Why are HomeBody lessons unique?

HomeBody lessons add layers of nuance that awaken the body at various stages.  Instead of pushing for more weight, more reps, longer hold times, HomeBody challenges the mover to bring more of her awareness to her movement intentions.  Her personal insights and feedback help guide the lesson.

HomeBody combines the benefits of internal experience through somatics and external awareness through integrative strength training to shape a truly versatile and resilient body.

This is not a program that is done to you.  It is a process of discovery that is done in communion with me, your guide, and your own body-mind.  What comes up within our time together is reflective of what we both bring to the lesson. There is no Right and no Wrong. There is only what's right and wrong for your body. We will investigate those parameters together and learn to decipher your body's responses to various kinds of movement.

How Does HomeBody Compare With Physical Therapy?

HomeBody is a movement experience that goes beyond a formulaic approach to diagnosis and injury to bridge the gap between physical therapy and regular fitness programs.

HomeBody provides the underlying movement fundamentals that often get lost in an exercise class or oversimplified in a physical therapy office.

While there are very talented physical trainers and therapists out there, a vast majority do not combine a holistic approach to their coaching. 

HomeBody takes a somatic approach in directing you to sustainable movement practices. Amy takes as her guide the unique experiences of your moving body and your feedback. With this information, she is able to draw upon her own understanding of the inherent systems of communication residing in the body and draw the next piece of awareness out of you. 

In this process, you -- the mover -- are sovereign, doing the work and judging the outcomes, while Amy is your guide, the messenger, who interprets your body’s messages, so that you can make the most nourishing, restorative and generative movement choices possible.

Wanna know more about the Amy’s scope of practice? Check out her Movement Approach.


What is movement coaching?

Movement coaching is a type of mentorship specifically looking at one's movement patterns

Who can benefit?

Everyone moves. And everyone can learn to move in ways that best suits his or her unique design. While there are lots of ways to get to the same goal, this is not a one-size-fits-all program — it requires the mover to engage heart, mind, and spirit. 

 

If you desire freedom and comfort within your physical body,

If you wonder how to break patterns that limit your movement or cause further injury,

If you seek relief from past and current injury or desire to remain injury-free,

If you are, were, or plan on being pregnant and seek to understand the birthing process while honoring your body's wisdom,

If you desire to find stronger connections within your current movement practice and your body…

 

HomeBody maintains a deep commitment to individual needs, goals, and intuitions. Both your feedback and your body’s natural response help shape the program. Be willing to listen within to engage the body fully and its relationship to the world around it.

This program is NOT for you if prefer

  • fast-paced workouts that do not require specificity,

  • time-based goals that put your body on a schedule,

  • cardiovascular workouts,

  • a technique that you can learn and repeat

What are the general goals of any HomeBody program?

The primary goal for every mover is to support the body’s healing process.

We do this by addressing your body’s needs in real time. The movement agenda for the day is based on your answers to questions concerning your current feelings, sensations, energy levels, and physical ease.

 

Every HomeBody program endeavors to:

  • Seek your most efficient movement choices

  • Learn the language of the moving body in order to work in partnership with it

  • Create a new experience of fitness and wellness

What can I expect in a typical homebody lesson?

Every lesson begins with breathing. How we breathe determines how we sense our weight and connection to the earth. Once rooted, we are better leveraged to experience our authentic and sustainable strength moving through space.

 

Other explorations include

  • Sensing the contrast between doing and non-doing

  • Embodying anatomy through images, touch, and visualization to inform movement intentions

  • Exploring new pathways within the body that reduce injury and chronic pain

  • Releasing the body-mind with restorative and meditative movement

  • Addressing specific needs or curiosities that your body brings into the studio

What is your cancellation policy?

Due to the nature of individualized wellness instruction, it is imperative that HomeBody participants provide 24 hours’ notice in order to cancel a scheduled appointment without charges added to individual sessions or series.  This policy gives you an incentive to maintain your commitment to your wellness practice. It also supports Amy’s ability to maintain a full and organized schedule.

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

What if I'm late to our scheduled appointment?

Life happens, and sometimes you will be running late. While I do my best to accommodate schedules, any last-minute changes requested less than 24 hours in advance are not guaranteed. If you are running late, we will work within the time frame we have set up in advance.

How do I get started?

If you’d like to know more, wander through the blog to get my perspective on movement and healing. If you feel inspired, make an appointment for a personal consultation, wherein we will explore your movement patterns in depth. If you have a question, contact me!  

Do you work with men?

Absolutely! For anyone suffering from chronic ailments or injuries, this work is foundational. Men as well as women can benefit, as it strips away compensatory habits that have masked and exacerbated the source of pain.

I want to lose weight. Can you help me?

As a restorative wellness program, the goal of every HomeBody lesson is in facilitating healing by looking at systemic sources of pain & injury, instead of simply looking at the injuries, themselves. Excess weight is often held by a body that isn't receiving what it needs to feel safe, secure and confident. That may be a result of psycho-emotional dis-ease or lifestyle choices. While HomeBody addresses the needs of the entire body through movement, it doesn’t incorporate high intensity exercises if they can’t be sustained by foundational strength.  Weight loss will be addressed as part of our process of mind-body healing, but it will not be the sole focus.

What's the difference between fitness and wellness?

Fitness is a methodology concerned with balancing alignment and movement patterns so that the body feels strong and vital to go about everyday tasks as well as more strenuous activities.

Wellness is a state of being that is influenced by our lifestyle choices. We manage our wellness through self-care rituals, stress reduction, work-life balance, and the flow between healthy movement and nourishing rest.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES HERE

What are somatics?

Somatics are an approach to bodywork and movement training that is concerned primarily with how one experiences herself from within and how that experience is woven into her relationship to the external world. By emphasizing the internal physical perspective, she gains insight into injury caused by elusive habits. By bridging the internal and external worlds, she broadens her awareness of the body moving through space.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SOMATICS HERE

 

What is Sustainable Strength?

Sustainable Strength is a movement approach that looks at how the body organizes as a means for building deep, authentic strength. Once these patterns are understood, the body is able to shed inhibitive patterns that will create injury over time.

The approach fosters muscular and fascial connections throughout the body, spacial relationships through bones, the force of gravity as it creates leverage for larger range of motion, and more. Resistance exercises are incorporated to create feedback and support the body’s changing patterns.

Sustainable Strength is based on an accumulation of knowledge, including The Pilates Method and Body Mind Centering.

 

What is embodiment?

Awareness of the body-whole comes from our direct experience with each of its parts. Embodiment is achieved through visualization and movement techniques that challenge the body’s perception of itself. When fully embodied, we become fully present to the physical, energetic, and emotional aspects of any given movement, allowing us to respond thoughtfully and in accordance with our greatest truth.

 

What is embodied anatomy?

In order to move the body free from limiting patterns that cause continued pain and injury, we have to go below the pattern and experience the body in its natural design -- before life's experiences shaped our tendencies and perspective. Embodied anatomy is a movement and visualization practice that looks at anatomy through the lived experience.  Using pictures and models as aids to help us visualize various structures, we then turn inward to our own unique physicality.  Using breath, hands-on guidance, and movement, our anatomy comes to life. This process helps us get to know and express the various parts of ourselves.

 

I'm not comfortable with touch. Do you have to touch me?

Touch is a large part of learning to move the body through space and time. We become habituated to the ways we normally move, so to understand new reference points, it’s important that the body receive feedback through the skin -- our largest sensory organ.

Touch is one way, but not the only way.

While there is no shame in wishing not to be touched, working to understand this boundary is part of our healing process.

We can discuss this further during your consultation.

The primary concern for every HomeBody student is that she feel her comfort in order to move her body freely.