by Kristin Williams, PT, DPT
This month we’re focusing on reintroducing LYT to our community and the global audience. If you read Lara’s blog about The Story of LYT a couple of weeks ago, you know what makes this method and its effects on the body so special. Today I want to share with you what it was about LYT that drew me to it initially and how I got to where I am today.
Back in 2010, I was working full-time in an outpatient orthopedic physical therapy clinic in Louisville, Kentucky, and treating patients with a variety of diagnoses. I started to get a whole host of referrals for injuries that occurred in yoga. Most people were coming to me with wrist, hip, back, and shoulder injuries, which we ended up attributing at least in part to what they were doing in the practice. Around this same time, my husband got a job in Princeton, New Jersey, where I would be transitioning from full-time to part-time work. It was the perfect opportunity for me to check out what in the world people were doing in yoga and why they might be getting hurt.
It only took one traditional vinyasa class for me to come to recognize that at least half of the people in class were putting their bodies into compromising postures and at a high risk of injury. At the same time, however, I was drawn to the challenge I found in the practice and became a regular student. I started offering free physical therapy screens at a local studio as a way to give back to the community. It was at one of these screens that someone told me about Lara’s studio, which was just around the corner at the time…so I went to check it out.
What I was first struck by was how challenging the practice was, despite not trying to contort my body into deep end-range yoga poses. I fell in love with the blueprint, specifically the RESET, which I felt prepared the body so well for what it was being asked to do in the practice. Two things I had noticed in many of the traditional vinyasa classes I took elsewhere were that people weren’t ready for what they were being asked to do and that they were trying to imitate the teacher, who was usually hyperflexible. For example, if the teacher put their leg behind their head, the student was going to try to do it too, biomechanics be damned. I found myself both cringing and holding my breath, just waiting for people to get injured throughout each and every class. So the LYT Method was a refreshing change…it wasn’t easy, but it was both safe and sustainable.
I also loved the education that students were receiving in each class. The themes were fun too, but it was the attention to moving well and how to take that good movement off the mat that spoke to me as a physical therapist. It was so reminiscent of what I was doing on a regular basis in the clinic. So I decided to go through the LYT teacher training in 2014. I remember being floored by how much anatomy Lara covered in the training (and secretly thrilled that I already knew it all like the back of my hand haha). I loved that biomechanics were heavily focused on and still creativity was applauded. When I graduated, I started teaching at the studio twice a week and the rest is history.
Over the last 10 years, I’ve watched LYT go from being a local movement to a global phenomenon. The passion of the teachers we train all over the world to help people move better for life is awe-inspiring. As we say in LYT, you don’t need an advanced degree to be the expert of your own body. I have always been so thankful for my PT degree, as it is what has allowed me to treat myself when things go awry. My LYT practice has taught me to move in a variety of ways to avoid age-related injuries. My goal as a LYT teacher is to educate people about their bodies and help them to help themselves for life.
On that note, I’ll see you on the mat.
Xoxo,
Kristin
