Breathing-Focused Mat

Hi Rebecca, how are you? Good. So we're going to do an intermediate Matt today and we're going to focus on breathing. It's one of the six principles of [inaudible] and just [inaudible] was really renowned for his breathing and he was interned in a world war one and all the soldiers that he was in charge of were known to completely escape the Spanish flu, which was a big, big thing at that time. So anyone that was working with him and practicing his exercises was really able to clean their blood and use their breath to really maintain a healthy body. So many exercises there, none of them are haphazard, they all have a point.

And his breathing was really, really important in colitis. We're going to try to get a little feel of that today. Every exercise we're gonna talk about breath. Okay. As if you know the intermediate map perfectly. So let's start off with the [inaudible] stance. Heels together. Good.

And we're going to have weight on the ball of every toe. Very nice. And you want to feel your powerhouse pulling it really while always want to feel the earth. So you're pushing it away with the ball of your foot, kinda lifting the heels, kind of thinking about all the back end is all lifting up. And even though maybe the lower back muscles helping to pull up to the stomach and and up. Great. And I want you to just stay here like this and I'm to get really connected with my breathing. I like to think of the wall exercises. So I want you to stay right there.

But if I were to do a wall exercise and I start with my breathing, I inhale, sure. And exhale. And so when I inhale on the wall, it's really easy to feel your ribs expand in the back and fill up with air and you really know that you're not like arching up, right? You can feel your spine stay on the wall, those ribs open up and then exhale again in with the air and exhale. Great. Something I will be focusing on is when you inhale and expand those ribs in the back rather than inhaling up with the chest this way that you've created this big open cavity, right? And so that's where your powerhouse wants to go. So your stomach wants to not just pull in but it wants to pull up into that area. And that's what gives you so much strength to do all your exercises. Okay?

So that's the visual. I want you to imagine why you're doing this. So let's put one arm over the other and cross one foot in front of the other. Good. However, either behind you're in front of, and that's a whole nother course, right? So we're going to just, we're going to do what's comfortable for you and I want you to inhale feeling that and just staying here. And then exhale, pulling up your stomach into that area and do it one more time. Really thinking of it to kind of help relax the body too. Cause sometimes we're are trying so hard, you're actually working against yourself, right?

So one more big breath and exhale. And now on the next exhale we'll go down. So we're going to inhale and as you exhale, lower yourself down. Still thinking of that nice, tall, long, good, lowering yourself down. Then put your hands behind you and bring your bottom back and reach out.

Just lie on down. Good. And reach out through your fingertips. Reach out through your toes, really stretching and just breathing, not thinking of your powerhouse at this time. Just stretching, stretching, stretching. Great. A lot of times when we do concentrate so much on breathing or when you're just starting a [inaudible] routine, you might end up getting a little lightheaded. Um, so that is common when you are getting that fresh surge of oxygen into your body because we're [inaudible] so use a shallow breathing. So we're doing a lot of deep breathing today. Okay.

So if you do feel a little lightheaded, that's really common. So we're going to inhale, bring your arms up. Good. And just exhale. Bring them down by your side. Great job. So the first exercise is our hundred. We're going to draw your knees into your chest and give him a hug. Use your powerhouse to lift up your head and straight and your arms by your side. Maybe bring a few vertebra down. There you go.

Cause I want the bottom of the shoulder blades touching the mat. Good. Inhale right here. Thinking about those ribs, expanding an XL. Think about that powerhouse pulling into that cavity and length in the legs. Nice. Good. And start pumping in with the year. Good and exhaling. And I want you to think your breathing is great.

So I'm going to give you other correction. I want you to think about how you were on the floor and you were standing in a Colatti stance and you're pushing the earth away with the ball of your feet and everything was pulling up to you. Really nice. Love that. Much nicer. Good. So we're in with the air. Two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Inhaling on that mat with those ribs. Exhaling. I tell my clients sometimes it's like their gills. Like you're inhaling, opening up all those gills and exhaling.

Let's do two more and inhaling. Good and exhaling on the last time. We're going to do a goal. If you're gonna inhale for two. So inhale for two and now exhale, squeezing every last Adam of air for four, five, six, seven, eight. Good, lower your legs, lower your head, good. Reach your arms back. You know, because we are on this mat and we had the lovely strap, I want you to use it. So come a little bit more towards me. Good. And slide back.

We're going to do two slow ones and then we're going to double time it, but ideally the breath, his arms come up. Ooh, just arms. Sorry. So let's do the arms up. So they're above your shoulders. Good. And you start that with an inhale and the head comes up as you inhale and now exhale all the way to your feet. Good. And now you inhale, start rolling back and exhale all the way back into your arms. Reach to one more slow. Inhale, arms, then head.

We pull our powerhouse into that cavity. As we empty the lungs and we squeeze out every last Adam of air and we inhale pulling back the waistband first filling an exhale all the way back. Now it should double time that Tipa for five and exhale all the way to your feet. Inhale to start. Exhale to roll the rest for more. He really liked to emphasize that when you do any rolling exercise in with the air, exhaling back at me three more that you really focus on squeezing out all of the air. He always used to say that there's about 10% of stale air at the bottom of our lungs that when we breathe really shallowly and in with the year, we never get to one more time. So in with the [inaudible] and now exhale, squeeze out all the year out of here and then inhale, rolling back a little more seat there. And exhale, reaching back.

Good arms by your side and bring your right knee and preparing for single leg circles. Good. And hug it. Good. Extend the right leg up and then put your hands behind here. Good little bit lower than the knee just to, you didn't grab the knee though. And I like to scrap that hip. There you go. Enjoy that stretch. All right, so on this exercise we're going to inhales, we crossed the body and exhale as we draw that leg up. Okay, so arms by your side and just right here, I want you to kind of warm up for it. So I want you to inhale, open up those gills and I'm going to have this leg go down and I want you to exhale, draw that powerhouse up into that nice area. Good. So now we've got that connection. We're going to inhale, start back crossing, exhale around, up in with the air, exhale around, up. Good.

And with the exhale in with your reach all the way here and an exhale. Good. Inhale and exhale. Pull it up one more and now reverse in with the reach and exhale good in with your reach. And exhale. Good. Inhale, start. Exhale, pulling it up in with your exhale it up. One more time, pulling all the way up into there and hug that knee into your chest. Leg down, left knee. Same warm up here. So we're going to stretch that hips a little easier on you. And then we're going to press your arms down by your side. Good.

And we're going to start by inhaling as you reach and exhale. Good. Now this time in how cross and exhale good in with the air all the way there. Exhale, that's it in with the air, pulling that belly in. Don't miss out on that for you. Yes. One more.

All the way up and reverse. Get that heel all the way down to here. And then exhale. Don't let that quad take over work though. Ah, that's nice. Now you work in the back of the thigh, exhale it up in with the air, and that's enough. Nice hug in that knee. Very good. Both legs long. Good. And so you're gonna lift your head as you inhale, filling up your ribs.

And now exhale, pull into that area. As you Crow all the way up, put your hands by your bottom and lift your bottom forward to your feet. Grab onto those ankles. Good. This is especially was a breathing exercise where you're going to inhale, roll back, but as you come up, the action of curling into yourself with your upper abdominals presses into those ribs, presses into those lungs and squeezes that last 10% of stale air out of your lungs. So you're really going to focus on the breathing. Open the knees a little bit and see if you can keep your belly right where it is, but curl your spine just a couple more inches that your ears are between your knees and that's just your goal. Excellent. And inhale, roll back. Exhale, raw. Inhale, lift your seat. Exhale.

Think about those ribs opening up in with the ear. Exhale, good job. Three mornings with the air. Exhale, two more in with your squeeze. Show me your six pack. Yeah, one more time in with the air Xcel school. Sing and rest your feet down. Great job. Put your hands behind you. Lift your bottom back and lie completely down. Great.

And we're going to bring the right knee into your chest and right hand on your ankle. Left hand on your knee. Good. Bring your head up so your chin is and pull back your shoulders a little more open. Nice. Now really pulling all these muscles towards your seat. So really work with eye muscles, squeezing the seat. Nice work. All right, we're going to just do a slow. Um, you're going to do inhale. Inhale, exhale, exhale. So per set, so right. Inhale and left. And now exhale, exhale in with the air and exhale and in with the air.

And exhale good and filling those ribs and exhale, pulling it in. One more time. Inhaling and exhaling all the way into you. And that's enough. But when you do bring the knees in, notice there's a lot of space here and he really likes you to squeeze that air out. So let's think of that on double legs tracks, right, hands on your ankles. And now we're going to inhale really opening up those rips arms, back, legs forward. Inhale. And then exhale, pooling into there. Good in with the air and exhale in with the air and exhale and with the air.

Let's hold that breath a little longer in your hold and exhale. Let's do one more like that in how really re to that breath and exhale. Now, right leg up, left leg forward. Good and hands here, and we're going to do again, right left, right, left. So inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale, and with the air and exhale and inhaling in here and exhaling in there. Yeah. Inhaling and exhaling, pooling into there. One more set for me. Inhale and exhale. Exhale both legs up, hands behind the head, and now in health here.

And exhale and think of pushing your head into your hands as your ribs expand and exhale and a lot of strength in that upper body to counteract that lower butt in with the air. And now exhale, you pull into that open space. We were talking about one more in with the air. Exhale, and now bend the right knee and I want you to inhale as you twist to it, but then exhale, squeeze all that air. We're going to do it real slow. Inhale up and exhale. Squeeze out all there again. One more set like that and with the air. And now exhale, really squeeze out all that air and with the air. Excellent.

And we're going to do two sets. Quicks or we're going to inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale. One more. Set in with the air in and exhale. Exhale, right. Had both knees in. Nice, good work, spine, stretch forward, very big reading. Exercise, a heel in the middle of each block. Good. All right. And now I want you to have your arms up at shoulder height. Beautiful. And we're going to think about those lungs expanding.

Inhaling, and now we're going to exhale head down and squeeze every last. You've got to pull up in here a little more. Uh huh. Really pulling. Now inhale up and take a little exhale and we're going to inhale open here and now exhale, scoop in it. Good. So there's a lot of variation to breathing as well, like nothing set in stone and it's what's best for the person in with the air. And exhale, exhale, exhale.

And now inhaling up, but I think you can advance the breathing here so that I want you to take a breath in with the air and exhale until you can't exhale any longer. Go down, down once you can't exhale any longer. Inhale to sit up. And when you can't inhale anymore, go forward with your exhale right into it so that there's not a pause up there. And now inhale up and give me one more like that. Exhale, you're really pulling up the six pack into that area right here. And now inhaling it up and restaurants feel a little lightheaded. Now I want you to draw your powerhouse back and kind of do a pelvic tilt almost as you bring your knees towards you, preparing for open like rocker.

So I want your hands on top of your ankles. Good. But even at your hips, I bet you could look down and square up. Yeah, that one. Good. And now reach up those legs and kind of push your feet into your hands to give you a little opposition. Just breathe for a moment where we're going to inhale and we're going to exhale, pulling into, and again, this is going to really squeeze out that air as you roll up. So inhale, roll back and exhale. Pull that six pack up, up, up. Yes. Inhale, roll back and exhale, rolling up. Good roll through each vertebra on the way down and on the way out. No flat tires. That's instrumental on your breathing too.

So through each spoke of the wheel and then up and give me one more in with the air and exhale, scoop and gorgeous. Good. Squeeze your legs together. Get a little less depending on those hands. And then just roll down your back away from those legs. Great. Bend your knees in and we're going to take a moment. We're going to go into corkscrew, corkscrew.

You're going to start your circle with an inhale. Complete it with an Xcel, just like single leg circles. And we'll keep your bottom down to start. Good. And we're just going to inhale. Go to the right and now really pull your belly in and up as you exhale. Impulse center. Inhale to the left. Exhale, pull around. Center in with the air regionally from that tight stomach.

Yes in with the air. Exhaling around. One more set in with the air. Exhale, squeezing every last air. Yes, one more in with the air. Exhaling up. Good. Sit up for SA. So now I'll put a heel right in the middle of each one. Good. They're all [inaudible]. And now let me look at your hips. Feel like just a teeny bit there. Okay. And now arms out to the side.

And this was the epitome of his breathing. Okay. So when you reached for either toe, he really wanted you to solve the baby toe, not your heel or even your arch, but he wanted your baby toe. And when you do that, it immediately pulls that rib into that long and really squeezes out that air. Keep your arms a little more peripheral vision. Good. And now you're going to inhale as you twist and now exhale, reach for that baby toe and pulling right and head to goes down a little more relaxed. Yeah, inhaling up and exhale just right there. Good. Inhale, twist. Same thing like spine. Stretch forward, pulling those toes back. Exhale, reaching, reaching, reaching and inhaling up.

And just taking that breath and twist on the inhale. Good. And so really pulling up into here. Beautiful filling and exhale. Exhale and inhaling up and exhale and in with the air. And now exhale. You gotta really pull it up in there. Squeeze it out that air. Good. Now relax for a second.

And I want you to think more of the timing where you're going to be twisting on the inhale. Exhale all your air when you come up. Go ahead and keep twisting on the inhale to the other side. K, two more sets like that. Palms down and in with the air. And now exhale for as long as you can act until you can't exhale any more air than inhaling up and twisting and exhale until you can't exhale anymore. Now you did the hundred where you inhaled for two and then you exiled for two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Better inhaling up, twist to the other side and make sure you're lifting up in here too. Good and inhaling up and relax.

Good job. Yes, legs. Together we're going to flip onto your stomach for the neck roll hands. Go underneath your shoulders because you're pretty flexible and relax the head down. Great. Always when you're on your tummy, think of all your backs, the muscles, so whether the back of your thighs pulling up here, lifting the seat towards you, engaging it. Okay. Even the lower back muscles are going to work with the obliques here and really think about these shoulders not hunching up by your ear. So we're going to start coming up with your head and your shoulders and chest and keep lifting and come up to us. Straight arms is, it feels good on your back.

Then look over your right shoulder down around to your left and look forward looking left down around to your left and look forward and come down. So what was the breathing on that? So we're going to take a breath and come up and I actually want you to hold your breath. As you look left, circle the head around right and look forward. Take a breath, and now look right circle around [inaudible] and now exhale the whole way down. Lengthening, lengthening LinkedIn. Let's get up onto your elbows.

And we're gonna do single leg kick. Good. We're gonna bring your hands a little more forward and the elbows a little narrower on the map. So into, there you go. Good. All right. Pushing heavily into their lifting in your ways. And think of those back of the thighs and back of the, see, activate all those muscles, right? Ah, I knew it. Okay, so now I want to do a slow one where we're going to do a inhale and exhale. Okay, but before we start, I should have you engage all those back in the thighs and lift two inches off the mat. Good.

Always supporting your stomach with the lower back and so now we're going to do that right again. All right. Inhaling as you pull it in and then extend. Exhaling, good. Left and in with the air and exhale and with the air. And exhale last one in with the or. Double. Double tap. When you come in and exhale, now you're going to do it set wise, so it's going to be inhale. Inhale, say you're right though.

A little double toe. Inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale. Already lifting and stomach supporting more. Inhale, inhale and exhale. Exhale. Good. Squeezing your legs a little closer together. Yes, really reaching long. When you exhale, that's it. Finish it. The set completely, and then rest your legs down, right facial cheek on the map. Hands go behind your back. Good. Yes. All right. Engaging. Squeezing. Good.

We're going to lift that mermaid tail and we're going to take a breath. And XL three squeezes. XL one, two, three. In with yours, you switched cheeks and exhale in one, two, three. And in with there and switched cheeks. And exhale one, two, three. And in with the Erin switching and one, two, three and end with the [inaudible]. Exhale, relax. Round your back and sit on your heels. That's it. Good. And now I want you to turn around onto your back. We're going to do neck pull. We're going to use a strap because we have it. Yeah.

And then it also changes how you come up when you really feel we're gonna want it a little wider in line with those hip bumps. Perfect God. And I want you to put your hands behind your head. Good. So feel this rather than any pooling on the neck when you come up with your head for that inhale. So we're going to inhale, filling the ribs open. And now exhale, draw in all beautiful. Inhale, stack your spine. Exhale the whole way back. Taller for now on when we go back. So we're going to inhale, opening those lungs. Exhale, drawing into that open cavity in how?

Roll it up. And now exhale. Pull your belly into that cavity. Yes, pulling back, back, back. You got it in with the air. Big open ribs. Exhale all the way in. Inhale, rolling it up. And now exhale. Make that six back. Pull into that open lungs. Yes. Two more in with the year. Exhale, scoop it into there in hell. Right here. Good. And exhale. Pull in all the way into their fabulous. One more time in with the air exhaling and how rolling it up and pulling back.

Back, back. Nice job. I want you to lie on your right side. Actually. Let's find your left side and we're going to do sidekicks. Bring yes, bring your back a little bit there. And I'm going to bring this box just a little forward.

I don't think I actually want you to use it, so I'm going to take that away. If you ever heard of the basic, I would let you have it. But we're doing an intermediate so bring your feet forward to the front edge but not off of it. There we go. And I want you if it's comfortable with your head, is it? Okay, good. And you're going to rest here. Nice. So we're going to lift this leg up just so to the level of your hip, reaching it long. Good. And concentrating on inhaling for one, two and exhale.

Inhale filling here. And then you exhale in with the air. Inhale. Exhale. I think we're reversing our breath here. Now we're going to inhale. Exhale. There you go in with the air. So then you get this really big stretch here. Inhaling, cause you're able to pull away from that as you work and your seat starts to work a little bit more because you're using those muscles now.

And one more time. Inhaling and exhaling great legs together and trying to keep this hip up relatively stable. Inhale up and exhale. Squeeze me deep. Inhale. And as you exhale, you're going to pull all this up into that open area, right in with the air XL. So same thing. Now you get this beautiful long, lower back feeling as you concentrate on your breath. One more time in with the air. Exhaling, holding it there. We're going to do five little circles. One, two, three, four, five, sorry.

Exhale. Two, three, four, five for lax. I forgot to tell you to take a breath as you did the forward. Once we're gonna lie on your tummy can make a small pillow for your forehead. Good and in with the air. And I want you to lift up those legs and do the first 10 with an inhale. So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Now exhale, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Good. Roll to your other side.

Perfect. Bringing the legs a little forward. Good, good. I want you to bring the top hip back half an inch. Yeah, those are stacked now. All right. We're going to bring this leg up a little bit and so as we go forward, we're going to open up the rib cage. We're going to inhale for a double holes and now exhale, pooling in and in with the air and exhale good and in with the air and exhale and in and exhale and inhaling and exhale. Good. And inhale. How far back can you go? Come on. Yeah, and in my knee you could do a little more than that. Now that your, that's two more in with the air and exhale. One more time. Let's keep this shoulder stable. All right. Legs together, keeping this hip right on top of the bottom one.

Inhale up and exhale. Great. Inhaling into here, Xcel pooling that powerhouse in you. Really get a nice long lower back to exhale. One more time and now we're going to inhale for five little circles going forward. Actually first the first time, so down in four, two, three, four and exhale back to three, four and relax. Lie on your back. Nice job. Bend your knees into your chest. Very good. Scoot over just a little bit towards our ocean, which is so nice. Good.

And now I want you to extend the legs up and reach the arms back. Good. I'm going to do one with you just to give you the feeling. Okay. So as your arms come up, you're going to lift up your head and inhale and open up that cavity right in here. Go ahead in with the air and now scoop all of that powerhouse. Exhale, scoria and out that air. Nice. Inhale to start the roll back. Exhale to roll everything away.

Now I don't want to throw your balance off, so you're into two more. In with your exhale, squeeze that air and in with the air. And exhale one more time. And with your exit. Yes. Pull it into it. Yeah. And in how roll. And exhale all the way back. Great job. Bend the knees. As we do more advanced teasers, the arms help with the breathing too.

We're going to sit up for seal and after the six of them we'll roll to a standing position. Let's make sure you have enough room here on the front. You feel good. There you go. All right, so just staying here, Ray, give me a little bit better. C curve and knees a little bit higher. So there are about within the mat and we're going to inhale and exhale. Good. And let's rock it back in with the air and exhale. Yes, I'd like you to clap three times in with the air lift. Squat to annex.

Inhale lifting two, three. Exhale, clap two, three in with the air. Okay. XAL yes. You know you used to hold a pinwheel in front of you used to have to make it keep blowing and blowing and blowing and two more in with the air and exhale. So imagine you're blowing up pinwheel. Last one, cross the ankles and roll to a standing position all the way up. Turn around next time we need a little more good spot in that stance.

But it was very controlled, which is pretty impressive at that pace. So we're going to reach your arms up to the ceiling. Good Pilati stance. And I want you to take a breath and now exhale, roll down and walk out to a P. push up position. We're going to do two sets of pushups and down up one and two.

Good. And you can kind of breathe with each one. You got to one more after this one. Go one more. And now inhale, walking up back to your feet, and exhale. Roll all the way up to arms to the ceiling. Inhale again, and exhale, walk and down. Inhale, go and out. Good and exhale.

Now just go ahead and alternate your breathing. What works for you here? Just really pulling that powerhouse. Give me two more beautiful pushups. Last one. And now inhale, walking back. Exhale, roll up that six pack all the way up with the arms. Good. Staying here. I want you to inhale, push the earth away, and now exhale, lifting the belly into that and you are all finished.

Nice job. Good work.