Joanne Avison originally studied Fine Art & English in the early 80's. Her artwork focused on the experience of seeing and English evoked a deep passion for the process of language. She later became a resident author at Cassells, writing a series of design books, while married to a Belgian Chocolatier. Learning the artisan skills of the chocolatier was to become unexpectedly useful in understanding structure and the nature of changing material. 

Jo took up Yoga after injury and became a teacher of Vanda Scaravelli's approach to movement and “Awakening the Spine” (VS book). 1n 1998 Jo met Tom Myers and became one of his early teachers at KMI and pioneered the application of Anatomy Trains to movement practitioners as an independent programme; first bringing it to the UK in 2004. Her studies included Cranio-Sacral Therapy, Human Dissection and a variety of courses in deepening her work in moving, living anatomy, which she taught all over the world.

In 2006 Jo and Alex Filmer Lorch founded a Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) programme awarding worldwide accreditation for 200 and 500 hour qualifications. The 2-year Diploma in the Art of Contemporary Yoga & the Science of Body Architecture was first awarded in London and Tuebingen. It continues to offer qualifications in Yoga, now with extended Structural Anatomy. As Director of the school, Jo is currently developing the course to include ASA 1 and ASA 2 (Applied Structural Anatomy) as a distinct part of the YTT. This will enable other Yoga teachers, graduated from different courses, to undertake the ASA training [separately] as an extension of their own Yoga practitioner training. This is the first school in the UK to facilitate this new ASA course and develop Yoga as an accepted accreditation at such a high level of anatomy. Those graduating will be able to use Yoga appropriately in their repertoire of rehabilitation and remedial work - as well as in improving performance for high-end athletes and movement specialists.

Jo has spent recent years working with Robert Schleip and is a licensed Fascial Fitness teacher. After years of human dissection and her long fascination with moving structure and applying anatomy, through experience, - she has developed a series of talks and roadshows with Nicola Brooks at BPD. Together they will be taking the Anatomy Roadshows to you, all around the UK and doing live webinar tasters in between. Jo insists on teaching in plain English and working in the practical, as well as the theoretical understanding of structural anatomy and fascia. “Everyone is unique and their soft skeleton tells their story - writ large in the dialect of their connective tissue body. We are interpreters, facilitators, translators in the art of movement and living, breathing, animated architecture - if we can learn to see and sense it accurately. First we have to understand how it works in ourselves - then we can see it in others and learn their movement signature. Yoga is a beautiful way to find a common, neutral body language that can be translated for each person individually to deepen their relationship with their own way of being” Jo's mantra is “activate, animate, illuminate” and her love of people and how they ignite their own vitality is the foundation of her work.

Coming up in the UK and online...

Fascia Talkshow: Episode 1 - Some History of Anatomy's Missing Link

8 February 2012 @ 8pm GMT ~ LIVE Online webinar

Fascia Talkshow: Episode 2 - Fascia Revealed

7 March 2012 @ 8pm GMT ~ LIVE Online webinar

Fascia Roadshow **LAUNCH**

17 March 2012 ~ London