Just Fold It

Marie Kondo, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, teaches the art of folding, for folding well keeps your belongings safely, cleanly, and beautifully stored. You and I fold things every single day. We fold laundry, linens, and yoga blankets, and we probably do most of this folding intuitively. Well, the body folds too, and the benefits are vast. From a standing and seated position, we can fold forward. From a supine position, we...

Standing Stretch With Ellen Barrett

Not Just Stretch…Standing Stretch đź’«

A new release called Standing Stretch on Let’s Move has arrived, and it’s short and sweet, ultra grounding, a bit flow-y, and subtly choreographed. By standing up, the act of stretching has an innate balance challenge, which enhances core engagement and muscular integration. What does this mean? It means the stretch will be less passive and more dynamic. The transformation happens with stretch. Cardio is crucial as is strength training, and everything needs everything else, but the stretch is when the energetics change for the...

Ellen Barrett Blog

A Secret Ingredient to Thriving

Exercise is an opportunity to tune inward, towards yourself, but to look at it a different way, exercise is an opportunity to tune out the BS. I recommend we take advantage of this exercise opportunity every single day, since there’s a lot of low vibration out there! In all seriousness, have you noticed that giving your undivided attention to your workout – be it 15 minutes or an hour – is a form of escape from reality? And that...

Ellen Barrett Mindful Movement

Promoting Right Action đź’«

The more grounded you are, the more present you are, and the more present you are the less reactive you are.  Reactive behavior is usually not in anyone’s best interest. Some examples include, reactively running to the kitchen and eating a tub of ice cream after a stressful phone call, or reactively shouting obscenities at someone for cutting you off in traffic. Lately in the news, there has been a tremendous amount of reactive behavior on planes! Dare...

Ellen Barrett Mindful Movement

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Radiant Health? It is not even a thought of most doctors. I feel like the bar is set really low for us. Just “getting by” health-wise or weight-wise is touted as a success.  My dream for you is not fitness or weight loss. It is radiant health. Radiant health is feeling great and having the energy to function optimally. A 12 hour day on your feet? No problem. Life throws a curve ball? You adjust accordingly and thrive.  There is another part of radiant health...

The Barrett Blog

Essential Verses Non-essential

Back in the day, daily exercise was intended for the body – purely for physical fitness. Today, daily exercise, while it is still (obviously) for the body, it is also equally for the mind, for mental fitness. Show me a truly mentally sound person and I guarantee they exercise. It might be formal or informal, but they move their body someway, somehow. Maybe it’s walking around the neighborhood, or maybe it’s a session with a $100/hour trainer. Maybe...

10Day Kickstart with Ellen

10DAY KICKSTART: DAY 7 MINDFULNESS

“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn Mindfulness in movement is self-education. You learn yourself. At first it’s physical things, like you learn how your ankle tracks when you step forward, and that lunging warms up your quads. Then it’s more than physical – just the other day, I learned that my breath tightens with thoughts of the approaching holidays!  Our workout today is the most mindful one on the ellenbarrett.com platform. It’s Moving Meditation, 20minutes of meditative...

10Day Kickstart with Ellen

10DAY KICKSTART: DAY 6 BALANCE

“Root yourself in this earthand it will root itself in you.”― Sheniz Janmohamed Having good balance gets more and more precious as the days go by. From navigating slippery steps to tripping over the cat and catching yourself from falling, balance is just so handy to have in real life. It’s one of the most underrated byproducts of regular exercise. I really do notice that the people who move their bodies on a regular basis have better balance than the ones...

Ellen Barrett Power & Balance

You’ve Got the Power (& Balance)

A new workout just arrived on Ellen Barrett Let’s Move! called Power & Balance. It’s a 30minute Ballet-inspired strengthening experience with lots of grounding, core connection and stability challenge. We filmed in a new location and I’m happy to report, Amy and Krystal joined me again, so you’ll see their smiling faces throughout class.  Power is more than just strength. Power is strength integrated. Power is the entire universe of your body working as one, and it hinges on two things: 1. accessing strength and...

The Barrett Blog

The Biggest Game Changer of All

Can movement create confidence? Can movement remedy anxiety? Can movement eradicate stress? To tell you the truth, I don’t know. What I do know is that everyone has ups and downs. Life is not always sunny. Things shake us up. Movement doesn’t change those outside “things” but it does one very significant thing to our inside state – it brings us back to the body. Anxiety, stress and low confidence happen in our heads. They are thinking....