Miguel Viero

1. How would you define your personal practice?

Since I switched to a more holistic practice I started to address things that I was neglecting, such as joint mobility, spend time learning a skill, trying new things, working on nonlinear movement patterns and playing more. Taking it as a process/journey instead of setting goals with deadlines. I always have a hard time defining it with one word and too cliche to say the I “move”, I guess I’ll never find a word to describe it.

2. What turning points have you encountered on your movement journey?

The freedom of not sticking to any thing/discipline in particular. To be able to look at physical activity in a different way, to realize that you can suck doing stuff and that’s alright, to learn from failure, to explore, play, be curious. Also, to see the change in my students when we started using this approach.

3. What role has injury played in cultivating your current niche?

In 2015 I had a motorcycle accident, breaking my left elbow (having surgery where they removed the head of the radius without replacing it for anything) and my right wrist. During my rehab, I started looking for a way to get my elbow and hand back to normal so I could do everything I used to before the accident. I found gymnastics strength training (gymnastics bodies), Gold Medal Bodies and Ido Portal. Those were my influences at the beginning and I can say that I’m stronger and can do much more than before the accident.

4. Do you consider yourself a teacher? Why or why not?

I consider myself a teacher and a student because I try to maintain a beginner’s mind. I also use this concept with my students, teaching them so they can teach/help others students and be independent in their practice. Another aspect that I think it’s important to be a teacher is to be curious and explore and experiment with new games, movement patterns, etc. Having a clear system of progression/regression for each movement you teach, I believe is key to be a (good) teacher.

5. What has been your experience with physical education, both in the schooling system and sought out knowledge/ know-how elsewhere?

My experience with physical education in school was playing sports, gymnastics and running year after year. It was the norm at the time. It was like this in every school I knew about. At the time it was ok, as kids, we just wanted to play ball sports I think. If I were a PE teacher now I’d certainly try to do different things to instigate their creativity and body awareness.

6. How do you involve your mind/emotions into your physical routines?

I listen to my body and mind before sessions. Sometimes I plan a training session the day before and end up doing something completely different the next day. I use sets and repetitions as references, not something that has to be done all the way or the session is not over. For me and my students, I mean. Also, I use to adapt my private and group classes to the mood of the participants after we talk a bit before starting, and they don’t have to know about it. Being adaptable is another key characteristic of a good teacher, in my opinion.

7. What are your personal aspirations regarding movement?

To improve body control to get more freedom of movement. Keep learning and do my own workshops to introduce and teach more and more people into this practice and change their lives.

8. How can people find/ contact you? Do you have a site or social media handle to share?

You can find me on Facebook (Moov Method Barcelona), Instagram (@moovmethodbcn) and email [email protected]