Martina Jezkova
Martina Jezkova is a senior physiotherapist at the Motol Hospital, Department of Rehabilitation, Charles University, in Prague, Czech Republic. She completed her physiotherapy training in the Czech Republic. She also has completed numerous professional courses including the Brügger approach, the functional assessment and treatment according to Mojžíšová for pelvic floor and musculoskeletal conditions, Klapp Crawling for scoliosis treatment, and kinesiotaping. Since 2004 she has served as a certified instructor in musculoskeletal techniques according to Professor Karel Lewit. She is also a certified Vojta Therapist for newborns, children, and adult patients.
Martina has worked extensively with Professor Pavel Kolar at Motol Hospital for many years. She has advanced training in the application of Dr. Kolar’s Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) therapy in clinical settings as well as for elite athletes. She is in high demand as an instructor, inspiring her students with her joyful and positive skilled teaching style, which she has applied to teaching DNS and yoga courses worldwide. As a qualified yoga teacher, she has integrated her knowledge of DNS with yoga when teaching both in private classes and therapeutic outpatient classes at Motol Hospital. She has been teaching “Yoga in Rehabilitation” courses in the Czech Republic for the last 5 years, and as the popularity of her classes grew she has been invited to teach this topic for osteopaths, chiropractors and physiotherapists in Canada, Europe, Australia, the United States and now Asia.
Clive and Martina’s Journey
Clive Farrelly is a chiropractor who lives south of Sydney, Australia and his passion for surfing and yoga keeps him by the beach nearly every day. He has been practicing Iyengar Yoga for 19 years and teaching it for 15 years. Previous to becoming a chiropractor Clive was a flight attendant for Qantas Airlines. It was his passion for yoga that lead Clive to study chiropractic science and to search for a deeper understanding of how the yoga asanas and their applications helped the body to heal on many different levels.
Martina Jezkova is a mother of three children who enjoys orienteering running from her childhood to present and works as a physiotherapist at Motol Hospital, Department of Rehabilitation, Charles University, in Prague, Czech Republic. She practiced yoga for many years, but it was more of a basic yoga with general teachings. During her studies at Charles University she was introduced to a professor who encouraged her to write a final thesis on “The Influence of Yoga on Pain During Pregnancy, Delivery and Postpartum”. The research had favourable results and her thesis won a prestigious University prize in 2001. This helped Martina to understand that if applied correctly, the medical community could help patients in multiple contexts by using the ancient art of yoga as a part of their rehabilitation process. She was interested in pursuing yoga studies on a more advanced level and to a deeper understanding, but she was unable to find an appropriate teacher that could teach her the knowledge that she was seeking.
While at Macquarie University Clive made friends with a Czech student in the 4th year, who told him all about Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) and the brilliance of Professor Pavel Kolar’s functional rehabilitation strategies. There happened to be a DNS clinical course in the coming months and both Clive and his friend attended. Pavel Kolar PT, PaedDr, PhD, Alena Kobesova, MD, PhD, and Martina Jezkova, MPT, were their instructors. It was this course that set up Clive’s and Martina’s friendship and collaboration, ultimately leading to the introduction of something unique and original.
During the course Clive was noticing similarities between the yoga he taught and DNS. Iyenger Yoga is also based around centration of the skeletal system, working to provide postural stability so that the agonist and antagonist relationships of muscles provide correct functional movement patterns. During the break he asked Martina if he could show her a few postures that were similar to the DNS neurodevelopmental movements. Martina was eager to see and to experience a view from such an experienced yoga teacher. After class, Clive taught more yoga to her and they engaged in long discussions about the similarities of both concepts. Martina knew that she had found the yoga practice that made absolute sense to her in conjunction with her DNS strategies. Martina invited Clive to teach the physiotherapists in Motol, at Prague City Hospital for the first time in 2012. It was a great success and has helped them to launch their idea into the rehabilitation arena.
They were both aware that Clive needed to continue his studies and understanding of the DNS concepts and Martina needed to learn the intricacies of yoga at a deeper level. Since then, Clive has become a long term student of the Prague School of Rehabilitation program and Martina has received her first yoga teacher’s certification in Australia and is currently furthering her studies of yoga in the Iyengar system. Clive and Martina are continuing to share all their knowledge and concepts from their chiro/physiotherapy, yoga/DNS experiences from opposite ends of the globe. They teach courses together called ‘Yoga in Rehabilitation’, which takes place in the Czech Republic every year and has had an overwhelming success. The DNS Yoga courses that they each teach have been taught in Australia, Europe, Canada, and the United States.
Due to the enormously positive response, the courses will again be taught in Long Beach, California and Vancouver, Canada, as well as in Australia and Asia over the next year. The courses are offered to yoga instructors and yoga therapists, advanced yoga practitioners, and clinicians in the physical rehabilitation arena.
The courses focus on yoga postures that introduce rehabilitative techniques through functional movement patterns and the associated muscle chains that link back to their supporting base. By improving the patient’s or student’s dysfunctional compensation patterns via influencing proper stabilization techniques, posture and phasic movements throughout the yoga postures, their movement patterns are enhanced both in static and transitional phases allowing for better cortical integration when performing exercises or activities of daily living. Breath awareness is another very important and detailed topic in these courses, from the beginner’s level to the advanced. The students/clinicians learn breath mechanics so as to improve their respiration, their stabilization and the balancing of both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.
Clive and Martina are both extremely passionate in teaching this subject and continue to develop new applications that will help the aspiring clinician or student with self development through their rehabilitation techniques. They are very approachable and are keen to take their teachings around the globe, hoping to inspire those who love finding new ways to help their clients/patients to achieve their optimum health.