Class #2332

Mat Progressions

50 min - Class
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Description

Work on the exercises you already know in a different way in this Mat workout with Karen Sanzo. Her clear directions and preparations set you up for success as you move toward the full movement of each exercise. She also uses a Shoulder Bridge as a transition exercise which makes it feel a little easier each time you do it.
What You'll Need: Mat

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Jan 08, 2016
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This mat class tonight. We'll start on your hands and knees. So go ahead and bring yourself to the quadriped head position. Curl your toes well up underneath you and make your fingers face straight ahead. Take your shoulders right over your wrists and then ask yourself, you don't need to rest completely on those hands, but you need to tighten up your arm muscles. Yes, that's it. Like they're wrapped up in ace bandages. Just like that.

Take a big inhale and then as you exhale, let your shoulder blades approach your spine so that your head stays in line with your spine as if I had a stick right here on your back. It would be right level with your head, just like that. Now tighten up your arms there. You good? Take an inhale here and as you exhale, rock yourself backwards towards your heels a couple of times. So just sit your buttocks back and then bring yourself forward. Let me just do that a couple of times. And as you do this exercise, try to pay attention to the position of your spine and the position of your head. So I'm going to continue to remind your head to stay right here.

Am I hurting you at all by touching your head there? Okay, bring yourself back and then bring yourself forward. Hold yourself in that forward position. Take a big inhale, and as you exhale, pull your belly button up and make your back ribs go up towards the ceiling just a little bit, and then your head will nod toward your knees just a little bit and pause yourself right there. Relax your shoulders. Lengthen the back of your neck so that there aren't any wrinkles in the back of your neck. Soften your shoulders right here, very nice, and pull your tummy in underneath you. Now hold that shape of your spine. Take an inhale and as you exhale, ask yourself to maybe lift your knees up off the ground. If they don't lift up off the ground, that's okay, but just act as if you could feel the work in your thighs.

Feel the work in your arms. Feel the broadening of your shoulders, and then lower yourself down. Rest, take another inhale. And then as you exhale, lengthen your lowest back by pulling your tummy up. Very nice. And then press into your feet as your knees lift up off the ground so your arms are engaged, your shoulders are soft. There you go. Pull that Tummy d and then slowly lower yourself down. Last time, big inhale. Exhale, pull the abdomen. Now let your front ribs pull towards your back ribs and then let that be. There you go. If you have that was a little bit easier to lift that up.

Nice job, the back of the next day's long. Take one last inhale while you're here. One last exhale. Lower your knees down. Very nice. Bring yourself up to high kneeling and face across to the person across from you. Look across to the person. Come up to high kneeling, and then leave your toes curled up like this. Just like that. Okay. And then take your arms out in front of you.

Inhale arms up and exhale. Arms down as your arms come up. Press your toes down. Go Inhale, arms up, and then exhale down. Nice job. Three more times. Inhale, the arms go up. Head stays in the same position. Exhale down last time. Arms go up.

They stay up with your arms up in the air. Relax your shoulders and then take your ribs backwards. Like yes, there you go. So see, that wasn't that. You just had to pull your belly in, but you taking your rib package backwards. Good. Now press down through the knees, lengthen up to the sky, and then take your arms down by your side. Very good. Now let's take your left leg and just bring it out in front of you. It looks like this. [inaudible] keep the back toes curled up. Very good.

And now you're going to take that leg and put it back down, and then you're going to take your other leg up. Very good. Ah, then you can put that back down. Now you're going to try that several more times on each leg. Try not to make any noise on the mat. Okay, so you're gonna get a lift. The hip high. Yeah, you see you could do it. It's just that no one asked you to. Right. So do that a couple more times.

Lift that hip high and keep those toes curled up as if you could push yourself forward to run away from something that was chasing you. There you go. And now end with the left leg up in the air. Good. So your left leg is now up to take your left leg right here. I understand. Okay, bad knee. Just rest right there. We'll be done in a second. So with your left leg up, take your right arm up to the ceiling with your right arm up to the ceiling.

Feel how reaching up through your right arm and lengthens your right ribs. Almost lengthens in front of that right thigh. Can you feel that? Curl the toes of that back leg up underneath you. Good. Take a big inhale. And then as you exhale side, bend your torso to the left and as you side bend to the left, make sure that that right thigh is staying vertical so that you feel the length all the way up. Stretching in front of the right thigh. Can you kind of feel that a little bit there? Very good. Stay there.

Bring your head in line with your spine. Very good. And then bring yourself all the way up. And then switch legs. Take your other leg up, [inaudible] and then take your left arm up to the ceiling. Hold yourself right there. Curl those back toes really well underneath you. Really stretch through the sole of that foot. Good.

Now can you tighten up your down leg? That's your left leg. Can you tighten up that left by that left buttocks? And then side bend yourself to the right. Good. So as you side bend to the right, lengthen the left ribs, and then bring yourself all the way up. And then do that again. Side Bend over to the right, lengthening your left ribs, and then bring yourself all the way up. Very good.

And then bring yourself to sitting facing each other, starting our rollbacks. So reach your arms across to the person who crushed from you. Bend your knees, take an inhale here, and as you exhale, start your roll back from the tip of your pelvis rolling back. So I don't want you just to round your shoulders to go back, but curl that. Yes, exactly. Curl that pelvis back and start to go back. Good. Only go back to the position that you start to feel a little quiver in your trunk. Hold yourself right there. Big Inhale, big exhale, and then return yourself up. Take a big inhale again and then exhale.

We're going to take these shoulder blades back and then roll your pelvis backwards. See how your shoulders want to round forward. I want you to keep your shoulders back and then work down from the pelvis. Yes, you've got it. Hold yourself right there. Big Inhale. Exhale. Sit yourself back up. We'll do it two more times. Act like you're going to hug me with your shoulder blades. Pull your arms way back against me. There you go.

Now Roll your pelvis back. Yes, very good. Hold right there. I'm going to move. You're going to hold that. Can you feel how that's a quiver through the whole length of your trunk. That's very good. And then sit yourself back up. Take your arms up to the ceiling with your arms up tall.

Look straight ahead to the person across from you and then roll back. Just one time with your arms reaching up, almost stay reaching up like there's a hundred dollar bills on the ceiling. Don't go all the way down. Hold that position right there. Big Inhale. Exhale, brings you all the way up and then straighten out your legs and then slowly roll yourself down to the mat. Very good. Bending both of your knees, pressing your feet down, arms down by your side. Take a nice big inhale here, and then as you exhale, press into your feet. Come on to the mat this way just a little bit more, and now without using your buttocks, start to curl your tailbone underneath you.

There you go. And then let it come back down again. I'm going to go ahead and put this underneath your head here and see what that feels like and then press into your feet and curl your tailbone up. Again. I'd like you to make this action come primarily from your abdomen and not from your buttocks. Going to do that one more time. Curl it up just a little bit, but don't lift up into a bridge there that's a little bit better like that. Good soften shoulders. So I don't want you to lift your butt all the way up. I want you almost to lift it up. Good scoop in the belly right there.

Take a big inhale and then now just lifted up one half an inch and hold right there, and then lift it up another half an inch and hold it right there and then lift it up again. Very good. Now as you work the lifting of your pelvis, keep your ribs heavy. Don't let these ribs lift until this is lifting good. And then press your feet down. Feel your thighs and your buttocks and engage, and then roll down a half an inch so you decelerate your downward movement of your spine. Does that make sense? So that you unroll you on articulate your spine down until you bring yourself all the way down to that position right there and be flat.

Now you're going to lift up in a neutral position. So with your pelvis neutral, do not curl your spine to lift up. Just press your pelvis up so you're not going to articulate, you're just going to hold right there and then lift your pelvis up. So lift your pelvis up. That's good. Open up the chest. Hold yourself right there. Big Inhale, big exhale. Feel your collarbone. Stay Open. That's it.

Keep your pelvis lifting now almost as high as your thighs, so you have to get engaged into the backside. There you go. Now firmly press into your right leg and think about lifting your left leg up. But don't just think about lifting it and then you try to lift it, but it stuck to the ground. Can you feel how that gives you that connection on the right side? And then now go ahead and lift it and then hold your buttocks where it is on the right side. Hold that buttocks where it is on the right side.

Take a big inhale, lower your spine down with a one leg bridge. Good. And then put that leg down. Press both of your feet. Lift up. Now from here, lift the other leg up. So take the other leg up in the air. Hold yourself there. Ask your pelvis to be as high as your knee. There you go.

So as much as your left leg is pressing down is as much as your right leg is lifting up hold. And then slowly roll down with a one-leg bridge. Slowly lower yourself down, slowly lower yourself down. That's it. All the way down on one leg all the way down. Very good. And then put that leg all the way back down. Very nice.

Leaving your legs down now. Just like that. Nod your head. Keep your knees bent, your feet are down. Nod your head just a smidge, but don't lift your head up. Okay, so look your eyes into your cheeks. Yes, you feel how that lengthens the back of your neck a little bit. So don't, don't smash your Chin down, but just look into your cheek. So just look down into your cheeks. They're good. Now take an inhale here and then as you exhale, try to pick your head up, but you can not pick it up. Okay. So as you think about lifting it, feel how there's an anticipatory connection in the front of your neck. And also in the front of your abdomen. Can you kind of sort of feel that?

Anybody? Yeah, so feel that and then let it go and then inhale again and then start to think. Look into my cheeks. Start to nod your Chin and now go ahead and lift the head up and let your eyes look towards your navel. [inaudible] just your head. Just your head. [inaudible] so yeah, just the head. It's heavy. Just the head. It weighs about 15 pounds a good. And then when you lower down, lower the back of the neck, down first, come back down to the mat. That's it.

And then the next part and then the next part and then the next part. Very good. One more time. Inhale. Big exhale. Your eyes look into your cheeks. There you go. And that's it. Just the head and everybody smile because when we lift our head, the corners of our mouth kind of go down and we don't want to emphasize that. Hold yourself there and look towards your thighs there.

Later you go look towards the thighs and then lower yourself back down. Last time. May I touch your head back here? Okay. Inhale again, and then look into your cheeks. And then the headless. I'm going to lift this for you. Drop your shoulders right here. Yeah, that's it. Rest your chest down this way down. Yeah, that's it. Good. Now look right into your cheeks and now when you lower your head down, lower the back of your neck first. There you go.

That's a deceleration movement for the front of your neck. Yes. So a lot of times we have to exercise that muscle to help keep our head on straight, so to speak. So now take your own hands and lace your hands behind your head. Okay. And now you curl your head with your hands. Use Your hands.

And now take an inhale and let your front ribs now drop down as your trunk curls. So now as your trunk curls, your head will lift up higher because your trunk curled you. Does that make sense? Okay, take another inhale. And then as you exhale, these ribs dropped down towards your pelvis. That's an up curl up. Any bit more? Curl up, any bit low. There you go. Keep coming. Good. Now hold. That's it. Hold that right there. Now stay looking right here at my hand and then start to roll back down your shoulder blade. Stay looking here. That's it. All the way down.

All the way down. All the way down. Whew. Two more times like that. Use Your hands to help your head lift. Take a big inhale and then as you exhale, your front ribs come closer to your hips and the front of your body gets shorter, so you have to curl to the quiver. You got a curl to the quiver. That's it. Keep curling. Hold yourself right there. Big Inhale, and then exhale. Lower yourself down. You got one more? This is for the a hundred beats now. Okay. Yes, that's exactly right.

Nice job. The head rotates on. The skull rotates on the neck. You curl your trunk. [inaudible] we're heading towards trying to take the shoulder blades up off the mat, so that's it. Now reach your arms long by your side. Leave your feet down. 100 beats go. No, I mean just leave your feet where they weren't. Go pump your arms, inhaling and then exhaling. So you think the ribs to the [inaudible] so your head isn't pulling, it's your trunk. That's curling. Yes. Very good.

Can you close your fingers and move your arms like they're all wrapped up in ace bandages? That's it. Exhaling. We're only gonna do one more set. Big Inhale and big exhale. Stop. Reach your arms further forward to touch the person across from you. Curl to that quiver and then slowly lie down. Don't just stop the exercise, but unroll your spells self down on roll yourself down.

Fabulous job. All righty. Fold your right knee into your chest. Give it a hug. Stretch your left leg out. Long. [inaudible] so with your left leg out, long flexing point that left foot over and over again. I think I've got one more special. Just feel [inaudible] can you move down that way just a little bit? So the reason why this is important is because we want to make a successful position. It's not, you know, it's just, there you go.

That's going to be better. They're there. And so now you don't feel like you're falling down hills. That makes sense. Okay. Now, arms down by your side. Now keep the bottom foot flex like you're standing against the wall and take your right leg towards the ceiling. Getting ready for single leg circle. Very nice. Inhale, big exhale across your body around, and then circle the leg around and come back up and stop and circle around.

There you go. And come back up. So the first couple were not gonna move the pelvis. The first couple, we're just going to move the leg. So make that circle almost miniscule. Really small on purpose, almost painfully small so that you really feel the work in your thigh and the work in your trunk. Reverse the direction of the circle. Check in with your head. Let your face kind of recede back into your skull. I know that sounds like a weird cue, but I want you to relax your face so that it Kinda just stays heavy last time.

Good. Now pull that right knee into your chest and give it a big hug. Now lift your head and curl your trunk as if your forehead. We're coming to your knee and the knee, the head coming to the knee is coming from your ribs and not your head. Exactly. Now Hover your left leg up off the ground. Take a big inhale and as you exhale, reach your arms long across the floor to the other person. Hold right there.

Keep pulling your right knee in from the strength of your abdominals. Very good. Give a smile. Big Inhale. Exhale. Switch your legs one time and then lie yourself back down. Hold the left knee into your chest. Stretch your right leg down. Flex and point that right leg back and forth, flexing points.

Your right leg [inaudible] so go ahead and lie back down and lie this leg down and then just flex in point. Just like that. Good. And then pause with your leg flexed. Reach that foot long. Take your left leg to the ceiling, getting ready for side to arms long and strong. Inhale and then cross your leg over. Your body were on the other leg now. No worries. There you go. And then cross over your body, making the circle.

Look at really small and then stop it at the top and turn on your leg muscles. Sometimes you start to feel all that work all around your thighs. Soften the shoulder. Yeah, that's it. And now reverse the direction. Can you stay pushing through your right foot? Can you stay like there was a wall right here.

Good last time. And then bring that knee back into your chest. Give it a hug. Lift your head and curl your trunk. Much like you're doing the hundred beats, which says that my ribs come close. Oh yeah, there you go. Now hold that shape right there. Reach your arms long. Hold that lift. You feel that quiver in their reach your arms long. There you go. Big Inhale. Big exhale. Pull that knee further.

Pull your trunk further. Curl to that quiver. Hover your bottom leg up off the ground and then stop the exercise restaurant there. Very nice. Two feet. Press down. Lift up into one bridge. So bend your knees and lift your pelvis up. Good. Hold yourself just right there. Take a big inhale here. Exhale, two arms come to the ceiling. They touch each other over your chest. Press your hands into each other like there. Yeah, like there clapping.

Just press them right into each other. Just hold like that and press them together. [inaudible] and ask your shoulders not to shrug up. There you go. Hold just like that. Push your left hand into your right and push your right hand into your left.

And you'll see there's always just a little bit more. Hold those hands. Lift your heels up and down as you lift your heels up and down. Don't change the position of your pelvis. So with just the heels up, yes and very good. Three more times like that. And then two more. And then last one, and then drip your spine down. Drip your chest down. Woo. Everything comes all the way down.

Very good. Arms down by your side, two legs out long. Take your right leg all the way to the ceiling. Getting ready for another round of single leg circle with a little different emphasis. You're going to take an inhale as you exhale, cross that leg over your body. And now lift the pelvis good, and then lower the leg down to the other side. Stable pelvis, leg comes way out to the side and then it comes back up stuff. Let it cross over your body and let the pelvis lift. Let it reach down long now stabilized as the leg comes out and then pull it back in stump. Oh, last time over. There's a twist of the pelvis.

It comes down, it stays stable, it comes out to the side, comes back up, and then lower the leg straight down. Pause right there. Other leg. Lift the left leg up. Inhale, cross it over your body. Let the reaching of your leg twist hold. Let your head stay straight ahead to the ceiling this way. Look straight up shoulder down over there. There you go. And then it comes down.

Now you do a stable pelvis. The leg comes away out and then pull your leg back to center. Pull against my resistance so that you feel that nice job. Cross over the body and bring it down. That's nice. And then bring it all the way out to the side and then meet my resistance.

As you pull your leg back to center, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull. Good. Last time crossover. Reach it down around and then bring it on out and bring it all the way on up. And then bend the leg all the way in. Very good. Full both of your knees into your chest.

Roll up to sitting for rolling like a ball. So for today, for the ball shape, let's take our hands really close to the shins like this. So rather just leaning back to balance. Let's see if you can get that feeling of that pelvic bone kind of pulling backwards. So, so the work comes from this bone getting further away from your hip. Does that make sense? So grabbing here, pull your pillow this back and lift your heels up. Keep your toes down today. Toes. Stay down on the Mat, put your toes down and lift the heels up there.

And then just lift the toes up and hold this ball shape. Elbows lift out to the side. That's it. And then back and forth about five times. Inhale back, exhale up. That's it. Don't care if you come all the way up, but just get the action of that flection through your spine. Very good. And then two more times down and up.

And then last time down and come up and balance. Now on this last one, hold yourself right then. Now start to lengthen up your chest. Reach your arms across your mat to the other person across from you. Just reach up, reach over, hold yourself right there, and then pull your knees in. Roll yourself up into a tight ball, and then lengthen your arms are crossed the room to the person across from the room. Lift up the chest just a smidge. Reach your arms, give a smile, hold yourself right there and then hug yourself back in. And then last time, reach up. This will come alive when we get our abdominal series.

Hold yourself right there. Big Inhale, and then slowly, slowly roll down to the mat all the way down, all the way down, all the way down. Very nice. Go ahead and bring those pads right back underneath. You there. Okay. So the next set of exercise, we're going to start our abdominal series. Okay. First we do it with our heads flat down on the Mat. Your arms down by your side. Take your right knee in towards your chest all the way [inaudible] but you're not going to hold with your hands.

You're just going to use your belly muscles and your thigh muscles. Good. Relax the shoulders. Exactly. Now take the second leg in to match it. Okay, so two legs are in there past 90 degrees. So they're there. Yeah. So that they're not in neutral. And to put your head up on this, shoulders are down. That's it. So your knees are going to pull in a little bit further than usual so that yeah, they have to use those abdominals to start with. Now take your right leg towards the ceiling [inaudible] and then lower this leg away until you feel any change in your neck or your spine.

So relax your shoulders. So some of you can can support it in your core, in your stomach, but you fight with your chin or your neck. You see what I mean? So, so keep that leg at a distance where everything else stays connected and then switch it with the other one. Go switch and switch. Good. Just how you know this exercise. Inhale and inhale, switch, exhale, and exhale. Keep going. Good. Keep going. One more time. Good. And then fold two knees in towards your chest. Hug them with your hands.

Now with your head staying down. Look your eyes into your cheeks. Okay. For some of us it's almost harder to do this series with the head down. Can you feel the challenge of doing it with the head down? Now take your arms by your side. Leave your knees in towards your chest. Just kick your legs up towards the ceiling. Inhale, legs up. Exhale, knees to chest. Inhale, legs up. Exhale, pull the knees into your chest. Two more legs up, and then pull the knees in here, in here, in here, yes.

And then reach up and then knees come in towards your chest. And then lower the legs down and restaurant there. Lift your head and curl your trunk. Fold your knees into your chest. We'll do it now with the trunk curl. Lovely. Hold both knees in. Now grab your right hand with your right knee with your hands.

Just how you know, single leg stretch. Kick your other leg out, long or up. Minimize the shoulders, maximize the trunk curl. Curl that trunk. Curl that. Yeah, to curl your trunk there, you're gonna switch your legs. Go inhale and inhale, switch. Exhale, and exhale a little bit quicker. Pace, reach and reach. Scoop your belly. Exhale. One more. Set. Curl to that quiver.

That same trunk flection that you've got in the a hundred beats two knees. Come in and then lower yourself down. And pause right there. [inaudible] and then curl up again. Double legs stretching. So hold shins, elbows out to the side. [inaudible] so grab, grab, grab, grab, lower. Yes, lift out your elbow. There you go. And then reach long arms, long eggs. Inhale, reach away. Arms and legs, circle arms, hug, knees, hold the curl, reach up, circle, hug, hold the curl, stay curled. Good. Reach up. And then circle hold. And then last time reach.

And then last time curl. And then slowly lower yourself down. Press the feet, lift up into a bridge. Now the bridge is arrest, right? Because we're not flexing. And when you come up into a bridge, it's not a bad idea to take this out. When you're into that bridge, nod your Chin for me a little bit. There you go.

Good. Now scoop in your belly. Take a big inhale. And then as you exhale, drip your chest down. Drip your trunk down. Slowly, slowly articulating down. It's so important to decelerate that movement there. And then one more bridge, lifting up, pressing your feet, holding yourself there. Good. And then slowly, slowly roll yourself all the way back down. Very good. Come to your hands and knees. Face each other. Okay, so we started like this today.

So go back now and feel the lengthening of the back of your neck. Let your chest bone drop down as smidge. Let your shoulder blades attract Torah. Attract towards each other. Good. Hold yourself right there. Take your right leg out behind you as if you're going to do a pushup. So you're going to take your right leg back in this way and curl the chose right there. Now imagine that your right thigh is going to lift up in the ceiling, but don't lift it. Just feel that connection.

Can you feel that connection between your buttocks and your thigh so your head is long in line with your spine. Shoulder blades are where they need to be, and then you pull your tummy in, but you don't change the shape of your spine. Tighten up the back there in that pushed me to the ceiling with this leg. Good. And now hold that connection and take your other leg out to magic. You're coming into a full plank. Hold yourself there. Try Not to change the position of your blades.

Take a big inhale and then exhale. Lower that left leg first and then the right one, and then now switch the leg you started with. Take the other leg out first. This time. Pause for a second. Tidy up the shoulders. Let your head be in line with your spine. Tighten up the back of that right that left thigh like you're gonna lift it up to the ceiling and then take the other leg up to match it. [inaudible].

Good. Good job with your shoulder blades. Keep your head exactly where it is. Very good. Big Inhale. I'm going to touch the crown of your head. This is hard work. Resist me. Resist me if you how that ties into your trunk. That is fabulous. Good. And then lower the knees down and then restaurant there. Who would thought, Huh? Last one or we actually have two more.

So take the opposite leg out first this time and then the other leg comes out. When you feel like you're overworking your wrist, use your legs more, pressed down into the balls of your feet more. Now pause right here. Take an inhale. As you exhale, lift your butt a little bit higher to the ceiling. Just lift your butt on purpose a little bit higher. I know it's leaving plank, but just lifted higher and then lower it down to that spot. Then it becomes work lifted a little higher and then bring it down to that spot.

Leave your head in line and then just lift your bottom and then bring it back down and then lower your knees. Sit back on your heels and restaurant there as one of the best little connections underneath your trunk there. Very good. Okay. Stay in this shape right here. Your toes are down and let your ankles go. Nice. And Law. Can you let your ankles go long here so that or your knees bothersome? No, you're good. Okay.

So in this position now nod your head and look towards your knees. Okay, so your neck is actually inflection. Good. Take your right hand and put it behind your back. Just like that and shoulder. Okay there. Now Open your right elbow and turn your chest to the right. Take an inhale and then exhale down. Good.

And then open it up. Open that right elbow. Keep that palm down, and then return. Good. One more time. Open up the chest. So you're going to turn your palm this way. There you go. And your head will stay. Yes. Beautiful. And then you open up the chest, breathing into these right ribs. Good.

And then take that arm down. Other side, left arm comes behind the back. The reason why I'm having you sit back on your bum is that as now you rotate, you're calling in only the thorax. Your lumbar spine is kind of locked in the position there you follow? So because it's down on your heels, open up the chest by rotating and then come back down one more time. Bring it up to rotation and then bring it on down.

Very good. And then rest right there. Bring yourself back up to your hands and knees. Alternate arm and leg lift. So now you have your thorax and check. Let your shoulder blades come toward your spine. You're going to take your right arm out to the side like a t [inaudible] and turn your head and look at it and see how many of you you have to take your right arm really out from your shoulder.

Turn that thumb to the ceiling [inaudible] and then relax your shoulders and your neck muscles. Look back at the floor, and then take your left leg out behind you. And just hold that right there and lift that left leg up off the floor. Very good. And then ask yourself right here, can I tighten up anything to hold my legs still? Can I make sure that my front ribs are connected to my back ribs, so to speak, so that we're not sagging? And then lower those pieces down and then switch left arm comes out, have a look at it. Be sure it's coming right out from your shoulder, and then look right back down at the mat. And then take your right leg out. Nod your face just a little bit. There you go. And then now on this back leg, excuse me. Can you straighten out that knee?

Can you think the thigh is lifting higher than your foot? Not your foot higher than the thigh. It's wear off that pelvis. Very good. And then lower those two pieces down and then bring yourself down to your tummy. Preparing for Swan. Oh, let your toes go. Reach your arms down by your armpits or your palms are down by your arm.

I'm demonstrating right here. If you've not seen this position right here. So lift your elbows off. You're going to bring your arms just back like that, and then reach your elbows towards your pelvis. Very good. There you go. That's gonna move these hands back just a little bit here. There you go. Just like that. Now press into your arms and lift your chest up just a smidge to get the upper back extension. There you go.

And then take another inhale, another exhale, pause his, reach your legs very long and then start to straighten your elbows. But you don't have to straighten them all the way, but you're only doing a art from your chest. So I want you to arch from the chest and not from your low backs of pressure. Triceps. Lift up your torso and then lower yourself down. And then press your hands.

Reach your elbows long like you're going to arch from your shoulder blade area. That's called your thoracic spine. So less of your neck, more of your chest lifting, press, press, press, press. And then slowly lower yourself down. Last time, press up a little bit in pause. Hold yourself right there. Tighten up the tricep muscles. Start to press a little bit higher. And imagine that your chest bone is going across your mat to the person across from you. Yes. Beautiful. Yeah. Minimize the neck.

Maximize the chest maximum. Yes, you got it. And then lower yourself all the way down and rest right there. Very good. Alrighty. Let's lie on your right side or let's, let's face 'em away. So let's all just lie facing the camera here. So lie on your right side. Could you guys put heads at the other end just so that we have our right and left all together there. There you go.

So you just put your head up that way. Alrighty. So something a little bit different here. You're going to bend your knees into your chest. Hmm. Or my favorite thing to say is sometimes the same but different.

Okay. Let's see. Is this helping you here? That's it. Oh, is that better? Nice. Okay. So pull your knees well into your chest. Kind of like you're rolling, likable. [inaudible] there you go. Yeah. Nice. And then let your head actually look down towards your knees a little bit. So your are indeed not elongated through your spine. Do you agree? You're, you're kind of in a little in a little flexed position. Does that make sense?

And I want you like that on purpose right now for this particular exercise. Okay? Now take your left hand and put it on the mat in front of you, and then take your top leg and reach it long. Just like that. So what I'd like you to think now is that as you reach pushed me away, as you reach this right leg long, we're not going to be so concerned about the lengthening of your spine. I want you to get a little more focused today into the leg. So I want you to actually look down a little bit.

I want you to allow your spine to have a little bit of flection. Okay? And then lift this left leg up and down. So as the leg lifts up and down, it doesn't come forward. It comes to the ceiling from the bay. That's it. Can you feel that in that hip? They're good.

Then you pull the tummy in and here's where I'm a terrible counter. Okay? Because I want this leg to be in line with your pelvis. There you go. But you can cut your posture some slack by thinking rolling like a ball in the front of your torso.

[inaudible] keep going. [inaudible] slide this thigh back. Hey, you go. Good. Now pause and rest that leg right on your other leg just for a second. Okay.

Take a big inhale and as you exhale, pull your tummy gently and you don't have to over, you know, think it's all about the pool. I want you to create this little relationship almost like you're thinking like a hundred beats is anybody. Does that make sense? I know I haven't been the teacher before, but sometimes that's a challenge there. Now we're going to challenge the leg in a different way. You're going to reach your leg out long. Again, same exercise and in this position.

Now you're going to lift this leg very quickly, high quickly, and then you're going to low were two, three, four, quick low, two, three, four, lower two, three, four quick lower two, three, four quick last time. Lower two, three, four quick, and then bend that knee on the other leg and rest it right there. Now from this shape right now, you will take your front leg in the shape it's in and lift it up. Hip Height. So it's not really a clamshell, it's just up hip height just right here. And then the exercise will be from here, not down, but it will be up and lower to level up. And then lower to level [inaudible] lift, right?

So it's not going to be a clamshell today. It's going to be the entire package of your leg up and then to level and then up and then to level. So it's a quick lift and then lower to level, quick lift, lower to level, quick lift. Whoa, good job. And then lift, there's a smile lower last time, lift and then lower that leg all the way down. Last one, kick that leg out in front of you and start with the leg.

Hip Height. Exactly. So lift that leg up. Start with at hip height, just like that. And then that's it. And you've got it. And then it's a cowork and then a lower, lower, lower, quick, lower, not past your hip, not to the floor, not to the floor and lift and last one and lift. And then bend that knee and rest yourself there. Now open your chest up now towards the ceiling and just reach your left arm behind you. And then take your right arm and take it right here on top of this leg.

And then just let your chest open up. And if you have that nice that lengthens out those hips right there so you can rest your head. Great. The restroom, let me have this hand [inaudible] and then you feel this lengthening right here. That's good. Like that big inhale and exhale. Good. And then bring yourself back to face the front and then switch sides. Lie On your left side. Stay the direction you're facing.

[inaudible] or just do it however you want to. Yeah, it's okay. Wherever the majority of the people are is where we'll go. How about that? Okay, so in this position now bend your knees in both your knees are in and then make yourself a little bit kind of like rolling like a ball shape. So you're just cutting your spine. A little bit of slack here, minimizing the extension so that we don't always think we have to lengthen longer. Does that make sense? Because sometimes we we in too much and we actually use our back a little bit too much. Okay. So from this position here, take your top leg and reach it long [inaudible] and then go ahead and flex that foot and reach that leg. Go ahead. And then up and down. Just regular lifts, up and down, pressing your bottom need down into the floor as you lift your top leg up.

This like might even be getting tired a little bit quicker because it was actually working when it was on the down leg. So this leg has to come back in line with your pelvis. Roll this pelvis forward for me and then you're going to live there. You, you feel it's more of this muscle here. I know you feel that different because I can feel that difference right there. Good. Three more. And then two more.

And then last one and then let your knee come back to rest on the other leg. Very good. Okay. And then reach it out one more time. [inaudible] and then you're going to go lift quick. [inaudible] and slow. Slow, slow lift and [inaudible]. Slow, slow, slow, lift. Good. And as you lift it, quickly try to lift from the hip and not your waistline. Yes, you feel that difference right there. Lift and slow. Slow, slow, lift. Slow, slow, slow. Lyft last one.

And then come to rest your other knee on top of your leg right there. Good. Now this next one has the lifting of the the thigh. It's not the clamshell, it's just the whole shape of your thigh and your Shin. It's hip height to start with. Okay. And then just kind of get it going for a little bit so that you feel the back of that buttocks muscle B. What lifts your leg? Rest your head.

Now we're going to go quick. So you're going to go quick and then slow, slow, slow, quick. And then [inaudible] slow, slow, slow, quick, slow. Oh, quick, slow. Last one quick. And then slow and rest yourself right there. Very good. Open up your chest towards the ceiling. Open up your right arm. That's it. And then take this left one and just bring both of your knees in. Yeah, the eye.

Yeah. And then take your right arm right here to your ribs and just open up your own ribs with your hand so that you kind of feel your chest open. Yes, exactly. Yeah. There you go. That's it. I'll move this a little bit underneath your head like this. Got It. So if you bring these knees into your chest a little bit, and take this hand right here, and let me have this hand and put it on your ribs and then you can help yourself. There you go. Like a little [inaudible], wash cloth, wringing out.

Good. Breathe big. And then exhale. Let them open away from other, so that goes back. Yeah. So there you go. Just like that big inhale. Big exhale. Very good. And then come to lie on your back arm. Arms down by your side. Oh, I forgot one man. Okay, face me again. I won't tell you who tattle because you know just I thought it seemed a little bit short on that side. But we do still, we don't wanna we'd certainly don't want to miss out Ben.

Both your knees and now you already are knowing which one it was, aren't you? Take that top leg out long in front of you. [inaudible] flex that toe. So don't let it drop below that. Okay. Make sure your knee doesn't roll in. And then from the side of your hip and your back, your buttocks up and slow. Slow, slow lift. Yeah. And this is just a different concept.

It's like an egocentric load on the way down there you go. And to the ceiling and then slow up. Yeah. And then slow. Good. Two more up and then slow. And then last one up and then slow.

And then bend your knees. And how great is that? You can get another rotation in. Okay. So go ahead and get another rotation and open up the chest. Pull your left hand on top of that thigh. Open up your ribs. Nice big inhale. Nice big exhale. Very good.

And then come to rest on your back. [inaudible] there you go. If you want that underneath your head, we just ended up in a different position here. There you go. Okay. So if you have something under your head, go ahead and put it there, Ben. Both of your knees, take your arms down by your side. Take both of your legs pass table top in towards your chest.

You are not in neutral. Your thighs are very close to your chest, pulling in from your abdomen and from your thighs. Good. Now take both of your legs and sway them to the right [inaudible] and hold yourself right there. [inaudible] so your face is facing the ceiling. Your two shoulders are down on them. Yes. Fabulous job. Now push your right leg in to your left, one to pull it back to center. Good. Now regroup both your thighs towards your chest and then go over to the right again. [inaudible] hold. Hm.

So you only go the distance that you feel you can go. Okay, so the left shoulder stays down. Head stays facing the ceiling. Good. Take a big inhale and then as you exhale, right knee pulls into Chester. Returns yourself back to center. Same right side. One more time. Right leg was go over. [inaudible] [inaudible] so think knees to chest.

Think knees to chest. Oh, there's work right there. And then use your right leg. DePaul yourself all the way back. Now we go to the other side over to the left. Inhale big. Yes. Oh, beautiful. Over to the left. And then push your left leg into the right one to come back. Nice. Nice breathing. Good over to the left. You go again. Right shoulder stays heavy.

So it's like you're unwell. Yes, very good. And then bring it back and then last time come over to the left. Big Inhale and then exhale, return. And then bring yourself all the way back and then lower your legs down. Very good. Whew. Nice job.

That is a take for our class today. So very, very good job. The time went by fast. Same concept of exercises, but just kind of done a little bit differently sometimes. So I want to thank you so much for letting me have some fun with you tonight. And, um, for those at home or real class or real people doing real stuff. Okay, good. To have.

Comments

1 person likes this.
great class! I like a lot. Smalls things change a lot:)
2 people like this.
So many reminders and images to take with me to any and all other classes. Thank you.
5 people like this.
Such great teaching ... New takes on familiar moves !!! Such a pleasure to see students with different body shapes in class ..like in the "real" world of my classes ...thank you
2 people like this.
Great, clear cues in plain language.
2 people like this.
marvelous class. I look forward to taking more classes with you. You are an excellent teacher.
1 person likes this.
My first class with Pilates Anytime as a trainee teacher - excellent instructions and corrections. Thank you.
1 person likes this.
Loved it! Great cue when you referenced the ace bandage on the arms! I always learn something new from you Karen!
1 person likes this.
Reallly good class as always!
1 person likes this.
I love your teaching visualisations Karen...always looking out for your latest classes. It's so lovely to hear things said in a different way....it stops you feeling like a parrot!
Love to see a teacher constantly correcting....wonderful teaching. Thanks Karen ??
Karen Sanzo
Hello to all of you have commented on this class. Thank you for your kind comments. Thanks to Candace, who is the usual teacher of this class at the studio. And the clients...oh my goodness. They were so open to a new teacher. This was, and is, a wonderful feeling. No hidden agenda. Good clean, guided movement---all so the body can feel better in whatever it chooses to do.
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