Class #2421

Fluid Mat Progressions

45 min - Class
382 likes

Description

Use the coordination of the breath with your movement to find fluidity in this Mat workout with Michael King. He uses the Foam Roller to work on pelvic placement while challenging your balance throughout the class. He also includes progressions that you can continue to work on as you move forward in your practice.
What You'll Need: Mat, Foam Roller

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Transcript

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Welcome to the foam roller session today. My name is Michael King. And we're holding these foam rollers between our hands very lightly. But behind the roller, what I want you to focus on is your pelvis placement, and also your feet. So feel the feet touching the floor.

Connect to the floor. And just bring the body weight forward and back, rock forward and back. And just find a nice central position so that your weight is in the middle. And in that position, draw the feet up. Without curling your toes, pull up on the arch from the floor.

So you've got a nice lift up that extends back up into the pelvic floor up through the spine and out through the top of the head. So by just holding this roller, we're already starting working 'cause we've got some nice little bit of gentle stability work in the scapula. So put them the down the back and just put them in a good place. Now focus on your breathing. Taking breath in through your nose, and breathing out through your mouth.

And get a nice rhythm for the breath pattern. As we challenge yourself today with your roller, if there's anything we come across that your body doesn't fit, just vary the movement or try to find a modification. As I tell my students, it's illegal to stop. Just find something else to be doing. Don't come to class and keep pointing at body parts (scattered laughs) and waving your finger at me.

So holding it here. Okay, let's get started. (gentle music) Now, keeping that lengthening, as you breathe out, slowly push up onto the toes. As you come down, lift the roller. Let's do that again.

So, up onto the heels, onto the toes. As you come, lift the roller. And really coordinate this so your breath and the movement. And lengthening up. Focus on the shoulder blades, the scapula sliding down the back, as the roller goes up.

Pushing up, breathing out, one more time. And slowly lift up. Now flexing the knees, bend the knees breathing in, let the roller touch those shins, and then come back up. Again, taking breath in, and breathing out. Good, lengthen up.

Now you can continue like this, or as you come back up the next time, lift the right leg up. And take it down, breathing in, breathing out. Lengthen up. And pushing out. Now try and get that roller level, so it's a little bit like a spirit level.

So as you're coming up, and as you're coming down you're keeping it balanced. Taking a breath in, and breathing out. One more time. And lift up. Let's do one more, but this time lift up and hold it.

Now extend the leg forward. As you bend the knee, bring the roller down. Take the leg behind you and push the roller forward. Bend the knee and lift the roller up. Extend the leg forward.

Coming back breathing in, and breathing out and extend. Again lifting up, use your center. Bend the knee, and as you push back lengthen the spine. You're goal here is to keep the stability of the back. Breathing in and breathing out.

One more time lengthen up. Slide those shoulders, use that center, pushing back and now hold it forward, stay there. Now bend the knee, the standing leg, and coming up. Again, bend the knee, and coming back up. Now play with the range of movement.

How low can you go? It can be a small range of movement. Or it can be a little bigger. Next time as you come up we're gonna take the leg to the side. Lifting up.

And take the leg behind. And down and push up. Good, (Michael laughs) this is where we have to do the drinking test. See if you were drinking before you came to class. Lengthen up, reach out, lengthen up, and push.

Good. Lengthen out, stretch and push, long spine. Again breathing in, breathing out. Pushing up. And down.

Lift the next one the best because we're gonna stay up. Hold it, now your roller's fixed. Head between the roll, just cross the leg. Lifting up. Again breathing in, and breathing out, long leg.

Breathing in, breathing out, long leg. Push it. Up. One more time. Lifting up, and bring the legs back together.

Now we have to do the other side. And it's very important we use both sides equally. Otherwise one glute finishes up bigger than the other and it's not a good look. So push up. Now as you come down with the heels, lift up.

Now from here, flex the body. Lift the left leg up this time. Hold it here. Now good strong stable position. Bend the knee, breathing in and breathing out.

Again up. Now really focus on your body. Do a checklist. Shoulders rib cage center and breath. Lengthen up and push.

It's like you're making the movement longer. Longer behind you and as you're coming up longer forward. Taking a breath in and breathing out. One more time. Stretch.

Take it back and hold it there. Now stay there. Bend the standing leg. Now the bad news is the second time, side is always a little bit worse. 'Cause there's a little bit fatigue from doing it with the first leg.

Push up. So it's good to alternate which leg you start with always. If you always do the right leg first. Each class change that. As you come up next time, take the leg out.

Good, take a breath in. And breathing out. Lengthen out, long spine. Good, take a breath in, and breathing out. Good, shoulders down.

Breathing in, and breathing out. Good, how far down can you go? How tall can you come? Again, down. Push.

One more time. Taking a breath, and lift up and stay there. Now your head and shoulders between the roller that's it and take it out and lengthen out. Breathe. Make your leg longer keep your Pilates face, keep it gentle.

Push out, reach. How high can you lift the leg? How far crossing can you lift the leg without moving the roller? And push. One more time.

Lengthen, hold it. And come together. Now roll down, let's release the spine. And now rolling up. Lift the roller up.

And coming down. Now this time, roll down. Don't touch the mat with the roller just keep it off the way. Keep the neck relaxed, lift the heels. And heels down and then rolling up.

It's a bit like the exercise from the wonder chair. Although with the wonder chair it's a bit easier when you got the springs to help you. Here, the only thing that you've got to help is your center, so lift the heels. And down. And rolling up.

I can't see your face when it's down but I'm sure it's relaxed. Take it down, breathing in, breathing out. Now stay down, lift the heels. Now keep the heels lifted and roll up, heels up. Center, center, center.

Smoothly. Pushing up and reverse, roll down, heels down. So heels up, roller down, right. Anticipated there. Now the heels down.

And now rolling up. Now we can have a bit of fun with that and do it with our Pilates V. Inside legs together roll down. Now here, keep the heels together, and now lift the heels. Keep them lifted and roll up.

Heels together, inside thighs pull together pull together, lengthen up. Reach up, inside legs together, bend knees, plie, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, Hold it, take it down. Gently roll down, place it on the mat and go ahead put your knees on the roller. Now, your feet are flexed behind just touching the floor very gently. Get your body into good position.

So you're kneeling. Pelvis on top of the knees. Rib cage on top of the pelvis. Now from here, open the arms, now circle the arms and open out, lengthen out. Good now, as you circle, lift the right foot.

And down. Open the arms. Arms up and down. Circle, lift your left foot. And down.

Open the arms arms up Good, let's do that again. So gently lift the right foot. And open. Now this time, as you lift the arms, lift both feet. And down.

Circle. Now don't stop breathing. Lift the arms, lift both feet. (Michael laughs) A little squeaking going on there. Replace the squeak with a good breath.

Lift up, up. Good one more time. Left foot, circle. So it's a little bit of a test. Center.

Center. Good. Now turn to the right. To the front open out now fix the pelvis so you're just turning the upper body. Now again as you turn, lift the right foot.

And push. Turn to the left. Good, right foot. And push. Now from the front, over, and lift.

Over. As you go over, look up. And push. Look up. Again, reach over.

And push. Good, so it's like somebody's holding your pelvis and it's not moving. And push. Now turn, over, left foot, turn. Over.

Right foot, over. Circle, left foot. Over. Good, now take it over to the roller and reach up. And come back.

Over to the side, lengthen out. And push. Good, so one arm is going up, one arm is going down, and reach out. Nice and long lengthening. Push up, up.

Good, now from here, lift the elbows. Three times, pull. One, two, now stretch out long. Again pull one, two, stretch out long. Now rib cage is tilting back as your arms open.

And now play with both feet. As you open. Again breathe, in. Now breathe out. Again breathe in.

Breathe out. Again breathe in. Scapula, rib cage, push out. Lengthen, reaching out. And come back.

Now take hold of the roller and put your knees down and just stretch forward with the roller. And coming up. Put the roller to the right side. Bring your legs to mermaid position. And now just reach, so you've got enough distance to move the roller, so you might want to come down to the bottom of the mat a little bit.

Now with your hand on the roller, slide the roller and come back up. Again, slide. Now again, find the range of movement. So your shoulder blades slide down. And pushing up.

So really this is helping you create a nice fluid movement up. Turn to face the roller, slide. Come back. Extension, forward. Extension, now as you do that stretch your top leg straight Extension, bend.

Again reach out. Long. Now come up this time, stay there. Hold the position, lift the back leg up, and up, and push. Good, now with your left arm reaching forward.

Good, stay lifted tall. Breathe out, and push. Now try not to touch the mat. Play with it. So you don't want to go down with the leg.

Now stay lifted, hold it there. Take the leg behind you, push. Push. Up. Little further, the idea is the roller's not moving.

So you're keeping the torso fixed. Let's alternate one of each. Go up, up and back. Push. Use the breath.

Lift up. Now make the back movement bigger. Small, bigger, go and lift. Up. Push.

Now it's around now you might be feeling it. (scattered laughs) I was being polite. Lift up, reach. Up. If you're at home doing this, don't stop.

Lengthen, I can see you. Lift up, push. Now straight leg. Long, strong. Strong.

Strong, long leg, push up. Lengthen, now hold it, lengthen up. Now circle the leg. But it's like you're in a swimming pool, trying not to disturb the water. It's not a big movement.

Splash. It's smoothly, smoothly. Push. And come back. Lift the roller up.

Change sides. So, we have to do that on the other side so find the position. So again you need distance on your mat. Or if you have space at home, have the roller off the mat. Find a good position with the legs.

So the knee's in front of the pelvis. If possible bring that front leg parallel and if possible take that back leg behind you further. Any knee issues, just put that leg straight. So here we go, shoulders down. Lengthen over.

Come back up. Now reach away, pull. Again over. Lengthen, now reach and pull. Again breathing out.

So it's like you're closing your waist. So underneath the waist, fold it in. And push up, lengthen out. One more time, breathe out. And lengthen reaching out.

Turn to face your roller. Say hello. Go forward. Extension come back. Again, forward.

Extension come back, stretch the top leg. Stretch, long. And come back. Now again, try to make the movement bigger, but keep your shoulder blades down. And lift up.

Good. Two more. And lift. One more time, breathing out. And lift up, now stay here.

Now with the back leg lift up, and. Now as much as you can, turn to face your roller with the shoulder blades so you're square. The knee and foot is lifting at the same height. Lift up, up, breathe out. Keep the back of the neck long.

Don't lose the length of the neck. Push, up. Reach. Keep the leg up, push back. Back.

That's it. So it's like that right leg is coming around to your left shoulder. Push. Let's alternate and go up. Up.

Back. Lift up. Up, push back. Reach. Push back, breathing in.

Face the roller, and make it bigger. Up, push back. Lengthen, push, good. Reach. One more time.

Now straight leg and lift the leg push up. Now we're gonna circle the leg, circle. Circle, circle, good. Little bit bigger, bigger. Breathe.

Push. Four more. Four. Lengthen and coming up. Lift the roller up.

And bring it down to the front. Now we're gonna open the legs out. Now with the roller, we're gonna do a spine stretch but what I want to focus on is the pelvis. I would say imagine you've got like, well these days it has to be almost not $100 but $1000 under each glute. So you're keeping your money safe.

Alright now push the money down. And now keep it safe as you flex forward. And lift. So the pelvis tilts back. So tailbone come forward, money safe.

And lift. Point the toes. Again, tilt, good. And lift. Using your breath.

Out. And lift. One more time. And lift. Now place your left hand on the roller, turn and look back.

And coming up. Change, reach around. And lift up. So keep the money safe, don't let me get the money. That's it.

So don't sacrifice that pelvis position. To come bring the roller further forward. The important thing is the anchoring of those glutes on the mat, push. Two more times, push out. And lengthen.

One more time. And reach out. And coming up. And lengthen, good, come and bring the roller back in. G, if you face this way, and we're gonna face Gia this way.

I'll do it with you this side, and I'll turn and do the other side in a second. Come up here so the roller's in front of you. But now come on top of the roller. So just the top of your ankles are resting on that roller. Good.

Now from here, check the hands under the shoulders. All I want you to do is lift the knees slightly. And take it down. Again, lift the knees. And take it down.

Use your breath. Lift up, center. And down. So make sure you're engaging the scapula. So the shoulders engaged.

Lift the center, and down. Now watch me one time. We're gonna lift up. Lift, push back, lift, and take it down. Easy.

It's easy to keep your shoulders engaged. Now, here we go, and, up, stretch, up, and come back. Good, again, up, lengthen, lift, and push. Good now use your center, breathe out. How far back can you go, keeping the control of the movement?

Lift up, up, and back. Reach, and push, again. Up. Good, we've got two more to do. Make it the best yet, lengthen up, up, watch the shoulders, push back.

One more time. (Michael laughs) The best, lift up, and push. Up and back. And just sit back and stretch. Now that's the base movement.

What we're gonna do now is add a little bit of a twist. So what we do is we go up, turn, up, and back. So you're rolling down the side of the leg. Which if this is tight for you, this might hurt a little bit. (scattered laugh) Now it is really the best fun you could have.

So here we go, lifting up, now center. Now again, you can make it small, it doesn't have to be a dramatic long movement, it can be small. So we go and, up, legs together, rotate, in, down, other side. Lift, rotate, good, push. Now take it a little bit further, go.

Up, rotate, push, and down, again. Up, rotate, stop and come back. Now the third level, which normally what we do is normally build up each level over the weeks. But since I'm here today I wanted to show you how it can progress. So what we do for the third level is still with a twist.

You go up. Up, top leg back, lengthen, and pulling back. Now of course what's holding you from falling is your obliques and your shoulders. So really the work on the leg is minimal. So it's about the upper body and the center.

So here we go, up, turn, Up, and back. Lift up, up, turn, good. Try and get a little further back, Gia. So breathe in, in now back, push. That's better come back, up.

Two more, go. Up, gorgeous, lift up. Maybe occasionally breathe, breathe in. Breathe out, breathe in. One more time, lift up.

And up and push. Good, lengthen and come back down. And sit back and stretch. It's fun once you get the rhythm of it and once you get where to do the movement from. Of course the best thing about the foam roller without a doubt is really to open up and lengthen the iliotibial band.

So because for many of us, this really hurts and keeps too much tension. So let's try a little bit of that. 'Cause it is the best thing to do with the roller. We're gonna start here. Now on the hip.

Now what I like to do is to put the legs together. So your legs are not lifting, floating. But they're trailing on the mat. Now we're gonna start here, and all we're gonna do is go for a little walk that way. So walk up to the knee, and then take it back down or up to the hip.

So roll up or down to the knee, whichever way you look at it, and roll down. So the key thing is, if this hurts, you need it. And down. Now what you'll have to do it adjust slightly, explore. What happens if you take the pelvis slightly back?

And rolling down, and what happens if you bring the pelvis slightly forward? And push. And down. One more time. Roll.

And take it back down. And let's do the other side. So lift up, turn around. And really, really, I promise everybody. If this does hurt in the beginning, and you do it regularly, it gets better.

You know once you release it, doesn't matter how many massages you have it's never gonna really replace the work of this. So roll up. Roll back down. Again roll up. Good, keep going.

Really feel the feet trail on the floor. Trail the feet, and take it back. Good, again. Trail up, try and get to the knee, to the knee, little bit higher, up, good. (scattered laughs) Some strange noises happening.

Lengthen up, push. Push. Yeah, it's why we like to play music in the sessions, as it drowns out the noises. Pushing back. Two more times.

Long spine, long. And back. One more time. And lengthen up. And coming back.

Good, and come off the roller. Now we're gonna lay on the roller now. Now key thing about that is not to do it on the mat. 'Cause if you've got a mat it's gonna stop some of the movement of the roller. So it's better ask you to do it on this wooden floor.

So if you take the roller just behind the mats. Good, and again if you can face each other so feet where they are. From this position, roll down onto the roller. Good. Now hold that position.

Put your fingertips just on the floor. The elbows are lifted. Have your knees flex bent. And now the closer the legs, the more difficult it's gonna be. So find for you today where you'd like to try, but know you're opening is gonna be easier, closing's gonna be harder.

Now in this position, feel your big toe touch the floor. So you feel the abductors fire up. Now you're keeping a neutral pelvis. So just check the pelvis and just make sure that you've got a nice neutral position. Now if you can, just lift your hands to your hips.

And hold that position. This is the first level training. This is where we're really focusing on the stability of the back. Now as you're doing this position, you've got a light connection with the center. Your shoulders are working.

Now breathing in through your nose, out through the mouth. Just put one finger on the floor. Now you choose, I'm not gonna tell you which one, but lift slowly one leg up. Hold that. And now slowly put the leg down.

Now the leg you chose is your better leg. So always the second leg is gonna be the more challenging leg. Lifting up. And take it down. So the first level now is to lift one leg up and down.

You can begin as you lower the leg, to take the hands away. So the hands stay on the floor to lift the leg, but as the leg comes back down you can begin to lift the hands up. That's the best way of progressing. But don't lift the hands dramatically. They just lift slightly off the floor.

Slowly. Long spine, connect the center. And when you feel confident, to try lifting the leg without touching the floor, you can do that. It might take a while. But nothing changes quickly.

Because what your body's trying to do is to figure out where to do it from. Where I always do it from is really from the center. Using your breath. Up and down gently. Now this time lift the leg and hold it.

Now stay there. Nice still position. It's only really beneficial to do this with one leg lifted, so really target the core. If we're to lift two legs up, your superficial muscles'll just fire up and do all the work, and that's not that great. So with one leg, keep it as still as possible.

And now slowly lower the leg down. If you need the hand, put the hand on the floor and now lift the second leg. Hold it there. Now if you can, lift the hands away. Now this might be your challenge side, so you might need a little bit of finger on the floor.

Focus on your breathing. Really find that thoracic breath. So it's a little bit like a butterfly's landed on your navel, and you want to keep the center still. And now slowly lower the leg down. Now circle the arms up and behind you.

As you're doing this, keep the rib cage in place. So don't let the rib cage pop up. And push it back. Keep the shoulders engaged. Now because you're lifting off the floor, you should get a nice range of movement open each time.

Breathing in, and breathing out, and circle back. Really we could do these circles for an hour and it would be great for your shoulders. But we don't have an hour, so if you want to do more circles after the session this is really good for releasing this whole upper body area. What I want you to do is open the arms to the side so your fingertips are just touching the floor. Now bend the right elbow.

Let the elbow rest on the floor. And with the right hand, try and take it back towards the floor. Good. Now from here, keep that connection. But with your left arm, slide it away.

Now look at the elbow, don't look at the hand that's sliding look at the bent arm as you're reaching away. Now as you're doing this again, tilt the rib cage back. It's very subtle but it's quite dramatic for what's going on across the chest. Breathing in. If you can't feel the floor, just feel like the arm is very heavy dropping down to the floor.

This is a great chest stretch, opening out. Good, now slowly bend that elbow. And change to the other side. Now typically you're gonna feel a little bit difference on one side to the other. One arm might not touch the floor, one arm might touch the floor, you might feel more tension across one side, that's very normal.

Just begin to learn with your body where you're holding that tension. We really don't live lives in a balanced way, we normally live in a very unbalanced. Most of us sleep on the same side every night, put the same shoe on first, step on the first step every day. Now hold that position. Open out, open, open, lengthen.

Reaching, take a breath in. Little bit more stretch, lengthen out little bit further. Again breathing in, breathing out. Lengthen little bit further. And now slowly bring the arms in.

Now the best way after doing that stretch is just roll elegantly towards me, coming off the roller. Gorgeous. (Michael laughs) Now come to sitting position. Lengthen up. Put your right foot on top of the roller.

Bring it in front of you here. Bend the left knee, stretching up. Now lengthen forward, and lift, open the arms, cross the arm, and lift. Reach. Other side, cross, and look back.

And push. Stretching forward, breathing out. And lift. Cross the arms, slide to the little toe. And lengthen, hold this side, turn to face, and now stay there.

Put your hand on the inside of the foot. Look up to the ceiling, breathing in. And as you breathe out turn further away. Lengthen little bit further, little bit further. And coming back, changing legs.

Stretching, breathing in, and breathing out. And lengthen. Now diagonally cross, reach over. And lift up. And turn.

And lift. Stretch forward. And lift. Diagonally cross. And lift, reach.

Now this time stay here, hold it. Lengthen up. And coming back up. Good, now turn and face each other. Hold the roller.

And now from here what I want you to do is lengthen the spine, hinge back, and now just stretch the legs out into our teaser position. Now we've gotta talk about your legs. Bring your legs a little bit lower. That's it. So that way there if you're not using your legs so much it goes into the trap.

Now keep the connection. So really get your legs down to your eyes. (Michael laughs) Yeah, with your legs up here, the legs are doing a lotta work. With the legs at the same height as your eyes, it's a putting a little bit more work in the trap. So, I know you guys are tired, but it's no excuse, lengthen out.

Lengthen out, reach. Now so you should see over the roller. Let the roller touch the legs. Good. Hold it there.

Little lower, lower, lower. (Scattered laughs) Okay, that's your goal, you've got some homework to do here. When I see you next time, I want you to say, "Look Michael, my legs are here." Yeah, you could bend the knees, if that would make it easier. If you bend the knees, it's better to do it with knees bent if you can't do straight. Now as your roll down to the mat, your shoulder blades, your scapula will just touch, so roll down, roll, and now come back up.

Up. Good. Breath would help. Breathing out. Breathing in.

Now as gentle as the music. And going down, scapula just kissing the mat. Kiss, kiss. That's better, and then up. Smoothly coming up.

Lengthen. You connect the center as you come up, hold it. Show off, stretch the legs. Eye height. (Michael laughs) That's the most interesting Pilates noise I've ever heard.

Luckily it came out of your mouth. Okay, so from here, now stretch, all out. Center. Lengthen, now bend the knees. Slowly roll down.

That's it. Connect the center, now come up. Okay, let's try it again, noiseless this time. (Gia laughs) Stretch out. Lengthen.

Coming up. So hold it, now lengthen the legs, lengthen the legs. See it's possible without noise. Oh, a little noise. (Michael laughs) Slightly roll down.

Because this is a noisy town. Rolling down. Good, rolling up. Now lift the roller up, and turn to face the camera. So they see who you are.

Come back, roll. Curve down. That's it, this is all about control. Coming up. Now lengthen up, now turn to face the window.

Look out to the dolphins, look out. Longer, longer, longer, longer, longer. Come back. I don't remember hearing the word stop. (Michael and Gia laugh) You've got two more to do.

I know we were laying on the foam roller a minute ago, you thought oh, we're coming to the end of the class but we're not quite there yet. Lifting up, hold it lengthen. Lengthen, now lengthen. Now roll down. Good, roll.

Now arms up, turn to face the camera, up. Stretch the legs long. Beautiful, down. And down. Roll.

Coming up. I feel like I should have flowers around the roller. Lengthen, coming back. Last two of the day. Rolling down, push.

Coming up, roll up, roll. Camera, legs long, legs long, legs long. Curve down, reaching, this is the easy version, me just holding it like this. Lengthen up, up, lengthen, lengthen, out the window, out the window, out the window, out, slowly bring the legs down. Open the legs out.

Just shake the legs. But a key is it's all about the body trying to cheat. You know if the legs go up, you know the legs are trying to do it. If the legs come down, yes it's gonna be more center. So what you're trying to do it recognize when you're cheating, and then try to bring those legs down as your doing it.

Right, take the roller behind you, look behind and stretch. Good, stay there, change to the other side. Reach, lengthen out. And push. Lengthen, reach out, push.

Up. Good, breathing in, breathing out. Lengthen, push back. Now we get nice lengthening through those legs. What I want to do is lift up, now slowly roll back.

And then come back up. Now the leg on the floor gets longer. Turn, up, now lengthen, long, long, long, long. Good, reaching up. It's a nice bit of shoulder work going on.

Breathing in, and lengthen, really feel it, roll back, roll, roll, roll, roll. And lengthen. You've got a bit more work, look at your hand. Now the eyes follow the hand, eyes follow the hand, go back, more, more, more, more, more, good, coming up. Breathing in.

Up, and push back, lengthen out. Push, push, push, push, stretch, stretch, little rotation, more rotation, that's it, there you see, now come back up. And lift up, pushing out, breathing in, and now push long. Now the leg is long, make it longer, longer, longer, stretch. Coming back up, last time.

And I mean the last, breathing in, but the best, rotate, turn, turn, long legs, stretch, stretch, stretch, rib cage, coming up. And bring the roller in front of you. Take the legs behind. Push up onto the roller, and then slowly bring the roller up and come back to standing. And just step back off your mats.

So just finish by balancing up on the toes. Lift the roller out. Now as you bend the knees, turn to the right. Coming back. Heels down.

Lift up. Turn to the left, long spine. So your shoulders on top of the pelvis. And coming back, heels down. Lift the roller up.

Breathing in, as we did in the beginning, flex the spine. And lift back up. Now tilt the pelvis, tailbone coming through. And lengthen up. Tailbone coming through, round the spine, and lift.

Again, curve. Lift up and now hold it there, just bring the arms down. And again, as we started just holding onto the roller. Feeling that nice, little bit gentle work with the upper body. Pelvis in place.

Rib cage in place. Long spine. Feel the floor. Connect the center. And enjoy one breathe, breathing in.

And slowly breathing out. Breathing in. And breathing out. Feel the width. A great key that I got from a fantastic teacher, Judith Aston, think about underneath the rib cage, underneath the muscles think about the volume inside your rib cage.

Breathing in. And breathing out. So you're creating more space. For that breath. Last time, breathing in.

And breathing out. Just gently put the roller down. On the floor. Balance it. Lift the arms up.

And bring the hands together. And thank you for doing the session today. Thank you guys. (Michael claps) Well done.

Comments

Such a fantastic teacher, I love this session. Thank you Michael x
It's great! Thank you very much!
2 people like this.
Amazing for balance, and shoulders!
I'm teaching a Neuropilates class next week and wanted to focus on balance and coordination, but was lacking inspiration. You made my day! More videos, please!
Sarah Pritchard
I really enjoyed this class, especially the fluidity of the movement, really good for getting my dancing body moving at the start of the day, I hope we can have some more classes like this please!
Amazing clase! Love your work!
Absolutely wonderful. What a treat. I love the flowing movement and precise cuing.
Amazing as always! Absolutely love it!!
1 person likes this.
Beautiful class as always Michael- I applaud the girls for their effort and achievement in the teaser especially - wow - and just when you think its all over ...there's more ... thankyou for a great class
Now I'm inspired to give my next classes! Thank you!
2 people like this.
Michael, you're wonderful! Just finished doing this....boy oh boy! You made the movement of knee lift then rolling out look so easy...lots of practice needed on in it and the teaser. Thanks very much....more videos please. Also love your butterfly cue! Ciara x
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