Class #4023

Magic Circle Mat

60 min - Class
404 likes

Description

You will use the Magic Circle to deepen your Mat work with this detailed class by Monica Wilson. She adds the Magic Circle between the ankles during many exercises to help you connect to your powerhouse. This is the first of a two-part series that will allow you to focus on your technique, alignment, and control.
What You'll Need: Mat, Magic Circle

About This Video

Apr 03, 2020
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Transcript

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Hi, I'm Monica Wilson and today I'm here with my friend Lindsey and we're going to be doing mat with magic circle. One of the things I love about Pele's is if you do it for the right reasons to strengthen your body, increase your flexibility, injury prevention, balance, longevity, all of these things. You can also get all the beautiful benefits of a great shape body, otherwise known as. We're going to have great strong buttocks, long lean legs, all these beautiful effects. So this class is going to focus on using the magic circle to give you deeper work into your mat. And then we're going to follow up with another class. So it's a two part series. You can do them individually if you like.

Just this one with the magic circle or use the next one and see if you can tap into the same muscles. Use the muscle memory to get more out of your mat work in the next class. It will be about an intermediate, advanced, very challenging and I hope you enjoy it. Should we get started? All right, so we're going to start with a [inaudible] sick. You're going to face me. Good. And Dina [inaudible] stance. Knights weight on the ball of every toe lifting in the arch side of the foot is making contact. Beautiful. Have the arms lift at shoulder height.

Good. Holding the circle between the hands. Lift the elbows up. Good. And we're gonna think of our Pilati stance, right? So from that hipbone we're going to engage those outer thighs. They're going to be circling out I barbershop polls like I like to say, lifting the back of the thigh, the hamstring and the buttock from the knee. Great.

Using those muscles to press your pelvis forward so the weight's more on the ball of the foot. And then use your powerhouse to lift your chest forward and up. It's hanging back right now, so take your chest forward a lot more. Oh wow. Yeah, that's so good. Lengthening your tailbone. Beautiful. Go ahead and cross one foot in front of the other and try to keep the length of that lower back as you lower yourself down to the mat. Good. Good.

Keep lengthening that lower back. Wonderful. Good. I'll take the circle, lift your bottom back and go ahead and lie long on the mat. We're going to start with a hundred. You're going to bend the knees into your chest. We're gonna mainly use a circle between our ankles, not much between our hands today, even though there are a lot of beautiful VR variations. With that, go ahead and lift your head up and exhale into the mat and lengthen your legs to the position that you feel your powerhouse pulling in and up and now pump your arms. Inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Great job. So the ankles are not what our schoolies in the circle.

Hundred

We're going to just soften the knees just a tiny bit, just a tiny bit, and feel the inner thighs pressing and then revisit those outer thighs wrapping around using the bottom to really press the circle God and inhale. Two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Allow your powerhouse to pull in and up against the stability of those legs. Good. Big breath. Two, three, four, five. Exhale into my hand here. That's the best one. Give me two more.

Squeezing those legs. You should feel lengthening for miles. You'll hear me say a lot. Lengthening the thigh out of those hipbones. Last one here. Inhale two, three, four, five. And exhale, pulling in and up against those legs and draw the knees in. Sit up for the roll up. We're going to place it between your inner thighs bent nice and fetal.

Be in inline with the hipbones. Hands underneath your knees. Good sitting up tall. Now round your spine as if your forehead could touch the circle. Good. And without moving that head, try to create as much space between your hipbones and those thighs. Great. Keep your hands right under those knees and pull back the waist into the mat.

Half Roll Back

You're pressing your circle with your inner thighs. Pause when you hit the waistband. Take a breath and XL forward, leaving the waistband there and coming forward and like your knees to be just a teeny bit more bent and the feet a little closer together. Just a teeny but clear. Yep. And again, you're going to keep this forward motion as you draw the waist back. So here you're pressing the circle with your hips like there in the vise and you're reaching them long to the ocean that way. That's so beautiful. Taking a breath and then exhale, pull in forward.

And we're going to continue now going a little lower. So you're gonna press with those hips. Send them that way. Rolling through down to the base of your shoulder blades or the bottom of your bra strap. Take a breath and exhale forward. Yes. All the way until your shoulders return over your hips. And one more like that. Press pulling the waistband.

So we're learning here how to use our hips to stabilize our upper body. Taking a breath and exhaling forward. They're squeezing, they're lengthening this way, drawing it in that. Don't miss a beat there. And we're going to go down lower. Now press reaching. Cause ideally when you do the roll up, the legs don't slide back with you at the thousand feet. Go ahead and roll through the upper back, the neck and the head, and then inhale, lift the head, exhaling into the mat.

The hips are still reaching long this way. Beautiful. And do one more like that. Pressing the hips, lengthening the lower back. Thank you Lindsey. And reaching, reaching good all the way down to your head. Good. And inhale, lifting the head and exhale. Pull it in. Good. And then once your shoulders are over your hips, grab this circle. Don't change your body and squeeze the legs long and together in a plotty stance on the mat. Keeping your here. Reach your arms up. There you go.

And we're going to roll back the waistband. So here's what I want to see. Keep going. I want to see these press. I want to see them reach as if you had that magic circle. Get that waste man down on the mat. Nice. And go ahead and reach back. Since we have the circle, we're going to put it between our ankles.

Now for the roll over. So put it legs go. We're going to keep your head down, legs up, and we're going to put it between our ankles. Good. Press the arms down by your side, God. And we're going to press the circle with what those hips in a vice? Yes. Inner thighs. And draw that lower belly in. And I want those thighs to come onto your chest. Good.

Roll Over

And now flex the feet strong. Squeeze the circle as you roll down. Yes, lengthening, lengthening, lengthen and keep that waist band down and reach the legs long and low. Squeeze, circle and over. Good. And then flex the feet and rolling down. Lengthening, lengthening. Good. Squeeze in the circle. You're going to go down. They'll see feet are soft and over. Good.

They flex over here. Good. And with flex feet, roll down. Squeeze those inner thighs. Pull those eyes to your chest. Good. We're going to reverse it. So go down, lengthening, and then draw this in and go over with flexed feet. Good. Now squeeze a circle, but with relaxed fi and feel more of the outer thigh as you pull into yourself. Going down as low as you can, lengthening and then flex and over.

Good. And then squeeze with relaxed feet. And again, let's find those outer thighs and reaching. Reaching. One more time. Going down. Flex those feet. Draw in the belly. Flex treat. They were flexing. Now they're going to be soft and squeezing your good and lengthening, lengthening, lengthen. Since we have the circle, let's stretch with it. We'll lower the left leg, but use it to stretch the right. Here's your little, little nice treat.

Hamstring Stretch

Gotta have some treats and Pilates and we're going to link in that right hip. Really important. If you're going to stretch it, you're going to have that knee slightly looking at your right shoulder, stretching that hip down. That would be so good for you, okay? As you pull towards you. And then another little tree is keeping the hips square. Cross it to your left shoulder with that, and you should feel a real big stretch right here. Okay, I'll take the circle. You're gonna press your arms down by your side.

Cross to your nose, shoulder around in, up. How long can you get to that leg for me? Can you get all the way down to your ankle? Good. And reach around, up to around up. I love how much you're holding your powerhouse. One more and let's go the other way. Reaching down around, up. Stretch out that hip.

Single Leg Circles

Reach that thigh out of that hip. Yes. And three up to your shoulder. And to kick me over here, one more all the way up. Good. And go ahead and lower that leg, hug it in fine. And then stretch it one more time. The left. Good. So we want to rotate the thighbone and stretch that hip down so that the hips are straight across as we pull it up and then add another little treat by crossing it to your right shoulder. So nice sot all work.

Hamstring Stretch

And then now you're going to press your arms down by your side and you're going to cross that left leg around and it's up. Good. The right leg is working hard. Stabilizing in the mat. Now I want to see that leg reach down to that ankle. Cross down. Yes. So that you get that lean hip flexor. Stretch one more in this direction. Long. Yes. Reversing. Cross around up. Yes.

Single Leg Circles

Cross drop in this. This pulls in opposition. Yes. Working that hip. One more region around. Good job. Hug that knee in. Lengthen that leg. And now I want to see both legs pressing down into the mat. As you inhale, lift your head. Exhale, roll up into a rolling like a ball position. Lifting your bottom forward. We're going to put the circle on the outside. Okay.

And I want you to find your outer thighs pushing out on them as you do. Rolling like a ball. I really like this variation. Hands a little lower on your ankles. Good. So push open those knees, stretch that circle, dive your head through. Awesome. And you're going to roll back the lower back. Inhaling, open, push out, out, out. Good. And doing great in with the exhale.

Rolling Like A Ball

So you're going to roll those hips over your shoulders. Thank you. And exhale, pull it in. Lift those hips over your shoulders. Exhaling up two more in with the air and Xcel. Can you feel the difference when you push out with those outer thighs and exhaling? Give me one more in with the air over your shoulders and exhale and rest your feet down. Excellent. Very good. Lift your bottom back series of five.

We're going to do single leg stretch without it. So you're going to lift your head up, but I want to see this sharp, long leg reaching out. Let's switch. Left. Good and switch. Draw that belly. Good switch. Good. Scooping it. Yes. Into the mat. Left outer thigh, right glute member. We're strengthening our buttocks and lengthening those legs. Yes, but of course we're creating balance and stability. One more set, right. And, and now put this between your ankles for double leg stretch.

Single Leg Stretch

Great hands are on your ankles. Keep your hands right there and pretend like you're still holding onto your ankles as your legs lengthen. Pretend you can still grab on. Keep that reach. Keep even grab onto the side of your thighs. Yeah, yeah. Great. Feel that end now. Grab on your ankles as soon as you can. Two more like that. So reaching, reaching, reaching and scooping it.

Double Leg Stretch

Your thighs are reaching out of those hipbones and pulling in a little more energy with those hands. So I can see this scoop more. Yes. And then now continue with the legs, but reach an opposition. Reach, reach, reach and pulling in. Squeeze as you go out. Squeeze as you come in. Squeeze as you go. Wow. Squeezes you come in. No squeezing with those feet. Lindsey. Rest your neck for a moment and bring both legs up for single straight leg.

Yes. And lift the head up and switch. Try to grab up a little higher if you can. Yeah. Good. Now watch your powerhouse. Does it look like there's a band going across? You want to just to anchor it. Yeah. Good. And every time that leg goes down, it should feel the hamstring and glute. Hamstring and glute again. Stretching that hip flexor, reaching it long. Good.

Single Straight Leg Stretch

Touch the ceiling as you go out. Yes. And now a little tempo. Here we go. Left, right, left. Which quicker? Quicker. Can you switch and switch? There you go. She got a little fire on her now. Awesome reaching. That's the energy last set. Bend your knees, rest your head as you put it between your ankles could put your feet down on the mat. It says, nice to stabilize here. Put your hands behind your head.

Take a big breath and exhale into the mat to round up. That's let go of that tilted pelvis that we did, right? So we're going to drop our pelvis. Big breath. Exhaling up. Good. Now feel the stability of your hips pressing in advice in your inner thighs.

Draw the knees up over your hip bones. Good. Extend the legs up, up, up, turning those thigh bones out. Reach for the ceiling. Can you come? I'm sorry. Just your feet. Can you come up any hard, good. Reach the legs down, down, down, and pull them up. Let's squeeze as you go down and relax it as you come up and squeeze with those hips as you go down. Relax as you come up. One more like that. Squeeze as you go down. Relaxes. Now opposite. Relax it as you come down. Squeeze it as you come up. Relax it as you lengthen. Squeeze as you come up.

Double Leg Lower Lift

Relax as you lean to end. Squeeze. Good. Now keep up with your upper body. Bend the knees. Good. Lift up higher on. Ah, now lead with the left shoulder to take the elbow to the right knee. I love how nothing moved in that circle. Come center up, up higher. Higher. Thank you. Stay here and LinkedIn the legs out of the power high Yas and draw them back in and now come over to your left knee with that Le right shoulder. Yes.

Criss Cross Variation

Come center. Staying high and lifted up on your bottom. Ah, and lengthen out from here. Beautiful. Drop back in. Bending the knees. One more set. Taking it over here. Nothing moves in that lower body. We stabilize. Come center rope. Sorry. We're going to lengthen out. Reaching those legs at the middle part is tough.

And last I make sure nothing moves in the pelvis as you come up in here and we're going to re up. That right knee went away. So we're going to keep it here and keep pulling in to lift up. Pop up. You got it. Come center last length and let me see it reached those hips long. Pull it in and hugging those knees. Sit on it for spine. Stretch forward. Nice job. All right. We don't have a magic circle here, but I want to see your, I want to see some light under that bottom as you lift up off of it. That's it.

And exhaling. Dan, Dan, Dan, straight edge and inhaling up. Okay. Taking a breath and exhaling down. Good. Lifting up off that. See now when you roll up my dear, roll up. Your lower back is great middle, but then you left out your upper back before your neck and head. Nice and exhaling down. Yes. Reaching forward. Good. Continuing to lift. Yes, yes, yes. And then rolling up. Up, up to more. Lifting off the seat. Push those heels away. Exhale.

Spine Stretch Forward

Exhale. Don't let them fall out. Try to keep the foot right on top. Sorry Lindsey. One more time. Squeezing down. This is tough. A lot of times our feet like to turn out here. We're staying parallel with the ball, the foot right over the heel as you roll up. That engages some inner thigh and really challenging. Nice job.

Go ahead and bring your legs together. Okay, great. And we're going to put the circle between your ankles, open leg rocker with a circle between our ankles. So in this is a little different because every time we add a circle we squeeze. And on this one it's more for awareness of that. Our sides are working evenly, so you don't need to focus so much on pressing, but just holding that distance and keeping it center.

So before you lift the feet, I want you to feel the ball of your foot on the mat and then think of your roll up that you did in the beginning and draw that waist in and pull back your weight so that your center of gravity is a little different. That is excellent. Then use your powerhouse to lift your sternum as you. Yep, that's great. And you can hold behind your CAS or all the way up to your ankles or all the way up to your toes if you can. I might slide it up just a little bit. Good, good, excellent. And relaxing those feet. Beautiful. Can we pull back a little more? Excellent. Good. That's it.

Now I want you to focus on something straight ahead like me. Good. All right. Like my cross right here, and you're going to rock back in with the air and come right back up to here. That's it. And lengthen from the back of the thighs. Let go of those hip flexors. Beautiful and in with the air roll back and where's my cross and right there.

Open Leg Rocker

Yeah. Nice. You nailed it. And rolling back and right up to here. [inaudible] reach the legs from here. Outer thighs, you got it. And two more. Inhale. Exhale into the mat. Can you reach those outer thighs? Thank you. One more in with the air. Exhaling into the mat. Yes. Don't even need to help you.

Now. Keep reaching those outer thighs. Keep letting go of those hip flexors and start crawling down your legs as you roll down. Yes. And bring the legs right on. Straight on up to the ceiling. You look really nice and square. Rest your arms down by your side. You're going right into corkscrew. So not from the feet. Squeeze from your seat. And I want you to think of jackknife.

Corkscrew

You're going to bring the legs over and up, up, up, up. Beautiful. And we're going to roll down our center and then reach to the right and around you. The left and good. And Dan, keep pressing that circle as you go left. Do you want to feel like your legs are one in the corkscrew and rolling down, reaching to your right around your left and up. Good rent, rich, rich and stretching out there. One right there. One, they stay as one. You keep pressing that circle. You keep progressing that circle. You keep [inaudible] and lift. That was excellent.

One more come into beautiful reaching to the right around. Keep pressing that circle. Yes. Nice. And last time coming down. Don't let that bottom get a break. Keeps squeezing it as it goes down and up. We go and rolling down our back. But you do get a break. Now.

Sit up for SA. Yay. Opening those legs. But again, I want to see and you're going to put them right in the middle. Arms out to the side. Good. I still want to see instead of gripping, right, we're going to see some light under here as we lift up and twist to your right. Good. And now feel like you're a bottom is in a block of cement as you exhale down, down, so it's in a box. You get to sit on that left hip lift on up, twisting and the right hip stays in cement.

Saw

You're doing that beautifully. [inaudible] and two more in with the air and twisting and the left hip stays in summit. Lengthen it down, release it. Yeah, and twisting. Love it and exhaling. Exhale. Take your head with it too. Yeah, and inhaling up and one more set again on this. Your toes are pulled back over the foot, not turned out at all and in with the air last time. Twisting, lift off that seat. Head dives down. Nice job. Inhaling up and relax. Good. Squeeze your legs together. No, no, no, no.

We're to, they're working. We're going to squeeze them together and then turn onto your belly. Good, good, good, good. And your hands are going to be under your shoulders if you were going to do neck roll, but we're going to end up doing Swan dive with the circle between our ankles. So I'm going to go ahead and put your circle between your ankles or you know what? Go ahead and show them how to do that because you're not going to have me at home unfortunately. And it takes a little bit of time.

You got it. And you can even reach back with both hands if you need it too. Great job. Good. So you're not going to be able to lay your arm, your legs down flat on the mat. They're going to go down as low as they can because you have a circle and you're going to pull your powerhouse in, right? Press the circle. Squeeze down here. We're going to come up, not Swan dive. Okay, so we're going to keep Lincoln. That is gorgeous. Keep lifting wherever you feel is comfortable for your back.

Swan Dive

And then on the count of three, I want energy to shoot forward your arms. One, two and arms forward and arms up, legs, up, arms. Squeeze that circle up. Arms up. Squeeze and circle up. One more school easing up. And that is a nice Swan dive. Go ahead and take your circle away again cause I am not unfortunately joining my lovely followers here and we're stretching. Oh, let's let's pull back in that bone a little. Yeah. Nice. Nice. Next is lots of good bottom work with single leg kick, so you're going to lie down on your stomach and try to find a spot between your right cheek and your ankle or your heel.

Child's Pose

Okay. Be really careful if you have a bad lower back. Any of this stomach work can really hurt your lower back. You need to have good support of your powerhouse and know your alignment of your pelvis. Very good there. I love it. So what I'm looking for here is that she's squeezing her pubic bone down her pelvis, that she doesn't have a lift or a like a triangle here underneath her hip flexor, but she's pressing that down on both sides and that these hipbones are trying to be lifted by her powerhouse. Pull these back a little bit. Energies in and up. Awesome. You're going to keep your thigh on the mat for, we're going to pull that circle in and hold it for four three, two, one release. Don't let that right hip flexor come off.

Single Leg Kick

It presses down as you pull it in and squeeze hold, hold it. That's it. And release. One more time. Pulling it in. You're obviously feeling your hamstring, your glute. Don't let yourself feel your lower back. Now as you keep it tight, let's lift that knee and thigh clear up off the mat. Don't change any alignment. Drop this hip bone a little more and we're going to press him for five times one. Pull it in more, pull it in more. Three, four, five and that's enough. Nice job. Other side.

So switch the circle. Great work. Where'd you feel that Lindsey? Nice. Strong buttocks. Good. All right, let's get along. Lean waste with this too and it is really good support for your lower back. If you're there, don't let your knee go out too wide. Pull it in a little.

Excellent. So we're pressing your pubic bone down. Your pelvis feels really strong and secure on that mat and you're going to pull it in for five and hold, hold, hold and release. Try not to flex or point the foot. You're more of a soft foot and pull it in. Two, three, four, five. Release. One more time, Lindsay holding in two, three, four, five. Now keep it squeezing, but lift the knee. Lift the thigh and you're going to do five pulses. One, two. Whoa. Yeah, that's it. That's the burn for five and that's enough.

Now you're going to put it between both ankles. You thought that was tough. We're going to do double leg kick. Excellent. You're right, facial cheek. We'll go on the mat and your hands will come together as high up behind your back as you can. That looks great. Let's lengthen the legs and everyone has a little different combo, but let's see if I can get you to follow my sequence here. Okay. Get your hands up as high as he can so you're still getting that nice stretch.

Both eyes are facing. Nice. So again, strong pelvis. That's what we're looking for. Reaching long the legs, right? We're going to keep those legs straight and pressing that strong pelvis down as you lift the legs up. Now keep those thighs and ease off. Good job, good girl. And squeeze that circle to your bottom. Bending the knees. Now straighten the legs with those thighs up and lower the circle down as you lift up your head, chest powerhouse. Switch to the other side. Elbows up high to keep those legs long and straight for me. That's good.

Double Leg Kick

And you're gonna lift those lift. Nope. Sorry. Lift those long legs. Yes, pelvis is strong with those thighs and knees off. Bring that circle to your bottom, squeezing it. Aha. Then keep those ties up as you lengthen out those legs. Straighten those legs and lower them down as you lift up your upper body. Two, three, switched cheek, straight legs. Lift straight legs. That's it.

Straight lift. And then keeping those ties up. Squeeze that circle into your bottom so it's a straight leg. Now straight leg out again with those dyes and he's good. And then lift up. Good. Okay. No bending those knees this time. Keep them straight. Lift up, pull him in, lengthen out, and then lower as you left. Good. Take your circle away.

Round your back and sit on your heels for a nice back stretch. That was excellent. If you didn't feel any of your hamstrings and glutes in your stomach work before, I'm sure you do now. So we're going to put it between our inner thighs for neck pull, starting off a little harder. Neck pull. It sometimes is thought of as a more basic neck pull, but I think it's a little harder.

Child's Pose

So you're going to sitting, sit up tall, press stabilize with those hips and advice, good inner thighs and you're going to keep the lower body lengthening and stabilizing as you hinge back with the upper body. Let's try that again. You did great taking your head and shoulders, but we left the bottom of our box so our whole box has to hinge back, lift off that tailbone and we're going to hinge back taking those hipbones yes until your arms are straight and then curl down. Taking the waistband. Good. So this is the easy part of the neck pole and we're going to inhale, bring the head up. You round yourself up, good. All the way to the circle. Sit up tall and then you take your whole box back as you hinge. But find those hips in a advice.

Neck Pull Prep

Send them away as you hinge back and then round the rest down. Good. Now what can you put your hands behind your head and your elbows can squeeze in if you want. Okay. And we're going to press that circle in with the air curl up. Inhale, sit up tall and press the circle.

Send those legs away from you. Hinge back. Take the bottom of your box with you. More. Scoop more. Scoop. Curl the rest down. One more like that in with the air. Exhaling. Beautiful. Inhale, sitting up tall. Last the hip. Action. Thank you. And going back. Take the hips, squeeze the hip. Pull back that belly against the hips. Awesome. And curl the rest down. We're going to come up one more time scooping in.

Good. But this time while you're ups, put it between your arches or the side of your foot is what I should say as your legs lengthen. So straight legs good right there. Pulling the foot back like so. Excellent. Now put your hands behind your head. Good. And pressing the circle. You want to really send it to that ocean. Okay. And you're going to pull those hip bones. Oh, that's good. Keep it going.

Neck Pull

Keep it going. Keep these working. Curl the rest down. Beautiful in with the air. Exhaling all the way up. We never sleep on. We're down there. You got to come right back up girl. And that's it. Inhaling up and pulling back as you reach right. The knees aren't working. It's a side of your hips. Draw that Waston.

Draw that way since. Send those hips as soon as you touch your right back up. That's what I wanted to see. And then inhaling up. Good and back. We're going to do one more on the next one. I do want to see your head. Touch your knees, not just come towards it in with the exhale all the way to your knees all the way. Thank you. Inhale now sitting up tall from those sip phones and going back to you.

Feel your sit bones. [inaudible] pull them together. Send them that way. Draw the waist in. Rolling down. Beautiful job. I want just a few more inches behind you. So slide this way and we're going to Jack knife. Good. Put it between your ankles.

Now with your legs directly up to the ceiling in a 90 degree angle with the floor. Okay, but some take your hips a tiny bit. Great job. Good. All right, we're going to press and I want you to just lift the hips over to me and now Jeff NIFA and coming down with control. Keep the toes reaching. Keep the circle reaching to the ceiling and take the hips over. You don't need to go down on this one just to a nine degree and now very even. Okay? You're going to keep using the left outer thigh and you're going to go down, but don't lose the energy. Keep reaching for me.

Jackknife

Keep reaching up as you go down with the upper body. Keep the Mike's ranch and keep him. Don't let him go pasture. And one more time. You're going to go over and up. Good. And so you really want to keep using that energy as you go down. If you have a Cadillac at home, it's like you're doing tower. I would help you, but look at that. That was excellent. Good.

Now place it between your inner thighs. Good and place your feet down close to your bottom. Good. So in regular mat we'll do shoulder bridge with one leg moving. But here I want you to find your tailbone and get it on the mat first. Let it let, that's it.

I know you need that stretch though, and that articulation. So make sure right here when you start off that your tailbone is down, that you feel your entire sacrum on the mat. Then without tilting that we love to do. Press those hips together. Press those inner thighs to squeeze a circle. Now use the inner thigh, pelvic floor and tiny lower belly to curl your tailbone towards you.

Just your tailbone to lift that waist, just your tailbone. Now you can lift your waist if you're using right where the hamstring and bottom meet, that work where you had were lying on your belly and come all the way up. And if you can even make a rainbow, because in shoulder bridge your hands are going to be underneath your hips and that stuff. Don't overdo it with your upper body and your ribs. But do it in your seat. Try to stretch through that and now give me 20 beats. One, two, press four, five, six inner thighs.

Bridge w/ Hip Adduction

You should no doubtedly. Feel your powerhouse pulling in and up against those inner thighs. Do you feel that? Okay, we've got five, four, three, two. I'm terrible. Counter and now hold tight and we're going to lengthen down. Don't lose that seat. Keep that tailbone curl to you as you roll.

The last thing to go down. You get one more set? Is it down? Okay. Press. Good curl. Really feel where the hamstring reads the seat. Exhaling those ribs, lifting those hips up evenly. Here's what's really important. Before we start pressing on shoulder bridge, we need and leg pull up. You want to make sure these hips don't move and we're going to do 20 that they're straight across. Here we go, press two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 10 more, a little less ribs and a little more. C, little more stretched through here.

Five, four, three, two, one. Get this angle little differently. Thank you. And rolling down. So I want to see her hip bones below her hip flexors for sure. Good. Nice job. All right, let's put it between, just like you, different neck pull between the insides of your feet. We're going to do spine twist. Awesome.

Flex those toes back and arms straight out to the side. I want to see all the muscles in your arms reaching out. Do you feel your sit bones and they're pushing your heels away and engaging your inner thighs. Nothing in your lower body moves as you take a breath and then twist to the right and X Hale and inhale tall as you come center and exhale as you truest lift off your waist. Lift, lift in, inhale, center and twist and exhale. Lift up. Up, up. Thank you. In with the air and TUI [inaudible], lifting, lifting and in with the air. No movement and that circle. It's gorgeous.

Spine Twist

Twisting, lifting like your hips are in some Mets and inhaling up last one and tool. Just good and relax. We're onto our sidekicks. I want it in between your ankles. Lying on your right side. Would love for you to start off with your whole body straight. So I like where your elbow is. I like where your shoulder, right shoulder is, but I want your feet even back with you. Flex those feet.

[inaudible] both feet. Top one, two. I see you sending a message and it's trying. Good, but it's also hiking. So we're going to reach it. Ooh, now we have a nice waist. Good, good, good, good. So you're more advanced as is this class. So we not only want to work our legs, but we want to walk our powerhouse. We want to draw that belly in and maybe even lift the waist a little. He.

Yeah, that's what helps to stabilize those hips and get more, have our leg work. So we're going to press that circle of both legs and using our powerhouse like this. Lift those legs a little forward, a little more. [inaudible] lower them down. Just a little angle. Good. I love how you've kept this. Keep this top leg. We're going to use the top leg to press down and hold for five, four, three, two, one release and press down.

Side Leg Press

You should feel that outer thigh. You should feel that glute. That's it. And release. You never press with the foot, right and draw the [inaudible] belly. And is there a little waist lift under your waist and release? Two more times. We're going to press down scooping and lift in. Excellent and release. And one more time pressing down. Beautiful.

Great job. Now we're going to show me your coordination by pressing down a little bit, rocking back, not losing that circle. It's slightly pressing into the mat. Okay. You're in a precedent to the mat as the bottom leg shifts inside. Yeah, let go with the circle. With the bottom leg. It's going to shift inside and then it's going to press it down as you rock forward. The top leg bends and goes inside. Yes. Good. All right, so now both legs are really going to be actively working. Okay.

The hip height against, you're going to lengthen it out. Love it. That's the work you need. That's great. And you're going to keep rotating. Watch that knee and instead you're going to push out with the outer thighs and the bottom leg pushes down as the top leg stretches up to three, four, five and release pulling in bottom leg reaches down top one up, dude. Three, four, five and release. I think that bottom leg needs to work more circles getting lifted. Press down with that bottom leg. Press down. Two, three, four, five.

And release. We have two more of the top legs, not gonna flex. Right? And we're going to lift right here. Make that guy work. Yeah. And release. One more time. Scooping in reaching long and lift right here. Make that guy work. Two, three, love it. Best. Yes. Nice job. Okay, Ben, this top leg, put it on the outside again. Good.

Press down. Let me see this coordination a little better. This time we're going to rock back as the bottom leg slips on the outside. That looked nicer. Good. All right. Now some serious waste and leg work because in the next class we're going to be doing big scissors and all kinds of stuff, right? So we're going to press with both legs and use your left waist to help lift both legs. Hold two, three and down. Good.

Side Double Leg Lift

Press with both legs, length and this. And now lift, lift, lift and dam. Porres with both legs. Then lift and lower. Lower cause we're going to add beats cause we're fun. We're, we're lots of fun here. And then we're gonna skip stretching this. We're going to draw and we're going to press and the bottom leg is going to squeeze up and up and up and up and up. Hold and roll onto your tummy. Make a small pillow for your forehead.

Just when you thought there wasn't enough hamstring and work, you're going to lengthen your legs. You're going to revisit pressing your pelvis into the mat and scooping your belly in. Lift those thighs and knees as high and long as you can. And give me 20 beats. One, two, squeeze it. Four, five, six. Lift those legs. Lengthen on ten one, two, three. Reach them. Four, five, six, work the right leg more. Nine, 10, hold it up. Roll to your other side. Hold it up. Let up as you roll to your other side. Alright, nice job, Lindsay. All right, bring them forward by pulling your belly in and up. Okay, go ahead. Your hips are really nicely aligned on this side, so it's your left one that likes to misbehave a little on that, but there they're doing good here.

Beats

So we're going to draw that belly in and just like last time, I want to see even a little lift in that waist. Okay, so you're really pulling in and a good and the top leg is going to press down and hold two, three, four, five and release four more times. Drying that belly behind the line of your hips and up as you squeeze. Two, three, four, five. I like that release and it draws in and up to three, four, five, really, two more times. Pull in it. Everyone feel those outer thighs, inner thighs, bottoms. No question and release strength, but also will lead to beauty, right? So we're going to press down.

Side Leg Press

Was that five? I think that was five. One more. Okay, one more present down. Two, three, four, five. Now keep pressing down and you're going to rock it back and you're going to switch the bottom leg to inside by bending. Good rocket forward, and the bottom leg secures the circle as you switch. Kept that alignment pretty nice. So now we're working both outer thighs. The bottom outer thigh is pressing into the mat. That top one, and we're going to stretch it for five, four, three, two, one.

Give it a little ease. Pull your powerhouse in and up. And then stretch right here everybody. That's what we're feeling for five release and pull it in and stretch, stretch, stretch, and release. Try not to rock your upper body backwards. Your shoulder, right shoulders rocking quite a bit. There we go. And stretch it to three, four, five release.

And one more time. Reaching it a little longer. Oh yeah. Now stretch it up with this. Two, three, four, five. Yeah, good job. Now take that top leg, put it on the outside, press down a little bit, rock back, and that bottom leg is going to go on the outside. You good? Good. All right. [inaudible]. [inaudible] it's okay. Bring the feet a little more forward. I think you're doing really good. Good. Drawing that belly and make sure our hip flexor doesn't take over at all.

And both legs are gonna squeeze together. And now using the right waist, you're going to lift, lift, lift, and release. Two more. Draw the belly and lengthening out. And press M lift, lift, lift and release. I'd love for you to feel this length as you pull up and pulling in and squeezing. And we're going to pull up. Good. Hold it up. And the bottom lug squeezes up. One up, two up three. Let me see that inner thigh inner thigh.

Side Double Leg Lift

One more and lower down. Good job. Go ahead and take the circle away. Lie on your back and I will see, have the circle. You're going to get ready for teasers with the circle, but first shake out your legs. So you want to give bend the knees into your chest and throw a real tantrum. Just shake those, the thigh muscles. Yep. You don't want any of this tightening up. Okay. All right, so we're going to put that back between your ankles. Good. Good, good, good. All right.

And we're ready for teaser one. So I want you to pull your powerhouse in and up. Squeeze with those hips like they're in a vice and reach him long out of your powerhouse. Good. Good. Getting this a little more, even this a little more and reach your arms back. Good, good, good. And you're going to inhale, bring your arms up and exhale. Rolling up fan. Tastic good, good. Staying there with the legs.

Teaser 1

I want you to reach with those hips and press and roll down your lower back, middle. How you doing at home? Is it easy? No, it's not reaching the arms back and coming on up. Good. Good. Now I notice you lift a little bit, but you might want to press with the back of the legs and lower a little bit and reach out a little like that. And then roll down from this position reaching yes. And one more. Coming on up. Lengthening, scooping in. So instead of lifting, find the back of your thighs. You got it.

That looks so much nicer. Come forward a little bit to my shoulders with your BA, your powerhouse stain back. Good. And now staying here for teaser to up, up, up, up. Stay on my shoulders and the legs go. One and two and three. Hold an arms up and let's do teaser three. Everything goes down. I'm gonna let you find your balance as you come up for teaser three scooping in.

Teaser 2

You got it again. You want to find that scoop and reach from here. That's good. And reaching down, pulling in. This is a lot of work. Legs going down also and coming up. Good. Now keep reaching arms up and you're to roll down. But press me down. Press me down, press me down. And one more time in with the, uh, you got it. And exhaling, I barely need to pull you up, but you're holding with your feet. Yes. Staying there. Release this as you go down. Or at least that.

Teaser 3

Look at that. That is nice. Good job. Hug those knees into your chest. So it's finding the back of the thigh and see instead of gripping with that right and pulling up higher, you might need to lower it a little bit and find the hamstring glues that you've been working so hard today. Yeah, which we're going to work now on swimming. So you're going to turn around for your swimming. Go ahead and reaching those arms. Nice and long. Good, good.

Now get back a little bit more. Good. Even though you don't have a circle on swimming, I want you to press your pelvis down into the map and I want you to lift your head a little out of the water and I want you to press your right arm into the mat and squeeze your left leg up. Right arm. Left leg. Yeah. Yeah. And then put those down and switch. Yes. Did you press your right cheek down though? Right cheek down, down, down, and press down everything and switch.

Swimming Prep

So your hip flexor should be pressing into the mat. Oh, that's a really nice square bottom and down. And make sure that left hip works that well as you lift your right leg. Keep squeezing your left hip down. Yeah. Oh, now lift your head up more. Now lift your other arm and live and we're going to swim. And inhale two, three. Find that pelvis square. Inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Scale with my tempo out of the water. Inhale two, three, four by the trucks behind you. Come on, XL two, three, four, five.

Swimming

One more time. Inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale, lift, lift, lift and lower into the mat. Round your back and sit on your heels. Very nice. Okay, so now we're going to grab our circle and put it between our ankles to add a little zest to our leg. Pull down. So if you need a stand up, if you can, but just grab your circle and then put it between your ankles. Good. Yes. And then walk forward into a pushup position. Okay, so leg pull down here, but we're adding a lot of coordination. You might want to watch it first. You might be, but you, what you really have to do is be aware of where hips and pelvis are in space.

Child's Pose

Good. Your, this line is nice. A little rounding here. Instead of finding your sternum forward like you did in the palati sit. That's exactly it. Now, just a little more length. So there's energy out the crown of your head. Feel like the palms almost pulling the map behind you and your energy is stretching out that way. Fantastic. Can we engage as a tiny more? Woo.

That's it. Okay, so we're going to try to squeeze that circle. Keep your hips here and up as you slowly bring the left ankle over your right. Okay. Yes. Keep the hips down. There you go. Rock back a little bit. Pull forward with those hips and return the left foot to the mat. Good. Squeezing those hips down, dah. They lifted.

Leg Pull Front

Can we get them down? Especially that. Ooh, yeah. Rock back. Rock forward. So good. Recalibrate. If you need to. I will. Hell, here we go. Uh, both let. Okay. And let's get the feet. Go ahead and get up into your pushup and I will. Voila. How's that? Right there. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Follow the foot more. You turn your foot in. So yeah, same with here. You turn your foot in. Something for me to observe. Okay, let's do two more sets. Everyone ready? Squeezing. We're going to take squeeze a circle and take your left ankle over your right. Keep it from here. Rock back. Gorgeous Lindsey. And forward and left foot down and right over the left.

Squeeze that left hip down. Rock forward. One more set. Put that foot down. Rocket over. Great job staying even here. Keep that left hip down as you take the right and rocket back and forward. Nice job. Awesome. Go ahead and kneel down and take that circle away. Good.

Put it to the side and let me see your transition to leg pull up. So get right back into your position. Position. Squeezing up, squeezing down. So just like you were holding that circle, you're going to take your right hand to your left. Reach that left hand lifting. That's it. That's it. Taking, crossing your feet. Love this and we're ready. Woo train showed up for this one.

We're going to kick the right leg up and flex down. Switch, left leg up, flex, right like up, flex, left leg and right like one more time and left and now the right knee and you're going to bend it under you and face that way for kneeling. Sidekicks. Good. All right, so these are not easy. Good. Place the hand behind your head. Good job, Lindsay. Take your right hand a little forward. A no, I'm sorry. Yes, thank you. Leave the left leg down.

Leg Pull Back

Bring the right foot so it's hiding behind your right knee and see if you can flex it. Okay, here's what I'm interested in. This angle, this hip, staying right over there. That is a lot of work, a lot of work even right now, a lot of work. Keeping it there. Reach this leg longer on the mat and then lift it up as high as you can and now kick it forward and take it back. And what am I interested forward? Taking this, keeping this hip right there and forward and one more time back.

Front and Back

And now take it to the side and give me five little circles. One up higher, two and three reaching. Keep that hip going for reversal circles. One and two, reversing it the other way. I swear the other way. [inaudible] and three, two. He's squeezing that. There we go. Nice job and kneeling on both knees, but squeeze that bottom forward for a second. Thank you. Okay. It stays under you as you go to your left hand door. Nope.

Circles

Do keep it under you. Don't sit back on it as you extend the right leg. So good. I know that's not like it's almost against proper alignment and now Natalie, but I think we sit back a little too often in our transitions. So a good reminder, put your right hand behind your head. Good. What I'm interested in is that left hip, staying over that left knee, lengthening that leg.

Let's lift it all the way up and we're going to kick it forward. [inaudible] and backhoe. You had such a nice lift. That's it. We're going to keep that lift. Yes. And we're going to keep squeezing what? This chicken one more and now reach it out to the wall and five circles up. One good. Two and three. Your left hip should be on fire and reversing it.

Front and Back

One and two and three and four. And I'll give you a treat and bring the knees togethers kneeling up tall, but sit on your right hip and we'll do a little mermaid for a little break. Stacking the knees and ankles. Reach that right arm up, but sit on both hips for me from the gecko. So send your left hip to the floor. Sit on this left hip. It doesn't like to sit. And now sit up tall first. Bring there there.

Circles

Now go over over to your ah Oh that's nice. So try to have both sit bones down. Now lift from both of those. Sit bones up to the ceiling and put your right hand down. Good and left. One goes good. And then keeping idea of those hips and just lower down to that elbow and then right on up.

Mermaid

Squeeze those inner thighs and right arm goes up and don't lose this rub. That's it. And reaching over. I like that. And lifting the right arm up, stretching it out to your elbow as the left one goes up to the ceiling. Good. Good, good. Now I would love to see a little more knees and feet.

[inaudible] so they're squeezing, stabilizing, drying. And let's come up with the right arm. Yes. Ooh, that looks good. One more time. Stretching and lifting from the center. Look how strong your hips are getting and reaching out. Yeah.

Good. And then coming back up. Awesome. Let's go ahead and kneel up squeezing your bottom forward like you've been doing the whole time and sit on your left hip. Wonderful. Stack your knees and feet up. Good. Yes. And we're going to keep trying to sit on the right hip, drawing the waist in a little more. I love it. Keep your right hand on your ankles and reach your left one right up to the ceiling and stretch all the way over, over, over. Excellent.

And then lift from that solid base as you switch hands and going down to your elbow. [inaudible] many variations of this and coming back up. But I'm looking at this and up I am given her a tree and you had tree. But what I want to see is is she doing it from the right place and is she able to keep all of her mermaid legs nice and working together? And one more time. Can you feel that work you make? It makes it feel easy when you do it from the right place.

And one more time reaching out with the left hand. The right hip is still staying stacked and you get this wonderful side stretch and then pressing the legs down as you come up. Good job. All right, that's enough of that. I want you to sit on your bottom facing that way for boomerang. We're going to cross your right ankle over your left. Voila. Good hands by your hips. A little forward, sweetie. Thank you.

Good. And I'd love to see this rounding like like a boomerang. Yes. I want to see a nice round angle there instead of any sharp hip flexor. So we're going to use that angle and we're going to go over, show me those strong legs as you open close and we'll yes and hands go behind.

Boomerang

And then keep that nice scoop as you stretch forward. Big circle with those hands. And again, hands right by the side. And let me see that nice rounded angle as we lift up and over open-close strong legs rolling through, reaching the arms stable and long. And then they come behind our back and we reach as we lower big circle. Good. One more set. And let me see those hips.

Press and lengthen away and strong. Open, close. Good and rolling all the way up. Yes. And hands going back. Good. And reaching forward. Scoop, scoop. Scoop. One more time and scoop. And in. Good.

Lindsey. Nothing wrong with keeping your arms down. Just account longer and reaching forward with that energy. Now. Yes. And then hands go behind you and try not to sickle the feet. Turn those out or thighs on and that will hope you keep your feet under control. Great job. Grab your circle, flip onto your tummy where your head's gonna face.

This way we're going to do rocking with some magic circle. Really getting those bottoms toned here. So we're going to put the M take your hips a little bit away from me and vet your whole body, just a hair, and then put the circle between your ankles. Okay, so don't put too much effort or energy or thought on how, just getting it done there and then focus on your pelvis. Kay, are you square your powerhouse supporting your lower back? Then when you're ready, we eat your hands back and grab the top of your feet and we're going to squeeze a circle without lifting right now. Pressing the inner thighs. Yeah, and then pressing your pubic bone down in your pelvis down. Lift the thighs and knees up as you lift your head and chest.

Rocking

Push your feet into your hands to lift up higher. A little more light underneath that, those knees. Good. Now keep that circle as you rock back and forth and back and forth and press your pelvis down and lift your powerhouse up. And three and two are you feeling your hamstrings and solid bottom, and that is enough. Take the circle away. Round your back and sit on your heels. Nice job, Lindsey.

Good, good, good, good. All right. I'm going to just slip it off. I want you to turn around quickly and sit on your bottom for seal. So get ready for seal and we're going to do six seals and we're going to roll up and stand up for some pushups. So first, draw the waist back. Find your center of gravity is a little different. Pull it back, head down. Good.

Child's Pose

Drawing it so far back that your features naturally pull up naturally. You don't have to lift them. And on these you should be squeezing with those inner thighs. When you tap the feet, it's an inner thigh. Press two, three, rolling back. Lifting the hips, inner thighs. Two, three, rolling up inner thighs. One, two, three in with the air. Two, three, exhaling inner thighs.

Seal

Two, three in with the air. Two, three, exhaling. Do you feel those inner thighs and rolling back to three and forwarding thighs and hips. And now one more. You're going to dry your waist back, cross your ankles, and let me see that energy and push with those outer thighs. Nice job. Beautiful. Let's grab our circle for our pushups. That's right here. Thank you. So you're going to come to the [inaudible]. Put it between your ankles. That was gorgeous. Loved it. All right.

Okay, so we're going to have our circle between our ankles. Reach your arms up to the ceiling. Good. Feel the feet. Really nice and firm. Then draw. Yeah, you change that. Like love the ripple effect. That's what we want to see out of this class and we're gonna roll off an imaginary wall. Rolling forward.

You're going to walk your hands out into a pushup position. The heels going to come up over the ball of the foot. The ball of the foot should still be on the mat. And let's squeeze our bottom down quite a bit more. Three, two. Yes. Good. Give me a set of five pushups. Elbow straight back one.

Push-Ups

Take your bottom with you. Yeah, you're doing great. Beautiful. One more. Now hold. We're going to add a little kind of star here. We're going to press with the circle, keeping your hips right here. Let's slowly get our way onto our right hand and right foot.

Don't lift your hips at all. Keep them squeezing down and squeezing them forward away from me as you lift that left hand. [inaudible] where's the ah, now your feet have gone behind you. There we go. Take your left foot forward a little bit. Awesome. Go ahead. Great. Keep that energy and we're going to slowly roll back onto the ball of it. Squeeze the bottom down.

Side Plank

Three more to one and one more to the other side. Pressing down. Yes as you lift the right hand. Wow. Nice job. And coming back. Starting always from the powerhouse. Squeezing that bottom forward. Getting back on the ball of your feet.

Give me one more set of five pushups down and one head up. Energy out the crown of your head. Squeeze in that seat and one more. Hold. Walk back to your feet. Lifting from your waist. Get the weight onto the heels. Good. Stay there. Grab onto your ankles and stretch. Enjoy it.

Push-Ups

Enjoy it. That's it. And then try to keep your bottom right over your heels as you roll up. Try not to push it too far behind. Try to keep squeezing it forward, drawing up, and then try to keep your energy of your sternum going forward from your hips lifting up. And I want you to exhale and turn the palms out. And then I want you to inhale and lift from those inner thighs, the pelvic floor, the powerhouse. Wonderful. Nice job. Good work. Excellent.

Hamstring Stretch

Comments

2 people like this.
Hi Monica, Great Class! I a shaking :) I loved the correction of the foot on the kneeling side kicks which I don't often see been taught, also it was amazing on the mermaid how from the back of the client you knew her rib was not relaxed ;) thanks so much!
Lori
4 people like this.
Just yesterday I was thinking we hadn’t seen a Monica Wilson class in a while and hoping there would be one soon.  So you made my day!  Thank you!
1 person likes this.
Monica that was a great class - thank you so much.  
Heather B
1 person likes this.
Probably the best mat class I've ever done! Very challenging!!
1 person likes this.
I truly felt as though I was receiving a private class. Thank you!
Jennifer
2 people like this.
Thank you for a great workout Monica! Nice detailed cueing throughout the class.  So grateful for PA at this time. 
1 person likes this.
Dankeschön! Trank you!
1 person likes this.
Great cueing as it is all of your classes; thank you so much Monica
Rachel N
1 person likes this.
Thank You Monica.   Great class!
2 people like this.
great cueing!! Need a rest now!
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