Essentrics® Trademarks: A Complete Rebalancing Tool
There are four levels to the Essentrics program.
The first teaches the basics of the program inside and out, from anatomy and physiology to musicality and timing to objectives and techniques, and beyond. It provides everything needed to teach a class.
The second focuses on the trademark exercises that are unique to the Essentrics program. They’re full body movements that focus on stretching and strengthening the upper body while incorporating big lower body movements for support. They’re strategically placed at certain points within a complete Essentrics workout in order to rebalance the body while fitting the purpose of the entire workout.
The third steps into healing, narrowing in on flexibility and utilization of therapeutic practices to guide the body back from injury, pain, or immobilization (muscle atrophy, scar tissue, etc.).
And the fourth, which is the one I’m immersed in now, holds the keys to how the practice of Essentrics strengthens and the power it holds to make your body as strong as it could possibly be without stressing it. And it brings together the magic of all the other levels.
Each level is proving to be as humbling as the last as my mind continues to be blown by the genius behind this program. I thought I knew it all when I completed the first level, which is quite foundational, but doesn’t get to the specifics just yet. The true gold that lies within this program.
While I’ve been studying, I keep coming back to the trademark exercises and the power behind them. There’s nothing like them in any other fitness program I’ve tried. Which is why, as the knowledge I’m gleaning is top of mind, I want to share the importance of these moves with you.
What is a Trademark?
The developer of the Essentrics program designed Trademark exercises and sequences to rebalance the body as a whole, working through complete muscle chains. Keeping this in mind, these movements are big and beautiful, using your full body to execute. They use resistance and relaxation in patterns you’ll typically use in your everyday life, just more dynamically and exaggerated. They provide immediate results in posture, pain, and flexibility. You’ll typically find two trademark sequences in a one hour workout.
There are a number of aspects of trademarks that make them so impressive, but I’d like to focus on the following:
Imagery
Since these movements (and most in Essentrics) are so unique and sometimes hard to grasp at first, it’s nice to be able to recognize them before trying them, which is where imagery comes in handy. An instructor will use loads of imagery to help you identify the amount of resistance, the shape your body should take, and the speed at which you’re moving. When it comes to trademarks, you may hear ‘bow and arrow’, ‘lullaby’, or ‘windmills’ to help you imagine and move to where your body needs to be to achieve results. This helps you see results while protecting your body, instead of guessing at what to do and potentially hurting yourself.
Full Body Benefits
Trademark exercises and sequences are completely rebalancing. That is to say they work the front, back, and side upper body muscles equally using a mixture of flexion, extension, and rotation, as well as a mixture of bent or straight arms and legs. Then there’s how you use your muscles during the trademarks, such as contracting versus extending and resisting versus relaxing.
In Essentrics, there’s a big focus on strengthening the muscles in a lengthened position, as well as moving the body in two directions, creating space in joints to relieve pain, massaging your muscles, and leaving you feeling taller and stronger when all’s said and done.
Immediate Results
It’s amazing and sounds impossible, but chances are you’ll walk out of an Essentrics class with better posture and less pain than when you walked in…even after your first class! Trademarks help to accomplish this, because they’re designed to rebalance muscles around the joints, work both agonist and antagonist muscles (muscles that work with or against each other, like the biceps and triceps muscles), and include work through entire full body muscle chains. You’ll hear “reach!” or “to the end of your stretch” a lot in Essentrics, and with good reason. When movements aren’t finished the body doesn’t receive the natural effects that come with moving the way trademarks are designed.
As an aside, Essentrics isn’t a hard workout, but it is different than most so your body may tend to feel like it did a demanding workout after your first class. Though it is challenging, it’s also gentle, which is why, when done correctly, you shouldn’t feel pain or workout fatigue.
As another aside, one class isn’t the answer. As with most things in life, the best results are seen with repetition. Over time the movements become more clear in body and mind and you understand the theory and purpose behind what you’re doing a lot better. With that, you’ll be able to deepen your practice with heightened precision, and you’ll feel a heck of a lot better the more you do it, too!
Mimic Everyday Movements
Trademark sequences mimic everyday movements, they just exaggerate the movement to achieve strength and support for when you use the same movements in your everyday life. The first time you try them they will likely be challenging. Although they are based around everyday movements, the exaggeration alone is enough to feel like a workout, or even foreign to the body, but they’re done in a safe manner, slowly easing you into a deeper stretch the way muscles were designed to move.
Once you find your rhythm, your body recognizes the movements to be safe and will allow you to find more flexibility and strength. Try them enough and suddenly you’ll realize you can bend over and pick up your child without pain, or reach for that bag of rice on the top shelf of your cupboard when you couldn’t two months ago.
We Need Trademarks
No, I don’t believe Essentrics is the be all and end all to movement. I think it’s important to incorporate a variety of forms of movement into your life. Having said that, from my experience and from talking to others who have made it a part of their routine, Essentrics has the ability to be a stand alone workout. Each Essentrics workout has a different purpose, but they all include trademarks and for good reason. Without them a workout would fall flat and you’d leave feeling imbalanced and incomplete, like something’s missing. You wouldn’t stand as tall or as comfortably, may still have lingering pain in your joints, and would long for more.
On the flip side, when I was training for my level 2 exam, I had to practice trademark sequences by themselves over and over, which left my body feeling imbalanced and spent. Trademarks can exhaust you, which is why they don’t take up the entire workout. They’re best balanced with other more specific exercises of varying intensity, such as arms, plies, or deep stretching, so to not overdo it, as well as to focus on specific goals, whether it be toning, stretching, or age-reversing. All aspects are needed in an Essentrics workout. Remove one and it’s just off.
