Melissa Craig
Women and a few men are getting in shape with a low-impact, full-body exercise program called Essentrics, a dynamic stretch program designed to lengthen, strengthen, and tone the body. The class will be taught by Level 3 certified instructor Melissa Craig. Melissa is an avid golfer and tennis player. She has been practicing Essentrics for about nine years and has found that it has helped relieve pain and improve her flexibility and sports performance. She wants to share the benefits with her friends at SunBird.
Essentrics is the program featured in the Classical Stretch series on PBS. The Essentrics full-body technique is so successful because it works through the muscle chains, liberating and empowering the muscles and relieving them from tension in the process. Her completely original workout draws on the flowing movements of tai chi, which create health and balance, the strengthening theories behind ballet which create long, lean, flexible muscles and the healing principles of physical therapy, which create a pain-free body.
Melissa will be teaching Essentrics classes on Monday and Thursday mornings at 6:30 a.m. in the Navajo Room. “Essentrics is new to this area, so most of the success we’ve had has been word of mouth. Hopefully, once people try the class, they will love it and come back.”