What is FitAlign?
FitAlign® is a breath-based neuromuscular exercise system designed to improve posture and core strength from the inside outUsing resistance breathing techniques, self-massage, proprioceptive enhancement, and safe functional exercises, FitAlign® rewires the brain to upload biologically efficient posture in all movements.
Safe, comfortable and easy to do, the exercises work globally in the body to strengthen muscle/fascia chains, stabilize joints, and balance tensional forces leading to pain reduction and increased agility, balance, and mobility.
Ease, comfort, strength and presence are the building blocks of FitAlign.
“FitAlign practitioners feel like they have been to a strength, flexibility and alignment session, done Pilates, had a massage and chiropractic adjustment, and undergone therapy with deep breathing while meditating all at the same time.”
Benefits of FitAlign
Create naturally aligned posture at the nervous system level
Reduce chronic pain and anxiety
Use breathing to tone your core and calm your nerves
Decompress the spine and stabilize joint functions
Create balanced strength and agility for injury prevention and joint longevity
Improve perception, kinesthetic awareness, gait, and sports performance
PRICING
1.5 hr session $150
6 session package $810 (10% discount)
- Recommended for chronic pain
Why is posture important?
Posture is a major determinant of strength, agility, attractiveness, movement & sports performance. It also affects mood, pain & energy levels, hormone & organ function, immunity, digestion, elimination, sex drive, and joint longevity.
Lifestyle habits influenced by technology have created an epidemic in the western world where slouching is seen not only amongst adults, but school aged children as well!
Better posture will give you:
Reduced pain (or even a pain free body)
Optimal athletic performance with less injuries
Lower chance of other health problems
Increased balance and agility
Joint longevity and strong-centric muscles (don’t believe the doctors who tell you aging is the reason you can’t do the things you loved to do)
Natural energy and hormone regulation
Enhanced energy
Deeper diaphragmatic breathing patterns (our natural way of breathing without inhibitions)
Confidence and stamina
Biotensegrity
The definition of tensegrity is a combination of the two words ‘tension’ and ‘integrity’. Bio tensegrity refers to balanced tensional forces in your body that automatically keep you stable and upright using the least amount of effort. The natural world has been designed with tensegrity principles; we can observe it in seashells, flowers, trees, and spider webs. Principles of ‘Bio-tensegrity’ precisely describe the relationship between the connective tissues, the muscles, and the skeleton.
Think of the stays on a sailboat that pull against each other in dynamic tension keeping the mast upright during motion. FitAlign exercises wire the brain with the movements of breathing to engage muscle chains that control flexion, extension, expansion, and rotation with balanced force throughout the whole-body.
Posture is not static and FitAlign engages the forces of breathing to create lift and expansion needed to support structure from the inside out creating Bio-tensegrity.
The connective tissue (fascia and muscle) framework provides a kind of tensional force that is crucial to the upright structure of the skeleton.
In FitAlign, enhanced perception and body awareness from self-massage and PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) sends the sensory information or data to the brain to strengthen the cortical maps and rewiring. The result is effortless movement, naturally aligned posture, and core strength from the inside out.
Where & what are your psoas muscles?
The Iliopsoas muscle group is located in the low back and is made up of the Psoas Minor, the Psoas Major, and the Iliacus. The psoas is one of the most important muscles in yoga poses, but it is also one of the most misunderstood.
As one of the key core muscles, it is essential for healthy posture, and a strong and balanced psoas helps stabilize the spine and prevent back issues. In harmony with diaphragmatic breathing, the psoas functions like a hydraulic pump, enhancing circulation throughout the body. Hence why we use the "SIP" breathe technique in YogAlign. If the psoas is weak or out of balance, it affects the integrity of our core, and it can be a significant contributor to low back and pelvic pain. Serving as a bridge, the psoas connects the physical to the emotional and the spiritual to the ordinary. It's quite normal when working with the muscle to not only bring a wealth of unresolved fear to the forefront of the client's consciousness, but provide a portal into a instructive wisdom as well.
Psoas muscles connect your spine to your legs. The inner ribs connect to the perimeter of the diaphragm muscle from the toes looking up with psoas connection shown cut away. YogAlign shows you how to activate the psoas diaphragm connection for radiant health and dynamic movement patterning. Back pain is one of the most prevalent ailments of our society. No surprise here, because the vast majority of people are out of alignment due to poor posture.
One of the major contributors to back pain is the Iliopsoas group. This group is the major hip flexor, and a major postural stabilizer of the body (it acts somewhat as a moderator between the abdominals and their antagonist the spinal erectors). Its location and actions, however, can be a little hard to get a handle on. The psoas major and minor travel from the front of the lumbar vertebrae, diagonally down through the abdomen—beneath the intestines–to attach on the front of the femur (thighbone) just to the inside of the hip joint.
The iliacus lines the inside of the ilium, or pelvic bone, then feeds into the common tendon with the major and minor psoas. If your feet are fixed to the ground, the iliopsoas pulls the spine forward toward the legs; when the feet are free, the iliopsoas flexes and externally rotates the hip. It is a tricky set of muscles to reach and treat manually, and treatment requires a practitioner with good hands…and some compassion.
Because the muscles are deep to the intestines, the practitioner has to get under the organs in order to apply pressure to the muscle tissue. And because this muscle group is a primary “flight or fight” muscle, it is affected by stress, and can hold a lot of emotionally charged tension. Once MRI and X-Ray have ruled out structural damage, growths, or disease process, however, the Iliopsoas is one of the first places to look for some of these causes of back pain, despite the potential for discomfort.
Below is Brittan with creator of YogAlign, Michaelle Edwards, during teacher training in Princeville, Hawaii.
