Body Mind Radiance - Claremont Resort & Spa in Berkeley, California

American Fitness, Sept, 2001 by Nancy Minges

THE CLAREMONT RESORT & SPA OFFERS A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING.

Restorative Fitness is the Claremont Resort & Spa's ground-breaking approach to radiant health. By incorporating ancient healing principles from around the world with the latest research on fitness, the Claremont has devised a method for cross-training the nervous system. Unlike any other model in fitness today, the Claremont's Restorative Fitness program works to bring stillness, fluidity and muscular conditioning into an ever-evolving balance.

Somatic Arts: Body Mind Fitness

Somatic Arts integrate healing arts into the fitness world. The practitioners are attentive to tracking the wisdom of your body as it self-organizes around both the internal and external events that shape you. The goal is to become more conscious of the relationships among your muscles, connective tissue, bone, movement, emotion, beliefs, gestures, breath, intention, etc. The benefits to deepening your body/mind connection are far reaching.

Restorative Fitness can be experienced in the Claremont's classes with a personal trainer, body/mind somatic practitioner or Pilates instructor. The Claremont's somatic practitioners have 10 to 15 years of experience and advanced certifications or graduate level degrees in body/mind disciplines. Many of the practitioners work in several modalities and prefer to meet with you before choosing a discipline that best suits your needs. Most of the sessions involve movement, some include hands-on work and others will be predominately internal. The practitioners will also provide recommendations for your home sessions.

Feldenkrais

This hands-on session will re-educate your nervous system into newer, easier movement patterns. You will be asked to move in unfamiliar ways, in many cases as you are assisted, thus allowing your nervous system to re-organize. The movements are slow and gentle. This session is marvelous for recalibrating what you think of as "normal." It's a great session for dealing with chronic pain or improving any type of performance.

Pilates

The somatic practitioners will integrate somatic work within a Pilates-based session. These exercises and awareness practices are designed to help strengthen and lengthen your abdominals and back. You will learn about breath and how your limbs can work from a stabilized core by doing mat exercises as well as work on the Pilates equipment, such as the "Reformer" or the "Trap Table." Like all Pilates sessions, the underlying emphasis is on core stability and fluid, functional strength.

Meditation

Meditation is one of the most powerful body/mind disciplines. It may be done sitting or walking and involves awareness practice and attention to breath. Through meditation you will learn to stop trying to fix things, stop blaming others and stop seeking to be "spiritual." You will learn to simply "be" with what is.

You will learn to dwell in the immense beauty that is inside you, underneath all that keeps you busy. An improved ability to focus, concentrate, accept, forgive, breathe, let go and open up are just a few of the benefits of meditation.

Structural Bodywork

Structural bodywork revitalizes your energy! It releases chronic and acute pain, and provides tools for taking care of yourself on a day to day basis.

This session releases chronic patterns and habits through therapeutic stretching and movement, soft tissue mobilization, connective tissue release, trigger point work, cranial-sacral and skeletal work. Props such as rollers or body balls may be used. Levels of touch range from subtle to quite deep. Repatterning of new movements may include light strength training.

Structural bodywork is often done on a massage table, sometimes on the floor. The session could take place in the Claremont's somatics/pilates room, poolside on a nice day or in the private restorative fitness treatment room in the Center for Living Well.

Breathwork

Breathing is the key to how we energize ourselves. This session consists of a variety of gentle stretches or movements to help open your lungs, followed by breathing exercises and awareness practices. Discover the underlying ways in which you cause yourself unnecessary pain and fatigue. Learning to breathe freely will help change the shape and feel of your body.

Core Conditioning

Develop core power by learning ways to strengthen your muscles. This session takes what you have learned in body/mind disciplines or healing practices and shows you how to apply those principles to strength training. Most sessions take place in the weight room. This is a great follow-up appointment to a 50 minute somatic session that focuses on release, breath and new movement.

"In" visioning

This dialogue and imagery session addresses body esteem, image, language and the mental tape loops that keep you from realizing your true self. By bringing attention to your "blind spots" of perception, the session will help you open to larger possibilities. "In" visioning unlocks your potential for realizing deeper inspiration and greater presence. The session involves little movement and you will often be sitting or leaning in a comfortably supported position. Visualizations and journaling may be included.