meet maria.
Movement has been a focal point in my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up I spent my summers running, exploring, and playing. Soccer, track and field, and cross country became my happy place. In college competitive sports made way for new explorations in many different movement modalities I felt at home in my body.
Then I had my first child. I tried going back to the movement classes I had come to love before and during my pregnancy: yoga, Pilates, barre, strength training, NIA, and I quickly realized that something felt off. Way off. Yes, I had a baby at home and that can change things (A TON!), but I felt different in my body. My body felt foreign to me. Not only could I not do the things that came so easily to me before baby, but when I tried there was a huge disconnect. After going back to running, I injured my knee and quickly went to PT who told me I had a diastasis recti. She thought that it was somehow connected. This was so intriguing to me as I had always thought of the body as a sort of piece meal. You had a knee injury, you treat the knee. Shoulder injury? Work on the shoulder! I hadn’t connected the seemingly obvious dots that we are ONE body, and an injury in one part can lead to compensations and injuries in another.
After having my second child, I decided to give my body time to heal before getting back into intentional movement. Once I felt ready to start working out again, I searched for movement programs to heal diastasis and found MuTu, which gave me a basic understanding of how movement can impact the core and pelvic floor. However, it felt very surface level. So I kept looking, and that is when I discovered Restore Your Core®. This is when the lightbulb went off. It was so comprehensive, educational, and empowering. I started feeling stronger and learned so much in a few short weeks. I healed my diastasis. After finishing the 12 week program, I did it again. After attending a workshop with the creator of RYC®, Lauren Ohayon, I felt called to become a RYC® teacher so I could share my excitement about RYC® with more than my friends and family (who were kind enough to always listen to me talk about ALL the things I was learning!!). I earned my certification in early 2020, just as the pandemic hit, and spent two years offering RYC® group classes and individual sessions via Zoom, both locally, nationally, and internationally. Since 2022, I have been offering small and large group classes and individual sessions in person to very enthusiastic students.
In June of 2024, I became a Certified Yoga Teacher through the amazing Heart & Bones Modern Yoga Teacher Training, and have added so many amazing tools to my toolbox.
I love this work. I love seeing people discover new things about their bodies. To feel more connected to themselves. To know that healing is possible. It never stops amazing me how capable we are when we’re guided by knowledgeable people who are invested in us, and when we learn to trust the innate wisdom our bodies posses.
HOW I CAN HELP YOU
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Restore Your Core®
Restore Your Core® is a proven movement modality that focuses on illuminating movement patterns and blindspots, and creating a more functional body to heal core and pelvic floor injuries. It is ideal for those dealing with incontinence, diastasis recti, pelvic organ prolapse, low back pain, and weak core. By learning and working on your body’s compensation patterns, you create more strength, function, and body awareness to allow you to return to your favorite activities, be it chasing after your kids, or running a 5K. Restore Your Core® can be taught in group classes as well as individually.
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Customized Movement
Having a movement background in a breadth of movement practices, including yoga, Pilates, running, and barre, I can customize classes to suit you and your goals! Do you want to increase load in your movement practice, start incorporating more cardio, or work on your gait? I’m here to guide you in your goals in a safe and sustainable way for your body.