Question 1

My Philosophy

Accepted Answer

My philosophy is something that is always changing and adapting as I gain more experience and continue my education. To be honest, I find it extremely difficult to put my philosophy into words due to the nature of what I do. Some days I feel like a movement coach, other days I feel like a mentor, and some days I feel like an educator or life coach.

When I work with someone I first follow the Hippocratic oath, "first, do no harm." One of the reasons I work with someone over the course of 3-5 months is that this timeframe gives me the flexibility to slowly reduce interference (factors that may be contributing to tension, pain, or injury), meet the client where they are, and give time for the body to adapt to the changes we are trying to make.

If we want to make a sustainable and lasting change (think recovery AND injury prevention), education has to be part of the equation. Putting context, reasoning, and somatic awareness around what we are doing and why we are doing something is a huge part of the process.

As an educator, I am constantly learning about personality styles, learning styles, and human psychology to help educate clients through their journey. The main goal of integrating education into my work is to help someone understand why they became injured, what they need to do to continue to progress and improve over the long term, and how to prevent this or other injuries from happening in the future.

As a health and wellness coach, I aim to view health as holistically as possible. This involves assessing movements, breathing, lifestyle habits (such as sleep, hydration, nutrition, etc.), mindset, injury history, and playing posture. Most people who go through this program find that this approach has a holistic impact on their lives, greatly impacting how they think, feel, move, and go about their day-to-day lives. For example, they may experience less tension, less pain, increased energy, a better sense of self, more direction and grounded ness, more confidence in themselves, more inspired, better able to manage their physical and emotional well-being, and a deeper belief in their ability to be successful 
in their lives, whatever their definition of success might be.

As a movement coach, I view movement from the lens of breathing. Breathing is a total body experience (and movement..!) that impacts every system and can greatly influence posture and available movement. If your body has adapted to a posture that doesn't allow you to have full range of motion of your breath, the body will start to adapt and compensate, often resulting in rounded shoulders, an anterior pelvic tilt, or a forward head posture, to name a few (hint: your muscles aren't "tight" or "weak!").

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but as the movement becomes more limited and the body searches for other ways to access movement it no longer has available, this can result in physical symptoms such as tension, tightness, numbness, achiness, tenderness, soreness, or pain. If ignored, this can decrease the body's ability to handle mental and physical load, and over time lead to overuse injuries such as tendinitis, carpal tunnel, or overall chronic tension or pain. To this day, I have seen some sort of breathing limitation in almost EVERY client I have worked with.

Question 2

Mentors and Influences

Accepted Answer

Throughout my health and wellness journey I've had the privilege of learning from some of my heroes in the field of movement, mobility, and recovery. These mentors have impacted my approach, challenged my perspective, and have a unique way of seeing the bigger picture of health and wellness.

The first mentor who introduced me to the world of movement and mobility is Dr. Kelly Starrett. I took two online courses with him through The Ready State (https://thereadystate.com)and during the second online course, I was able to pick Dr. Starrett's brain on a weekly basis around mobility, pain science, and how to apply it to a specific population, musicians! The perspective and tools I learned from these courses are invaluable and I greatly appreciate Dr. Kelley Starret's time and expertise.

During the Spring of 2021, I was introduced to Bill Hartman,(https://billhartmanpt.com) a Physical Therapist based in Indianapolis, IN. I started digesting his content and quickly found myself attending one of his Intensives, a 3-day event where a limited number of participants work on developing and improving their model, using Bill's model as a learning tool. A few months after picking up what was left after my brain melted, I started diving into this model and quickly connecting the dots making sense of questions I've had for years. His way of viewing breathing, movement, and recovery has forever impacted my approach and I am extremely grateful to Bill for accepting me into his Intensive XIV.

After Bill's Intensive, I was introduced to Zac Cupples (https://zaccupples.com)(physical therapist) and Conor Harris,(https://www.conorharris.com) (biomechanics and movement coach) through word of mouth. Both of these people have attended previous Intensives and have similar perspectives/approaches on how to help people move without pain. Over the past few years, they have helped me take huge steps in deepening my knowledge and understanding of Bill's model and how to adapt it to my own.

I have HUGE gratitude for these individuals, as would not be on this path without the help, guidance, and support. Thank you, Senseis!

Question 3

Certifications and Training

Accepted Answer

Training
 • Over 750 hours of client coaching experience.

Certifications

• Certified Personal Trainer -(https://www.nasm.org/become-a-personal-trainer) National Academy of Sports Medicine 
 • Corrective Exercise Specialist -(https://www.nasm.org/continuing-education/fitness-specializations/corrective-exercise-specialist) National Academy of Sports Medicine 
 • Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification(https://www.precisionnutrition.com/nutrition-certification-level-1-presale-list)
 • Functional Movement Systems Level 1 (https://www.functionalmovement.com/store/35/fms_level_1_online_course)
 • Certified Movement and Mobility Specialist -(https://thereadystate.com/product/the-ready-state-101-online-course/) The Ready State 
 • Certified The Ready State Coach (https://thereadystate.com/product/the-ready-state-102-online-coachs-course-january-2022/)
 • Biomechanics Specialist Certification,(https://www.conorharris.com/biomechanics-program) Pinnacle Performance

In Progress
 • Sleep, Stress Management, and Recovery Coach,(https://www.precisionnutrition.com/sleep-stress-management-recovery-certification-level-1-waitlist) Precision Nutrition

Workshops 
 • Bill Hartman's Intensive XIV (https://billhartmanpt.com/applications-for-the-intensive-xiv-are-now-open/)
 • The Human Matrix, Zac Cupples (https://events.zaccupples.com/)

Question 4

Areas of Expertise

Accepted Answer

Tension, pain, chronic pain, or injury recovery: 1-1 Recovery Program (https://www.thefunctionalmusician.com/recovery-program)

Holistic injury prevention: Blog (https://www.thefunctionalmusician.com/blog)

About Austin