Body Wisdom: Kayak Classes
ABOUT BODY WISDOM CLASSES
Join Carie for a unique class, combining movement lessons and kayak refinement. This hour-long session (plus 15 minutes for discussion) will help you connect with your body in a deeper way, improving not just your paddling skills, but your overall movement habits—both on and off the water.
What to Expect:
Small Group, Big Insights: Each class is kept small for personalized attention and an intimate learning environment.
Movement Lessons: Carie will guide you through lessons designed to help you organize and align your body more effectively. It's not just about getting a good stretch—it's about learning how to make your movements more efficient and intuitive.
Multi-Level Learning: Every session includes at least four levels of learning:
Mastering Key Movements: Addressing a specific movement pattern, such as improving your stroke or refining your balance.
Self-Awareness and Adaptation: Learning to notice how your body reacts in real time, so you can make more mindful adjustments to your technique, including an unexpected bonus—improving other skills such as edging.
Building a Repertoire: Expanding your movement toolbox so you can call on a wider variety of motions and strategies when you need them. The more options you have, the easier it is to adapt to different kayaking challenges.
Practical Tricks for Kayakers: You'll learn actionable tricks you can apply to all aspects of your kayaking, such as:
De-synchronizing and re-synchronizing your breath to create a smoother stroke.
The power of leading with your eyes, or learning how small shifts in your distribution of weight or the curve of your spine or the tilt of your pelvis can make big differences in your technique.
Applying simple but effective cues like pressing instead of lifting to improve body mechanics, or noticing not only which muscles you use but when and how you let them go, so that you are not fighting against yourself.
Understanding how to use the right muscles for the right tasks, and how to create the perfect coordination for a smoother, more efficient motion.
CLASSES ARE EVERY SUNDAY 8:00AM PACIFIC TIME
Why Is Body Wisdom Kayaking Different?
This isn't just another fitness class; it's a chance to truly connect with your body and develop a deeper understanding of your movements. The physical lessons are paired with a rich, reflective discussion, where you'll share insights with fellow paddlers and explore how these movements directly apply to your time on the water.
Carie loves to kayak.
She loves it even more if it doesn’t hurt….And it shouldn’t hurt.
So what’s the answer?
Habits are useful. But over time, what is most habitual isn’t necessarily still the most comfortable. Maybe the habits you built after you dislocated your shoulder aren’t what you most need now, twenty years later. Maybe the body-maps in your brain have experienced a bit of ‘drift’ and need to recalibrate. Maybe you have changed! In these movement classes, learn how to refresh your old habits and add new, more efficient and sustainable possibilities to your repertoire. (But we never kick the old habits to the curb, because they might be useful sometime…)
In the class, you’ll give some TLC to your most achy joints and muscles. The movement sequences will also help with balance and edging, for instance by fostering more coordination between your pelvis and your big heavy head, or encouraging you to arc into your edging using your whole spine. This increased elegance will come about because… well, because it feels good. What your body finds it likes, it does more.
You already have body wisdom: this class will teach you to access it more clearly. Body wisdom includes slow, attentive exploration so that you can more easily find ease of movement for yourself when you are out on the water.
In each class, along with that greater access to your own body wisdom, you’ll learn a few tricks you can apply on the water. You’ll learn ways to give yourself a second or third wind, to relieve strain and to get more out of your stroke.
In other words: to have more fun. And of course, you’ll find yourself applying this body wisdom in other parts of your life!
And… If that isn’t enough, these kayak classes are developing a lovely sense of community, sharing of tips and insights, encouragement and camraderie.