This is the fourth in our series of Getting to Know Your Instructor. Meet Gigi Tynan the most recent addition to our team at Live & Breathe Pilates.
When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to become a dancer.
What inspired you to become a Pilates teacher?
When seeing the benefits of what Pilates did for my own body, I was inspired to share that knowledge with other people and become a teacher.
What’s your favourite thing about teaching?
The job satisfaction from increasing clients body awareness and seeing them move more efficiently and also the pain relief associated with relieving physical imbalances such as back pain.
What’s your least favourite thing about teaching?
The anti-social hours!
What’s your favourite Pilates exercise? Why?
Book opening in the Matwork. It’s a very basic exercise but I love the feeling after doing it, no matter how advanced the class is – I’ll always add it into my class plan, it improves posture and spine health by mobilising it through rotation and shoulder and outer hip mobility.
What Pilates exercise do you like the least? Why?
Hundred. I find that clients can fatigue quite quickly and can lose alignment the breathing rhythm during the exercise.
Describe your teaching style in less than ten words.
Flow. Movement in all planes. Dynamic.
What are your top tips for a client starting out with Pilates?
Be patient – it may feel at first quite slow moving but you definitely will feel the difference in your body after a few sessions. Concentrate on each of the movements, take those 45 to 60 minutes to really listen to what the instructor is saying and integrate it into your own body. Listen to your body, don’t force your body to do a movement it’s not ready to do, take the more modified version of the exercise if it means that you do it more efficiently and with better alignment.
What are your top tips for clients on progressing their Pilates practice?
Try and get to a Pilates class at least three times a week. Practice some of the movements at home. Take what corrections your instructor tells you on board and try and improve more each time you do it.
Who is someone who inspires you? Why?
My educator and mentor Liz, she’s a craniosacral therapist and Pilates educator with Polestar Pilates. She inspires me because of the wealth of knowledge she has about the human body, movement and healthy living, showing me how to move more efficiently and teaches me how important it is to look after my own health in order to have longevity in my career.
When you’re not teaching what do you like to do?
I have a social media blog called YUMible that covers all things healthy like food and exercise, so in my spare time I like to cook new healthy recipes or check out new places to eat out in Dublin or abroad.
Tell us one thing we might not know about you.
I was in one of The Coronas music videos.