Class #2492

Elongate your Spine

45 min - Class
184 likes

Description

Elongate your spine in this Mat workout with Meredith Rogers. She teaches exercises that go deep into your abdominals while lengthening your entire body at the same time. She also uses smooth transitions so the class keeps a continuous flow.
What You'll Need: Mat

About This Video

Feb 25, 2016
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Transcript

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Okay, you ready to move? Here we go. So reaching the arms down the size of the body, we're going to do mat work back. I said really just like standing to start sometimes. So reaching the top of the head up, reaching the arms down towards the floor. So feel that just by creating energy you can create the sense of growing taller and longer in your spine. Trying to lift the ribs up off the pelvis if you will, and then reach the arms out and feel that you could reach and you could touch both sides of your, the room, your room, a room.

Lift the arms all the way overhead and just allow just the upper back kick stent. Yeah, reach the arms back around to the sides. As the body comes back upright. Let the arms softly fall towards the body. Bring the chin to the chest and then roll down. Let's let the knees soften. Let the knees soften as you take your body over your length.

Heavy head, heavy arms. Inhale. Exhale. Roll the spine up. Roll the spiner. Just taking stock. Standing Tall. Reach out. Lift up. Huh?

Reach out. Take away the push energy in the arms and let them just float down to the side. Lifting the spine. Inhale and exhale. Chin to the chest. Soft knees, arms dangle. Roll down. Just allow the hands to rest on the floor. Pausing there, straightened just the right leg and Ben both knee and straighten. Just the left leg and Ben both nice and straight and just the right leg.

And this time keep the left hand on the floor, but reach the right arm around so you rotate towards La and come back. Bell. Both knees bent straight and just the left leg. Left arm reaches around, opens the spine, opens, come back down. Both knees bent to straighten the right leg. This time keep the left hand on the floor, but reach the right arm around so you rotate towards the straight leg. Lifting the eyes up towards the hand. Come back towards the floor. Both knees bend and then straighten. Just the left they lift.

Take the left arm off the floor, rotate around, looking up at that hand. Come back through center. Both knees bend, roll all the way up through the spine. Bring the arms around, interlock the fingers, turn the hands inside out. Reach up and over in one direction in you and lift from the stretch. Lift up and over in the other direction in you.

And come up from the stretch and up and over. Inhale this time corridor. Turn the body so the abdominals drawback and actually push the arms away from you. Come back through center. Lift up in your reach over. Excellent. Push the arms away. Drawback through the center of the body.

So you create opposition with your arms and your abdominals. Come back through center. Lift up, open the arms out to the sides, lifting the chest. And now I feel that we're ready to sit down or I feel that I'm ready to sit down. So join me if you will. Bend your knees, reach your arms out in front of you in the lift the arms overhead. Exhale round the spine, bringing the shoulders down close to the knees. Inhale, lift the arms, lift the spot XL round the spine, draw back, pull back through the center of the body and you know, lift the spine and exhale round down. And inhale. Lift the spine. Open the arms out to the side. Exhale round the spine. Reach the arms forwards holding.

As you come to the bottom in heel, the arms come up. Go behind you. Open to the side. Reach forward. Roll. Same pattern with CRMC or arms. Lift up spine lifts up, arms. Reach out. Spine around is the arms. Come in front. Roll the spine back on the mat. Find the lower back.

Inhale the arms go up. Open forward the spine comes up, reaches up the arms. Open out to the side. Stretch wide. Exhale around. One more. Roll down. Feel the seat connected to the floor. Feel all of your pieces, the shoulders reaching down the arms. Now lift open. Forward Rola.

Lift up round forward. Open the arms out to the side. Roll down through the spine with the arms open out to the side. Now that's not possible for everyone, so if you need to bring your arms back in front of you, please do that. Arms travel overhead.

We keep the arms overhead, we roll up, reach out, open the arms out to the side. Sit Tall in here. Exhale around, down, down, down. Yeah. Stretch the arms overhead. Inhale. Exhale, reach up like you're diving up and over a ball or something. And then arms open out to the side as we lift up. Inhale, exhale around down. Dan, Dan, reach overhead.

Roll out staff and staff in the very beginning of class. Lift the spine up. Inhale, bring the backhand to the front. Hand close to me. Roll the spine down. Open the arms so they're both wide. Come across to the other arms so we rotate the opposite direction to lift up. Come all the way up in rotation and unwind and center. Inhale, reverse.

Go to the back of the room or away from me. Round down. Okay. Open up through center. Rotate to the other side. Rola. Unwind, rotate to me the front of the room. Roll down. Open out to the side. Hold it here. And lift.

Five and four. I know it's slow. SLOs hard. Three, two, one. Cross the back of the room with the arm roll of that side. Sit all the way up tall and unwind. Inhale to the back. Exhale, roll down. Open the arms out to the side. Hold here, one leg up and change one one. We'll do five, two, two, three, three, four, four, five. Down.

Twist, Rola, unwind. Open the knees and stretch forwards. Scoot the pelvis up close to the heels, bring the feet back so that they're aligned up with the sitting bones. And this is really tough for me. It's not so super tough for everyone, but trying to get real snug into your legs. Really lifted through the spine and then see if you can let go there.

And then slowly down through the spine. All the way. Arms Down, head down in here. Exhale. Begin to articulate the spine up. Rolling up into a pelvic curl. Pause reaching the arms. Inhale and exhale. Reach the arms overhead. As the spine travels down to the mat. Help and touches. Let's actually arch the back today. Come through Neutra, flattened through this spine. Press the arms space, lift the hips, inhale and exhale. Roll down her, reaching the arms away, shoulder blades, reaching down and arc and inhale neutral.

And one more. Rolling up. Okay. And inhale and exhale as it is warming up. Getting the spine nice and supple, nice and fluid. Nice and mobile and in neutral.

And exhale, arms press down. Hips lift up. Lift the left leg up in here, and the single leg roll down where you round. Drop the hips, ref. Flatten the spine. Roll in him. Exhale round the spine. Really reaching through the arms.

Drop the pelvis, roll the spine. Lift one more round down. Long arms. Drop the tail roll. Place that foot down. Keep the hips lifted. Bring the other leg up in you. Exhale, roll the spine down and her role. The spine.

Yeah, and rural the spine down and roll the spine up. Just bringing that bent knee with you. And last time around down, try to maximize the round of the lower spy and roll the spine up. Hold it. Here is that like comes down. Take the arms overhead, lifting the pelvis and then reaching through the arms through the [inaudible], through the arms. As the tailbone reaches all the way back from here, just bring the arms up over the shoulders, over the chest, soften through the elbow. It's like you're holding a giant ball. Lift. One leg lifts the other legs, so just feel the heaviness of the shoulder blades, the broadness of the shoulder blades. Inhale, tip the knees over towards one arm and exhale to come back to center. Notice that the opposite arm will tend to want to move to the opposite side, but try to stay still. Try to stay steady in house.

We reach over. Well Meredith, keep that. I'm still an XL to come back and inhale to reach over and exhale to come back. Let's do one more. Try to go a little further and center and over and center. Turn the palms of the hands to face away from your face. Bring the arms up overhead. Palms face the ceiling at this moment in here. Press the arms through space.

Curl the head in Chester in here and reach the arms up. Feel the abdominals flatten into the mat as the body comes down. And again, exhale, lift up, reach past the hips, lift the arms, lower the body and one more lifter. Reach past the hips, lift the arms and lower the body and now lift up and rotate towards me. Arms come over it. As the body comes, center and down. Exhale, lift up and rotate the other direction. Arms come overhead in. The body comes down. Exhale, lift and rotate. Reach, arms overhead and center and down. Exhale, lift and rotate.

Reach arms over head and body down. One more time. Each side. Exhale, rotate. Reach. Inhale, center and down. Exhale, rotate, reach. Okay, inhale, arms come center and down and now exhale, lift up again. Hold there, drop the feet, curl the knees into the chest.

Bring the pelvis down and back to table. Top and down and lift the head and chest. Drop the feet, cruel. The knees into the chest. Reach back down, back to tabletop and reach back. Last time, lift the head and chest.

Bend the knees in. Cruel the knees into the chest, trying to tip the nose and the knees together. Back to table. Talk and down. And now I'm going to add on. Lift the head and chest hold. Send the legs away. Bring the legs up, drop the seat, cruel the body, lower the legs. Back to tabletop. Arms Up, body down. Exhale, lift, legs go. Inhale, exhale, legs.

Come back in, he'll drop the seat. Exhale, curl the pelvis. Inhale, tailbone comes down back to 90 degrees exhaled. Find a breath for every movement. Here we go. Lift, reach the arms, the legs go down, lifts the legs. Curlin this time reach for your ankles and roll was maybe a Manag my most beautiful transition, but I hope you did better than Ida. So we keep the knees into the chest. The elbows are wide here and we rock in here and balance and in here and [inaudible] Alan. So what we just did, the bringing of the knees into the chest, it's kind of the same.

This one we just are moving through space a little bit more, but think about that. Tight knees into the chest, drawing the legs in through the center of the body. We're going one more time. Inhale, rock back. Exhale. Rocka. Place the feet down straight in the knees. Lift the spine up and bring the arms out to the side. Flexing through the feet. Keep the spine lifted. Inhale, exhale.

Just pick up the right leg whore and try not to let the back change. That's, this is a tough one for me. And down. Lift and lift up taller and then opposite leg we list and, and if you need to help yourself, right, you could hold yourself up with your arms. Last one, lift leg down, palms the hand Cesa and we do a swing twist, twist funds center and twist, twist, find center, rotate lifting center and rotate lifting center and just keep feeling like the spine is trying to reach up for the ceiling, that the arm stays straight across and they stay in that one long line all the time. And now rotate. Reach the arms and lifts this spy hands behind the head on ground over the outside leg. So same elbow, same leg lift back up, arms up, arms open and center. And Inhale, lift. Reach the arms up, hands behind the head side then to the leg on that side. Lift up, arms reach, spine reaches open and center an inhale.

Lift and reach up. Hands behind the head. Round over, lift up, arms open and center. One more time. India, stretch. Exhale, hands back. Dive down. Side bent in here. Arms up, open the arms out to the side, come back through the center, reach forward all the way.

Bend the knees. I'm just moving myself forward on my mat a little bit. Sit back behind the tub on the lift. The legs hold, the legs are right there. So we go down to the shoulders, down and up to the legs, keeping the legs still lifting all the way and down to the shoulders. Controlled, smooth. [inaudible] just thinking to myself as I'm doing this, like they such simple things that don't look like they would be so hard or so hard. So that's just uh, insight into my personal experience in my brain.

Right at this very moment. Last time. Lifting up, roll down all the way. Hands to the knees. Inhale, arms out, legs out XL, arms or arms out, legs, arms or reach out. Pull, center reach. Ah, pull center. Last one. Reach out, pull center, knees into the chest. Head down. Press Denise into the humans. Crow the head and chest up outside of the hand on the ankle.

Inside hand on the knee. We pull the knee in two and one two reaching that street like way out and using the arms to stretch the leg towards the body. We'll do two more. One more now come from there. Take the knee away, switch in, take the knee away. Switch, pull in, take the knee away.

Feel what that does makes you have to really fight for that curl in. Take the knee away. One more time in. Take the knee away. Take the knee away. Both legs in, hands behind the head. Curl that hadn't Gesta straighten the leg that's furthest away from me.

Rotate towards the lake closest to me. Come through center both knees bent. Exhale, rotate through center both knees bent and wrote and center and Rot and center and three out of five two n two one [inaudible] and one and then continue with no stopping in the middle for five. Keeping the head resting in the hands for three two, one. Both Nathan had down on the Mat. Double leg stretch. Reverse inhale is the body comes into the a hundred position. Excellent. The arms reach up and around. Inhale, roll the spine up.

Exhale, roll the spine down. It's harder with bend knees in my opinion, and come all the way down and inhale into the a hundred position. Exhale, arms all around. Roula trying to keep those legs nice and sta rolled down and then then one more like that. Reach out, arms roll up. Okay, roll down all the way with the head. Lift the legs up.

Exhale, roll the spine over. Flex the fee. Separate the legs. Roll the spine down. Point the feet, circle the legs together. Lift the legs, roll the spine over. Flex the feet. Separate the lengths, roll the spine down.

One more high rates your round that rolling like a ball. Action again, flex the scene. Rule the spine down Jack Knife. Lift the legs, roll the spine of reach down, lift the back, press the legs away. Reach all the way up into the ceiling and slowly bring the body down. Letting the legs travel just opposite the eyes. Yeah, let the legs move away from the body. Inhale, exhale over and he'll go down to go up, reach away and exhale down. [inaudible] and inhale and exhale all the way over.

Go down to go up. Okay, go back down with the lanes. Then the knees bend the arms, arch the pelvis into the hands so the pelvis rests in the hands. Stretch the legs straight up towards the ceiling. Take one leg down in one like not too far back towards the body.

Scissor pull pool and pull. Pull and reach the legs away from each other and pull full and reach the legs away from each other. One more. Pull. Pull, pull, pull. Now reach all the way over with one leg. Let it find the mat, then the other leg down to the mat. Take the hands out from underneath the back through a little higher than you normally would be. And then roll the spine all the way down. Circle the arms out to the side to land at your sides.

Inhale and exhale. Articulate this. Fine. So pressing the feet down to listen to hips up. We lift the left leg up, straighten the leg and reach and back. Reach down and back. Three, two, one. Hold that leg in the air. Make a small InCircle, keeping everything else steady.

Three and two and one and reverse around in a and two, three and four and five and then bring that like pike, the leg into the body. As you roll the spine down, take that like straight out onto the mat. Lift the opposite leg up off the floor. Reach around to the outside of that leg and bring yourself around into a much deserved stretch. Come back through center. We all deserve a stretch. I'm certain of it both feet back in here. Exhale, roll the spine up, lifting up through the body.

Bring the opposite leg up. Take it down, flex back, pull away on. Stretch the arms long. Feel the lift in the spine. Here's our last one. Lift up. Hold here, little circle in and to don't let anything else change. Three, four, five rivers around in in one, two, three, four, five and then the lane pikes in. As we roll the spine down, like drops straight out onto the mat. We lift the bent knee, take a stretch across, come back through the center. Bring the opposite leg into. Meet that length. Bring both knees into your chest, separate the legs into a v shape. Lift the head and chest Rola. Reach for your ankles. Stretch the legs out.

Inhale, rock the spine back. Exhale, lift the spy. Now Inhale, rock the spine back. Exhale, lift the spine up. Try not to land on your head in how rock the spine back Xcel. Roll the spine up. Lifting the spine incentive last time. Rock back, lift up. Let go. Arms out to the side. Hold the legs, hold the legs, lower the legs and sit tall. Inhale, exhale as you round the spine down.

Okay, in your, as you reach out through this fine. Get a nice long spine, all the hands together and pull the spine more forward. Then separate the arms round back down and we'll lift Baca and India and excise you around down her reach. Ah, take the arms and pull the spine and let go and go back and rural and in here. And exhale as you round down and reach out and hold the arms and pull and just holding here and then take the inside arm down and reach the outside arm back. And then back to center and other side. Pull, center, rotate and center.

Last time rotate and center and then interlock the arms again and now just the rotation here. No help from the arms. Reach out and center and reach out and center and inhale and exhale and [inaudible] and exhale and sit up. Arms out to the side, rotate in. Yeah, and into the saw. Reaching the arms away from each other. Opening the arms and center in heel to rotate. Exhale to die forward. Reach the arms away from one another. As you lift up, open the arms out and center and in here and reach.

Stretch the arms away from one another. Lift this spine, open the arms and center. Last time. Inhale, exhale, reach arms. Reach away. Separate, open and center turned towards me. Cross the back foot over the front foot or make sure the top foot is on in front of the bottom leg. So we're going to place the hand down on the Mat, going to do some side bending. I'm twisting. What it's important to make sure about is that the ribs are pulling up away from that arm. We'll start with the a free arm down. Inhale to straighten the legs, exhale to lift the spine, reached the arm overhead, and just turn the eyes down to that bottom hand and he'll come back. Exhale, back. Inhale again, up and over, back and AH, over and back and drop the bottom leg down. Lift that leg up and behind the head.

Let's take it forward and, and forward and back and flow. Two and one. And then the arm comes up and the arm and the leg come together. Piking back and open together and open and together and lift high. Last two together and open one to manage the bottom shoulder.

Make sure that that's under control. Open now, bend that knee, bring it right up next to the other knee and sit towards that hip. [inaudible]. Continue in that direction, onto that hip. So we've changed sides. Now, top leg in front of the bottom, leg, arm out on the mat, lifting through this spy in your reach up. Exhale, reach up and over and you'll come back. Exhale, back. Inhale, exhale up in, over.

Inhale back. Exhale down. Last time. Inhale, exhale. Up in, over back knee to the mat, top leg, left hand behind that goes forward and pull forward and pull forward and pull. Trying to keep the body steady two by one and the arm comes forward and the arm and the leg come together. Pike backwards and reach Pike froward and reach forward and reach last two and last one and back then the knee and bring the knee in towards the other. Like the up arm goes over the top, comes down to the mat, sitting down into that hit. Continue onto that hip over to the other side. Same thing. Cross the top like in front of the bottom. Arm out underneath you.

Give me a second to pull my pants up. Here we go in here. We come out to that side playing position. Exhale, we reach through the leg, coming up into the twist. Come back and down. Three inhale. Exhale, reach through. Lightening up on the back leg. Find that nice flat spine.

Come back that lift. Reach through, come back and bend and reach out. Turn over, hands on the mat. Three pushups, one, two, three. Lift the hips. [inaudible] body back forward, right knee to the chest. Step back, left knee to the chest. Step back, right knee to the chest. Left knee to the chest. Started thinking about which arm you were just doing.

The twists arm cause we're about to change. So the arm that you didn't do the twist on yet comes to the center. We roll over the seat and calm. Finding your balance, finding your placement on the mat. Feel the ribs pull up away from the arm in.

How's the reacher exhale as we go. Unearth. Flattening out the back. Looking where you're going in your come back. Exhale bet. Just hover and reach through the back. Bend. Last one. Reach through, come back Ben, come back over holding your plank.

Left leg lifts up. Five touch four touch three to hold the leg in the air. Three pushups. Yeah, right. Set the leg down. Lift the hips up. Press the heels towards the floor. Free Pass.

Giving us some breathing space. Give myself some breathing space if I were going to be totally honest about it. And the right leg lifts. Two, three, four, five oh it stays in here. And we do three pushups. One, two, three. Like comes down, body comes up. Just holding here, feeling the length of the spine.

Bend the knees. Roll over your feet so you get a nice stretch through the toes. Yeah. Okay. Taking the knees down and lowering yourself down onto your elbows. Pressing the arms down into the mat. Lifting the chest, pulling the arms back towards the body to lift the chest even further.

Both legs together, abdominal thin left, and don't bend the knees. Reach pulling the spine forward. Down and left. Hold the lift. Bend the knees, reach the leg. Hello. Is that like lift the legs? Bend the knees, reaching the head back towards the toes, the toes towards the head.

Reach lower legs. Last one left, Ben, read. Hold it there. Take the arms around behind you. Drop the Elvis to the mat. Kick three, one, two, three. Reach out, kick in through you. One to see. Stretch out. Arms and legs. Reach away and again, one, two, three and read. Ah, and again, one, two, three, reach Ya. Last time. Or to see me trying to stabilize the body by focusing that kick into hamstring to reach out.

Bring me arms around in front of you. Lower the legs, but the forms down onto the mat. Press up off the forearms and reach back and take a stretch, eh, taking a few breasts there, eh, come back onto your hands and knees. So knees under the pelvis and hands under the shoulders. We're going to do a single leg cat stretch so you take the right leg back in. Other trying not to lean to the left, trying to stay right over the top of yourself. XL, curl the knee, it'll pull it right in and reach out.

NAZA like reaches back. Let this find extends like well left spinal reach and XL. Curlin yeah, it goes that reach out. Lifting the chest round. Last one. Exhale. Bring that like in grace, stabilizing the body, stabilizing the shoulders. Opposite leg lifts up. Inhale. Exhale. Kirra yeah, reach out. Sliding the upper arms back. Exhale, curl in. Young hurry. Cha.

I don't think there was just one more exhale curl. They made us uneven on our sides. I truly apologize. And then bringing the knee down and ourselves all the way back down onto the mat. We're gonna finish with this one dive is a m is that grand finale. So before we do that, we'll just do a couple of preparations.

So what I'd like for you to think about is having the forums on the mat just outside of the upper arms and begin your movement with a glide, a backward glide of the forearm, sliding the shoulders back. Continue to glide backwards with your forms as you lift your body at once. You can't lose that backward glide anymore. Push with your elbows when you can't lift any higher by pushing with your elbow. Start to straighten your arms. So you lift all the way up and forward.

We bend down the way we came up. The elbows come down first. As the body comes down, we keep the backwards slide of the arms, the legs lift the legs lower, the head lifts undulating or moving through the spine. The elbows come down, the body comes down, the legs lift up. We'll do one more head Ahrens reach. So remember that you need everything for this exercise.

We need a lot of legs, need a lot of arms. How read do, do a lot of reaching back with the arms. You need a little bit of momentum to be honest, to be real really. And then come down. So reaching back, all these elements are in place. So we'd go up, I'm going to try for five. Here we go. Ready and dive and lift.

Lift three's enough, sliding the knees and for me today and sitting back and then just softening here, softening the back, softening the breath. No roll yourself up so that there's this just sitting on your feet. [inaudible] I he reach the arms forward and then open the arms. It just let them fall down like water falling down, glass trickling down. It just looks like whatever it feels like to you.

And then all the way down. So bringing awareness to the energy in the body. 15 yards that maybe closing the eyes or sending a fixed point and softening the eyes. It's is slow, open, creating ease. Feel. We can all create push, but can we create ease? The question I asked myself every day, one more time and then, okay.

And thanks for taking class with me.

Comments

1 person likes this.
Great class as always, Meredith! Thank you! Challenging at times, wonder if it is more like a level 2-3, or even level 3 class??
6 people like this.
Not surprising that your 7:30am FLOW mat class at the Learn from the Leaders workshop is already sold out! So glad I get your lovely instruction whenever I choose (which is never before 8am) and I don't even have to leave my home!! As always thank you Kristi for this wonderful opportunity to give all of us access to such excellent teachers/classes.
4 people like this.
Meredith, such beautiful form and fun variations!
I agree with Joni, PilatesAnytime is awesome!
1 person likes this.
Katja ~ Thank you for your feedback. After reviewing this class we have decided to change it to a Level 2/3 workout. We're glad you enjoyed it!
3 people like this.
Wow your swan dive is art. Gorgeous.
My swan dive is a disaster and I wonder if it is my anatomy or i am simply unfit.

Thank you. Your class is wonderful.
2 people like this.
Thanks for mentioning the swan dive Judy. Absolutely gorgerous!!! I flounder like a fish out of water compared to the grace and range of movement Meri demonstrates in that exercise. Hard to believe she finds lifting one leg at a time "challenging" in the earlier seated exercise and then executes this far more complex movement so artistically/beautifully.
Theresa L
1 person likes this.
Beautiful flow! Always great to do a class with you, Meredith, thank you. Loved the twists. True - I also try to find ease in the movement.
1 person likes this.
What a class! Thank you for reverse double leg stretch- it makes me focus. And the single leg stretch variation is ingenious! Have a great weekend
Z A
1 person likes this.
Wow:))
2 people like this.
Beautiful Meredith! You truly look lovely when you do those swans..such great extension. Love this class as always. Thank you!
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