Miranda Esmonde-White

Miranda Esmonde-White (born May 9, 1949) is a Canadian fitness trainer, former ballerina with the National Ballet of Canada, and author of books on aging, health and fitness. She created the dynamic stretching and strengthening workout, Essentrics, and the PBS fitness TV show, Classical Stretch, based on Essentrics.

Her study of the benefits of eccentric stretch training has also been the basis of the pledge documentaries Aging Backwards and Forever Painless airing on PBS public television.

Early life and family A self-described army brat born in Edmonton to Lt.-Col. Laurence Esmonde-White, she moved with her family to Calgary, and eventually to Montreal. a public television series produced by WPBS-TV that ran on PBS for seventeen years beginning in 1986. Her daughter, Sahra Esmonde-White, took over her grandparents' gardens and added an apothecary. co-founded in 1959 by Celia Franca and Betty Oliphant in Toronto, Ontario. A photo in Dance Collection Danse shows her classmates and a young Esmonde-White smiling up at the violinist Yehudi Menuhin after his concert at Massey Hall. After her training, she worked around the world with the National Ballet of Canada at the same time that the company danced with Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and other very well-known dancers such as Karen Kain and Robert Joffrey. Unfortunately, she broke a foot, and the injury ended her ballet career in her early twenties.

Montreal studio Esmonde-White's next effort, her own company making homemade rag dolls, led to her becoming an executive at the toymaker Hasbro, but business trips kept her away from her child, who was then five years old. Separating from the corporate world and searching for the means to support herself, she started to teach fitness classes in a nearby church and soon had almost five classes per day. She opened a dance and fitness studio in Montreal, where she became a flexibility trainer and developed her own technique. Esmonde-White claims she was able to alleviate her persistent back pain using her own exercise program.

Classical Stretch Esmonde-White combined her own movements and elements of ballet, tai chi, and physiotherapy. The technique is continuous movement, usually standing. Barre work can be done using a chair or counter top. Floor work requires a yoga mat and optionally a resistance band and/or a yoga block. Esmonde-White's technique includes no weight-bearing exercises that can stress the wrist like yoga. Her movements are easy to do, unlike Pilates where people try for technically correct moves. The program reaches approximately 60 percent of the U.S. market.

The product of three iterations,

Essentrics The television audience for Classical Stretch began as mainly women in their 40s and 50s, so Esmonde-White sought to expand her audience to younger viewers.

Breast cancer rehabilitation Six weeks before taping of the first fifteen Classical Stretch PBS shows was scheduled to start, Esmonde-White found a lump in a breast and was diagnosed with breast cancer. After surgery, the cancer was contained and she required radiation but not chemotherapy, saving her from hair loss. She could not raise her arm above her waist and had underarm pain. She found that talking with other cancer survivors helped her spirits. Her daughter Sahra designed and found funding and crews to make a workout video with Esmonde-White that has been seen in many countries including Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Greece, India, South Africa, and the United States. Designed for people who have been treated for breast cancer, the workout can increase the range of motion of the arms and shoulders after a mastectomy and prevents lymphedema.

Work with athletes and celebrities "After they felt how good you feel after it, it got pretty serious," said Canadiens team captain Max Pacioretty. Esmonde-White and daughter Sahra Sahra holds Essentrics sessions once or twice a week for the Canadiens during training camp at the suggestion of Pierre Allard, their strength and conditioning coach. Other fans include actresses Naomie Harris and Sarah Gadon, and model Lily Cole.

Esmonde-White has worked with a number of prominent Canadian athletes: Sports Hall of Fame diver Alexandre Despatie, synchronized divers Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion,

The Essentrics studio website has a list of athletes and organizations that are students.

Publications Aging Backwards Esmonde-White's first book, Aging Backwards: Reverse the Aging Process and Look 10 Years Younger in 30 Minutes a Day, explains Esmonde-White's method to balance the body's strength and flexibility. First released in 2014, and updated in 2018, the book became a New York Times bestseller. Esmonde-White explains two types of exercise. Concentric exercise "crunches" muscles, while eccentric exercise (her Essentrics) "stretches and lengthens" muscles. The latter exercise thus counteracts the "stiffening, shrinking aspects of aging".

Books

Classical Stretch: The Esmonde Technique, by Miranda Esmonde-White; George Demirakos, Contributing Editor, Pearson Learning Solutions, August 28, 2006, 285 pages. Essentrics Teacher Training Course (4 Levels) – 2009 Classical Stretch Text Book and Study Manual (published by Pearson Publishing) – 2006

DVDs "Classical Stretch - The Esmonde Technique: Full Body Workout," Vol. 1 and subsequent series through 2014. ASIN: B00K1MPGBK, by Miranda Esmonde-White, August 12, 2003