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Kent Burden
 Kent
Burden has more than twenty-five years of fitness experience. He
played three years of college football as a wide receiver until a
devastating back injury ended his football career.
After being paralyzed from the
chest down for nine months, surgery restored his ability to walk. He
spent years rehabilitating from the injury, and tried many exercise
modalities. During his difficult recovery, he found Hatha Yoga and the
mat works of Joseph Pilates to be the simplest and most beneficial
restorative exercises.
Meditation and visualization
increased his focus, balanced out the intense physical activity, and
encouraged him to make a complete recovery. Before founding My Life
Fitness, Kent was the Mind/Body Program Coordinator at California's
famed Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, where he created the program that was
voted by Spa Finder Magazine's 2002 Reader's Choice Awards as one of
North America's top mind/body fitness programs out of a field of more
than 500 spas.
Kent has worked one-on-one with
Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winners and NFL and NBA champions. He is certified
as a personal trainer by AFAA and IFPA, and as a Pilates instructor,
Yoga instructor, Spinning instructor, water fitness instructor,
Systematic Touch Trainer and Massage Therapist.
His work has been featured in
SHAPE, Natural Health, Fitness, Body & Soul, American Spa, Fitness
Cycling, Self, Golf Digest for Women and New Age Journal magazines. He
has been featured on television programs such as Access Hollywood,
Life and Times (BBC) and Spa Finder Television. His book, "Yin Yang
Fitness: The Whole Package of Health," co-authored with wife Maria is
available on this website along with his signature mind/body workouts
including "Kent Burden's Essential Triangle," “Kent Burden’s Weighted
Power Ball Workout, and the soon-to-be released “Kent Burden’s Power
Ball Pilates.” To purchase, just click on the “Products” tab above.
Maria Burden
 During a Michigan childhood ruled
by acute asthma, Maria felt as though fitness was her enemy.
Traditional physical education classes often ended in hospitalization
and "I can't" became her mantra in fitness. On a blind date in
college, she met Kent Burden, a former athlete and recovered
paraplegic, whose love of fitness was both inspiring and contagious.
The two became inseparable and married after college then moved to
California. The new climate brought temporary improvements, but her
fight with asthma was not over.
At the age of 29 and the mother
of two small children, she nearly died of respiratory complications
from a routine illness. Lifelong asthma had resulted in permanent lung
damage and reduced respiratory capacity. Determined to feel better and
lengthen her life, she began the search for good health. She and
husband Kent left behind stressful careers in Los Angeles and moved
their family to the clean coastal air north of the city.
At his suggestion, she took up
yoga, weight training and Pilates. The change in her physical and
emotional health was so profound that she decided to make mind/body
wellness her life work. Today, Maria and Kent run My Life Fitness, a
fitness-consulting firm in Ventura, California whose diverse clients
include Bank of America, Patagonia, The Legal Project and many others.
Maria is a certified yoga instructor, an AFAA-certified group fitness
instructor and a certified personal trainer. She teaches mind/body
classes and writes books and articles.
She is the author of "Professor
T.S.C. Lowe and his Mountain Railway" and "The Life and Times of
Robert G. Fowler" (Borden Publishing). Her newest book, "Yin Yang
Fitness: The Whole Package of Health" (Amberwood Press, 2003) which
she co-authored with Kent, is a 12 week day-by day guide to
transforming your health while living a real life. The Burdens also
star in "Kent Burden's Essential Triangle," a mind body workout, which
is a blend of yoga, Pilates and meditation. To order their book, click
on the "Products" tab above. |
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