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Functional Movement
What is Functional Movement
Functional movement is strength and mobility training designed for real life. It’s not about perfect form for aesthetics—it’s about moving well, feeling strong, and preventing injury in your day-to-day life. At Warrior Sanctuary, we use evidence-based approaches rooted in biomechanics, core stability, and multi-plane movement patterns to help you move with power and grace—on and off the mat.
Why It Works
Most traditional fitness isolates muscles or focuses on intensity without sustainability. Functional movement restores the natural relationship between strength, stability, and coordination. It teaches your body to move as an integrated system—supporting your joints, protecting against burnout, and improving performance in life, sport, or recovery. It’s movement that meets you where you are and gets you where you want to go.
Why Participate
Whether you're navigating a healing journey, returning to movement after injury, or seeking strength that aligns with your season of life, functional movement offers a powerful path forward. Our sessions are tailored, inclusive, and progressive—designed for long-term health and vitality, not just quick wins. Show up to feel more alive in your body and more supported in your life.
Discover Functional Movement Practices
Loaded Yoga
Functional Flow
Functional Flow
A strength-infused practice that blends traditional yoga postures with functional movement tools—like resistance props and intentional load—to build resilience in the joints, muscles, and bones. Rooted in nervous system awareness and mobility science, Loaded Yoga invites you to move with mindful power, enhance your core stability, and bui
A strength-infused practice that blends traditional yoga postures with functional movement tools—like resistance props and intentional load—to build resilience in the joints, muscles, and bones. Rooted in nervous system awareness and mobility science, Loaded Yoga invites you to move with mindful power, enhance your core stability, and build strength that supports every season of life.
More than a workout, this is strength training that honors breath, softness, and structure.
Functional Flow
Functional Flow
Functional Flow
This isn’t your typical power yoga class. Functional Flow reshapes traditional postures to align with the body’s natural movement patterns and true range of motion. Combining endurance strength & mobility work, micro-adjustments, and nervous system resets, this practice gently rewires how you move—creating freedom, balance, and deeper body awareness from the inside out.
Kettlebell
Functional Flow
Kettlebell
Rooted in functional movement and guided by nervous system awareness, this kettlebell class blends strength, coordination, and intentional pacing to build real-life resilience. Led by seasoned HKC coach Erin Tomaso, this class goes beyond reps—incorporating mobility drills, micro-resets, and posture-conscious strength work using kettlebe
Rooted in functional movement and guided by nervous system awareness, this kettlebell class blends strength, coordination, and intentional pacing to build real-life resilience. Led by seasoned HKC coach Erin Tomaso, this class goes beyond reps—incorporating mobility drills, micro-resets, and posture-conscious strength work using kettlebells and other movement tools.
You'll train smarter, not harder—building strength that supports hormonal health, core integrity, and sustainable power for every season of life.
Why Functional Movement Matters
At Warrior Sanctuary, our approach to functional movement is rooted in science and shaped by the body’s natural intelligence. Functional movement supports the nervous system by enhancing neuromuscular coordination, improving motor control, and promoting neuroplasticity—helping the brain and body work more efficiently together. These practices also stimulate the vagus nerve and boost mood-regulating endorphins, offering a somatic path to emotional resilience and recovery.
Just as importantly, functional movement nurtures the fascial system—the connective tissue web that supports every structure in the body. When fascia is healthy, movement is fluid, force is transmitted efficiently, and posture and performance improve. Our evidence-informed movement helps reduce fascial restrictions, increase mobility, and restore optimal movement patterns, ultimately reducing pain and preventing injury.
This isn’t fitness for aesthetics. It’s movement for longevity, vitality, and deep nervous system health.
- Fascial System & Movement:
Schleip, R. (2003). Fascial plasticity – A new neurobiological explanation: Part 1. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 7(1), 11–19.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1360-8592(02)00067-0
- Nervous System Regulation Through Movement:
Taylor, E. W., & Gorman, A. L. (1999). Neural control of movement: Emergent properties of spinal cord and brainstem circuits. Progress in Neurobiology, 59(4), 335–365.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-0082(99)00017-5
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation & Exercise:
Clancy, J. A., Mary, D. A., Witte, K. K., Greenwood, J. P., Deuchars, S. A., & Deuchars, J. (2014). Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation in healthy humans reduces sympathetic nerve activity. Brain Stimulation, 7(6), 871–877.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2014.07.031
- Functional Movement & Neuromuscular Health:
Myer, G. D., Kushner, A. M., Brent, J. L., Schoenfeld, B. J., Hugentobler, J., Lloyd, R. S., ... & Faigenbaum, A. D. (2014). The back squat: A proposed assessment of functional deficits and technical factors that limit performance. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 36(6), 4–27.
https://doi.org/10.1519/SSC.0000000000000103
- Fascia and Pain Modulation:
Wilke, J., Schleip, R., Yucesoy, C. A., & Banzer, W. (2018). Not merely a protective packing organ? A review of fascia and its force transmission capacity. Journal of Applied Physiology, 124(1), 234–244.
https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00565.2017
