Class #3563

Kids Mat: Control

35 min - Class
32 likes

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Learn how to move with control in this Mat workout for kids by Monica Wilson. She uses the Magic Circle to show how you can use concentration and centering to bring everything to the midline of the body. She also starts adding more challenging exercises like Open Leg Rocker, Teaser, and more.
What You'll Need: Mat, Magic Circle

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Today we are going to be focusing on control. How are the classes so far? Centering and concentration where they [inaudible] easy or just enough? Just enough. Oh good, good. All right. So one thing that helps us have a little bit control is really understanding what we call midline. So we're gonna use a magic circle today to understand a midline.

But so if you are kind of like all out here and just like silly, then you really have no control. So we have to bring ourselves centered and use our concentration and we're going to learn how to do that with a magic circle. Does that sound good? All right. I pass them out. Good. It's not right. Why don't you go ahead and Dan Today on the front of your mat. Good. And maybe steak a little step back so you don't hit each other.

[inaudible] and we're going to stand on like a tripod. You're gonna have your heels together and your toes apart and have a nice slice of pizza between your toes. Perfect. Good. And then pull your belly in and squeeze your bottom today. And we're going to hold the circle up and try not to throw your upper there. Nice job. Good.

And then pull your belly in and squeeze the circle. Squeeze it. How much can you get it and relax. That's pretty good. So now we're going to try to squeeze it without like getting contorted. [inaudible] are we going to stay here?

Your arms are going to be at and it doesn't, you don't have to squeeze it that much, but pull your belly and squeeze your bottom a little more forward for me still. And then just squeeze [inaudible] that's really good. All right. You all can. Let's scoot forward just a teeny bit. That's it. Yeah, that's good. And you're so good at standing up. What happens? Can you squeeze it? Can you put one foot in front of the other? One foot in front of the good.

And can you pull your belly in and sit hand. Go down. Woo. Nice job. You're great, Kate. That's great. Perfect. Good. Alright, we're going to lie down on your back. We're going to try to add a little control to our beginner series here of our plotty. So bend your knees and put your feet flat. And now we're going to see these pads. They're going to go between your ankles, so bring your knees towards you instead of sitting up.

You can bring your legs to you when you're lying down. There you go. Kind of like a crab. There you go. And then just keep your knees here. Good. Take your bottom over. Just a teeny yes and allows a little. There we go. All right, so now I want you to pull your belly in. Lift your head up. Good.

Straighten your arms and we're going to pop them. Taking a big breath, and then exhale all year. Oh, you're good. Take a big breath and exhale. Now reach your legs almost to the ceiling and squeeze that circle and just lightly. It doesn't have to be big. And then keep going though. Oh yeah. Head up pumping those arms. Yep. I'm going to let go. And you're gonna hold those legs there. Yes. And we're gonna right here. Can you pull your belly in anymore? Oh, that's good.

And try to do as many as you can so you don't have to pump it. You just going to hold it and see. That's right. Just like that. But you can pump your arms. Sorry. You don't have to pump the circle. There you go. See if it makes anything else seem stronger or harder. Do as many as you can. Breath. Big exhale.

This is trying to teach you not to roll all over the place. Two more big breath and exhale. Ooh, that's good. One more you didn't. Okay. And exhaling and Ben then and relax. That was good. That was good. Alright, so now we're going to sit up any way you can, and we're going to put it between our inner thighs, so not our knees, but just above your knees.

And then put your feet flat on the Mat. Good. Your knee should be not like wider than your legs. They should be within your frame. So bring your knees up a little bit higher to the ceiling for me. McKenzie. Good. And a little closer together. Stella and, Huh?

So Astella you had it just right. It doesn't always feel great. Perfect. Okay. Hands Underneath your knees. Good. See if you can find, you're going to squeeze that circle and touch your forehead to the circle dry and then scoop your belly. And we're going to leave your legs there. But just pull back your waistband to your arm. Just straight hold and in.

Squeeze the circle and come back really good. Three more. Squeeze and roll your waistband back. Ooh. And squeeze and use that. That is great. Control. One more. Yep. And coming forward. Now go all the way down to touch your head. And it's the last thing.

So you squeeze and roll head and then the head comes up first and squeeze the circle and come up. So good Kate again. Squeeze it and roll. It helps give you a little more control. Squeeze it and coming up really good. Mackenzie, are you taking a nap over here? You're just working hard. And one more. Squeeze it. Rolling. Stay down. Take your circle if you can, and put it between your hands.

Good and straight legs. When you squeeze it between your hands, try to have, this is the heel of your hand. Try to have your heel of your hand on the pat and all your fingers straight up to the ceiling. Good. That's right. And try not to squeeze with your elbows going in. Yep. But try to squeeze with your, the upper part of your arm. Good. Pull your belly and squeeze it and pretend it's like a window frame.

Straight fingers. You're gonna Bring your head through the window, head to your chest, and then roll up. We're doing that party favor one. I didn't say that too well for you McKenzie. Scroll down. That was very creative. Okay, so sometimes that is purely my cues going wrong. All right, lie on down. All right, so this is the one where you were a party favor you rolled out and now bring your head up and curl into yourself to go forward. Good. Stay up. Squeeze your legs straight.

Now squeeze a circle and roll down as if that ceiling was low and roll under the ceiling. Fantastic. Reach arms back. The arms come up and you're going to curl into yourself to come up. You're going to squeeze a circle. Good. And now stay under that low ceiling. Squeeze the circle. Squeeze it. Good. Two more. Coming up. Curling into yourself. Really good stomach. Love it. Love it, Kate.

And curling down. Good job. Astellas. They under the ceiling. One more time. It's right here. Can you curl under it? Good job and rolling down. Good Belize. Good. Bend your knees. Put your feet down and you get to use it for a stretch. Plotty should feel good too.

So bend your right knee in to your chest and then you're going to put the pad on your foot. Grab onto it. And I'm going to both hands. So put your ear. Yeah, almost dude. Grab onto it. Great. You got it, Kate. Okay, so we're going to put both hands on that circle and try to straighten that leg and stretch it. That's a big stretch, Huh? Oh, sorry. Not this one. Straighten this like pink stretch you could use. This is good for you. How's that feel, Mackenzie? [inaudible] interesting how when you guys would stretch yourself, it felt a little easier. Huh? Okay, so now we're going to draw a sharp circle on the ceiling.

So I will take your circle, but you keep your leg up. Put your arms down by your side. Are they by your side? Good. And we're gonna cry. Don't move your hip. Whole body. Just, you're like, there you go. Good cousin. Treatian I'm going to let go. Two more. One more.

You got to move that whole that now go the other way down. Cross your body now down. Cross it up. Good. Try to have control. Wounds is good. Two more. Really good. One more. Yes. And Hug Uni and say good job. And then I'm going to give this circle to you again so you can stretch your other leg left foot.

Good. If you need help, I will help you. But I think you guys understand at this time. Good. And just enjoy that big stretch. Try not to feel like you're falling or weeble wobbling and we're going to try to, we're going to try to help out Humpty dumpty over here. She wanna try to help her stay on a wall throughout this class.

I think we'll be able to do that. Yes, you keep rolling off the walls. All right. I'm going to take the circle now and you're gonna put your arms down by your side and you're going to stay in control as we cross around. Good Cross. Good job. Three more. Cross surround up. Good. Two. One more. Good and reverse. Go the other way. One good. And two. Nice. And three good. And Four. Nice.

One more. And Hug that knee and good. Put your foot down. Good. So one of the hardest things to stake in control of is rolling. So I was saying that to Astella. So we're going to first, I don't think we did it in centering. We're going to roll again like that volleyball and that soccer ball and the tennis ball, right? So slide your leg straight and pretend it's a mermaid tail.

And then pull your belly in. Lift your head up and try to curl into yourself to sit up. Perfect. And now we're going to bring our bottoms forward. We're gonna try to lift them up though. So lift up and then scoop your belly out.

And we're going to tuck our head between her knees and we're going to balance. Bring your feet as close to your bottom as you can. Good. That's it. And try to pretend like you guys are playing hide and go seek and no one sees you. If you stay really hidden between your knees and try to roll back and go roll, and then use your center to come up. Even pulling your feet a little.

That's really good. Mackenzie. Hey, you're fixing yourself. Good job style. Inhale, roll back. Use your center and incredible there Kate. And I lost my Humpty dumpty. Okay, here we go. And inhale, roll back. Good.

And pull your belly in. So maybe a little too far. I'm going to actually help you. Don't worry, I'm not going to just have fun with you one more time. Not on the, on another exercise. We're going to learn how to do a better inhale, roll back and stay hidden for me. Okay? On your way up, use your belly and stay hidden. You did it. Good. Rest of your feet down. Nice job ladies. All right, so we're going to do single leg stretch. I'm going to put a circle next to you guys cause not on this one, but on the next exercise we're going to add a circle. Okay. So it'll be there when you need it. Okay. So let's, uh, we're kind of close to the front of the mat, so we're gonna put our hands behind us and we're going to go back and then we're going to send that mermaid tail stay under a low ceiling and rule out.

Can you stop when you have your shoulders down, lift your head up, bend your right knee in, hug it, and lift the left leg up. Good. And we're gonna switch. Perfect. Kate and switch. That's it. McKinsey switch. There's the one where you kissed your knee and you switch. Pulling your belly in. Good. Try to nail. Think about straight center line Kate. And right down the middle, right down the middle, pulling in.

Good pulling in, pulling in. Let's do one more set, right. Really good. A little higher with your head. Astella and now Ben both knees and relax your head. So find your circle without rolling all over. And now you're going to put it between your ankles. Good.

And we're going to put our feet down and I'm gonna help you build up to this a little bit today. So I want you to put your hands behind your head and I want you to take a big breath. And when you exhale, think of your belly like a balloon and totally deflated. I'm not just pulling in and you can't squeeze out any more air from your belly. We're going to do that. But next time you get to lift your head up as your belly deflates.

So big breath. And then exhale, pull your belly in, deflating it and your head. It comes up. Good. Look at your belly. Does it look like an ice cream scooper? If not, take a breath and try to really make it as skinny, skinny as you can. And then we're going to go down. And when I mean skinny, I mean like, like a octopus suction cup is just like sucked in all your belly. Okay? I know we were just talking about sea life. So we're going to take a big breath and you're going to have your stomach act like a section you have and it's going to pull in and we're going to lift up cause it gives you a lot of support for your back when you do that. That's so good.

And take a big breath and you're going to exhale pulling in a little more. Come up a little higher. Stay there. Can you bring your knees up? That's awesome. Take breath. Can you exhale and grab onto your ankles? Watch my hands and we grab so good.

Look at your belly. Keep it in and you're going to reach your legs forward and arms up. Head stays up and pull back. Maybe add a little squeeze and pull back. So we're trying to gain control. Squeeze that circle and pull it in.

Let's stay together. Reach and in three more. Stay up with your head. There you go. Yes. And try to straighten your legs completely and hold that Suction Cup stomach and pull in and rest your head. That was really good. That hurt your tummy a little, Huh? That was, how are you doing over here? Good. All right, let's take your circle, but put it by your side and we're going to sit up and we're going to do spine stretch forward. Good.

So this time we're going to put it between our hands and if you need to bend your knees, you can, but sit up tall like someone's pulling you up, right. Good and straight fingers. Good. And no like crazy elbows. Pull your belly in, squeeze and exhale all your air as you go forward. Stretch, stretch, stretch. And then let it go as you inhale a, I'm sorry. Don't drop it, but don't squeeze it. You did really good. Um, everyone opened their legs so they're as wide as the mat. Perfect. Sit up tall and now squeeze the circle circles. You exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Try to get your head down to the mat, Kay. Yeah. And then relax the circle as you sit up. I want you to do that one more time. So pull your belly in. Squeeze a circle. Head goes down first. Good, good. Squeezing it and now relax it on the way up. Good. Last thing.

That's your head. Awesome. So we squeezed it on the way down, right? I want you to play around with it and see how different does it feel this time. We're going to just relax it on the way down, but then when you come up, you're going to squeeze it and see if that changes any feelings in your stomach. So no squeezing on the way down. Good. Now pull your belly in and squeeze all the way up. Does it change anything?

Relax it as you go forward. Exhale all your air and then pull your belly in and squeeze it as you roll up. Oh, that's good. And one more. Relax it as you go to headfirst. Had it. Squeeze it as you roll up. Good. Alright. Leave the circle by your side.

And we're going to do learn an exercise called open leg rocker. It's probably one of the hardest exercises in palace. Um, and it leads to an exercise called the teaser. That is Kinda the, um, quintessential plot is exercise. So you did really good about going fishing, right? So our legs are together and I want you to grab on and you're going to use your bellies in a pullback. As you fish your feet towards you and your weight kind of pulls back.

But this time we're gonna put your hands under your knees and just this is called the ball of your foot is just on the mat, not the heel. Good heels together though. Good knees. A little more open for me, Kate. Good. Now you're almost perfect. I like your position gate. Mackenzie, can you keep your belly like that? But lift your chest up a little. That's good. Perfect. Good. And try to almost push that ball of your foot to kind of use your belly to sit up a little more balanced. That's really good.

Now stay there and Astella you're going to do your, um, left leg. So we all use the same leg. Okay, so follow me a star and you're going to extend for you ladies your right leg and hold and put it down. I'm impressed. It's really good. Pull in and do the other leg. Good and down. So style. This is your Humpty dumpty and you're sitting on the line. You're not going to wobble off, right? Pull in and nothing moves, right?

You're just balancing good and put it down and pull the belly in and then the other leg, super easy. You guys make it look super easy. Well, since you do, then we're going to do both. So pull your belly and nothing changes, but both legs go up and down. Good. Don't make them too wide. They should be still like within the Mat. So pull your belly and in both go up and down. We're going to see if we can hold it for a count. When we're up there, pull the belly in and then hold, whoa and down. Good job. We're going to add one more thing here.

We're going to pull your belly in and go up. Join me, and then bring them together while they're up. Don't fall anywhere open and bring your feet back together. Good. Knees apart. One more time like that. Pull your belly in. Your finding your balance. You're super controlled, right? Bring your legs together, open and down. That was excellent.

Now we're going to add this. Um, we're gonna do a little rocking and rolling. So you want, you guys can get comfortable for a second, but you really want to picture that there's a rocking chair right here. You like the rocker and that's what I'm, my body's going to do. So I'm going to, and you really want to focus on something. So I'm gonna focus on some rocks out there and I'm going to have my legs up. You can keep your hands here or when you do it, you can come up a little higher, whatever you want. And you want a look at it as you're rocking back.

And as soon as you lose sight, you want to come right back to try to balance. Hi. No. So we are here and we're going to pull your belly in and extend those legs and then you can walk up behind your calf if you want or [inaudible]. Now stay there and focus on something straight ahead. What is it that you see? Don't look at, find something here and stay on it. Good ant rule.

Yes, you lost sight. It's just like a Pirro at, right. You have to really find something and return right back to it. You're all in pretty good over there. Roll back rock I should say. And rock up. Whoo. Balancing like major applause over here. One more time.

Hmm. Okay. Bring your feet down. Good work. Let's add a circle and see if that makes things crazier or kind of more controlled. So you're going to put the circle between your ankles and then grab behind your casts and pull your weight back. Cause you remember you went fishing and you pulled back your waist and we're gonna lift both legs up. Pull your belly in and hold that position. What are you looking at? Straight ahead. Don't lose it. Did I?

Did I say don't lose it or the circle? I'm going to come and help you girls. Good. And that's it. And right up McKenzie. So find something that you're looking at. Yes. And tell me how does that feel to have the circle? Does it give you a little bit more pull your belly there yet? Go.

And what? Look at my drawstring and come right back to my drawstring. You go too far. Is it because you're too flexible? Let's do a couple more. Try to stay. What are we trying to do today? Control. Control. We're trying to lose.

The humpty dumpty is doing pretty good over here, so don't go back as far. She loses it. And Dan coming up. Thank you Kate. Okay, we're going to do two really good ones and then we're going to put our circle away. Here we go. Well, we're going to get there. Good. And bring the legs up. Find your center and roll back. You gotta.

That's it. And use your belly rock back right up to me. Right up to me. Look at me. That's okay. But that was really good. You came up, you stayed centered. Do One more without the circle. Maybe it helps you more without it and look good and rock back and come right back to me. Ah, we're going to have to keep working on that center. Okay, so you're going to do it. Okay. And then we're going to move on to sidekicks and [inaudible].

That was mine. That was much better. Right. What do you think? Okay, good. All right. I need you to be super coordinated right now. It's not so I know, right? Keep your circle in your hands and you're going to lie on your side and face that way. So we're gonna do our sidekicks. You remember those sidekicks? We were on the back edge of the mat all the way back. Yup. And then the feet were forward and then you're going to put your circle between your ankles. That's the coordinated part.

Great. You do? Oh with their bans and straight legs though. Good. Okay. How's your kickstand? Is it there? And pull your belly in. Good. Okay. So you see how one pad right now is on top of the other. You want to keep it like that. So we're going to pull your belly in and have, you need just still a little bit looking at the ceiling [inaudible] m with your belly and try to press down with the top leg to hold it. Three, hold it for hold at five and relax.

See how it was a lot harder than you thought, Huh? Yeah. So pulling in and you're gonna press down holds. You have to use the back of your thigh a little bit more so it doesn't roll forward. You got it. And rest and knee a little bit more to the ceiling, less squeezing with your foot. Pull your belly and empress down. There you go. Hold, hold, hold. And then release. Two more. Pull the belly in and hold. So if it rolls forward, you need to use the back of your leg a little more. If it rolls backwards, you have to use more of the front of relay release. We'll do one more.

Pull your belly in. In. Squeeze. Caitlin's doing really good and really nice and even. Okay. Now can you keep it tight and lift your legs up as you lie onto your stomach. That's asking a lot, but I'm going to, I'm asking lie onto your stomach, but one hand over the other and make a little pillow for your forehead. Good. Good. Pull your belly in and try to squeeze a circle.

Can you lift your legs up at all? Look, forehead on the straight legs, straight. [inaudible] and squeeze the Circle 20 Times one. Try to get your knees up off the Mat. Oh yeah, there you go. That's right. Get your knees up a little quicker. Squeeze. Do three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Keep. You have to keep the circle in and lift. There you go. Yes. Four, three, two, one. And hold it tight. Go to your other side. Roll. Can you control it? That's pretty good. Can you bring it? She works a lot with her feet with soccer, so she's got this. Good, nice. Bring your feet a little more forward. Find your kickstand. Good.

Ista put your underarm on the mat member. Yeah. Okay. Pull your belly in and press down in. Hold to hold for five release. Good. But Kenzie, turn your toes and your knee just a little up towards the ceiling. Excellent. Pull your belly in and press hold, hold, hold.

And release. Three more. Not Bad. Pull your stomach in and press it. Two, three, four, five and release. And one more time. Pulling in and press hold at Webb. Steady control and release. Good job. Girls. Go ahead and lie on your back. Take the circle away.

Good lie on your back completely. And remember when we do leg work, you always shake them out, right? So you're just going to, Caitlin's got this, you're just going to shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. So there's no tension at all. Oh you guys are good. Sit up any way you can. Okay. So I mentioned teaser is the one of the quintessential, that means like it's what plot is looks like. So you're going to have the knees bent because you're so strong.

I'm going to teach you how to do these today. So your hands under your knees and you're going to look down and you're going to scoop out your belly and you're going to pull back your waistband and then keep going until your head is on the mat and then lift your head up and curl into yourself. So good. One more polling in. Good. And then head up and curling into yourself. Ooh, it's good. Okay. Stay here.

You're still like as if you're going to roll back your waistband. That's it. Bring your feet a little closer to you for making it. That's it. That's it. Now just straighten your right leg. Can you do it? But see how my legs are still together? The knees? Huh? Can you do the same thing with one leg up? Head down.

Pull your waistband rolled out until your head. Then lift your head and curl into yourself. The legs stay together. All that's good. One more curl belly, belly, belly, Astella and head to your chest. And then curling. Use your stomach hold. We're going to switch legs without it even with how did anyone noticing?

And again, pull your belly in and then the head up and think. Curl into yourself. Very good. And Dan. Okay. And head up and curl into yourself. Hold. Stay right there. Can you lift both legs up?

Okay. This is the teaser. We're going to leave the legs there and roll away from them and then bring your head up and then curl into yourself. Whoo. Two more. Roll away from them and then head up and then curl into yourself. More curl belly Astella.

No arching in your back head and then curling. Now stay there. Bend your knees towards you. Put your hands under your flippers. Cool. app three times one, two, three. And head. Looks at your belly. Going to roll back. Roll. Good. Clap. Darn that three roll back.

It's all about your back and up for you. So when just center yourself. Good girls, keep practicing. You're rolling there. And now try to make your belly pull back first. [inaudible] and then pull your belly in first to come up. Good. And Nn clap to belly. Belly. Belly. Yes.

And coming. Don't go so far and set your bottom. Scoot over a little. There you go. And then we McKenzie, make sure your head's on the mat. All right. I'm pulling in and lift up. So pull from here and then roll back from here. And then lift your head up first. Yup. See how easy, much easier you did that.

And three yes. More. And then see if you can stand up and come back up. Oh yeah. And two more from here. And you are doing great. One more time from your belly. And, and do you want me to stand up? Okay. And Rolling back.

And then after you go. Whoo. Good job. Nice work. Alright. Get your circle. We're gonna finish up again. We're going to say really controlled, so I want you to hold it here. Bring your feet together, have a slice of pizza. Good. Can you pull your belly in and I want you to pretend there's a hurricane coming right at you and you're like you leaning into it like the leaning tower of Pisa and you're pulling your belly and you're squeezing your bottom.

And I want you to just hold a circle here and squeeze. Hold it. Two, three, good. Four, five release. Now put it right here without changing anything in your body, that hurricane still come out. So lean into it and pull your belly in and squeeze. Two, three, four, five. You don't have to squeeze it too much. Now take it almost overhead so you can still kind of see it. Straight arms for me, McKinsey, and pull your belly in and squeeze.

Pull your belly in. Pull your belly in. Squeeze your bottom. Good. Okay, now I'm going to challenge you. This last thing, we're going to pump it eight times and it's going to go up. Okay, ready and squeeze. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, all the way up a m down to three, fours, forward five, six seems pretty easy, right? Again, one, two, make sure you're using your bottom and your belly and up and down, because we're going to really challenge our control that on the next two we're going to slowly lift our heels up. They stay together. If you can. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and down. Two, three, four, five, six, seven. One more time heals together. Pull your belly in, pull your belly and lift your heels. Slowly hold your balance. And then coming down slowly, like there's an egg under your heels and you don't want to crack it. Just barely. And that's enough for today. Awesome job, girls. Woo. Good.

Comments

2 people like this.
Hi Monica,
Fun and excellent idea to come up with these for the kids. I dream of the time when pilates will become part of school programs and I wish I was introduced to pilates when I was a kid. Would you please come up with more videos of pilates for kids videos? It is great exercise for girls but if we could include boys as well to show them this is a safe and fun way of exercising, especially now that the schools are closed. Thank you!

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