The Roll Model: A Step-by-Step Guide to Erase Pain, Improve Mobility, and Live Better in Your Body

In May 2009 I had the privilege of travelling to Santa Monica to train in person with Jill Miller for an entire week. Jill is an amazing woman with a fire and passion to help others that you don’t often see. During the training she introduced the students present to the Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls. Back then Jill was in the early days of experimenting and developing ways of using them. Fast forward 5 years, much hard work, exploration and discovery, and she has gifted us with an amazing self-care, self-maintenance manual, “The Roll Model”. The premise of this book is simple: All human beings should be able to perform necessary maintenance on themselves. This book will teach you *how* to perform that self-maintenance. Self-maintenance is possible when you learn how to unlock and release tissues in your body that have become “sticky” or “glued down” leading to pain or reduced range of motion; when you learn what correct posture looks like and how to acquire it; when you learn how to breathe fully, easily and comfortably; and when you learn how to “down regulate” or “reset” your autonomic nervous system, shifting it from “flight or fight” mode to “resting, digesting, and repairing” mode. This book covers all of this and much more. At the heart of the book are many detailed, beautifully photographed sequences showing exactly where and how to place the YTU Balls on your body to release tightness and strain. There is a chapter that teaches you how to create optimal posture. There is a chapter that teaches you how to breathe correctly and a chapter on how to down regulate your stressed nervous system. In addition this book will teach you through your own tactile exploration how to embody your own anatomy. What is happening beneath your skin? How are you put together? Through working with “The Roll Model” you will discover all this and much more. It is a kinesthetic introduction to the place where you live: your own body! This is an amazingly thorough book packed with information that will expand your understanding of your body on so many levels. Jill has incredible breadth and depth of knowledge and it is all here for you to help you. She is also an excellent writer for this book is never dry or boring. It is fun, playful, and as mentally engaging as it is physically transforming. You have so much to gain from reading and working with this book and the YTU Therapy Balls ... and so much discomfort and pain to lose! I can confidently say, *this* is the bible of self-care and self-maintenance! I have been self-employed as a massage therapist / bodyworker since 1996, and a yoga teacher since 2006. I use the YTU Balls with my clients as self-care tools and with my students to help them roll away their aches, pains and discomforts. PLUS I use the balls myself on a daily basis as a part of my own self-care, self-maintenance practice. I believe in the use of the YTU Balls because they work. They simply work. Be kind to yourself - learn how to take care of your body so you can enjoy your life more fully. Learn how to perform necessary self-maintenance so that the next time you wake with a sore or stiff neck you know how to fix it, or the next time your back aches you know how to find relief, or the next time your arm throbs from too much typing you know how to undo tightness. Put this book and a set of the YTU Balls in your shopping cart and get ready to transform your life! :)

Are you a slave to pain? Are you afraid that this current diagnosis is permanent? Whether you’re in chronic pain, have a recurring injury, or regularly require pain medications to get through the day – there is a solution. The key, believe it or not, is as simple as picking up a copy of The Roll Model by Jill Miller. I am proud to call Jill my mentor, teacher, and friend – and you can easily appreciate the more than 16 months she spent writing The Roll Model as you flip through 432 pages that are filled with the science of the body, it’s structures, and how to erase your pain in easy to follow steps with beautiful illustrations and pictures. Yep, that’s right – you are a self-healing organism and already have the tools needed to HEAL your body fully and completely. Regardless of how long you have been in your current state, with some understanding of how the breath and body intermingle, you can improve the overall state of your body. From the way you stand, to how you move, to how you sleep, you will learn everything you need to know to rebuild your body in these pages. Jill has boiled down what you need to know about fascia, soft tissues, breath mechanics, and my personal favorite – self-massage with Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Balls. My life was changed forever when I met Jill and began to learn about self-care and soothing my tissues and nervous system with my breath and therapy balls. I have since spent years learning all I can about the body, fascia, and pain physiology in trainings, books, and hands on studies. I have become a student of my body, but the process was not quick and easy. Man, how I wish this book was out 3 years ago! Instead of learning it my way – grab a copy of The Roll Model, read it for yourself, and begin your own process of discovery and healing. The book sums up what I have spent years studying with descriptions that are so clear, anyone can understand them. From reading The Roll Model, I am able to finally grasp complicated biomechanical concepts that my university professors could never make sense of. The Roll Model goes above and beyond any book or DVD out there – instead of following choreography, you will learn how to take the next steps to rehabilitate your body – without doctors, surgery, or pain pills. Don’t’ believe me? You simply need to read the Roll Model Success stories within these pages of people who have used the method to recover from botched surgeries, soothe debilitating anxiety, and recover from intense physical and emotional abuse to know that this stuff WORKS. For those who are experienced at movement mechanics and myofascial self-care, The Roll Model does not disappoint. I have learned new techniques with the therapy balls that are so creative and out of the box, I don’t think I would have ever come up with them on my own! I have also learned additional ways to describe the body to my clients that will be easier for them to digest. Pain is an epidemic – we all know someone who is currently suffering from chronic pain or perhaps you are the one currently battling chronic pain. But I promise you; there is something you can do to change the outcome and trajectory of your life. All it takes is 5 minutes a day and a pair of balls…

By the age of 50, I carried constant, unremitting pain in my body; tension headaches, nerve pain in my face from Tri-Geminal Neuralgia, a frozen shoulder that never seemed to heal, hip and low back pain from unevenness caused by scoliosis. Working for more than 20 years as an English professor and raising two kids on my own, had taken its toll. My body was a wreck both from the stress of life and my sedentary lifestyle. Even though I went to the gym at least 5 days a week, I now know that one hour of movement a day cannot undo the impact of stress and sitting for much of the rest of that time. I was looking for solutions and yoga was my first one. It did help, but my shoulder still froze up on a regular basis and my back always hurt and I still couldn’t sleep. I first discovered the Roll Model Method in a yoga class. My teacher, Steve, brought in a pair of those toted blue balls and had us do a forward fold and then roll them under each foot. We then repeated the forward fold and I was astounded at how much further I could bend forward, but more important, how good it felt. He sheepishly looked as us (I had never seen this look on his face), and said, “I’m kinda behind the eight ball here. These balls really do something yoga can’t.) I heard him and went right out and bought the Roll Model Book by Jill Miller. I started rolling immediately. I didn’t read much because I was so hungry for relief. I looked at the very clear pictures and sometimes read the directions if I needed clarification. I started with the biggest challenges: my low back, my right shoulder, and my neck for the tension headaches. I rolled in the morning and I rolled in the evenings. My kids laughed at me, but I just smiled. I had discovered something completely new that had the most astounding effect on my body, on my stress level, and on my pain. I was never afraid of exercise and I excelled at yoga, but neither of these activities could move the needle on my pain and the stress I felt day and night. Then, as the pain started to diminish and my mobility started to increase, I began to read the actual text of the book and I learned so, so much about the science of movement, the presence of fascia (a sort of moist, internal sweater that weaves throughout our organs, ligaments, and muscles), and about what happens when fascia doesn’t move. I felt empowered by this “body bible” that helped me to understand and to correct all that had gone wrong since I stopped playing as a kid. Now, at 67, I can do things I had not been able to do in decades: I can lift and carry my young grandchildren. I can travel with luggage and not take my back out. I can put my carry-on suitcase in the overhead bin. I can put my groceries in the car – no curbside help, thank you! I can walk on long hikes without my back or feet hurting. And, if some part of my body does start to talk to me, I nip that pain in the bud by getting on the balls and feeling that rolling energy start to unwind whatever has tightened up again. I highly recommend this book and the Roll Model Method to you if you are eager to take back your physical life. I am astonished about what I have been able to do in my life and look forward to, now that I am not weakened by sitting too much and the pain that it caused. And, this method is so empowering because I have learned from the Roll Model book and from rolling on the balls exactly what I need to do for myself.

Thorough and thoughtfully written; overflowing with insight about pain, anatomy, and simple but powerful exercises. The Roll Model movements are small and it’s not a workout, but a way to overcome injury or to keep an athletic body limber. Filled with photos to explain anatomy and to help do the sequences correctly. Why do I love this book? After getting hit on my bike by a car, I had a broken back, hip damage and shoulder whiplash that left me with pain, trigger point spasms and osteophytes for years. I walked with a cane for 6+ months after hip surgery, unable to walk up stairs because muscles would seize. Although my bones had healed, residual pain constricted movement. Fast forward to three months of rolling on Tune Up balls: I no longer needed to go to the chiropractor or PT. After nearly two years of rolling, I’ve reduced my pain and increased my range of motion beyond what I (and my doctors) thought was possible. Because I control the pressure and placement of the balls, I’ve been able to make sure I do enough to ease out tightness and trigger points without overdoing it. Tho the exercises can sometimes feel intense, the after effect is calmness: my muscles relax as if I’ve had a deep tissue massage. This means I sleep much better too! I’ve flagged pages in The Roll Model with my favorite sequences, as well as other sections I can’t wait to try next. Not only do I feel empowered because I can take care of myself now, but I’ve also saved so much money by no longer needing a chiropractor or PT to work out flare-ups and trigger points. I'm grateful for a book that provides the tools to keep my body healthy; it will become as dog-eared as my favorite cookbook! I know I’ll refer to The Roll Model for years to come. Enough about me…buy this book and a pair of balls so you can tell how rolling has changed your body, too!

I've been using the routines in this book (with the balls) for awhile and have found it really helpful: Pros: - This system helped me regain range of motion in parts of my body that had grown stiff. - She does a really good job with showing anatomy - the bones and muscles in Chapter 5. That's really helped me sort out how to do the exercises properly. The sequences are beautifully photographed - but for some you need to figure out how to put the ball in just the right place and you need to use the landmarks within your own body to really get it. Her anatomy pictures really help. - If you have the discipline to do this on your own, the book and the balls are a relatively cheap solution for the amount of gain you'll get in your body (pain relief, greater flexibility) when you consider the alternatives of chiropractors, physical therapists, massages, pain meds, etc.. - Even if you're lucky enough to find classes in your area, there's never enough time to get to everything in an hour. Having this manual really helps you work on your own. Cons: - The weight and binding of this book are a problem. I've been very gentle with this book and use my recipe book holder to keep it upright while I try the exercises but the pages are ripping out. - The extra material such as the case studies are inspiring on first read (I particularly like the one featuring the dog) but they make the book too heavy and large for practice. What could be improved: - I wish she'd make a companion manual showing strictly the exercises with a spiral binding so the exercise pages could lie flat. Ideally one exercise per page or on two facing pages so you don't have to flip back and forth. It would be easier to follow the full sequence and lighter for travel. - An app that you could use on your tablet (phone would be too small) - Personally, I flip around in this book a lot. I don't think the Kindle edition would be practical. What to buy: - I'd recommend a pair of toted plus balls, 1 alpha ball, and a coregeous ball to start - in that order Other helpful props: - Recipe Book holder (the sort that holds the book open to the right page) so you can prop open the book and look at the exercises while you're on your side/back - Yoga blocks - It would help to have a yoga mat (depending on the surfaces in your house) - I don't tend to use the smaller original balls very often. For me, they're optional. Couple extra tips: - Where you are particularly stiff, some of the exercises can be painful at first. When you go slow, persist, and use your breath, the body responds and starts to release. It can also help to start with the larger ALPHA ball for the parts that are really painful as it's larger size helps until you're ready to move onto the PLUS (medium and most often used size) - If you use the system regularly, you'll become more aware of your body and will find parts of your body craving to be stretched and rolled out. - You will also discover that while you may be experiencing pain in one part of your body, the source of the issue may be in a nearby spot that has grown tight. The painful spot is simply overcompensating for another spot's weakness and/or inflexibility. - I've also used (and continue to use) the products by Yamuna and her Ultimate Body Rolling Workout book. That said, the YTB help me get much deeper into my fascia and tissues.

Life-changing information!!! This book is without a doubt THE reference guide for self-massage. I stumbled upon Jill Miller and her work while attending a Conference for Fitness Professionals in 2013. In a 2-hour morning Therapy Ball seminar - she blew my mind with her conversational ability to convey accurate science, humor and relief-- with a kindness + playful spirit. This book incorporates ALL of that!! After years of debilitating chronic back pain and body pain, not only had I tired chiropractors, MDs (Rx drugs and more), PTs, hatha yoga, walking, foam rollers, stretching, massage and aquatic therapies.....but I actually completed my Master's Degree in Kinesiology at age 30 to help myself!! I innately KNEW I could help myself better by using a non-invasive movement-mechanical approach. My various methods gave me mild /moderate relief over the years, but never complete resolution.....Until that morning I met Jill!!! I learned more in a few hours than I had in a whole semester of Grad School (in easy-to understand terms). Now - she has compiled it conveniently into this book -- with amazing pictures and stories that help readers to embody the work. I walked out that first day feeling great ---and rolled my body a bit more each day following. Within 2 months of incorporating the use of Roll Model Ball methods -- my pain and related visceral stress levels changed dramatically. Within a month I became pain free!! I realize this is "my story" and is not going to be the same for everyone. But as a as a health professional; a Scientist, Personal Trainer -- and a SUNY college instructor for Exercise Science, I am a VERY tough and skeptical critic of what is on the fitness market today. So much of it is bunk. I have had the privilege of meeting up with Jill a number of times again and I also follow her intelligent movement education program ("Yoga Tune Up(r)"). Without hesitation, I would buy and read, attend, recommend ANY program or book Jill creates because she has a brilliant mind, she consistently conveys impeccable science (in plain English), and has extremely high standards for herself and for her teaching team. Buy the book and GET rolling!! This is the cheapest, smartest route to selfcare and prevention I have seen in my lifetime!!!

I've known Jill Millers work for almost 10 years and have seen this practice evolve slowly and pragmatically into the program it is today. She has always been a leader in mindful movement and an uncompromising practitioner of self-study. Early on I can remember Jill's core work as something that forever changed my perception of what it was to feel your "abs". From that day forward, I understood a much deeper relationship surrounding the muscles so often looked at as simply a measure of beauty (the 6 pack). This in depth work on core evolved to hips and shoulders. As a private trainer and yoga teacher I was able to integrate parts of her work to help my clients better understand the quality of their movement over the quantity. What are you doing and why? Where do you feel it and is it useful? Jill's evolution into teaching self-myofacial release caught my attention not only because I was using a foam roller with clients but because I had known her to be one of the most credible voices in movement science. As an explorer of the outer reaches of our fascia, Jill really is a scientist. I trust her research and her teachings as they are backed up by her own self-practice and that of many other teachers and students. I have been able to help many clients with some of this simple, yet powerful work. Whether in the classroom at my studio, in a private session or just casually to a friend, these tools have helped people care for their tissue and unwind undue stress and potential injury. This book represents years of work and classroom study, twerking and reworking. If you've ever been lucky enough to work with Jill, than I suppose your book is either already in hand or in the mail (really, why would you wait!)! For those of you new to this work, you are able to benefit from having everything so beautiful laid out before you. Even if you learn just one muscle a month and one routine for that muscle, things will change. If you want to work hard and play hard, you best be equipped with the tools necessary to keep that vehicle of yours in proper working order. The Roll Model is your secret weapon to a higher level of performance and better living in your body.

Jill Miller is my teacher, my mentor and my friend. Disclaimer: my review is totally biased. Notwithstanding, I will tell you that The Roll Model is a great book. Jill is extremely intelligent and humorous and speaks to the reader’s heart and mind. What is all this “rolling” about? You have probably seen people rolling on large foam tubes and been told that if you do that after a workout you won’t be as sore the next day. Maybe someone told you it’s a good way to relax tight muscles. It turns out there is a lot of science to “rolling” or “self-myofascial massage”. Rolling can relieve lots of pain and its symptoms by massaging yourself (more accurately, your fascia). You can improve your breathing, your posture, your health, your fitness, your sleep, and even your emotional state. Jill explains it all in The Roll Model. Also you can do a lot better job of rolling with a pair of Roll Model Balls than a big foam tube. If you buy the book, you should also get yourself a pair of balls and try the many, many techniques that are put forth in the book (with beautiful colorful pictures and easy-to-follow instructions). The book is filled with testimonials of real people that have had miraculous results from The Roll Model techniques that Jill and her teachers have taught over the years. Is this book for you? Do you have a desire to live better in your body? Do want to move without pain? Then this book is for you. Are you an active person? Do you move a lot? Are you a movement professional or teacher? Do you dance, do yoga, do Pilates, lift, run, bike, swim, crossfit? Are you a therapist: physical, occupational, massage or otherwise? Then this book will be a necessity as you learn to navigate your body and your injuries and your blind spots and your pain and your recovery as well as your clients. Do I recommend you buy The Roll Model? Yes and no. Obviously I want everyone to benefit from Jill’s work and I know this book will help so many people live better in their bodies. However, I have to be selfish and say that I want to keep all the secrets to myself. This stuff works like voodoo when I do it and show it my clients. So please only buy this book if you don’t live in New York or can’t afford my rates. No, seriously, buy the damn book!

Fantastic book. Essential, if you need to take responsibility for your own health and fitness.

Heel duidelijk en goed boek. Veel en goede foto's. Goede uitleg. Ik ook de therapy ballen van Jill Miller gekocht. Na zeven jaar pijn kom ik van mijn pijn in mijn linker been af. Wat een verlichting. Samen met mijn osteopaat heb ik oefenining uitgekozen die goed voor mij zijn. Een aanbeveling!

I cannot say enough good things about this brilliant book!! This is The Best Guide out there for "fixing the issues in your tissues", getting yourself out of pain, improving your movement, your mobility and your all-around health! We are all equipped to, and have the ability to, heal ourselves. This book will teach you How To Do It!! As a yoga teacher I discovered Jill Miller and her Roll Model Therapy Balls over six years ago during the Toronto Yoga Conference. After just one workshop with the balls I felt a relief in my hips that I had never before experienced and I knew that I had to bring them back to my studio - for both my classes and for my students to purchase. They went like hotcakes (as I knew they would) because after just one roll-out with the balls you cannot help but feel deep relief in your body!! We all "knead" it! We all suffer from our chronic bad habits - poor posture and gait, slouching over the computer, driving and/or sitting with our spines in flexion (curved and rounded), sitting too much, repetitive strains from our work days, texting….or from working out in the same way, with the same routines using the same muscles day after day without variation or attention to rest, recovery and relieving built up tension in those overworked muscles. Or maybe you've had an accident or suffer with a chronic illness - whatever your need, This Book WILL Help You! And not only is this book filled with hundreds of pictures and instructions to guide you through routines that will take you into every nook and cranny throughout your whole body, it is also filled with inspiring, heart-warming stories of people who have not only healed their bodies, but healed their souls and spirits too! These practices will empower you to relieve your own pain (no matter how chronic) and leave you in a state of down-regulation and parasympathetic relief and peace. With this book Jill Miller will touch both your heart and your body. Bravo Jill Miller!!

Ein großartiges Buch mit wertvollem Inhalt für jeden, der sich mit Verspannungen und gewissen "Zipperlein" herum schlägt. Und auch für jeden ambitionierten Sportler, der der etwas für seine Beweglichkeit und allgemeine Performance tun möchte. Nachdem ich einiges von Jill Miller im Internet gesehen und ein paar ihrer DVDs ausprobiert hatte, habe ich mir dieses Buch gegönnt. Mittlerweile ist es ja auch auf Deutsch erschienen, ich hoffe es ist gut übersetzt, kann dazu leider keien Aussage machen. Die Originalausgabe jedenfalls ist ein großer Fundus erstklassiger Informationen, mit denen sich das Wohlbefinden im eigenen Körper steigern und viele Probleme durch falsche und einseitige Alltags- oder Sportbelastungen beseitigen lassen. Das Druckbild ist toll, das Papier fühlt sich hochwertig an. Was ich etwas überflüssig finde, sind die typisch amerikanischen "Success-Stories", aber manch einer mag das vielleicht oder findet es motivierend. Von daher schon okay. Zur Umsetzung enpfiehlt es sich, eine gute Yogamatte und zwei Yogablocks zu besitzen. Außerdem braucht man mindestens zwei Tennisbälle und einen weichen Kinderspielball. Jill Miller enpfiehlt natürlich Ihre eingene Ballserie, aber es geht für den günstigen Einstieg auch so. Die Bälle von Jill Miller sind mittlerweile auch in Deutschland erhältlich, hier enpfehle ich einen genauen Preisvergleich, da ich schon Preisunterschiede von über 100% zwischen verschiednen Shops gesehen habe! Ich habe das Buch auch inzwischen schon einige Male verschenkt, gebe also eine klare Kaufempfehlung.

Ho comprato la versione ebook e devo dire ottimo acquisto! Lo posso leggere sia su kindle (con figure in bianco e nero) sia da pc con l'applicazione dedicata (illustrazioni a colori). Completo perchè: ci sono esercizi da fare, ci sono testimonianze di persone che hanno risolto alcuni tipi di dolore, ci sono spiegazioni circa la fascia (intesa come tessuto connettivo, elastico e plastico e ricco di recettori nervosi) del come agiscono gli esercizi di "rullaggio" sulla fascia e come si innesca il meccanismo di distensione anche a livello nervoso, dove il dolore a volte ci impedisce di allungare, muovere bene. Lo consiglio, anche se in inglese, accessibile e stimolante. Alcune palline le ho trovate da Decathlon. Iniziamo oggi stesso!