Physical fitness begins with emotional fitness.
Mosaic Method is a groundbreaking training that provides fitness instructors and enthusiasts with a thorough understanding of how the brain reacts to music, and how that affects our mind, body and emotions. Pulling from several decades of experience as professional musicians, music supervisors, DJs and yoga instructors, as well as years spent studying the latest neuroscience research in the fields of music and movement, founders Derek Beres and Philip Steir have created Mosaic Method to help better incorporate music in fitness and help people get the most out of their classes and workouts..
Mosaic Method helps you create a total mind-body experience for your students. Through a deep understanding of movement, music, and emotions, you gain insights into personal and professional creative expression. While the method can be applied to any movement discipline, our four modules are:
◦ Main Studio (cardiorespiratory/metabolic training)
◦ Studio Cycling
Instructors and movement professionals will learn music's intriguing effects on our brains and nervous systems. Mosaic Method helps teachers create better playlists and aids in more targeted sequencing, as well as understand the emotional foundation of their clients and students (and themselves!). This will help them forge lasting relationships and bonds.
Many instructors focus on music's entertainment value without understanding its value as a motivational and therapeutic tool. Music was encoded inside of us through evolution to convey information, share emotions, soothe infants, motivate warriors, form social bonds, and open the door to trance-like Flow states.
Most professionals are aware of music's motivational impact: a driving, steady beat helps divert the mind from the unpleasant aspects of physical exertion and boredom, as well as increases one's heart rate, blood flow and pain threshold. New scientific research shows that music also helps improve muscle coordination and aid muscles so they use less energy and become more effective. But this is only one part of the journey. What about relaxation and stress relief, as well as dealing with difficult emotional situations? Music covers it all.
Some of the topics we discuss in the training:
◦ The investigation of the power of music on the brain/mind/body.
◦ The origins of music and its effects on cultures.
◦ How music has shaped our species and societies.
◦ Why music has a strong effect on our emotions, and how we can use music to address different emotions at different times.
◦ How music makes us move our bodies.
◦ How music engages our sensory motor systems.
◦ How to use music to enter Flow states.
◦ How music brings people together in communities, and how to best utilize this knowledge in a group fitness setting.
◦ Therapeutic uses of music, the fastest growing area of the music business.
◦ The science of background music.
◦ The psychological and physiological aspects of rhythm.
Mosaic Method also provides instructors with practical information, knowledge, and strategies for incorporating music by using our history of placing music in film and TV. We investigate how film composers and music supervisors use music to show you how this skill can be applied in class.
Upon completion of this program fitness instructors will understand how to choose music to create their own unique class for whatever moods they are seeking to evoke. The result is not only a better studio experience, but the ability to help your clients—as well as yourself—deal with a wide range of emotions, from sadness and despair to anger and anxiety, with a deep understanding and awareness of music and movement's effects on our brains and bodies.
As an external stimulus music is a key ingredient in helping athletes achieve peak performance as well as being a doorway to reaching Flow states. Music is not secondary to fitness—it is a driving force behind movement and mind. Mosaic Method brings all this information together in an easy to understand and exciting format that can support your teaching in a revolutionary new way.
Derek's opening lecture discusses how the art of storytelling is primary in both music and movement. He uses Joseph Campbell's four stages of the Hero's Journey as a roadmap for program and class design, exploring the larger picture of what will be intimately discussed throughout the rest of the program. He takes into consideration how thousands of years of mythological sharing can serve as an inspiration for our physical, emotional, and mental fitness today.
In Part One of Philip's opening lecture he defines and explains music—its origins as well as its diverse elements and how these play the brain like an instrument that gives rise to our thoughts, feelings, emotions and movement.
In this second part of Philip's introduction, he tells the story of how music activates the brain, which takes us on an emotional and physical adventure. This is the key to understanding how music affects fitness, with information on how it helps students and clients work out longer as well as exert more strength and power.
In this brief lecture, Philip explains how to cultivate the mental states of moment to moment awareness by meditating to music. This is our signature meditation technique, which will be used for the next eight segments to help you to gain insight into how music moves the mind, body and emotions.
Sit back, close your eyes, and briefly relax as the sound of SEEKING is heard before we explain what happened inside of your head.
Our ancient SEEKING system—what gets us moving every single day—is the primary motivator for getting anything done, from getting out of bed to going to the gym. When we listen to music we love or that makes us want to move it activates the same brain regions that are responsible for animals to search for, find and acquire all of the resources that are needed for survival. In this lecture we explore how this translates in the studio and how to take advantage of this system in creating the soundtrack and workout that keeps everyone coming back for more.
Sit back, close your eyes, and briefly relax as the sound of MOTIVATION is heard before we explain what happened inside of your head.
Music motivates us to move in a number of ways as it activates the body's sympathetic nervous system, preparing the body for action. Rhythm triggers our motor cortex which makes us want to move. In this lecture we discuss how to get your students (and yourself) motivated to go harder and longer through the right music selection, as well as why motivation is important from a neurological perspective.
Sit back, close your eyes, and briefly relax as the sound of PLAY is heard before we explain what happened inside of your head.
Our first experiences of social joy and laughter are accomplished through play. Play is when we experience physical activity, movement, and fitness for the first time, dating back to early childhood. While we share this quality with all mammals, our human urge to play is also expressed in our love of music and movement. In this lecture we discuss how our mind and bodies express happiness, joy, companionship, unity, and freedom through this primitive desire to play.
Sit back, close your eyes, and briefly relax as the sound of FLOW is heard before we explain what happened inside of your head.
We all know Flow states: the runner's high, reading an amazing novel, being so engrossed in an activity that time and space dissolve so that the present moment is all that matters. In this lecture we dive into the science of music's ability to bring people into a Flow state, with detailed information on how music draws the listener's attention to stay focused while exercising. We also look at how certain music has the ability to bring the mind out of chaos, anxiety, and high arousal, all of which have a detrimental effect on a person's optimum level of concentration and cognitive engagement.
Sit back, close your eyes, and briefly relax as the sound of SADNESS is heard before we explain what happened inside of your head.
While sadness is often seen as a 'negative' emotion, there are many benefits to this fundamental human instinct. Our built-in need for love, security, comfort and attachment are related to this important emotion. In this lecture we explore how certain music mimics the sounds of sadness and why that matters to our personal well-being. The sounds of despair are familiar to all of us on a deep instinctual level. Yet, as we'll see through the lens of science, sad music lifts us up and helps us feel better, more confident, and more connected to others—a crucial element in group fitness.
Sit back, close your eyes, and briefly relax as the sound of ANGER is heard before we explain what happened inside of your head.
Another 'negative' emotion, anger is quite healthy when applied in a positive manner. Rage is hardwired into our mammalian brain, an unprocessed primary version of what we know as anger. In this lecture we investigate the emotions that arise from angry-sounding music and discuss why it feels so good, as well as why it works so well for exercise and our general health. We also discuss the importance of protest music from a personal and cultural level, and how to use anger to create focus and clarity in your life.
Sit back, close your eyes, and briefly relax as the sound of COMPASSION is heard before we explain what happened inside of your head.
Compassion begins by witnessing another's suffering and being motivated to help them. This feeling arises from ancient brain urges to nurture and bond with newborns. In this lecture we travel back through evolution to discover that feeling compassionate was not only the original source of love, but also the origins of music itself. We'll then apply that to our fitness routine and understand how such a powerful emotion helps create community, as well as a sense of calm and understanding in a fast-paced, turbulent world.
Sit back, close your eyes, and briefly relax as the sound of RELAXATION is heard before we explain what happened inside of your head.
While relaxation is often overlooked, great athletes and musicians will tell you that staying calm under pressure is one of the most important components for success. We've already seen how music arouses us physically and aids in exercising. In this lecture we investigate how it also triggers the relaxation response of the autonomic nervous system. From there we can calm and focus our minds so that we can move more efficiently.
Understanding the attraction to group fitness from a neuroevolutionary perspective offers us insight into how we operate as social animals. In this lecture we explore the roots of group movement, which offered participants a chemically-enhanced bonding experience between people that has slowly been built into our brains over time. Since the beginning of time music has kept us moving together in groups. Here we learn how to maximize our understanding of this in our classes.
The most captivating aspect of studio cycling is how music literally takes the mind for a ride. In this lecture we use psychology and neuroscience to see how music creates the experience of motion and inspiration for the journey. The mass popularity of studio cycling is created by the combination of music, imagination, and movement. Here we investigate how best to set all of those wheels in motion for success.
Dance is the story of rhythmic body movement. It's also one of most neglected and overlooked aspects of how we evolved as human beings. In this segment we reveal the research that shows while dance may be fun and sexy, at heart it's a story about communication, language, and culture itself. In many cultures the word for 'dance' and 'music' were the same; with that in mind, we'll investigate how to move people on numerous levels.
Our brain is body-minded. Yoga helps facilitate that connection through deep focus and powerful, calm movement. Neuroscience has shown us that we empathize with the emotional components of music; our brain perceives music in the same way that we understand body language. In this lecture we explain how using the correct music for yoga has the power to engage the mind and keep our students focused, engaged, and at ease in their bodies.
Now that you have all the movement and music pieced together, Derek explores how to tell the best possible story every time you step inside a studio. The ritual of storytelling is as old as humanity, and through proper sequencing and powerful playlists, you've got the key ingredients to creating a new mythology every time you teach and practice.
Music has the power to elevate everything in both cinema and fitness. It's almost impossible to think of a major film, TV show, advertisement, or video game that doesn't rely on music to carry the emotional tone of the journey. In this final section Philip investigates the similarities between scoring a movie and scoring your class. Creating that perfect playlist is an emotional amplifier that can make the movement you teach even more compelling.
Derek Beres has devoted his life to exposing people to international music, yoga, mythology and global cultures as a means of creating better individuals and a more informed society. A multi-faceted journalist, DJ and yoga instructor, he is the creator of Mosaic Method and Flow Play, an innovative Vinyasa-based class that fuses yoga, music and neuroscience, offered nationally at Equinox Fitness. He has published seven books, including The Warrior's Path: Living Yoga's Ten Codes and Global Beat Fusion: The History of the Future of Music, and has contributed to dozens of magazines and websites, including Women's Health,Yoga Journal, National Geographic, Rolling Stone Middle East, AOL and MTV. He worked as the Managing Editor of Global Rhythm magazine and writes the 21st Century Spirituality column on Big Think.
Derek is one half of global music producers EarthRise SoundSystem, which creates innovative contexts for 21st century music and cultures to be explored. Based in Los Angeles, he is on the teacher training faculty at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica and Strala Yoga in New York City. He also served as the Creative Director of the Tadasana Festival of Yoga & Music. He is also ACE and AFAA certified. Derek has been featured in the NY Times, LA Times, People, Self, Shape, Fitness, Glamour,Yoga Journal, Boston Globe, Newsday, NBC Weekend Today, ABC Eyewitness News, Fox Business, BBC, KTLA, NY1, MTV, NPR, and PRI.
A passionate yoga DJ, music producer, drummer, music supervisor, and three-time Grammy nominated remixer and record producer with over 20 years of experience producing music for records, film, television, and advertising. Co-founded and played drums in the critically acclaimed band Consolidated signed to Nettwerk in the 1990s. Philip's remixes of many classic tracks have been some of the most licensed remixes of all time for movies, television and major ad campaigns.
Philip has been practicing yoga since 1999 and received his 200-hour teacher training certification from Yoga Tree in San Francisco in 2011. In 2013 he co created with yoga teacher Derek Beres the groundbreaking music based yoga class, Flow Play, currently being taught exclusively at Equinox Fitness in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Dallas and San Francisco.
With over 25 years as a music professional, an exceptional understanding of the creative process and a deep love for both music and movement Philip has created a revolutionary program called Mosaic Method based on the powerful connection between music, movement and the mind.