we NEED

An embodied

FITNESS

CLASS

Using somatic training techniques and embodied cuing, participants of Love + Muscles will truly connect with the body and let it be the minds REAL partner in enhancing power, range of motion, flexibility, and sexy ass muscles.

If yoga, calisthenics, a night club, and a TED talk had sex … this class would be its bad ass love child.

INTRODUCING

LOVE AND

MUSCLES

Set to a professional DJ mix,

Love & Muscles is

the intersection between

self love, vanity, power,

and 3 dimensional body awareness.

  • Yeah that description above sparks some curiosity right? Ok so here’s how this class runs.

    1. We get grounded AF. We announce to ourselves or to the group or to me what we are feeling in the moment. We take literal seconds to just stop and think about what is really going on in our bodies and nervous systems.

    2. We either shake some shit out and lay down or we lay down right away and STFU and feel stuff, everywhere. We energetically connect to the parts of us that we are about to use for over an hour. We connect to the desire we have to be there and what we are there for with no judgement. You here just to get sexier? Great, we connect to that. You here to transform your mood, spirit, injury, trauma? Great, we connect to that.

    3. We workout, hard. I’ll take you through a remixed pilates and yoga combinations and punctuate them with calisthenics while non stop weaving in cues for body awareness down to the cells and blood. I’ll challenge you to find the parts of you that have been asleep for hours, days, years, and wake them up. I’ll introduce life coaching concepts that ABSOLUTELY match up with the workout experience.

    4. We lengthen and loosen the areas that might have overprotected you during the workout. This is inevitable in a workout. Your body is protecting you non stop, so after the rigor of the workout we will move and communicate with the body in order to bring it back to safety.

    5. We honor what our body, mind, and resilience has done for us.

    6. Reflect with each other.

  • Mid + level yogis / pilates peeps. People with exercise experience that love what happens to their body after a great workout.

    First named “FORTIFY+”, this class was made to improve the physique, proprioception, coordination and power for male ballet dancers. Now offered to the world as Love+Muscles, this class is made for those that can handle a mid level yoga or pilates class. No you don’t have to have done either, but if you are in a condition where you can do either without injury, this class is for you. If you are a gym rat, this class would be a secret weapon to stay uninjured and amplify your ability to target.

  • The fitness industry has been throwing around “mind-body connection” for decades and I gotta tell ya … it’s mostly been fluff. Most fitness experiences (even yoga) train you how to connect the mind to the body. But how can you call it connection if only one part is making commands - the mind? It is not until a teacher learns how to use cues to build SENSEational awareness for the practitioner that a true connection happens. And when it does … Damn does that shit work. Feeling is believing y’all.

  • Not really. But I’m a DJ so… you never know what I’ll throw at you.

  • Where do you want it?

    A version of this class was done virtually for male ballet dancers and was amazing. It can be done at a yoga style studio or even a night club. Text me following the text guide below if you want this at your favorite space.

    If a tally of 20+ happens in a particular request option - a class will be launched.

    Price will depend on space but probably around $25 for a 75 minute experience.

  • The music is everything.

    It’s easy for one to make a space satisfy the olfactory nerve (smell), it’s easy to make it look nice (sight), but sound? … sound that really motivates and guides us - that shit is hard AF.

    It takes serious skill to create a sound story that guides our nervous system from ground >>> to power >>> to enlightenment.

    It takes a “shamanic” DJ of sorts and it’s something I’ve spent hundreds of hours studying, experiencing, and practicing.

    There is a reason why dancing to a playlist at home is not as transformative as going to a live DJ set at a club.

    The same thing applies to a fitness class for me. When the music matches the story told by the fitness class, every part of the experience is heightened. So are the results.

  • I started my career as a movement specialist at the age of 14 coaching gymnastics to the little ones. Built my skills to teach elite level gymnastics under the mentorship of a Sport Psychologist and Dean of Exercise Science at Rutgers University. I taught dance and choreography - got certified in Pilates - became a Pilates Teacher Trainer with the Pilates Academy International - Opened a state of the art, fully equipped studio with my mother (who used to win aerobics competitions in the 80s and became and award winning fitness program director and is my mentor) - studied embodiment and somatic therapy applications to exercise - created and developed online fitness coaching - private trainer. My experience as a fitness, movement and embodiment coach spans 26 years.

Text me:

“Your Name” + “Love and Muscles”

to get on the sms guest list.

I’m tallying up requests from different cities too. If you want this class in your city or preferred yoga / fitness space add that to your text!

Sent: “Sam Smith / Love and Muscles / Catskill NY / Catskill Yoga Club”

Received: “Hey! Thanks for the text, this is Michael V. I’ll add you to the tally and message you when something close by happens!”

Wanna Co-create an event?

host LOVE & MUSCLES?

got someone i should be in touch with?

Or just have an idea of a place / event that would be a good fit?

Let me know >>>

LISTEN TO VISCERAL SOUND ON SOUNDCLOUD

LISTEN TO VISCERAL SOUND ON SOUNDCLOUD

Photo Credit: @pixeljournalism