NY FitMama May' 09 Participants and Sponsors
NY Fitmama Coordinators
Frances Darnell
Frances Darnell, a prental and postpartum Pilates instructor in Brooklyn, NY, is the head coordinator of NY FitMama. NY Fitmama is afun filled fitness event for moms. Frances explains that the idea for NY FitMama came from,"In my workwith moms I have seen what a big job being a mom is. It can be difficult to take time for yourself to accomplish your individual health and fitness goals. When I had the opportunity to create a project that would make a difference in the community, this seemed like a great way to support moms. By creating community around fitness and health we hope to inspire moms to lead active healthy lifestyles, and lead as an example for their children. Happy, healthy moms create a more peaceful world." Darnell created the project while participating in a Landmark Education leadership program. Part of the coursework was to create a project that benefits the community. Landmark Education is an international training and development company, who is known for offering their flagship course The Landmark Forum (www.landmarkeducation.com).
Charlotte Blake
Charlotte Blake is a pre/post natal certified personal trainer, dancer, and cardio sculpt, cycling, and pilates instructor with her pilates certification from the Kane School of Core Integration. Charlotte works with people of all ages to better their strength, confidence, well being, and body awareness.Her classes areholistically basedfocusing onworking correctly and efficiently. While all her clients range in size, shape, and age, working with pregnant and postpartum women has been a huge focus. Charlotte works one on one and in group settings to help prepare, strengthen, and rehabilitate a woman’s body during this remarkable period.
Panel Moderator
Chana Balk
Chana Balk is the owner of Baby Bites Brooklyn, a company that hosts educational and social events for moms and expectant moms. Chana started Baby Bites Brooklyn after ten years as a corporate lawyer, seeking to combine her ambition to run a business with her passion for motherhood. As mom to Ben and Leo (4 and 2), Chana offers her moms guidance on all mommy issues, and hopes that Baby Bites Brooklyn makes new motherhood a little less scary and a whole lot more rewarding and empowering for new moms. Chana is also currently working on getting certified as a personal trainer for new moms.
Revive Your Body Panelists
Julie Tupler
Julie Tupler is a registered nurse, certified childbirth educator and certified fitness instructor with the National Council on Strength and Fitness and advisory board member of Fit Pregnancy. She developed the Maternal Fitness Program in 1990 and has been working with pregnant women and new moms ever since. She is an expert on diastasis recti and has developed the Tupler Technique which makes the diastasis smaller. She has a three day course to train both medical and fitness professionals in her technique.
She is the author of Maternal Fitness and Lose Your Mummy Tummy, producer of the Maternal Fitness and Lose Your Mummy Tummy dvds, and inventor of the Diastasis Rehab splint.
Isa Hererra
Isa Herrera, MSPT, CSCS owns and operates Renew Physical Therapy, a leading healing center in New York City. She has dedicated her career to helping women find relief from conditions such as dyspareunia, incontinence, pelvic pain, prolapse and pre and post-natal complications. Ms Herrera's approach to healing is holistic, utilizing techniques that tie together mindful-painful body components.Her women’s health program is called “The Renew Program For WomenTM”.
She is the author of, “The Pregnant Couples Guide to Working Together.” She is currently working on her second book "Ending Female Pain, a Woman’s Manual" which will be completed in 2009. In this unique book, Ms. Herrera shares her trade secrets to getting on the right track to a pain-free, enjoyable and wonderful sex life.
Frances Largeman-Roth, RD
Frances Largeman-Roth, RD, is the Senior Food & Nutrition Editor at Health magazine, where she works on healthy recipes, food trends, weight loss issues, and the latest nutrition research. She is the author of the just-released Feed the Belly: The Pregnant Mom’s Healthy Eating Guide (Sourcebooks, Inc.). Frances was previously part of the editorial team at the Discovery Health Channel, and also held the post of managing editor at FoodFit.com. She has had the opportunity to work with top chefs and food personalities, putting a healthier spin on recipes from Jamie Oliver, Mark Bittman, Emily Luchetti, Gayle Gand, Rick Bayless, and Stephen Raichlen, among others. Frances is a member of the American Dietetic Association and the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
Frances earned her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and completed her dietetic internship at Columbia University in New York. She’s done several local and national radio and TV appearances, including the Today Show, the CBS Early Show, and Good Morning America. Frances has also used her food background to judge the Alllrecipes.com annual recipe contest, and two Food Network Challenges.
Frances loves sharing fresh, fabulous meals with family and friends. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with her husband and baby daughter.
For more information about Frances and Feed the Belly, please visit:
www.franceslargemanroth.com
Renew Your Life Panelists
Joanna Lindenbaum
Joanna Lindenbaum, MA, coaches busy women who are looking to nourish their creativity and take their lives and BIG projects to the next level. Her philosophy is that women can have all that they desire if they can listen to their heart instead of any “should”s or “have to”s. Joanna calls this Tapping your Inner Wisdom. She partners with you to create vitality, passion, balance and fullfillment in your so that you can achieve all you want joyfully and ease-fully. She is director of Soulful Coaching for Busy Women (www.soulfulcoach.com), and has presented over 100 thought provoking workshops internationally, including seminars at Omega Institute, Renfrew Center, Womb & Belly Conference, and Womongathering. She has taught everywhere from NYC to Africa to Los Angeles to the Berkshires. Joanna is mama to 9-month old Penina, who is teaching her every day!
Jada Shapiro
Jada Shapiro is the co-founder of Birth Day Presence which provides birth and postpartum doulas, childbirth education and professional birth photography to expectant and new families in the New York Metropolitan area. She launched the Birth Day Presence Studio in Park Slope, Brooklyn, in 2008 to provide a comfortable space to hold classes, workshops, and community-building events for families in the childbearing year and beyond. She recently finished a 2 year term as Co-Director of The Metropolitan Doula Group and also co-created the Bellevue Hospital Birth Center Volunteer Doula Program in Manhattan. In addition to running the business and working as a birth and postpartum doula, educator, and photographer since 2002, Jada is also the proud mama to her 19 month old daughter.
Ellynne Skove, LCAT, ADTR, RPP, NCC
Ellynne Skove, LCAT, ADTR, RPP, NCC is a licensed Movement therapist, counselor, yoga teacher, Polarity therapist and teacher. She is the founder of the GoGo Babies yoga and developmental movement program as well as True North Wellness in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. She is a member of the Association for pre and perinatal psychology and health, and is doing additional graduate work in Birth Psychology. Her practice at True North Wellness works with body/mind integrative therapies serving babies, children, adults, and families. Ellynne has lived in Brooklyn for 24 years and is the mother of two.
For more information see www.gogobabies.net or www.TrueNorthWellness.com
Class Instructors
Lara Kohn Thompson | Mom and Baby Yoga | 11:15 am
Lara Kohn Thompson is the co-founder of Essential Yoga Brooklyn, which serves women through the childbearing years and beyond. Her classes include Prenatal, Postpartum, and Women's Yoga.
Lara offers individualized physical care and training that addresses many of the issues which arise in the weeks, months or years following childbirth (such as pelvic floor re-training, back pain, core strengthening). Her practice integrates the works of Dr Bernadette de Gasquet, founder of Approche Posturo-respiratoire (APOR) as well as a profound understanding of anatomy through movement learned during 20 years as a performer and teacher with leading dance companies in France. Her work is also informed by her studies of Kinesthetic Anatomy with both Irene Dowd and Blandine Calais Germain.
In her teaching Lara uses imagery, breath and postural work to access specific muscle groups such as the pelvic floor and abdominals. She incorporates this specific work into a holistic awareness and awakening of the body thereby enabling her students to regain confidence and strength.
She is certified in Hatha, Prenatal/Postpartum and Therapeutic Yoga, through the Integral Yoga Institute, and is also a certified APOR practitioner. Lara lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
www.essentialyogabrooklyn.com
917-750-6080
Ali Brodsky | Mom and Baby Pilates | 1:45 pm
Ali Brodsky has been studying Pilates since 1995. Ali used the Pilates method of body conditioning to rehabilitate her back after an injury. She has seen how proper alignment and attention to oneself can help improve movement patterns. Ali has studied Pilates with Stephen Williams, Kinesthetic Anatomy with Irene Dowd, and Exercise Science/Cardiac Rehabilitation at Brooklyn College (MS, 2004). She decided to make Pilates her full-time vocation in 2006 and became a certified Pilates Instructor through the Kane School of Core Integration, under the direction of Kelly Kane. Ali is also a certified Pre/Post Natal Pilates Instructor through Carolyne Anthony at The Center for Woman’s Fitness in Michigan. She also had the honor of writing the forward for Carolyne’s book, “The Pilates Way to Birth”. When teaching, Ali tailors each session to the student’s specific needs. She pushes each student to reach their fullest capacity while emphasizing proper alignment, stability of joints and the movements’ connection to breath.
Lynne Wells | Sling Your BabyTM dance class | 2:30 pm
Lynne Wells is the founder of Wellbodyfit. She created the Sling Your BabyTM dance class after the birth of her son Mateo in 2006. The class is designed to help mothers exercise while caring for the newborn, infant, or toddler. This was followed a year later with the creation of the Toss Your Toddler dance class. This class is also designed for mothers and other caregivers to remain physically active with their child, dancing and exercising. She is a personal fitness trainer with fifteen years of experience helping clients achieve their health and fitness goals. She is certified by the American Council on Exercise as a Personal Fitness Trainer and as a Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant. She is an IDEA Advanced Personal Fitness Trainer and an IDEA member since 1996 and holds Yoga certifications from Integral Yoga Institute and Om Yoga.