Class #479

Traditional Mat Flow

30 min - Class
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Alisa Wyatt is back with her high energy, casual yet precise cueing style. In this perfectly paced class, Alisa beautifully integrates the influence of her teachers Kathy Grant, Romana Kryzanowska, and Jay Grimes as she leads you through the Mat repertoire.
What You'll Need: Mat

About This Video

Jul 21, 2011
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All right, here we go. We're standing nice and tall. Pull everything in and up. Cross your arms, cross one leg over the other and have a seat with control. Keep your knees bent and let's roll down halfway. Pause and curl back up. We're going to do this five times. Oh, I just got a crack roll down halfway again. Pause. Take an inhale.

Exhale, deepen that in a rural back up. Three more. Curl down, halfway pause. Make a fist with your hands and start to wind that fist as if you're tightening a rubber band inside your belly and use the rubber band to curl you back up. Lift your spine tall and then reverse the wind to curl down. This is from Kathy Grant. Hold shoulders away from ears.

Reverse the wine. Pause there staying right where you are. Curl all the way back up. Oh, last time. Wind backwards to curl halfway down, so belly button level. Or if you can find a spot in your body that needs work. He stopped right there and then let's hold that. Reversing the wind.

Hold it, hold it. Take a deep breath in and curl all the way up. Woo. Roll all the way down. That'll wake it up and stay down there at the bottom. Okay. You have a choice for your hundred. You can do your hundred with your legs extended and your chest curled up.

This is a little easier position. That's nice because your hips are open. If this is a doesn't feel good for your back, then I'm going to suggest taking your legs higher ups. The weight can be pressing your pelvis and your powerhouse down into the floor and if it feels really good to you, you can have your legs two inches off the mat so you choose a position that feels good for your body today. Take an inhale. Exhale, lift your head up, lift your legs to your level and pump. Inhale an exhale. Turn it in. I don't know, 20 in, Oh 30 in, I dunno, 40 in, I dunno, 50 in, I dunno, 60 in, I dunno. 70 in and out.

80 in and out. One more. In exhale all your air and rest, stretching your arms back. Flex your feet down, their legs are together. Make sure your ribs are pulled down into the mat so you're keeping your entire spine on the floor. Inhale, arms lift, head lifts. Really press your heels down to roll all the way up. Exhale over your toes. Inhale, pull your navel back more and roll through your lower back, middle back, upper back, arms reach back without anything popping up. Two more. Inhale up. Exhale over.

I'd like to keep my eyes on my knees when I remember when I'm rolling up. It helps me relax my shoulders and that's still one of the things I work on. And then bring the arms down by your side. Take both legs up to the ceiling. We have an option here. I want you to bring your toes towards your nose. Lift your hips one inch and lower your hips to the mat.

You're going to continue with this position. If rolling over all the way doesn't feel good to you today. So if you have pain in your neck or your lower back, you might want to just stay with this. Okay? For those of you ready to roll over. Keep your eyes looking up rollover. Open your legs apart. If you can touch the floor, go ahead, flex your feet and then flick the floor away as you roll down with control.

Hug your legs together. Inhale, lift to rollover and open and flex and roll all the way down and together. Lift it up and over. Open and roll all the way down. Let's reverse that. Let's open the feet only hip distance rollover and close them together and roll down. Lower the legs to your level and open them wider mat distance apart.

Now Rollover and together and roll all the way down and open your legs nice and wide, not gigantic but wide and over and together and roll all the way down and stay down. Lower your left leg. Leave your right leg up, taken. Inhale, and as you exhale, take that leg to the left, keeping your hip on the mat and then circle it around and back to your nose. Stop it goes left around and back to your nose. Stop. One more left around and back and stop. Now I'm going to add on. It goes left. I want your right hip, that same hip to lift with it. So you're twisting a little with control. It goes around and then stop.

Take it across, around, and then stop one moment across, around, and reverse. First with the hip down, it goes down across to the left shoulder. Stop down across, stop and around, across. Stop now it goes down across your body. Let your right hip lift, reaching for the opposite wall and all the way up. So I'm giving my spine a little twist across towards the wall. And then, uh, and one more across, towards the wall and back up. And I'm going to give that knee bend.

Take it long. Left leg goes up. And with that left leg, reaching up first, just circle it towards there. Take it towards the right shoulder and then circle it down around and stop right shoulder down around for two right shoulder, down around, and stop. Take it all the way to the right now. So your right, left hip, sorry, is coming off the floor all the way and then bring it up to the right around and bring it up. Make sure you're making a circle to the right all the way and bring it up reverse. So now it goes down across to the right with the hip on the floor and nose down to the right shoulder to your nose. Last time down, right shoulder, and a little faster with a hip twist across and back up. Kind of like you have a heavy boot on your foot and you have to work from your center to make that move. Hug it into your chest, grab the back of your [inaudible] thighs, lift your head and just begin to rock on your back right there with control like you're a boat.

Just rocking forward and back in the waves. One more, and then rock all the way up and pause. And then from here you can add difficulty by hugging your heels to your bottom, diving your head between your knees and we'll go five times in heel back and exhale up and stop. Try to keep your head right between your knees and up for two. Inhale back. Exhale up for three in how back. Exhale up for four. Sink your stomach down like it's heavy. Hold it up there, right there, and as we come down and take your left hand to your right knee outside, hand on ankle. Give that up. Paul Paul, switch, Paul Paul, switch, Paul Paul, Paul, Paul. Keep breathing. Pole Pole, pole pole.

So we'll inhale and exhale one more and then whole everything into a tiny little ball. Today we're going to inhale and start with just the legs. Reach them out and give yourself a pat on the bottom. Make sure this part is tight, your stomach is tight. Pull it all back in one inhale, reach it out. Hold it nice and strong. Exhale, pull it all back in.

Now you're going to keep that and reach your arms as well. Hold it and exhale. Pull it back in. Joe Always said, if you only have time for one exercise, this is it. Exhale, pull it back in the double leg. Stretch. Stretch away from your strong center. Pull it back in. Last time. Stretch it longer and pull it back in. One leg goes up for the scissors. Paul Paul are the single straight leg stretch and Paul Paul, switch.

Paul Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul. One more poll poll both legs to the sky. Squeeze them tight together. Hands Behind your head in hell. Lower and exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Last time. Lower last time. Lift. This time you're going to go down in three steps. Lower, lower, lower. Scoop it up. Lower, lower, lower.

Scoop it up. Reverse that lower halfway. Lift in three steps to all the way up to more halfway. Three steps up. One, two, all the way last time. Halfway. And one, two. Good. Crisscross twists your opposite knee. Reach behind you as far as you can.

And double pulse. One to change. Reach over there. One, two, switch. One, two, switch. One, two, switch. Reach one to change, one to change, one to change. Enjoy how painful that is. It feels so good. And one more time when you're finished. Hen last time. Really make it count the other side. Okay. Rest feels good.

Had been he in rock all the way up and then sitting with your legs in a v on your mat. Grow Tall, arms come up, breathe in. Well Ben Dover, and really curl so that you're trying to bring your head to the floor. Flex your feet harder in how come up x Helen Curl. I'm going to try and bend my rib cage even deeper. Inhale, come up. Exhale, bringing my nose into my sternum. If I can. Exhale, trying to get a little more stretch. Inhale, come up.

Okay, and then pause there. I'm going to move forward on the mat so there's plenty of mat behind me. Pause there, point the toes and either try bringing your feet up to your hands or bring your feet together. Hands dropped to two ankles. Inhale, lift the legs up. Long legs or as long as they can and down they go. One more. Inhale, lift the legs up. Hold. Keep a light grip. You can hold here as well. Look into your belly. Inhale, rock back. Exhale, rock right back up.

Inhale, back. Exhale right back up. Three more. Inhale back. Exhale up. Two more. Inhale, exhale. Up. One more. Inhale, come on up. Bring legs together. Hold, flex your feet. Hold your toes for a second or just reach for them. Hold it, hold it, and climbed down the legs. Bringing your hands under your seat. Drop your left leg to the floor. Take an inhale, and as you exhale, we're going to take that right leg over to the left as if you were going to touch the wall on your left side. Bring it back to center.

Do the same with the other leg. Left leg goes to the ceiling. I had to move my hand. Take your leg over to the right as far as you can and bring it back to the ceiling and then both legs together. We're going to make a corkscrew. Support your hips if you need it. Squeeze your heels tight and circle to the right. Not as big now, but in control and circle to the left.

Stop it your nose. Make sure you're making a circle, not a d shape. Stop at your nose. One more circle. Stop at your nose and that's enough for today. Sit it all the way up. Separate your legs in a v. Once again, open your arms. Make sure you're as tall as you can. If you need to soften your knees is okay.

Or if you're on a raised mat, like knee heals can come down. Take a big inhale, twist to the right palm faces inwards behind you. Exhale and reach. Reach, reach. Inhale, come all the way up. Twist to the left, exhale and reach. Reach, reach, inhale, come up, twist, exhale, and reach. Reach, reach, inhale, coma, twist, exhale, and reach. Reach, reach. Let's do one more. I love these twists. Feel so good. Exhale, reach, reach, reach. One more. Really makes a big change. Weaning yourself out like this helps make your waist pension and your spine tall. It gives all your organs a good flush.

We're going to turn over onto our tummy, so laying on your belly. Bring your hands either by your shoulders or up by your nose for a swan. Dive, huddling legs together. If that's comfortable for your hips, pull in like someone needs to slide a piece of paper under your stomach and start to lift your chest up. Lift up all the way. If it's comfortable to have long arms, go ahead walking forward. If it's not exhale and come down, we'll do that again. Inhale, rising up, lifting the chest, reach your sternum forward so through your arms. Exhale and come down. Last one. Inhale, rising up.

Hold it there. Shoulders away from ears. Look to the right and circle your head down around looking left and come center. Look to the left, circle your head down around to the right and come center. And then all the way down. And today we're going to do a full swan dive from down at the bottom.

[inaudible] actually I had lied. We're going to start it at the top, but I want you to start here and reach with your chest all the way up and from here continue reaching your chest forward and we're going to take the hands away. Rock forward and up, forward and up. Forward, up last time and up and then seat and your heels, giving your back a good stretch. Make sure you pull your stomach away from your thighs for the stretch. It'll help to give your back the opening it needs and shoot back out onto your elbows. Lean on your elbows there. Hug, hug your legs tight together. Roll your shoulders back and down. Press the floor away to open the chest. Kick, kick, and change.

Kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick. For those of you who don't feel this exercise, which is a lot of us, I want you to press into the floor very strongly with your arms and don't let anything move so that as you're kicking, nothing else shifts or flops around. So now we're going to go point flex. Now as you're doing that, try to get your heel to come closer to your bottom point. Flex one more. Point. Flex and point flex. The harder you work on that exercise, the more change you'll find.

That helps to really open and lengthen the front of the thigh. So we pretty much all want that. Bring your arms all the way up your back, settle your elbows down, hug your legs tight, lengthen your tail, and then really squeezing your bottom. Kick both feet for three, two, one. Inhale, reach, exhale, kick. Three, two, one. Inhale, reach. Try to have your knees clear the floor the whole time. Exhale, three, two, one so they never rest down. And again, three, two, one. Stretching your chest open, giving yourself beautiful posture and let go. Sit back into your heels.

Give your back in a nice stretch. Okay. And we're going to turn around once again, bringing the feet to the front. Separate them about hip distance. You can let your feet relax for a moment and want you to curl down.

Bring your hands behind your head. So from here, I'm going to start this off with a very untraditional non-classical little series of credit, curling up and down. Two and now three cause I want to bring your awareness to this position right here, the beginning of this curl. As you're doing these crunches, use your head and hands together so that your head is pressing into your hands and your hands are helping your head and they're working together. The exercise is called neck pull for this very reason, one more. And on this one, I want you to stay up, hold it, flex your feet, push your heels heavy into the floor. Really press them down, and then pressing the heels curl up like there's a low ceiling. You don't want to hit your head. Exhale into your knees.

Your legs are apart for that reason. Inhale, curl all the way up and then pull in like someone pushed a fist into your stomach all the way to the floor. Inhale, curl up. Exhale over. Notice even on just the second one, you can bend a little further into your legs. We have two more. Inhale, exhale. Wow. Pretty soon I'm going to hit the floor with my head.

I'm going to try on this next one to touch the floor with the top of my head. Let's see if I could do it. Woo. Oh, they did. Come all the way up high and then curl all the way down. Whew. And then arms relax. Bend your knees, set your feet close enough to your bottom that you can lift your hips into a shoulder bridge, curling from your tail, lifting the spine and letting your arms settle underneath you a little further.

Make sure your feet are parallel and your knees are parallel. They haven't flopped. Open into a v. Reach your tailbone for the back of the knees. Hold. I'm going to have you do a little starter here as well. Everything is pulled in pulse towards the ceiling.

Using your Tush for ten nine, eight seven six, five, four, three, two. Hold it. Keep reaching your tail for the back of the knees. Take your left leg up to the sky. Hold it, and pulse. Ten nine eight seven six five four reach three, two, one. Hold it. Flex it down. Points. Swing it up. Two more points and we get up. Flex points. Swing it up. Ooh, put that foot down. Work in the bottom. Hold it and take your right leg up. Reach it up there and little pulses. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two. Hold it. Flex it down. Points.

Swing it up to swing it up. Three, swing it up. Put that leg down. Hold and roll down from the chest first. Really curl your chest away from your chin. Middle Back, lower back. Consciously put your tail down. Hug your knees home. Sit up tall. Squeeze your legs tight together. Take your arms up, walk your bottom forward.

Picking up one leg at a time and we're going to walk backwards. Try to stay tall, making space. I'm sticky between your ribs and your hips and then squeeze the legs tight together. Now they don't shift at all. They stay stuck. Open your arms. Take an inhale, double twist. Inhale. Don't let your feet shift at all.

Okay, one more Erin, come center. We're going to turn right onto our right side and the lining up with the back edge of my mat into a fine straight line. So from my hand to my feet, I'm aligned. Head up on my hand, feet to the front, little sidekick action. Pull it all in. Imagine there's a vice around your waist. You take your top leg, swing it forward, kick, kick, swing it back forward, kick, kick, reach, reach forward, kick, kick, reach, reach three more forward, kick, kick, reach, reach two more. Four, kick, kick, reach, reach one more, and then bring it home. Swing it up. Flex. Squeeze it down. Point. Kick it up and down. If you want to practice this with a little more, uh, control, take your hand behind your head and a little harder. He can't not allowed to fling your elbow around up there. Good. Last one.

Hold it at the bottom. Put your hand back and then squeeze legs and lift them up. Lower down, uh, for to get taller. Lower up for three. Lower for lower last time. Hold the legs up and clap them together for 10, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Good. Keep your legs up. Roll onto your stomach. Hold them up. Clap together for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Good. I'm going to turn it over to my other side and laying on your side, feet to the front.

Find that vice around your waist and we're going to start the leg, swing it forward, kick, kick and back. Reach, reach, kick, kick, reach, reach, kick, kick, reach, reach. Try to have each kick be as full as the one before it so that you don't kick once and then kick higher on the second. Make both kicks, kick, kick as big as they can. Last one, kick, kick, and then back. Bring it home, swing it up, flex, squeeze, kick it up and squeeze. These are really wonderful for balancing the hips. For some people they're not very hard. People say, oh, it's not that hard.

These are actually doing a beautiful job of both balancing your hips and lengthening the muscles of your legs, so they're nice to give you the lean muscles we look for. Hold it down there, lift the legs up and lower the balanced body that you're looking for with all the muscles. The same strength last time. Hold it up and clap the legs together for ten eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Nice. All the way down. All right, we're going to go onto our back for teaser. So today we're going to do a version of teaser. That's fun but torturous as always, hug the knees in and if this is possible for you, we're going to go through it in stages so you might be able to extend your legs all the way straight. And if you can't, they can start like this bent. I'm going to go all the way to straight scooping my belly away from my legs. Lift the arms, lift the head. Inhale, roll up halfway just to your belly button. Stay. Exhale. Inhale, roll up some more.

Try to reach your toes and then exhale, come all the way back down. Reach the arms behind you. Here we go again. Inhale, roll up to your belly button. Stay. Exhale there. Inhale, come up. Higher. Exhale, go home. One more like this. Inhale, roll up to belly button. Hold. Exhale there. Inhale up to the toes. Oh, these are hard. Exhale all the way down. Take the knees all the way to your chest.

We're going to add on to that scoop in your belly. Stretch the legs out. Take the arms roll up to belly button. Exhale there. Inhale all the way up to toes hole. Keep breathing, lower the leg, lift the legs for one lower, lift them up for two lower. Lift them up for three, hold it and exhale, stretch away to come all the way to the mat and rest. Good. If it's available to you, we're going to go from flat down.

Imagine that you're a long balloon and that somebody has come along and stepped on your middle and that's going to fold you in half all the way up and then that person has stepped off your middle and your extending back down to flat. I'm, here we go again. Someone just stepped on your middle and you come all the way up without momentum and then they lift off and you get to unfold and come all the way down. Last one up we go and then lengthen. Reaching your legs longer as you come all the way down and rest. Who?

Very good. We're going to flip right over. We're on to the stomach for swimming. Arms long out in front. Roll the shoulders back, lift the chest out of the water, really look up at the wall, slightly in front of you. And then opposite arm and leg. Reach longer from your strong center. And then do the other longer.

And then one more and last time and we'll swim fast. Inhale and exhale. One more. Inhale and exhale. Rest. Sit back into your heels. And from here, from a kneeling position, take your right leg back behind you.

Pressing the floor away. It looks slightly in front of you. Hold that position and post that leg towards the ceiling for five, four, three, two, one. Now that you found your bottom, keep that leg extended in your ribs. Bend your elbows like your Chin will just teeter totter towards the floor and push it away for five floor for four first three up to in one. Hold that and set the knee down. Sit back, come forward to the other leg. Take a behind you. Squeeze your bottom, pulse it towards the ceiling for ten nine eight seven, six, five, four, three, two and hold it. Teeter totter. Forward elbows. Ben, push it away. I one push it away to push the floor. Three, you mean your chin? A little in front of your hands. Oh, and then sit back into your heels. And for our last set, come to a full plank. Squeeze your legs tight together. Look slightly in front of you. Hold your right leg up. Pull. Sit Up for five, four, three, two, one, two pushups. Okay.

And then the other leg. Pulse for five, four, three to do pushups, murder. [inaudible] oh, sit back and rest. Rule yourself up. I'm from here. We're going to come onto one knee, stretching the other leg off to the side for kneeling side kick. Make sure your foot, knee, and hand come to the same alignment. Other arm behind your head. Press back at the same time. Push forward with your hips. Your wedge between two panes of glass lift.

Make a circle for five, four, three, two, one. Hold that leg up. Put your hand right here. Lower lifted up from there. Lower up for two. Lower three, lower four and good. Hold it up there. Swing it forward, bend it in, bend it back, stretch it out. Forward in. Bend it back, stretch it out.

One more forward in, bend it back, reverse straight back in through. Reach from your hip in through reach. If you're getting a cramp in your foot, let that tension go and put it in your center. Reach so much that you come up and then will topple over to the other side and take your head. Press it back into your hand. Hips forward lift circle for five, four, three, two other way for five, four, three, two, hand on your side. Lower.

Squeeze that up. Two and a three and four and hold it up there. Swing it forward in. Bend it back, reach it out. Forward in back. One more forward in, back, reverse back in through.

That's one back in through. That's two last time, back in through and good to the side and come all the way up. We're going to finish with two more. Sit on your bottom. Come a little forward so you're right in the middle of your mat and cross your right foot over your left so you're nice and lifted for boomerang hands. Go right by your hips. Feet point.

Pulling your powerhouse and roll yourself back either to leg straight up or if you're comfortable rolling over, they go over. Switch your feet rural all the way up and hold a teaser from here. Elbows come down by your sides. Grab your hands at your spine and fall over with control. Pause. Keep lifting your stomach away from your thighs. Circle to your feet.

Roll back up. We'll go faster. Pull in rock back. Switch feet. Roll Up. Hold elbows back. Grab on. Lift to fall over. Circle and stretch. Inhale, come up. Roll back. Switch feet. Roll Up. Hold elbows back. Grab on, lift and circle.

And one more. Roll back. Switch feet. Roll up, hole. Elbows. Come back. Lift to fall over. Circle and stretch. Come all the way up and bring the feet together. I'm using my speaker so that your knees open up. Palms make like a book. Open the book, put it under your ankles. Squeeze your arms with your legs. Look into yourself. Clap, clap, clap, rollback, clap, clap, clap, roll up, clap, clap, clap, roll back, clap, clap, clap. And three more.

Breathe as you're rolling. Two more. Um, this last one. Stand yourself up at the end. Crossing your feet, releasing your ankles all the way up, and you're done for the day. Thanks so much.

Comments

1 person likes this.
Great daily mat workout. In particular liked the push-up modification on the knees with the leg lifted. Great way to introduce a single leg push-up. Thanks!
1 person likes this.
Yeah! Another mat class from you for those of us without special apparatus. Got any fun things for us to do with overball or the ring? I got the best stretch ever today with your cue to "reach the arm/elbow back" with hands behind the head during the cross stretch. Amazing what a timely reminder can accomplish! Thanks
Great!!! Loved the cueing and imagery. Thanks for giving Kathy Grant's rubberband. Any Tower classes possible with Alisa? BTW, killer legs. So jealous!
Great workout - very invigorating. Just the right amount of instruction.
Great class! I was ready to walk out the door to teach my group class with vim and vigour!
Sarah N
Great class! Loved the imagery. Perfect way to start a morning!
1 person likes this.
This class made me feel human again after a long, hard day. Perfect pacing.
Thank you, Alisa! This has become my favorite mat workout after a long run!
Fab imagery Alisa - loved it. Feel refreshed and strong now
Purely classic! Great workout!
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