Meet the Teacher Trainer: Dinneen Viggiano |

A Therapeutic Movement Educator with over 15 years’ experience, Dinneen Viggiano is a Yoga Tune Up® & Roll Model® Teacher Trainer, a NeuroKinetic and CranioSacral Therapist and a Certified Nutrition Counselor. She teaches at Yoga Works NYC, Equinox, EvenFlow Yoga, and Kripalu.

How/when/where did you first learn about YTU and what interested you most?

In 2001 I dropped in to one of Jill’s Master classes during the YTU Teacher Training at Yoga Works in NYC. I remember thinking “What the heck is going on here?!” in one moment and marveling at how it seemed irreverent, intimidating and inviting all at once. The anatomical context appealed to my inquisitive, intellectual mind while the physical practice & breath cues alighted new sensibilities in my body. I knew right there that I was “all in”.

How did YTU training challenge your pre-existing movement, yoga, or fitness knowledge and training?
Coming in to YTU Teacher Training I had already been teaching yoga for over a decade. As an experienced yoga teacher, I was under the impression that “yoga fixes everything”. If it hurt, I stretched more. It’s because of YTU that I finally understood the inverse relationship between flexibility and stability. Teaching yoga taught me preliminary skills to help people get in to their bodies, while YTU taught me how to see those bodies (and their individual restrictions) in anatomical 3D.

What has been the biggest epiphany/change in your personal movement practice?

The biggest change in my personal practice is actually being able to move/play/practice everyday without pain! At any given point I am strong and stable enough to throw or kick a ball, climb a wall, ride a bike and keep up with my 11 year old son. 

How has your teaching evolved since incorporating YTU? Have you explored other movement practices or teachings that you might not have otherwise?

My teaching has evolved so that each class, workshop and training is a creatively inspired event. My students expect the unexpected and I’ve come to realize that this offers me enormous creative license as a teacher! YTU trainings and immersions have reignited my desire to learn. Since taking the Level 1 Teacher Training 5 years ago, I’ve completed 6 other trainings (nutrition/anatomy/dissection/movement) and like many of our fabulously talented teacher trainers, those experiences inform and evolve my YTU base in exciting ways.

What is your current favorite YTU ball sequence or pose?

Love me some powerful Prasarita Lunges! I love how they feel in my body and I find that it’s a great pose from which to reinforce positive pelvic-spinal mechanics. When I teach it, I call it Olympic Speed Skater adding in the arms and hilarious sound effects “Swishhh swishhhh swishhhh…”

Dinneen is also a spondylolisthesis, scoliosis and degenerative disc “survivor”, and her passion is helping others to find back pain relief through Retrain Your Back Pain and reducing systemic inflammation with plant-based nutrition coaching (Phytolistic) More information on Dinneen and her teaching schedule can be found here.