3CoreConnections®

Continuing Education

3CoreConnections®

It is Such A Pleasure to share with you my 3Core Connections® embodied perspective, a body of work that has grown me for over 40 Years.

I intentionally speak of this body of work as a "perspective", rather than a paradigm or model, because, at its heart, it is an "inquiry", rather than being based on a belief system. It is a dynamic framework that provides a rich context within which to critically, yet non-judgmentally, explore and inquire, from a perspective of "what's working" and "what's missing", as contrasted to "what's right" or "what's wrong".

I want to re-emphasize that the 3CoreConnections® embodied perspective is not a belief system-there aren't "3 Cores" in the body, anymore than there are Anatomy Trains "lines" in the body. There is, however, a vital interrelationship between every part of the body and how it relates with every other part, through grounding, centering and uplift. What the 3Core Connections® embodied perspective gives us is a deeply accessible way of wrapping our heads around the "gravity centers" of our biointelligent bodies-and how they all intrinsically relate to one another.

Within this inquiry, we engage ourselves in a "conversation WITH the body," rather than "doing something TO the body." Through this unique perspective, we participate in a process that cultivates a non-judgmental presence in our understanding and, ultimately, in our teaching. This, in turn, allows and empowers exploration, rather than pressure us to be "perfect"- an obstacle to creativity, healing, and self-expression.

I'd like to take a moment to share my journey with you, and how this body of work came to be.

While I was attaining my certification, my husband, Michael, and I moved to Austin and established The Pilates Center of Austin - the first Pilates studio in the capital city of Texas. In those first couple of years, I came to see just how profound this work was. I could see just how much my clients loved it, and how much they benefited from incorporating it into their lives. And yet at the same time, I began to notice how very "held" I felt in my "core." I didn't have words for that feeling at the time, but it led me to inquire into a seminal question that was to form the heart of the inquiry that was to become the 3CoreConnections® Embodied Perspective: Rather than a "concept of core," what is" core from the body's experience"?

This exploration took me to study with renowned somatic teachers and pioneers in the fields of whole bodymind movement, neuroscience and energy medicine-exploring practices such as Body Mind Centering, Continuum, Alexander, Aston Patterning, Feldenkrais, Gyrotonics and Structural Integration - with expanded focuses on understanding the profound and inextricably connected relationships between sound, movement and breath perception within the field of gravity.

As I studied, I began to see that "core from the body's perspective" begins with vestibular awareness, and how profoundly fundamental our perceived, functional and experiential relationship with gravity is. After years of searching for a dynamic way to articulate these distinctions that were crystallizing in my experience, I discovered the most wonderful black-and-white anatomical illustrations by the 18th-century anatomist Albinus. His images contrast sharply with today's static anatomical depictions. They illustrate our experience as "movers." His figures are engaged, gesturing, connected-very different from the static depiction of muscles and bones in contemporary dissection anatomy. These brilliant images proved to be the perfect "living landscape" upon which to superimpose the energetic "connections" ("Down the Back and Up the Front"), "Domes, Arcs and Spirals" of my emerging 3CoreConnections® Embodied Perspective.

My Epiphany...

Once I began embodying the principles of vestibular awareness, which took me from static alignment to orienting through qualities of attention, the tension in my body melted away.

This was the epiphany that came out of my inquiry into why I was feeling so "held" in my Pilates practice. I could now see...how much tension I was carrying by "over-stabilizing". Once I saw how much I was trying to do something with/to my abdominals, rather than letting go into the innate intelligence of my body's fluid interconnectedness, I let go. I released the "parking brake." It became clear to me that the body doesn't care whether we call it Pilates, yoga, Alexander, Feldenkrais - or, for that matter, washing the dishes. It just doesn't care. What it does care about is: Are we moving with sensory awareness?

With this awareness, we become so much more present, and gain access to an innate creativity with the universal principles that underlie many of the great bodymind movement disciplines. There is also a completely renewable sense that we have of being in our bodies. Within this "inquiry" lives a huge opportunity that we have to powerfully explore how we communicate with ourselves, our clients and one another as deeply intelligent and intuitive human beings, rather than objects to be trained or fixed.

I could see that as I "allowed” these fluid connections, through the 3 "cores”, my awareness of how I moved "within" my body came alive. My perception of anatomy suddenly became a very personal experience - a living anatomy, rather than a removed, static, non-experiential analysis of anatomy, as a collection of parts and pieces.

The Road Goes on Forever...

When we discover these "core connections" within, a transformative shift occurs. We begin to experience "Core as Relationship-with gravity, ourselves, one another, and our environment"- in a deeply, undeniably, interconnected way. When we look from the perspective of "biotensegrity," we see/experience that "everything is connected to everything else"; we create a space of honor, respect, non-judgment, playfulness and challenge that is empowering. In contrast, when we become fixated on an "answer" as to which is most important, "muscle," "bone," fascia," "brain," "psoas," we miss the dance of relationships that is the body's experience. In my experience, inquiring from "the body's perspective," true vitality occurs when there is fluid awareness within the deep components of our human organism.

We are then able to give up the fight - and "gravity becomes a partner. We learn how to yield into gravity's support; we discover a more fluid way of being with ourselves and one another. Our adaptive body is more balanced in functional orientation. We feel less

tension. We give up the struggle - we discover effort with ease in our movement, our practice, our daily life.

I have spent the last 30 years bringing to life this "conversation with the body" that has birthed the 3CoreConnections® embodied perspective from my direct experience. It is now my heart's desire to share this work with those of you who are wanting to "dive deep," in a powerful way that opens, nurtures and empowers your heartfelt visions.

My Invitation to YOU...

Come with me, immerse yourself in this inquiry, an amazing journey where the focus is YOU, rather than any "enlightened" information I have to download. YOU are the explorer in this dynamic dialogue with your Body, the expert. What will emerge is a

profound opportunity to be with one another in a way that opens us up to a fascination with who we are, and how we can share this fascination, teaching from a place of "embodiment." It is an inquiry in which we learn how to pay attention how to cultivate a deep listening within ourselves and for one another, and especially those we teach. And ultimately, it is an inquiry into how we become deeply reconnected and self-healing.

I invite you to come study with me, whether that be in my yearlong Passing the Torch Mentoring Program, one of my Live Stream or In-Person Workshops, a 2 day on-site immersions, or individual online mentoring sessions.

I look forward to sharing this amazing journey with you.

With deep respect and love,

Wendy

About Wendy LeBlanc-Arbuckle

Wendy is an international leader in embodied movement education, with a 45-year background in holistic health and lifelong studies and collaborations with distinguished pioneers in Yoga, Pilates, Structural Integration bodywork, somatic arts and sciences, dynamic breathwork, embryology, energy medicine, and perceptual ontology.

Inspired by the diversity of their teaching expressions, Wendy has studied extensively with five Pilates' Elders - Romana Krazanowska, Mary Bowen, Kathy Grant, Ron Fletcher and Lolita San Miguel. Along with her extensive yoga background, she credits her mentoring with pioneers in the art and science of somatic movement and ontological inquiry... Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Emilie Conrad, Susan Harper, Judith Aston, Tom Myers, The Guild for Structural Integration, Hubert Godard, Phillip Beach, Jaap van der Wal and Werner Erhard… for the profound revelations with breath, fascial matrix and ontological awareness that have given rise to her own “biointelligent" voice.

Wendy’s vision has always been to illuminate and unify the universal core principles that underlie great somatic practices, enabling students and practitioners of any discipline to discover their wholeness through cultivating their own voice and vision, through the portal and brilliant guidance of their innate biointelligent wisdom.

• As Co-Founder of the Pilates Center of Austin (1993), she has, along with her husband Michael, over her 30 +year tenure, built it into one of the most respected Pilates centers in the country.
• She is also a Founding Member of the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA). She was on the original Role Delineation Committee for the PMA National Certification Exam, and has held a certification (now referred to as NCPT) since it was first offered in 2005. Wendy is, likewise, a Founding Member of the Fascia Research Society and the International Association of Structural Integrators (IASI).
• Her CoreConnectionsPilates® Teacher Training Program (1996-2006) was one of the most extensive, rigorous and valued Teacher Training programs available anywhere.
• Wendy is honored to be a Wellsprings of Continuum Practitioner. She is a regular presenter for Pilates Anytime and Fusion Pilates EDU.

She is currently writing a book for Handspring Publishing on the body of work that comprises her 3Core Connections® embodied perspective, scheduled for publication in the Spring of 2025. MOVING BEYOND CORE: A Somatic Exploration Through Whole Body Relationships.