About FrancesI want to share over 25 years of experience with you to help you feel stronger, more stable and balanced in your body. I have been performing and dancing for over 20 years, and teaching dance and movement since 1987.
My background in the exercise and movement arts includes certifications in Hatha Yoga (Integral Yoga Institute), Structural Yoga Therapy (w/Mukunda Tom Stiles), Yogilates (w/Jonathon Urla), Pilates Mat and Equipment (Kane School of Core Integration), Thai Yoga Massage (Lotus Palm school), Muscle Ballet (w/Stephanie Herman), Holistic Health Counseling (Institute for Integrative Nutrition), Pre-natal Yoga (Pre-natal Yoga Center) and Personal Training (ACE). My personal and professional philosophy focuses on balancing body, mind and spirit through the creative connection of movement, exercise, holistic health, personal empowerment and supportive community. I can’t wait for us to connect! TestimonialsFrances has been my instructor for almost a year. She is an exceptional instructor who is always encouraging and a pleasure to work with. Her directions are clear and always accompanied by an explanation of what I am working toward. I feel that I have gained considerable strength and made excellent progress working with Frances.
-Lynn, casting director I'd been a yoga student on and off for some years, always at the beginner level, but was never really motivated until I went to a Yogilates® class where Frances was the instructor. From the first class I took with her, she was able to put me at ease and inspire a love for yoga. Frances has a wonderful calm manner with her students, but yet she challenged us. The best thing she did for me personally was to make sure I practiced in a correct way and undid bad habits. The three years I spent in her class were an excellent experience, and I was sorry she had to leave to give birth to her first child. To this day, whenever I see other students not being corrected in yoga class, I think of how lucky I was to have had Frances as a yoga teacher." -Elaine, school administrator Frances was the only person who got me to move my body beyond walking. The yoga was perfect for me since it didn't require sweat and made my body much stronger. We worked together for a year and I miss our routine. She was always prompt, willing to go the limit to please, loyal and had a real interest in toning one's body. I felt relaxed and comfortable with whatever I could and could not do. Frances adjusted the exercises for me and I never got too sore to continue. When I return -- you are the trainer, for sure! -Nadine, IBM Program Mgr Professional Sales Development I've been working with Frances for over 6 years on both yoga and pilates and I continue to learn under her guidance. She is caring, fun and focussed. I highly recommend her to anyone interested in furthering their work in these areas. -Arthur - business executive. I enjoyed my sessions with Frances. She was able to make have my practice relate directly to my dancing... she was patient and really seemed interested in my progress. -Chantal, dancer I have been taking Frances’ class regularly now for months. Her attention to the details of the movement is so appreciated. Frances has the ability to communicate just how to get to those tiny muscles that can completely transform an exercise and one’s relationship to their body. Despite the number of people in the class, Frances always makes sure that we get individual attention. She will demonstrate the exercise but is always watching our form. Her personality is always welcoming and she moves the class at a brisk pace. Personally I have had major injuries and have come to depend upon her classes to progress my rehabilitation. You will be guaranteed a challenging and engaging workout! -Abigail, business owner How much I enjoyed her cooking class -- such a great set up so everyone could participate, and how she made a point of making sure each person had something to do to contribute to the meal -- all in such a gentle, unassuming manner -- I loved it!! I have also made the bean salad and kanten at home since then! -Wendy |
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in the press
THINGS can get awkward when a group of strangers strip down to their spandex in a steamy, sweaty room. This is especially true in yoga class, where getting into a camel pose, for instance — thrusting your hips forward while kneeling — can feel, well, a bit “porny,” as Claire Dederer put it in the prologue of her memoir, “Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses.”
The self-consciousness that Ms. Dederer felt performing said porny poses is one hurdle that can get in the way of achieving inner peace. Having a teacher stand behind you and place his or her hands on your lower back or tug at your hips can be enough to turn some people away from yoga altogether.
Continue reading the main story Related Coverage The delicate art of hands-on adjustments is essential for many forms of yoga and their teachers, but it isn’t always welcome. As a student, I appreciate a skilled instructor’s help in realizing “the full expression of the pose,” as the yogis put it, or in making sure that my torso is at the correct angle, or that my toes are turned out properly. The touch of a hand can bring awareness to hard-to-reach places, like the lower back, or stabilize a wobbly leg.
But even a gesture meant to soothe can be misconstrued. A touch might be well-intentioned, but the line easily blurs into the sexual, said Jason Ray Brown, a longtime teacher and owner of Zenyasa Yoga and Wellness Studio in Manhattan.
“I’ve seen male teachers rubbing young women’s feet during savasana,” he said. “Would you do that to a 50-year-old man?”
Ask experienced instructors if a student has ever growled at them for touching — even with good intentions — and chances are they have a story for you. In his early teaching days, Mr. Brown approached a reasonably fit woman in her late 40s who was in a seated pose, a simple cross-legged forward bend. As he stood behind her, he reached out to put his hands on the tops of her thighs to increase the external rotation of her hips. Instead of welcoming the gesture, she shot up from the pose and told him to get lost. The woman never returned to class, and he has since been more cautious about making adjustments.
“You can’t assume that because you’re the yoga teacher you have the right to touch people,” Mr. Brown said.
Inappropriate touch or aggressive adjustments have also spawned lawsuits.
Michael O’Brien Keating, a Denver lawyer who has represented individuals in claims against yoga studios, took on a case in Colorado filed by a practitioner who alleged that an improper adjustment had led to an injury.
The matter was resolved out of court, but Mr. Keating, who dabbles in yoga himself, sees a large gray area in manipulating and adjusting students.
“The difficulty is that you have people in class who aren’t very athletic,” he said, “or who are getting into compromised positions” and may feel uncomfortable speaking up if an adjustment doesn’t feel right.
Each style of yoga also approaches adjustments differently. For instance, Mysore is more aggressive, Mr. Brown said, citing videos of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the Ashtanga guru, pushing a man’s head to his knee in a forward bend.
It’s impossible for a teacher — even when working with experienced and familiar students — to know a person’s complete medical history or his or her emotional state on a particular day.
However, “there’s a lot of information you can gather to gauge whether someone is open to suggestions,” said Joe Miller, who has taught at OM Yoga Center in Manhattan since 2000 and has a master’s degree in applied physiology. Mr. Miller will sometimes ask for verbal permission before reaching out — saying something like, “I’m going to move this shoulder back, is that O.K.?”
Alison West, who founded Yoga Union Center for Backcare and Scoliosis in Manhattan with Deborah Wolk, says some boundaries are clear. “It’s off-limits to approach the genitals and breasts,” she said.
Ms. West said she operated with two words in mind: “chaste” and “kind.”
“I have heard of teachers who are not beyond reproach,” she said. “The bottom line is that the teacher is responsible for what happens in the classroom.”
The self-consciousness that Ms. Dederer felt performing said porny poses is one hurdle that can get in the way of achieving inner peace. Having a teacher stand behind you and place his or her hands on your lower back or tug at your hips can be enough to turn some people away from yoga altogether.
Continue reading the main story Related Coverage The delicate art of hands-on adjustments is essential for many forms of yoga and their teachers, but it isn’t always welcome. As a student, I appreciate a skilled instructor’s help in realizing “the full expression of the pose,” as the yogis put it, or in making sure that my torso is at the correct angle, or that my toes are turned out properly. The touch of a hand can bring awareness to hard-to-reach places, like the lower back, or stabilize a wobbly leg.
But even a gesture meant to soothe can be misconstrued. A touch might be well-intentioned, but the line easily blurs into the sexual, said Jason Ray Brown, a longtime teacher and owner of Zenyasa Yoga and Wellness Studio in Manhattan.
“I’ve seen male teachers rubbing young women’s feet during savasana,” he said. “Would you do that to a 50-year-old man?”
Ask experienced instructors if a student has ever growled at them for touching — even with good intentions — and chances are they have a story for you. In his early teaching days, Mr. Brown approached a reasonably fit woman in her late 40s who was in a seated pose, a simple cross-legged forward bend. As he stood behind her, he reached out to put his hands on the tops of her thighs to increase the external rotation of her hips. Instead of welcoming the gesture, she shot up from the pose and told him to get lost. The woman never returned to class, and he has since been more cautious about making adjustments.
“You can’t assume that because you’re the yoga teacher you have the right to touch people,” Mr. Brown said.
Inappropriate touch or aggressive adjustments have also spawned lawsuits.
Michael O’Brien Keating, a Denver lawyer who has represented individuals in claims against yoga studios, took on a case in Colorado filed by a practitioner who alleged that an improper adjustment had led to an injury.
The matter was resolved out of court, but Mr. Keating, who dabbles in yoga himself, sees a large gray area in manipulating and adjusting students.
“The difficulty is that you have people in class who aren’t very athletic,” he said, “or who are getting into compromised positions” and may feel uncomfortable speaking up if an adjustment doesn’t feel right.
Each style of yoga also approaches adjustments differently. For instance, Mysore is more aggressive, Mr. Brown said, citing videos of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the Ashtanga guru, pushing a man’s head to his knee in a forward bend.
It’s impossible for a teacher — even when working with experienced and familiar students — to know a person’s complete medical history or his or her emotional state on a particular day.
However, “there’s a lot of information you can gather to gauge whether someone is open to suggestions,” said Joe Miller, who has taught at OM Yoga Center in Manhattan since 2000 and has a master’s degree in applied physiology. Mr. Miller will sometimes ask for verbal permission before reaching out — saying something like, “I’m going to move this shoulder back, is that O.K.?”
Alison West, who founded Yoga Union Center for Backcare and Scoliosis in Manhattan with Deborah Wolk, says some boundaries are clear. “It’s off-limits to approach the genitals and breasts,” she said.
Ms. West said she operated with two words in mind: “chaste” and “kind.”
“I have heard of teachers who are not beyond reproach,” she said. “The bottom line is that the teacher is responsible for what happens in the classroom.”
Frances was interviewed by Upper West Side Spirit about the proliferation of yoga studios on the Upper West Side.
It used to be that if you were looking for a good yoga class in New York City, you naturally gravitated toward Union Square. Within a small radius of the park, a cluster of studios's with respected names like Om Yoga, Bikram Yoga and Integral Yoga's have prospered over the years. So many studios, in fact, that people in the yoga community started jokingly referring to the area as “YoHo.”
But at least one of those people thinks there’s a new YoHo in town. Frances Taylor-Brown, who runs Zenyasa Yoga on West 72nd Street with her yogi husband, says the Upper West Side is giving Union Square a run for its money when it comes to the quantity and quality of yoga offerings. “It used to be like when you wanted to do good yoga, you went Downtown,” Taylor-Brown says. “You kind of had to. Now I see people walking down the street in the Upper West Side with their yoga mats all the time. It’s become an appendage.”
She may be on to something. A Google Map search turns up 22 yoga studios in a four-avenue span between Eighth and 23rd streets. The Upper West Side claims 20. And this doesn’t include those gyms and rehab facilities that count yoga among their many other offerings; these are places that only offer yoga.
Debra Flashenberg, the director of Prenatal Yoga Center on West 72nd Street, said the Upper West Side’s yoga scene has actually been thriving for a long time; it’s just been a well-kept secret.
“When I opened my studio almost nine years ago, on our block alone there were five yoga studios,” Flashenberg says. “I feel like it’s been there, but quieter in a sense. In Union Square, you have the big well-known ones like Om.”
She said the recent arrival of highprofile new studios like Pure Yoga and Yoga Works might have helped create some buzz about the Uptown area's but in reality, according to Flashenberg, it has been a destination for high-quality, specialized and even revolutionary types of yoga for some time.
Over the years, yoga has been interpreted in different ways and in a number of styles. Some of the most popular are hatha yoga, which is slowpaced with an emphasis on mindfulness; vinyasa, which emphasizes the alignment of breath with movement; and Bikram, which is taught in a heated room with high humidity. Practitioners of all of these styles can find a home on the Upper West Side.
Flashenberg’s studio is the only one in the city to cater specifically to pre- and post-natal women. And at Zenyasa Yoga, you can practice a slow-flow style that was pioneered by Taylor-Brown’s husband, founder Jason Ray Brown.
Brown was a teacher at Om Yoga years ago when he began seeking more knowledge about anatomy to inform his yoga practice. What he learned made him question some commonly held beliefs about yoga.
“A lot of people assume yoga is balanced, but he started seeing teachers come to him with yoga injuries,” Taylor- Brown explains. “People are told in yoga class, if you just keep working long enough, you’ll get it. But anatomically, that’s not true. You could just work and work until you tear a meniscus.”
So Brown incorporated his knowledge into a new style that combined slow stretching and strengthening with an emphasis on mindfulness practices like meditation. He called it Zenyasa and opened his studio at 155 W. 72nd St. last year.
Walking across West 72nd Street, it’s not immediately clear that it’s a yoga hotbed. Zoning laws in the neighborhood put tight restrictions on signs, so most studios are tucked away in otherwise nondescript buildings. On a cloudy day last week, for example, there would have been almost no visual evidence of the flourishing scene if it wasn’t for a pair a young women carrying yoga mats.
Ashley Szucs, 27, who lives several blocks away, was on her way home from a hot yoga class and laughed at the image she gave off.
“It’s kind of a cliché, right?” she said. “The train is always full of people with mats. It’s like we’re on our way to a convention.”
Most studios rely on word-of-mouth and Internet search rankings to spread the word, and despite the economic downturn, people are still willing to pay for yoga.
“It’s really becoming that people are getting more interested in taking care of their bodies,” Taylor-Brown says. “It’s exciting. The more people take care of mind, body and spirit, the more we can be helpful to our families and our communities.”
In Flashenberg’s view, while many students attending yoga classes around Union Square tend to be young people new to the practice, the demographics are different Uptown. “Up here, you have older people who have been practicing for a while,” she explains. “It’s been a strong but quiet yoga community for many years.”
-- Emily Johnson