It's my career goal to help you have a better life.
I'm Mike Luque and since 1998 my passion and career have been helping people like you get more enjoyment out of life by being able to move the way you want.
Back in 1997 at the height of the original “dot com” boom, I was working at a computer company in Sunnyvale, CA as a quality assurance technician, which meant “testing networked print and fax servers over a variety of networking environments.” The job paid very well and was very boring. Life was financially good but completely unfulfilling.
A sign at a YMCA I used to pass on my way to work advertising an upcoming classes to become an aerobics instructor got me thinking about aerobics classes a friend of mine had been teaching and that I regularly attended a few years previous. The seeds of change were planted.
The first step was going to massage school
I had received a gift certificate for a shiatsu massage from a great place in San Francisco called Kabuki Hot Springs. I went in, got an awesome shiatsu massage, and as soon as I left, I decided “I’m going to become a massage therapist”. So I enrolled at the McKinnon Institute and I was on my way. I completed Swedish and deep tissue courses at McKinnon then a few years later also learned Orthopedic Massage, where I gained immense knowledge on anatomy and corrective bodywork and stretching. While I don't do full massage/bodywork sessions anymore, those skill are still in my head and hands and get used on a "fix it" basis.
Discovering GYROTONIC® training
Once I got done massage school in the summer of 1998, I needed to get some clients. I put up flyers on bulletin boards around the city. One of the very first people to start working with me let me know she was a yoga instructor and suggested we do a trade. I had been doing yoga on my own for several years but quickly found out I was doing it quite poorly! She then started telling me about “White Cloud Yoga” and suggested I come down to the studio and check it out.
I took my first Gyrotonic session in November of 1998. It was my fifth session, when my trainer focused on a piece called the GYROTONER® that flipped the switch that made me want to be a trainer. I’ve always been pretty flexible; I was a gymnast for 7 years and, of course, had also done yoga for several years. But after that session, I had a sensation in my hips that I had never felt. It was as though there were little springs right in my hip joints. Color me sold.
Getting my GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® training and certification
I began my certification in the spring of 1999 under Master Trainers Debra Rose and Nora Heiber, of San Francisco GYROTONIC® (then known as White Cloud West). Our training group completed our foundation in time to be certified by system creator Juliu Horvath in November of ‘99. A smaller group of us, 8 trainers, then went on to spend the next year in intensive Gyrotonic education with Debra and Nora and in November of 2000 were certified by Juliu on all the remaining pieces of Gyrotonic specialized equipment.
Also during that year, I took my first Gyrokinesis foundation course with Debra, in November of 1999. Then I traveled to New York to take the course yet again with Juliu Horvath in February of 2000. And I've been loving being a Gyrotonic instructor ever since.
Adding in personal training
Then in 2008, when starting to train at a new gym, I was introduced to kettlebells. I immediately saw them as being fun and brutal, a really great way to work out. I took my kettlebell certification through Kettlebell Concepts in June of that year.
Continuing on
Being completely devoted to fitness and health means always learning more. I’ve retaken the certification on the Gyrotoner, added the Archway (an update to an older piece called The Ladder), and retaken the Gyrokinesis foundation as well. It's a part of being a professional Gyrotonic trainer that we keep ourselves educated and updated, so at the very least, we are required to take one teacher training every two years. Luckily Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis teacher trainings are FUN. It's my goal to take two trainings a year.
What all this means for you.
My entire career since 1999 has been about helping people physically feel and move better. While my primary tool is Gyrotonic training, I use whatever tools I have available to me to help you, the client, reach your goals. I tend to be the trainer who other trainers send their problem clients to. Not problems as in they're difficult to work with, but they have physical challenges that require an eye that has been trained to work in a corrective manner. And it's work that I love. I enjoy being a "body engineer" or mechanic. I like to fix things.
So if something doesn't quite feel right; you've got a nagging pain or soreness that won't go away; if you've gone through some physical therapy but insurance isn't paying anymore so you need a new option; if you'd like to golf more but your body won't let you...
Please get in touch.
GYROTONIC and GYROKINESIS are registered trademarks of Gyrotonic Sales Corp and are used with their permission.
