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WINGSPAN VIDEO LIBRARY
Unable to attend my live classes? Virtual class recordings are now available to stream from home on demand. Join me from my cozy movement space for an hour (or many!) of Pilates-based self-care. Scroll down to choose from All Bodies Pilates, Pilates on the Roll, Intermediate Mat and Pilates Flow offerings. More classes added weekly. These classes are currently offered free of charge and your donations are greatly appreciated.
You can find me on Venmo @wingspanmovement or on PayPal at jessica@wingspanmovement.com. Enjoy!
All Bodies Pilates
These classes are appropriate for all levels of mostly healthy bodies. Props are occasionally used and can generally be found around the house. Yoga mat, comfortable clothes and a commitment to self-care recommended.
Walking the Plank
Plank pose - love it or hate it, I bet someone has advised you to try this ubiquitous pose for strengthening your core. In some ways it is the ultimate core-builder, and done well it's a full-body endeavor... but it's hard to do well! Join me as I lead you through a class that methodically awakens and activates the muscles you need for a rockin' plank. Props required: blanket, strap, and slider (hand towel if you're on wood, plastic lid or magazine or paper plate or socks if you're on carpet)
Rotation Station
It's true - I do love me some rotation. Activating the spiral line creates integrity in our structure, helps make sense of our musculo-skeletal-fascial continuities, and just feels good. Join me for an all-levels, rotation-focused class. No props required.
Many Mini-Flows
Methodically warm up your feet, major joints, and spine in preparation for multiple small flows in this all levels class. You'll need a little space on either side of your mat. Props: blanket and yoga blocks.
Antidote to Slumping
In this gentle class we tend to the areas that get chronically tight with sitting, driving, working on a computer, looking at a phone, or generally feeling anxious or down. If you do any of these things, this class is for you! Open your heart, relieve your cranky back, tight neck and tense shoulders with this Pilates-based Rx for slumping. Prop required: a strap.
My Roots Go Down
Get grounded with me in this all-levels class. Through emphasizing our connection to the support of the floor and the quality with which we contact it, we can create a sense of ease, openness and rootedness in both mind and body.
Pandemic-Proof Pilates
Joseph Pilates strongly believed in the potential of his work to heal what ails us. The lore even goes that his routine kept his barracks of foreign nationals on the Isle of Man healthy during the Spanish influenza epidemic. These days it's hard to tell truth from fiction, but one thing's for sure: a little of Joe's classic Pilates repertoire certainly can't hurt.
Re-opening (the Heart)
As the world slowly re-opens there is still plenty of stress and anxiety cycling through our bodies and our communities. Even as we go back to in person activities we may find it's not so easy to open our hearts. This class tends to the heart's home - our thoracic space - with lots of gentle opening and mobilizing. A sweet support for your heart's re-emergence.
Mobilize to Stabilize
This energetic flowing class emphasizes joint mobility as a preparation for strength building. We know that tightness is correlated with weakness- conversely movement is correlated with wellbeing! So let's move together - by the end of this fun sequence we will feel fluid in our joints and strong in our bodies.
Re-envisioning Posture
Join me for an All Bodies Pilates class recorded in-person at Shawl Anderson Dance Center. This is a gentle yet challenging class in which we open the structures that contribute to healthy posture and address some of the misconceptions around what it means to stand up straight.
Core-Distal Flow
Irmgard Bartenieff's concept of Core-Distal initiation is the inspiration for this flowing class. We will begin each movement at our center and extend it out through our limbs - a yummy, somatically attuned class that will leave you feeling centered and connected.
It All Hinges on Our Joints
Spirals & Waves
This gentle All Bodies class explores moving our spine and pelvis through various spirals and waves as a way to thoroughly warm the body. Spend some time releasing your hips and feet in service of a freer, better supported core. Prop suggested: a strap
Hands & Feet Flow
Spend the first 45 minutes of this class on your feet and hands, exploring core strengthening through your supports. This is a vigorous, full-bodied flow. Props suggested: one or two yoga blocks.
Joint-Focused Flow
A flow class with props - we will build to our flow today with a methodical focus on warming up the joints. Suggested props: 2 yoga blocks, rolled up mat, and a blanket.
Sea Star Flows
Inspired by movements from Bartenieff Fundamentals, this all levels class begins slowly with focus on the breath, then progresses through gentle spinal awareness and deep core integration through all the planes of movement. Get ready to roll on and off your mat in a series of sea star/sea anemone flows. Prop recommended: a blanket.
Slowing Down
This class chronologically followed our "Ramping Up" flow, and was designed as a gentler response to the week's early, more intense class. Seated in a chair we release the bones of our feet and lower leg before working our way up to the spine and shoulders. A handful of downward dogs, planks and hip stretches are followed by simple core work before a restful integration. An excellent full-bodied workout and release with a softer edge. Optional prop: chair.
Ramping Up
In this vigorous flow class we start slowly and build in intensity throughout the class, moving from a foot warm-up to deep core activation and finally a long standing flow. No props required.
Standing Strong
This is a challenging flow class focused primarily on standing and quadruped postures. We will spend a good 50 minutes flowing between feet to hand supports before arriving on our backs for some deeper core work and a stretch. Watch out, you might break a sweat!
Slow Flow
In this flowing class we take our time, moving continuously but at a deliberate pace that allows us to feel the clarity of our movements. We methodically flex, extend, rotate, and side bend our spines, warming the body from the inside out. A relaxing but challenging flow.
Body Reset
This class includes all my favorite moves for those days when I'm just a little off, physically or energetically, and could use a movement boost. We'll start on our backs with a brief somatic warmup before progressing through simple all fours mobility and strength work, a short standing flow, a progressive series of rollups and backline activations, some gentle stretching, and a brief integration. No props required.
Foot Fetish
Join me for this fun, foot-focused class. We will attend to the strength, mobility, and receptivity of the feet before moving into some strength-oriented mini-flows on all fours, finishing with attention to our shoulders and hips in this well-rounded class. Props required: tightly rolled yoga mat and strap
Articulating the Body
Undulate, articulate, rotate, flex and extend your way into a supple, expressive spine and body in this flowing mat class. No props required.
Spiral Line
If you've ever taken class with me you know how I love a good spiral. This twisty turny class has a theoretical base in the work of fascia expert Thomas Myers' and is partially inspired by my studies with master Pilates teacher Elizabeth Larkam. Through our movement practice we'll loosely explore the spiral line, a myofascial pathway or connected set of muscles and fascia that work as a continuous system to transmit load. In everyday terms, these are systems that allow us to move as a whole integrated body, rather than just one muscle or part at a time. Let's spiral together!
Crossing Midline
This all-levels flowing class includes a healthy dose of cross-lateral movement - good for our brains, our balance, our coordination, agile aging, and balanced spinal stability.
The Heart's House
Our thoracic cavity is the space inside the protective structure of our ribs - in it lie our heart and our lungs. Let's explore opening and mobilizing the thorax and ribs while allowing the heart to rest within. Start with a sitting sequence to open and mobilize this space before activating core supports with the goal of increasing fluidity and range. Prop required: a strap
The In-Between
What if, instead of focusing on the fancy shapes we make in our Pilates practice, we instead paid attention to how we arrive in those shapes? This class is all about the transitions, practicing how we maintain our cool when the ground beneath us is shifting. We'll play with movements that takes us from all fours to our backs to our sides to standing and back again. A slow but steady, slightly acrobatic flow.
Body Breathing
Explore breath from the inside out - accessing and releasing the muscles of inspiration and addressing the complimentary parts of ourselves that allow us to breathe more fully. This feel-good, enlivening class examines the how of breathing within the Pilates exercises.
Easy on the Arms
Sometimes you want to flow but your wrists or shoulders just aren't having it. This class was designed to give you that wrung-out experience of a good steady flow with minimal weight bearing in the arms (think legs and abs!) Give those tired upper limbs a break while still treating yourself to a full-bodied movement practice.
Going the Distance
They weren't kidding when they said this would be a marathon and not a sprint! Thirteen plus months into the pandemic our bodies are needing just as much care as ever, perhaps more. This class tends to our endurance, addressing all those areas that get tight and cranky when life's stresses overwhelm us. We can do this friends.
Double Helix
Taking our cue from human DNA we will spend this hour exploring spirals. Be ready to roll right off your mat in this twisty, turny, topsy, turvy, spiraling, undulating movement class. No props required.
Back to Basics
In this all-levels class we slow down to engage with some of the basic Pilates concepts and exercises more in-depth. We explore deep TVA activation and how our pelvic floor interacts with our abdominals, we focus on lining up our bones for efficiency and ease of movement, we practice differentiating our legs from our pelvis for happy hips and back, and we think about how to lift our head with minimal stress on the neck. Join me for this great review of the basics that will leave you feeling long, strong, and centered.
Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes
Pilates excels at supporting healthy joints, through both stability and mobility exercises, and through helping us understand proper function and use. Journey through the joints with me as we wake up our feet, knees, hips, shoulders, spines, and everything in between. Prop recommended: chairback or balance support.
Lower Body Love
With a methodical focus on our lower extremities - feet, ankles, knees, calves, thighs, and hips - we give our supports some well-deserved attention and love. Class starts seated with an extensive foot releasing sequence, gradually builds to deeper strengthening and refinement in the legs and feet, and ends with a series of simple flows to balance out our structure. Focus on your lower half and find how your whole self will thrive! Props suggested: high backed chair, strap, and rolled up yoga mat.
Slow Train
It's flow day! But we're taking the slow train... starting on our backs we'll slowly warm the body with somatic retuning, warming the spine and hips and awakening our pelvic stability. Next we progress to mini-flows on hands, knees, and bellies, finally building to a vigorous quadruped flow filled with planks, lunges, undulations, and twists. Join me for a smooth and well-rounded ride on the Slow Train!
Happy Hips
This gentle class is designed especially for those of us suffering from tight, grabby hip flexors and achy, weak glutes. We'll release through these structures while finding appropriate support for more ease and freedom in our movement. Prop suggested: thick pillow, bolster, or foam roller.
Postural Tone
Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen tells us that postural tone begins with the feet. In this all levels class we'll address our postural tone with this awareness, awakening our feet, bringing articulation to the joints, and strengthening the core supports in standing, all fours, on our bellies, and on our backs. Prop recommended: hand towel (if on a wood floor) or paper plate (if on carpet).
Antidote to Sitting
We tend to spend more time sitting than our bodies were designed to handle - the result is often a rounded upper back, sore neck, forward head, stuck ribs, tight hip flexors, glutes and hamstrings, and unhappy, underutilized feet. This class works to unwind these many stuck areas, helping you to find your full length and ease. Prop suggested: yoga strap or belt.
Developmental Flow
This progressive flow moves through the human developmental phases - beginning on our backs we find our core, connecting limbs to center, then flow through belly and all fours work, exploring back extension, stabilization, and balance, and finally progressing to standing work, an all full-body flow, and finishing where we began, on our backs at rest. Prop suggested: hand towel (if on wood) or paper plate (if on carpet).
Wring Yourself Out
This all-levels, no props class takes us through a series of joint mobilizations, stabilizations, and spinal rotations that warm, loosen and strengthen the hips, shoulders and back. A feel-good class that will leave you feeling long, strong, and all wrung out.
Global Flow
This class starts slowly with a gentle warmup for the spine, neck, shoulders, and feet. We then ramp up through a series of flows, culminating in a long global flow that goes from quadruped to standing to belly to seated to your back and returning to quadruped. Get disoriented and reoriented as you move dynamically around your mat. No props required.
Start with Your Supports
It all starts with our feet! Give your feet a thorough treatment before moving up the leg, strengthening ankles, knees, and hamstrings. Feel the increased openness and groundedness that comes from attending to our supports. Suggested prop: rolled up yoga mat or blanket.
Swirling Around Center
Organized around our energetic center, this all levels class will have you spiraling, rotating, circling, rocking, rolling, undulating, and of course, stabilizing around that strong supple spine. No props required.
Open & Flow
We start slow and low, opening up the feet, shoulders, and back, warming the core, then ramping up to kneeling rotation and strengthening work, before a long active standing flow. This class feels good! Prop recommended: strap
From the Ground Up
We begin with our feet, carefully and intentionally finding where movement is possible, and creating a receptive surface on which to stand, balance, and flow. Class includes monkey flows and cross-patterned vinyassa-inspired movement, all with an awareness of our foundation. Props recommended: a strap and a chair, or comfortable seat
Segmental Movement
This flowing class warms up the spine in all directions and orientations. Dive into your lizard brain and flow with me! No props required.
Keep it Simple
Grab your mat and join me in a feel-good, contemporary approach to Pilates mat. Settle into the wisdom of Joe's classic material with modern twists, turns and undulations. No props required.
Where Breath Meets Body
A breath-focused flow class with lots of twists, standing balance and lunging variations. No props required.
Keep Moving
We begin with slow somatic movements to warm the trunk, then ramp up to standing leg work, including a fascial stretch for the pelvic floor. We'll work our multiplanar movement in all fours, activate the back and front lines, then finish out the class with a long, vigorous flow before final integration. Inspired by the Bengsons, we keep going, keep going, keep going on. Props required: chair, hand towel, book, and if on carpet, paper plate, magazine, or large tupperware lid.
Movement is Medicine
In this class we warm the body slowly, paying special attention to releasing tension in the shoulders, neck, and forearms. Together we'll wake up and strengthen our bodies through a variety of somatic modalities including Hanna Somatics, fascial movement training, Feldenkrais, yoga, Franklin Method, and Pilates. Props required: blanket and strap
HipStirs, ToeStirs, KneeStirs, Keesters
Starting with our feet and a mini-anatomy lesson, we will work methodically through the major joints of the body, clearing stagnation and inviting energy to flow. Props required: a blanket, block or chair to elevate your hips, a rolled up mat or blanket, and a hand towel or paper plate.
Pilates on the Roll
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These foam roller classes move a little more slowly than the All Bodies classes but with the added challenge of stability work. Using a 36' foam roller we play with core stabilization, fascial movement, balance, proprioception, roller self-massage and general strengthening. Suitable for both beginners and experienced movers.
What Holds You Up
Where can we find balance? Where can we find support? We explore these questions through fascial release, spinal mobilization, balance work, and core activation in this gentle all levels foam roller class.
Reformer on the Roller
This foam roller class adapts some of the Pilates Reformer material for your living room! You don't have to have access to a Reformer to get some of the benefit of this fun Pilates apparatus. Let's roll together.
It Must Be Sunday
Because it's time to roll! A gentle yet challenging, full-bodied foam roller class to get your day started. Who needs coffee anyway? Prop required: 36" foam roller
Rolling Around
This foam roller class will get you all ironed out and ready for your day. Most of my clients love these roller classes because they feel so good afterward - tall, open, energized - and this class is no exception. Treat yourself to a little foam roller love.
Well Rounded
This is a slow delicious flow, that will roll you out, lubricate your joints, and help you find your center. A lovely, all-around feel good class. Prop required: 36" foam roller
No Stone Left Unturned
In this foam roller class we treat ourselves to a full-bodied, no stone left unturned, strengthening, lengthening, and deliciously releasing movement experience. Please and thank you!
Reigning it in
I love movement that opens and stretches and mobilizes, but my loosey-goosey joints could sometimes use a stronger stability focus. In this class we reign in some of that yummy expansive movement with the goal of finding our deeper strength and stability. But don't worry, it will still feel good!
Well-Rounded
This is a slow delicious flow, that will roll you out, lubricate your joints, and help you find your center. A lovely, all-around feel good class. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Balancing Act
It's all about balance in this feel-good foam roller class - with lots of standing and all fours work we will have fun while improving one of the "core" requirements for a healthy, active life... Our balance!
This is How We Roll
Join me on the foam roller as we roll ourselves out, figuratively and literally, in all directions. A greatest hits class with many of my favorite foam roller moves.
Quadruped Flows
Quadruped, referring to the hands and feet or hands and knees position, is excellent for strength-building in that the torso is suspended, without feedback from the floor, and the core must activate to hold us up. This delicious foam rolling class incorporates lots of hands and feet supports in addition to our usual myofascial releasing work.
Out on a Limb
In this well rounded class we play with arm and leg choreography that encourages a deeper connection to our center. With plenty of myofascial release mixed in this class offers a lovely, full-body treatment.
Feel Good Pilates
Need I say more? This foam roller class is simply that - all about feeling good. Join me?
The Dance of Stability
I find it helpful to think of stability as a process rather than a fixed place... that which is required to feel balanced in any given moment or posture is different from what was required in the moment or posture that came before - a dance in which we are constantly engaged. This all-levels foam roller class invites us to explore and play with stability - when we need it, when we don't, and how to find it in a variety of shapes and orientations.
Head to Toes & In-Between
This all levels class is designed to leave you feeling good! We will move slowly, ironing out and mobilizing the body from head to toe, activating the core supports, and opening the space around your upper back and heart. Treat yourself to an hour of Pilates-adjacent self-care on the foam roller.
Better Balance
In this balance focused foam roller class we will stretch, strengthen, mobilize, stabilize, engage, iron out, and release. A well-rounded full body tuning.
Shift Happens
Play with shifting your weight, twisting around your midline, and sliding in and out of your supports in this stretchy, centering, all-levels foam roller class.
Pleasure Pilates
Some days you just want to feel good. This foam roller class is a little more therapeutic in nature, focusing on mobilizing and releasing stagnation in the joints, wringing out the spine, and finding length and release in the muscles of the hips and legs. A lower intensity, stretchy, all around feel-good class.
Roller Coaster
This foam roller class moves continuously from standing to the mat and back again, blending functional movements with core strengthening and myofascial release on the roller. Take a ride with me! Prop required: 36" foam roller
Heartspace
This class focuses on opening the space around our heart - the thoracic basket. With the support of our foam rollers we will flex, extend, and rotate our way to a spacious and uplifted heartspace, and we'll get stronger and longer as we do it. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Spring Roll
In honor of the spring holidays we roll like Easter eggs, wobble like April fools, and Passover our sore muscles with the foam roller. A well-rounded class incorporating strength, stretch, mobility, stability, and myofascial release. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Flesh & Bone
Wring out the muscles, iron out the fascia, and hone in on the restful support of your skeletal structure. This class moves slowly - great for beginners but also offers challenge and full body opening. Prop required: 36" foam roller.
Tuning Your Instrument
Activate, open, and release the instrument of your body. This class will prepare you well for whatever your day holds, or can help you wind down for bed at the end of a long day. Prop required: 36" foam roller.
Soften, Open, Release
In this gentle, all levels class we begin with slow somatic awakening for the spine, pelvis, and shoulders, before moving into an active warm-up, including opening for the feet, lower legs, and hips. Class includes myofascial release work for the hips and thighs as well as stability challenges on the roller. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Leg Love
This leg-focused foam roller class will leave you feeling centered, ironed out, and maybe a little weak in the knees... Actually, your knees will feel great from the extended standing warm-up emphasizing hip and thigh strength. Then come to the floor for stability work and myofascial release. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Stand
In this yummy foam roller class we take our cue from R.E.M. and 90s pop music, standing in the place where we live by practicing balance and proprioception in a variety of spatial orientations. With the wavering but ever-present support of our foam rollers we discover where and how we stand. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Spine & CoSpine
In this gentle Valentine's Day class we indulge in some roller self-care while exploring the waves of the spine in multiple directions (yikes, it's a math pun!) You will feel ironed out and wrung out after this yummy 60 minute class. Prop required: 36" foam roller
I am the Thorax, I Help You to Breathe
In this foam roller class we attend to and move from our thorax, commonly known as the ribcage. Finding mobility through the thorax allows for ease of breath and fuller self-expression. Class includes myofascial release and core strengthening, of course :). Prop required: 36" foam roller
A Lotta Legs
Warm the body thoroughly with a series of standing flows including leg alignment and strengthening before coming down to the roller for chest opening and core activation, finishing with a quick dessert of myofascial release. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Focus on Thoracic Mobility
Roll, balance, rotate and bend your way into more freedom and ease in the spine (and thus, the rest of you!) This all-levels class will move your spine every which way, incorporating both fascial movement and release work. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Finding the Bones
Orient to your skeletal structure as we move through upper back opening, core strengthening, balance challenges, and myofascial release. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Soft Around the Middle
We don't always think soft when we think Pilates, but what if we consider how a strong, steady center allows for us to soften through the periphery? This class offers midline activation as a pathway to ease. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Awakening the Backline
Starting at the base of the skull we roll our way down the back body exploring spinal flexion, extension and rotation as we go. We challenge the obliques with side balancing and rotated rollups, then treat our legs to some myofascial release and even a little Wild Thing! Prop required: 36" foam roller.
Dancing Around Midline
How do we experience our bodies and our lives differently when we come from a core orientation? How do we find balance and alignment when we choose to move from our center rather than the periphery? In this class we use a 36" foam roller to explore the potency of the midline.
Stabilize to Mobilize
This foam roller class incorporates stability in multiple planes to activate our core. Myofascial release for the legs and upper torso brings us back into balance. A delicious waking up and ironing out of the muscles and fascia. Prop required: 36" foam roller.
Loose Legs, Strong Spine
This all-levels foam roller class tends to the length, strength and alignment of the legs - backs, sides, and fronts - while building deep support through the body's core core. Give your body some much-deserved care in this exploration on the foam roller. Prop required: 36" foam roller
Spa Day
Take an hour for self care on the foam roller. This all levels class progresses from standing to quadruped work to balance on the roller and all the way to the floor. It's 2020 - we all need a spa day!
Push, Pull, Lengthen, Strengthen
Using the 36" foam roller, this all levels class incorporates stability, mobility, spinal articulation, myofascial release, and strength through concentric, eccentric, and isometric muscular activation. A delicious all-around treatment for your body.
Wind & Unwind
This all-levels class uses a 36" foam roller to mobilize the spine and activate the center through all planes of movement.
Roller Self-Care
This 75 minute class incorporates a 36" foam roller for increased stability challenges, proprioception, and myofascial release. I hope you enjoy!
Intermediate Mat & Pilates Flow
Join me as we increase the pace and intensity of our practice in these intermediate level classes. We'll explore more of Joseph Pilates' classical moves, with lots of non-classical variations, in these swiftly moving, slightly more vigorous classes. Props, including the foam roller, are sometimes used - see class notes for details.
Quadruped Flows
This intermediate flowing class starts with a long kneeling sequence. Standing on hands and knees challenges our ability to stabilize the core without tactile feedback from the floor. We'll strengthen and mobilize on all fours before transitioning to the floor for a delicious series of spirals and full-bodied flowing movement. Prop suggested: a blanket
Connecting the Dots
This intermediate level class includes longer standing and quadruped sequences, incorporating a folded blanket for some Pilates reformer-based flows. Move fluidly in every direction and orientation in this dynamic flowing class.
Twister
There is nothing like spinal rotation for creating that delicious sense of openness and length we associate with a Pilates practice. This flowing class includes lots of yummy twists that will warm you from the inside out. Please note the video ends abruptly during the final supine stretch of the class (but you'll know what to do - I promise.)
Feel the Floor
An intermediate flow emphasizing our connection to the earth for building strength and resilience. Flow through dynamic choreography in multiple planes of movement in this fast paced class.
Blanket Flow
In this vigorous flowing class we move through a variety of standing, seated, kneeling, belly, and back flows, undulating and spiraling in multiples planes of movement. Have a blanket on hand for some dynamic sliding that mimics the Pilates Reformer.
Core to Periphery
This flowing class is inspired by developmental movement patterns - specifically we explore moving from core, or center, to periphery, or extremities, with a sense of connection and fluidity. Class includes cross-patterning and spirals that will roll us off to the sides of our mats - a little space on either side is recommended.
Ground & Flow
This vigorous flow tends to the grounding of our feet and the strength of our stance, interweaving stability work with fluid movement patterns. Midway through we spend a short time on the floor with a focus on strengthening our front and back bodies, but flow primarily through vinyassa-inspired patterns of balance, openness, and groundedness. A solid intermediate class which includes rollover (counter-indicated for osteoporosis, disc injury, and eye problems.)
Monkeying Around
This challenging flow class incorporates variations inspired by a variety of somatic practices, taking us seamlessly from feet to hands to belly to back to seat with dynamic, cross-lateral movements. You'll need a little space on either side or your mat as we get playful with our practice.
