ELDOA + MFS 60 mins
Strength Mat 60 mins & Healthy Hips 30 mins
Slowah Eldoah & Gentle Mobility 45 mins
10-minute Movement Breaks
NEW uploads - enjoy!
52 mins: This is a requested repeat of a class that combines pelvic floor awareness with global postural stretches and ELDOAs for the sacrum, and sacroiliac joint. If your hips and low back are tight, consider doing this class – when we re-balance the pelvic floor and release tension around the sacrum, the hips and low back benefit enormously. You might also notice a freer, more healthy and pliable feeling throughout the pelvic floor. (Dedicated to Sharon and Sheila!)
55 mins: My tissues have been tight and achy lately – maybe the winter weather is getting into my bones. In any case, this class is the result of trying to unwind my own body! Expect myofascial + global postural stretches for the lats, trapezius, side body, and lumbo-sacral (aka low back) regions. Every stretch requires some rotation, and when you do it mindfully and slowly, it feels soooo good when you release. ELDOAs include C4-C5 for the neck, T6-T7 for mid-back, and L2-L3 for low back. We finish with L5-S1.
57 mins: Did you do a lot of hugging over the holidays? I hope so!
In any case, get ready to stretch your chest and mid-back muscles, and then do some spine-decompression for the lower neck, upper-and-mid thoracic, and of course, “legs up the wall.” I hope this feels as heart-warming for you as it did for me to teach it! Happy New Year, and sending hugs to you ALL. xo
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.
73 mins: If it’s Strength that you’re craving, look no further! This class works on calves, hamstrings, glutes, adductors, low abs, rhomboids, and more – more or less in that order! If you want to skip ahead to your favourite glute med exercise (Anita), that starts around the 25 minute mark. 😉 Myofascial stretches begin around the 57 minute mark. In any case, grab your mat and some medium / heavy weights, and let’s go!
ELDOA + myofascial stretch classes ** 25-30 mins **
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 poor psoas gets blamed for so much, but it’s really just doing it’s best to keep us moving. Situated between the ribcage and the pelvis, attached to the lumbar spine and the inner thigh (one on each side of your body!), this muscle moves a lot of our parts! It’s worth your time to build awareness of the psoas – and don’t forget to breathe (the psoas & your thoracic diaphragm are good friends).
I’m so glad Janine dove back into the movements of the sacrum with us! This bone (4-5 fused vertebra at the very bottom of your spine) is a huge part of functional pelvis / spine movement. Knowing how it moves and how to “stretch” it can make a big difference to how you feel all the way up the chain. Enjoy the stretches! (And be patient: this is one of those classes where the benefits make themselves apparent after the class is done.)
I’m glad Janine dove into the movements of the sacrum for us! The Sacrum is actually 4-5 fused vertebra at the very bottom of your spine, and it’s a huge part of functional pelvis / spine movement. Knowing how it moves and how to “stretch” it can make a big difference to how you feel all the way up the chain. So enjoy! (And be patient: this is one of those classes where the benefits make themselves apparent after the class is done.)
As Janine says, you can’t fix your neck (or your shoulders) without addressing the positioning and awareness of your lower ribcage and sacrum. In the neck ELDOAs, these regions of the spine are key for building a strong foundation from which we can create “space” in our cervical spine. In short: this 30-minute class helps your neck and shoulders. 😀
What’s this class about? “We’re going to try to convince our quads to turn off.” Not an easy task, since most of us have chronically over-active / short / weak / tight hip flexors. BUT, it’s a very worthwhile endeavour! Let Janine take you through some strength, stretching, and ELDOA to set a new tone to your hip movements, and enjoy the results.
As Janine says, you can’t fix your neck (or your shoulders) without addressing the positioning and awareness of your lower ribcage and sacrum. In the neck ELDOAs, these regions of the spine are key for building a strong foundation from which we can create “space” in our cervical spine. In short: this 30-minute class helps your neck and shoulders. 😀
T7-T8 (not pictured here) is one of the most challenging and important ELDOAs for the spine. When you walk with the arms swinging freely, the opposite rotational forces in the pelvis and shoulder girdle cancel out at this level, meaning it is a sort-of pivot or central point of movement when you are walking. This is also a KEY eldoa for those with scoliosis.
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!
There’s a lot to be said for familiarity! In this class, we do myofascial stretches for psoas, glutes, hamstrings, and adductors. Then we do almost all the lumbar spine ELDOAs, including legs-up-the-wall. I hope this class gives you both a mental break and an opportunity to hone your skills with these commonly-used stretches and ELDOAs!
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 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!
Janine guides you through some mobilizing exercises for the neck and shoulders before diving into stretches and ELDOAs. A fair number of the exercises are seated, so feel free to grab a yoga block or a stool if your hips are feeling the burn. 🙂 Expect ELDOAs for the collarbones and shoulder joint, as well as some neck ELDOAs. Enjoy!
If you’re looking for a class with lots of neck ELDOAs, look no further! Janine takes you through almost every neck position, as well as T6-T7 and General ELDOA. Let’s be honest, it’s pretty nice to do a class where the majority of the ELDOAs are on the floor! And you neck will be sooooo happy when you’re done!
What we did: strengthening for one of the deep hip rotators and glute minimus (the muscle that is tasked with holding the femur head in the hip socket)! Following that, we stretch (yes, the 90-90-90 MFS), and then do both hip ELDOAs. To finish: standing ELDOA to feel the effects of our newly balanced, strengthened, mobile hips!
Janine warms you up quickly and dives into the myriad of ELDOAs designed to eliminate undue compression & tension around the very complex SI joints. There are more than a dozen SI joint ELDOAs! We don’t do all of them in this class, (and you don’t need all of them at once). This is a good sampling of the SI joint work, and your pelvis will feel good after!
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 + myofascial stretch classes * 50-60 mins *
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.
Grab a band! While technically an ELDOA class, we mostly moved and stretched the glutes – and boy, does it feel good! When your gluteus maximus muscles are strong and resilient, the low back and hips function better, too! This class is a nice mix of “hard” and “easy”, so if you’re looking for that kind of class, look no farther. 🙂
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!
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!
Your thoracic diaphragm is one of the four true CORE muscles in your body. If it’s not happy or functioning well, a lot of other things (pelvic floor, low back, shoulders and neck, etc) will also be complaining. Expect a few breathing exercises to get started, and then some stretches, and finally all the ELDOAs I could fit into the last 30 minutes or so. If you’re tired, achy, or simply need something to reset your brain and body, do this video!
Give yourself a movement-based foot massage, mobilise your feet, strengthen your lower legs and hips, and use ELDOA to release your hip joints! This is great class to do if you’re a little tired, but you want to do something engaging to get your body moving well. Once your feet are moving better, the rest of the class is a breeze! Props: a block and a chair.
The focus here is hips, low back, and pelvis! After some quick exercises to wake up some muscles and hydrate the tissues, we do myofascial stretches for the lats, glutes, and some deep hip muscles. Finally, ELDOAs for the hip joints and SI joints help to re-balance your pelvis so that you feel more “connected” and supported next time you go for a walk or hike.
My friend Marg had a sore knee this day, and I thought it would be a nice treat for all of us with tweaky knees (yes, I include myself in this category!) to have a class where kneeling is just not a thing. We still had a jam-packed class for the neck, thoracic, and lumbar regions, so grab a chair and hit “play”.
I got some positive feedback from this class, so it gets to go in the library! The goal is to relieve tension and promote a feeling of “lightness” and space in the neck and shoulder area. If you feel like this would be nice, please join me on the mat! (You might need a cushion for some kneeling.) Enjoy!
Today we did myofascial stretches AND global postural stretches for the upper back / neck muscles to provide some relief from that “forward head” posture. ELDOAs at and around the 3rd thoracic vertebra & 3rd rib also help reorganize the shoulder girdle. It’s a good one for shoulder tension or neck pain (if your experiencing neck pain, take a “less is more” approach.
The focus of this class was to simply re-align ourselves, physically but also mentally! If you can’t be bothered to pick a class from the library today, but just need to “do something”, press Play now and don’t overthink it! One of my favourite sayings is “mood follows activity” – it’s true every time!
Global Postural Stretches are a little more “advanced”, in that we need good body awareness to put them together. However, everyone can do them with the right warm up and awareness exercises! If your hips are chronically tight, try this class. You find a new, favourite hip-opener stretch!
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.
This class was inspired by Linda, who was having some hip pain and showed up to class anyway. We decided to take it easy to start; we did a lot of hip joint awareness before diving into the ELDOAs and myofascial stretches. Good awareness is crucial to moving well (and ultimately fixing our issues), so see how this class changes the hip work for you!
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 classes (Pilates + Soma Training) *30-60 mins*
1 hr 12 mins: You’ll need hand weights (light & heavy, if you have them) and a chair for this class. In case you want to skip ahead to any given section: 0:00 to 14:00 is warm up / cardio. 14:00 to 35:00 is upper body strength with weights and the chair. 35:00 to 55:00 is lying on the mat, strengthening for muscles of the back & rotator cuff. At 55 mins, we start strengthening the low abdominals. For the last 12 minutes, we stretch the abs, shoulders, back, and neck. Enjoy!
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.
Sometimes, I go back in my notes and I find little gems that I had forgotten about! That’s what happened this week when I revisited some old exercises using the Franklin balls. (Those wool dryer balls or rolled up socks can also work here.) This class is 70% release & relax, 30% stability & strength. It’s something a little different to pique your curiosity and remind you that sometimes, less is more. I hope you like it!
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! So here we go: this class was designed for Mark & Ta, who are touring around Europe and will be walking for hours at a time. (Do this even if you’re not going to Europe – it will feel good!)
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!
Sarah has been honing her expertise in lower body strengthening (hips, thighs, pelvic floor, low back, etc), and it all comes together in this class! Grab a half dome or a yoga block for some of the deep hip rotator work. This class addresses hip alignment and mobility, meaning a more functional, healthier low back and pelvis! (Bonus: you’ll get a good inner thigh burn!)
This is a Strength Mat class targeted to the neck, mid-back, and hips! Our goal was to improve the mobility of these regions with the initial exercises, and then challenge the STABILITY of the same regions with different exercises later. If you have been feeling restricted in the neck, hips, or t-spine lately, try this!
If you like Pilates and Segmental Strengthening, you’ll love Sarah’s blend of classical and contemporary exercises to tone, strengthen, and improve the flexibility of your hips, abs, and legs. No props needed, although it might be nice to have a couple of yoga blocks (or the equivalent) handy, just in case. Get ready to feel longer and stronger!
Analytical Muscular Strengthening, CARs-inspired joint mobility, and Pilates-based movement, all in one class! I think this class succeeded in mixing gentle, awareness-building exercises with challenging strength work. If you want a workout, but also feel a little demotivated, this is the class to do. It will reset your brain and body. Remember: “mood follows activity!”
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.
Someone (thanks, LM) asked for extension work, and I was happy to comply! After some shoulder and arm strength with hand weights, we go to the mat to try some Pilates-inspired exercises to strengthen around the torso (think “core” strength). The last bit of the class is focus on spine “extension”, moving mindfully to avoid compressing or shortening any part of the spine.
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!
Gentle Mobility & Slowah Eldoah - 45 minutes
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.
For something a little different.... 10 to 30 minute movement breaks
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.