A Mindful Yoga Physical Therapy Hybrid with Diana Zotos Florio
Today we have a really interesting conversation with Diana Zotos Florio, one of the founders of Threes Physiyoga. We talked about awareness and embodiment, her mindful yoga physical therapy combination, and how all these practices can support us to live life fully.
Episode Details:
Diana Zotos Florio talks about re-thinking the paradigm where we go to physical therapy episodically to “fix” injuries, rather than engaging in smart movement practices to prevent pain and maintain health. We also explore what yoga and mindfulness may contribute to physical therapy treatment, and what she learned about pain from treating stressed out New York City investment bankers earlier in her career.
Yoga Physical Therapy Topics You’ll Hear About:
- how embodiment helps us break up the layers of limiting beliefs that contribute to our pain experience
- how alignment does and doesn’t help us find safety during a yoga or movement practice
- why your hips feel “tight,” and how you might think differently about finding relief there!
You’ll feel inspired to connect the dots between your yoga and physical therapy or self-care practices, not to mentiona ALL the activities you do throughout the day. There is so much useful information in this conversation – listen in and let us know what your favorite take-aways are.
Guest Bio:
Diana Zotos Florio is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Threes Physiyoga (TPM). She is a mother of three, a physical therapist, yoga teacher, certified strength and conditioning specialist, and a serial entrepreneur. Diana believes that all forms of movement can be medicine and link mind and body. She conceived and developed TPM 7 years ago, and has been building it since.
Through her work at TPM, Diana is dedicated to bridging the gap between yoga and physical rehabilitation by training hundreds of yoga teachers as well as physical therapists in the TPM method. Prior to founding TPM, she spent seven years working as a physical therapist at The Hospital for Special Surgery, treating anyone from inpatient joint replacement patients to professional marathon runners. There she met Emily Tomlinson, with whom she partnered and co-founded TPM.
Diana received a bachelor’s degree in Biology from American University and master’s degree in Physical Therapy from Hunter college. When not working on TPM, Diana is found running, cooking, or getting in all the giggles with her three amazing kiddos.
Resources & Links from this episode:
- A blog post by Diana, explaining the benefits of combining yoga and physical therapy
- 3 Science-Backed Ways to Deal with Tight Hips, which expands on Diana’s answer to my question during the interview! (And it includes a picture of the homunculus, in case you were wondering…)
To connect further with Diana, visit the Threes Physiyoga website, or follow her on Instagram at @threesphysiyoga.
To practice awareness and movement with me (Addie), check out my Moved To Meditate Class Library.
And, I’m on Instagram at @addie_movedtomeditate (for mindfulness, movement, yoga, and pictures of PNW nature and my adorable kitten, Mustache).