The "Formal" Bio

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Joanne Avison is a movement and manual practitioner, minister and doctor of Spiritual Science, international speaker, presenter, artist and educator as well as bestselling author of Yoga Fascia Anatomy and Movement (2E 2021) and her newest, Myofascial Magic in Action (2024) with her delightful illustrations. 

Joanne hosts a YouTube Channel and The Joanne Avison Podcast, a top 15% ranked podcast, listened to in 128 countries around the world. Each week Joanne helps people and practitioners apply the keys to fascia and so that the “new science of body architecture” can help everyone remove pain and improve performance. With over 30 years of teaching, studying and experience (in class, laboratory, clinic and online), Joanne is a leading voice in the fascinating business of how appropriate movement can be medicine for all of us – and why! (Before we even get to the gym!)

Joanne’s insights have been regularly featured in books by authors of Kinesiology, Scar Work, Anatomy, Yoga and Myofascial Release. Joanne teaches for several International schools and her work is renowned in many classrooms where APPLYING this key knowledge of the human body fascia and myofascia is transforming how practitioners teach and how people learn to feel better in their own bodies!

Professional Certification

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Joanne is an international teacher of applied structural anatomy for movement and manual practitioners in a variety of bodywork fields. She is a professional Structural Integration practitioner, certified teacher (KMI, Anatomy Trains 1998-2005: Tom Myers’ school) and Director of the Art of Contemporary Yoga Teacher Training School, London, UK. The school registration (2006 onwards) qualified as an RYS-500, with Yoga Alliance (US), European Yoga Alliance and Indian Federation of Yoga. As an advanced Yoga Practitioner and Certified Yoga Therapist, C-IAYT (Certified by International Association of Yoga Therapists), Joanne appreciates the art, craft and science of yoga as a physical and metaphysical practice (she has practised Transcendental Meditation TM™ for over 50 years). 

Joanne is also a Cranio-Sacral Therapist, working in F.S.M. (Frequency Specific Microcurrent) to further her studies in complementary health and complementary medicine. She is a graduate of the CMED Institute, USA. Joanne is an ordained minister and has a doctorate in Spiritual Science (DSS). This has deepened her understanding of Surat Shabd Yoga, that relates closely to how the physical body integrates and animates the being it belongs to; through conscious awareness. For Joanne, the study of movement and inner awareness are not necessarily separate, bringing a unique and practical approach to everyone she works with. 

My Story

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I was born a bookworm, always reading, writing or illustrating and studied Fine Art and English at University. I studied Yoga and Transcendental Meditation TM™ since I was a teenager. Even when I met and married a chocolatier and learned to work with that fascinating liquid crystal matrix (chocolate) I loved learning how it worked and began writing a book about it!

When I formally qualified as a Yoga Teacher and then a Structural Integration Manual Therapist, I became one of Tom Myers' teachers - devoted to understanding how the human body works physically and metaphysically. It inspired me to study with Caroline Myss and understand not only human architecture, but also human archetypes. What evolved, over two decades, was the recognition that human shape is archetypal!  All that went into creating the book, Yoga Fascia Anatomy and Movement - with the history, the science and the practice - seeking to make sense of how understanding fascia changes everything we thought we knew about the human body. 

In 2018 I created the ABC (Anatomy Basic Course) Foundation, making “fascia” a more accessible subject for practitioners. ABC then became an online series of masterclasses. Handspring commissioned me to write each masterclass as a book. Myofascial Magic in Action (MMIA) is the first in that series. In 2023, with my co-founder Paul Thornley, we launched the MMIA Specialist Program to help practitioners use and grow their own movement practices with the wisdom of micromovement medicine and the genius behind honouring fascia in practice.

You can find me now, working enthusiastically with my beloved MMIA Specialists, studying the research, interviewing people on my podcast, presenting on YouTube, and still writing and illustrating books, with my fabulous colleagues!

My Mission

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What I love most about my work is not the money it might pay me, or even the impact I get to have in the world. Rather it's the gift it has given me to live a life I love, aligned with my values, my faith and my deep belief in the magic of micromovement medicine for everyone! Working with kindred spirits, honouring individuals and the individuality of every single body - is a key to physical and spiritual awareness and congruency. For me that is sacred and it’s a blessing to move better and feel better about ourselves. Whatever the movement practice!

It seems that something bigger than us is at work - a kind of Divine Grace that is available to all of us. It’s simple - but not always easy - to find clarity and confidence in the work you do, as the foundation of any movement or manual therapy. In a competitive world, I believe that the collective wins. We are in this together - and it’s such a super power!

It’s my mission to transform movement instructors and manual practitioners into Myofascial Specialists with the power of micromovement medicine. I want to use my experience and research to help other practitioners better understand movement whatever level they are on. So I’ve written books, created a podcast and courses to share that knowledge and wisdom.