Meet Trina Altman, a member of our teaching team who teaches Yoga Tune Up® at Equinox Santa Monica and Equinox Palos Verdes, Pilates Deconstructed™ Reformer classes at The Moving Joint in Mar Vista, and YTU Teacher Trainings nationally.
How did you discover Yoga Tune Up® and why did you decide to become a teacher?
I discovered Yoga Tune Up® before YTU was even official! I took a workshop with Jill Miller at Yoga House in Pasadena in 2007 while visiting relatives in LA and fell in love with the work right away! I purchased every single DVD and the upper body “Jill Miller Yoga” self-massage CD that came with a 8.5 x11 piece of paper with some black and white pictures of the various ball locations. I lived in Iowa at the time and immediately began integrating what I learned in the workshop, DVDs and CD into my classes. When my husband and I moved to LA in 2010 and I got an email from YogaWorks about the Level 1 training, I knew I had to take it…the rest is history!
What advice would you give a new student just starting a YTU practice?
Enjoy the process of uncovering your body blind spots and the empowerment that comes with a deeper sense of embodiment. You are now on a lifelong journey of somatic exploration.
The Yoga Tune Up motto is “Live better in your body”. What does that mean to you?
Learning to “Live better in your body” requires a passion for self-knowledge and self-care. These are two very important concepts that I have learned over the past 5 years from practicing and teaching Yoga Tune Up®. I feel fortunate that I now have the tools AND the knowledge to help myself and others to “Live better in their bodies” on a daily basis.
If you could only choose one YTU movement or therapy ball technique to take with you on a desert island, what would it be?
Lillee Chandra’s “Dock Block” technique for the upper trapezius!
Here’s how to tame your upper trapezius: