Class #1859

Progressing to Intermediate

35 min - Class
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Description

Delve into the basics of the traditional intermediate Reformer exercises with MeJo Wiggin. If you're not quite at the intermediate level, MeJo adds in variations and modifications of the exercises that will help you build the strength you need to execute the exercises. She also offers hands on corrections so that you can really see the placement of the body. This class is a good resource for those transitioning between the beginning and intermediate level Reformer work.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

About This Video

Oct 20, 2014
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Hi, I'm me, Joe Wigan, and I am so grateful to be here with Palladio's anytime. Thank you for watching. I'm here with a teacher, Amy havens, who's going to join me. And uh, today we decided we're going to go through some of the basics on the reformer, on the classical Palladio's reformer. So we have a grots reformer with four springs, and I'm going to take Amy through a lot of the basic exercises that we do on the reformer and explain them. So I encourage you to follow along at home and listen in and just try to feel this in your own body as we go through it. Okay. So we're gonna Start, um, wanting to start off talking about a [inaudible] stance because I will refer to that through our workout today. So Amy's gonna stand in a Pilati stance, okay?

Which most people tend to open their feet too wide, okay? So that is not a Palati stance, okay? It's not a first position. It is a very slight rotation from the hip. So if you were to take your legs straight out and engage your glutes slightly, the leg will rotate very slightly. I'm going to take my shoes off so you can see this.

If you take your leg forward and very slightly engage under, and then put it back. Now do that with the Hec and leg forward. Slightly turnout and squeeze here and bring it back. Your feet are literally only two, maybe three inches apart here. Okay, that's it. It's not a big wrap turnout here. It's a very slight, just so we can engage these muscles and wrap through your thighs. And do you feel your seat is very slightly engaged? Correct.

Now I want you to take your toes and lift them high up off the floor while you're here. Okay? Notice was a does to your arches. You know it lifts them and then put them down again. Lift your toes high, even your pinky toes as well. And notice your arches really pull up off the floor and let them go. Now Zip your inner thighs. Keep it. Lift your toes. Now can you keep your arches up as you slowly lower your toes to the floor?

Yeah, you feel that? Okay, hold there. Hold your power house in an up and tall. That's your Pilati stance. We're going to come back to that through the workout today. Okay? So now that Amy's in this beautiful Pilati stance, she centered in is actually a very powerful stance. Okay? At any moment when you draw your stomach in and up, so at any moment you can actually come up to the balls of your feet. Yeah, that's the stance Romana used to talk about a lot about, especially as a teacher teaching all day.

When you're on your feet for a long time, that's a great place to stand. Okay, so we're, now that we have our [inaudible] stance, you're going to cross your arms in front of you, control your body down into the reformer and easy lie down for some footwork. Okay? So Amy doesn't have any injuries here. We're going to go through some of the basics. So on the first footwork position, I want your feet a little bit wider than a Pilati stance and your heels up. Now notice Amy, what that does is it's going to make your knees spread out to the side. You feel that?

Can you hug those inner thighs and keep your knees in the frame of your body with your heels? Oh, we're not even moving yet. And can you feel your legs working? Yes. Traditionally, that's our first position on our footwork. So we're slightly wider than [inaudible] stance. All your toes are on the bar, the heels and the arches are lifted. These want to go wider than your frame, but you're got to control that. That's the first position. So from here, let's go out all the way out and all the way up, get some length to your body. And as you reach those inner thighs, we'll draw tight together. Each time. You don't want to rush your footwork, take your time to lengthen and feel your body drawing in and up. Yes, way up. Beautiful. And your arches never fall.

The heels don't fall. It's like they're lifted up on a shelf here and we do one more and that's 10 and bring it in. Okay. Now we're going to take it on your arches. So on your arches, I want your feet over and your heels under and feel me when I pull down and push here. Now against that zip your inner thighs together. Now go again all the way out, all the way in. Make sure you get that last little quarter inch on the game. You really lengthen and pull. What do you feel?

Everything you got at reach and pull and stretch. Yes. Now stay out there and pull back in. Good. Now try not to let your feet wiggle when you're on this. Yes, you have to work a little harder in your seat to do that, don't you? Yeah, so steady feet, tight seat and go lengthen and pull on the foot work. You're working in both directions. You don't just want the springs to bring you in. You lengthen, you pull, you reach, you pull smooth in one more long, and now let's take it on your heels so you're flexing your feet.

But a tendency is to open the toes. Here. I want you to keep the toes. Keep your inner thighs, everything together. Now go all the way and pull in and that last little quarter inch out there. Are Your legs still together? Yeah. Reach and pull and reach and pull.

Work your body. Love to hear the sound of those springs. Nice and smooth. [inaudible] and the feet. Again, nice and steady. Try not to let them flag around on the foot bar. Hold them steady. Reach, pull, scoop up. Pull. Beautiful. So your collarbones are wide. The arms are relaxed. You're working from your toes, right up your center line all the way through the crown of your head. And one more. And now back on your toes. Okay, so now we're going to come back to that Pilati stance.

So it's not as open as the first one we did. Now let's go lengthen out and keep it. Okay. The arches are lifted. Inner thighs are together. Can Miss knee straighten a little more? Make it straight. Now control it. Control it down and down and down and lift.

Smooth back up. Good. No, keep going. Control it down for three counts and up for three counts. Smooth and steady. Now be careful when you're doing this. Lift your head and look at your knees. Is One knee hyper extended? So can we, yes, we need to soften this one a little bit more. Now continue your footwork with this soft but this tight.

Use that yes. And your legs shouldn't be rolling in and out. Hold them steady and pull up. Pull up, pull up, control to come down and control lengthening up. So again, you're working on the down motion. Just as much as you're working on the up motion. Easy on the down. But lengthen and lift. What do you feel Amy? S oop and up. Yep.

That whole calf foot in her leg. Your seat, your powerhouse. One more and pull all the way up long. And then you can bend to come home. And that's our footwork. Okay, let's take the hundred from here. So you're gonna reach for those handles. Always lift your head and chest up, and then you can lower that bar. Now you're in your powerhouse. Yep. And again, we're still on three springs.

We're going to take the a hundred so what if you start with your elbows down, draw your abdominals in. Now can you draw your power house further in as your legs float right out there? Yeah, they should be floating. Don't let them grip. Keep them relaxed. Focus on your abdominals. You inhale, but really on the exhale, I want you to draw your powerhouse deeper so you take a good breath in. But let's get more air out than you take in in the air.

Now go exhale and scope. Good. Keep going, Amy. So the legs are quiet and on the hundred you don't want to take your legs too low because what happens? You don't work your power as much. You work your hip flexors in your quads. So sorry guys, if you think this is advanced, I hate the Italia, but you're just cheating on me. All right, so stay up here and feel where you should feel. That's it. Yes. Then you can even soften your knees slightly. Oh, you feel that stomach with soft knees. Can You keep your heels together and press them all work those low abdominals.

Good. Amy, give me one more breath in the air and take a full, get all the air out of your body and then bend everything to come in. Okay? We're going to take some leg circles and frog. So I'm going to drop us on two springs and I'm going to flip these over for, for Amy here. So this is a brilliant exercise to teach your beginners because everybody, when they first do this exercise, they think it's a leg exercise. Well, this has nothing to do with your legs. This is all about your powerhouse. So you're going to hold those straps and take your feet in into these loops here. Yep. Now I'm going to mark something.

You don't want this strap up here, okay? We don't want it here. I want it on the bottom of your arch, just like you were on your footwork position, right? Because when those straps are on the bottom of your arch, the foot can stay long and you're going to give me more working in your powerhouse. Remember, your seat is part of your powerhouse. So we use that here. Okay? So with Nice long feet, I want you to hold your belly in and can you feel your back fully down in the mat in this position? Yeah, you're flat. Everything is down. Now can you draw your stomach deeper in as you extend your legs out, scoop into the mat and your back should still be down.

And then easy Ben back in. So scoop your power house in a way from your toes and bend in. So the focus is not on the legs. It's your powerhouse pulling in away from your toes. You're working in two directions here. The legs lengthen one way.

The power house draws in an up and your low back is supported at all times. Now, once again, if I take you lower, what happens? Your back is up, correct? Yeah, we don't do that. Yeah, keep it up and work your center so you don't graduate by getting stronger and taking your legs low. We'll just graduate onto some different exercises when we're ready, but work your powerhouse. Brilliant. Give me one more and you scoop your power house deep in and keep it there. Oh, look at that gorgeous scope.

Now can you keep that scoop as you make little circles with your legs? Yes. So your legs are now free to move, but your powerhouse is really hanging on. Yes, and especially as we take these legs, low [inaudible], loose legs, loose feet, pull your powerhouse instead. And again, here, where's our legs? It's not a big turnout again, it's just a slight little Palati stance, right? So again, it's slightly working from the hip, working your glutes. You go down and up, get it together each time and together. Now we're going to reverse it together. Back up, scoop together, up. And notice as we bring these legs, lower that stomach wants to jump out. I want you to scoop it in more for me, Amy. Scope in. That's the hard part. You use your powerhouse. And then we bend your knees to back in. Good. Good. Easy to step out. We're going to take your feet out of here, Huh? And we're going to step off.

Let's take the long box. Okay. Okay, so again, now we're on one spring again and you're going to lie on your stomach with your shoulders flush with the edge. Okay, you're going to reach up on these scraps and the legs are long. Now it's very tempting to lift your legs, right? That's going to pinch your low back is it doesn't feel good, but we also don't want to drop them down here either. I want you to, again, keep this Pilati stance and zip your thighs to stay. Keep your seat tight. That's gonna protect your low back.

Now we don't want your head to fall on the floor. Your head starts even with the rest of your spine. Here we go from here. Draw your shoulders back. Now lift your head, lift your chest up, but nothing else moved. Your legs actually get longer reaching into the back wall and then he'd come back down and again, the shoulders back, lift and hold and hold. Now Amy, let me ask you, where are your ribs? Are they on the box or off the box? Yeah, you want to keep your ribs in the box and easy back down so the ribs stay ideally, wouldn't it be nice if Amy can arch from here up, work the upper back?

Only everything else is stable down there. And then let it go. Go ahead. Now we're going to take your hands to the edge. Now actually for some people that exercise is very challenging, right? It's a lot of work on your back. So what we can do is you see these metal rivets on the straps here.

You don't have to reach up so high hold the rivets. So now your arms are more to the floor. Now we maintain the integrity of the exercise, but boys it a lot easier. Let's go lift your chest. How's that feel? You still feel it in your upper back, but it's a lot easier. It's less strain.

Maybe you have a shoulder problem or if just your weak shoulder back, hold that lift and let it go. But Amy's doing great. We're going to go onto the next one. Take the legs, the arms out in a tee. So your hands here [inaudible] the legs stay together. And when I start this, I want to have your hands stay back so that they're in line with your shoulder. So if I can draw a straight line, I've got Amy's wrist, her shoulder, her shoulder, and then her other wrist.

I don't want her hands forward of that. Okay, so hold the line now go. Inhale, lift your chest up from there. Beautiful. Hold that. It's a small motion, isn't it? And then let it go. And again, just the upper back. Hold it there and release it. Yes. One more. Just that upper back. Hold it and let it go. Good. We're going to step off and I'm going to turn you around. Let's practice a teaser.

So you're going to sit on the edge of the box and Jake, your feet on the foot bar. I'm going to give you these handles back here. Okay, now nice and tall. Lift for me. I want you to hold your stomach in and can you curl to the back of your cocksucker but still keep your lift. So lift in scope. Yes. You didn't lose an in John Mays. Hey there, right there. Now take one leg up off. [inaudible] holding your power house.

Now try to take your other leg up. There you go. Those legs. Stay Bent. Now can you scoop your belly deeper? And as you reach up above those knees and then back down to your hip and pulling your stomach to reach up over your knees and down to your hip, yes. Use your powerhouse to pull. And we want to make sure you don't lock your elbows. Keep them soft.

Pull from your powerhouse. What do you feel? Fill your stomach. Yeah, give me one more. Pull up. End Easy. Come down and you can rest your feet. This is a great way to introduce the teaser. Yeah, a lot of people have a hard time pulling up correctly. So again, let's show that lift again. She's lifted first. Now you start to curl back right there. Take one foot up at a time and let's challenge it this time. This time, her knees are gonna open and the heels are together. Okay, now go Amy.

Pull in your stomach and reach over those knees and then down and again, scoop up. Get over those knees and down to your hip. Oh, find your powerhouse up. And when you come down, don't fall back here. Your hands stop. At the hip up stuff at the hip right there and go up stuff at the hip so you can't swing it. Can you one more and then you can rest. Beautiful. Good, good. Easy to step off. Let's flip this into a short box. Okay, so we're going to take it over.

The shoulder rests and we're on two springs to stabilize the carriage and you're going to take your feet under. Okay, so let's scoot back. So you've got tension on this. Yeah. Now we don't want this strap up here at your toes. I want it low on the bottom of your foot. Now you have to really work those ankles. Okay?

Notice it has to softens your knees too when you do that. Okay, so we're going to give it a hug. I want you to hold your powerhouse deep in. And again, before you go back, I want you to lift up. Now that you're lifted, draw your ribs in and roll back to me. Everything stays lifted and pulled up out of your hips and hold. Now exhale to come back up. And again, you're going to lift first and then curl back to me and go and go. And if you can get your sacrum on the box and then exhale to come back up and you lift and slowly roll back and scoop and hold and exhale the air.

Now another variation we can do is to put your hands here on the box. Now you can see what you're doing. So now lift up and go roll back. Draw it in, and keep it. Now can you pull it in more as you come up? Yeah, sometimes it helps to see it lift and curl back and hold. But then exhale, draw deeper in as you come up. So you're not just going forward. Back here.

One more lift and curl, curl hold, and then a big exhale. And you reach for your toes. And this all stays lifted. And this is nice and relaxed. Okay, we're going to take the straight backs. You're going to take your hands behind your head. Now when your hands come behind your head and you lift, the tendency is to throw an arch in your back, right? So I want you to lift and then draw your ribs in deep. Yeah, nice and long. Again. Lift up off that seat, holding your ribs and let it go. Good. Squeeze and lift.

Use that seat. Use your feet and let it go. One more. Squeeze in. Lift. This one we keep. Now can you keep lifting as you tip your body and then exhale back up. Inhale up, hold your breath. Now the breath is important on this inhale, fill your lungs and keep it. Keep your lift. Exhale.

When you return in with the air, hold that breath. Exhale on the return. Feel that breathe in. Hold onto it and XL. Now you could stretch for your toes again. Yes, anytime you exhale, you're going to drop your chest and collapse your spine. We want all the lift we can get out of you when we do short box. Okay, so now let's go side to side.

So take your hands behind your head and this time is, you're slightly forward. We're not going back lift and let's go up over to the right, long over and back to center and lift and stretch over there. And Center. Good. Now keep your chin up. Now go long, long, long and back to center. Lift and go stretch. Now let's play with this and come back up. Reach for the ceiling. Okay, now give me a straight back. Imagine a pole is running through your spine. Stay on the pole as you go to the left. Stay on the no, don't bend.

There's a pole running through your spine long. Oh, go straight. As can be long, long, long. Now look out the door there. Always that different and back up. Give me a straight body so we can play with this. I don't want any bending. Ooh, that's more strengthening isn't she's got the stretch. She doesn't need that. Lengthen and up and all lengthen. Hang out there. Or you feel your left side and let it rest. Yes. Good, good, good. So play with that. Sometimes we, then sometimes we straight. It's all good. Yeah, it challenges you differently.

Let's take a twist from here. So you're going to take your hands behind your head. You draw your abdominals deep in and keep them in as you twist your powerhouse and twist and back to center and in with the air twist, twist, twist, and back to center. Inhale, scoop. Hold that breath and then center in with the air. Hold the breath. Aha. Add a little tilt this time. Breathe in, hold the breath.

Now hold that breath and then you can exhale. So we need a good breath and hang onto it. Lengthen it, and exhale on the return. How is it up? Different? It moves. And then exhale. One more big lift. Keep it in. Go flex those feet and then exhale, reach for your toes. Relax your spine, but lift your powerhouse.

[inaudible] let's take the tree from here. So hold underneath the knee. Sit very tall and your back. Lift your spine holding those abdominals and stretch up and bent. Good. And I try to keep that thigh right on your chest and you lengthen. And one more. You feel the stretch. Reach for the ankle.

[inaudible] now it's very tempting here to just drop your head and round your back. [inaudible] can you draw your powerhouse? In a way from your thigh league with your abdominals. Scoop. Now the leg stays. Now control your body down lower and lower and lower and lower right there. Now can you draw deeper into come up again and up. You feel your powerhouse.

How much are you using your arms? You're hanging on for dear life? Lightly think fingertips. Oh, that'll challenge your stomach. Fingertips now scoop to come up and lift and lift. And Flax. One more. Draw your abdominals in, away from your thigh. Lower and lower and stay. Now exhale, scoop in to come back up and get very tall. Finished with a big lift. Energy up. Flex the foot and let it go. Good. We're gonna switch legs, so hold onto your left leg. Tall spine powerhouse in.

And as that leg goes up, you shouldn't slouch. You lengthen more. You grow an inch. When you lift your leg, your body lengthens the come up and one more. Lengthen. And now reach for that ankle. Drop Your Chin down and scoop your belly deep in. Yeah, and we're nice and square. Control it down. Nice level shoulders she has. And then scoop to come up and get taller and taller and finish with a flex.

Again. Draw your power house in a goal and go, everything is square right there. Now scoop deeper to come up and lift. Lift your left side up. Length and Netflix that foot. Uh Huh. Can you give me one more? Draw your powerhouse in and before you climb down, let's see if we can get this directly on the ceiling. Or now go down. Scope. You fill your powerhouse. Pull, pull, pull. Good. No scoop. And she said she's getting adjustments. Good for you.

Now lift really jol flex. Grab the ball of your foot. Yes, a big lift to finish and then let it go. Nice. Let's get rid of our box. Okay, so we're going to go right into the long stretch from here. Let's get along. Let's go over this. So the headpieces, I'm going to put a pad here for you and remember that Pilati stance, we need it now more than ever. So length in your body, hand, foot, hand, foot. And I need to see this beautiful Palati stance. Those inner thighs are zipped together, stomach in and up, and the heels are lifted. Now don't move those feet. Hold your body steady as we press out the whole show. Now.

Exhale, pull in, pull in, pull in. Inhale. Use your seat now. Exhale. Good. Watch this. Nothing Swayze. Lift your ribs. Hold here. Lift your chin. No. Get longer, longer. Pull that spring in. Yes. Zip those legs. Now pull in and pull in and hold. Here's a common mistake. If you take your heels too high, like right now, Amy has her heels literally over her toenails. Look what we have.

She'll buckle her back. So I need your heels over the ball of your foot, and that's enough. Now lift this instead. Scoop. Yes, that's better. Now go good. Don't move those feet any higher. You feel the difference, Amy? No more feet. Use your powerhouse. Use Your abdominals in an uphold this steady. One more tight. Feet tight. See, we stand for the elephants. So here again, that Pilati stance is very important to hold you stable. Okay, so now we're going to lift these ribs and round. I want this to be the highest point on your body right here.

Really give me a good stretch with your heels pushing down in the carriage. Don't just rest your feet. Push them into the carriage and lift your stomach in and up against that. There you go. Now easy. Press out now slow. Drag it all the way. Close it, close it, close it, and again, press out as you come in. Dig Your heels down to get in.

Press now. Dig Down to Paul. Yes out. Oop It in and easy out. And if you cannot find this, if you don't feel this in your abdominals, what I want you to do is reach down and drop off a spring for me. Go drop off a spring. Yes. Now she can't go fast. You better keep it slow. Don't go flying on me.

Easy out. Now pull. Ooh, you feel that you can't cheat on that, but be careful. Small movement out and pull in. Easy out. Lift your powerhouse in. One more. What do you feel, Amy? Yes. She feels her power house. She feels those abs and let it go. Very nice. Thank you. Okay, let's step off and go into the stomach massage from here.

So we're going to take it on three springs and we're going to take our pad forward. You're going to sit, and again, our feet, very slight Pilati stance here, but I don't want you to sit on your sits bones. Can you curl under there? Yes. So in this position, yes. You feel like you want to lie down. It's hard to hold your in the right position. Yes. Hold your abdominals deep. And now against that, what happens when I live that? Yeah. Oh, you feel your stomach? Yes.

So holding that belly and let's go scoop and down and Oh yes. Let's move and down. This moves. Pull down. Lift. Bend, pull. Yes. And in pull one more and stay there. Okay, let's watch Amy. So in this position, Amy's in the letter c, can you make it a capital letter c? So give me the lift and still there. Soft arms, shoulders anchor. The lift comes from here. Now continued. Yup.

You don't want to compress. Lift down, up much better. There you go. Get that lift up. Don't just hang out back there, scoop and pull up out of those hips and against that though, shoulders are anchored. Now for some people, this bothers their back. Okay, so we can modify this. I'm going to have you do a totally different. Now I want you to sit up dead straight. Uh Huh. Come in a little closer. Push the carriage out and sit up tall.

Lift your back and anchor here. Squeeze. Now keep that there and again, draw your stomach in and up. You're straight up and down. This time, fill your upper back. So now she's strengthening her upper back, but she should also be feeling her powerhouse so we don't have to fully round her. If that's not a good position for your body to be in, we'll then go straight up and lift. But notice she doesn't sway. Her body is in swing. She's straight up perpendicular to the floor the whole time with her shoulders anchored into her back and her abdominals drawing in and up. It's kind of Nice, isn't it? Yeah. One more and scope and down and up and in. Now we're going to take your hands back. Now we want to open the chest, so lift the chest wide open. Collarbones and we continue tall down. Up. Yes.

Lift your gaze a little more and reach and one more. Reach and up. And Ian. Now can you sit closer to the front there? So now her spine is on a diagonal to the back. Press out and stay. Hold on. I'm going to give you one of these here. This up, this open and this or right on the same line. Isn't that nice? Now can you soften the elbows and still keep this wide open? All right, I'm going to let go. Hang on to that, Amy. Let's go down. Up. Yes.

Keep that head back. Yes. A lot of people when they do this exercise, next thing you know their head ends up here. I call it the chicken neck. That's never a good look. Keep it back. Lift up open. Lift your chest, open your heart and breathe. Good. Amy. One more. Stretch down. Now drop a spring. We're going to reach forward. So push out the set up straight. Now in this position.

Imagine a board is on your back. She leans slightly forward. Now can you stay slightly forward as you try to come in, stay forward. Don't lean back, don't lean back, don't lean back again. Press out. So if this carriage bangs in, I know you're cheating on me. Press lean forward during the lift, Amy, press hold.

So a lot of times as a teacher, I'll take my foot here. So now she can't bring it in. Stop the carriage. Now lift you instead. You feel that? That's what I want. Press it now. Stay and lift. Press. Don't come in. Resistant lifting, lifting, Ma.

It's all about the lift again and press and lift and lift or find those muscles. Beautiful. One more out, but then it's the lift. I'm after lift. Give me a twist. Oppress tall, stretch and bring it here. Lift up and twist your whole waist. Bring your whole chest fully around and then bring it in. Good. Now can you maintain your Pilati stance or that's a little of different story, isn't it? You can't shift your sits bones, zip your inner thighs, Zip your heels.

Don't move those legs when you're out there and it was something else. Where's your waist, your ribs, your chest, or you feel the difference? Give me one more. Don't move that Peloton stance. Zip it up. Reach and stretch and bring it in. Beautiful. Thank you. That was the stomach massage series. Very nice. Okay, from here, let's go into our knee stretches. Okay, so you're going to kneel down on the carriage again.

Hold the bar [inaudible] and you want to really make sure these toes, a lot of people love the tuck their toes under there. I don't want you to stretch them open and stimulate that. Push the heels into the shoulder rest and give me a beautiful c curve and sit back, sit back, sit back right there with your head down, powerhouse in and out, and we go out and in and out. Right back in. Now, rhythm is important on this play with this ready? Listen to my rhythm. Ready? What if we go out in, out, in, out. You feel that you get nothing out of that, right? All right, here we go. Stay with me. Imagine you're a horse.

Ready to take off at the racetrack, pulling that stomach and that smooth out. Pull it in to outright back in there. You go in. Absolutely. Hey, you can come in more hand out in moves. Those springs, your in control of those springs can pull in and in and your home. Did you feel the difference? Now look up an arch. Now can you keep that same rhythm? Let's go out in move those springs. This reformer is not going to do a thing for you.

You have to move it out in. Come in more in, in accent. The can pull him can. That's it. And then get round again. All right, let's try this one. So dig those heels back. Hold your powerhouse in and pick up the knees. Now you must keep a seeker for me, so if you have to come higher up, that's fine with me. But the minute you flatten out, you're not in your power house anymore. I needed to stay scooped and there do what you can earn.

Good Scoop, nice long arms. Think of herself pushing away from that foot bar. Stay off that bar and then easy to come home. There you go. Let's go into running from here. So now we get a nice one. Her Heart's speeding. Good, good. Okay, so we're back to foot work again.

Only let a longer, let's see if we can take this [inaudible] let's take a little more parallel. There you go. Hold your power house in. Fill your left side in. The Mat is your left side and right side. Fully down. Yeah, that left side wants to lift. Now go run, but on the run, I don't want you to focus on the down. It's the lift up. Just like footwork up. Change up, lift. It's quiet. It's deep. Catch your breath.

Collect your body again. Yes. Up. Change up. Yes. Lift up. Work through those feet. Now the balls of your feet should stay on that bar at all times. So Amy, when you come up, you're actually rolling onto your pinky toe on this foot. So lift your head. Now try running and see where you're going. Stay on it. It feels different. Yeah. Yes, that's better.

Stay on that big toe. Yeah. Sometimes it helps to lift your head to see where your feet are going, see where your ankles are going, and then easy bend it in. We're going to take the pelvic lift, so onto your arches. Open the feet here. [inaudible]. Now again, we want this on the bottom of your arch. Curl your tail up and we're on two springs. I'm going to add a spring here.

Here we go. Length and out and reach and reach and reach and reach. There you go. Now pull yourself in all the way. Close that carriage. And again, stretching it longer. Good. When you're out there, where's your tail? Is it on the mat or is it just hovering? Yeah, it's going to hover.

But as you come in, it may curl a little higher. Yeah, go out and stretch those. And as you come in, make sure your knees open over your second toe. [inaudible] and press out all the way. Now pull it in and let's try something. Stay here with me. I want you to flare your toes back.

Push the carriage out for me and dig your heels under the bar. Oh, stay there. No. Can you stay there and try to come in the pool, pool in the air, get the tail air? You Go, stay out, press out. Hold it there. Now slowly, Paul, what do you feel? Um, [inaudible] so a lot more on your glutes, isn't it? Reach. So that's a variation for some people who need that lengthen. Now you resist coming in, you pull your toes flare back.

But those heels have to stay grounded under the bar. Dig them under the bar. It's almost hard to come in all the way, isn't it? Yes. A little variation. Now roll down one vertebrae at a time and easy to step off. You got it. How do you feel? Great. Good.

Comments

Paola Maruca
Simply amazing......more more more!!!!!!
1 person likes this.
This was some workout! I am completely sweaty. I liked the modifications for elephant, stomach massage, and the pelvic tilt. Definitely felt those exercises in a new way.

Wish the class was a bit longer. My arms didn't get much of a workout.
Wow what a ride. Thanks for all the details, modifications. So helpful.
Really great workout thank you!!
1 person likes this.
I love this! It the way she broke down the movements was really helpful. Her explanations, cues, and modifications helped me to look at exercises in a new way! More please! :)
1 person likes this.
Thank you MeJo and Amy!! Super clear, concise and simple.
6 people like this.
As the lucky student in this class (thanks MeJo), I was really warm, sweaty, and challenged! It was a beginning level class but for anyone wanting to review details, connections and intentions, you'll be happy you've taken this class. Stacey....as for there not being much armwork, well.....that happens later in intermediate work. Watch for MeJo's other classes of higher skill level and you'll get that armwork you're looking for. She can give it, believe me! :)
1 person likes this.
I envy you Amy! Good to you!
I have been lucky enough to attend some of MeJo's workshops and have a couple of 1-1 sessions with her and she is an absolutely amazing teacher. Amy certainly looked like she was having to work very hard in this video!
Would love to take a workshop with MeJo!! Amazing teacher! Her cues were precise and informative:) Thank you!
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