Class #4014

Fascia-Focused Mat

45 min - Class
316 likes

Description

You will explore variations that will challenge your balance with this Mat workout by Elizabeth Larkam. She teaches a fascia-focused sequence using neural flossing and other techniques. She also includes exercises that use vision and the vestibular system to work on balance.
What You'll Need: Mat, Wall, Foam Roller, Magic Circle

About This Video

Transcript

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Welcome to [inaudible] anytime. I'm Elizabeth Larkam. Thrilled to be with you for this fascia focused movement sequence with roller and ring. Come to lie on your side, on your mat. Have the roller in front of you so that you can have your shin, your knee, your shin, your ankle in contact with the roller and your straight elbow. Arm in contact with the roller also. So the roller is near your wrist and on your niche, shin and ankle.

As you exhale, roll the roller forward. Inhale to roll back. Exhale to roll forward. So your pelvis, your spine, your thorax, your head, neck and eyes. Everything moves in the same direction.

At the same time. Keep your knee, your shin, your foot on the roller. And as the roller goes forward with your leg, with your hand behind your head, turn your chest bone towards the ceiling. So your thoracic area and your pelvis move in opposite directions. Turning away from center, turning towards center, turning away and turn towards. Now as your top arm, your ceiling arm goes on the roller.

Slide your top leg back. Keep your top Hill both straight. Exhale, so your chest bone moves forward. Inhale to come back, flexing both feet as if you could open your legs into an X shape. Now we'll stay on this same side. Turn the roller perpendicular and put the roller underneath your armpit on the side of your ribs. One knee on top of the other knee. As you exhale, sink your ribs. Inhale, roll the roller towards you so your long sinks towards the ground and then makes an arc towards the ceiling. Palms turned, Palm turns down and Palm turns up and Palm turns down and Palm turns up.

Take your hand behind your head now and as you take your lung towards the ceiling, turn your chest bone, your elbow towards the ground. As your lung goes towards the floor, you turn opposite towards the ceiling. Rotate and rotate twice more. Rotate and rotate. Push up. Now move your roll or to the other side of the and you come onto your new side.

Here you are on your new side with your knee, shin, ankle, and on top of the roller and the roller is near your wrist. Exhale, turning everything in the same direction. At the same time. Exhale to rotate. Inhale to come up twice more. As you roll the roller forward.

Turn your thumb down as you roll a roll or back. Turn your thumb up. Now keep your shin on the ruler. Put one hand behind your head, moving your thorax and your pelvis in opposite directions at the same time as if you could, unscrew your thorax from your pelvis and your pelvis from your thorugh. Move the roller up as you exhale, roll the roller forward. Thumb down. Inhale, roll it back. Flex both feet, sending your heels a long distance from each other forward and back in forward and [inaudible]. Come now to lie on your side in a new way.

This time with the roller underneath your armpit on the side of your ribs. Make an arc with your pelvis, rocking over your greater trow, the side of your pelvis, so you take your waist towards the ceiling are King towards the ceiling and then our King towards the floor. Inhale, increasing the distance from pelvis to ribs, lower ribs, increasing the distance from ribs to the top of your ilium, side bending of your lumbar spine. Now with your hand behind your head as your lumbar spine comes towards the ceiling, turn your chest bone, your gaze towards the floor, and vice versa. When your lung sinks towards the floor, you turn to the ceiling. Encouraging the uh, sip a nation and the pronation of your arm below the elbow. Now leave the roller for the moment and reach for your ring.

Come to lie on your first side and put the ring around your thighs above your knees. Here you are on your new side. Palms together, fingers interlaced, pushing outward on the ring. Aim your knees towards the ceiling. Aim your knees towards the floor. So one leg is moving into external rotation. One leg is moving into internal rotation.

They take turns there and you're rolling over the side of your pelvis. Pelvis rolls back, pelvic half rolls forward, pelvis rolls back, pelvis rolls forward. Straighten both legs. Now lift up your ribs and lift up your waist and hover off the mat and lifting your thought hover. I'm obviously completely on the mat. I don't know who's delusional here that she's off the mat.

Anyway, what I mean to say is to lift up your ribs and lift up your waist so that both legs come off the mat and then you lower the ring and both come up and come down while you were on this side. Take the ring between your shins, above your ankles. Come on to your side here and exhale to bring your legs forward, pointing your feet. Inhale to go back, pressing the floor, hand up onto your ceiling hand twice more. Dorsi flexing of the ankles will increase your abdominal strength. Plant her flection of your ankles increases the activity required for hip X tension. Change now to the new side, so you'll put the ring around your thighs above your knees. Both knees are bent and you come to lie on your side.

Palms together, fingers interlaced, lifting up your ribs and lifting up your waist. So we will roll the pelvis forward and roll the pelvis back. Using the ground force from the side of your shoulder to help provides a a ground force of stability from which you can move your pelvis and your lumbar spine. What's implied here is a a rotation in your hip joints, more of actually a medial and lateral hip glide. Now as fascinating as this is, there is another move to do so come onto your side there and letting go of the ceiling hand hover both legs up and you can try both actions of your ankles.

You could have your feet endorsed the flection that tends to be paired with a stronger abdominal connection for the front work or you could have your feet and plantar flection and that tends to be paired with more strength of the spine extensors transitioning the ring now so that it's between your ankles. Come to your side with palms together and fingers interlaced. Exhale to sweep your legs forward. Inhale to sweep your legs back, drawing from pubic bone up underneath your chest bone, particularly as you go into hip extension, forward and back. Appreciating the ground force from the side of your shoulder and the ground forces through your hands.

Now we're going to come through high kneeling side leg kick. So for this you'll come to kneeling as the name suggests. Take the ring wide to the side and place one hand on your pelvis. And we have inhale to bring your leg forward. Exhale to sweep your leg back forward and hip flection and back into hip extension.

Once more here forward and fluxion and back in hip extension. Change now to the new side. It's always the new side, you know, never the other side, never the next side, but I'll never. The second side, it's always the new side. Inhale to sweep forward. Exhale, pushing down into the ring so that you could have the feeling of lifting up your ribs and lifting up your waist. Heel leads forward from your sitting bone toes.

Lead back from your XY Ford process and forward a hand and back. Now you'll need the roller and the ring for your next event. So you'll put the roller crosswise on the mat, half a seat on the roller and slither on down. Slide roll on down until the roller is underneath the back of your pelvis, supporting the lower lumbar vertebrae last, Sue the sole of your foot, the ball of your foot, your metatarsal heads with the ring and bending your knee as is useful. Place your palms on the ring so that you could see their Palm of your hand so you could read your fortune in your hands.

Inhale to bend. Your fingernails are aiming towards your eyebrows. Exhale to slide your feet away from each other. Inhale to bend. Exhaling sliding your big toe along the sole of the floor for as long as is possible.

Once again here. Yeah. Now holding the ring with the opposite hand from lifted leg cross over the midline with the intention of keeping both sides of your pelvis weighted on the mat. Inhale to crossover the mid line. Exhale to slide away from it. Inhale to bend.

So the top leg is coming across as if this big toe could speak to this ear and the floor leg is coming across the mid line. Also as the fist big toe on the floor would come aligned with the sitting bone. You don't need to take these things. Literally, it's just in the direction of change arms. Now, same leg, different arm, open wide to the side to counter balance the ring on your foot. Inhale to bend, exhale to slither. Slide away. Inhale to bend.

Exhaling, reach out through your Palm, your fingertips, your fingernails. Inhale to bend. Now bending the top leg, take a hold of the ring with both hands and Cokes. Um, with your arm over the top of your head are in front of you. Coax a little bit more length through the side of your self. Ben, both knees change to last. So the new foot. Inhale to bend. Exhale to slide.

Having the intention of keeping the sole of your big toe in contact with the ground. And as I've mentioned, um, sometimes good intentions are sufficient because that big toe might not stay on the floor. But having the intention of putting it in contact with the floor will have an effect at the tissues at the front of the hip to encourage length that the tissues or a glide of the tissues at the front of the hip crossing over the midline. It's as if the lifted toe big toe relates to the floor, ear, and the floor. Big toe relates to this sitting bone change. Now this is a form of neural flossing.

Inhale to bend. Exhale to extend. Inhale to bend. Exhale to extend. Reach across. Take a hold of the ring with both hands and coax. A little bit more length from the bent elbow above or to the side of your head, to the little toe side of the foot on the floor there for the dismount. Bend both knees, put the roller down, put the ring down, and then roll a little bit to each side.

With your knees in towards your torso. Standing firmly onto your shoulders, bend both knees, puts your feet on the ground, slither slide. Otherwise roll down the roller and come up from here. Now come onto Hanson knees or rather come onto forearms and knees. Here you are on your forearms with the roller, quite a near your elbows, aiming your sitting bones back behind you, palms up and then palms down, feet flex, feet points, feet, flex, feet point pressing into your forearms.

So there's breadth or width between your shoulder blades. Now turn the roller at an angle so you will be in side bending. The lower body does something similar, but the roller being on an angle with respect to the access of your pelvis is encouraging. Side bending of the thoracic area. Change the roller to the new side, palms down as you go away, palms up, palms down. That pronation and supination has an effect of um, well it stimulates the sides of your ribs to make sure that your serratus anterior is alert and awake.

Now we'll have one forearm on the roller and hold on with your uh, hand to the opposite ankle, shin or foot. And you might notice that the pace, uh, gets a little bit slower here and the words have more space between them because it takes a lot of concentration for me not to fall right on over change, reaching around to take a hold. Oh my God. Where is it to take a hold of something that belongs to you? Dorsey flection of your foot will help to stabilize your knee and make the abdominal connections stronger so that your lower front ribs come up to your spine. So, so far we've been holding on one hand to the opposite ankle. Shinar foot. Shift your entire torso to one side.

Take a hold of the same side, hand to ankle. Exhale Palm down. Inhale Palm up. It would be preferable, she said to herself to aim the ASI S the front of the lifted hip towards the supporting knee. That's where we ought to be aiming. Change now to the new side.

Take your supporting forearm wide to the side so you can shift your sternum over to that supporting side. Say a prayer and then take a hold of your ankle, shin and foot roll forward and back. You can see it's a struggle for me. I am doing my best, which needs some work. Aim the ASI ES of the lifted leg towards the supporting knee as sobering is that is, it's for a really good cause.

Now we're going to come into spine extension for which you're very well prepared. Um, spine extension with the roller and spine extension with the ring come onto your front. Now take your arms wide apart in a V with the roller very near your elbows. As you inhale, shrug your shoulders up as if to hide your neck. Turning your arms towards um, pronation with your thumbs down. Now as you rotate your arms to turn your hands, palms up, reach long with your legs.

Push down into the roller with your forearms, with your elbows, tongue up, eyes up, gaze up. Inhale, dorsi. Flex both feet. Roll the roller away from you internally. Rotate hips and shoulders and then point both feet. Bend your knees, roll the roller towards you.

Lift up your ribs and lift up your waist. Bring the roller down from here and now change to your ring. Here you are with the ring very near the top of your head. Have your thumbs in contact with the top of the handles of the ring. Inhaling elbows wide. As you exhale, turn your elbows towards the ground.

Push the ring into the floor. Lift up your ribs. Lift up your waist. Bend one knee. Turn the ring as if you could see over your shoulder. Looking. Where is my foot waving at me? Come down from here. Now inhaling, elbows out.

Exhaling elbows towards the ground. Then ending one knee turning the ring so you can see over your shoulder. There's your foot waving at you in the hailing. Elbows out. Exhaling. Elbows down. Bend both knees as if the soles of your feet could cradle the top of your head.

Tang up, eyes up. Gaze up, ribs up. Come on down from here. Now you will come onto your back with the souls of your feet on the roller will take a form of, we'll take some bridging first hamstring bridges with feet on the roller. Take the ring in your hands with your thumbs on the inside of the ring. Inhale, pulling your thumbs wide. As you exhale, bring the roller towards your thighs.

Roll your heels toward. Bring the heels towards your sitting bones and lift your thighs up. Hips are up. Now take the roll the ring above the top of your head and roll roller away from you and towards you away and towards lifting up your pelvis, pulling outwards with your thumbs, little fingers spreading wide. Twice more here and come down. Roll the roller away from you and roll it towards you.

Roll away and towards internal rotation as you roll a roller away external rotation as you roll the towards you internal rotation, rolling it away. External rotation, rolling it towards you. Now pulling out words with your thumbs. As you exhale, lift your pelvis straight up. Keep your ring up. Take one leg up and a small amount because that's all I can do.

Roll the roller away from you and towards you. Away from you and towards you. Away and towards and away and towards. Come down. It's intermission time, knees, outwards, knees, inwards, knees, outwards, knees, inwards, step ball change, reverse Neesan words, knees outwards. And, and bring the ring up. Press your feet into the roller.

Bring up the new leg, the new foot away, and towards aiming the sitting bone of the lifted leg towards the ankle, the heel of the roller. Come down from this now and the last intermission for your hip joints. Last one of these. Yes, time to come to lie on your back on the roller now. So put the roller lengthwise on the mat. Have a seat on the roller, reach for your ring and come to lie on your back.

Put the ring around your thighs above your knees, press outwards with your thighs. If it suits you to have your bent elbows in contact with the ground. We'll do that. If you prefer to have your hands on the ground, palms down or palms up, you could do that. Another option. And then four options is really quite sufficient.

I think another option would be to have your hands in contact with the roller, like so with your bent elbows up towards the ceiling. So, uh, as it suits you, you can choose one of those or change it up as we go along. I realized that one size never fits all and that um, each, each person, all of us has a different, you know, ratio of arm length to roller height, et cetera. So sometimes it would be helpful to put some mat, uh, some additional cushions underneath your elbows to build up the floor that will being less, uh, less strained on the tissues at the front of your shoulder. In any case, all those details are important. The move at the moment is to come up in a neutral bridge and while you are up, rotate your pelvis, turning your pelvis towards the right, lift your right toes and lift your left heel change.

So you turn your pelvis in the direction of the toes that are lifting. Now turn your pelvis in the direction of the heel that's lifting. Yeah, obviously not something I've done enough of. It's an unusual coordination pattern, but you know, everything's unusual if you haven't practiced it in awhile. So here you are turning your pelvis and your lumbar spine in different relationships with your feet.

Make your way down the roller a bit and we'll take another bridging sequence this time with lateral translation of the pelvis and the lumbar spine. As you exhale, lift up. Now shift your pelvis to one side. Stay to that side. Lift up the opposite heel. Shift your pelvis to new to the new side.

Shift anchor and lymph shift. Anchor and lift [inaudible]. Add your arms in front of you. Palms together with fingers interlaced. So when you shift your pelvis to the right, you press your right hand into your left hand.

Shift your pelvis to the left and press your left hand into your right hand shift anchor lymph shift. Anchor lift, shift anchor. Lift one leg up. Shift to the left and lift the right leg up. Shift to one side and lift the opposite leg.

Shift to one side. Lift the opposite leg. Come to the center and come down. Now we'll take the shift anchor and lift, but instead of lifting the opposite leg from the side, you shifted what you just did. We'll lift the same side leg. Good luck to all of us. Exhale, lift your pelvis up. Shift to the right. Press into your right arm.

Press into your left foot. Stay on the right side and lift your right leg up. Shift to the left. Stay on the left side and lift the left leg up. Schiff anchor and Lewis Schiff.

Anchor and live. Whoa. Shift anchor, lots of ground force through the floor, hand and elbow shift. Anchor and lift. Now change so that the ring goes on the inside of your thighs above your knees and take your hands behind the base of your skull, behind your head. Inhaling, elbows. Why to the side as you exhale, nod your nose downward and roll your head, neck and shoulders up, aiming your elbows towards each other.

Stay up here from the hip joints all the way to your knees. Press inward on the ring and peel your pelvis, the spine up as your pelvis comes up. Roll your shoulders, neck, and head down. Keep your hips up as you exhale. Nod your nose downward. Taking the longest possible curve, articulating your spine to come down, bringing your feet closer to you. Draw in above the pubic bone, aiming your, your sitting bones towards the back of your knees and roll up. Here you have an undulating, uh, bridge, activating the abdominals from the top down and activating the abdominals from the bottom up.

It comes with the territory that when you do this work well, you will wind your way off the roller. So it's time to say enough of that. Return your sacrum to the roller. Make your way upright from here, and then we'll get ready for the next event. Now let's put the ring in your hands with the ring behind your head. Not behind your neck, but behind your head. Come to lie on your back.

Inhaling elbows. Why to the side as you exhale, aim your bent elbows towards each other. Nod your nose downward. Aim your gaze behind the cheekbones of your face. Press your tongue into your lower lip and roll up partially. Now turn your head, neck and eyes to see and your elbows to see the floor on one side and turn to see the floor on the other side and turn to see the floor on one side [inaudible] and the other side roll spine down, elbows wide to the side, cross one thigh over the other.

Aim the S the heel of the supporting foot a little bit wider than the toes. As you exhale, nod your nose, downward tongue into your lower lip at gays behind the cheekbones of your face and you rotate towards the same side where the both legs are located and towards the other side and towards one side grateful for the ground force of your foot because really that's the main ground force you have. Of course there's the contact that your pelvis and low ribs have with the roller change. Now to the new side, remember it's always the new side and sometimes it's the surprise side like, Ooh, I didn't see that coming. Turn to one side and turn to the other and turn to the side and sure come down from this with both elbows straight. Take the ring high above your head.

Thumbs on the inside of the handles. Fingers outstretched. Inhale, glide the lateral borders of your scapula right up. Sure, I'll get right on it there. Go the lateral borders of my scapula sliding up towards the little fingers. As you exhale, nod your nose downward. Press your tongue into your lower lip.

That could help you come up. Inhale, pull outwards with your thumbs. Exhale, your spine articulates along the roller. As your ring comes down. Inhaling, take the ring high above your head. As you exhale, nod your nose downward. Aim your gaze to the floor on the outside of one five coming up. She said, I hope. Inhale to rotate more.

Exhaling, we're going to need the tongue on the opposite side from the ring. Now to slow down this descent, it wasn't very elegant. Inhaling, thumbs pull outwards. Exhaling, turn shoulders, ribs, head, neck and eyes towards the new side. Right into that [inaudible]. Anytime sun increase the rotation.

If you rotate to the left, press your tongue into the lower right cheek and come down. We'll come straight up the middle. Now. Exhale, roll forward. Rolling on up. Now we're going to change to standing. We'll be standing on the mat first, uh, with foot on the roller and ring in hands.

Here you are standing with one foot on the roller and set up a rhythm. Now of rolling the roller forward and back forward and back. Forward and back. A small motion, creating a firm ground force with the sole of the big toe and of course the heel of the supporting foot. Keep this rhythm going and close. One eye. Keep this rhythm going and change the clothes. Die.

Keep this rhythm going and close both eyes open both eyes and change sides. Here you are standing on your new side, creating a firm ground force with the sole of your foot. Aim the sitting bone of the roll or leg towards the ankle of the supporting leg. I guess for um, equal opportunity, we should really change hands with this ring. Everything makes a difference.

It's a matter of to whom and how much close one eye. Change the eye closing and close both eyes open both eyes. Put the ring, the roller. Now between your shins, above your ankles, take the ring in your hands, pulling outwards with your thumbs. As you inhale, bend both knees. Sweep the ring high above your head. Pull outwards with your thumbs downwards with the little finger side of your hand and rise to your toes. The ring goes up as you lower your heels.

Inhale to bend. Turning to one side. Exhale to sweep on it. A rotation, a diagonal rise to your toes. The idea, the idea Whoa, is that the ring goes up as your heels come down. It wasn't very elegant. Inhale to bend. Exhale on a, bring your pelvis forward and up and then draw your abdominals up and the ring up as you lower your heels. Got to get that oppositional force moving here.

Now put the ring on its handle and stand your metatarsal on the a ring and you have a bouncing action aiming the sitting bone of the lifted leg towards the heel of the supporting leg. Keep this rhythm going. As you hover your heel up off the ground, come down from here. Change now to the new side. The metatarsal heads are on the ring. Your roller is a handy balance prop. Maybe I need another to hover your heel up off the ground and to make your way down from here. Next, put the ring between your shins, above your ankles.

Take a hold of the ends of the roller. Inhale to bend both knees. Exhale, pressing inwards with your hands and inwards with your ankles. Hover your heels up off the ground. Lower your heels. Inhale to rotate.

Turning pelvis, ribs, shoulders, neck, head and eyes. Exhale, center. Inhale to rotate. Pelvis, ribs, shoulders, neck, head and eyes. Lead the rotation with your gaze. Now eyes lead up and around the corner and come down. Eyes lead up and around.

Now come to stand near a wall so that you can have your hands on the wall. Or in my case, this gorgeous Pilati is any time window. So here you are with your hands on a supporting surface. Roll the roll or forward and back. Forward and back. Forward and back.

Keep this rhythm going and turn your head, neck and eyes turn your ribs and your shoulders to see behind you. Scanning the, uh, the view that you have grateful for the view that we have turning to see over your shoulder. Now close one eye, one eyes closed, and that eye looks across the midline to see over your shoulder. And that same eye looks around to the other side. Change the closed eye, keeping the rhythm of the role, or going and keep the current eye for the other side. Close both eyes, working on your surround vision when both eyes are closed.

Of course, there are so many variations that you can do, uh, to combine standing balance with, with vision and with the vestibular system. So enjoy your variations, your explorations. I'd love to hear from you to hear how this class goes for you and always love to be with you on [inaudible] anytime. Bye now.

Comments

Ling G
2 people like this.
is it an advance version of head lifted up while lying side way?
it seems a bit too tiring for the neck.
1 person likes this.
Good morning from Slovakia, Elizabeth! Nice and calm waking up, nice class. Our gym is closed because of the virus and I have to work out only at home. Thank you for your  morning inspiration.
1 person likes this.
Amazing class; thank you so much
Amazing class; in part of lying sideways it was feel a little uncomfortable for neck so i use pillow to support my neck ^_^ thank you so much
Ling, thank you for your comment about unsupported neck and head in side lying exercises. Please support your neck and head with cushions, pillows or towels so you feel comfortable. Make sure that the support you choose keeps your neck in a neutral position, well aligned with your spine in all three planes. The exercises in this class are demanding in that they require distributing stability throughout the body in order to control mobility in specific areas. This is certainly the case in side lying with the ring around the thighs just above the knees.
Viera, wonderful to receive your greeting from Slovakia. How fortunate that you can practice at home since your gym is closed due to the virus. Although this class was filmed in mid-January before the global health crisis, I am glad  it  serves as a calming influence for focus and centering now and in the future.
Nuanpong, thank you for your comment regarding use of a pillow to support your neck in side lying exercises. When you arrange your head/neck  support make sure you can balance on your side, neither rolling forward nor backward.
1 person likes this.
Elizabeth you make it look so easy...lol! it's tiny movements but, so tricky. Thank you for a great class and challenge ;>)
Robin G., Thank You for describing the essence of this class. High novelty and low risk keeps the mover interested while exposing kinesthetic blind spots. Laughter is the best response to a movement surprise. So glad you enjoyed it!
Michelle
1 person likes this.
what a great class, so relaxing yet challenging. I wish there were more repetition in each position because it's so yummy. Thank you!
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