For the past year or so I’ve started each practice with therapy ball self massage. It’s amazing how well it wakes me up, gets me breathing deeply, and inspires me to move! Before I started practicing this way, it was so easy for me to convince myself not to practice. Now all I need to convince myself of is to lay on the floor & roll on balls. The rest springs naturally from there!
Yes, every moment does count. As far as your workout, I think the Foam roller is great addition to the YT Balls and Doggies are great for cardio!
This post returns my focus to an inquiry that often resurfaces as a student of yoga – “What are you aligning yourself with?”
There’s a joke I like about this….a student of Iyengar says “You must have proper alignment,” and the student of “Dharma Mittra” says, when you have align yourself with G-d, you will always have good alignment!
At one point, the notion “I align myself with my body” resonated for me. This attitude gave me a (rather generalized view) that ball and socket joints were like male and female parts, our body made to fold like origami…etc.
HOWEVER….this overlooks the very real truth that every body has different proportions…This has led me to YTU. In YTU, being a student of one’s body reveals a very REAL, tactile truth about living and moving well in one’s own body..!
And the inquiry continues!
This post returns my focus to an inquiry that often resurfaces as a student of yoga – “What are you aligning yourself with?”
There’s a joke I like about this….a student of Iyengar says “You must have proper alignment,” and the student of “Dharma Mittra” says, when you have align yourself with G-d, you will always have good alignment!
At one point, the notion “I align myself with my body” resonated for me. This attitude gave me a (rather generalized view) that ball and socket joints were like male and female parts, our body made to fold like origami…etc.
HOWEVER….this overlooks the very real truth that every body has different proportions…This has led me to YTU. In YTU, being a student of one’s body reveals a very REAL, tactile truth about living and moving well in one’s own body..!
And the inquiry continues!
I would add to this: How you hold yourself in every movement amounts to moments that matter to your longevity.
In other words, we have choices to make in every moment about how we use our body to accomplish an action. These choices include our posture while standing in line, talking on the phone, sitting at our desk, during exercise or watching T
This is a great maintenance sequence that preserves all the necessary components of needing to live a contemporary life and making our time count, but also addressing the major functional joint areas that need to stay hydrated and strong. This could also be called the “daily injury prevention sequence” LOL Thank you for practicing what you preach, and for being such an example for so many of us!
I love “Every Moment Counts”, the way you explained it. Sometimes it is not about making every moment die hard and extreme but its about making a CHOICE for balance in every moment. People often ask me, when do you practice? When do you meditate, when do you…etc. etc. etc. And I often say whenever and wherever! In fact, I think we are more successful when we include our “routines” into our daily life. Who says you can’t practice tubular core on the subway, or practice balancing while riding your bike and trying to sit up with no hands, or external rotation and depression of the scapula when carrying groceries home from the store. “Every Moment Counts”! Otherwise, what are we “practicing” for? This is the time to walk this life pain free. We don’t practice posture in class then go slump our way home, at least that is not the point. Begin to see that everything everywhere and at anytime is the moment that counts. Do you live a Yoga Tune Up life? Cause I do! Thanks Jill, love this post! ( now to get some dogs…)
I absolutely agree that bringing your practice to your everyday life is very important. Yesterday as I was driving I suddenly became aware of my spinal posture and adjusted it immediately. The more we become consistently aware of our body alignment, breathing and thought patterns the more we can live the balanced, happy lives we deserve.
Jill, you do have amazing arms! I think Kristine’s comment sums up my thoughts as well: that what is “normal” for our bodies isn’t necessarily what we want to fall back into. Especially since we’re in this body day after day— sitting at our desks, picking up kids, and for the other teachers out there, standing at the front of class, influencing others! As Jill says, our practice is about creating our “new normal.”
I love that you used this opportunity to show that you don’t have to have a rigid 90 minute daily practice. The more we work with our bodies the better we understand what we need on any given day, which might not be a set series to be done ad nauseam.
I am sometimes overwhelmed thinking about how much YTU I want to do and then I distract myself with other classes so this is really helpful. I mostly focus on rolling my upper back everyday and it’s helped me out so much but this is great! I’m excited to try them and knowing that I’m doing the poses Jill is doing every day is reassuring. I appreciate this!
One of the quotes that echoes in my head every day since the training is “your posture follows you like a shadow.” One of my main teachers has always taught that your body knows best, there was a huge focus on alignment but often he would mention that there is value is also letting the body come out of alignment once in a while if that is what feels needed. I am now re-thinking this with regards to my unconscious stance of weighting into one hip, being slightly duck footed when I stand (external rotation) , or hands on my hips with my shoulders rounded forward in internal rotation (opposite of tadasana!) are just further perpetuating the blind spots in my practice on and off the mat. Jill’s words echo in my mind and are a constant reminder to be conscious and present. In just the last couple weeks I am feeling more grounded, steady and confident in my stance and sense of self 🙂
“Every movement, every moment.” The first couple of days of the YTU training, I thought that Jill might have a form of turrets syndrome or something. I kept seeing her snap her head around, or point and quickly retract her arm, and give a certain look, and bark out “Tadasana”. Then I finally figured out that she was correcting people’s posture as they stood and watched a demo or listened to her teachings. “Every movement, every moment.” Then she did it to me! I am now more aware of the way I stand as a result. Hard habits to break!! Next, I need to take this into how I sit. Oh the challenges that YTU throw into your life! Thanks Jill!
Twisted triangle #3 = revolved half moon laying down. I love the use of the walls! I have done the moons against the walls and pressing my hands and legs against the walls to feel how each combination activates the various muscles in my body. My favorite is pressing my extended leg into the wall to assist in the internal rotation of my standing leg’s femur and from there I can twist a bit more to evolve my revolved moon.
Discovering Yoga Tune Up ihas changed my life and my has taken my teaching to a profound level. What I interpreted in this blog post is that the yoga and the movement is within us every single moment and make each moment, each movement count. For example, Jill corrected a student for standing with the hip slanted to one side. Each time we do that, it’s a moment lost of not being in posture and that misalignment could add up over time. Yogis do not have to be on the mat to practice yoga. Yoga is within us in every moment.
Thank you so much, Jill! I have been struggling for a long time with incorporating my own daily practice into my routine. A huge challenge for me is now being in grad school again. I finished my first year have barely done any home practicing. Thank god I got a work study position at a yoga studio near my school because I was able to have a great and convenient way to practice every day or every other day. Having a different class schedule every day, which can sometimes include late night rehearsals, definitely makes having my own regular morning/evening practice a challenge. Posture is something I am constantly working to be aware of and as a singer it is absolutely integral to my success, so reading about keeping your practice in every moment was very inspiring for me. Especially when I consider how much I slouch while seated during class. This will definitely help me to be more mindful. Thanks so much!
This is so important. I lost myself in starting and owning my studio and teaching and stopped doing what I loved. It sent me into a bad place but finally I am starting to come out of it. I was unable to manage a studio, employees and the death of my father. So now, my aim is to get back to doing and sharing – rather then knowing in my head and imparting. When I do “it” with myself whatever that “it” maybe and then share I am a much better teacher. I am still struggling with how to find the time for that private time. I do have it when I am in DR (Dominican Republic) but here in Ottawa I still find I am pulled away by many distractions. It is my present struggle to return to myself.
Making better choices is an ever present challenge full of possibilities…. Sometimes it seems so endless and sometimes so promising! Thank you for your playful take on your practice!
Very inspirational! I love the analogy of the body to a violin and the suggestion that we ‘maintain our precious instrument. Keep it in tune.’ All too often our bodies get neglected in the course of our busy lives. As I move forward, I intend to be more conscious of my own daily practice.
I love the idea that every moment includes choices about how we use our bodies. This is such a simple idea but really revolutionary. I find that, despite my best intentions, I often do things quickly and without consideration for the physical effects. Little things like what bag I use and how I bend down to feed my dogs could lead to problems later…. I try to be mindfully present and this is a nice reminder that mindfulness includes mindful movement. I try to live consciously in my body / mind as much as I can and this is such a great reminder!
I absolutely love this article. Just finishing day 3 of the YTU Level 1 training, and being reminded to come back to my sankalpa, directly relates to how I embody my daily practice and how I stop myself from embodying my daily practice…thank you!!!!
Thank you for the window into Jill world. “I practice what I teach” – sounds like an awesome Sankalpa.
I thought that I was perhaps “obsessed” with my form because of my dance background when a woman commented that something was wrong with me for having great posture in all my pictures. After learning more about Yoga Tune Up in Santa Monica and reading this blog, I’ve realize that I’ve been on the right path for a long time! I can now feel more confident that being aware of my core while I stand, walk, or move anywhere helps me stay strong and it will help me live longer. It’s not an “obsession” (as it was implied by this women) it’s intentional and I can feel more proud of it because I know it has helped me stay fit and healthy in my 20’s. Thanks, Jill!
This was a great read. I teach many movement forms and most are dance related. I obviously love to dance and I do enjoy just cranking up the tunes and going for it as a fun release. However, it is not my “workout”. I was starting to become rather dismayed as to what my own personal practice would be. I am not much of a weight room kind of girl, I don’t cycle, I teach so much that I don’t really take other classes just based on time and well, just a lack of interest in other group fitness programs. Then I came across Yoga Tune Up. I ordered the Therapy Balls and a few DVDs and I am happy to report that I have found my daily practice! I NEVER do fitness via DVD but I am hooked on the Yoga Tune Up DVDs. What is different? I feel like I am actually learning something and not just from you Jill, but I am learning from myself. I am creating new relationships with my body. Like any long term relationship, it is easy to become complacent and accept or be willing to overlook the “flaws”. Also like any long term relationship, sometimes you just have to shake the crap up and excite things again! Stimulate the relationship to something more current and invigorating. I am no longer looking at my injuries as things to work around or just live with. I am looking at how I can heal my body and create a new relationship, and another and another.
Thank you Jill for this work and for helping me to put the spark back into my relationships and for my new daily practice! 🙂
This is indeed inspirational. I can absolutely see how doing this everyday or even most days would keep your body strong and supple deep inside. Pretty on the inside!;) I also have been strictly into yoga and nothing else, making it about breath and trusting that the alignment was right. I rarely get adjusted in class further adding to my sense that what I am doing is aligned. But my onslaught of injuries, which I feel is due to weakness of muscles some from repetitive use, and some from under use has been a wake-up call. I need to do some strengthening in unique ways to get the these spots! Yoga Tune Up has the capacity to do that! So I’m very excited, and I think this routine is amazing way to keep your body supported and mobile without pain!
Make every pose count, I love that. If we can practice using our body correctly in every movement we do, not just on the mat, we can fit our practice into our life.
This is what i love about your method (and teachers who practice/teach outside the box, fuse other traditions with yoga ). I was very rigid for many years in what i thought yoga was or supposed to be. Then life made me to question all that and i started resonate much more with teachers who talked about the brain/body and taught human movement. Hindu mythology and Patanjali are cool AND healthy human movement and propioception are just as divine! We have so many tools to learn about ourselves in today’s world and to overlook the divinity of our human architecture and movement is such a loss. When we bring our attention and awareness to how we are holding ourselves, how we move, where our weaknesses are, we are truly bringing Light into our being. This is such an empowering practice to be embodied.
Thanks for this,
I’m always curious as to what other teachers do/practice for themselves. I remember during this past shoulders immersion this topic came up as we were discussing shoulder stand and plow pose. How some teachers still teach these poses even though they themselves do not practice them because of injuries that could have arose from postures such as these. Not that you should only teach what you can do but that the students’ safety always comes first and that we do our best to educate ourselves as teachers.
This is a lot to do in one day – especially with the costume changes! I did notice there was no vacuum, broom or dust mop used as props. Seriously, though – this is the first time I have come back from Kripalu without some sort of ache or pain. Thanks again for such a wonderful week. It (and you) was/are amazing!
YES! Variety is the spice of life! I love your daily practice! I sprinkle my practice throughout the day with dog walks, yoga tune up® therapy balls, dynamic hip openers, squats, planks, and other fun stuff! I build my practice around my life and my life around my practice.
If there is a net take away from the YTU training is that “how you do anything is how you do everything” and that “your posture follows you like a shadow.” The commitment to practice and attention to detail that Jill brings into her daily life translates into her teaching so clearly, and it really resonates with my personal healing process in that the small changes that I have made really added up to big impact. Thanks for being such an inspiration Jill!
I love this inspiring portrait of Jill’s daily practice. Thanks for sharing it. It serves as an important reminder that the simple actions matter the most and variety is also extremely beneficial.
Over the past few days in class, I’ve learned that the smallest movements can have a great impact. I’m more aware of how I’m sitting, standing, and my posture. I’m trying to incorporate the “every movement counts” into my daily life now.
Jill, thanks for the great blog post, and awesome demonstration pictures as well! I just started taking some yoga classes at my gym a few weeks ago (after talking about it for years) and I already feel much better physically. Anyway, I’m still quite sloppy with my poses, but you’ve got me inspired to concentrate on the quality of my workout. I’ll be working on that aspect in my next class.
This is a very important post. It is essential to rebalance the body every day and practice what a person teaches to improve their teaching and their sensations and awareness. Thanks also Jill for all the information and classes in Toronto Yoga Conference. You’re a fantastic Teacher!.
My daily practice is developing and I love how interconnected your practice is to the rest of your life. Your asymmetrical twist triangle with a block looks flawless how do you keep your hips rotated?
For me, it’s recently become increasingly difficult to maintain a daily practice. This is one thing I need to work on – and seeing your post helped me to realize daily yoga doesn’t always need to come in the form of a 1 hour class. Thanks!!
This was really great to see Jill’s personal routine. It helped to put everything into perspective and remind myself that it is so imperative to practice what we preach. Also, love the dogs! I’m a huge animal lover 🙂
Awesome post Jill. I am back to my personal practice and realizing more than ever that its about impeccable form when teaching- that is a practice in itself and an even more challenging one because you are so focused on students. Also, the Un-doing- the counter posses, stretches and rolling out/massage that is needed for those of us teaching all day long!
And of course- walking my puppy is bliss and some cardio too! Plus I am taking dance class again- YAY!
Thanks Jill!
Claire
This was a wonderful read; it is so true. We forget that our lives require so much of our body’s effort to stand or sit upright and mindfully.
I love that you find the time to do all these wonderful activities despite your busy life and that each activity is so special.
Keeping this constant balance is a challenge; thanks for your inspiration.
Loved to read your self-care routine. I miss having you here everyday leading us into our practice. I am in a bit of withdrawal. Since our training I’ve been using the balls almost every day but I miss being in class. I’ve become a part of your in-home program. It’s the next best thing along with my other vids. It makes may body happy. Need to keep up my daily morning routine. I don’t want to slip back into old habits! This was a lovely reminder. Sending you love from NYC! XO
Looking at this blog, I am deeply inspired. I love the diversity of your practice with the use of different props and friends! And, as I have a puppy, the walks and playtime are a big part of my day- meditate with puppy!
Thank you.
This is very inspiring for me as an aspiring yoga teacher, to be aware of my body and my movements in my daily life and having the fun aspect of exercise be present at all times!
This is a great post! I love that “every movement counts” and the “small things”. I have a scoliosis/high hip pattern that I must work with on a daily basis and I’ve modified it alot but these things I’ve got to keep in mind always or that bad pattern will creep back in. Every movement really does count!