Class #2582

Magic Circle Intensity

60 min - Class
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Feel the burn in this advanced Mat workout with Melissa Connolly! She uses the Magic Circle for almost the entire class to add intensity to each exercise. She includes fun variations of movements like Rolling Like a Ball, Push Ups, and so much more!
What You'll Need: Mat, Magic Circle

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Hi I'm Melissa. And I am back at Pilates Anytime for my fifth time now. I'm very excited to be here and present this mat class for you. We're gonna be using the magic circle just about the entire class. So a few exercises we won't but we'll start on your mats standing, so I have these ladies standing to the back of the mat.

And we are gonna start is a Pilates V. So heels together, toes slightly apart. And you're gonna reach that circle right out in line with your shoulders. Your elbows are soft. Good, so holding it here, feel your feet really grounded into your mat, pushing down.

Feel your heels drawing together, inner thighs together. Feel the lower abdominals pulling in and up as the tail bone drops, heavy and the shoulder blades pull back. Lift the chin slightly, soften your elbows, take a nice deep inhale. And as you exhale squeeze the circle 10 times. One, and two and three, four and five, six, seven, eight, nine, pause on 10.

Shoulders glide down as you lift the circle and squeeze. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10. Bring the circle back inline with your shoulders, bend your knees into a plie. Squeeze, One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10. Arms lift, shoulders down squeeze, One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10.

Bring the circle in front, now keep your knees bent but come up onto your toes. Heels glued together, squeeze. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10. Raise the arms and squeeze. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10.

Bring the circle in front of you straighten your legs, make sure those heels come back together if they came apart and squeeze One, two, three, good keep going, really draw those inner thighs together, heels together. Tight belly in and let's raise our arms up, shoulders down, keep your balance squeeze. And stay balanced. and five six, seven, eight, nine, and 10. As you lower your heels lower the circle squeezing, One, two, three, four, five, lift it up two, three, four and five.

Lower down, two, three, four and five. Lifting up two, three, four and five. Lower down, two, three, four, and five. Lift it up, two, three, four, and five. Two more down, two, three, four, and five.

Raising up, two, three, four, and five, last one down two, three, four, five. Lifting up, up, up, up and pause. Keep the circle lifting, lower your heels, getting taller, reach up and over to the right, take an inhale into a nice side bend. Exhale let's come back to the center, reach up and over to the left side bend, and exhale center. Inhale reaching up and over.

Exhale pull the stomach and ground your feet. Inhale reach up and over. And exhale to the center, last time to the right. And exhale back to the center and up and over to the left. And exhale center, arms are by your ears, lower your chin, roll the spine down one vertebra at a time.

Your head is heavy, bend your knees with an inhale. Exhale, straighten your legs and roll it up. Keep your arms by your ears, roll up, roll up, roll up. As you lift up, rise right up onto the balls of the feet, lower the heels, chin goes down, stomach scoops in, we roll down. Head heavy, inhale bend the knees, exhale, straighten the legs, scoop your abs in to roll up, roll up, roll up, roll up, raising the arms, rise up onto the toes.

Lower the heels again, chin goes down, belly button pulls in as we round the spine down, bend the knees, straighten the legs, roll it up, roll it up, roll it up, roll it up, rising up onto the toes. Lower down, shoulders, relax, let's roll down last time. Roll down, now from here just place your circle to the right. Good, swing your heels apart, so your feet are parallel hip distance. And then walk out onto all fours.

Go ahead, walk yourself down onto your hands and your knees so your in a tabletop position. Good, stay there feeling the length of your spine, crown of the head reaching forward, tailbone back, inhale. On your exhale round your spine, really scoop your belly in, hollow it out. Feel your hands pushing into the mat. Now lift your tailbone, roll through the spine and arch the spine, roll through, roll through, roll through take an inhale, good now lower your tailbone first and roll through the back, through the lower spine, the middle spine, the upper spine, pushing hands into the mat, scoop the belly up.

And lift the tail bone, roll through the back. Rolling through, roll through and arch and last time here. Exhale, scoop your abs in and round, round, round, head drops down, and last time lifting your tailbone roll through the lower spine, that's it the middle spine, the upper spine, shoulders and arch. You're gonna come into a neutral spine and take your magic circle into your right hand on the outside of your mat. So you're gonna hold it so it's upright, like so.

Good, keep your right arm straight, so lengthen the right arm and not directly to the side but bring it more to a diagonal. Good, now holding that circle there, press it down five times. Press one, and two, shoulder glides down, three, four and pause on five. Draw those ribs together. Now lengthen your left leg straight behind you.

Nice and long, good, and your left leg is lifted, as you press the circle down, pulse your left leg up, one and two, pulse the leg up three, that's it and four, pause on five, now try to keep your hips square and your shoulders square. Bring your left leg out to the left. Exhale bring it back to the center. And bring it to the left. And exhale back to the center.

Good and stabilize and pull back to the center. Two more, reach it out without moving the torso. Only as far as your body allows. Last one, and then bring the leg back to the center. Lower the knee down and take the circle into your left hand.

Good and then we'll do the other side so it's out to that diagonal. Good, so shoulders down, ribs connected, belly is in. Start by pressing the circle down for five. Press four, three, two and one. Now lengthen the right leg straight behind you.

Pulse that leg up as you press the circle down, one and two, and three, and four, pause on five. Care your right leg only as far as your point of control is without moving your torso and bring it back to the center. Everything is still and stable as you reach it out. And then back to the center. Three more inhale, and exhale.

Have your right hip pointing down towards the mat. And center, last one, opening the leg. Bring it back to the center and then lower that knee down. Good, from here your gonna have a seat facing towards each other. Alright, we're gonna take that circle, between your inner thigh right above your knees.

Now check your foot position, ideally they're about in line with your hips and you're going to help yourself roll down to your backs. Once you're on your back take the heels of your hands to your hip bones, fingers are facing inwards. We're gonna breathe in through the nose, as you exhale squeeze the circle and feel those abdominal muscles between your two hip bones engaging. Release the circle and breathe in, exhale squeeze the circle, feel those lower deep abs pulling in tight. Release the circle breath in.

And again exhale, squeeze, engage those deep lower abs, and then you release, two more times. Exhale, like there's a piece of Saran Wrap pulling tight hip bone to hip bone. And release. Last one exhale, feeling those deep abs connecting. Release the circle bring your arms down to your sides.

Squeeze the circle going to a pelvic tilt so the same lower ab connection then roll through the lower back release the circle. Exhale squeeze the circle going into your pelvic tilt, and then roll through and release. Exhale, pelvic tilt, deep scoop in the low belly. Roll through the back and release. Two more, use the exhale.

Roll through the back and release. One more like this, exhale. Roll through and release, let's take the hands behind your head, elbows come into the peripheral vision, your head is heavy in your hands. Squeeze the circle as we curl our head, neck, shoulder blades up and then roll down and release. Exhale, waking up those inner thighs with this series.

Roll down and release. Exhale curling up. And lower down. Just two more here. Feeling the ribs pulling down towards your hip bones.

And lower, last time, exhale squeeze that circle, draw the belly in deeply. Roll down and release. Bring your arms down to your sides. Squeeze the circle on your exhale go into a pelvic tilt and continue rolling up up up up into a bridge. Inhale at the top keep the squeeze.

As you roll down take your arms up and overhead. Keep the squeeze of the circle. The hands touch the floor behind you, you open the knees to release. Squeeze into the circle pressing the arms down into the mat as you roll the spine up. And then start to roll down, reaching your arms up towards the ceiling, bring them all the way back and release the circle.

Squeeze the circle, press the arms down, rolling the hips up. And let's roll it right back down, creating that flexibility and fluidity through the spine. Reach it back. Two more, exhale rolling up, up up up, push into the back of the arms and press into your feet. Roll down, keep the circle squeezed using our inner thighs, release.

Last one, exhale rolling the hips up, now stay here. Lift the chin off the chest, bring your ribs connect and squeeze into the glutes let's do 50 little squeezes. Go in two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10. You're waking up those inner thighs. 30, One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 40, One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, hold it on 50.

Roll down, stretch the arms over head. Release the circle. Okay last thing like this. You're gonna squeeze the circle, curl your chest up, reaching the arms forward, good. Now the right arm is gonna reach up by your ear as you open the knees.

Squeeze the circle press the right arm down. The left arm goes back as you open the knees. Squeeze as you lower down, both arms go back as we lower the knees. Exhale, squeeze and lift the chest an inch higher. And then roll everything back.

Four more sets here we go, curling up, right arm inhale, exhale squeeze reach. Left arm inhale, exhale squeeze reach. Both arms inhale, exhale squeeze and reach an inch higher and roll down releasing the circle. Again we give it a squeeze and curl up inhale right arm, exhale, inhale left arm, exhale. Both arms, exhale lift in entire and we roll it back, we have two more sets, curl up the chest, inhale right arm, exhale, inhale left arm, exhale.

Here we go both arms, pull the stomach in and lift. And roll down. Last time, breath out, inhale right, exhale, inhale left, exhale, both arms lift that chest up. Now don't lower down quite yet, pick the circle up, woo those inner thighs should feel good, alright the circle's lifted up overhead, lift the knees to a tabletop position, toes taps, you're gonna take your right toes, they tap the mat, exhale draw the belly into bring up center. Left toes tap the mat, exhale center, now stay here as both feet reach to your point of control, bring the arms back, they may or may nor touch the mat, exhale center.

Right leg, exhale center, left leg, exhale center, both legs go down as arms go back and scoop abs to the left. Breathe in and breath out, breathe in and breathe out. Legs go down, arms go back, exhale center. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, here we go both arms just to your point of control, no arching in the back and exhale. Last time through, right scoop and lift, eyes on the belly, see you draw in to the spine, both legs.

Exhale center that was the last one. Take the circle on the outsides of your thighs the top, the bottom of your thighs by your knees, hold the back of your legs and rock on up. Okay good, feet are flat, inline with your hips. Hold the back of your thighs so you can pull on your legs and sit up nice and straight, inhale here. On the exhale lead with the belly button, start to round back into your letter C shape, you're gonna take an inhale, eyes on the stomach.

On the exhale see your stomach pull in deeper to your spine, rounding forward, inhale sit up straight and tall. Exhale and scoop the abs in and round, round, round, breath and look at the stomach, use your exhale to draw it in deeper. Using the assistance of your hands inhale. Exhale, scoop and really round, especially in that lower back at that lumbar spine flexion. Breathe in, exhale draw the belly in rounding forward.

Sit up tall and again exhale, rounding, rounding, rounding, good check your shoulders are down, take an inhale, exhale pull the stomach into the spine. And sit nice and tall, good. Let's go all the way down to the back, so reach your arms forward and scoop the belly, you can press on the circle with your legs. Take your arms all the way back over head. Circle the arms around to the sides lifting up.

Exhale press out on that circle to roll up and sit tall, good. Let's go again, we roll the spine back touching lower, middle, upper, shoulders, arms go back. The arms circle, raising the head, exhale, rolling up and lift. And roll it down, lead with the belly button, lower back, middle back, upper back, shoulders stretch, arms nice big circle, lift the head exhale, rounding forward. And lift last time, let's roll it down, one vertebrae at a time, stretch the arms back, nice big circle, and exhale rolling up, up, and up.

Good, from here take the circle away, lie on your side, you're gonna take the circle, to the front edge of your mat, bringing your bottom leg, on the inside, so let's see, you're all on a different side so that's okay. Bottom leg on the inside and then the top leg on the top of the circle, good. Okay, lining yourself up so you have your elbow, your shoulder, your hips are back in the mat and the circles to the front of the mat good. Now pull the ribs in, abs in, you're gonna press down carefully with that top leg just to keep it stable, that's not our working leg. Lengthen out your bottom leg and lift it up.

And down that's exhale lift, and lower, this'll be for the bottom inner thigh and exhale lift three, and down and lift four. And down connecting the inner thighs, five and down, and six, and down, inner thighs, connect. And lower and lift, and lower, good two more, lift, lower, last one stay lifted, now try to stabilize that top leg as you do a circle, around the entire circle one, and two, the hard part is keeping still, and around, good, and you guys are doing a good job though. Six, and seven, and eight, all the way up and around, nine and 10, lets reverse that circle take it around, one, around two, all the way around the circle, three, and four, all the way around five, and six, up and around seven, up and around eight, two more, nine, and 10. Let's raise that leg up, press down with your top leg, hold it steady for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and one.

And lower it down, good. Transition, you're gonna take your circle lie on your stomach, okay, before we do the other side. So you're gonna have the circle overhead. Your hands, the heels of your hands go on to that cushy part of the circle, your legs are gonna separate hip distance, place your forehead on the mat. Glide the shoulders down and inhale lift your chest up, pressing the circle down you're in an extension, neck in line with your spine.

And then exhale lower the body as you release the circle. Four more, press down and lift. And then lengthen off of the crown of the head inhale lower and release. Exhale press down and lift the chest. And lengthen and lower all the way down.

Two more, shoulders slide down. Lifting the body from the back extensors, and then lengthen and lower last one like this, exhale press down and lift the chest. And then lengthen and lower, down, keep your forehead down, raise your legs up, lift, that's it and lower down. Again lengthen and lift and lower down, and lengthen lift, getting the back of your thighs, lower down two more times, lift, and lower. Last time lifting from the back of the legs, and you lower, lifting the chest and the legs everything.

Press down into the circle lift up. Lengthen and lower, and again exhale, and inhale, going down. Three more pressing into the circle raising up. And lower down. Two more press down and lift.

And lower down. Last time, let's lift up and do 10 presses into the circle, little pulse, One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. And we lower all the way down, good. Okay turn onto your other side, I'll stay facing forward. Okay, good.

So taking that circle so face each other. There we go I know the transition. Take your elbow, your hips, the back of the mat, legs to the front of the mat, good. Press down on your top leg to keep it stable, draw your belly in deep and let's take that bottom leg up and down, lift two and down. Lift three and down.

Lift four and down connecting the inner thighs, five. And lift, six, and exhale, seven, and lift, eight, good two more, nine, and ten, stay stable, draw the belly in let's circle around, let's circle and two, up and around three. And four, go all the way around five, all the way around six. And seven, around eight, two more nine, and 10. Reverse your circle up and around one.

Up and around two, pressing on that top leg three. And four, around five, around six, stabilizing here seven, eight, two more nine, and 10. Raise that leg up, press down on the top leg, hold it for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one and lower. Good we're gonna come all the way up from here. Good pick up your circle, face towards each other.

And we're gonna lie down on our backs. Placing the circle actually to the outside of your ankles. We're gonna go into the hundreds. So here we go, we're gonna go into our flow, so your knees are bent in a tabletop position to start. Activate the arms, so reach the arms long, hover them off of the mat, take a nice deep breath in.

On your exhale curl head, neck, shoulder blades, lets reach our legs to a high diagonal to start. And pump the arms, breathe in two, three, four, five, exhale, two, three, four, five in. And out. In. And press out on the circle.

In. And out. Now your right leg is high your left leg is low. Inhale, two, three, four, five, exhale, two, three, four, five, one more like this. And exhale, now switch legs, left leg high, right leg low, exhale two, three, four, five.

Inhale and exhale, try to match your left leg to your right. They're low to your point of control. And exhale really deepen your abs, last one. And exhale, breath out all the air, empty your lungs completely, just pause. Bend your knees, hold the back of your thighs, let's rock on up to seated.

We're gonna take that circle, it's gonna go on the outside of your hands and your wrists. Toes are pointed reaching long, fingers are forward. Let's scoop the belly in and round forward. Shoulders down, now start to roll down onto your back, so here we go, we're gonna touch the lower, the middle, the upper the shoulders, the head, arms reach back. Flex the feet, lifting the circle, press it out, and roll up, scooping the belly in, point your feet and reach forward, draw the abs in.

Let's roll it down. Keep reaching energy to the finger tips and the toes, pressing out on the circle roll back. Flex the feet lifting up, exhale, scoop the belly in and stretch it forward, toes are point in and we roll down, touching lower, middle, upper, shoulders, head. Flex the feet, lift the circle, lift the head, exhale, scoop, scoop, scoop, shoulders down reach forward, point your toes, two more, rolling down, one, vertebra at a time. Flex the feet, lift the arms, press outside on the circle.

Good and stretch it forward. Toes point, we roll down, touching lower, middle, upper, shoulders, head, last roll up. Flex those feet. Exhale rolling up. And stretch forward, now instead of rolling down, roll up to seated, good.

You're just going to hold your circle in your hands, bend your knees. And just scoot yourself forward a little bit for the roll over. So go ahead roll down, pause on your backs, lift your knees to table top and take the circle between your ankles. Press the back of the arms into your mat. Form here stretch the legs up to the ceiling, your feet are pointed again, inhale, on your exhale let's take our legs up and over head.

From here flex your feet nice and strong, squeeze the circle and roll down through your spine. Reach your legs down to about 45, point the toes and exhale, take it up and over head. Flex the feet, give the circle a little squeeze, roll down through the upper, the middle, the lower, the tailbone, legs to 45, toes are pointed, exhale, take it up and over head, flex the feet, give the circle a little squeeze, pull the belly in and roll down, roll down, roll down through the center of the spine. Let's keep our feet flexed and exhale. Go up and over, point the toes, again squeeze the circle scoop your stomach in, roll down, one vertebra at a time.

And flex the feet, exhale up and over, toes point, squeeze the circle lets roll it down, lengthen your neck, make sure your chin is off the chest. And last one, flex the feet, exhale over the head. Point the feet, give it a squeeze, let's roll down. One vertebra at a time, pause when it's at 90. We're gonna take the circle, you're gonna place it on the ball of the right foot and let that left leg fall all the way down.

Go ahead, stay here as you inhale. On the exhale just gently pull on that circle increasing your hamstring stretch. Now take the leg slightly across your body, inhale. On the exhale just slightly pull it towards you, increasing the stretch. Good, now let's take that leg out to the side, inner thigh, breath in.

And exhale pull it in towards you. Stretching the legs. Bring your leg back to the center. We're going to set up for leg circles. Your left foot is flexed.

You're pressing down to the back of the thigh, now we're going to hold the circles straight up so pointing your right foot long, find that the foot is right in the inside of the circle use that circle as a guide. Stabilize your hips, draw the belly in, let's take the leg across, down around, pause in the center of the circle. Inhale and exhale, pause in the center. Inhale and exhale, center, inhale and exhale, center. Last one.

And find the center, lets reverse, leg goes out down around across, one. Inhale, and exhale, two, inhale, really try to stabilize our hips in this exercise. And center, last one. And center, let that right leg reach down to meet the left longer, than the left leg, and then let's just bring that left foot up underneath the circle. Okay good, stretching our other leg, take a nice deep inhale through your nose.

Use your exhale to pull that leg gently back, stretching your hamstrings. And now take it across the body, it's going to go where you're the tightest, typically the IT band or maybe another part of the hamstring. Exhale stretch. And now let's open our left leg out to the side breathing in. And exhale stretch.

Alright bring the leg back to the center. Let's flex the right foot, anchor the back of the right thigh into the mat, take the circle away. Pull the navel down towards the spine and here we go, across, down, around, center, one. Across, down, around, center, two. Inhale, exhale, three, inhale, exhale, four.

Inhale pause on five. Reverse, inhale. Exhale one. Inhale, always pause right in the same position. Center of the circle.

And three. And exhale, four. Last one, and five. Let's float our left leg, lengthen all the way down. Good, from here bend your knees and let's just rock up with momentum.

Okay, rolling like a ball with this circle, take your circle right at your sternum here. And then bring your elbows to the outside of your knees. Come onto the tips of your toes, holding the circle. So your head goes down, your head might even touch the circle here. So rounding just like the circle is round.

Lift the feet, scoop your stomach in and let's try to maintain this as we roll back. And then exhale roll up and balance, good. Inhale roll back, and exhale roll up and balance. And inhale, roll back, and exhale, good. And inhale, and scoop and lift, four more inhale, and exhale, lift three more, inhale, and keep that scooped two more inhale, and exhale, lift, last one like this.

Exhale stay lifted. We got it. (laughs) alright good. Arms out in front. Now keep the circle there, pull the stomach in the feet are lifted.

We're going to roll down knees in a table top arms directly up overhead. Your chest is lifted, eyes are on your belly button, single leg stretch as you reach your right leg, bring your arms back. Keep the arms back as you reach the left leg. And now bring the circle back to the center. Okay, so we're just going back for two, inhale take it back and exhale bring the circle forward.

Keeping your chest lifted the whole time. And exhale bring it forward. And inhale it's back and exhale the circles forward. And inhale it's back. And exhale, to deepen the abs four more inhale.

And exhale, and inhale, and exhale two more. And inhale and exhale, last one arms go back arms come forward, good. Bend your knees and pause. Touch a circle towards your feet and then stretch your arms and legs away from the center. Exhale, double leg stretch, reach it out, scoop and pull it in.

Again keeping your chest lifted so the head doesn't go back as your arms go back, you're just keep it all nice and lifted. Engaging from your core let's do four. And in, stretch it out for three. Pull it in, stretch it out two, pull it in, last one hold it out for three, two, one and exhale in. Good, keep the arms lifted.

Reach your right leg up, try to touch the circle with your right leg. Reach your left leg to a long diagonal. Pulse twice, pulse, pulse, so you kick that leg to the circle and pulse, pulse, breath in, breathe out. Breath in, breath out, breath in, breathe out. Last four, three, two, one.

Enough, bend your knees, let's put our head down to give your neck a break. Roll your head from side and to the other side. Good, bring your head back to the center. Let's place the circle between the ankles. Lace the fingers behind the head, curl your chest up and then lengthen your legs.

Okay, if it's too much gripping in your hip flexors go ahead soften your knees that's fine. Inhale, lower the legs to your point of control. Exhale squeeze into the circle as you lift up. Inhale lower, squeeze into the circle, draw the belly in to lift. Inhale, I always like to look at the belly, see, visually that the belly pulls down.

So see it pull down before you raise your legs. Inhale, exhale, squeeze and lift, let's do three more. Exhale, and lift, nice and deep in those abs, exhale, toe lift last one. Exhale squeeze and lift, let's take that circle out. Put your head down, rest for a moment.

Go ahead. Okay, take your right knee to a table top position. Take the cushy part, the handle part of the circle on your thigh and then place your left elbow onto the circle. That's it good. Okay hands are behind the head.

You're gonna be pressing your leg into your elbow, elbow into your leg, so we're gonna lift and pulse, one 10 times, pulse, two, and pulse three, for oblique work, four, exhale, five, lift, six, draw the abs and squeeze, seven, and eight, two more breathe out. And ten, enough. We're gonna take that circle to the other side, left leg up. Right elbow onto the circle, let's bring the hands behind the head, head is heavy in those hands, not tensing our necks. And we squeeze into the circle.

One, two, three, four, really pull the stomach in, lift five, lift six, and seven and eight, and nine and 10. Good, placing the feet down, and then go ahead lift them right back up use some momentum to rock up to seated. Good how are we feeling, good? Go ahead, alright, so sit up nice and tall here, we're going to separate the legs, so they are in line with your hips. You're gonna raise that circle up and over head the feet are flexed, we are nice and tall, so if you're in the back is straight like its up against a wall.

Shoulders stay down, let's take an inhale to feel that length and really flex your feet. Lower your head down. Exhale, scoop your belly, round forward, eyes on the stomach, you're gonna pulse the body forward three times. One, two, pause on three, squeeze into the circle three times, Look at your navel and pull it in, one squeeze, two, three, go ahead roll up one vertebrae at a time. Sit tall, now you're gonna rotate the torso to the right and do three pulses.

Twist one, two, three inhale, find center. Go the other way. One, two, three, and then find center. Lets do that whole series again, so draw the stomach in round forward, pulse one, pulse two, pause on three. Squeeze into the circle, as you squeeze watch your belly pull in, two and three.

Now keep the abs pulled in as you roll up. Everything stems from our core, rotate, pulse three times, one, twist two, twist three. Inhale find center, rotate one, twist two, twist three. Find center last time through, we're gonna round the spine forward. Abs pull in, eyes on the belly, pulse the body, one, two, three, eyes on the belly pull it in, as you squeeze the circle, one two, three, keep those abs engaged, roll up, roll up, roll up, sit tall, shoulder down, exhale twist, two, three.

Inhale center, exhale twist, two, three, inhale center. Very good, okay. Bend your knees, scooch forward a little bit. Take the circle between your ankles. Hold the back of your thighs.

Okay, tuck your tailbone slightly under here. So you're round in your back, your feet are lifted now. I'm just gonna warn you the circle sometimes propels you forward. So we need to control it here, we're gonna reach those legs out long. For the open leg rocker let's start with the hands behind the thighs.

Pull on your thighs lift your chest, your back is straight and long inhale. On your exhale, round your back, roll back to the shoulder blades. Roll up, and then inhale sit tall good. You can chose to keep your hands here or bring them to your calves. And let's go again.

We roll back. We roll up, and then inhale, find that length. Good, exhale roll back, roll up and inhale length and one more time like this. Roll back, roll up, inhale lengthen. Take the circle while we're in that teaser type position between your legs, or on the outside of your legs, your legs are between the circle, hold the calves or the thighs, sit tall, lengthen and let's roll it back, exhale back, exhale up, inhale, sit tall, exhale roll back, exhale roll up.

Inhale sitting tall in your spine. Two more, breath out. Breath out again. Inhale, last one breath out. Breath out, and inhale good, nobody fell forward.

Alright reach your arms we're gonna tease the position. Keep your legs there. Roll down. Roll down. Arms down to the sides, lift your legs now to 90 degrees.

We're gonna tick tock, you're gonna take your legs to the right breath in. Exhale pull it to the center, take it to the left, inhale. Exhale center, modified corkscrew to the right. Exhale, circle the legs down and around to the left. And center, go to the left inhale, exhale, down around to the right.

And center, next corkscrew you're gonna lift your hips slightly go out, down, around and lift the hips. Roll down the left side, down around and lift the hips. Roll down the right side, this time you can chose to take your legs all the way up and over head. Roll down the left side, down around roll up the right side if you're over head pause there. Reach your arms back over head.

Press on the outside of the circles, flex your feet. Roll it down through the center of your spine. Upper, middle, lower, tail bone, let's bend our knees. Pick up that circle, place it to the side, this might be the only exercise we do without the circle. So place the circle down.

And then come all the way up from there. Good, lie on your stomach. Alright, very good, so, going into some back extension from here, your legs are hip distance apart. Have your palms facing down, hands up your shoulders, good. So before you even lift anything, before your head is down I want you to feel the length of your legs, engagement in the glutes, the hamstrings, the stomach muscles are pulling in.

Now take an inhale to hover your chest and your hands off of the mat, take an exhale to press into the hands and lift up into an extension. Take an inhale to widen across your collarbone and lift your eye gaze. And then exhale to lower down. We're gonna do that whole series twice more. Inhale lift and hover.

Exhale press into the hands lifting to an extension. Inhale widen the chest lifting a little bit more and then exhale lowering down. And again we're going to inhale and hover. We're gonna exhale pressing down. Inhale widen across the chest, lifting the eye gaze a little bit higher and then exhale lengthen and lower.

The next three we don't have the pause in between but just inhale lifting all the way up right away into your extension, no hover. And then exhale lengthen and lower down. Again shoulders down, pressing yourself right up into the extension. Inhale and then exhale lengthen and lower down. One more like this, glide the shoulders down right away.

Now from here keep your hands on the mat we're gonna rock three times, so keep your chin up, exhale forward, inhale lift, two more, forward and lift last one forward, stay lifted three times, we're gonna dive and catch, so we dive forward. Then we catch. Dive forward and catch one more dive forward, stay there. And catch, next three completely let go, here we go. Dive and lift.

Dive and lift. You got it and now lift and catch, catch, catch. Woo. And then slowly lower all the way down. Stay on your stomach, now just bring your hands together forehead to your hands, bend your knees, rock your legs from side to side, good, just to release out your back.

I'm gonna pick out my circle. So go ahead get your circle but stay on your stomach. Okay this one might be kind of a tricky transition. It does not matter so much if your ankles are touching this flat part. You just want to bring your legs on the inside of the circle if the ankles are on that cushy part great.

If they come off, it's fine. It doesn't really matter. I don't think I've got mine there, but, it's okay. Okay, so hands together. Forehead in your hands, knees are bent, okay, got it, we're good.

Alright glutes are engaged. Hamstring are engaged, from here, we want you to straighten your legs out. So legs are nice and long, the circle's touching the mat to start. Now lift up a little bit more, then bend your knees. Straighten the legs long and lower down.

Lift up slightly, that's it, bend the knees. Stretch it out, and lower down. Lift up slightly, bend the knees, stretch those legs out long. Lower them down. Now lift your chest into an extension. So lift the legs and the chest up.

Bend the knees, stretch it long, maybe if it's available lift an inch higher. And lower twice more, lift up everything. Bend the knees. Straighten your legs, visualize if you don't lift already a little bit higher. And down, last one.

Lift, and then you bend, stretch it out, lift up a little bit more. And lower down. Good, now bend your knees, bend, bend, bend, from here, take your hands, to the outside of your feet, good. Keep pressing your hands into your feet, your feet into your hands, and lets inhale, lift up into an extension. And then exhale let's lower it down.

Two more times press those feet into the hands, hands into the feet full extension. And exhale lower down. On this third last one, lift up and stay, keep your chin start to rock, lift up. Lift up, good, ideally not bopping the head up and down like none of these ladies are doing. But I've seen it before.

And that's enough lift everything up, up, up, to finish. And lower all the way down. While you're there take that circle off to the side. And now sit back into a child's pose rest position. Reaching our arms actively forward.

Go ahead hold it here as you lengthen through your arms, sit back to your heels, breath in. And breath out. Alright good, let's roll up and have a seat. Okay, so next we're going to go into the neck pull using the circle. So the feet are about hip distance apart.

The circle is gonna go with a base of your skull, so you're gonna bring it right behind your head here. And then you're gonna place your hands, the heels of your hands on the circle, elbows are pointing inwards or pointing I would say straight forward. Okay, so sit up tall, tall, tall, feel that length. No feeling that length your gonna hinge the body back in one long line, now you're gonna curl the tail bone, scoop the belly and let's roll down, good, inhale to the bottom. Feet are flexed, you have the circle to help you .

You're gonna lift the head. Exhale, use your breath and then round forward. Roll it up, sit nice and straight and tall. Again lets hinge back, feel the length, really flex your feet. Now curl the tailbone under, under, under, slowly and controlled, rolling down.

Now raising the body, press your head back into the circle. And then exhale, use your core strength, nice job stretching forward. Roll it up, sitting tall, hinging back on your inhale. Curl the tail bone under. Exhale, touch lower, middle, upper shoulders and head.

Lifting the head and here we go, lets breath out all the air. Rounding forward, roll up to sit tall. Last time through let's hinge back. Feel that length. Curl the tailbone under, get that deep scoop, scoop, scoop, and roll it all the way back.

And now raising up and breath out here. Good, stretching forward. And then roll up to sit. Nice, go ahead take that circle away. I'm gonna place the circle on the outside of your legs, okay so again right above your knees, and then come on down to your backs okay.

So you have your feet toes, heels, knees, hips, shoulders, stacked in a line, arms are pressing into the mat. Take a breath in, on your exhale, scoop the belly, roll your hips up into a bridge. Now we're gonna be in a nice straight bridge. So feel the ribs are together. There might even be a slight tuck of your tailbone drawing the belly in.

Keeping your pelvis completely stable. Push weight into your left leg and lengthen into your right leg away from you. Place it down without changing your torso. Reach that left leg away from you. And bring it back down.

Now reach the right leg away and keep it there. Flex your right foot. Press it out on the circle 10 times. Press out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and 10. Bend that right knee down.

Keep your hips lifted. The left leg lengthens away from you. And place it back down, hips still and stable. The right leg reaches away. And place it down.

The left leg reaches away. The foot flex, you pulsate out One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10. You bend that knee. And then roll the spine down one vertebrae at a time. Good, we're not going to add any leg positions but we're going into shoulder bridge position.

So curl your tailbone under, roll your hips up. From here, take your hands, the heels of your hands face in towards each other as you lift up into a higher extension. Good, from here, just feel the neck is long, so your chin is gonna lift up slightly, maybe take your eye gaze a little further back. The chest is wide, collar bone is open. Stay here as you inhale, no tension in the neck or shoulders.

Hold it there as you exhale. Good, and now keep your hips lifted, bring your arms down to the mat and lets roll it down feeling that flexibility through your spine. Rolling it down one vertebrae at a time. Good we're going to do either a full wheel, full bridge, otherwise go back to that same exercise you did. So if you're doing a full wheel, bring your hands by your shoulders.

Roll your hips up first and push into your feet, push into your hands and press it up. Good, staying here for a nice full inhale, stay there as you exhale, beautiful you guys, pressing out on that circle one more breath. And then let's slowly bend our elbows. Slowly bring your head to the mat tuck your chin and again, really roll the spine one vertebra at a time. Good, felt kind of good right?

Alright, let's take that circle away. And we're going to go into teasers. So it's actually not a way. It's just away from the thighs. It's in your hands, so it's lift your knees to a table top.

Okay good, take a nice breath inhale to prepare. Raise your head, exhale roll up, stretch your legs out long. Separate them, place the circle between the ankles. Reach towards your feet. Roll down, as you roll down you're gonna touch, your lower back down first, then you can soften your knees.

Reach your arms back, the arms circle, lift your head, exhale roll up, lengthen the legs, take that circle into your hands, legs, forward. Roll down, scoop the belly, of course to challenge it more. You can keep your legs straight, otherwise just soften the knees, reach the circle back. And then you roll it up, exhaling. Reach the legs long, take the circle between the ankles.

Reaching forward let's slowly roll down. Touching the lower back, and then the knees can soften. The arms go back they circle round. Lift the head, exhale, lengthen your legs, grab that circle into your hands, Roll it down, get the lower back to the mat first, then we can bend the knees and reach it back. And raise the circle lift your head, exhale.

Lengthen the legs, bring it between the ankles, reach forward, scoop the stomach in in in as you roll down with control, bend the knees, reach the arms back, they circle around. Exhale, roll it up. Take the circle between your hands. Now, into a side teaser, you're gonna roll onto your side slightly, as you go down with control. Sweep the circle down, around, it's over head, you're lying on your right side.

Yes, now let's sweep that circle in front of you, reach it towards your thighs and your knees. Roll it up to a teaser, and let's go down the left side. Reaching the circle overhead nice and controlled, lengthen it out. And now reach, sweep that circle down towards the thighs. The knees lifted up to a teaser.

Roll it down on the right side. Sweep it all out one long line hands to the toes. And then roll it right back up up up into a teaser. Woo, and again we roll down that left side with control and precision. Lengthen it out long.

And then lift, scoop scoop scoop it all the way up. We're gonna do one more on both sides. We can do this. Let's roll it down the right side. Slowly and controlled.

Stretch and then roll up, I'm just trying to keep myself up on this high mat here. Roll it up. Roll down down down, left side. And roll it up through the center, here we go we're up in the center. We slowly roll down one vertebrae at a time we bend those knees and hug 'em right into your chest.

Ah very good. Okay here we go, rock on up. Come up to your knees. Alright, so let's take the circle, lets all do the same side. So I'll mirror you, yeah face me.

Place the circle in your right hand. Okay good, and now straighten out your left leg. So you're at a diagonal line from the hand to the shoulder and then the other arm but actually this hand will go then behind your head. Okay, so leaning over. Glide this shoulder down, stabilize that shoulder, his leg is parallel, you're gonna raise a little pulse five times leg one, and two, and three, and four, pause on five.

Little circle, One, and two, and three, and four, and five, reverse One, and two, and three, and four, stay there on five, now bend the knee in, flex push, woo this one is hard. Point, flex, push three, nice and controlled, just two more, four, and press, last one five. And press, lower that leg down, keep it flexed, now just place the circle away from you. Bring your hand to the mat, straighten the top arm up. Take your bottom leg, hook it up, so that's your right leg underneath your left.

Reach over, side bend mermaid, three time. Inhale lower the hip, look down at your hand. Exhale lift up and over, two more, side bend mermaid, exhale lift up and over. Last one, inhale, exhale, lift up and over that is all, raise your arm up to the ceiling. Bend your bottom knee, and lets lift up with our circle.

Good, bring it to the other side. Side, two, stretch the leg out long, raise the arm up, bend the elbow, good, here we go, lift the leg up five, lift four, lift three, and two and one. Little tiny circle, one, two, three, four, and five. Reverse One, two, three, four, and five, bend the knee, flex, press, point, flex, press, point, nice and controlled, and press, two more. And press, last one and press with the flex foot lower it down.

Good circle it away from you. Hand down, raise the arm, take your bottom leg hook it underneath, stretch your arm overhead, and into the side bend mermaid, inhale lower, exhale lift up and over, inhale lower, exhale up and over, last one lower, exhale lift up and over. Oh you guys are in a good position. Stay there, go onto your hands and your toes in a plank position, very good. From here lift your hips up and then just stand on your feet so you're in a downward dog position, good stay there.

I'm just gonna talk you through. Do some prances with your feet. So one heel high, one heel low. And switch, and switch, good. Two more switch, switch, raise both heels up nice and high.

Exhale press your heels down lengthening your tail bone higher to the ceiling. Walk your hands back to your feet. Good, roll your spine up to standing. Take an inhale, arms go out to the sides, up and overhead, we are going to do a series of push ups to finish. Exhale, lets roll down, arms by your ears, walk your hands out, out, out, into a nice strong straight plank position.

Lengthen head to heels, three push ups, bend, and press. Bend and press. One more, bend, nice job, raise your hips. Walk your hands back for four, three, two, you're there by one. Chin to the chest, roll it up one vertebrae at a time.

Inhale, lift the arms up, yes we're doing a magic circle push up. Roll the spine down. Walk your hands out, take the circle into your right hand on the outside of your mat. Now bend your left elbow, it'll be tiny, three times, left elbow bend and straighten. That's it, it's small so you have awesome strength, good job ladies, and three, just place that circle in front of the mat so it's an easy transition on the other side and walk it back, one, two, three, you're there by four.

Let's roll it up one vertebrae at a time, here we go inhale, arms are lifting, head looks up, exhale scoop, feel your stomach in and roll the spine down. Walk it out to your plank. Take the circle in your left hand, the elbow is soft. Shoulders, hips, square, bend of that right elbow, I know when I do it it's very tiny. Yeah for you guys too.

And then release your circle, raise your hips, lets walk it in for four, three, two, now just stay there. Have your feet hip distance apart. Soften your knees. Shake your head yes. Shake your head no.

And then keeping that relaxation in your neck and your shoulders soften the knees and roll it up, stacking your spine. Nice and fluid and flexible. Stand up tall, breath in, raise your arms look up. And then stretch your arms straight down, out to the sides, exhale press down, growing taller. And you are finished.

Yay.

Comments

8 people like this.
Probably one of best if not the best magic circle classes I've done. The transitions were seamless and clear instruction. The whole class from the variations to the cueing was amazing and clear. Loved it so much.
2 people like this.
I'm going to say "thank you" BEFORE I take the class. lol Though it may prove too difficult and I'll need modifications...the smiles on all the students' faces (check 'em out...everyone is grinning) coupled with my experience with Melissa's other level 2 and 2/3 classes is terrific motivation to try.
2 people like this.
Snap Joni. I'm planning to do this tonight and I can't wait. Melissa's classes are always such a treat and I'm very excited to do magic circle with her. I may be about to be tortured but I know I'm gonna love it!
2 people like this.
Reporting back. Great class! I was in the privacy of my own home and STILL glad that the camera was only on Melissa for that last teaser variation.
3 people like this.
Beautiful class. Challenging but the pace was perfect and the instructions flawless. Thank you Melissa
2 people like this.
This was amazing. Thank you.
1 person likes this.
You are truley a gifted instructor. I always enjoy your work. Amazing class !!! Thank you for all your hard work :)
1 person likes this.
I ab-so-lu-te-ly love everything about this video!! Thanks.
1 person likes this.
Yes, one of the best magic circle classes I've done; loved it :)
Pele
1 person likes this.
Melissa truly knows what it means to flow seamlessly. Wonderful.
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