Class #235

Additional Arms and Balance

15 min - Class
57 likes

Description

This 16-minute class uses light weights (2-3lbs) though can be done, and may be preferred, without weights. In this short section, the whole body does get worked but the emphasis is on the shoulders, upper back, and balance. Please mind the tension in your neck.
What You'll Need: Mat, Hand Weights

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Transcript

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Okay. So we're going to play a little bit tonight with lightweights and I can tell I hit the right crowd with this. I did. Um, so I'm going to have a standing up and I have um, two pound weights out for all of you, Mary. I put together some for us. I think it's also two pounds. Deborah, you got the hard stuff? Three pounds. Yep. And I would not go over three cause they're going to be long lever things. If at any point though, if I've over done it cause you know me, I might put them down and talk and then come back. Um, if it goes to your neck or any place joint related, that doesn't feel good, put 'em down because you can really extend beyond the weight anyway. Right?

Two pounds in three pounds for you guys. It's not that big of a deal, but it's a reminder. So if you would just go ahead and start with your weights in your hands. One in each hand. Yeah, let's face out the window. Well I feel good. I do. It doesn't always mean it's going to go well, but oh, nice. Nice face. Okay. Standing with your feet slightly. Pardon?

Probably just back behind your mat. Yup. And all we're going to do as a roll down so it's best you can forget about the weights, but organize your body so you're upright, your staffed. Do you maybe can start at the top of your head as if someone were lightly holding you up from the ears and the rest of your body's just hanging and stacked and easy. Wouldn't that be great? Yeah. Little traction from the beam. Perry probably could do that. You probably could. Okay, so there you are. And if that doesn't work, look at your feet.

They're parallel and organize from the bottom up. It's an inhale first standing roll down on the exhale. Just let your head go forward. There's no collapsing. You let the forehead fall the upper back, and as you roll forward, of course you're just holding back at the abdominals, creating a sense of opposition right from the start. Arms are just hanging. But here's a good time. Let's just let the shoulders slide off your back.

What that means is the just drooped to the floor. Then make that the last time you do it with me tonight and pull them just gently back to the collarbones or straight across to the side. Inhale a roll and backup. Knit the ribs together. Maybe feel like the sit bones are drawing together. Slide the scapula down the back, standing just a little taller than you did before.

We'll go a little quicker in here. She'll length to your back. Exhale and let's go. Let's go. Let's go in. We're down. Check the collar bones. Their arms are attached to your back. Exhale, roll up and with that just come up a little bit on the balls of the feet to swivel the heels together and zip up from the upper inner thigh through the heel. Heels will come back down. Sorry Jennifer. It was just a quick swivel. Okay. From there, all we're doing is lengthen your back. Raise the arms up. Now imagine, and I don't mean really reach further than you already are, but imagine you could extend your line of your arms even longer. From there, just press down and grow tolerance. It's more sensation than truth, but there is some true stood in horizon and as you exhale, it's like you're pushing down against a solid, I'm going to fake it, but it's like you're trying to grow taller with the arms.

They're just just their arms here. Inhale, maybe initiate the press down from the shoulder blade even though you really don't need it. You could just go with gravity and inhale. Feel the back of your head as it relates to the space between your shoulder blades and inhaling and exhaling down. When we take the arms up just a little bit higher this time. Say about eye level and exhale, lengthening your back. Squeeze the glutes now a little and feel some energy.

They're inhaling up and exhale, pushing down, adding in the heel rise. If you're not up for moving your feet yet, don't just rise up a little bit. Didn't have to be really high and then exhale as you pressed it and rise up. Let the heels follow that connecting. I want to say connecting arms to the front of the body right now for some reason cause we want to avoid popping the ribs out and down up to you. Whether you rise up, I'm gonna change it a little. We come up, we rise up with it. Leave your hands exactly in space.

Stretch your waist to lower the heels. So leave your hands there and then bring it down. Makes Sense. Rise up when the toes, if you're going to with the arms, then leave the hands. Their shoulders are plugged in. Stretch the waist as you allow the heels to sync back to the floors.

Keep the glutes tight and arms down. One more like that Rach. Rise up. Follow it with the heels. Next is soft. Leave the hands, stretch the waist or lower the heels. That's another way of saying it. And down we go from there just to keep the feet on the floor. Take the arms out to the side. And now that you're there, expand your chest. I wouldn't go any higher. Are you okay? Yeah. Okay. So don't, don't do it right. Um, even just your arm weight, right? Cause that's probably enough.

So you might have to shorten lever. Everybody else wants you to expand your chest. Just let it be easy as really nice channel just expanded. Don't try. If you try, you're going to lock down on yourself. Just let it be. Arms should start to get heavy around now, especially if you're not hyperextended from there, rise up on the toes. Leave your hands in space.

Stretch the feet down or the waist down and lower the arms almost all the way right back out to the side. Rise up if you're going to go into the footwork and lead it long low backs as you stretch a little further with the arms and lower the feet and down. Just two more. Reach out, waking up that upper body. Rise up those long low backs and the heels come down one more time. Arms First, heel second. Draw deep in the abs as you lower the heels and bring the arms down. So there they are.

Shake them out if it went to your neck at all and hopefully it won't. Hopefully if it starts to go to your center, bring your feet to parallel and together. And then from here all we're doing is reaching your arms behind you. So I've actually got them there and everybody just throw the ripped up, throw. Allow the ribs to go forward a little. Enjoy last time. Pull them back, adjust your head cause it's going to be weird.

And then reach the arms further. And by further, I mean down on that diagonal good. Can you from there, raise them up a little bit, but don't change any other part of your body at all. That should be six significant, especially if you're holding here in the front. Wrists are soft and straight from there. Just a little lift. One little lift too. You don't want to live so high that you're feeling tension in the back of the neck. Rather reach lower and longer. Caress, caress, nothing changed in the front and from there hug the upper arms together so it's back and back. So in other words, you've already reached as far back as you can now hug them and squeeze together.

Check out where your head is. It's just something to think about. It's probably fine, but let's see. Not much released there. Press and press. Couple more prs and press with that. Let them come down and bring them all the way in front. Right in front of your chest. Good. Careful candy, everybody.

Heavy shoulder blades. Take the arms to the side. Reach a little longer, expanding the chest and almost down. We're not going fully relaxed. Almost mamma. No Low v come forward again. Sweep to the side and down two more like that. Up Open chest expansion. Lift up, lift up from that low back. And I mean, sorry, upper back. One more time. Up and down. Changing the direction. So if you could see your shoulder blades, they're not pinching together, they're out to the side. We came forward, right?

And you could add a heel rise here if you wanted to. I'm not going to and down two more long backs. It'd be tempting to expand the chest and art's back, but we're not into that. And one more time up forward. And this is where we took it behind us. Nice and low, making it a little different. Right? You know the arm reach, take your right leg straight back.

Can easily be done without weights if you don't want it. But it's the same thing. If your arms fine low from here, abdominals are in back of the leg is engaged. Either stay there with your leg or you can lift it up off the ground and we are just barely lifting the arms a little bit higher. One you can actually do the leg with it. Two three check your neck for the subtle hinge is fine.

Five out of six. Six hold foot on or off. The ground is up to you off as a little more challenging. Upper arm. Squeeze together. One foot stay still. Two. Three. Think of expanding the chest here. Four, five and six. Holding Mat from here, keep the leg where it is.

Take the arms out in front of you. Not quite two chest height, just opposite your chest really, but you're leaning and bend the back knee. Bring the arms down. You're kind of lined up. Extend that like forward. Just forward. Nice and low. I know it help. If I told you what was coming, wouldn't it? Now we're gonna bend it.

We're going to send it back low behind us and hinge forward just enough to balance with the weights. Nothing crazy. Not yet. When you bring the arms back by your side, use this upper part, the lap, the tricep sweep, like you're pressing through a six solid. Just clear the foot from the floor and press fund. Okay, can we do that a little faster? Plus should be back here with my arms. Here we go. And it's reach forward to one. Bring it back. If there's a lot of tension in the leg collecting, which it likely will take a break too. I feel it.

And back with the body theory and back. Keep the arms plugged in. They'll avail go forward. But they don't slide off four and back one more time. Five and bring it home after you've kicked front. Yeah, so, so yeah, you're having to stabilize with the lower leg, the ankle, the foot. It's good stuff. But you do have to be careful with how much. Okay, so a little burns fine, but you'd be the judge.

You're a tennis player so you need them and they're always worked so you have to be more careful than those of us who are just lazy. Here we go. Deborah's ready? I see it. Is this where I started? It is. Yes. So we started with the leg down reaching first and we just lifted the arms and we did lift the leg. For those of you who wanted to pretty tiny. Either way you look at it, I'm noticing that I'm looking straight out the window but hindering forward so that's bad alignment. I'm going to fix my head by looking down. Then hold the leg at the position you can maintain.

Feel free to touch down whenever and from there it's squeezing together the upper arms too. If I haven't said it, you want really relaxed hands. Okay. The minute you start overpowering with the hands, you've lost the good stuff and it's just tension. Hips are square. Feel the long line in your body and with that we're going to bend the back knee a little. We allow it to clear forward. Arms come out in front. I'm sorry, that's not right. Right there is where we were. Arms go back as the leg is forward.

So let's get where I am cause I didn't know how to say it nor do it. Here we go. Kick the leg behind you. Reach forward and energize without stress, if that makes any sense. There's a subtle subtle difference between strain and active energy in my mind. And if that's not working for you, maybe you can help me out with it.

Kinda doesn't matter where your body liens, the collar bones are wide, the chest is still open, you're rather light. Although working about it's a couple reach and back in, it's likely that you're gonna feel one side more than the other. Let's them arrange happen and back and again, two more [inaudible] sure. Go ahead and finish it to bring it home. Okay. If you need to loosen up the feet, please do right. Okay, one more little balance and then we'll move to the floor with our little weights again anytime. Put them down. Don't let it take over in the neck. Take your leg to the side, arms out to the side. Now. If it gets there too heavy right now, you could bring them here too. In fact, let's do that.

Let's bring him here for now. Shoulders down there, right up, down beside your body. Raise the leg up. Good. Did you say you wanted to do hip work? Okay. First part is just a little lift from there. Two, three, four, five. Hold for a second. Just check on yourself and I think I'm only tucking. Well, maybe a little Jennifer. I think maybe me and Deborah. Take your elbow slightly forward. Yep, and with that open chest, you will feel that external rotation. All right, so we're at the high point of the leg lift. Extend the arms out.

You don't have to go all the way, but if you can, you do and you pull them back in. You can let the light come down a little, extend the leg, add in the arms or do it simultaneously. It kind of looks simultaneous and bring him back. Trying to activate the upper back. Imagine growing taller as your arms go out just to more supporting leg. The one you're standing on is significantly working. I suspect suspect last one.

Hold it out there. You decide what you want with the arms. Either leave matter pulling back five circles each way. One doesn't matter which way. Two, three, four, five reverses. Soft leg basically. One, two, three, four and five and bring it down with the arms come down. Are we doing so too much for the shoulders? No. Good. Okay. That's a good thing.

I'm going to suggest palms up this time just for variety. Even though it's identical like to the side you do cause you're getting more of the upper arm. Okay, cool. Maybe it's the weight of it. Hold it up, right? Yeah, I'm no, I'm with you. Say I like that too actually. Thank you. No, I like that better to remind me cause I'll forget k lifting the leg one to now again, that lower leg is gonna work a lot. So see if you need to. Okay, here we go. Bring it down. I'm sorry. Take it out. Extend your arms before you do their check that you haven't arched your low back, that you're not sticky but out. It's long.

And then we drew the arms back in. We'd let the leg come down a bit. We reached out. We expanded the chest. Yeah, definitely. Like [inaudible] instead of that. Why did that, oh, your supporting leg yet. Reach and reach. Reach. Good. This is ed.

Here we go. Get out there. Stay out there. You have a choice with your arms. You can put them down or bring them back in and circle five one get taller to get light on the hip joint. Three, four, five, reverse and one, two, three, four and five. Bring it down. All right. Here's what I think I need after that one. Cross your leg over your right leftover. Right. Will you please switch lights?

Thank you. Not me. I am trying to figure out, okay. Now, so your right leg is behind. Yeah. Okay. Benji knees. Just a little, take this right hip and gently, gently press it out toward the side. Not for everyone. Not so the foot. Yeah, the opposite. The foot that's behind you. That hip is being popped out to the side. You're right. No, you're right. [inaudible] trying for the, yes, the Helio Ted level. When you're talking like the Iliotibial van, she says, all right. Now if that's not enough for you, it just sort of use your hands to round or slide down to get a little more.

So all I'm doing is just looking cute or not as the case may be. Oh boy. Oh boy. Someone has been on vacation too. Long switch legs. The right is in front of the left, and then it's again, nothing you want to thrust out, but just sort of stretching where the hip meets. You might just take the weights after one side. That might be enough or you can come forward.

Some of you all prefer a full forward fold. It's early though. We can leave it like this. Okay.

Comments

CJ
Thanks kristi for this class. I love it. blanche.
Why I cannot watch the whole class ?
How can this routines make tension on the neck ?
I don't see the correlation here.
Thanks.... great class....
Great class - thanks so much!
Was it 20 minutes? I liked it but wished it was a little longer.
Andrea you're right, it was only 16 minutes. When we describe our classes, 15 mins is not one of the options to choose from because they are so rare. Based on your feedback, I have stated in the description that the class is 16 mins and not 20. Thank you.
Really enjoyed this segment. Where can I find the complete class?
1 person likes this.
Nicole ~ Here is a full Mat class by Kristi with the Hand Weights. I hope you enjoy it!

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