Your journey to better health begins from the ground up — literally, at your feet. Often overlooked until pain arises, conditions like plantar fasciitis, bunions, and hammer toes stem from lifelong habits of incorrect posture, standing, and walking.

Your feet and ankles are your primary contact points with the earth and are vital for balance and stability. Prepare to be surprised and delighted as you unlock new flexibility from your soles to your hips by enhancing your connection with the ground.

In this session, you’ll:

• Discover how the movement of your toes influences your standing posture
• Take an experiential tour of the anatomy of your feet and lower legs
• Learn several movement sequences that boost the flexibility and stability of your ankles
• Explore the crucial connections between your ankles, knees, and hips
• Develop strategies for a more balanced and efficient walking technique

Balance involves more than just your inner ear — it’s about being able to see what’s ahead and having the tools to respond effectively. As we age, our range of movement and ability to expand our visual field may diminish, impacting both balance and cognitive function.

This module explores how your eyes communicate with your brain and spine to broaden your worldview, equipping you with the tools to respond proactively rather than reactively.

In this session, you’ll:

• Discover how tension in your eye muscles impacts your neck and spine
• Experience a movement lesson aimed at improving your peripheral vision and your ability to turn
• Learn why “deer in headlights” eyes affect your balance and response time
• Find out how changing your focus can improve your eyesight
• Explore how enhancing your “inner vision” can deepen your perception

Too often as we age, our focus often shifts to merely maintaining stability, which can result in stiffness, tension, and a loss of free movement. Dynamic stability, however, keeps us grounded while providing flexibility to turn, retreat, and navigate challenging environments.

This session explores the critical relationship between your pelvis and spine, showing you how the mobility of your hips connected to your chest is essential for maintaining flexible uprightness.

In this session, you’ll:

• Learn how to find more symmetry between your two sides
• Understand how the shape of your spine influences your walk
• Participate in a movement lesson that boosts both your balance and your strength
• Explore dynamic stability in how you move and how you move through life

Flexibility isn’t just about touching your toes or performing complex yoga poses — it’s about being able to bend while weeding your garden or reaching into your dryer… stepping onto a ladder without fear of injury… or just enjoying a power walk.

This module focuses on the practical aspects of flexibility, allowing you to expand beyond your perceived limitations and fully enjoy life’s activities. You’ll learn how the relationship between the muscles on the front and back of your body can improve your posture effortlessly, helping you work with gravity rather than against it.

In this session, you’ll:

• Discover how to use your imagination to enhance movement
• Participate in a lesson to increase the flexibility of your back
• Explore the connection between your breath and the movement of your ribs
• Learn how tension restricts your movement possibilities
• Develop strategies to improve your posture without strain
• Understand the link between your back and hip joints to relax the hips effectively

Shoulders back! Suck it in! Squeeze that butt! Exactly how is a person supposed to enjoy life when it feels like you’re holding everything in? What if you could trust your body’s core centers — your pelvis, gut, diaphragm, and heart — to support you effortlessly?

This module reveals how the muscles of your trunk are interconnected with your organs, skeleton, and brain, impacting everything from your breathing to your sense of safety. Discover the freedom that comes from a supportive and responsive core, helping you navigate life’s challenges with ease and confidence.

In this session, you’ll:

• Understand the dynamic between your flexor and extensor muscles
• Learn about the crucial role of your diaphragm in maintaining good posture and facilitating effective breathing
• Discover how using less effort can lead to better results
• Practice a movement lesson to enhance support in your trunk, usable anytime, anywhere
• Explore how laughter can contribute to a strong and healthy spine

Remember when you were a kid and parents would say, “Keep making that face and it’ll stick that way”? It turns out there”s some truth to that. Our habitual facial expressions can indeed shape our features and age us even more than the sun.

This module explores how expressions like a furrowed brow or a pinched nose can impact not just your appearance but also your posture and overall health. Conversely, adopting a relaxed, happy facial expression can not only uplift your own spirit but also the spirits of those around you. By learning to relax your facial muscles, you’ll essentially give yourself a mini-vacation and spa treatment all in one, shedding years off your appearance and brightening your demeanor.

In this session, you’ll:

• Experience a soothing eye treatment to ease tension
• Learn exercises for relaxing the muscles of your face
• Understand how facial muscles express emotions and impact your appearance
• Discover the link between TMJ pain and eye strain
• Explore the physiological benefits of smiling and how it can improve your health and wellbeing

While strength training is essential for maintaining muscle tone as we age, there’s another path to strength that doesn’t rely solely on muscle building. This module introduces the concepts of leverage, ergonomics, and skeletal support, teaching you how to achieve more with less effort by ensuring all parts of your body work in harmony rather than in isolation.

Whether lifting a grandchild, swinging a golf club, or reaching to prune a branch in your garden, you’ll learn to use the strength in your larger muscle groups effectively, allowing you to continue enjoying everyday activities without strain.

In this session, you’ll:

• Discover what happens to muscle tone and strength as we age
• Learn strategies for preventing injuries caused by overexertion
• Participate in a movement lesson that teaches you to redistribute effort more functionally
• Explore how strengthening your back muscles can fortify your entire core

Osteoporosis, often called the silent bone thief, can turn robust bones into fragile skeletons, significantly impacting our vitality and independence as we age. While there are entire programs designed to keep your bones healthy and strong, this class will offer some simple, logical, and fun strategies for keeping your body supple and your bones strong.

While osteoporosis risk factors range from genetic predispositions to dietary habits, there are effective measures you can take today to bolster your skeletal health and maintain bone integrity for years to come.

In this session, you’ll:

• Learn about the causes and dangers of osteoporosis
• Participate in a movement lesson specifically designed for bone health
• Discover how vibration positively affects bone density
• Explore how the floor can be used as a tool for supporting bone strength

Lavinia and a friend went out for a walk one day. Her friend wore old sweats and a ratty sweater. Shrugging, she looked at Lavinia and said, “Why should I bother with anything else? You know we’re invisible now.”

That feeling of shrinking away, losing personal power, and abandoning our agency becomes more common as we age. But you don’t have to turn into the Invisible Woman or Man. How you stand, walk, the quality of your voice, and even the way you breathe can signal that you’re a force to be reckoned with.

This module empowers you to reclaim your space in the world through the very essence of how you move and present yourself. Learn to radiate confidence through posture, stride, voice quality, and simple breathing techniques. You don’t need to be loud or pushy; walking through life with quiet confidence can affirm your presence and influence.

In this session, you’ll:

• Engage in a movement lesson to strengthen and align your spine
• Undertake a process to recalibrate your self-image and reclaim your magnificence
• Develop strategies to boost your confidence and courage in daily interactions
• Explore breathing techniques that enhance physical strength and emotional support

Gravity is an immutable law of the Universe, dictating that what goes up must come down. But in this module, you’ll learn that what goes down can indeed help you rise up !

One of the common struggles as we age is the challenge of getting up. We’re often fighting against gravity rather than using it to our advantage. By partnering with the floor and employing your body’s larger muscles, you’ll discover a lighter, more efficient way to rise. This session isn’t just about successfully standing up; it’s about transforming your approach to movement and embracing the support gravity offers.

In this session, you’ll:

• Understand the relationship between your body’s structure, function, and gravity
• Learn new methods for coming up to sitting during our movement lesson
• Discover how the large muscles in your pelvis contribute to sustained mobility and strength
• Realize how embracing failure can actually help you improve anything you do
• Connect your thoughts to your actions to realize your dreams

By the time we reach the later stages of life, we’ve certainly faced our fair share of challenges — illness, loss, disappointment, and the stark realization of our own mortality. These trials often leave us perpetually on “yellow alert,” reacting to life’s stressors with tension and anxiety rather than responding with calm deliberation.

This session introduces tools to help you navigate these emotional storms, using your breath, body awareness, and simple movements to transform internal turmoil into spaciousness and ease. You’ll learn how to maintain your health and peace of mind amidst the inevitable ups and downs of life.

In this session, you’ll:

• Explore the link between emotional and physical tension
• Learn how controlled breathing can dramatically alter your mood
• Experience a movement meditation to cultivate inner spaciousness
• Acquire simple, effective strategies to calm down during stressful situations
• Engage in an emotional assessment process to better understand your reactions

You heard about it and shuddered — the famous morbidity study that proved that the more difficulty you have getting up off the floor, the shorter your life expectancy. It’s not just about the floor. It’s about having the tools, strategies, and supports you need to help you recover from any of life’s challenges — from a crack in the sidewalk to a devastating phone call.

The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.”

Regardless of your current ability to get down to the floor and back up again, in this session, you’ll gain practical insights and techniques to improve your resilience, recovery, and flexibility in all aspects of your life.

In this session, you’ll:

• Identify major causes of falls and failures
• Learn how fear can compromise the immune system and affect mobility
• Discover the benefits of making friends with the floor to enhance protection
• Gain a deeper understanding of leveraging your body for effective recovery
• Explore movement strategies that improve your chances for softer landings and quicker recoveries

Join two renowned somatic movement educators in a 30-minute lively conversation exploring the rich territory connecting movement, intelligence, function, and possibility. Lavinia Plonka, founder of Kinesa^® and a Feldenkrais Method^® master teacher interviews Martha Peterson, creator of Essential Somatics^® and a Certified Clinical Somatic Educator.

These seven audio lessons from Lavinia will help you learn how to maintain your balance and recover quickly from the pull of gravity through seven easy-to-follow movement lessons. They can be practiced in the comfort of your own home or even on your bed, and have helped thousands prevent falls and recover more swiftly using simple techniques. Designed to be accessible and easy to understand, this program is suitable for anyone looking to improve their balance and reduce their risk of falling.