Educator Highlight: Lynn Peterson PT, NCPT

We recently interviewed Polestar Educator Lynn Peterson PT, DPT, NCPT of Jacksonville Florida.  Learn more about Lynn Peterson and her studio Synergy Studio in Jacksonville Florida. Polestar: What do you love about teaching? LP: The sparkle in the student’s eye when they “get it”, the tears that come when a patient/client realizes that they have found the thing that is truly going to change their quality of life when their movement patterns change from dysfunctional to functional. Polestar: What is your current inspiration? LP: My staff, they are an exceptional group of professionals who bring their best game with them every day, they inspire me to give my best to them as well as to our clients. Polestar: Why Pilates? LP: Because my eyes lit up 20 years ago when I “got it” a few minutes into my first Pilates session as the realization took hold that this was how we as PT’s were going to not only get all of those TrAs firing up in our patients but also have it translate in to their functional activities. As a Physical Therapist I love that the creative side of my brain gets to dance with the analytical side every day as the lines between therapy and the pure joy of movement dissolve and the client’s nervous system gets the information that it needs to boost their quality of movement. Polestar: What do you hope to convey in your teaching? LP: I like to make the movements relevant to the individual I am teaching, I take the time to learn what motivates them and build from there. In group classes, I think about telling a story through the movement sequences often guided by 2 or 3 images, adding another detail with each progression. Polestar: Where would you love to Vacation to? LP: Scotland because my grandparents emigrated to Canada from Edinburgh, they were larger than life for me growing up. Pleasing them was my primary motivation to pursue training in Highland Dancing as a wee girl. Polestar: What is your favorite Quote? LP: “Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.” -Martha Graham Polestar: Describe your movement style. LP: Intelligent or perhaps more accurately, as evidence based as possible. I do not regard Joseph Pilates’ work as frozen in time but instead as an ever-evolving philosophy of movement. Polestar: Do you have a favorite apparatus? LP: For my own workouts I have to go with chair because of the unapologetic way that it makes me work on my alignment. For new clients the Reformer because I love how the work makes sense to them so quickly on it. For rehabilitation clients I choose the Trapeze Table. I can’t really choose just one favorite. Polestar: What are you reading? LP: Being Mortal by Atul Gawande and Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

Learn more about Lynn Peterson and her studio Synergy Studio in Jacksonville Florida.  Registration is open for the Pilates Comprehensive Teacher Training.

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