Class #1276

Creative Spine Corrector

55 min - Class
41 likes

Description

Kristi Cooper teaches a creative Spine Corrector workout, emphasizing the articulation of the spine in extension and the use of breath to connect further into the core. Kristi delves deeper into traditional exercises such as Swan, Swimming, and Teaser. This class is perfect for those learning to practice Pilates with deliberate movement.
What You'll Need: Spine Corrector, Pilates Pole

About This Video

Nov 30, 2013
(Log In to track)

Transcript

Read Full Transcript

Okay, ready for reels? Yeah. Alright, so let's just stand facing the ocean for a second. Take a moment. Just take a moment and write. Sandra did their feet together. Press your heels together for a moment. Press the big toe joints together and shift your weight forward. So you almost come off the heels. In fact, do come off the heels a little and then even there, start to kind of lighten up on the toes. Push the heels down.

So you're going to line yourself up again and let the toes make contact. Let them kind of be there for you. Almost like a little suction cup. Then shift, just shimmy. Not even a shift, but just kind of push yourself around a little bit. Not, don't we do that anyway? Let's do it consciously here so that we can kind of know where we are. Find our alignment. If you can imagine some sort of point at the top, straight up from your head or from your feet, that'll align you up. Do that.

Then shift your weight ever so slightly back enough that you can lift your feet and turn them out. But not a lot. Not a lot. Not a lot. I overdid it myself. Press the heels together. Find a wrap. Get even taller so you're not bearing down on yourself. You're coming in on yourself, supporting yourself to lift up. Turn the arms out, turn them around so they go the other way. That's a little more normal for most of us. Turn them out. Again, see if you can feel the what happens around the collarbones and chest.

Maybe nothing, but maybe you feel differences and that's worth noting for leader. Open. I'm out again and so if you stayed here easily, all I'm going to suggested that you slightly lifted chest. I do think set up matters, so bear with me from there. Just let the arms float up. Inhale, reaching up. Go ahead and reach further. Take more air than you think you need and just exhale. Let it go. Do it again.

Inhale, take your ribs up, take your shoulders up, climb up there a little bit. Keep those heels pressed together and let it go. One more time. Inhale up and this time as you exhale, you're going to rise up so that the arms is float down, but you rise up on the toes are on the ball of the foot. Kind of keeping that suction cup feeling through the toes, squeeze to the glutes. You can use them here, right? You don't have to grip in the quads to do that. You can press in, can now holding that. Can you be any taller? Put Your own hand on your head and reach into it. Oh, train's coming.

I'm getting good at that. Keep, keep your hand there. Try to keep, try to keep your head there and start to stretch it. The waist or the Achilles tendon or whatever. The lower down. It's not maybe possible, but we can try and let it come down. Okay. From right here, we're just going to round over. Just easy rounding over. If you need to bend the knees, you do. In fact, let's all just bend the knees a little.

It makes the knees turn out in this position. Raise it up the legs and roll backwards. Okay. We're going to stand on the barrel. You'll be facing out for this bit. So just come on to the barrel. Um, spying, cranky with your heels so your toes are near sort of the crease. So it's not that severe of a stretch for the calves.

If that is a concern of yours. And then just like you did a moment ago, let the arms rotate out. Now you're going to be pitched forward, right? So let's not compensate by just throwing the upper body back. Let's feel that midsection lining up. So if you hyper extend your knees, now's not the time as if ever is. Keep them straight looking straight ahead. Rise up with the arms. Inhale, we're going to round down from here so the arms will start. They'll kind of bring the head with them.

You drop up and back on the abdominals too. Your hands meet the top of the barrel. Okay? If you feel like you're sliding down a shift your feet back. But otherwise just leave them there. Your head is almost right between your arms.

Take a moment and shrug your shoulders so you kind of push into the barrel to shrug the shoulders, don't you? So they're coming up to your ears out the things we say never to do. Leave your arms firmly into the barrel and gently let the shoulders de Shrug or go down your back slightly. Bring the armpits toward your chest and then from there, whatever you can get, it won't be much push into the balls of the feet and more accurately pull up on the ABS. Not to lean forward, but to hover the heels and to draw the belly in. Inhale, let the heels rest. Walk your feet back a half inch.

So they're starting to come over the lip. That right, and it's not about pushing into the mat, it's more about drawing the belly up to lighten up on the feet. Two fold deeper. You're not leaning forward or back. I lifted my heels on that and down. Walk your feet back further so I'm, I'm not quite to the ball of foot. I'm almost there. Inhale, exhale, rise up. Your shoulders are still d shrugged. Armpits are coming towards the chest, a little and down, and then definitely go up to the balls of the feet.

You can even start by pressing the heels down, but as you do pull up on the rib cage, so heels go down, up on the rib cage, head down, shoulders down. Inhale, get ready from the belly. You rise up, some weight into your arms, lower them down, keep them down. You're going to bend the knees quite significantly. That'll allow you to hinge at the hips flat in the back. Let your head come to flat. If you feel you're, it's a really awkward position.

You could come up to your fingertips. I try to keep it down and go into flat back reaching out the crown of the head and the tail from here. Leave the heels and feet. Exhale, curl the pelvis under. You're not changing your feet. You're changing your spine. Inhale, unfurl it. Feel the pelvis move. It's a good way to start warming up through the hamstrings.

Your back to flat back. Exhale, pull the belly in. Let your head drop in between the upper arms. Inhale. It's almost like your knees are shooting forward. Your tailbones shooting back in that crown of the head is doing some and do it again around no more shooting. Reminds me of a dream in my head last night, but I'll spare you and here we are flat back. Come up to the fingertips. Now you are going to be having to balance a little here on you.

If it goes into your hip flexors. Is that the holding place? Move your feet forward. Otherwise, take one arm forward. You're still looking down at the barrel. Doesn't matter which arm turn. So you look under that arm, the whole arm, the rib cage, everything turns. It doesn't have to be severe. Just notice it and bring it back.

That hand goes down. The other arm goes up by your ear. Recommit like someone's pulling you from the wrist, but also from thighs. Your extended there. Rotate the other way. Look under the arm. If you haven't. Oh you already have. Okay, I'll hurry. I see. I see where we're at today. Okay, so from there, move your feet forward to your back. End Security land. Straighten your legs if you can enroll yourself.

[inaudible]. Okay, let's, let's meet. I'm going to move my barrel. You guys can step down, turn around and have a seat. [inaudible] take hold of your poll. You guys should have mentioned that we are using a poll. You could use a towel too and we do have them if you want one. But this, this is kind of Nice for really one thing. Everything else can be do done without it. Okay, so your feet are parallel.

And just for a moment I want you to just focus on, you're settling into your, kind of slipped in to that back edge of the barrel or the front edge, depending on how you look at it. The poles in front of you. For now, let's go a little wider than shoulder distance. Just a little and a subtle, very subtle inward press of it. So it kind of forces a little peck contraction but never without the upper back extension. Okay, so from there you've got that. Now I'll go back to it. Bring the pull rate too below your kneecap. Not where it hurts, but where it's sort of soft. Maybe. I've got a bunch of runners in there, a bunch too. So if it, you know, be gentle. So what I want to do is have you gently pull it, just gently use it to line up your spine. That's what I'm looking for here.

Not to thrust the ribs, Aaron or Christie, but to lengthen the spine so you have that sense right from there. Just without changing. If you can, without changing your arms or upper body, exhale and press the low back towards the barrel behind your just, you can even push your feet into the floor. It's going to be so subtle. No one's going to see it. How boring you might feel it though. Inhale, lengthen up. Hey, I'm not pulling hard with the arms. You don't need them. You just want that sense of opposition. Annex. Hey, for now, go ahead and do the push down of the feet into the floor. Inhale, lengthen up. Good. And yeah, one more time in her length and up. Lighten up on your feet though.

Stay up here. Exhale. Take the bar out in front of you. Just notice the play with where your collarbones are. Notice what it is when they're forward and when they're overlayed back and try for straight from there. Just rise up on the inhale. We're not pushing on the feet anymore. They're just there for balance. Exhale, lower. Again, inhaler. We're not really squeezing much, maybe ever so slightly inward, but even that we can kind of minimize. Now take it up one more time. From here, we're going to bring the bar down right at our forehead.

So just kind of in front for the moment. Easy, no big deal. We're still ling lengthening Taulia. Then slide the bar or move the bar right up to the top of your head. Lifted about a just enough that you can barely feel it off your head. You can still kind of feel it touching you and then lengthen into it.

Lift into it so you actually touch it more. Not by bringing the bar down, but by rising up from that place. Check your elbows can, so I'm right in the middle of my head. Can you make your elbows go straight onto your wrist? You may have to move your risk to do that so they're not behind you. They're not in front of you, or at least that's the goal. The right below you with no added tension, just straight in the arms, see what you got. If it's too much tension in your neck, you bring them forward.

Then from the shoulder blades, you glide the bar back down. Here we go up again, just kind of loosening up a little. Even though it feels real precise and small, it's, it's okay. One more up. Again, good. Still fit the front of your body, the back of the body, and then from there, now hold it there on your head. You're going to slide it down the back of your head until you feel that little shelf occipital Ridge, right? For some, that's going to be too tight.

You can turn your hands over and do it like an overhand grip. That'd be okay. Otherwise, again, you can aim the elbows forward. That's going to get harder, or you can even go back, but if it's forcing your head forward, you've got to switch your hands. You want to be upright, gently press your head backwards into it. Get Taller like that bar was still above you from that place. Your vertical. If you need to move your feet forward, you will. You rotate toward the window. Exhale and just keep the upper body in place. Inhale, center to the back. Good. Check your wrist too.

I actually have learned to slide my hands up so that it's more on the heel of my hand. Again, exhaling. I'll change the breath in a minute. Watch that. You're not pushing more with one hand or elbow and again, we're going to change us just by the breath. So inhale from here, you're going to push into the back foot just a little bit and you're going to roll down. Placing that forward ribcage or spine forward, side of the rib cage into the mat. Don't go super far back then to get your supporting your head right. It's falling back, almost asleep on that bar. You press the front of the rib cage into the barrel to help you come back up and then you're back up to straight. Come through center, rotate to the back.

I'm inhaling back, push into the forward foot a little so you feel that. Reach that back ribcage, the ribcage closest to you into the barrel, closest to you, closest to the camera, whatever and back up the other one. Okay, so if we're trying to articulate, let's do it again. Inhale and exhale. Good. Now lighten up on the feet and just make that that resistance. Your opposite hip is down in hell. If you haven't exhale, we'll roll up this time rounding up and then you stack in hell other side. Try Not to force your head forward and back.

I'm doing it so that you get a little preparation that you can support your head when you're back here cause sometimes we went in order to put it and we're going to have to deal with that in a moment and we come back up and center again. You can switch your hands at anytime. We're in the middle, we're going to roll back. Keep your eyes forward, stay on the horizon. It's almost like you're reaching the head up off of your neck. Then go ahead and go back to the level that you can stand and support with your hands in the bar or towel. Inhale, let your head move first. You can use your arms a tiny bit here. Let the head get nodded forward. Then feel your spine push into the mat, push it in, push it in, push it and exaggerated. Come forward. Keep it curved, exaggerated for now and then when your head is almost to your knees, stack your spine up from the back. Inhale, exhale down. You could also, if you get tired holding it that way you could take your hands out to the side and kind of gently press in.

I just want you to feel that support that you could have here. See if you can go a little further. Your back is mimicking the spine. The pole is not on your neck. It's on where your head and neck meet. When it's time. Exhale round forward. Start focusing now, not on the arms of the pole, but push the spine into the barrel and then stack yourself up in hand. Exhale down. We got it. This will be the last one.

This can be a modification and begin to tell. Could be more uncomfortable on this one, but as long as you have that sense of how your head gets to hang and think about it, you're going to press into the barrel. It's not just liftoff. Focus for a second. Let's just stay here. How heavy could your head be? Can you drop it back more? As you push your hands forward, then just press a tiny bit higher. Aron just a little bit higher if I didn't say it, but this is where I want you.

Yeah. Now from right where the sternum is, right between the breastbone, you're going to press backwards into the barrel and it might lift you a little and then drop back on it and exhale. Not a huge move. That neck isn't changing. It's just going along for the ride. Three let's do 10. Here's four. Focus not on the movement but on the pushing back. Five, five more and six breathe. Seven. Think of that being the reason you move. Eight. Here's two more. Nine and on this one we will continue all the way up, up, up and extend the bar up along with your spine.

From there, we start to reach back into the barrel, right? Pushing with the spine. I'm not using my feet, although you might want to initially to get used to it. Some sense of using the uh, inner thighs reach back if it's available to you, reach the pole back. If it's not, put it up behind your head again. Then the arms come up first. Once they're overhead, feel that the shoulders haven't crept in front of you.

The collarbones are still wide and you roll forward all the way up. Let's do it now with the feet together so you have that sense. Squeeze tightly, sit tall and roll that I have the arms in front for now. Roll back. It's all right. Start reaching the arms up. Feel the spine getting longer over the barrel than it was last time. Let the arm start to come up.

Make sure they haven't reached in front of the collar bones. Your head follow. That's the hardest part, I think. And keep pushing backwards with the spine. Otherwise it's just going to be an easy ab curl. It's not why we do it. We do it so you can feel it, feel the opposition and down you go back rich, rich, rich. If you can reach your head back, you do. If you don't use the port or you stop sooner and if you come, all right, just to make a point. Let's take the bar.

Sometimes I've done this where actually weed it through. If you want, you can, it's kind of fun and weight it through your shirt. If that's too weird and it's weird and you can just hold it in front. It's a little harder to tale so you can there. And what we're watching for, and it's easier from the side to see, is that you're not thrusting the elbows forward, right? You're going to keep that bar on your chest or on your collarbones however you see it. I do think if you have the option, it's nice to go through just, you know, explain it to pupils however you want. I learned this from Layla. Alright. So there you are, right.

We're going to hold it anyway just so we know where it is to and from here needs together. We're just going to rotate to the front again. Okay? Yup. And then come through center. Just so you know where you are. Knees aren't moving. You go to the back. Are you leaning back? Are Your ribs in good and central? One more each way. Rotate and rotate. Simple. Okay, we're going to come to the front one more time. So do that. Go ahead and rotate.

Now we're going to roll back just like we did before, finding sort of the one side, the front side of the spine. When you've gone as far as you can over the barrel, you're going to roll back going to the other side. Find the other side. So now just notice where your pole is. It's pointing on that diagonal, right? And then press the backside of the ribs in to get up. But you didn't come off the opposite hip, did you? Oh, you did? Okay, well you get another shot. Now you know what we're doing. Go the other way.

Rotate. Here's a tip before you go back the hip closest to me. Sit on it more. Not, not overly, but just know it's there. Then focus on that front side. You can even push into the foot a little bit of this, the hip. You're trying to sit on more and come across. Be Nice to your head and neck and up. You come and sendrow.

Let's go a little quicker. Squeeze the knees to the front. Inhale. Exhale, roll back. Inhale, expand. If you can reach back, you do and if you can see where this would go. If you weren't using the poll here but had your arms extended, that'd be fine, but let's just feel it winded or your knees still lined up. Are they still squeezed together as you go back and up and I'm going to give you one more each way so you can play with your own breath and make sure you can keep it consistent. So we exhale. I want to know not out loud, but can you inhale as you go across right here or do you get cut off? It's good information. If you get cut off because it's too strenuous, we relax your shoulders and go back. It's good information. Try and just know where you are. Just Oh, it takes me a while to get there honestly, and we go, all right, remove the pole for now so you have that sense. Next one, it's in front of.

You have that little bit of inward pressure on the arms. We're going to roll back. As you feel the low back attached, you're going to start to reach your legs out. Your Butt will slightly lift until you're coming into sort of a long plank. Reach back with this time. Sorry for the lake called. Don't arch back in. Okay, so you're good. Sorry. You're going to lift up so that you're feeling as close to a straight line as you can. That means your heels are pressing down, your hamstrings are pressing down, your abs are engaged, and then you exhale and bring it all back in.

One shot into around his spine. Just stay around it. Inhale, exhale. The belly draws you back. This light feed. I know we all have sticky mats. It's okay. Light feet. Find that long diagonal plank and inhale, exhale. It's like someone just presses the ribs down at a florist is everything to come forward. Be careful not to let the beautiful, not to let the collarbones go forward and again, you could straighten up in between too. That's probably a good idea. At least that's how I learned it, but for now I was just getting that long line.

Hold it there. Hold it there. Now from here you could support your head. You know how to do that. You're going to exhale and lift the right leg but not because you're lifting it, it's cause you're reaching it and it's slightly less. Put it down. Inhale, other side. Exhale, region, nothing changes. Notice that opposite hip or hamstring on the barrel and again another set of alternating. Just one more time. Your nice and stable feeling that inhale will come back up.

Exhale, press the back end of the barrel to around foe and sit up tall. Going back just a little bit more, warming up the spine, I've got my feet parallel and together push down on the floor lightly. We roll back. If it's available to keep the arm straight, reach back, stay back here for a moment and then come back and sit up. Last one. Inhale, exhale, roll back, back, back, stretch back and come back up. Don't let it be stressful on the neck, right? You going to work for that? Then we're here. We're going to turn the legs out, soles of the feet together and play with a little bit more of the oblique work and then we'll move on. So from here you're sitting tall. I do have that little inward contraction of the arms and pecs and lats rotate to the front. Exhale, roll down and just check in with your feet for a second.

I'm going almost all the way back. I'm starting to arch over some beyond straight. I hope. From there I'm coming up and press Sam focusing. I'm going slow at first to press that forward rib into the mat and back in. Inhale and exhale. Don't go so far back. That causes neck tension, right?

You can stop before then and let's go for eight and back and seven. Use the breath to do it. That's more of any of it. Six and thank you and fuck equal weight on both hips for focus on the side. It's up to you three and two and one come all the way up. Center it, go the other way. Inhale your straight as you start. Exhale, roll back. Make sure you're equal on those hips.

You almost go over the back and then you decide no, I'm going to come back up one. There was 10 and press too. It's not about lifting, it's about pushing backwards. Three find net sides. Four and five. It's worth looking at the hips. Did they come out of [inaudible] as a good six but think about it. Seven press eight press nine will come up on this one for 10 all the way and straighten it up for now. Just take the bar down below.

You scoot forward just a little so I'm just sliding forward. Just a touch. You may have to adjust even from that cue, but you lean back. And what we're go heading for just so you know, is I'm kind of near the lip of the edge and we're going to end up bringing up one leg, other leg, both legs, and you don't want to pitch you into, uh, around our arch back. But at the same time you wanna work. So you find that line for the first few. Hold on, just so you, you know, and I'm, I'm doing a little bit of a pole, but not with my hands. It's more of a lat like pull. All right. Inhale.

Start by thinking we're going to go right. Like think about pressing the spine down to float the right leg up. The leg has very little tension in it. Way Up there. Go ahead. Go ahead. Inhale down. Same like for a minute and exhale, sir. Can you feel how that leg kind of starts higher up than where it appears?

There's three, this tray, the other side, and exhale. One. It doesn't change your spine, but when you change lanes, you might notice a difference. You might decide you want to push down on that opposite like there's three. We're going to do both. Imagine you're getting up. Here's both. Exhale one, get him up, get him up, get him up, up, up. Inhale down. If you're not in the right spot, you move. Exhale too.

And now when you go down, push down, right? Three, we're still going right? You can even imagine. You can put your hands there to give you something to think of pushing down with, right? You're definitely going to work on the way up this time. Stay up there as high as you can. Think about taking more weight out of the tail bunches. Think about it. You might have to curl forward a little with you. Everybody extend the legs out.

Pull them in. Push down and up again. Adjust where you need to end. Prs, pull in and push down. Make that work. Not so much for the legs, but there's some in there. Push, pull in, arms forward like you're going to get up, but keep the collar bones nice and why pull in and down. He feels his knees turned down nice and high. Good down. One more here. We're going up again. Take it up. Extend High.

Pretty High I think, and lean back a little. Nope. I'm going to move forward, but your feet down, but tiny bit forward just to hinge just a tiny bit. I'm not off it, but I'm near it. That's for sure. How can these in take them up? You be able to take them up? Yeah, that's good. That's great. Then squeeze the glutes. A little, little turnout for this one. Start to lower them. It's not going to be a lot.

You're not going to change your spine. You can always hold on. Otherwise lean forward now. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead and here we go. Inhale and exhale enhanced focus here on kid. You draw the belly into that little space that you have in. No, that's too easy. You lower it down, but don't make it all hip flexor. You gotta kind of go with it.

A little bill and out to three arms are pretty high on this one in there you go and feel the back of the legs. Wrapping around him, holding on you up. Let's do three more. I think that'll be it. Even 90 and in and out, in and out from here. Just hold the legs, bring him in. Bend the knees, hold the right knee and closer. Extend the left leg up. Stretch it to the floor and just see what you get. Can you get a little stretch out the lower leg? Slide it in. Hold it other leg up. Reach it. You get along to the floor that since can you reach it even further out on the floor? Not feel good. Oh good. Phew. All right, so we're going to have to stop unfortunately. Bring it back in.

We'll go there again. But that's the idea. That's the idea. You're not gonna go that low cause it will be weird as the transition. Take it high for a single leg, whatever. Pressed town. I mean, I mean, you know what does it test? All right, so can you feel your lats? You're pushing like push. Use your arms and pull it in. Go ahead. [inaudible] change, change. He both be kind of high and then if it feels right, we're going to slow it down a little and let you kind of reach back.

It's a bit more of a bicycle than normal. That's all right. But you don't want it to be coming from anywhere other than that normal spot. Just different maybe and [inaudible] really poor, right? Cause that's going to let you reach the other leg like you like go even lower now, if it feels okay to you, reach, reach, reach. Last one. Both knees in.

We're going high first for double leg stretches so you know what we're doing. How about up reach back? Oh, circle the arms around. Okay, and folded in. I don't know what the breath is. Inhale up. I do actually. Exhale, circle back. You don't have to arch back here. Inhale, bring it around. Reach up, up, up, like you're going to get off that barrel and exhale, bring it back in. Inhale, reach for the toes. Now don't just like do it. Look like, like get up. Not with the shoulders but with, yes, yes. Exhale. Inhale, bring it around. Get up, up, up. Up and pull it back in.

Extend the right leg up. How are you doing on the tailbones? You'll adjust if you need to lower leg down and floated up to the point where you need it right now. Top like pull it in in switch. Be careful and I'm saying be careful more for the the sacrum in this tailbone. Then anything else that you focused on port in, in, you don't need that lower leg to go real low. That's going to be the thing that gets you in terms of comfort.

But let's work on the reason we're doing up here where your neck doesn't have to worry about it. Next one, hold it, hold it. Bend the lower leg, put it on the floor. Keep the um, from grip that you have and then just lay back. You might want one hand behind your head and just lay back, but bring the leg with you. Keep the spatial relationship really is what I'm going for. Between your body and your chest. Support your head then from wherever you are. Stay there if your head supported. If it's not, now's a good time to u s lied the lower leg down towards straight.

You're in the splits now, right. Good and bring only your head back up. Let go the arm. Other hand behind and just the top like not from just at the hip joint, but think about heavy in the hip and draw the like forward. It's so small for three is sinking heavier and heavier and that hip joint. Beautiful. Two more and bend it.

Draw the other one at first. Stretch it up, hold it, hold it. We did a nice long stretch first just here. Check your hips. It's nice when you can see right when you're not so low on there and you can straight in that top line or bottom line. Then once you kind of know your where you want to be, you get to bend the bottom leg. Don't go real close cause you're gonna. It'll be too big of a shock. Bring your leg as close as you think you can.

Keep that distance and start to lay back. This is a different leg, isn't it? Oh, I remember we had one hand behind her head though. Goodness, thank goodness. Support and not just hanging there, but you are challenging it and when you feel like you're up for it, you straighten out the bottom link to, don't let your head just hang without any support. Challenge Yourself. It's about pushing a little bit and knowing, knowing what that is. Bring your head up, check it out. Both hands on scoop that other like, I forget what I did.

That was it, right? Oh yeah. Thank you. Right. Let go. We, I think we were in both hands back and we drew it in. Yeah, you can tell the different legs. I'm like, I don't know how to do that, but I'm giving it my best out of five. Right. Bend that knee and bring the other knee in. Let's put both feet down for a second. Parallel and apart. Hands behind your head. I'm wanting you to lift the hips up. Let the upper body draped back so we're in somewhat of a bridge with the upper back is going over. Of course you need to, you know, be in a position that feels supportive.

Open up those hips as a bit of a pelvic curl there. Now do your best. Would you say we can't. Exactly. We can't quite stay here but we can make it even jucier we can go like this. We can, we're always going to support our head so it might mean the head lifts but lets see if we can leave it there and start to melt down the barrel.

Try to mimic the barrel with the spine, leaving your head where it is. If it has to lift it does. There's no, it should be no pain in the back or trying to sit back down and you can let the elbows come forward. Then do pick your head up to roll it towards your chest and press your spine into the barrel to let go of the arms and just sit up, turn and pace sideways. You're going to want to take your pole to the other end of your barrel. If you have a towel laying out long and you're going to end up being kind of choked up on it. So you're facing front and I'm basically forward of the bench. Just a little here. So I'm not right in the middle.

I mean not right in the middle. That's right. So you should feel Aaron, like you're right on the side of your hip. Like you're doing sidekick. You're, you're almost perfect. You just like sidekick. That's right. That's right. Exactly. Exactly. Be Nice. She was saying get it together. Yeah. Okay. So good. Right? You could lift your leg. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All good. So you were over the top now then, since it's this crowd and take the ball and I've got, I'm using and it's a little harder on the woods. Sorry. Um, but I'm using the bottom arm. The hand, it's straight. Bottom hand is straight.

I'm pushing down on it like I'm gonna use that for a second. And so here we go. We're all lined up. Bottom foot is top that is reaching. We're just going to lift the ribs. You can't really see it. I'm pushing the pole in the ground. That's right. And then meltdown. Do it again. Just feel that. And then down one more like that. You push down.

Then if you could imagine, and you can't do it on a wood floor, but you could pull the pull towards you to get you longer and you reach the other foot like I was pulling on your ankle. And then down, that's where we're starting from. Their bottom edge of the poles off. Both arms are straight. We're going to lift up. Oh God. Why did I start on my hard side and down and again. So what I'm aiming for is a pretty straight line. We, I went too far in my arms the first time so you don't have to come quite quite so high. Okay. Again, so we lift, it's kind of unsatisfying on one hand there we go. And down. Deborah's got a real good example here. And again, reach now from there, stay there and just lift your bottom side of your ribs a tiny bit. Yes.

It's that. Yeah. And I'm lifting you higher than you could probably without that. But that's the idea. Yup. So go that way. Now lift the bottom set of little bit. Yeah, it's more of that. And of course if I weren't there you wouldn't probably go quite high.

But that's it. You got it Debra. It's just to, yeah, good and down. Now, if you're not already forward of your barrel, move forward. So I think that's everyone actually with the same hand position, arm stacked, you're just going to lay back. Your hips will move, but kind of leave them to be less as a stretch, open. Inhale. And then exhale, bring it back to the side. Kind of aligning yourself up as if you're going to get up. So engage enough that you might and go back again. Inhale, let it go open.

You don't just flop. Open the hips slightly. Hold back a bit and then up. One more time and back. Aw. Uh, no, we can't stay here either, but we can think about it then. Let's just put the pole down and a couple of ways you can do this. I'll start the simple way first and I've just got my forearm pressed into the barrel. If you're really tall, you could go to the floor, but that's into the barrel. That's the step one. Top hand is in front, reached the leg, the top leg farther. Okay. And then when you go to lift, just it's an easy lift at least to the height of your hip. So Aaron, I want you to move your bottom hip backwards a little bit. Yep, that's going to do it. Here we go. So from level you're lifting up to think further, more than high. Good for Deborah.

Move your leg back a little as [inaudible] seven ish, eight nine and 10. Then we're just going to take the tricep and support our head flex and kick forward one. Once we've hit back, and this is Kinda nice cause you get somewhat of an assist but you can really challenge the range. So go for it and back. That's right by five and back and six, six and back. Seven seven you're adjusting. Okay good. That's a little crazy. One more time and there we go. Come back to the side.

Lower than like further than where you picked it up. If you want to challenge it a little more, you come higher. Otherwise you just stay where you are. So you'd just bring your forearm up, reach the leg up again, circle back five, it's quick. Four, three, two, one. Reverse your circle. One, two, three, four, five. Bend the knee. Check it out. It should be behind or level with your hip, I should say. And you'd feel nothing in your back. If you do, you come down from there.

It's lift for five only. No big deal. To need a little further back again, Debra. [inaudible]. Okay, now it's lift. Don't let the time move forward. Extend, rebound, or go up and down. You can even go down. Lift, hang out right there and move your knees slightly back. That's all. Lift up. I mean extent. Sorry. Rebound and down. Only five. Number three down and Voila. Great, great. So now you're just going to face the center diamond shape. It kind of feels better, I think to stick out behind you as I adjusted a little gentle press of the knees wide and stretch forward. If that doesn't do it for you, aren't you lucky? If you need more, um, I can't really show you, but you could do that. Figure four and you'd have to be able to sit as straight.

You can bring your feet closer. Absolutely. Try for a flat back for the part. I think we should have been working, but if it feels better to round, that's all right too. Where are you feeling it if anywhere? Less glute. Exactly. Left glued hip. Yeah, exactly. Shall we make them even lean? Painful. Let's switch. I'm going to flip my, my thing where you flip your things too. Yeah. I like looking at you. You guys are nice.

[inaudible] it's, we've got to start all the way at the beginning with the sticks. Yeah, exactly. But if the last side was really hard, this is the easiest. I'd never know. You'd think he'd remember that kind of thing. I don't really know. All right. We're over the top, aren't we always do the push the inside seam of your long leg into the ground for a second so you feel that inner thigh and then kind of use that as a marker of zipping up through the whole body. Push into the body. The arms. I've got the pole still down. Just turned to slightly lift off. Yup.

And we did three, two again and of course you can start thinking about, oh how could I take my pole off the ground? I don't know. It's just an idea. Okay. All right. So now we have to imagine and so you've got this imaginary strap or a friend or a couch or something and we lift up. Oh Gosh. I don't know what the easiest side is anymore. I mean to quite as high. Okay. I mean it can be, it's just a different version. There you go.

So push down into this hand and that other foot that way. Yeah. And again, you won't get that high. I'm just showing you the idea or maybe you will. But why should I? Let me go for it. That's good. That's good. Anybody counting or did anyone count the last time? That's five. Let's go like six cause we played it. The idea is longer. It's both sides of the point. We're not just shortening the top side though.

We could. Let's do that. Was it scoop forward if we haven't and we just hold the ups in place as long as we can so that we open. Let it feel good. You don't have to overthink this one at all. Just if you don't think a tiny bit, you'll, you'll just lay back and it won't do anything and come back. Giving yourself to be reached the leg and hip a little longer. Inhale and expand everything.

Again, if you want to support your head, you can always put that bar or towel right behind your head on this one. Just don't push it forward. Let it really fall back and make sure it's not on your neck. Yeah, don't ruin your moment. Okay. I think we went pulled down from there. First one was drawing your forearm into the box.

You may need to restack your hips at that point and the top leg is at the height of your hip. Yeah. If anything, if you feel a lot in the front, that's kind of an indicator if you're too rolled back. Here we go. We lift up from lift up to, it's gone that way. Three guys. Five, six, seven regional launder. Eight nine still working. Okay. From there we came up, I think we did a little bit [inaudible]. Oh No, you're right. We went to the tricep. Thank you. That's where and from there and use it, right.

Pull into it so you can get the activate kick forward, kick, kick and back and kick. Kick. You can even use this forward leg a little. Might as well, right? Use what you got. And back is this five or six? Five I think six. And sweep. Trying to keep the same level. Sweep straight like there in the back. Two to go. One, one more and two. There we go.

Bring it back to the side. You still working now we came up a little as an option and we circled one. Pick a direction. Two, three, four, five, reverse. I know it's fast. Three, four, five. We bent, we lifted one just five to three notches the knee, but the ankle, two, four-ish and five. Then we went lift. Don't let the knee creep forward. Straighten, rebound. You can lower there. Don't give up there. There's two, two 30. Beautiful. And, and three trans to lean forward. Just check it out. I think we're okay.

But I don't want you to check for yourself. Here's four. Thank Ah, and finally, did I do anything fabulous at the end of that? No. Right. That was fabulous enough. So we go ahead and just turn away and do your stretch again. Hmm.

Play with where your feet are. I think it's good to go flat back for sure. For at least where I think we worked. Okay, we're good. So just you going to turn around and we're going to do, I'm a little swan so maybe I'll show, I think I can talk you through it. The only thing that's a little odd, if, if at all, is the starting foot position that may change. So what I'm doing is lying over the top and everyone's going to have a different spot. It should not make you want to vomit.

That's sort of my marker. You know, there's that one spot, right? Like it doesn't matter how long ago you eat and it just makes you want to anyway. So you find that spot. My, I'm in Polaski stance. So heels are together, toes are cold under an anchored on the floor. And then if you're fine with that, so I can't tell you where to put your knees because my legs are short, so I can't tell you where to go. You're going to hang over with your hands behind your head and your feet into the ground. Heels touching each other. Yup. And it's okay if the knees are bad, no big deal. Just whatever works for you to hang over and not be sick. Okay. That place you're gonna leave your feet here, this whole round. So from your butt, your butt tight. Yeah, unfurl.

So you lift through your head, the crown and you're, maybe you're looking forward, you pressing into the back, then extend your arms XL, squeeze your butt more. When you do that. Inhale refold the arms as if the shoulder blades had something to do with that. Exhale, go down. Oh, I feel kind of sick. I'm backing up. Go again. Inhale, lift up. Exhale. Extend your arms and think of the arms and extension of your legs in a way cause they're about to be. And and in him might be cause there was a mic pack in my stomach and exhale, encouraged the stretch the arms in how refold and now we'll add just the subtle difference, but it will make one inhale you lift up now as you exhale and extend your arms, just point your toes so your legs extend. You can almost think of lifting your legs off the barrel. They won't, but they almost do it. He'll still together. Yep. Inhale, refold arms only.

Exhale, go down. Re Curl the toes under and down. You go from here on out. Try to keep the leg straight. Inhale, lift up as the arms go. So do the toes. Think of lifting the thighs. They will not come off the barrel, but you're thinking about it. More arms, more arms, more arms. Drop the chest, but more arms. Inhale refold arms and down you go. We've got one more. Inhale, lift, exhale, extend. Point those toes, heels together. Squeeze. Can you lift the thighs? Don't try to lift the chest anymore.

Just the thighs. Refold and yeah, happy. It's time swimming on top, which if not done well is way easier. So I'm going to have to encourage your imagination. You want to find the spot and then just quickly look here, you kind of have to test it because if you think you're balanced and then you put your arms out, you're going to tip over. So you tend to have to play with that a little. But here's the real point. Once you get up there, and it'll take me a second, you don't want to take your arms below spine corrector level, right?

You want to be from the top and up. Then you're balancing on the spine corrector that I do it your turn. I'll watch. So good. So Deborah, just the m and a challenge, you know, cause you're in a really good position and your legs can be ever so slightly higher, which of course is going to throw the entire thing off. So whenever you're ready you just play with it. Cause it takes a few, like especially if you've got, you know, I'm kind of short everywhere unfortunately, but if you've got really long legs, you will have to go more forward. And if you start to tip forward, maybe you just think about using your back muscles. Yeah, you can go a little more forward. Aaron Goldschmidt. Oh Nice. Aaron. Nice to ever, go ahead Deb. You're fine. Take your break and we're done. Tilt down a little with your, yeah, you go. There you go. There you go. Exactly.

Exactly. The Fun isn't it? That and you are a swimmer, right? That's the fun. Oh, there you go. There you go. There you go. More legs, less upper body. More legs, less upper body. Aaron. Yes. Like there you go. Awesome. Okay guys. That's good. Rest over the top right. It's kind of fun. Sort of once a year.

Okay. It gets better from here. We're going to do cheese or and stretch and we're done. Okay. So why don't you guys, yeah, I think so. We all like each other enough to do that, don't we? Okay.

So this is really kind of a nice way to do this. I think. Um, we don't need the poll. You could use it, but we don't, we're not going to, you remember the place where we were back in that long line. Well that's essentially where you're going to end up in the full position. But to start, I think, I'm not sure if this is how I learned it exactly, but I've learned to do it this way so I can find it. I'm wanting to get where I can be here. Okay. And my back is rounded. Okay. It's okay. We know we're doing that.

Okay. You could bend the knees a little bit, you might even, it maybe you go more forward. But if you're at the forward most forward part of the lift that you can stand, cause there is that point then then you're there and you can bend the knees a little. That's cool. But turn straight in and when you can't, otherwise you're right. Like almost kissing your knees. Okay. So there's nothing on your neck now cause actually devil, yours is good. Aaron, you get to back your legs up. It's almost too far. Yeah, that's good. Perfect. That's great. Yeah, no, no, no, like full on making out.

Okay. And the idea, if you could almost think of lifting, I'm not saying do it, but lifting your legs up as you get heavier in the pelvis, right? Really get heavy in the pole. Don't hold your legs up with anything other than your hands for a moment. All right. From that place you would reach forward and you'd think about coming even more forward now the shoulders, but with your body.

Take your time cause you meant not be. Exactly. We want to be. You gotta have your hamstrings are, it's no fun at all. Reach back. You tap the floor and you're reaching over the barrel, but you're not arching the back. Then you from right in the space that's below your back, you recontract and you bring it back up. But goal forward, don't just make it the legs and inhale back. Exhale light on the legs, deeper in the belly. Inhale, reach, exhale. Yup. Get even easier on your neck. But don't let it be sloppy.

Just don't tighten it. It stays where it starts. And this next few, when you can up your arms, go to the front. Same thing with the lower body. Just reach retreats. Come on, come on, come on, pick a side. I don't care. And just keep the legs in the middle, the other side come up. And then just reach, reach, reach. Yes. If you're like start over, dominating, kind of change it or minimize what you're doing with the upper body. Last one though, add up. Yes. Take it back. Reach back. Let your feet on the ground first, then arch back over the top.

If your head's not supported, put your hands there so it is, and circle the arms around. Bring your head up when you feel ready. And you might slide back first and roll on. Okay. Grand Finale going in for a lunch. So you just gonna take your knee into the crevice. So you're still going to face front. Same. Same middle section.

So Aaron's right? Yeah, that's right. Yup. There you go. So we'll go, let's say left knee first. Yeah. Yup. You got it. Keep coming forward. That'll do. That's perfect. They have their left knee, but at Brighton works, we're going to switch to you in a second. You come forward, right? It's your Shin is just resting over the barrel. That's probably what I should have said. Sorry. Okay. And then find that place where you just about to sink into the hips but you don't instead your, there's a sense for me and it's, I don't know if you can see it, but if I could actually reach the edge here and I could pull forward, there's a subtle sense of that as my knee reaches back into the crease as as more, most importantly, I tuck my pelvis a little bit. All right, so I'm not just hanging out there, but there's some action in the back.

If you thought about lifting the foot off the arc, you don't have to, but the idea that the hamstring is engaged a little bit to release the front, it's, you know, sometimes all you have to do is think and your body will not. Sometimes every time you think your body has a reaction, doesn't it? So in this case we're just effecting the hamstring and release to the front. If that's not enough for you could actually slide the knee in, you could reach back and grab on. That would be one option. That's a little intense for me.

So another option would be that would be more quad. If you want more hip flexor, you could come up on it. Right. And if you want both course, you could do both next week. Maybe. I love this one. Let me just kind of, you know, I don't want you to turn around and look around, but in this moment as I think, think about it, I can kind of tell that my knees a little, my whole thighs slightly turned out. So I'm going to adjust that just a smidge cause I want it to be a little more straight on. I don't want to just go to my path of least resistance. Oh yeah, that's why I was doing that. Might be a little lower now. No pressure in your back. You've got weight on the forward. Like, let's go ahead and just hands down, but take a moment where you step forward into the leg. I'm not getting up, but I am letting the back knee come up to a little bit straight and just to kind of let the hips come up a little and then you can take more weight in the front leg or just shimmy yourself forward to change sides. [inaudible] and they're different, right? So you, I'd like to start yellow.

Kind of think about sinking in. The knee is somewhere over the ankle. You have, this is a good time to kind of check in with your alignment so that you're not turning the lower leg out beyond what you think. Hopefully it's right behind you. And then this is where I start going. Okay, could I think about pushing the barrel away with my knee? I'm not going to, but that's the idea. And then as I kind of get cozy with that gentle pressure, I think of tucking a little or, or reaching the upper body the opposite way. I don't even have to think of tucking really for me, I benefit quite quickly with these kinds of stretches. Oh, if you want more, you know your options, you could stay low and pull, reach back for the quad to stay down here. Or you can help yourself up. Or if you cramp, you could just straighten your leg. I'll put Christmas.

Yeah. Yeah. But again, you're still kind of re fishing the thigh, the knee end of the thigh one way, the pelvis the other way. It's not just a stretched to the abs though it is hopefully, but also lengthening of the upper back on that curve. Okay. Oh, I just can't my knee turning out again, but we're going to move on and just help yourself forward a little to straighten out that leg.

You can also go into a hamstring if that's an easier way out for you. And then when you feel ready, just use the, like you're standing on the forward one to straighten it up or to bring the like forward. All right. Then we're just going to roll ourselves up enough to turn around and once again, um, stand on the barrel. Only this time you're gonna stand on the arc. I'm gonna bring mine down cause I just feel a little too dominant. So now it's just like we started only instead of standing on the lip, you're standing on the apex, right?

You make a cozy feel, your feet. Can you kind of just like let them drape over the top for rolling down and make sure you don't hyperextend. Here we go. Also trying not to shift your weight back much. If anything you're going to have to, it's a balance. There's no doubt. Do your best to keep your hands down. I mean head down. And then if you can, if you need to, you're going to reach to the side and hold the wood that's appropriate.

You can even bend the knees of course. Still kind of getting that foot feeling of spread out. If you need more, you go lower with your hands to the step. Your head is still down. It's okay. Wherever we are, everybody is slightly bend your knees just a little, and I've got to come to my fingertips in order to not to completely hunch it and I'm going for flat or back. So I'm reaching the tailbone up. I'm moving the pelvis to find a flat back, and then I'm going to round over again and straighten my legs a little more, and then I'm going to bend again. So I'm sending the knees, sliding them towards my face as I let the head just back away a tiny bit, gently reaching the shoulders down the butt up, looking for about a flat back. You can also put your hands on the barrel. That might feel better for almost everybody, even if it's fingertips and then fold in half again with or without straight legs. No, that we're about to roll out.

So if you don't want to do that from here, you might step down so you're not in a place of being upside down too long, enrolling from a height, otherwise you feel the bottoms of your feet pressing into the ground to tilt the pelvis and roll you up. Oh, it's almost like I feel the hand or the thigh bones pressing back as I roll the pelvis on top of the fire burns. Go ahead and turn the arms out. Inhaling up, exhaling down and that just doesn't feel like quite enough. So last thing, I swear, I promise pickle lake put, put the t the toes or the top of the foot against the barrel and either stay there or take that leg down and slightly off the barrel. The one that was t the top of the foot that was touching, either stay there or are you going to hinge forward? Let's just leave your arms low just a little. And in the opposite actions happening, the head is opposite the foot. Exactly. Dude. You feel keep reaching through the crown of your head.

Sometimes it helps me to put my hand there. It's not always helpful, but tonight it seems to be necessary. Woo. And then bring it back up. Control. Keep growing out of your head. Don't just lower the leg. Keep growing out of the spine and switch. And before you just go into it. I have cut for, for whatever reason today that did help me for a little while, which is what we did in the beginning where you reached up into that imaginary or would the poll earlier the hand. Now it doesn't have to stay there, but maybe think of it reaching the leg. It doesn't have to be high. It's just challenging that sense of ourselves in space, not looking for perfection.

We're looking for that openness of brain and then when it's time, you're going to bring it on back cause we want to feel good ending this ground yourself first on the feral. Just stay upright. Bend the knees a little. You won't get far. Probably inhale. Yeah, just three. Here's two. Fill up. Let go. It's up to you. Last one already and that's it. Thank you.

Comments

Erika Quest
Awesome, Kristi! The use of the dowel will be a fantastic addition to create a point of cueing. I can definitely see how your research and resources are very much JOYFUL! You were amazing, anyway. Now you're, priceless. xo.
1 person likes this.
Kristi, thank you for this offering. I have bee waiting a loooooong time for spine corrector class with you. It has been worth the wait.
Thanks Erika and Wendy ~ I'm glad you liked it and really appreciate the feedback!
1 person likes this.
GREAT CUES!! Love hte seated work and the hip/foot cues..Really centering work. Love this.
Thank you Ellen!
1 person likes this.
AMAZING!!!!! Thank you!!!
1 person likes this.
Como siempre son muy lindas las clases de Kristi, sería muy bueno poder tener subtituladas las clases de ella. Me encantan!!!!!
Thank You Kristi!! I have only just bought a spine corrector and used it for the first time in this fantastic class of yours! Wow it felt really amazing!! Thank you so much!! Awesome cues and love the way you teach! :)
Oh that is wonderful Luci! I hope you enjoy our other spine corrector classes too.
I stumbled upon this fabulous workout today at home with my spine corrector. It was wonderful and unique - I can't wait to use with my tight-shouldered male clients tomorrow. The pole added a nice element!
1-10 of 13

You need to be a subscriber to post a comment.

Please Log In or Create an Account to start your free trial.

Footer Pilates Anytime Logo

Move With Us

Experience Pilates. Experience life.

Let's Begin