Class #655

First Time Spine Corrector

65 min - Class
45 likes

Description

Join Niedra for this Beginner level Mat Workout with her regular Monday night students as they use the Spine Corrector for the first time. Enjoy!
What You'll Need: Spine Corrector, Towel, Pilates Pole

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Mar 08, 2012
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So good evening. So [inaudible]. So today we're going to be working with the spine corrector, which is lots of fun. I'd like you all just as a warm up to take your stack and come into Pilati stance and just bring your arms in front of you and then lift your sternum up and pull the shoulder slightly back so that they're, they're anchored into your back. And then float the arms up, keeping the shoulders down and then feel the back of your neck. Because that all, yes, so the shoulders are down, but the back of the neck is long. And then links in the arms. Not Easy to do. Cause when the arms go up, the shoulders go up. Now keep the arm bones long.

See if you can take the arms a little further back to start to stretch in the armpits and see how far back you can go. So some of you feel very flexible, you're gonna be able to go really back and some of you aren't. And then bring the arm step. So take the arms up and the, let's have all of you with the hands as wide as a stick. Take the arms up and take the arms back. As Far Megan, I think you can go back. You're like a flexi girl. That's it. And down. And just for the fun of it. Take your arms up and just let, even if the shoulders go up and your back arch is a big, see how far back you can go. And Don, that's not, that's a good thing to do.

Every so often. Kids do that all the time. So up, let yourself just lift the shoulders in the chest goes out a bit. And so there's two ways you move your arms. One is just to get movement and the other is holding the trunk steady. So now we'll hold the trunk steady again. Shoulders down, spine, long, belly in and up. And the arms go up. The next stays long.

The fingers reach a little bit just to get even more sense of long arms. Long Arm Sandy, right elbow long. That's it. Right wrist. Yes. And then back as far as you can go. And when do you keep the wrist straight as well? [inaudible] there you go. And down and up and down and up.

Very nice. And now let's see if we can do this. Let's have your hand. So the stick is going to be behind your shoulder blade. I think this is where Tim, you had troubled into you. [inaudible] behind your head is good. Okay, lift the chest. Bring the heels together. So Tim, you're going to have to imagine the stick behind your shoulder blades and literally push your head back into the stick a bit without your chin going up to the back of the neck is law. Now let's all of us roll towards the floor, rolling down, keeping the shoulders wide. See roll down and then roll back up, articulating through the spy and come up to an upright position. Eyes lifted.

Chest, broad shoulders and again, drop your head and rolled out to, as you roll down, it's like roll up on the Mat, but you're not letting your shoulders go in. See, really have the truth of the range of your trunk. Good, good, good, good, good. You roll down, rode down, rode down, very nice and then rolled back up again and nice long spine and again, roll down, articulating through the spine. Pull the stomach muscles up. Very good. Megan. Yes. Rolling down. Rolling down. Rolling down. Stay here. Bend the knees and knees are going to go a little bit wider. Open the knees because the feet are out.

Straighten the knees and tighten the the hamstrings toward each other and then roll up. Roll up, roll up, Rola, roll up. I banged my own head. I was laughing. Now hips are tight. Twist to the right without the hips. Moving back to the center. Twist to the left without the hips moving back to the center. So you think of your hipbones like two flashlights and have a car and they stay facing the front and center and the other way and center and the first side and center and the other side. And send a check that the sidebar is long. So from your hips to your armpits, you want a straight line.

And if you can think of this line between the hip and your armpit being stacked up on top of each other. Now when you twist, you let yourself twist from the ankle so the hips will go with this far as you can. Go back to the center, twist as far around as you can. Go back to the center and twist and center and twist and center and twist and center and twist and center. Standing tall, opening the chest and now bend to the right so the right rib cage and waist contracts, opening the left ribs. Keep the chest open, come back and bend to the other side so the left waist contracts and up. Now as you do it, most of you are poking your head forward. Feel the back of the neck long. That's it. The Chin is parallel to the floor and as you been, keep the back of the neck long so the head doesn't move forward in space.

It stays back. Stay here, take a breath in, pull the waist in and bend and breathe out. Go a little deeper. Come back up. Take a breath in length in the spine and breathe out. Hold it. Breathe in, pulling the stomach in. Breathe out. Go a little bit deeper and come back up. Stretch the arms up, lift the shoulders up, shoulders come up. So does come up right up by the ears.

Then bring the shoulders down and lengthen the neck and float the arms all the way down to the, to the size. And as you're here, just kind of press slightly into the size. Broaden the shoulders. That's a Tim. A little bit more for you. Yes. And then if the stomach up so you feel the waist nice and long, bend the knees a little bit so we have it just like you did when you were bending over. The knees. Go out a little bit now as you pull the knees up, the thighs, tighten, bend the knees again and get tall through the spine and come back up and bend the knees. Nice. Long back, long waist, and zipper the size up. Very good in, relax. Okay, now have a look before you start. Spine corrector is a wonderful piece of equipment when ingenious invention by Joseph pilates because our spine gets rounded and this really starts to open up the different parts of the spine to get very tight into some of you in the rolling like a ball, you feel those flat places. So this helps to start to soften them at the next level.

Also you can use this to open up areas of the body that are tight. So if your shoulders are tight you can use it. If the hips are tight, you can use it as a tool to go deeper. So we're going to do some of the mat work with this in mind. We using it to help us. So first of all just to work on the shoulders, just like you did upright, you'll be lying in a bridge position with your shoulders and head at the pinnacle. So you want the spine long and the first movement you'll do is keeping the spine long and the ribs down and the neck law, you'll take your arms back just like you did to the next stays long and you bring the arms back down. So you'll go back and forth. Then after it's, we'll let the ribs go.

So you see there's a change that happens and it stretches a little bit differently. So let's start you out with the first variation lying down. You want your hip, shoulders, and head at the pinnacle of your barrel. So different size barrels and work differently and you place yourself in such a way that the neck feels long. And I'm going to get a few towels here. Um, whoops.

See Daisy, where will I find towels? Pirie just, you know, like we use for pillows. This is great. Just like, you know, I don't do before. Okay. So Tim, for you under your head, just like we do, um, Wendy, Megan, bring your chin down a little bit. I think you're going move a little bit back. Megan. Nope. Other direction. Just a here. Cause he's a very, lift your head for a second. Drop your head. Yes, that's it. That's it. So as you're in position, I'd want, would like you to just lift your head, your arms up. So put your head back so your, your arms are right above your shoulders. Sandy.

That's excellent. Let's lift your head just for a second. PLOP it back down and links in there, there. So in this position, feel the shoulders dropping down into the barrel and then take the arms back and feel the floating ribs moving in the opposite direction to the hips so you don't let them pop. And then stay here for a minute and see if you can figure out how to soften the skin of the armpit and reach what the arm bones anyway, longer elbow, keeping the shoulder. Okay, there's there so that you have two opposite movements. The arm is moving one way, the shoulders are moving the other.

Then bring the arms back up, lengthen the arm bones and take the arms down to the size. Take the arms now to the size. Check that your shoulders are still wide and then start floating the arms up again and keeping the shoulders. Why? Take them back, lengthening the back of the neck without the ribs popping. Very nice, nice and long. And bring the arms back up and bringing the arms down to your size. Very, very good. And again, bring the arms up and start going back and forth in your own.

It's a soften the elbows a little bit, Tim. Roll. No, not too much. Straighten your arms more. Straighten them. Almost just just not locked. Now. This is what I want to do for you. Seeing rotate. Now start going back better and try not to keep, keep even in the elbows. One Elbow to relation to the other. Yes, and bring the arm up and down. So it's the right shoulders. It's really tight all the way down.

So keep going back and forth. Bring the arms, rotate this way. Soften your elbow a little bit. Now go back. Let's see if we can get that to start to go. Good and back and down. Now next time you come up above your shoulders, I'd like you all to bring the hands a little closer together so your hands are shoulder width. Again, keep the collarbones wide.

You can have your elbows slightly soft and take the arms back and as you take them back over your head by your ears or further so you can keep your ribs from moving out. This is to don't let the ribs pop. Sandy. Yes. And then bring the hands down to your sides. Very nice. And again, keep the chest down as the arms reach and back and again, up and over and backed down. Now this time when you go back, you just let them go as far back as it can go. So you showed, is it going to go up? Your ribs are going to go off. You're going to stretch differently. Just let them go as far back as far back. That's it, Megan. If you're very flexible, you keep your arms, elbows straight and, and bring them down.

Yeah. Oh, okay. Yep. Oh, I have an idea. I have an idea. I think. Yes, I think this work. I think this will work really well. Have a look. Yeah, exactly. That's what you want to isolate it. Okay.

So, okay, so let's, yeah, so let's have your arms right above your shoulders now and now take the arms back over your head and let the ribs go and let the shoulders go. So now it's literally just for flexibility. Let the chest expand. See how much you can let the armpits expand. Very good. Bring the arms down to your size and up and back again. Same way up and back, letting the armpit Skol at the shoulders go up just to open a bit and back. And one more time. Same way up and over reaching with those arms, um, back. Very, very nice.

Okay, so come up to a sitting position now. Okay. And put the stick down by your side. So you have this stick, this place close to you. And first of all, all you're going to, let's see, you're just, we'll roll back. Well, you know, you'll work with your stick take. So stretch your arms out and hold the stick in front of you and lean back just a little bit and feel your sacrament of the barrel.

Roll back a little bit more so you feel your waste into the bowel and then pull your stomach in, in until you kind of pressing it and then go a little bit further and keep going back. And most of you will not be able to get all the way, but you go as far back as you can and then take the arms back and see if you can let the weight of the stick stretch you back. Then bring the arms up again, lift your head, roll forward and sit up as straight as you can. So you sit up nice and tall. So there's a down and again, roll back. Same Way. So first few times can be quite painful because you really getting right into the kidney area area that gets very tight. Let the ribs open and let the weight drop you back.

Excellent. Bring the arms up, lift your head and chest roll and sit up straight. Nice and tall. And again, roll back. Take your chest back, let your head go back, let your arms go back. See if you can, not the head drop. Totally. So you soften into the neck. Arm comes up first. Head comes in, contract into your powerhouse role and sit up straight. Very good.

Put the stick down by your sides. Similar roll back but with a different arm position. So you sit with your hands behind your head with the owl. So as you sit up straight, use the elbows to widen and get a sense of openness between the collarbones. Bring your elbows forward a little bit and start rolling back with the elbows forward.

So you literally drop one bone at a time into the barrel for as long as you can. And then when you reach your own pinnacle at the elbows open again as wide as you can. Try to sink into the air, let the spine correct to really mold your spine. Bring your elbows forward, Curl Your Chin in. Roll forward through your spine and sit up tall and open your elbows. And again, elbows forward. Roll down, rounding through this spine, row, row, row, row, row.

Let your chest drop at that. Your head dropped back. Open the elbows. Then close the elbows. Pull your head forward. Roll into your center, roll forward. We'll photo forward and sit up nice and tall and open your elbows out. Lift your waist up. Bring the elbows forward and roll back again.

Rounding through your spine. Roll, roll, roll, roll. Roll at your head. Go back and open that chest. Elbows wide as you can bring the elbows forward. Bring Your Chin into your chest. Roll, roll roe and sit up tall. And one last time, elbows come forward. Pull the stomach in, open up your floating ribs, and then drape your ribs on the barrel.

As best you can. Let the head fall back that the elbows open. Bring your elbows forward again. Bring your head and chest curled in. Roll forward, roll forward and sit up nice and tall. Lift the stomach up, lift the chest up and hold and then bring the arms down. Okay, so extreme massage. So twisting, roll back.

You'll be sitting tall, twisting and rolling down. So you articulate and press the elbow towards the floor. Roll and straighten up. So same thing either side. So sitting up in the center, Sandy, I'd like the feet a little closer under you. Ideally bring the knees together cause it'll get you.

You'll be able to anchor your hips more. So you want to feel both. Sit bones into the that crease. Nice and lifted. And let's twist to the right. Nice lift. Pull the stomach in and start rolling down and then drape the elbow towards the [inaudible] floor. Roll back up again and twist to the center.

Twist of the first side. Roll down in, articulate through your spine. Rolling down. So one side, the opposite side to the side. You did roll down, roll down, roll down, and then roll back up. Once you finished your roll and come back up, lift the chest, open the elbows and again, twist to your first side and roll down. Roll down, Roll Down Elbow goes to the frost seat. You can look in the direction you're going. And then roll back up and sit up straight.

Twist to the other side and roll down. Roll down, roll down. Roll down, elbow towards the floor. And then row up. [inaudible] and sit up straight and last set. Lift the waist, lift the spine, lift the stomach, twist of the first side. Hug the knees together as you [inaudible] roll down. Roll down. Good Wendy. Roll down, elbow towards the flow.

Keep the twist there and then roll back up. Roll back up, roll back up. Nice and lifted. Elbows wide. And last one, twist and roll down. Pull the stomach in. Row, row, row, row, row, elbow towards the floor and roll back up. Roll, roll, roll, roll. Nice. Lifted position and bring the arms down. Very, very [inaudible]. Very good. Oh intense. Huh? So hundreds, hundreds of, quite fun to do because of the shape of this. So come to the front of your, um, of the spine corrector and you want to see if you can get your sit bones over the edge, that bony part in your bottom. So those two little bones, you want them, you want to be in front of the ledge and then lay yourselves back.

So your chest is on the barrel and you ha you're like a little bridge because there's space in between and you want to take the rear floating ribs and press them down. So that part really is anchored. Yes. And lift your head and chest up. Bring your knees into your chest so you feel yourself almost cocoon with the stomach, going down the arms along and extend the legs out, pulling the stomach up even more and start pumping with the arms. Breathing in three, four, five and exhale. Three, four, five, three, four, five. Exhale. Look at your navel in four, five. Exhale.

Very good. Nice strong arms. Four, five x, Zales we four five, five oh five exhale, three, four, five, six, two, three, four, five. Pools that muck in and up. Seven, four, five. Exhale. Three, four, five, eight, two, three, four, five. XL, three, four, five, nine, five. X Sale, three, four, five. Last set, three, four, five, six, seven. Very good. Bend your knees in and deepen into your stomach and put your feet down and come up to a sitting position.

So this should feel in some way easier than on the floor or less. Not No strain on your neck, but you can work deeper in your stomach. Cause it's almost like you're being hammock into the shape you want to do. Did you all have that experience? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Because you want that. We're going to do a lot of that shape and you want that, that real lengthening down without straining your neck.

So you have done lots of roll down roll up already. So we won't repeat that one. But single leg circles is a wonderful one to do up here. So have a look how, how we get into this before you go down, cause this one's tricky. You want your bottom in front of the barrel, you start to lower back, you get your hands on the floor. So I have one foot up, one foot on the floor and then you either grab where you keep your hands here and you gradually roll back until your head and your shoulders are on the barrel on the floor. I'm sorry. So you're nicely anchored and you hold, you can really support this. What this is doing is it's getting the hips really pressed up and you'll have one leg to the ceiling. So you'll do your circles the way we've done with the knee bent.

And then this is the interesting one. When the leg is straight, not all of you are going to have the leg straight. Cause it may be extreme, but you want to get it stretched out. So you get your hip flexor right here. It's going to start getting a really lovely stretch. We're also going to do lower and lift the leg. So the leg that's going down in up gets that same stretch. Now coming down, you wiggle down, want to be short, I'm still here onto the mat and you put the legs down and this you will love.

So sit up on the top. Actually make sure you move your barrels forward so you're beyond the mat, not on the floor when you get on the, on your shoulders. So way, way, way forward. That's okay. Little bit more Wendy. Okay. Now sit up on the top. Come further forward because you, you'll fall down. So you want to sit in front of the top, put one foot up on the ledge.

Bottom more forward, Tim. More forward with your bottom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A little bit more cause your fall if you don't now start using your stomach with some, moving yourselves backwards and reaching towards the floor with your hands. Hands go to the floor. And then you lower it down. Very good. Wednesday, down, down, down, down, down. Whoops. Yeah, and if you fell down, you have to hike yourself back up again. That's okay. Good. Now make sure you have a good sense of holding with the spine correct or you need to pull it in a bit. In lift your right leg to the ceiling, right I gap. Left leg is bent on the ledge.

So nice support under your sacrum. It needs to feel nice and long. The right leg is straight and very slightly turned out. Now pull the stomach in and up anyway and hold the ribs firms. So your trunk is nicely held and we'll start our leg circles going to the left circle down, around and up. And circle the leg and circle the leg and circle the leg and circle the leg.

Reverse it and circle your leg and circle the leg and circle the leg and circle the leg. And circle the like, keep the leg in the air lower down, long way from you keeping it so you feel that openness in the hip. Good. Bring the leg up again. So it should feel like you're sacred. And down you go. Your sacred means being locked into a long position. And then you get to open up that front part of the side that can get very tight. And again, heel has to stay right opposite your nose there to yes and and lower again and and lower yet and very nice. So keep the leg right above your hip.

Take the left leg that's on the ledge. Keep the leg to the ceiling there, Sadie, Debbie, and take the other leg and see if you can stretch it out. Now some of you be there. Ideally you want it touching the ledge, but as pressed out, as long as you can. Good. You know, to bend a little bit, bend a little bit and again, circle again and circle the lake and circle the lake and circle the leg and circle the lake and circle the leg and reverse it and circle the vape and circle the leg and circle the leg, circle and circle. Take your left leg, bend it on the Ledge, bend the right foot down on the ledge. Lift the left, like up to the ceiling. Readjust if you started slipping down. So your sacred miss really nicely stable. The right the left heel is right above the center of your body. Stretch your knee and start your circles again. Circle one.

Circle to circle three, circle four, circle five, reverse it and circle one. Circle to circle three, circle four, circle five. Stretch your knee. So nice one like the Debbie and Nathan the like way out in a way from you, not the left leg. Sorry Wendy. That's it. And up and lengthen the leg out. Keeping the heel in line with your nose and up and [inaudible] so you feel the spine being lengthened or the hip sock being lengthened and up and long and up. [inaudible] and long. And I keep the leg in the air.

Take the right leg and length in it out. See if you can keep it. If you need to bend it a little bit. I'd rather it's bent here. Sandy. Debbie, sorry. Here we go. And circle again. Circle one. Circle two. So for you, I'd like to bend a little more. Three, four, five. Reverse it. Circle. One, two, three, four, five. Very good. Now stretch. If your knees are bent, stretch both legs reach and long, long, long, long, long legs. Long, right? Like long last play. Very good. Now Bend your right foot, put it back on the ledge, bend the left foot, put it back on the ledge and then slowly push yourselves down. Slide yourselves away from the barrel and lie down and rest.

Very good. Perry, I want to take a break and turn my cell phone off. Yeah, it was me. I'm the guilty person. Yeah, sorry about that. Okay, let me see. I forgot. I'm ready to start again. Okay. Okay. All right, so come back up to a sitting position and rolling like a ball is next door. Trying to roll like a ball because this one is really fun.

So see if you can bring yourself to a sitting position right at the front of your barrel the way you did before. So your sit bones are in front of the little step and slightly round your spine. So you going into a seeker, pulling your stomach in and first of all, see if you can just balance here. And this is definitely something to work on. So you'll have to really find that place where you're curved and that this is a trick dep. You need this be rounded. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's just have a work at that.

A lot of work to find this balance and the led will help you, Megan. That is so good. Really stretched the sit bones under. Yes, Debbie. Even though you losing your balance, that was excellent. You need to work that curve. It's not easy to get the spine to really release fully. Wendy. That's so good.

Yes. Excellent. So put your feet out. That's what you're going for. That even on the mat. Now we take that curve and you'll be ha. Once you find your balance, you see if you can roll back and up and even if you have to tap, tap the floor. So it's not much of a role, but it makes you work really deep into the powerhouse and open up the back. It's actually a fantastic way of challenging yourself to the next level.

Yeah. Yeah. Megan, that's it. And I'll see if you can come up. Good, Tim. Yes, that's it. So you have to really work the spine. It gives you a whole other perspective on your powerhouse and in what you're doing with your body. And it helps kind of challenge the trunk in a very way to the next level. [inaudible] cool.

These are one of those exercises you don't want anybody to watch you doing, but you definitely know that it's moving you forward. It doesn't look like anything and it's a lot of hard work. [inaudible] yeah, that's the idea. Lovely. Okay. And put your feet down. So rolling like a, well, not easy. So single leg stretches. Same Way. Let's have you all back. Sit Bold Hook. Just like you were setting up for hundreds. You want your, your rib cage, close your tail long and locked under and bring your knees in towards your chest and then check that the spine is long and the ribs are close. Tim, your head should be further forwards. It's a, your head is Tim, are you?

It's your bottom over the edge. You look like you're not an yeah, that looks better. That looks better. Yes. Now left hand to right knee. Pull it away in way, way, way, and really reach out with your left leg. Switch your legs and left knee comes in and left. Hand should be at the ankle. All of your left hand to the ankle.

Other left-hand. Yes. Switch your legs. Now the right hand goes to the ankle and pull the knee in. DPP people the foot to your bottom. Switch and need to shoulder, foot to bottom. Good switch and squeeze.

Switch and squeeze. Switch and squeeze and keep the shoulders away from the ears. As you know this squeeze, switch and squeeze. Switch and squeeze. Switch and squeeze. Switch and squeeze.

Switch and squeeze in last one and squeeze. Bring both knees in and come up to a sitting position. Bring yourselves up so you sit back into the ledge. Bring your hands up behind your head. Nice, tall spine, elbows open and just one rollback. Elbows come forward round the spine. Rollback, rollback, rollback, head back, elbows open.

Close your elbows. Bring your head forward. Roll and sit up nice and tall and open the elbows and lift up the spine and lift up the waist. Bring the hands down. Very nice. Again, come back to the first position for double eight stretches. So the sit bones are over the edge. Bring the knees in, hold your ankles, stretch arms and legs away. Arms by your ears there Debbie. Circle the arms and hug. Now as the arms go out, close the ribs. Don't let the ribs pop stomach way in circle and in and stomach pools.

Way, way, way in, arms back. You can circle in and stretch. Circling in one more time and stretch. Circling in, come up to a sitting position and just have a look because we're going to add a little bit to this. So we're going to start to use this, this, the barrel part to stretch this by two you go out, you hold the legs there and you roll back big circle with the arms and you curve in. So it really opens the spine out. So let's have a look at that. So lie back on your backs. Bend the knees in. You want that?

Say the little sit bones over the edge so nicely supported. Hold your ankles. Ideally ankles if you can. It gives you more traction. Tiny little waist. Stretch your arms and exact way back with those arms and head big circle with the arms around and then hugging into a little tiny ball. Stretch your arms up and out. Go way back with those arms.

Circle and hug into a tiny ball and stretch. Circle away around and hug. Two more times. Stretch, reach back, circle way around and hug and one more time. Up, back, circle and hug and relax. Come up to a sitting position. Sit back into the crease.

Set up nice and tall. Elbows a wide Nisa together. Bring your elbows in, roll back, row back. Open the ribs. Open the chest. Open their head, open the elbows. Bring your elbows in, curl in, row, row. Sit Up nice and tall and open the elbows and lift.

Lift the spine. Lift the way shoulders are down, long neck lifted back and relaxed. Very good scissors. Bring your sit bones over the edge. Lie back the way you just did and bring the knees into your chest. So you want the sit bones nicely back. Nice little squeeze of the legs. Lift both legs up to the ceiling.

Take your right leg with both hands and pull it towards you. Stretch your knees and stretch your knees. Deb. Strengthen them even more and pull it towards you twice. Pull. Pull. There we go. Switch Paul Paul. Yes, I'd rather have the leg straight or and less range of movement than work with the knees bent because they will never get long muscles if you don't challenge them to work from the long place. Paul Paul had forward Tim, Paul, Paul and Paul Paul and Paul Paul.

Flex your feet. Paul. Poor. Flex the feet. Paul, Paul and Paul. Paul and Paul, Paul and Paul, Paul and Paul. Well thanks. Come up. Bend the knees into your chest. Bring yourselves up to a sitting position. Sit back, sit up tall. Elbows wide, waist in, knees and feet together. And then elbows in. Roll back, roll back, roll back.

Open the elbows, close the elbows. Bring your head forward, row and sit up. Nice and tall. Very good. Lower left, back in the same little position you were in. Sit bones over the edge. Bring the knees into your chest. Hold your head and lift the legs up.

So even though you're holding your head, you're supporting your head. Let the chest go back a little bit, but so you feel the head resting into your hands. But press the waist down, down, down, down, holding the stomach. And now keep that shape. Lower the legs away from you. Bring the legs up, using your powerhouse. Lower the legs down. Bring the legs up, lower the legs down. Bring the legs up.

Two more times to lower and lift. And one more time and lower and lift. Bend the knees in. Put the feet down. Bring yourselves up. Not Sweat. Yes, knees and feet together. Nice and tall. I expect you to all be glorious by the end of the hour. Elbows in, shoulders down, shoulders down to the neck is long. Start Rolling back, rolling back. Lift the ribs, head back, open the elbows.

Take a breath in here and as you breathe out, stay here and see if you can soften the bones a little deeper into the bowel. One more time in. Breathe out. Sink a little deeper. Bring the elbows forward and bring your head forward. Pull the stomach in and sit up nice and tall and hold a position. Tiny waist. Elbows wide. Shoulders down. Lift up tall. Tim. Lift up, lift up, open the elbows, open the elbows. Look forward instead of down lifting. Tall, lift, lift. If there we go and bring the hands down. Good.

Now spine stretch forward is fun. Much nicer than on the floor. So we go yourselves forward. So your, you're not on top of, your bottom is a little bit behind the edge and your feet are slightly wider than the mat. So you want to be nice and safe with where, how you're sitting. And even if you put your hands on the ledge here, it's much easier to sit up straight than it is on the floor. So you kind of have the next level of ability. So why don't you just take a moment and find out how much more height you can get Megan for you. Bring the waist a little bit more in so you're still back a little bit more in and lift the sternum a bit more. Yes, that's it.

And then see if you can get a sense of where your shoulders are and get them on the side of your body. So there's this nice lift and then again, back of the neck is long right now. Stretch your arms out in front of you and lift up even a little further up stomach in first movement. Drop your head and bring the hands down to round down towards the floor. Close to you, right down there, pulling the stomach in and then roll the hands forward as far as they'll go. Just go forward, forward, forward on the floor on the flow.

Going as far forward as you can go. And then roll back. Pull the stomach in, roll the spine up through a straight and lift the arms straight up in front of you. Take a deep breath in and then breathing out. Drop your head. Bring your hands down, pull the stomach in and slide the hands out. Slide outside, outside, out. Slide out, roll back, roll back, roll back, roll back. Roll up and lift the arms up. And if the spine up, take a breath in and breathing out around. We need a hands down.

Slide the hands out reaching. Roll back. Okay. And sit up tall and again, drop your head and roll down. Slide out, roll back and sit up tall. And one more time. Drop your head down. Roll out, roll out, roll out. Now in this position, take a breath in and pull your stomach in. Breathe into your back body.

Breathing out. Stretch a little bit further. Breathing in, pool in and up in your belly. Breathing out. Wiggle the hands further and then roll up. Roll up, roll up, stretch the arms up. Stretch the spine up. Lift the way. Shoulders a down. Nice, tall body and relax. Okay, spine opening rocker. Just like rolling like a ball. This will be more about balancing than about big range of movements.

So get your sit bones in front of your barrow and see if you can first of all, lift your feet up and balance so you find your seat curve and your powerhouse and then take your right leg up if you can back and the left leg up and back and the right leg up and I can cheating is allowed. Feet can touch the floor left by gap if you completely losing it and back and the right leg up and back and the left leg up and back. Now see if you can get both likes and back. I have to have a look at you and see what's going on. And again two more times you're going to try and balance both legs at the same time. Not Bad Sandy and back.

Awesome. Actually very good. One more time cause you all really opening your backs in a way I've not seen you do before, which is so good for you. Well that's it I think. Good, good, good there Debbie. Yes. Very nice and put your feet are starting to see what the secret is all about because your all something nice is happening in your spine. Can you feel it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, it's fun. You can start a person on the, with this cause it's too challenging. But once you've mastered the floor, this is going to jump you to another level. It's harder, but it's easier. It's kind of helps you find what you're trying to strive for. So I'm, I'm pleased with what you all looking like even though you're flopping all over the page. So the next one you're gonna go for that same thing and then see if you can rock back and up. So you're in this, in this, this balance point and you rock back. It's just a little, it literally is. It's very delicate balance. And what's so nice, I'd say I have a slight tendency to twist.

You can really find if you're not symmetrical, what you need to do. Well, I'd have to work on it too to get there. Smile for me. There's my symmetry. So you get both sides of the spine working evenly for you. Megan. It'll be wonderful cause you can probably really see where your spine has it. Funny little twist. So have a go.

So you've tried to find your balance and then rock back and forth and you don't have to have your knees straight. Good, good. Windy. Yes. And up and up and up. I end up, Tim, I'm not convinced your bottoms over the edge. You look like you fell back. So you need that.

Those sit bones over the edge so you have a place to rock back into and it locks the lower spine. It doesn't let you to run away from you. Yes, Megan. Very good. Very good. What you're doing there. Yes. Yes. Very, very nice. Oh okay. Come back up.

Now come up to the sitting position with the sit bones over the edge. And I want you to, with the help of your hands, lower back and see if you can, it's like someone's yanking the lowest spot, these buttocks, and you've got two strings being pulled that way. And as you go back, drape yourself over, see if you can get a sense of asymmetry in your spine. So the whole spine and you can literally, with your hands, you can push the chair that way to stretch your chest in opposition. So you're literally stretching a little bit and then bring your head forward and roll up. Roll, roll, roll, come up. Nice. So what I meant was the hands would be here. So you see like, I'm like I'm pulling the hips and I'm, I'm kind of pulling my ribs away from my hips by using my hands.

Do you feel that? Yeah. Yeah, that's it, Sandy. Yes. So you have that little bit of a stretch. How's that going there for you, Megan? That's it. So yes, really, really good. What you doing? Good. Good. Yes. Very nice and come back up. Very nice. Very, very good. Okay.

Come up to a sitting position and I liked spine stretch forward. You sit back for saw. So your bottoms over the edge, your feet are in front. A little bit wide. Flax, nice flux of the feet. Really push the heels away from you. Kim, can you flex more than that? That's it. Pulling the toes up. Yup. Oh yes, that's, that's it.

Arms to the side. Nice lift of the spine. Open the shoulders and the chest, twist to the right and left your spine. And now we won't go forward yet. Just twist. Come back to the center, lift your chest, twist to the left and back to the center. And lift hands a little higher. Debbie, twist to the right so the hands are shoulder height back to the center. Twist to the left, back to the center.

Twists to the right, back to the center, twist to the left, back to the center. Relax your arms, get your stick and just like you did before, let's have the hands here. So Tim, your your stick will be more behind your neck with the hands here. Now Tim, lift the chest up. Ha, can you get the stick a little lower? And Tim, I see how my fingers are a little lower down with your hands. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. Little bit lower. [inaudible] no, excuse me. Wendy, how much can you lift your chest?

Just think of my awful knee. It's like a mini, mini spinny spine corrector. But look how much straight. Yes, that's it. That's exactly it. Constantly getting these bones in even more. Yes. Even more right for you. Let's get the hand the stick lower and now it literally feel the shoulder blade over the stick. That's it. That's it. This is the personally created rack.

Lift your chest. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Lift your chest. Look at that. That's what you're looking for. Nice and lifted even more in here. There. Look at that. Yes. Okay. Now you're going to twist to the right. Keeping that height back to the center. Lift your chest, flex your feet, twist to the left, back.

Did the center lift the chest up. Megan. Twist to the right. Now pull the stomach in and back to the center. So when you twist, you use the waist muscles twists to the left, back to the center. Twist to the right, back to the center. Twist to the left, back to the center with the stick down with a broomstick. It's a little easier.

Slumping is a luxury, huh? Now saw. So now that you've got the sense of the, how much there is lifting you, let's have the arms to the side so the spine is tall. Thank you Tim. Lift and flex your feet. Twist to the right the way you just did. Note from here in average just like you do in this and reach towards your right foot with your left hand stretch and stretch and stretch and sit up nice and tall and lifted. Arms to the side. Flex your feet, twist to the other side. Flex your feet round the spine and reach toward you to reach and reach and reach and sit up tall and lifted and wide. Twist to the first side.

Twist and stretch one and to flex your feet a lot. Three come back up and lift. Twist to the other side. Twist and stretch one and two and three or that is while you can do animal lift. Twist of the first sight with send stretch one and two and three. That's what I want. And come back up and lift. Flex a lot, twist to the other side and one and two and three. Good.

Megan, come back up. Lift, lift, lift, lift, lift. If the spine of the waist, if the back, open the chest and bring the hands down and rest. Very, very good work. Next one is a few exercises for your legs, which um, you'll do with your shoulders down and your bottom up the way we did. Uh, so you get into it. I'll quickly show you, cause once you're upside down, it's hard to see what's going on. So you get into it the same way. One foot up, you brought him over the edge and you're literally ironing your back as you go down. It's like someone's grabbing your lower spine. [inaudible] stretching it. So you get to point where your shoulders are on the mat, you lift your legs up. The first one will be like circles.

So slight [inaudible] stands open the legs and lengthen them out. And this is where you get to open up in the hip flexors. So we'll start with small circles so you can feel how to control from the powerhouse. And then you'll start to get bigger and bigger. So you do big leg circles. We'll do the same thing the other way. And then you'll bend your knees in, roll a little bit to the right role, a little bit to the left, and then stretch your legs up. And then little walking steps, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk up.

And then you'll do scissors and scissors. Now in the scissors, it's the leg that's going that way. That's the important one. Scissors, bend your knees in, roll row. And then bicycles in bicycles that like this going down, you try to get it to caress the ledge. So you're trying to, it's all about reaching the splayed out and then making up Nice, peddling more movement. And then you'll do the reverse. So you tried to touch the ledge, touch the barrel and stretch out and come up and then come down. So sit up just in front of the top of the barrel, put one step up and then lower your shoulders and your head to the floor so your hands have to go down, tip your head, make sure you have a good pool. It's always to fall once. Lift your legs to the ceiling. Make sure you have nice pressure with your hands and the legs are up.

Stretch your knees slightly. Turn out the knees slightly. Tighten the buttocks. Long legs. So the first one is like circles, open the light slightly wider than the bow. Take them down and together. Yes. So first few circles, just do your own speed and get a sense of reaching through the feet and lengthening out and us to take slightly bigger circles. So you reach long up, open and long and long and start to go even lower. See reaching the legs down towards the flow. Yes. So there's a point where the legs along, when the legs come up, they only go up to just about above your hips. Not very at that set. So you don't kind of take them towards your face too much just to the ceiling.

Very good. Now we're versus you start at the top and you take the legs down away from you. Open out and up. And I, so Debbie, you want to start here and there. So you're here. So you have a nice anchor in the sacrum. Tighten your buttocks. Yes.

So you start with a small circle now, so you have a sense of the back being really nicely anchored. As you get able to control it, you do the movement bigger. The big thing you want to do, the bigger the movement you more, you have to work in your powerhouse and you don't let it flop all over the place. When when you start to get into those tight areas, you need to hold it. So you choose the range of movement where you're still in control. Very, very nice.

Do One more circle and then bend the knees in. Nice, small, little shape. Keep the hips tight and roll to the right a little bit, massaging the right side and then roll to the left so you massage your sacrum against the barrel. Come back to the center. Lift your leg straight up to the ceiling. Nice tight buttocks and little walking steps going down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down and up to oh five six seven eight and down. Two three, four. Keep the hips nice and tighten up. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and one more time.

Keep the stomach pulled in and up and up to five, six, seven, eight. Now big scissors, one leg goes down away from you. It's really going down. The three important one. Reach it out and sizzle the likes and reach it out and switch. And as you do these switches, keep your hips tight so you don't let the hips get floppy or too loose and wobbly. The pelvis is anchor, the stomach is strong, the lower back is long and the thighs are active.

They're not mushy because it's easy to, when you start to get into more stretchy, big movements to release the muscles, they just kind of flop. You need to hold the thighs. That's excellent. Bring your legs up, bend your knees into your chest. Nice little tight, compact position. Keep the knees tight and roll to your right and roll to your left and roll to your right. Again, just massage in your lower back and roll to the left and bringing the hips back to the center. Lift your legs up to the ceiling for your bicycling. So narrow the hip and which you right, like out and down towards the barrel. And Bend.

It can come in as a left leg goes down and out. So you start this peddling movement. Yes, and again, big reaching, long movement of the legs. It's the lake going down that really the important leg. Much more than the leg that's coming up. That's the to you reaching out every time. Really Nice long legs, long size, long back and then reverse it. Peddling the other way.

Okay, that's it. So now you try to caress the barrel. Every time you push the foot down and out, down and out. That's the idea, Megan. Yes, down and out. So it's tricky because you want to really get close into your bottom. Debbie, those of want to see the foot going down close to bottom. We tried to touch your bottom barrel ledge and out bottom barrel legend up. Then you smooth out those points. So it's one long movement. Yes, very good.

Bring both legs up to the ceiling. Bend your knees in and again, nice tight position. Roll to the right and back. Roll to the left and back. Roll to the right and back in. One more time. Roll to the left and back. Very good enough. Push the ledge away from you so you stretch it. Push the barrel down. So you coming down to the floor to relax. So you, yes, you wiggle yourself away. There's two ways to do it.

You can push the ledge, you can pull, push your body. So you wiggle down to lie here for a minute. Just lie down and relax. Okay? Okay. Bring your knees into your chest. Roll to one side and come up to a standing position.

And let's finish with wall. So let's get you standing against the Nice White Wall. And actually somebody can also be right here and, and you can be here. Okay, good. Pilati stats. So in this position, you want your sacred them against the wall and you're floating ribs against the wall. And if you can feel those two points, chances are that the spine is long and against the wall. So those are your first point.

Then how can you get the back of your neck against the wall with the neck long, not the back of the neck, I should say. But the you want to take cause the neck will be here. So you want to feel how you're lengthening your neck. Yes. Yes. Tim, bring your feet further out and when the knots are turned out with your feet. Yes, that's it there. That's better. Okay. Now from this position, keep your belly pulled in and up. Bring your arms in front of you.

Shoulders down and presses shoulders back into the wall and it'll circles with the arms. Circle one, two and three. Reverse it in one and two and three. And as the arms come down, lift your chest up so you feel long. Lift your head a bit and put your head back. Now. There it is again. If your arms up again and three little circles, circle one, circle two, circle three. Reverse it. Circle one. Lift your head to principle three and then roll the arms down and feel the length through your back. Now keep your spine long.

Lift the arms up in bigger circles. Bring the arms up as far as you can without losing the wall and take the arms out and down. So big circles of the arms and those of you have a towel behind your head. You can't lose the towel and lift, so you have to keep your neck long and the head back. Reverse it. Big Circle of the arms and down.

Big Circle the arms and down. Big Circle of the arms and down. And now you'll roll down in. The towel will fall. So dropped your head and roll down. Rolled on, peeling yourself off the mat towards the floor with the stomach pulling up and three circles with the arms. Circle one, circle two, circle three. Reverse it. Circle one, circle to circle three, roll back up and see if you can lengthen the spine into the wall to articulate the spine. And you like come all the way up to vertical position. Long neck and spine. Good. One more time. Drop your head down.

Roll, roll, roll. Shoulders are wide in a way from the years. Good. Windy three circles again. Circle one to three, reverse it. One, two, three. And then roll back up. Roll back up, roll back up, roll back up to an upright position. Now Open your heels apart so the feet are going straight forward for squats. I think you'll all be able to slide one. We'll have to be creative. Megan, you're going to slide down and move your feet out if you need.

Do you want your heels just about under the knees in the back, long and flat and three circles. One and two and three. Reverse it. One and two and three and roll back up to an upright position. And Tim, bring your feet a little bit further away from you. And one more time. As you roll down, lift the stomach, lift the stomach so you feel your spine sliding down against the wall so you can get your hips in line with the knees. Your feet are too far out. Megan. Circle one that's better. And your sacrum should be into the wall. Three.

There we go. Reverse it. Circle two and three and slide back up. Yeah, I told you you have to be creative. Hands against the wall. Push away and stand on your feet for a minute. Just take a moment to stand. Lots of lovely work in the spine. Oh yes. See if you can feel a natural lift. There is like a, a place on the top of your head, the crown of your head.

Really feel it. Feel how it lifts. It's pressing up and this powerhouse is kind of energy pulling up in your whole body. Very nice. Broad chest. Look straight ahead. Not Down, not up. It's straight forward. So you literally about when you look forward, you balance your brain. Take a breath in and breathing out.

Relax. So very well done. Excellent work.

Comments

Wonder class for my posture, spine and hips. Putting this in my favorite classes. You are a fabulous teacher!!
Great class. Can't wait to try the rolling like a ball and open leg rocker balances!
1 person likes this.
I really enjoy Niedra's classes! Great class for tight shoulders and hips.
For some reason this class started over with 23 minutes to go darn it. I was loving it
Never mind it must have been an iPad glitch:)
Nice class for beginners Niedra! Thank you for sharing.. like it!
Wonderful class, - not only for beginners, but for clients with tight pecs, tight shoulders, or imbalances in the upper torso. Thank you!
Niedra Gabriel
Thank you Silke, I regularly open up my shoulders and chest as well, so agree, this is really fro everyone.
Beautifully presented and executed...thank you for sharing!
Niedra Gabriel
I am happy to be reading your comment Janine. I hope you were on the floor participating as well.

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