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My background is in sports massage. That was my entry into anatomy and the human body. It was the start of a life long passion for learning and teaching and it was my initial focus with Movement Restored. As a level 4 qualified therapist I was able to work with acute injuries and over time I started to notice that a lot of these injuries had similarities.
Firstly that most, if not all of these problems, were movement related. When a body can’t do something properly, and you ask it to repeatedly, it will be forced to compensate and eventually break down.
Secondly, a lack of movement variation was also a factor. Not moving enough through the day, modern sedentary lifestyles and repetitive jobs seemed to be a common theme.
My third realisation was that your body doesn’t know or care about specific sport. It just knows movement and intensity and it doesn’t matter if a person runs, gyms or pushes a trolley around the shops, it still needs to move well or you’ll be risking pain and injury. The process of moving better is the same regardless of what you want to do with that movement. Pain will affect your life whether it’s in the gym or just getting out of bed.
It dawned on me that if I could go further back, beyond the initial problem, then I could prevent it or at least reduce the chance of it happening. A body that moves like a body should, is a body that is strong and capable and able to do more of what we need it to.
This realisation coincided with me taking up yoga. Like everyone else I started yoga to try and get more flexible and compliment my gym sessions. I found that although I enjoyed a regular practice it didn’t change my body in the ways that I was looking for. It was only when I tried a sports yoga class that I really connected with my body and started to feel different. I could feel the benefits and I really started to get an idea of how this could help my clients.
I researched the practice of sports yoga and discovered it was created by Sarah Ramsden, the yoga teacher at Manchester United who worked with the likes of Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo. I spent the next year commuting to London to take part in Sarah’s teacher training and it completely reframed how I think about the body. I gained a more thorough understanding of movement, compensation and disfunction. I discovered a new passion for human anatomy, and I haven’t stopped learning or practicing since!
There is still a place for massage in my work and I will use it when appropriate but what I really want to do with my work is go beyond that. If I can train you how to move, how to control your body, how to balance out life and sport and how to get strong where you need to be, then I can dramatically reduce your chance of pain, restriction, or injury. Not just now but for the rest of your life.
I’ve gone on to take many more movement related courses to improve my knowledge and I’ve taken something from each of them. I consider myself an eternal student of human potential and I will continue to get better at what I do. I love teaching classes as much as I love one to one coaching and I have also joined Sarah’s teaching team to help deliver her course to the next batch of sports yoga teachers.
I fully believe that your body is more capable than you realise, and I want to show you how to realise that potential.
And that is my story so far. Outside of movement, teaching and coaching I am a husband and a father of two. I spend time with my family in nature, I read a lot of books and I watch a lot of UFC.
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