Classes
Hawthorne Wellness Center offers a wide range of movement classes suited to every body to help integrate mental and physical strength and flexibility.
Yoga
Classical Hatha Yoga is the Eightfold Path of practices to awaken and maintain the connections and harmony of the mind, body, and spirit. The practices develop full function from head to toe, inside and out. All systems of Yoga spring from this origin —Iyengar, Vinyasa, Astanga, Anusara, and more. Yoga asanas are physical postures designed to provide mental and physical strength, endurance, flexibility, and balance. As you learn to integrate mind, body, and breath, you will renew your energy, clarity, and tranquility.
Martial Arts
Kajukenpo
Kajukenpo is a hybrid martial art that combines kung fu, western boxing, judo, jujutsu, kenpo karate, and shotokan karate. Founded in Hawaii in 1947, its focus is practical self-defense for real-life situations. Students learn blocks, kicks, punches, sweeps, and falls through group training drills, partner work, and kata forms. As a result of nurturing and empowering instruction, students develop physical as well as psychological self-confidence in their personal safety. Furthermore, the palpable sense of community in each class teaches respect, camaraderie, and self-discipline.
Tae Kwon Do
Tae kwon do (TIE kwon do) is a Korean martial art similar to karate. This program incorporates moves from other martial arts in order to expand the range of self-defense skills. Classes are taught in a cooperative, non-threatening manner. Students learn self defense moves, kicks, blocks, punches, and strikes. The class philosophy stresses the five tenants of Tae Kwon-Do, which are courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit.
Tai Chi
Tai Chi (pronounced TIE chee), short for Tai Chi Chuan or Taijiquan, is an ancient Chinese martial art, although many practice it for health purposes only. Tai Chi's slow moving, continuous choreography improves strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance. It is an excellent low-impact cardiovascular exercise. Tai Chi also encourages the flow of qi (vital life energy) for optimum health.
Pilates
Pilates (pronounced puh-LA-tees) is a strength training system. It is a tool for physical therapy, a light morning workout, or an intense fully-body experience. It is an injury-proofer, a posture corrector, and some of the smartest exercise you can do.
With a set of almost 400 exercises, the Pilates system focuses on the core muscles —the abdominal, pelvic, and back muscles. Originally developed as a form of physical therapy for people with severe postural and skeletal problems, it has evolved over the last 50 years into a versatile workout suitable for all ages, sizes, body types, and athletic abilities. Pilates works to strengthen the body from the inside out, starting with the deep skeletal muscles, which govern joint stability, and moving all the way out to the surface "global mobilizers" (otherwise known as the muscles you'd like to be showing off at the beach).
If you're looking for a gentle way to start moving toward better health, a non-pharmaceutical solution to your lower back pain, or an edge to improve your performance in a sport or activity, Pilates can help. We can show you how.
Feldenkrais
Everyone has a vast capacity for learning and the ability to change habits that cause pain. Yes, your body can become more intelligent! Using movement and awareness as tools—and guided by principles of physics, psychology, biology, Judo, learning theory, and developmental biology—you will recognize your habitual patterns and discover a wider range of movement, thinking, and feeling patterns. Through this process, you will improve your posture and relieve pain as well as develop the skills to continue improving the quality with which you move through life.
Benefits you can expect from this process are:
- Improved posture
- Greater self-awareness and satisfaction
- Restful sleep
- Reversed aging process
- Capacity to recover from workouts, injuries, or chronic pain
- Increased flexibility and overall coordination
- Enhanced performance in music, dance, theatre, and athletics
- Access to creative thinking and problem solving
- Ability to change habits in many areas of life
- Improved relationship with yourself and others
The Feldenkrais Method® was developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, D. Sc. (1904–1984), through a lifetime of inquiry in diverse disciplines of scientific study. Dr. Feldenkrais achieved a D. Sc. in physics and worked at the Curie Institute in Paris with Nobel Prize laureate Frederic Joliot-Curie.