Project Summer: Meet Jill Miller of Tune Up Fitness

The Los Angeles-based mom of two shares her favorite self-care moves and where she finds inspiration.

This summer, we’re bringing you inspiration from some of the top celebrity fitness teachers and athletes and sharing their summer workouts, power songs and more. Your dream summer starts here.

Jill Miller is the co-founder of Tune Up Fitness Worldwide and creator of the self-care fitness formats Yoga Tune Up® and The Roll Model® Method. With more than 30 years of study in anatomy and movement, Miller has trained thousands of movement educators, clinicians and manual therapists to incorporate self-care fitness programming into athletic and medical facility programs internationally.

She has crafted original programs for Equinox, YogaWorks, 24 Hour Fitness and numerous professional sports teams, and she and her team of more than 500 trainers help you to live better in your body with an emphasis on proprioception, mobility, breath mechanics and recovery. Miller is also the author of the internationally bestselling book “The Roll Model: A Step by Step Guide to Erase Pain, Improve Mobility and Live Better in your Body.”

Based in Los Angeles, she is the mother of two children and is currently writing her second book. We asked Miller to share her go-to workout, and her ideal summer day.

24Life: What’s your go-to source for inspiration?

Jill Miller (JM): My current go-to is my 11-month-old son. Watching him investigate, discover the world and problem-solve is both motivating and nourishing to my own creativity.

24Life: What do you teach and why?

JM: I teach self-care fitness and create courses, trainings and certifications to help movement educators empower themselves and their students to “embody your body.” The formats I am known for are Yoga Tune Up®, The Roll Model® and Treat While You Train. These are all formats that help people get to know their body better. It familiarizes you with anatomy, physiology, breath, relief, self-myofascial massage, movement prep and recovery.

24Life: Why is fitness so important to you?

JM: I believe the body is the mind’s playground. Movement and fitness are spontaneous and stylized ways for me to listen to the needs of my mind and emotions. Movement helps me to clarify my thoughts and keeps me healthy and hopeful. When I don’t move, I tend to feel less than whole. Movement is a way for me to care for myself so that I can be a better mom, wife, friend, teacher, business owner and citizen.

24Life: What is your ideal workout (that is 24 minutes or less)?

JM: My “workout” ideals are to do some self-massage with my Roll Model Balls, connect to my core, and mobilize and stabilize all of my joints through a tolerable range of motion based on my emotion and stress states. Here are some favorites:

24Life: What’s your greatest passion, outside of the work that you do?

JM: Being a mother.

24Life: Describe your perfect summer day.

JM: At this point in my life, a perfect day is a day of closeness with my family: Waking up in the woods (we’re on vacation!) and snuggling with my children. Then breakfast with family (with no kiddie meltdowns!) followed by 45 minutes for me to have some alone time for movement practice while baby naps and my toddler plays with her father. Family lunch, family nap. Some water play with kids (pool/beach/lake/sprinklers…whatever!). Cooking dinner with my husband while the kids play, and an early bedtime for everyone! (What can I say? I am a bit sleep deprived!)

Want to bring that summer feeling with you throughout the year? Try this breathing practice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXF1DW5KVpk

24Life: What is your power food?

JM: Dark chocolate.

24Life: What’s your number-one stressor and your surefire stress buster?

JM: Lateness—in all things. I intensely dislike the feeling of running late or behind, whether it’s getting to an appointment, to a flight or working towards a deadline. My remedy? Learning to tolerate the discomfort and accepting that I am enough. (Working on this continuously!)

24Life: What’s your secret to getting stuff done?

JM: See answer to the question above! Diving in and DOING my work. Not really a “secret” or a superpower.

24Life: What is one thing people might not know about you?

JM: I love singing opera.

24Life: What is your power song for summer?

JM: “How Far I’ll Go” from the Disney film “Moana.” My daughter and I sing it all the time. I cry every time!

24Life: What book is on your night table?

JM: “Unplugged: Evolve from Technology to Upgrade your Fitness, Performance and Consciousness” by Brian Mackenzie, Dr. Andy Galpin and Phil White.

24Life: What’s your secret to getting a great night’s sleep?

JM: Get to be before 10 p.m. And make sure to do some Coregeous Ball abdominal and sternum massage at some point during the day with conscious breathing.

24Life: Any interesting performance rituals that you have before you teach, work or train?

JM: I think I’ve always been the “weird person” at the gym doing self-massage or odd dance-like moves before I touch any equipment and after I do my workout. I embraced my weird and bottled it.

I would say that most of my pre-workout rituals are quite interesting (see images above, ball work and diaphragm vacuum), which is why I had to create formats and formulas out of them and share the weird with the world. To me it’s normal and makes my body feel amazing, and others seem to embrace it, too. My Instagram is filled with tags of people figuring out their own unique self-care fitness rituals. Conscious movement is catching on. People are less concerned about seeming “odd” at the gym, and are more concerned that their practices are setting them up for longevity.

24Life: Do you have a favorite quote you would like to share?

JM: “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.” –Oscar Wilde

You can follow Miller on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Jill Miller