Red Mountain Recap

As the sun rose over the vast desert skyline in Southern Utah, the temperature changed more than 20-degrees from 7 a.m.-9 a.m. I looked out at these ancient red mountains near Snow Canyon, just 90 minutes away from the stunning Zion National Park. I felt a sense of calm and grounding come over me.

I’m recalling the 5th consecutive time we’ve held the MELT Instructor Training at the Red Mountain Resort. In the 10 years of sharing MELT and building an educational platform for those interested in help themselves and others eliminate chronic pain symptoms, this resort is the best learning environment for the intensive aspects of my training programs.

Each year our number of participants has grown. As the resort and spa is just so big, we are now merely limited by space rather than interest for those wanting to expand their toolbox beyond the traditional education found in the fitness and wellness industries. This year, I chose to host two simultaneous trainings. The six-day MELT Level One Instructor Training I present here each year, and a three-day MELT for Pilates Advanced Instructor Training, led by my co-creator of this curriculum, Hallee Altman. In total, there were 75 participants, six lead Master Instructor TAs, and four staff members from the MELT team.

I’ll admit, I demand a LOT from the instructors in this training. They have to complete the three-day MELT Hand and Foot Training and an eight-week MELT Instructor Pre-Training Program online before they even step into the room. They also have to know the MELT Moves from “The MELT Method” book, they have to learn, on-the-spot, two additional NeuroCore (Rebalance) moves, two additional compression moves and three additional two-directional length moves (Rehydrate), and one extra decompression move (Release).

This very hands-on interactive training, now filled with over a dozen break-out sessions in smaller groups, is rigorous for all participants. However, many come because of their own body issues. This year nearly 20 percent of our participants had scoliosis, two had been diagnosed with a chronic connective tissue disease (Ehlers Danlos and chronic fatigue), and about one-third of the participants shared their personal pain story, which ranged from chronic neck, low back, and knee pain to digestive and sleep disorders. Needless to say, it was quite a diverse group in both educational background and skill level. Many were not able to do all of the moves due to their own issues so we spent an overwhelming amount of time on the modification techniques using the MELT Half Roller.

What is always profound to me is that after a six-day, all-day, MELT training, regardless of the fact that they are over MELTing each day (you ideally only MELT for a minimum of 10 minutes a day or a maximum of 60-minutes a day, three times a week) – six hours daily in total. These people come out looking and feeling better when compared to how they came in. The amount of ah-ha moments and personal stories I get to hear in this pristine environment is enough to make me cry with joy knowing these people are going to help hundreds of other people beyond my personal reach.

I’ve now returned home for some much needed rest and summer fun. Perhaps there are a few days off in August where I can just sit still and revel in the success of sharing pain-free living around the world.

Our MELT University is a year into development, our amazing MELT Master Instructors – six amazing, hand-selected advanced instructors are half way through their training in development. They will soon carry the torch to teach the MELT Level One Instructor Training allowing me to travel to other countries and get more people around the U.S. and ultimately around the world to learn about this simple approach to pain-free living at any age.

For those of you who missed the once-a-year opportunity to come to the red mountains of Utah and stay at RMS, keep your July 2016 schedule open. We will be returning for our 6th consecutive year. I’m not sure which trainings we will do there just yet but keep your eyes open as space is limited and once it gets set on the schedule, any training there will sell out quickly.

Thank you again to all of the new MELT instructors, and to our staff and that of Red Mountain Resort and Spa for all you do to make this destination a world-class experience for high education.