ELDOA + MFS 60 mins
Strength Mat 60 mins & Healthy Hips 30 mins
Anatomy in Motion (feet, gait, spine) 50 mins
Slowah Eldoah & Gentle Mobility 45 mins
NEW uploads - enjoy!
For those who have been asking about shorter classes, there are TWO new 45-minute classes below. If you have any feedback, I’d love to hear it! (Email torontoeldoa@gmail.com.)
47 mins: For Laura, and anyone else who wants to do some strengthening for the hips and lower obliques. Grab a band (a loop band is easiest), and a chair. This class goes fast because we cover a lot of ground. (Warning: glute med is back in full force here. So take breaks if needed and just and jump back in when you’re ready.) Have fun!
42 mins: This class is a nice reset for the hips, because the work is all quite deep in some muscles called the “deep rotators.” These muscles support the proper movement of the hip joint, and when they are working well, your hips feel really good! Grab a yoga block and a cushion for side-lying and kneeling. (Dedicated to Miriam – I hope this feels good!)
30 mins: Inspired by an ELDOA “master” teacher who we learned from some years back, Janine offers a class that will relieve tension in the hands, forearms, shoulders and neck. As you know, the neck ELDOAs are all lying down, so this might be a good class to choose if you’re not feeling super energetic. Perhaps you will get a boost from releasing your neck!
30 mins: Janine and I had an interesting discussion about this particular ELDOA posture, and she built an entire class around it! Your sixth thoracic vertebra (“T6”) is often found at the apex of the back curve, or the top of the “hunch,” and it can indeed get pretty “hunch-y” back there! When you learn to open this spot with ELDOA, you find incredible relief for posture, breathing, and a sense of well-being. Enjoy!
57 mins: I got some great “beta” about the shoulder girdle ELDOAs when I went to work with Paul Sherman in Vancouver – he was teaching an ELDOA certification and I got to sit in. It was so helpful. Here’s my attempt at putting some of the new information with some of the old favourites to give your upper back / shoulders a nice reset!
71 mins: A few people have requested shorter workouts! While I figure out how to edit these videos into smaller, bite-sized workouts, here is the breakdown for this class, which can be done in bits and pieces:
Beginning to 18:00 – Warm up + shoulder mobility
18:00 to 39:00 – Arm exercises for strength
39:00 to 55:00 – Ab exercises for strength
55:00 to 1:11:00 – Myofascial stretches & ELDOAs
57 mins: We all need mindful, impactful movement for our hips and low back, especially in times of stress, or if you are sitting a lot for work or travel! This hour is packed with our favourites: stretches for the hamstrings, quads, and glutes, and ELDOAs for the hips and lumbar spine.
59 mins: I always underestimate the power of lower-thoracic mobility. It’s a less obvious area when it comes to exercise classes, and perhaps that is exactly why (when we choose to focus on it) it feels soooo beneficial. The diaphragm stretch alone is worth doing!
ELDOA + MFS | 25-30 mins
Has it been a while since you really checked in on your glutes (and nearby muscles) and low back? How are they doing? This class will give your body a quick touch-up on strength, stretching, and ELDOAs to re-balance and re-set the low back area. Enjoy!
If you stretch your hip flexors all the time, but they are still tight, you may need to focus on your deep hip muscles. These smaller, deeper muscles are rotators, acting in ways that are similar to the famous “rotator cuff” of your shoulder joint – when they are working well, your joint mechanics are improved and the hip flexors can stop holding on for dear life!
Janine does it again! She packs a TON of great shoulder and neck work into this half-hour! Pictured is the C2-C3 ELDOA, which is a fantastic stretch and release for the neck. You’ll also do ELDOAs that target all around the sternum & collarbones, so that you will have a neck like a giraffe by the end!
We all need this class, even if the upper thoracic ELDOAs are not our favourite. 😉 Feel free to modify with a chair, and take 30 minutes out of your day (or week) to give your upper back some love. Janine is great at teaching these postures, and you will feel a huge difference by the end!
Janine explains the connection between the tongue and feet, and then takes you through stretches and ELDOAs with this connection in mind. Expect postures for the neck, collarbones, and even the sacrum! If you’ve been doing ELDOA for a while, this class will definitely help to deepen your practice.
Once again, we discover how important the feet are for the ELDOA postures! This class is like a little gift to yourself, and your feet – Janine will guide you through some mobilisation and stretches for the feet, and then take you into spinal ELDOAs for the thoracic, lumbar and neck regions. A great class if you want to replace the usual warm-up with a foot massage! 😉
Janine focuses on how your breathing affects your shoulder and neck tension. A good class for anyone who experiences stress, which is all of us these days! Expect shoulder and wrist stretches, as well as spinal and shoulder ELDOAs. The wifi connection was a touch choppy, but Ethan requested this be added to the library anyway, that’s how good it was. 🙂
30 mins: A feel-good, tension-relieving class. Perhaps the perfect combination of ELDOAs to do after a long day! Janine starts with a warm up for mobilisation & awareness (hypertonix!), and then gets into the ELDOAs for the shoulder girdle (A-C joint, Sterno-Clavicular joint). Finally, you’ll do T6-T7 and L5-S1 (legs-up-the-wall).
The “rib” ELDOAs are not easy, but they might make your spine feel EVEN BETTER than the spine ELDOAs! This is a great class to do if you know the rib ELDOAs make your spine feel great, but you don’t want to do a full hour of them. When you decompress the joint between the rib and the spine, you also decompress nerves and fascia, and it feels wonderful!
Janine breaks the bad news: if your hip flexors are tight they are also weak. :/ But that’s ok, because by doing this class you are taking steps to improve their strength and flexibility. I recommend doing this class and the “Tight hip flexors?” class below to get a head start on relieving those chronically tight hip flexors for good!
This class is for the desk jockeys (or anyone who needs to quickly release neck & shoulder tension). I kept the entire class
on the chair so that you can pause writing that email and just do this class right at your desk. We warm up the shoulders & upper back, and then do ELDOAs for the shoulder girdle, and of course T6-T7. Your neck deserves this little break!
This class is named as such because it touches on all the good spots: Hips, Lats, Hamstrings, Thoracic cage stretches, and General ELDOA. If your mind is busy and you’re feeling out-of-sorts, try this class! It will bring you back to neutral because it’s fun and it moves around to keep your brain occupied for the half-hour. You’ll need a chair and a band or strap. Have fun and feel good about moving your body!
This class focuses on spinal ELDOAs, with minimal warm up and MFS. ELDOAs include: General ELDOA, C5-C6 (neck), T6-T7, T8-T9 (mid-back), L2-L3, L3-L4 (low back), and L5-S1 (everyone’s favourite). You’ll feel all fresh and new!
If you want a blissful lie-on-the-floor-and stretch class, do this half hour recording. We still do the ELDOAs, but only after we have fully stretched the hamstrings – and I bet you’ll feel a difference!
ELDOA + MFS | 50-60 mins
58 mins: It’s all connected – we say this all the time! This class
focuses on a particular “layer” of fascia that run continuously from the pubic bones, up to the armpits, then around and down to the low back. I got feedback from a client that the morning after this class, she woke up without the low back pain that had been dogging her for a while. Yay!
56 mins: There are a few special places in your spine that, when they are well-aligned, will help you improve you overall posture. It’s a bit of a “posture hack,” because you can do these five ELDOAs and make a significant improvement all the way along the spine. We call these the “Gravity Line ELDOAs.” If you’re looking for bang-for-your-buck, do these!
Think about your upper back and shoulders right now… How do they feel? If the answer is “not amazing” jump in to this class. We unwind those areas with refined ELDOAs (emphasizing the lemniscate, breath, and timing of tensions). The extra attention to detail makes all the difference!
If you feel stuck or “tacked down” around the side ribs and waistline, this is the recording to do! Yes, there are a couple of rib ELDOAs, but there are also beautiful stretches and breathing exercises to give you relief from the more intense work.
If the idea of doing any sort of exercise is unappealing right now because you are just exhausted… try this class. We never leave the mat, and although we do a handful of spine ELDOAs, all the exercises are either done lying down, sitting, or occasionally kneeling. Myofascial stretches include the hamstrings (grab a band), diaphragm, and hip flexors.
Get ready! It’s a fun class because we switch it up a lot: from the TFL myofascial stretch, to a diaphram global postural stretch, with all your favourite spine ELDOAs sprinkled in. Expect: a little abdominal oblique strengthening, glute & TFL stretches, some mid-and-upper thoracic rib and spine ELDOAs, and L5-S1!
The “Nutcracker” ELDOAs are excellent for re-aligning the sacrum at the sacroiliac joints. If your sacrum is slightly shifted / rotated, that imbalance can make it feel like one side of the pelvis is always tight or “stuck.” If you feel like your pelvis needs to be “reset”, try the Nutcracker ELDOAs. They aren’t as intense as the name suggests!
Is it possible to breathe, stretch, and ELDOA your way to a new body? Yes! This class touches on some of the most important stabilizing structures of the body – remember your thoracic diaphragm and pelvic floor are two of your essential “core” muscles. Grab a band, a pillow, and remember to breathe.
Dedicated to Janine!, who said she got a big fascial release from this class. You need a band & a low book or cushion. We do MFS for glute med, piriformis, & superficial glute max (a good one for knee pain or TFL tightness). The difference in this class is that we do versions of the stretches that are less common, but equally as important (ie: stretching both the “top” and “bottom” of the glute med). Proceed gently and mindfully as with any new stretch. You might discover a new favourite!
As Guy used to say, “it all STARTS with the pelvis!” This class is a good one to do if you are new-ish to the sacroiliac joint ELDOAs, or if you like working on the pelvis and hips, but need a solid warm-up and a few awareness exercises before diving into the actual postures. In any case, I hope you try this class, and I hope your body likes it!
This combination of upper thoracic / lower neck, and lower thoracic seems to result in an extra-special feeling of relief. The exercises are both thoughtful and challenging, which means we are building awareness and strength in tandem. Expect all positions: supine, kneeling, seated, etc. You’ll reap the rewards of your work for the rest of the day! Enjoy!
A lot of practitioners will tell you that, to improve your shoulder health and mobility, you need to mobilise your thoracic spine. In this class, we do just that! We also stretch around the shoulder joint, open the joints between the collarbone and sternum, and try to decompress the upper back region. These exercises always feel good for me, so I hope your shoulders like them, too!
Do you know what you’re “using” to create space in your spine (or whatever joint) when you’re doing ELDOA? Here, I try to help you find what parts of the body are doing the “work” in terms of how we are pulling, reaching, or lengthening to create that eventual sensation of “space” in the joint. A good overall class that prioritizes ELDOAs (vs MFS), and emphasizes good form.
Tight front chest muscles + weak back muscles = forward shoulders and poor posture. This also sets us up for the dreaded “forward head” position. Let’s strengthen the muscles that open the front of the shoulder, and stretch the muscles that close it. That way, when we’re done, it’s a little easier to stand tall and our head has a nice supportive column on which to perch.
STRENGTH MAT (Pilates + Soma Training) | 30-60 mins
73 mins: You name it, we do it: abs, glutes, inner thighs, arms, back, and more. To top it all off, we do myofascial stretches and ELDOAs for the related areas. We all need some work on all these areas, so don’t overthink it; grab some light / medium weights, press play, and let’s go!
I was going to trash this recording because I didn’t think it was energetic enough – but then someone requested it go in the library! A good lesson for me that sometimes less is more. This week we took things a touch easier in some ways, slowed down, and tried to focus on our techniques. I hope you feel both stronger AND a little more relaxed! Props: chair, weights, & band.
I heard an astounding statistic recently that eccentric hamstring strengthening can reduce hamstring injuries by almost 80%!! Even if that percentage is exaggerated, there is research supporting the concept, so we explored it in this class. We also did some back and core strengthening to round it out. You’ll need a stability ball or a skateboard. 😉
71 mins: Do you recognize the exercise in the thumbnail? It’s the “Saw” – from our Pilates classical mat work! This class combines circulatory exercises (Soma Training), myofascial streches for the hands and wrists, and the classical Pilates Mat exercises that improve spine rotation. The result: fresh blood flow to the legs, a supple spine, and released shoulder tension.
71 mins: A bunch of us really liked how this class felt in our bodies! If you like working on your hips and low back, this class is a little different, in that we work isometrically (holding a contraction, as opposed to pulsing). You can feel the difference at the end! Thank you, Arna, for doing the class and requesting it be added here! I hope it has the same positive effect on other people’s bodies.
32 mins: Hey friends, give yourself a mini break from sitting at your desk to do some strengthening & stretching for the large muscles on the front, back, and inside of the hip. Grab 3 props: a chair, a cushion or squishy ball, and a band. It’s a quick and rewarding class – and if you happen to have extra time after, go for a walk to enjoy your newly-balanced pelvis.
After this class, I could feel an improvement in my pelvis, legs, and low back! I really wasn’t expecting such a change, but apparently other people in the class had a similar response! This class was all about how to improve our gait (walking) and how to walk long distances without pain by strengthening key muscle groups.
Here it is, Jenella! 🙂 Thanks to Laura for the request to do back of arms / armpit area! This ended up being a good strength class for the back as well as the back of the arm and armpit. You’ll need a chair and light weights. The exercises target the triceps, lats, rhomboids, pectorals, and other “armpit” muscle groups. Enjoy!
This class builds endurance strength in the upper limbs and back. Soma Training aims to promote healthy glide in the fascia by working on each muscle or (even part of it) in isolation. Although we eventually get to the mat, first we strengthen the biceps, triceps, deltoids, lats, upper traps, rhomboids, and more. Grab some light & medium weights and a chair.
Joseph Pilates was “ahead of his time” in that he put together some fabulous movements to encourage strength, stress-relief, breathing, and lengthening in the body. Not to mention the visceral and fascial benefits! This is as “classic” as I get – which isn’t very classic at all. 🙂 But it’s a great, full-body workout, and I hope you like how you feel at the end!
Anatomy in Motion (feet, gait, & spine)
51 mins: This class is about how our feet handle pronation (flat arch) and supination (lifted arch). Our feet should move through both positions as we walk. Pronation is especially important, because pronation is the “jumping off point” for all the other stages of walking, and it happens only once per footfall. So if our feet cannot pronate well, none of the other stages of gait will be optimal. What’s more: when we pronate (and supinate), there is a reciprocal effect all the way up the spine. This movement offers all the joints in the pelvis, spine, and shoulder girdle an opportunity to move and stretch in a very nourishing, healthy way! So you can see how, if we walk well, every step is a strengthening and stretching exercise for the whole body. Based on the Anatomy in Motion method.
Based on Level 1 Anatomy in Motion (AiM), which studies the movements of the feet, spine, and peripheral joints in gait! Here we combine the “cogs” (spine movements) from AiM with our ELDOA lemniscates. It’s a nice way to de-stress all over and free the stuck areas in your back. Happy Holidays, everyone – and thank you as always for trusting me with your movement practice.
Gentle Mobility + Slowah Eldoah | 45 minutes
Every day, I am so grateful for you, my friends and clients. This particular morning, I was feeling overwhelmed with all the “fancy” class ideas scattered around my brain, and the kind folks in this class encouraged me to just “keep it simple”. So we took it right back to the basics, and what do you know: the basics are hard work! Haha! But it’s good work, so I’d encourage everyone to do this class as a way to “brush up” on your ELDOA technique.
Janine’s “slowah eldoah” class is a hit! In this class, ELDOAs for the hips, shoulders, and spine ELDOAs are done with the assistance of a chair. Sometimes, it’s nice to take it a little easier – and you’ll still get the benefits of fascial release and a calmer nervous system.
Experience a warm up from the chair, and then let Janine walk you through ELDOAs for the spine, from the neck to the low back! You are welcome to do as much or as little on the chair as you like.
Grab some light hand weights and a chair. This class can be done in part or whole for a good movement break, or to reset your nervous system.
Pushing is an important movement in life. This class begins with wall pull-ups, and then explore various standing exercises to build lower body strength and coordination.
We made it to the floor today, but only after some good practice reaching, creating resistance for some strength training, and practicing opposition.
3-D workout™ is a home-grown modality, developed by Dianne Woodruff in Toronto. It’s a brilliant movement practice that builds on natural movements and improves coordination and brain-to-body connections.
Movement Breaks | 10-30 mins
10 minutes: Get up off the chair, take a break from your emails! This quick standing movement break encourages reaching, stretching, awareness, and breath.
9 minutes: If you’ve been sitting in the same position a lot, do your spine a favour and move! It’ll be over in a flash, but you’ll feel refreshed.
11 minutes: Intermediate work on the mat. Focus: mobilizaton and sequencing of the spine. Added bonus: shoulder girdle, arm, and full-body strengthening.
18 minutes: You have time for this! Get on the floor and challenge your core muscles with some good quadruped work. This work makes your spine, shoulders, and hips say Thank You!
27 minutes: It’s amazing how much a wall can help you access good movement and stretch. This class will refresh your body from head to toe.
27 minutes: Start with the feet and then move up the spine, into the hips and shoulders. Your chair might be your best workout prop for quick strength and stretch exercises.