Body Breakthrough™
Our physical bodies are a direct reflection of our emotional selves. – Lauren “Lo” Borden
Body Breakthrough is a proprietary method developed by Lo Borden out of a decade of experience working with people suffering from muscular and structural imbalances and poor posture. These problems caused unnecessary weight gain, pain, and difficulty achieving the “breakthrough” they desired in fitness.
The goal of the Body Breakthrough system is to decrease stress, eliminate pain, decrease blockages in connective tissue & meridians, enhance body awareness, lose weight and excess bloating, feel taller and look younger.
To attain these benefits, Body Breakthrough incorporates Pilates, bodywork, nutrition, meditation and other practices to counter the impact of daily life on your body and mind. Body Breakthrough aims to stimulate the glands and lymph system increasing metabolism, detoxification, elimination and circulation. While the immediate results are physical, Body Breakthrough leads to a better understanding of the mind’s stress response, leading to increased self-awareness.
You will learn to take your workouts out of the studio and into your life. You gain the aesthetic benefits of a long, lean, efficient body, but, more importantly, a functional and healthy foundation to move you fluidly through life.
Body Breakthrough includes healing modalities for body, mind & spirit through a hands on approach:
- Classical Pilates
- Hellerwork Structural Integration
- Thai Yoga Massage
- Meditation
- Roller work/stretches
Body Breakthrough sessions are available individually with Lo Borden at Mind Body Manhattan or her satellite office at the KO’AN CENTER.
These sessions are done privately in a room on a bodywork table, releasing fascia, using techniques developed from Structural Integration, Pilates, Reiki, Thai-Yoga Massage, some dialogue, body awareness and movement re-patterning techniques. Initially, clients start with a 10 session series. Each session focuses on a different part of the body and after they’ve done the initial 10 session series they come in for weekly or monthly “tune ups” and start doing the Body Breakthru Foam Roller workout at the studio or at home.
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| Michele Promaulayko, Editor-In-Chief, Women’s Health | |
Each of the 10 sessions builds on the last, and prepares the body for the next. It addresses the entire body, and is a beautiful and thorough way to address any restrictions we might have anywhere in our bodies. For most people, the Body Breakthrough Treatment progresses as described below. There are instances, based on a person’s unique body issues, where it makes sense to deviate from the flow of work as it is described. The descriptions below are general in nature, and represent goals for each session rather than specific territory to be worked. In any case, every session is as unique as the person receiving it, and the work flows in concert with each person’s physiology. At no time does the work become routine or mechanical.
Throughout the sessions, we encourage movements are added to increase the neural-muscular connections
Session 1 – Lungs:The process begins with freeing the lungs to allow fuller breath. This is accomplished by working the superficial tissue having anything to do with the breathing mechanism. Areas all around the ribcage, shoulders, arms, and hips may be worked, as well as the neck and back. Neck and back work is included in almost every session to balance and integrate the work into the body.
Session 2 – Foundation:Next we address your foundation. The feet, lower legs, and possibly knees are opened and aligned to better support the body in gravity. Often the client feels a greater sense of support and balance coming up from their feet after this session, as well as better contact between their feet and the ground. Foot problems such as high or fallen arches are also addressed in this session.
Session 3- Side Body:Now we move to your sides. We want to ease the body in the front-back dimension, and create a peaceful relationship between your upper and lower body. We will work the sides of your torso, your neck, and your hips to allow those major segments to better support each other.
Session 4- Legs:We move back to the legs in this session, focusing on the inside of the leg from the ankle to the pelvis, at a slightly deeper layer. This session provides the feeling that the legs are supporting the abdominal core and providing lift for the upper body. Torsions at the knee and hip are also addressed in this session.
Session 5- More Legs!:This is a continuation of Session 4. Work is done in the front of the hips as well as the abdomen, diaphragm, and ribs. This session opens the front of the body and provides a new dimension of lift up the core.
Session 6 – Back:This is a back session. Starting in the legs, if necessary, we address the calves, hamstrings, the back of the pelvis, and up both sides of the spine to the head. The opening in the back matches the opening in the front achieved in Session 5.
Session 7 – Thoracic and Cervical Area:This session focuses on the upper shoulders, head, jaw, neck, and sometimes the arms. After this session clients often feel that their head is more “on.”
Session 8 – Body Integration:The last three sessions are about integrating all we’ve done. Session 8 is usually a lower body session with the goal of integrating the legs with the whole body.
Session 9 – Body Integration:This is the other half of Session 8 – the upper body. The ribcage, shoulders, arms, neck and head are the usual focus, with the goal being always to integrate.
Session 10 – Final Integration:This is our opportunity to complete, for now, all we’ve been able to free. We will smooth the fascial wrappers over the structural changes that you have gained, and make peace with anything that remains. This session usually involves the whole body at a somewhat more superficial layer.
After each session, clients are taught a few exercises/stretches to do on the roller to maintain and increase the results from the private sessions.