Holistic Personal Training & Body-Mind Fitness

I’m Mark Latham, a Body-Mind Personal Trainer and Coach with over 29 years experience in health and fitness.

I have qualifications and experience as a Personal Trainer, Exercise Physiologist, Exercise Therapist, Massage Therapist, Holistic Health and Lifestyle Coach, NLP Practitioner, Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiologist (C.H.E.K Practitioner), Tai Chi Instructor and Taketina Teacher.

This has led to my unique take on Body-Mind Wellness. I refer to the Free 2 Flow method as a ‘system’ to impart skills and habits for managing our own Body-mind health and fitness. The system as a whole is unique to Free2Flow, whilst incorporating and drawing on techniques, philosophies and practices from many notable professionals I’ve studied or worked with.

About the Free 2 Flow System

The journey that brought me to develop Free 2 Flow began in the late ’80s and early ’90s. After an active sporting childhood I began studying two diverging and seemingly conflicting fields. I completed a Human Movement degree majoring in Exercise Physiology and Biomechanics and at the same time I began studying, mentoring and becoming an assistant teacher under Chinese Tai Chi Master, Sifu Peter Yu.

To better understand and connect these Eastern and Western approaches I began seeking and questioning, looking for ‘what are the similarities and differences, the patterns that connect and the underlying universal truths in different methods and philosophies. How can we understand, ‘translate’ and apply the learnings from one area to another?

This led me to study and explore eastern and western alternative practices such as the Somatic education work of Thomas Hanna, Feldenkrais and the Alexander technique, Pilates, Rolfing, Osteopathy, Chiropractic, many forms of Massage therapy and bodywork, NLP, meditation, Autogenic training, self hypnosis, Yoga and others, whilst continuing to study, work in and draw from western Sports and Exercise Science and Fitness training.

As a snapshot into the background of my learning and the development of Free 2 Flow, I recognise the following practitioners and disciplines as having an influence on his methodology.

They are separated into what I refer to as the three major ‘doors’ of working with the Body-Mind:

1) Movement and Exercise

• Western Exercise and Human Movement Science. In particular the role of the nervous system as the major controller of adaptation. Mel Siff and his concepts in Functional Neuro-Muscular Conditioning are a significant influence.
• Olympic style weightlifting and other forms of Functional resistance training and sports strength and conditioning.
• Yang and Chen style Tai Chi, Chi Kung and Chinese Medicine theory mostly via Sifu Peter Yu.
• Holistic Health Practitioner and Functional Exercise pioneer Paul Chek and his Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology and Holistic Lifestyle Coaching.
• French Osteopath Guy Voyer and in particular his Myofascial stretching and ELDOA methods.
• Hanna Clinical Somatics, and the Feldenkrais method.

2) Massage (Touch / Bodywork / Manual therapy)

• Muscle Activation including South African Physiotherapist and Kinesiologist Douglas Heel and his Be Activated system which has origins in Osteopathy and Kinesiology.
• Myo-fascial therapies including Deep Muscle therapy, Myo-fascial release, and Neuromuscular therapy.

3) Mind (coaching, attention training, subjective experience, emotional release, philosophy and mental maps)

• NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming – the study of subjective experience and the modelling of excellence)
• Ken Wilber. Integral theory, philosophy and Integral Life Practice.
• Reinhard Flatischler and his Taketina rhythm process, a form of moving meditation and attention training.
• Body-mind release practices. TRE (Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises), E-motion Yoga, Bioenergetics, Rewilding, & others.
• The Polyvagal Theory of Stephen Porges.
• Flow psychology and theory particularly the Kottler and Wheal – STER model (selflessness, timelessness, effortlessness, richness)
• Biochemistry – Customised nutrition, metabolic typing, intermittent fasting.