Class #2394

Twisty Arc Fun

25 min - Class
337 likes

Description

Get ready for some twisty fun in this quick Spine Corrector workout with Blossom Leilani Crawford! She shows how you can get more movement in your thoracic spine on three versions of Arcs - the Spine Corrector, Baby Arc, and Foam Roller. You will enjoy exercises like Bridging, Pin Up, and so much more!
What You'll Need: Spine Corrector, Baby Arc, Foam Roller

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Hi, I'm blossom. Laelani Crawford. Um, I'm here with the East Coast, west coast battle east coast here, west coast here. Joggers, well, we can't Yankees really. Anyway. Um, so we are here to do a bit of barrel twisty fun. I've been a bit obsessed with sort of getting more movement in the thoracic spine, the rib cage department. And so, um, this I, this workout I designed to sort of help get some more movement in that. Um, to do this, you're gonna need a either Hump Barrow, I call it the hump barrel, baby barrel. You could use a spine corrector or a roller. If you have none of those things, you can roll up a towel just so that you have something to sort of leverage off of. So starting lying down on your back, you're gonna let your legs sort of drape over whatever humpy roundy thing you have. You're going to inhale and as you exhale, you just going to lift your head up, look down toward the navel, and we'll come on up. And as you lift up, you wanna check in with your hips and make sure that you're not tucking or pressing your waistline into the floor. You just leaving them alone. Inhale. And as you exhale, rest your head down. Let's do that a couple more times.

Inhale. And as you exhale, lift your head up, reaching those hands forward. If you have to go and reach past the thing that you have, that's fine. [inaudible] and on the next exhale, rest your head down. Let's do one more. Let's make sure you're breathing. So come on up. Really send the energy down to naval. Stay up here.

I want you to come up a little bit higher. Count out loud. Slowly to five. Say One, no pumping. Two yes. Three, four, five. Inhale, stay there. And as you exhale, lengthen the spine down to the floor. Good. Inhale. And as you exhale, bend your knees, put your feet on the top of that. Um, humpy thing. By the end of this class, I'll have figured out a better thing than saying humpy thing, rounded object. You're going to push down into the feet and just give me a pelvic lift.

Lift your booty up into the air. Yes, challenging. Inhale. And as you exhale, close your eyes and think of taking your breast or chest away from the chin. Exhaling as you come down, chest comes down first. And even that's it. And keep thinking chest. Keep thinking chest, keep thinking chest and come down. Let's do that one more time. Pushing down into the feet. Adjust your role, or if you need to lift up again. Inhaling. And as you exhale, think chest away from the chin. Close your eyes. Upper back comes down first. Take your time, middle back, comes down next.

Get the waistline down before the tailbone touches down. Ooh, it's a lot of work. If you're seeing is moving around, by the way, anyway, when you're ready, you're going to now extend the legs forward. If you have a roller, you want that roller really up. Um, your gluteal fold. I love saying that just up there, but not too up there. So from here, I know laughing spine, inhale. And as you exhale, pressing down into the hands, press down to the thighs and straighten the legs. The butt stays down on the floor. That's it. Let me take a look at that.

And Bend knees. Carolyn, I want this closer to you, so I want this. Really? Yeah, so that when your knees are bent, it's right up against the butt. And now again, one more time. Straighten the legs as you straighten legs. The reason I wanted here, go to straight. You're gonna almost tick the butt out cause I don't want that Tuck of the pelvis I actually want you to use. That's it.

The roller or that hump to sort of get that position. Now inhale, as you exhale, lift your head up. There it is. Press down to lengthen those legs away. Stay here. Let's pump with the arms. Inhale three, four, five, butts says down. We're doing the hundreds. Inhale, three, four, five, exhale. So whatever your legs are doing and you can be parallel or an a v, make them match would be nice. Yes. Finding that inner thigh connection. And as you do this, I really want you to think of the low belly connection and the thighs going down and long in a way. Oh goodness. I forgot to count. That's not true.

I'm sort of counting ish. You sort of know when it's time because the body goes, oh, almost at the edge. Exhale again. So let's do a couple more breaths. Inhale. As you exhale, I want you to blow it out. Go, shh. That's the cus of breath. Do that one more time. You can also percussively exhale without making a loud sound. It's up to you. Shit. And on the next exhale, rest your head down, then the knees, hug the knees into your chest and just pull tight, Huh?

Exactly. Alright, so from here, let's, um, turn around. So you're gonna sit up and kind of turn around, cause now we're going to go and lie backwards over the rounded objects you have at home, both hands behind your neck. And so yeah, you kind of want the apex of the round thing to hit you right at the um, right at the base of the shoulder blades or where the bra strap goes. Yes. And so for everyone, just take a moment and you let your head go back and go for a stretch and you might have her above the ground here like Romita and if this hurts, put a little something underneath your head or just really use your arm strength. If it hurts in this position with your arms, like you can't get your arms back, you can also fold up a towel. James, can I demonstrate with you for a moment and you can put the towel underneath your neck and hold it that way. Cause that just gives you a little more wiggle room with the arms. You want to stay there. It's okay.

You can just drop that towel right in the well. Yeah, right there. That's perfect. All right, so from here, enjoy that nice stretch. You may or may not have your bum on the floor depending on what the ads, it just depends on how big your barrel is. And how long your spine is. All right. So this is a little series that I've, I'm borrowing and exploring that I borrowed from Irene Dowd. From here, pushing down into the floor. You man, we'll make sure that those heels are right underneath the knees. Lift your self into spine alignment. So hips lift up, head lifts up.

That's it. And just stay there and breathe. So this is the hardest part. So you can look down toward the pelvis and see if it's where you think it should be. Yes. And now the hardest part is this, keeping your hips high. Get your head and spine alignment, but you're looking up to the ceiling. Most of us let the upper body go too low [inaudible] and if it's a little painful, that's probably the right spot. Staying here had goes back. Inhale to go back. You decide how far back you go. Exhale, come back to your spine alignment.

Think of finding or putting a belt on two more times. Exhale to come up. Yes. And you're really using those arms and the elbows. I want you to go to where you're comfortable. That's exactly it. And come back up to your spine alignment. Stay here. Really take the focus up to that ceiling. Good.

When you're ready to stick the booty out, let your hips lower back, drape over and on the next inhale or exhale, come back to hip height. That's all it is. Chest Height, I should say two more times, right? Again, going down. So in an effort to pick up, there's often this want to almost tuck at the very top. It's hard. You're just going to come to ribcage, height and hole, right? That's exactly it. You got one more to go. Inhale to go down in the hips. Exhale to come back up. Stay up here. One plus one is two. Both parts together, head and hips. Go.

Inhale, like my demonstrating it without and as you exhale, come back. Don't go too high with the hips. That's it. Looking up to the ceiling though. Romita Chin is up. Tunes up head. Look at that gorgeous ceiling and again, go down again two more times and you're going to end. So if your head gets there too soon, do hips first. Aha, that was great. Do One more time. Inhale to go. Nice. Nice. Nice. Exhale to come up.

Stay up here. Lifted. Yes. Your right elbow is going to go across the body. Twist away from the ocean. Yes. Try to leave the hips alone and lie back down. But look up toward the ceiling one more time. I did say lie back down. I don't mean it. I mean just spine alignment. Yes. Yes. Belt right there James. And come back to spine in line and looking you up to the ceiling one more time.

So when you go to spine alignment, don't let the elbows drop. You kind of want a little lift. Say here going away from, that's it. Going to the opposite side. Go toward the ocean now. Yes. And come back to center two more times. How those hamstrings, I know, right? You get to stretch them after this. Yes. You got one more to go.

Big exhale twists and come back to center. Stay here. I think we deserve a little break. Exhale, stretch and drape over. Huh? Another variation. When you're ready, hands behind your neck. Come back to spine alignment again. [inaudible] stay there. You can do a hip check different than the kind of basketball and then look up toward the ceiling. Thank you very much. So from here, I call this the reverse crisscross.

The right elbow is going to go down toward the floor, right shoulder as well, and the left hip comes down toward the floor as well. But less twisty in the knees. Knees go right up to the ceiling ish and come back to center. That's exactly it. Left shoulder goes down to the floor, right hip goes down. Good. More upper body, Ramon, if you can stand it, that's it. Boom. Of going that way.

Going toward the floor. Yes. And come back to center. Just one more set. The reverse. Chris Cross ain't easy. Honestly. I think it's almost conceptual. Like even whether you get there or not, it's just that's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. More twist, more twists in that hit. That's come back to center. Inhale and as you exhale, stretch and drape over.

One more time. Breathing, breathing, breathing. How are we doing? Yes, thank you James. I like a thumbs up when you're ready. Head up to spine alignment. Lift your hips back up again. Walk your feet to center. Good. So for the first set, we're going to look down toward our knees. Right knee up. Take the right knee down, left leg up.

Try not to move the hips. Bring the left leg down. Look up to the ceiling, right leg up and down. Twice. La. That's it. And energy out at the top of the head. Yes. Lifting that Chin Up. It's very regal. Other sod? Yes. Yes. That's it. It is. Yes. One more. Say here.

You're gonna extend the right leg along the Florida Strait. [inaudible] kick it up to the ceiling. Inhale and take it down one more time. Inhale up. This is your hamstring. Stretch. Change sides. Not really true. That's not really true. Just a little one and left leg goes forward.

Up and down twice. So you know, and there's so many variations you can make up any headset, but just that is plenty. Pushing down to that standing leg. Yes. Take the leg down to keep this leg straight. Bring the other leg to meet it. Both legs are straight, both legs, arms up to the ceiling. Go and stretch back one last time. Keeping the hips lifted for now. Now bring the arms up to the ceiling. Lift your head up, lower the hips.

Sit all the way up. When you're ready, going forward for a nice stretch forward. Give me a huge exhale with the stomach in ou with your head hanging down. Inhale. And as you exhale, look side to side with the head. Easy. Does it ease? He does it in the looking side to side. It's not about really cranking the head, it's just about nice, easy side to side, moving of the head. That's it. While you're there, really exhale, drawing that low belly back. Keep breathing.

Yes. One more breath. And as you exhale, use your tummy. Sit Up nice and tall. So now let's let our side, let's put our back to the ocean and we're going to face forward. Let's do, um, armpit at the apex of the barrel. So, um, if you have a roller, which a lot of people do, it's hard to have the roller right in the armpit. I find it's a little, um, painful. Actually let's me use it for lack of a better word.

So you can get a towel and put that there if, yeah. And so let's get the armpit right in the apex. Cleaning your equipment when you're done both hands behind your neck. And um, I call this pinup. Never thought you'd hear that Hung James. Yeah. So saying there. Yeah. And you really want to let the hip hike. Yes. So here we go. You okay. So from Pinup, you're gonna reach both arms over your head, lift the waistline, and then if you're on the roller, you get to get to move and roll that left shoulder down both hands behind your neck for Pinup, both hands behind the neck.

And so that's been really that the hip hike gather here, both arms over the head, east coast. One more set both hands behind the next slouch. Yes. Both arms reach over and lift. Stay here in touchdown. Staying here. Yes. Keeping that bottom knee right. So keeping the legs sort of stack. Just slide that right in a forward. Yeah, you can hook the thumbs.

It kind of helps keep the torso and come back to center one more time. And again, sliding that knee forward. And as you go for, you're trying not to Tuck and come back to center, reach the booty back that top booty. Yes, but not the torso. And come back one more time. Reaching that top hit back. Yes, yes, yes. And come back to center. Let's put it together. Knee forward. Twist the torso. Yes in opposition. That's exactly it. And come back to center one more time.

Knee forward. Twist the torso back and come back to center. Yes. The opposite. Twist the torso, booty back, torso forward, booty back. [inaudible] as you come back to the center belt vest, one more time. Twist by vest. I mean don't let the rib cage sort of flare. You're going to come back to center and whole. That's exactly it. So now we're going to sneak into a little stretch by a little stretch.

I'm mean a big stretch. So you have to kind of come forward with that bottom left side and come forward. So Romina get that towel underneath you again. That's it. And really bring yourself forward. Bend the knees way up into the chest and you want the apex.

Now instead of being at the armpit, you want it to be sort of mid Scapula, right? Um, at that nice flat part of the shoulder blade. So both hands behind the neck, both knees are way up into the chest and inhale. And as you exhale, you're going to want it. Twist the elbow. I want you to really think rib cage, rib cage, twist, [inaudible] rib cage, rib cage. Try to breathe in. Exhale. Yes. Let the weight of that ribcage keeps spiraling, spiraling. Bring the left elbow.

Almost forward guys. That's it. We're going to bring that left elbow almost like that's it. Huge. Exhale. Breathe. Come back to center. Let's just do that one more time. It's not easy. One more time. I'm going to just stand behind you behind James here and support his pelvis so he can really think that he's doing it from his waistline up. That's it.

Carolyn. And then Carolyn, let your head go back a little bit. Roomier you got it? Yes. One more. Exhale. Breathe and come back to center, whole thing to the other side. So let's flip our things to the other side so we can say facing forward. Yeah. Flip. Yes. Yes. Armpit. Pin Up, hands behind the neck. Romania, you get that towel underneath you. I really want on that armpit. Yeah.

Here we go. So when you're ready, pin up. So elbow to hip and reach both arms over your head. Touchdown. Lifting that ribcage up as much as possible. When you lift the rib cage, you'll lift the hips and again, both hands behind your neck. Pinup yes and reach both arms over your head. Touched down. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. One more time. Both hands, slouch, pinup both arms over your head, reached touchdown. Stay here hooking the thumbs, top knee slides forward.

[inaudible] and come back to center and I'm going to do a little mean thing and again, top knee twists for, so I'm going to keep her rib cage by somewhat standing on it and come back to center. Yes, actually get away. If I were really nice, I do this one more or yes, and centered. I take it all back. Really reach with that upper body. So not the twist of the torso. Just the booty. Yeah. And come back to center. That's all I care. That's it. Just the booty and come back to center one more time. Keep reaching over. Lifting the ribcage as you do. Just the booty. Yes. And come back to center.

Let's put it together. Let's do knee. Forward. Twist to face the ceiling. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. That's about it. And come back to center and get you a waistline yet Romy and I really get on that talent again. You're going to do knee forward twist. Think Belt James. Good to get length and Lincoln. Lincoln that way. Especially as you come back to center. Yes. Yes.

Just keep looking at renegades lifting the room. Yes. You got one more to go. Twist. Lift the ribcage. Even right now. Hi. Yeah. Yeah. And come back to center rib cage. Twist forward as a booty goes back. See what I'm saying? Miss Carolina. Yes. And come back to center. Lengthen away. Lengthen away.

Lift that bottom rib cage up. Yes. One more time. Twist. Booty goes back though, Carolyn booty goes back but goes back so much more moveable. No, literally top hit back. Yes. And come back to center from here. Move yourself so that the apex of that is lower down. Yup. Move that right side of your body forward. Right. So really move the right side of your body so much more forward. Yes. Both hands behind your neck and as you go you're going to twist the rib cage.

So think of a button down shirt in this twist first. This next button. Yes. This next one. Yes. Huge exhale. You can almost think of reaching that left Sitz bone away from you. So not up, but down toward. Yes. And come back to center. Cool. One more time. Inhale. Exhale, twist.

Okay. Maybe we should call this like the pre oh bleak. He's like, do you have, when you're working on your like waistline workout. Yes. And come back to center. All right guys, let's go supine over. Yes, yes. Supine. No prone over the bow. So let's flip back over. Facing the ocean. Yes. Sorry. Back and forth and back and forth. So now we're going to go over our barrels or humpy thing.

Maybe I won't find a better word for it. And when you're ready, you want the, um, apex of the, of the rounded barely object to hit you at the rib cage. Oh Man. Okay. So blessed it's going to work on Hoover Academy. Larry, before she comes back to Palabra is anytime come back more. There you go. And everybody just relaxed forward and just drape. Yeah. I love this part because it helps you kind of get that nice rounded Romina walk your arms even farther so you can really even like completely forward. So that the, yeah. Elbows out to the side a lot. Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. Romania, I think you could even scoot down lower.

Is that painful? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yes. So she's like, she's like, no, that's not, that's not very good for me. Okay. Here we go from here and um, I'm really excited cause we have three totally different bodies. They're each going to find their way up into spine alignment. So it's going to be different. Yes. And you're going to, they're going to lift their head up into spine alignment and you might have to walk your elbow to the place where you find that alignment. James is a little too high for me, so come down. That's good. The torsos good.

But now tuck the Chin a little more angry turtle. Yeah, yeah. Say there. Ooh, pretty. And so ro, see how Romina has her elbows lifted. We all have to find our own place. Now. Just stay here. Just find that exhale. Stretch your jaw muscles up forward. Looking up toward the ceiling. If you can. That's it. Look back down toward the floor to spine alignment. Do that a couple more times. Inhale. Exhale. Stretch those job muscles. Yes.

While you're here, you can kind of draw the shoulders down the back and look back down at the floor. Do One more like that. Big exhale. Jaw muscles come up. Thank you. Come back to spinal island and hold. Say looking down at the floor from here, you're going to hang in a match. So you're going to draw a circle with your nose. So it's soup head. But the soup is now, you know it's excess. It's like way up. It's Picasso Soup, right? It's not, it's not down on the floor. It's kind of diagonally up on the wall, right?

That's exactly it. Stir it in the other direction. It's a nice challenge up in that position to see if you can find that nice easy circle of the head. That's it. So from here, let's find our spine alignment again and stay here. You're gonna stay with keep your hands where they are. Straighten your right arm only. And as you straighten the right arm, the torso is going to twist. The right rib cage can lift off the pelvis stays. Bend your right elbow back to where you started. Left side, straighten the left arm. The left rib cage can lift off, up, up, up.

No hips if you can. Thank you. And come back down and do another set. As you do this, try not to do it with your head. Try to find it from the torso, from the torso. And what I'm looking for that I don't see this as they try to twist. I want to really see a twist happening right on their access. Right? You want to see that? And not a, although that's a lovely movement for other things. Yes.

One more time guys. One more set. That's it. [inaudible] and sometimes you can just re that's it. Really think of twisting this, twisting this. Oh, last one coming down. One more side, I believe. Yes. And come back down and let everything relax forward.

And let's leave that alone for now. You can walk your hands forward, be comfortable, right? Find your hand position. Walk the thighs a little farther apart. So this is a little borrow again from Irene Dowd. This is from her see horse, I believe. So when you're ready, you're gonna bend your right leg. Only drop your head, Carolyn. Really drop it. Good. And then from here, you're going to let the right side lift up. You're going to lift the leg up and bring it across the body and back.

That's it. And take it down. That's it. A couple more times. So I'm looking for a little spiral of the pelvis going up and back into a little bit of extension. Yes. And take it down. Good. One more. Yes. Yes. Hello booties. Right. And take it down. Change sides and yes, I'm definitely using that standing leg when the other leg is going up and over. Good. Keeping that rib cage down and take it down two more times.

Keep that knee bent the whole time. Romania, same leg. Yep. Yes. That's it. Twisting it across and back. Beautiful. And take it down one more time. Go back, go this way. Go. Just keep going across. That's it. And come back down and rest. One more time. Come back up onto your elbows please. Yes.

On your spine alignment. Yep. That's it. Romita come up a little bit higher. Good. When you can, right hand behind your neck. Use the hand behind the neck and I really need neck. You're going to start to twist the torso, looking toward the right elbow. You can straighten that left arm if you want. You have to kind of play around.

That's it. And come back down. So this time, hip stay, torso moves, rib cage can lift up off the bear. That's exactly it. And come back down one more time. Are we breathing? Inhale, exhale, twist. That's it. And come back down and change sides. Other hand behind the neck. Inhale. Exhale. Twisting toward that left shouldery department. Yes. And come back down. Close Your eyes for this next one.

Cause we often are doing with our eyeballs as opposed to our ribcage. Rib Cage, rib cage, rib kids. Yes. Romania. That's good. And come back down. Just one more. Inhale. And as you exhale, twist. No hips roaming to no hips, no hips, no hips. Thank you. And come back down. Relax. One more time for the grand finale. We yes. From here, come up onto your elbows. Spine alignment. Lifting the head up this time. Go to both arms. Straight lifting, almost the rib cage up. Good. Here we go. You're going to bend your right elbow. Only. Drop your head to the right.

Bend your left elbow. Drop the head center. Your head rolls over to the ocean. You're going to straighten the right arm straight in the left arm. Go up and over and keep going in that same circle. And if you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, just circle the torso, please. Yes. It's not rocket science. Really? Yeah. Is that you can really, and when you bend the elbow, I don't want the shoulders come out and come up, up, up, up, up, and if you have to bend the elbows open out to the side, open out to the side, then you open that it to drop. One more time. Say up here, reverse the circles and the other direction. Yes, that's right. Exactly. Chin comes up from Mina. That's it. Drop the head. Go over and come up, up, up, up, up, and come on down.

Rest. Oh, how are we doing? Push back yoga. Pose the child. Please leave the gems. You might have to push that farther forward, I think. Yep. There you go. And breathe. So from here, come up on to all fours and it cat position if [inaudible]. Yeah, and now we're going to play a little game.

You're going to keep your knees over your hips, wrong. Hips over your knees. Had to think about that for a second. And now here's the game. So you're going to try to keep your hips over your knees as much as possible. One rule is, is the hands have to leave the floor at the same time. Can you come up to kneeling, keeping your hips over your knees as much as you can. Rolling on up.

Rolling on up. Yes. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Ooh, that's good. From here, you're going to reach both arms up toward the ceiling. Inhaling, just reach up. Inhale, and exhale. Bring the arms out and breathe. Have a seat on your heels yet anyway. You wish to have a seat on your heels. Hold onto your heels. Untuck your toes if you can. Yes. Oh, and again, head toward the knees. So now we're going to do another one. You're in a, um, a, I believe Cathy grant called this the rolling thigh stretch.

So you're gonna keep your hands on your heels as long as you can. As you start to roll yourself forward, you have to say holding on to heels as long as you can. You're gonna roll your hips forward. Let your chest open and both hands leave the feet at the same time as you come up up, up or saw that one to business. We're gonna do it again cause some people on the high mat did one at a to buckle my shoe from here. Come on up. You got to, if you've got to cheat better than that sister. That's it. That's it.

That's right. That's it. That's it. And you have to really find it. Really find it. Really find it. I know. Yeah, I got to find that. So from there, I mean you do the best you can, right? That's right. So from here, going to a squat, you guys go into a nice easy squat. So tuck your toes underneath you squat any way you can. Yeah. Good. Relaxing the ankles. Try to relax the head and Breathe d wrath.

Try to rillette those ankles full. That's exactly it. Let those hips full. [inaudible] one more breath. Inhale. And as you exhale, I want you to find your legs as you come up to standing. Use the legs. Head is the last thing to come up. Yeah, that's exactly it. Oh James, it's modern dance. Yeah, I like it. Yes. Saying right here. Okay. It's going to have a little close to the eyes.

Ah, lift all 10 toes. Let it shift you back. I think it's always nice to sort of just like, let the weight come back. Open the eyes, keep the toes lifted, lower the toes. Thanks guys. Do you feel moved and twisted? Excellent. Thanks everybody.

Comments

1 person likes this.
LOVE IT!!!!
2 people like this.
So wonderful to see these different bodies all finding what their bodies need. Love, love, love this focus on thoracic movement. Our bodies so need this everyday, thank you Blossom for bringing fun into your class once again. Movement should be joyful.
5 people like this.
Thank you for a different , creative, fun teaching.

Love the new modifications, 3 for each move, due to 3 different props.

Please bring more teaching, that is not from the "list" of moves that a lot of classes are .

We need constant inspiration.
Anna L
This was excellent! Just what my thoracic spine needed. Thank you!
Reiner G
What a great class. Thank you so much Blossom!
1 person likes this.
Feeling kind of slow...but very intellectual! That's why i love pilates because it makes us to keep thinking why we are doing this movement and how it works with our body parts. This video is perfect for that perspective.
You're so much fun, Blossom, thank you. Great class and teaching.
2 people like this.
Finland loves this one too! :)
Love seeing the same thing on three different props! Great for different bodies or just what you have available! Fun stuff!
What an amazing class and I love the "humpy thing" :) Thank you so much for sharing!
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