unwind & Block Therapy

What is Block Therapy?

Block Therapy is a fascia decompression method using their Block Buddy, Block Baby and Block Paddle. Participants use their body weight plus one, two, or all three of their tools at a time to release stuck tissues in a myriad of positions.

The results achieved from fascia decompression using only your body weight, breath and blocks is impressive. Definitely worth checking out their success stories!

On the shoulders of giants

Deanna Hansen, the creator of Block Therapy and it's tools - the Block Buddy, Block Baby and Block Paddle -  provides so much knowledge in each and every one of her classes. She and co-facilitator Quinn Castelane discuss fascia, anatomy, common injuries, and common cause sites for those aches and pains. They describe the benefits of fascia release, indications fascia release is needed from things you'd never expect, and how to restore proper movement patterns.

unwind founder Melanie Love started doing BT as a personal practice mid-2017 to work out stiffness in her muscles without stretching. Love has hypermobility (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) to Block Therapy has been very effective to help her body.

Fast forward to 2021ish when Love decided to train as a Block Therapy Instructor as a pandemic project to deepen her own knowledge, never intending to use it professionally. 

Is unwind Block Therapy?

Yes, and no.

Melanie is a certified Block Therapy Instructor, however unwind group classes are Block Therapy techniques applied differently with different tools for a different experience.

Just as chefs train at the Cordon Bleu to receive education about proper techniques and the science of how to combine ingredients properly with heat to create the desired effect, Block Therapy Instructors learn about fascia, cause sites, proper breathing techniques, and numerous positions to release one or muscle groups at the same time using blocks and your body weight.

Just as no two pastry chefs making the same recipe will produce the same results (as any reality TV baking show demonstrates), so it is with Block Therapy Instructors. Love isn’t Hansen so her Block Therapy-style classes will be similar but not the same. 

Just as every great chef puts their own twist on classic dishes, so it is with unwind. unwind has a different flavour, it’s softer in some ways. Just as cake and pancakes have the same ingredients, unwind uses the BT essential positions to create a different experience.

Some key differences:

Unwind Body Works	Block Therapy(TM)
Four blocks at once in each position	Typically one or two blocks, sometimes the paddle
Nervous system calming practices before class begins.	Explanation of fascia and decompression before class begins.
Guidance to find tolerable discomfort (but never pain), your breath is your guide. Stay within your limits.	Guidance to make friends with your pain, your breath is your guide. Stay within your limits.
Positions are more balanced (e.g. when supporting the upper quads, we do both sides at once while also supporting the abdomen or upper body)	Positions tend to be targeted to a single muscle and single sided (e.g. working only the upper quads one side at a time), sometimes double-blocking with using two of Buddy, Baby, Paddle.
Positions held slightly longer in class (~4 mins each). No maximum when practicing solo.	Positions held ~3 mins each in class.   No maximum when practicing solo.
Guided imagery and invitation to create heart-brain coherence with breathing cadence and to experience comfortable suggested emotions.	Guidance about which muscles are being released, common pain cause sites, and referral sites. Knowledge about anatomy and benefits of tissue decompression.
Tools: two large foam (un)Blocks + two mini foam (un)Blocks. Rolled up towels and pool noodle segments provided in-class to substitute.	Tools: usually one wood Block Buddy or Baby, sometimes double-blocking with both &/or the Block Paddle. No substitutes provided.

 

Both/and

We like and recommend both programs.

Love continues to learn with Block Therapy, attending the BT Instructor’s weekend workshops in 2023 and 2024. Love still uses her Block Buddy and Baby. They’re different tools for different styles and intensity.

We highly recommend you follow them and do their starter program. They’re an excellent complement to unwind and vice versa. We’re not competitors, just different experiences of fascia release.

Find them here (affiliate link. We’ll receive a commission if you buy something.)

How unwind came to be

unwind developed from Love adapting the positions to the needs of her body, which doesn’t like single sided releases. She started using four blocks at a time instead of one or two, combining single BT positions into unwind combos. (Love doesn’t use the paddle in BT sessions, mostly because she forgot it on a plane the first weekend she got it and never got it back.)

In 2022 & 2023 Love taught her style of class using the Block Buddy and Block Baby (and sometimes pool noodles) as a body break in business settings, referring people to Block Therapy to train with Deanna & Quinn. People kept coming back to say that what Love was doing is different – when was she going to start teaching regularly? It is important to know that this was solely a preference of delivery style and class experience, not effectiveness. 

the (un)Block came later - Love also wanted wider tools to be more stable when using up or tall and when using four at once. They're gripper for stability and can be used more easily up against a wall. She needed tools to travel with that still did the job while being lightweight. The large (un)Block is narrower to accommodate Love’s short waist in the belly position. They’re hypoallergenic because Love occasionally gets sneezy with certain wood species and is allergic to rubber latex. They're less intense because they're foam and because they're wider. 

The Peloton rounded versions were still heavy and too big. The lululemon waterfall versions were just weird. Lacrosse balls are very pointy, oddly heavy for their size and too intense. In 2024, Love wondered if she could do better - enter the foam (un)Blocks(TM).