Class #2599

Active Aging Mat

40 min - Class
197 likes

Description

Move through all six body positions in this "independent exerciser" Mat workout with Erika Quest. She starts standing and works her way down to the floor for quadruped, side lying, supine, and prone work. She also plays games so you can enjoy the work while you are challenging your center of gravity, proprioception, and neuroplasticity.
What You'll Need: Mat

About This Video

May 11, 2016
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Transcript

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Welcome everyone. I'm so glad you're here with me today to take class. This is Deb. This is sandy. We are going to go through a wonderful independent exercise or class moving through all six body positions. So we'll start standing. Then we'll move to kneeling, we'll go to sideline, we'll then move into some seated work, some supine work, and we'll finish with prone and then bring you back up to standing. I really hope you enjoy this work.

We're going to be playing some games with one another to talk about neuro-plasticity, which I'll introduce momentarily. So let's get started. You Ladies Ready? Great. So come to stand and face me. Turn around and I want your legs about shoulder distance apart. So a little bit of a wider, more athletic stance, a wider base of support gives you just a little bit of an easier feel through the body here. So from here we're just going to start with a nice standing warmup and all I want you to do to start is just to lift the arms up, take them up above the head and bring them open wide and down. Now.

Let's reverse that in. Gather the energy up through the arms. Inhaling here, and then exhale. Pull that energy down into your body. Just using that energy to calm you. And again, inhale to lift and exhale, pull that energy down. Good, very nice. Again, inhale, draw the arms up and exhale. Pull that energy in. Good. Last one here, and inhale, draw the arms up. Now I want you to take one hand, grab onto the opposite wrist and pull yourself up and over. Tractioning yourself, bending to the side if you will. Here, come back up to standing. Lift the spine nice and tall.

Draw the arms back down to your side, and then we'll do the other side. So come on up and then again, grab that opposite wrist with your hand and traction yourself up and over. Good. Enjoy that length and then bring the arms back up and drop them back down. Now let's talk about that idea of oppositions. So draw the arms up again. Grab that wrist in as you're bending up and over to the side, feel that foot reaching down into the floor.

So you get that length down, that lateral line of the body. Good. Come back up and all the way down. And one more here. So inhale, gather up that energy and then up and over, opening up that lateral line on the outside of the body and then back up to the ceiling and coming all the way back down. Good. Draw the arms forward. Sums up for me. Yes. So we're going to add in a little bit of rotation here. So make sure those knees are softly bent here. And what I want you to do is take your right thumb and go up into the right.

So looking up into the written, look at my foot as I'm rising up onto those set of toes. Come Back Down Center and then over to the other side. So adding in a little bit of visual aspect here as you're coming through. So you're adding in cervical rotation, which we all need as we age because I want you to be able to see me in your blind spot when you're speeding down I interstate five or maybe the Jersey Turnpike, I don't know where you live. And we're going to do that again and coming back to center.

And then one more time rotating and really looking at that thumb and coming all the way back to center. So challenging your center of gravity and challenging your proprioception. Now from here, high five me. Good. So you got those fingers out and I want you to just do some nice risk mobilization. So just circle up those risks. Enjoy that. Notice what's happening from side to side in your hands. Don't judge yourself.

We're going to be getting these hands down onto the mat at some point in time and then reverse your direction. Good circling in that other direction. Nice. And then again, high five me again. And now we're going to warm up the distal joints in the fingertips. So from here you're going to go, thumb, forefinger, thumb, middle finger, thumb ring, finger, thumb, pinky finger, thumb, pinky. Ha. You guessed it. Thumb, ring. Thumb, middle thumb pointer. Now listen. Thumb, middle thumb. Pinky, thumb, pointer, thumb ring, thumb, middle thumb. Pinky thumb. Pinky thumb.

Pinky thumb. Pointer, thumb ring. Oh, did I get to, I know, right? So it's just a little game to confuse your brain. Confused your body's so just go ahead and shake out your arms for me a little bit. Good. Soften those knees and just give me a little gentle rotation through that body. And again, letting the spine move, letting the facet joints just unlock and allow any stickiness to come out of that spine. Good. Couple more. These, take it slower if you need to change that visual aspect for your cervical spine and then pause. Place the hands on the thighs and give me a little roundness of the spine.

So arch that spine up into a little bit of a cat and then smile forward with that clavicle. Good again. And around that spine. Up Arching. Feels good to do that on an exhale. If you want to apply the breath and then inhale, smile through. Good. Exhale round. Good. And then inhale, smile through two more times. And rounding. You're looking beautiful and inhale, smile through. And last one here.

Exhale round and inhale. Smile through. Stand on up and narrow your base of support now. So what I'd like for you to do is we're going to start with some simple heel taps here to activate the front of the Shin. So just start tapping that heel. You can put your hands up, your hands can be on your hips, whatever feels comfortable for you. But the idea here is to really get the front of the Shin to fire up.

The front of the Shin is very critical. That anterior to be allies for fall prevention and reaction time as we age, right? We need these muscles. They need to be strong, they need to be stable and supportive for us. And so that's why we want to work them. Now let's switch to a toe. Tap from side to side. Nice little toe tap. Good. Four more, three, two. Now we're going to do a reaction game.

So I want you to keep your right leg planted and lift up onto your left set of toes. Good. When you're here, that floor is what I'm going to say is, sorry. You can keep your um, your, your planted foot down. Yes. And give a check of your feet and make sure your toes are pointed forwards. Yes. Good. Now the floor is what I'm going to say. When your toe is touching it cold. When it's hot, you got to lift that foot up. Okay, so it's a reaction game. So here we go. From here, the floor is cold so you can stay there and now it's hot.

Cold, cold, cold, hot, hot, hot, cold, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot. And give it a rest. Try Your other side, right? So your brain is going to feel different on the other side and your body's going to feel different on the other side. Don't judge yourself. So switch over to that other foot and press up onto the other set of toes. And from here. The floor is cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, cold, hot, cold, hot, hot, hot, cold. Good. Give it a rest and nicely done. Ladies, from here I want you to just give me a simple march and we're going to talk a little bit about neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity is a wonderful thing to help with your brain health. Okay, so here's the deal. The critical thing about neuroplasticity is that it has to be done while you're moving. So you can do the simplest of marches here and apply neuro-plasticity but I'm going to challenge you a little bit. Put your hands on your hips and I want you to go to external rotation and a heel tap. Okay, so this is our movement pattern.

We're going to stay with this and I'm going to ask you to do some things for me. So the last four digits of my cell phone number are nine four zero zero. Can you say the last four digits of my cell phone number out loud? Very good. What are the last four digits of my cell phone number backwards. I love it. The first three digits of my cell phone number are eight four two.

What are the first three digits of my cell phone number? Awesome. Do you remember the last four digits of my cell phone number? Excellent. What is my cell phone number? Well done. Give that arrest. So that's one way to train one side of the brain. Now we're going to work on activation of another critical area for fall prevention in reaction time. So you have two hard boiled eggs.

Put them on your shoulders. Good. So your hard boiled eggs cannot move. Come out into a little bit of a wider stance. Again. So your heart boiled eggs still exactly where they're at. And all you're going to do is bring one hip up towards that egg, but don't let it move. Yes. Good. And then other side. So now you're activating what we call the QL or the quadratus. Lumborum.

Don't worry, there's not a pop quiz from side to side. I'm your coach. You don't need to remember any of this from side to side, right? Those shoulders aren't moving and now we're going to change it. So hands come onto the hips and now the hips don't move, but the shoulders do, right? So you're going to activate from side to side and over and back.

And just like that, ladies and gentlemen, you are in Zoomba class. K so over and back. So don't lift the shoulders up. You just slide them from side to side and you are in Zoomba k over, back, over back. Great job. Two more. Pull back. Last one. Pull back, shake it out. And guess what? We got another side of the brain to train. Okay, so let's go back into those externally rotated heel taps. Kay.

And you're going to listen to a story. So my favorite color is green and my favorite fruit are green granny Smith apples. What's my favorite color? Can you spell the word green? G. R. E. E. N. Very nice. Can you spell the word green backwards? N. E. E. R. Oh my gosh, you're a pro. Ah, awesome jobs.

So the one other thing I wanted to tell you is that I had this awesome restaurant where I live in southern California and my favorite favorite salad to get is the lemon hummus salad. And what color is the lemon? Can you spell the word yellow? Y. E. L. L. And can you spell the word yellow backwards? That'll be their old l. N. L. I. N. Y. Excellent job. Give it a rest. And that is neuro-plasticity. Very well done. Step two, the ends of your map. I'm going to join you.

We're going to safely come down to our second body position, which is kneeling. So what I'd like you to do is take your hands and you're going to place them on your thighs. From here, you're going to give me a little squat. So bending at the knees and hinting at the hips too, as far as you comfortably can. Then I want you to reach forward. Place the hands onto the floor and then lightly put the knees down. Take your time, do whatever you need to do.

Now you ladies are going to stay where you're at and rise up onto your knees. If you need to add your knee pads now, this would be a great time to do so. So we're coming up onto our knees in a high kneeling position. Okay, exactly. Perfect. So now you have contact points and those are your toes that are back behind you, down on the floor.

So let's play a little bit with that proprioception and visual aspect again. So go thumbs up for me here. And from here I want you to take your right thumb again up into the right, adding in that rotation of the spine, see how far you can go, and then come back center. Then chicken on your other side. And notice if you might be able to get a little further from site decide. Don't judge yourself, just notice it.

Cause I like to say we have a strong side and we have a smart side and our smart side has been our lazy side our whole entire life and other side. Good. Now let's challenge this a little bit. Can you give me a little weight transfer over to one of your knees and slightly unweight the other one. And then try that again with your visual aspect. And notice what happens when you throw off your center of gravity. Your muscles are probably going woo, right? Yes or yes.

And that's okay. Good. Come back down and then transfer over to the other knee and try the other side. Good. And again, one side is going to be totally different than the other. And don't judge yourself. There's no judgment in this room or this class. Good. And relax the arms down by your sides.

Did you notice things were different when you tried each side? Great. So we're gonna move on to quadrupedal now, altering this direction please. Your hands on the floor for me. Your hands are going to be stacked right underneath your shoulders. So make sure you give yourself a check on that.

And let's talk about this position because this is really a precursor to getting us ready for plank. So you want to really push the floor away, uh, away from you with your hands. Watch your elbows so that they're not locked out. Okay, nice and stable through the shoulder girdle. And we're going to begin with a tailwag. So you're going to bring your right heel up towards your bottom and you're going to pivot around that knee cap and look towards the foot as it goes away. So look out towards it and then look all the way back and the other direction as you come across the mid line. Good. Try it again.

And this is just another way to activate the side body and also add in some cervical rotation. So really feeling as much as you can not pivot around the kneecap. Good. Excellent. You look great all the way around. Two more on this side and the, then of course we get to do the other side because we need to make sure that we lather, rinse and repeat and each side gets its equal chance. Good. Go ahead and quiet that leg and then lift the other heel up and try the other side and notice what's happening.

So feel that side bending and cervical rotation as you come through again. And Nice way to activate that quadratus lumborum nice way to feel the lateral line muscles kicking in and also a great way to get some cervical rotation going on. Good. Two more times and all the way around. And last one here. So a bit of mobilization of the spine right now. Great. Now put that foot back down. And from here we're going to play just with a little bit of stability here.

So I want you to imagine that you have a piece of bread on your belly and a piece of bread on your back and everything in between is going to be stay stable. Okay? So as if I was squeezing you together and we weren't going to squish your peanut butter and jelly out of the center of you from here, all I want you to do is transfer your weight over to one hand and lift the opposite and notice what happens. Don't need to reach forward yet. Just lift it up towards your shoulder. Good. And then put it back down and then simply do that. On the other side and see if one side might activate a little bit better than the other. And just walk back and forth at your own pace.

[inaudible] lift and lower. Good and lift and lower. Two more times here. Good and lower down. And last time here. Now leave the arm that's lifted, lifted, stretch it out in front of you. And now can you take the opposite leg to that arm and reach it back behind you and notice what's happening in the body. You've released a contact point, so you are definitely in balance.

From here I want you to tap the hand and the toes to the floor and then lift him straight back up. And can you reach and opposition from the fingertips to the toes. Tap Down and lift up and you should feel a bit of a diagonal line of pool across the front and the back of the body here. Remember there's no quiz, but we have slings on the front and the backs of our bodies and these really are being activated right now to keep us balanced and facing the floor and lift. Now hold there. And can you reach your hand wide and your leg wide like you're doing a little windshield wiper good.

Come back center and let's do that 84 more times. I'm kidding. How about three more? You can laugh at any time. Last too and open and back center and last one and back center. Now place that hand down. Shake out the wrist on the other hand, K and then we move over to the other side. So you're going to reach the other arm forward and the opposite leg to that arm back. Good. And from here you might feel totally different and that's okay.

Tap the arm and the leg down and reach the fingertips in the leg out and feel that sense of opposition from the fingertips to the toes. It says if you're wanting to power wash the wall in front of you and behind you to create that sense of length and also notice that stability, leg and arm, what's happening and last one here, hold and stay lifted. Let's do four windshield wipers open and close. Really trying to fire up that lateral system to maintain you facing down towards the Mat. Last one. I'm keeping myself honest and put that hand and put that knee back down quickly.

If you can take a nice child's pose if you want to, if does not feel good on your knees, you can totally omit this. Great. Come all the way back up into your quadriped head position. And now we're going to move on to this side. So have a seat on your side. Perfect. And both of you have your, you're going to have your forearms down. Yeah, you can move your knee pads out of the way. And here again, I want to address set up.

So let's make sure that your shoulders are stacked above that elbow here so you're pushing that elbow away. And then give yourself a check on the interior lateral line and make sure that you're active here. Your knees are stacked, your feet are stacked. And we're going to begin just with some simple hip mobility. So lift that top knee up and lower it back down. Good. So Nice hip mobility here, external rotation of the hip.

And from here we're going to play another game. So I told you about my favorite salad, but I also told you about my favorite color. K. So you know my favorite salad. You know my favorite color and you've spelled them. I also love to make apple crisps. What kind of apples do you think I use to make my apple crisps?

Green Granny Smith apples. You're correct. Well, I had to buy eight of them at the market and they cost me $8 and 42 cents. How many apples did I buy? Can you spell the word? Eight G. H. T. Good. Pause that. Lift those feet up. This is what we call perched clam and carry on with your hip mobility. Can you spell the word eight backwards?

[inaudible] a G. I love it. Remember the last four digits? My cell phone number there? Nine four zero zero. What are the last four digits of my cell phone number? You doing great. What are they backwards. You can smile at anytime. Could lower those feet down.

Extend the legs long. You did great. Lie All the way down onto your side body for me here. Let the head rest. Now take your front arm and make sure that these interior lateral muscles are still working for you, that they're not just sagging down on the ground. Okay, so pull them up and in front arm is here for support. Now let's talk about your feet. Can we dorsal flex the meaning? Pull the toes to the knees again and all I want you to do is do a little bit of side bending here.

So this is a more traditional exercise in Pele's but I like to call my version of banana split. Okay. Because it's just more fun. So we're going to go banana and then we're going to splitK and come back down and do it again. Banana and split and come back down three more times. Banana split. And you should really feel those side body muscles and split. Nice.

And one more time. Banana and split. Now remember we have to do the other side, but we're going to do a seated transition in between. So bring yourself up. Yes, exactly. Both of you are gonna face one another and I will turn this direction from here. Reaching your arms forward, sitting up as tall as you can. If you need to have your knees softly bent to help with the hip flexors, that's totally fine.

I want you really lifting up as if I was holding onto your ribs and just lightly having them float on your waistline. Then from here I want you to exhale, nod the chin towards the chest as if you're pulling it around in the imaginary lemon and reach forward flexing the spine. Take an inhale here and exhale. Bring yourself back up, rebuilding the spine. Keep the shoulders out of the ears and here we go. Exhale again, rolling down, reaching forward. Inhale and then exhale.

Restack that spine lifting up as tall as you can, as if I had a string through the top of the crown of your head and I'm pulling you upwards towards the ceiling. Good and all the way back up. Now from here, rotate the palms of the hands up, open them out to the tee position. Feel that nice open chest. And we're going to do a little bit of spinal twist. So on an exhale, twist the spine. Inhale back to center, and exhale over to the other side.

Now remember we're back in rotation. So take this slow as you're moving that vistibular fluid in through that cervical spine and come center and watch your feet. Because the, if we start to see shifts, then that tells us that your hips are moving and rotate and center and rotate and center. Two more times and twist and center. Last time here, twist and center. Great job. So now it's time to do the other side. You Ready? Good. So you're going to come on to your other side again, set yourself up for success. It's always important to set the, the movement pattern and the then the setup properly.

So push that elbow into the mat, get the shoulder out of the ear, make sure the interior lateral line is fired up, and we're just gonna begin some hip mobility. Good. So this is again just butterfly here. Lifting and lowering. Nice. Do either of you remember the last four digits of my cell phone number? Oh my gosh. How about, what are the first three digits and myself?

Eight four two are the first three digits. So what is my cell phone number? Very good. So here we're adding onto this the first three digits. Actually my area code rather is nine 49 what is my area code and then the first three digits of my cell phone number eight four two yes. And then the last four digits of my cell phone number. And so can you say the whole thing in its entirety? Nine four eight four nine four zero zero you got it. Good.

So now you know who to call and then an emergency, lift those feet up for me please. And we'll go into that perched clam for just a few more. Last two good. And last one. And of course now we've done sideline, we've done some seated stretches in between and now we're going to move all the way down onto that arm. And again, legs are long. You want this interior lateral lines still working. So don't let it sag. Front arm is here for support.

I want you flexing your feet to fire up the Tibialis anterior and then you're just going to lift the legs and lower. We'll do two more without the split and lower. And last one. Beautiful job. Now reach through the bones of the feet and the legs and split the top leg. Good.

Feel how it intensifies and illuminates the top line of the body more when you lift that leg. Good. Four more lift. Great. And three, and notice if this side is your strong side or maybe it's your smart side. Who knows? Two and last one here. I like to say we're not made by Mattel, right? Even though our body parts might be easier to fix that way. Great. Nicely done.

So now we'll move into seated. So come and sit. Hands are on the backs of your thighs here. I want you to be about hip distance apart with your feet sitting up nice and tall. So use the backs of the hands to really get that float through the spine. And then from here, I want you to give me a little hinge back from the spine and then take your arm and lifted up to the ear and notice what happens in your core body. Bring it back down and pull yourself back up. And now we go to the other side.

So you're going to hinge back and then lift the other arm up. I call this low rider. Come back down and pull yourself back up. Good. Now hinge back again. We're going to switch back and forth here. So one arm up and back. And then the other arm up and back. Good. Two more.

And lift and back. And last one and back. Now pull yourself back up nice and tall. Instead of hinting, can you give me a little tip off of your sitting bones and curl under. So you're activating the deep postier layer of the abdominals a little bit more. And let's experience that again.

So we're going to stay here and reach one arm up and then back the other arm up and then back. And if you want more challenge, you can go ahead and lighten up on that arm that comes back behind the hamstring or you can let go of it entirely. If you're feeling like it today, it's totally up to you and reach and two more good and last one. Now you get to choose on this one, going to pull yourself back up to that nice tall position. You can either hinge back or you can roll back whatever it feels good on your body as you come back into whatever low rider position works best for you. And you're going to take one arm, reach forward and now you're going to rotate towards the camera. Yes, and look at that hand. Great. And bring yourself all the way back. Try and keep your knee caps facing the ceiling.

And then of course what happens on one side has to happen on the other and rotate reach and back to center. Good and other side. And at any time if you want to take the challenge or the progression and let go that hand behind the thigh, you can absolutely do that. But this is just a really nice way to add in some rotational work. Good. 86 more. Last three. Better be laughing a little bit. Last two. Good.

You got this and last one here. Excellent job. Now grab onto the backs of those thighs. Pull yourself up nice and tall. Bring your feet a little bit closer in towards you and give yourself a check and make sure that you have room behind you because we're going to go into a supine position here. So from here, bring your heels, your sits bones, or your heels closer to your sits bones and you're going to give me that nice little roll back again and then release the arms and control yourself as you lie all the way down onto your back. Good. Now I believe that you're both gonna want to walk your feet. Are you at home? We're going to want to walk your feet closer to your sitz bones and let's talk about this body position. Just to get us started.

I want you to feel the shoulders pulling back into your mats, right? Really get that sense of openness of the chest and also really wake up the back line of the body. We still oftentimes forget about it. Forget about that. And from here we're going to begin an articulated bridge, so I want you rolling through your spine. So from here on an exhale, I want you to tip the pubic bone in towards the navel as if you're going to smash a grape with your lower back muscles and carry on peeling the spine upwards along towards the shoulder girdle. Good, excellent. Pausing, taking an inhale at the top, feeling the backs of the legs and the glutes engage, and then exhale, roll the body all the way down. Bone by bone, by bone. So now we're doing some spine mobilization. Again, if at any time the mobilization does not feel good to you, exhale rolling up again, you can just hinge up from the hips and keep it into more of a neutral bridge position. Good pause. Inhale at the top, and then exhale. Roll yourself down bone by bone.

I want you to really feel like your spinal column. If you're choosing the articulated bridge is a spaghetti noodle and you're really trying to peel it up off the mat as if it was a sticker. Good. Inhale, pause and exhale the body down, hollowing out that belly, engaging the abdominals, nodding, not letting the core activation go here. And again, exhale, rolling up. Now once you get to the top or whatever your top feels like, what I want you to do is we're going to play here holding this isometric bridge. I want you to draw both sets of toes towards the knees.

So you're rocking back on your heels. Yes. Good. So you're again activating that to be Alice anterior. Now just put the right set of toes down on that floor or the Mat. And then I want you to start to switch. So you lift and switch. Lift and switch. Yes, lift and switch.

The backs of the legs and the gluteal should be on and working for you here. These are really critical muscles for fall prevention and reaction time. We very much need strong glutes and strong hamstrings. Good for more. You're doing great. Three and two and one. Now put both feet back down, roll yourself all the way back down, bone by bone, hug your knees towards your chest if that feels good for you, just to give your back any release that it needs and then put the feet back down where they were cause you thought you were done, but you're not quite done.

I'm going to challenge you if you would like to. You can always just hold the isometric bridge position, but if you'd like the challenge today, I'd like to take it into a unilateral scenario. So working each leg independent of one another. So exhale, peel the spine back up onto the shoulder girdle. Transfer your weight over to your left leg and let your right leg come into the table. Top Position. Good. If you'd like to. From here you can extend it up to the ceiling and we're going to take a little bit of windshield wipers so the leg goes away from the body and back to center.

And the challenge here is to really keep the lateral line of the body, the side body working so that your hips don't Sag and your core is still activated from the front to the back. You ready for 43 more? Last two, um, back and one, um, back. Now if you can put that foot down, transfer weight over to that foot and reach the opposite leg up. And here we go. Let's take six windshield wipers open and close and five. And that top leg should be as straight as you can comfortably keep it three more times and two and one.

Put that foot back down. Now lift the hips back up, even them out. And Roll your spine down bone by bone, by bone. Well done. Excellent job. Now safely transition yourself onto your Belize. Okay, so we're coming into the prone position for our last body position before we come back up to standing. So going to be lying on our bellies and you're going to put your forehead onto the backs of your hands. Exactly.

You can give a check at any time if you need to see what I'm doing now. Here's the deal. We're going to be working the hamstrings and the gluteals again to get us started, but I want you to also use your abdominals. So I want you to slightly push your pubic bone towards your mat or the floor, but not so much that you grip your glutes. K, just so that you fire up your low adds. Great. Now all I want you to do is reach out through your right leg and lifted up, activating the gluten, the hamstring. Good.

Lower that leg back down and check the other side. Lift that left leg up. Good and lower and lift right and lower and lift. Left and lower and lift right and lower and lift. Left and lower. Good. Now lift right and hold and lift. Left and hold. Good.

Both legs are up and now you're going to do the lower torso portion of swimming as you just give me a little swimming beats with those legs, keeping the gluteals and the hamstrings activated here. Exactly. So really feel that 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and rest the legs down and now the arms get the opportunities. So stretch your arms forward, keep your legs relaxed, yes, but keep your abdominals fired up by pushing the pubic bones slightly into the table. Now lift your right arm up and actually slightly lift your upper body as well. Good. And then lower back down and then try that other side.

Lift and lower. So as you're lifting slightly up into back extension from side to side, you might notice some muscles are a little bit deeper connected than others in that upper middle back region. And that's okay. That's why we like to work unilaterally. Good. Now lift your right arm up, lift your left arm up, and let's just do the arm portion of swimming. So just beat the arms up and down, keeping yourself up and back. Extension, keeping your abdominals engaged. Good. And Five, four, three, two and rest.

Now safely pull your hands to your shoulders. If you can press yourself up and over to a child's pose position. Let that low back, relax, release and reorganize. And now we need to safely come back to the standing position. So coming into all fours, you're going to Tuck your toes under, press yourself back, find that squat position that you did earlier exactly.

And then stand all the way back up. Now we're going to finish ladies with a little bit of tie cheese. So come back and face me and your legs are going to be about again, shoulder distance apart. And the first thing we're going to do is just paint the wall so the hands come up and the hands go down. Just be soft through those knees and lift and breathe here and lower.

Good and lift and lower. Good. Two more. Gather that energy. We can do all of these movements together as a team and that really helps with flow. Good. And now we're going to be a flying bird. So you're going to arms come out and lower down. Good and out and down.

Nice and lift and lower. One more. And then we're going to be an a wise owl that gazes. So you're going to come back around and do that rotation and forward. Good. Other side coming up onto that set of toes if you'd like to or keeping the feet firmly planted. Good. And here we go. Opening notice if your rotation may have improved after going through this session, it may, you may be able to reach and look further.

I know I can get two more and open and back. Center, shoulder, stay out of the ears. Good and center. Now narrow the base of support. Soften the knees and soften those risks, right? So this is called galloping horse. Kay. So you just want to bounce on those heels. Really great for bone health. Good.

And then let it go. Yes. And again, galloping horse. Good, nice. And yes you can smile. It's fun. Good. And let it go. One more. Here we go into your galloping horse. Good. And let it go and stand up and gather that energy up again and draw it into your body. Good. And gather it up and draw it in. And last thing to do, you channel your most beautiful flower and you're going to flex those risks and you're going to sprout and spreads your pedals open towards the ceiling.

Very nice job, ladies. Thank you for joining me.

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Comments

1 person likes this.
Thank you Erica I loved that especially the new way to do a side bend at the start of the class
Nikki D
1 person likes this.
Love this session, I was only going to watch but couldn't help but join in! Feel ready to start the day now. Thank you Erica.
Erika Quest
Oh thanks, Caroline and Nikki! Appreciate you taking class with me. Active aging is so important Much love, Erika
Steph Anie
this is my first class, all I had was a mat. it was a lovely introduction to Pilatesanytime thank you.
Erika Quest
Hey, Steph! WOW, that's great and I'm so honored. I love working with Active Agers so appreciate you taking this class. There's so many wonderful classes and instructors to enjoy on Pilates Anytime so have fun with your journey! Much love, Erika
1 person likes this.
Delightful! Going to suggest some of my friends with preteen kids try doing this with the kids. I think this would be such a fun way for them to be initiated into movement and they will adore those mind games. I may just have to buy a Bosu ball so I can take your other mat classes too. Oh my goodness... 949 area code? That is for real and you are just up the road from where I am in the real world!
Erika Quest
Oh thanks, Joni! That sounds like a wonderful idea and YES, I'm right in the 949 as my studio is in Laguna Beach! Come by for a visit anytime! Much love, Erika
1 person likes this.
Erica - this was fantastic - beautiful exercises and fun brain games too! I loved every minute especially the banana splits and the perched clams and everything! I borrowed some ideas for my lovely ladies and they really loved it too- thanks so much,Erica!
Erika Quest
Thank you, Helen! Your words are so very sweet and banana splits are my favorite "game" in this video. So happy that your ladies loved it too. Have a wonderful day and much love, Erika
1 person likes this.
Nikki found this class great for beginning her day. I just discovered it was a fine way to end mine. Thank you.
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