Welcome to Move!
Hey! It’s me, Adrianna, and I am stoked to welcome you to MOVE-a space for humans (like you!) to gather and learn about creating more movement and space in your body and maybe your life.
As a dancer, movement is my main form of communication. When I am unable to move- either due to tension, sickness, injury, or quarantine (as in recent events) - I feel stifled, anxious and easily triggered. Us humans are all different, of course, so your reaction to not being able to move may not be as extreme as mine...but you still might experience it.
You might be saying, “Yeah, it sucks, and I feel upset when I can’t bend down to feed my cat Louie because my lower back is tense and tight,” or “Tightness in my neck because of looking down sending gifs of Keanu Reeves on my phone and sitting at my computer answering emails 8 hours a day really screws up my sleep, which makes me more cranky and overwhelmed the next day.”
I am here to say, I hear you and I feel you. We have all been there, and it is THE ultimate worst.
I am also here to say that there is a solution, and you have Guy Voyer, DO to thank.
Voyer is a French osteopath (DO stands for Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, btws) who has done extensive research in dissection and methodology to develop SomaTraining and ELDOA curriculums. He organized his own system of therapy (SomaTherapy) to compliment his therapeutic system. He also designed an exercise-training program (SomaTraining) that respects the organization of the fascial chains and human biomechanics. Myofascial Stretching, or MFS, is one aspect of this SomaTraining program along with other courses that highlight different areas of the body.
Hold up, what are these odd acronyms? MFS and ELDOA...and they can help me feed my cat better and make my body feel less stiff?!
YES!
An example of a Myofascial stretch.
Guy Voyer looked at traditional exercise methods and saw that they looked at the body in parts rather than as a whole. The connective tissue or fascia of the body is made of water and arranged in microscopic tubules continuous upon themselves as one organ or chain. In MFS, a muscle is viewed as a link in this chain. A stretching posture will be chosen to solicit the tension of the whole chain in order to correct the specific muscle link.
ELDOA is translated to Étirements Longitudinaux avec Décoaptation Ostéo-Articulaire in French and LOADS or Longitudinal Osteo-articular Decoaptation Stretches in English. These specific postures counteract compression and blocks in the spine by creating space in a specific joint region using Myofascial Stretching methodologies. As the ELDOAs create space, there is an improvement in the overall well being of the spine and of the body. Pain is reduced, blood flow is increased, muscle tone is improved and awareness of the body is made better.
An example of an ELDOA posture
I promise all my posts won’t be this long; I am just excited to share all that is MFS and ELDOA because it can truly help at any point in time but especially at this uncertain time-so I just downloaded a lot on you.
The core of it is: MFS and ELDOA rock! I have seen it with my clients, and I have experienced it on my own body.
If you have questions about Stretch Training or Move with Adrianna!, reach out. If you just want to connect, reach out too! More to come and more to move.
