Flexibility Mat Flow

Welcome, everyone. The name of the class today is Flexibility Mat Flow. Don't be fooled by the name. We're gonna take a lot of core stabilization, strengthening exercises. We're gonna work really hard, but be more intentional with our stretching.

We're gonna start with a Julian Littleford inspired warmup, but using the ball. If you don't have a ball, it's perfectly fine. If you have a ball, place it between your knees and let's start lying all the way down onto our backs. Okay. So we're gonna start with a bridge.

So just place your feet down firmly onto the mat. Give the ball a little squeeze with your inner thighs. Engage through your core and glide your shoulders down, really opening across your chest. Let's all take a nice, deep, full breath in through the nose, and as we exhale, peel your spine off the mat. Roll those hips right up, one vertebrae at a time.

And now take your arms up and all the way back overhead and let's roll the spine down. So you're reaching energy back through your fingertips as you roll the spine down. And now lift your chest. Reach the fingertips above the knees and lower your head down. Again, let's roll those hips up, creating flexibility through our spine as we roll up, reaching the arms nice and long back overhead, and then roll your spine down, reaching the fingertips back, reaching the tailbone to the mat, and exhale.

Raise your chest up and we'll lower down. One more like this. Let's just roll up through the lower spine, the middle spine, the upper spine. Press the hips up. Reach the arms all the way back and then feel that two-way stretch, reaching your arms back, tailbone rolling down, and then curl your chest up.

Hold, three, two, one, and lower your head down. The next one is also a warmup inspired by Julian Littleford. You're gonna take your arms, it's why they call genie arms, right in line with your shoulders. Let's squeeze the ball, take a big breath in, and then exhale. Raise your chest up.

We're gonna extend the right leg and the arms forward at the same time. Now you're gonna flex your foot. Raise your chest an inch higher. Bend your knee as you cross the elbows and lower your chest down. Curl right back up again.

This time, extend the left leg and the arms long. Flex the foot, lift the chest an inch higher, bend your knees, cross your elbows, and roll your spine down. Two more on each side. Exhale, raise up. Inhale, lengthen the leg and the arms.

Flex the foot. Raise your body up. Bend your knee, cross your elbows, and lower down. Exhale, raise up from the core. Lengthen the leg, reach the arms, flex your foot, lift up.

Bend the knee across the elbows and lower down. One more time. Breathe out to lift, inhale to lengthen, exhale, flex, and lift. Bend the knee, cross the elbows, and lower. Here we go.

Exhale, lift, stretch and reach, flex, lift again. Bend the knee, cross the elbows, and lower down. Now, place your ball next to you. Bring your knees together, feet together. Cross both of your arms.

The double leg lift. So we start the same way. Exhale, lift, curling up. Stretch your arms and your legs to 45. Flex your feet.

Raise an inch. Bend your knees, cross your elbows, and lower down. Here we go. Two more only. Breathe out to lift, stretch and lengthen, flex and lift. Bend the knees, cross the elbows, and lower down.

Last one. Let's breathe out and lift, stretch and reach, flex and hold it up for three, two, one. Bend your knees, cross your elbows, and lower down. That'll wake up our core. Grab the back of your thighs.

Rock up to seated. If you have your ball, place the ball between your knees and we're gonna take our hands and hold right onto your shins. So press your hands into your shins and then lift your spine tall and then go beyond the mat. Raise your collarbone. Draw your shoulders down, getting a nice thoracic extension.

Breathe in. And then let's release the legs and round the spine back into a letter C shape. Take an inhale and then exhale. Grab the shins, raise your chest, lift, lengthen, and extend. And then we'll scoop the abs in and round back.

Take a breath in and then exhale. Draw the belly in, hold the shins. Raise the chest. Lift, lengthen, arch the upper spine. And scoop the belly and round the spine.

Breathe in. Exhale, pull the belly to your spine. Hands to the shins, raise the chest, and arch up. And one more. Exhale, round back, a nice letter C shape.

Breathe in and then exhale, round forward. Hold your shins. Lift your chest. Draw the shoulders down. Widen your collarbone and then exhale, round back.

This time, continue rolling down, one vertebrae at a time. All right, so we're gonna take that ball to the side. Bring your knees into a tabletop. We're gonna move into the hundreds. We'll do some variations.

Extend your arms long. Tighten up through your core. Let's breathe in. Exhale, raise the chest, eyes to your stomach. Lengthen your legs out to about 45 degrees for the first two breaths.

Here we go. Breathe in. Two, three, four, five. Breathe out. Two, three, four, five.

Breathe, and two, three, four, five, exhale. Lift your right leg up and left leg down. Two, three, four, five, exhale. Two, three, four, five. Breathe, and two, three, four, five.

Exhale, bring your legs back to 45. Two, three, four, five. Scoop your abs. Two, three, four, five, breathe. And two, three, four, five.

Exhale, left leg out, right leg down. Two, three, four, five, exhale. Two, three, four, five, breathing. And two, three, four, five, exhale. Legs go down to your point of control.

Exhale, two, three, four, five. Last breath, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, hold, two, three, and hug your knees to your chest. The hundreds. All right, take the hands to the back of your thighs.

Rock up to seated. Grab your ball. You're gonna extend your legs out in front of you. Place the ball between your feet. The feet are flexed.

We're sitting nice and straight. Arms are forward. Breathe and feel that length. Engage your glutes, lower, middle, upper abs. And then we'll pull the stomach in.

Reach your heels forward. Reach your fingertips forward and roll down, one vertebrae at a time. Stretch the arms. Raise the arms, raise your head. Exhale, peel the upper, the middle, the lower, pull the stomach and stretch forward.

Hold the ball in your hands. Roll up. Point your toes. Roll down, reaching the ball and the toes forward. Touch the lower, the middle, the shoulders, the head.

Reach the arms. Raise the arms, raise your head. Exhale, peel the upper, peel the middle, peel the lower. Stretch forward. Place the ball between your feet.

Flex your feet, roll up, sit tall, and roll down. Scoop your abdominals in and touch lower spine, touch middle spine, touch upper spine. Reach the arms. Raise the arms, raise your head. Exhale, peel upper, peel middle, peel lower.

Stretch. We're gonna keep the ball there. Roll up to seated and then we're gonna roll all the way down to our backs, one vertebrae at a time. Keep your arms down to your sides and then once they're there, engage your core. Lift your legs up to about 90 degrees.

Point your feet. You still have that ball. We're gonna go into the roll over. Let's engage the abdominals, press the arms into the mat, and then start to take the legs back overhead. From here, flex your feet and roll down upper back, roll down middle back, roll down tailbone.

Point your feet. Bring the legs down to 45. Raise the legs up to 90 and exhale. Go overhead. Flex your feet.

Roll through the upper spine. Roll through the middle spine. Use your core. Lower spine, tailbone. Point the feet, lower the legs to 45.

One more. Lift your legs to 90. Draw the abdominals in. Go up and over. Flex the feet and roll through the upper spine.

Roll through the middle spine. Roll through the lower spine. Once your legs go to 90, bend your knees. Place the ball next to you. We're gonna grab the back of our thighs and come on up to seated.

All right. So from here, we're gonna climb a tree. You're gonna take your ball and place it underneath your left ankle and then sit up nice and straight. You're gonna take your right arm underneath this right leg and then the left hand is gonna hold onto your right wrist. Flex the left foot.

Sit straight. Straighten out your right leg. Three, bend the knee. Stretch the leg. Two, bend the knee.

One more. You're gonna hold it. Now, walk up the leg with your left hand, your right hand, and then your left. Start to pull the leg back to you. Round forward to stretch.

And now we're gonna roll down. Here we go. Walk down the leg with the left hand, the right hand. You must use that core. Left hand and lower down.

We're gonna walk up our leg. Here we go. Raise your head. Walk up with the left hand, the right hand, and pull yourself into a stretch. Two more.

Roll down. I know this one is tough. Walk down left, walk down right. Walk down left, lower your head. Raise your head.

Exhale, walk up left. Use your core. Walk up right, walk up left, and stretch. Last one. We're gonna stay on our backs.

Walk down through the left, control it down the right, control it down the left. Now that leg is about 90 degrees. Press your arms, anchor them into the mat. Squeeze your core and let's circle the leg across, down around, and center. Keep the legs parallel.

Exhale, center. Breathe in. You pause in the center. Four and exahle. Center, five, and exhale, reverse.

Breathe in and exhale, one, breathe in and exhale, two, breathe in and exhale, three. Two more, nice and stable through your center. Good. Bend your right knee. We'll just lace the fingers behind the thigh.

Raise the head and roll up to seated. Okay. Let's switch legs. So ball goes right underneath your right ankle. Take your left arm under your left leg. Take your right hand to your left wrist.

Sit tall. Extend the leg for three, stretch the leg, two, and then we'll hold it straight. So you're gonna walk up your leg, right hand, left hand, right, stretch. Bring your head towards your leg, leg towards your head. And then let's walk down.

First one is always the hardest, I think. Walk through the right, the left, the right, and you're on your back. Raise up your head. Let's walk up the right, the left, and stretch at the top. Walk down, right hand.

Control it down, left hand. Right hand, we're all the way down. Raise your head. Exhale, walk right, walk up left, and stretch. And let's walk down one more time.

Really pull your stomach in. Flex your right foot. Use your core and then the arms go down. We tighten in the stomach. We bring the leg across, down around, and center.

Inhale, exhale, two. Inhale, exhale, three. Getting range of motion as big as you can stay stable in your center. One more, reverse. Breathe in, breathe out, two, tighten up your core.

Three, exhale. Four, exhale, one more, and up. You're gonna bend your left knee. Lace the fingers behind the thigh. Raise up your head and let's roll the spine up to seated.

All right, place that foot down. Grab your ball. The ball will go between your knees. Just giving our spines a little massage with rolling like a ball. We're just gonna place the hands to the back of the legs.

Scoop your stomach in. Lower your head, look at your belly. Raise your feet. Six reps. Here we go. Roll up that spine, curl up, and balance.

Roll out the spine, curl up and balance. Breathe in, three. Exhale, balance. Breathe in, four. Exhale, balance.

Two more. Five, scoop, and lift. Last one, and exhale, balance. Place your feet down. Stretch your arms forward and we'll roll down, one vertebrae at a time.

All right, so we're gonna do the single leg stretch and double leg stretch, same as I did last week, if you were here. So your arms are straight up to the ceiling. Your core is engaged. Take a big breath in. Exhale, raise the chest, look to your stomach.

The right leg stretches back as the arms reach away. Now, stay here. Squeeze your quads. Squeeze your glutes. Pull your stomach in.

Stretch the left leg away. Same thing. Engage the quad. Engage the glute. Draw the belly to the spine. Now, switch.

Reach the ball forward as the right leg goes forward. Switch, left leg. So two legs, arms go back. Here we go. Breathe in, in, breathe out, out.

Breathe in, in, breathe out, out. Breathe in, in, exhale, exhale. Two more breaths. Stretch the arms back. Pull them forward.

Stretch back. Pull forward. Bend your knees. Let's lower the head for a second or two, going into double leg stretch. You're gonna inhale.

Exhale, raise your chest. Now, hold this position where your legs are forward 45, your arms are back, your stomach is pulling down for three, two, one. Ball in the right hand, open the arms, pull it in. Stretch everything out. Hold it, belly to spine.

One, two, three. Take the ball in your left hand. Open the arms out. Pull it in with flow. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.

Switch the ball from one hand to the other hand. Breathe in, right hand. Breathe in, exhale, left. Inhale, exhale, right. Inhale, exhale, left.

Let's do one more on both sides. Exhale. Put your head down. Hold the ball up. Okay, good.

Little teaser prep, again, a JL-inspired exercise. Raise your chest and then if you can stretch your legs to 45, keeping your back anchored, do that. Otherwise, keep them bent. You're gonna place the ball above your knees and let's pulse it up. One, two.

Whew, it's a burn. And three, we'll do 10 of them. Four, exhale, five, exhale, six. Whew. Seven. Squeezing the core more and more every rep.

Nine, 10. Whew. Let's put that ball to the side. Grab the back of your legs. Come on up to seated.

All right. Take your feet to the inside edge of your mat. We're gonna move into the spine stretch. So I like to bring the arms overhead. We're gonna get that length here.

So reaching up through your fingertips, shoulders are down. Lower, middle, upper abs are pulled in. As you lengthen up, squeeze your butt. Let's actually do a little pelvic curl. So go back first and then keep scooping your abs in as you stretch forward and let's reach, one, reach further, two, reach further, three.

Roll up. Raise the arms to the ceiling. Again, pull the abs in, round back. Scoop the core in as we round forward, pulse forward, one, a little further, two, a little further, three, and roll up, one vertebrae at a time. Get that length.

Reach up, maybe even look up, and then pull the abs in round. Round forward, exhale, reach, one. Exhale, reach, two, and three. Let's roll up, one vertebrae at a time. Open your arms up to the sides.

We're gonna scoot your hips forward. Bend your knees. Reach the arms forward and then rolling down, transitioning onto the back. Touch the lower back, touch the middle back, touch the shoulders. Bring your arms down to your sides and then take your legs straight up to 90 degrees.

Okay, good. Open across your chest. So draw those shoulders down. Core muscles are engaged. The right leg stays up.

The left leg goes down into a long scissor. Get that length. Squeeze your quads, pull your abs in, and then switch to 10 times. Lengthen and lengthen. Abs are pulling in as we stretch the legs away.

Stretch, two more. Stretch, stretch. Now, raise the right leg up, left leg down. Curl your chest up. Hold your calf.

Stretch the leg and give it a double pulse. One, two, switch. One, two, we pulse, pulse, and pulse, pulse. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

Last four, exhale, exhale. Two more. Pull and pause. Pause, pause, pause. Right leg is long, left leg is up, hands to your head.

Bend your right knee. Go into a bicycle. So we're just circling around, two, circling around, three, circle, lengthen the legs, four. Lengthen, five. Stretch, six.

Seven, eight, two more. Okay, good. You're gonna reverse. As you reverse, add a twist. So the knee that's when you rotate, we're reversing the bicycle.

Twist, two. Twist, three. Twist, four. Little coordination for you. Five, lift and twist, six, and seven.

Stretch, eight. Two more. And now bend your knees into tabletop. Stretch the right leg forward. Rotate to the left leg.

Lift one inch higher. Come to the center, stretch the left leg forward, rotate to the right, lift an inch higher. Come to the center. Crisscross. Here we go. Breathe in, in.

Breathe out, two. Breathe in, three. Exhale, four. We twist, twist, twist, twist. Inhale for two.

Exhale, last time, and exhale. Let's bend the knees. Hold your shins and lie on your back. All right. You're gonna take your arms straight out to your sides and then bring your knees all the way over to the right.

Take your right hand on top of your left leg. Turn the left palm of your hand up to the ceiling. Turn your head to that left hand. Take a nice, deep breath, inhale. Stay there, big exhale.

And then the arms go out to the sides. Pull the legs through the center, lower your knees to the left, left hand on top of the right thigh. Reach the right arm out long. Stretch it. Turn your head, look at the right hand.

Breathe in, breathe out, and then open the arms. Pull the legs to the center, grab the back of your thighs, and curl up to seated. Okay. We're gonna take the feet to the outside edge of your mat for the saw. This is one of my favorites.

It's a good stretch. Here we go. You're gonna stretch your arms straight out in line with your shoulders. Lower, middle, upper abs and back is flat. Take a big twist.

Look at your right middle finger. Reach it behind you. Now, exhale. Left pinky finger slices off your pinky toe. Stretch.

Let's roll back up to that twist. Look at your right hand, reach, and then center. Big rotation. Look at your left hand and then take the pinky finger, saw off the pinky toe. Stretch.

Roll back up into the twist and center. Again, breathe in, twist. Exhale, saw. Inhale, twist. Exhale, center.

Inhale, rotate. Exhale, stretch and saw. Rotate, twist, and center, one more. Give it a good twist. Then we saw.

Now we rotate and center. One more big twist and then saw, roll up and twist and center. Lower the arms down. We're gonna bring our legs all the way around and come onto your stomach. So, lying on your stomach here, have your hands together.

We're gonna bend the right knee and then take that right hand to your foot. Pull your heel into your glute. Press your hipbones down into the mat, stretching in the front of your thigh. Hold it for three, two, one. Release that leg down.

Bend your left knee. Take your left hand. Hold the outside of the foot. Press your hipbones into the mat. Lengthen the right leg.

Pull the left heel into the glute for three, two, one, and then release that leg down. Your hands are gonna be next to your shoulders. From here, lengthen your legs hip-distance apart. Tighten up your core. Inhale, hover off of the mat.

Raise your chest. Place your hands on the mat. Glide your shoulder blades down as you lift yourself up into a swan extension. Inhale at the top, arching your upper spine. Exhale, lengthen and lower down.

Again, we'll inhale, hover off of the mat. Hands go down. Glide the shoulders down. Lift, breathing in. And then exhale, lengthen all the way down.

One more like this. Inhale, we hover. The hands go down. Exhale, press up. Draw the shoulder blades down, lift your chest, and then lower down.

Now, without the pause, keep your hands on the mat. Inhale, raise your chest up. Exhale, lengthen out through the crown of your head to lower. Inhale, raise the chest, arch up, and exhale, lower. Last one like this.

We're gonna stay lifted. Shoulders are down. Chin is up. We're gonna keep the hands on the mat and rock three times. Rock and lift, rock and lift, rock, stay up.

You're gonna dive and catch. Here we go. Reach and catch. Reach and catch. Reach and catch.

Fully let go. Swan dive. Here we go. Forward, lift, exhale, inhale. Inhale, two more. Catch yourself up at the top.

Lengthen all the way down and let's take a well-deserved child's pose. So sit back to your heels. Just hold that child's pose, you guys, after all the extension, hold it there for a nice, deep breath in. Stay there, exhale. Good, and then take your arms off the mat to the right.

So lengthen your left arm, your left elbow. Bend your right elbow and reach that left arm, actively stretching out from the fingers to the elbow to the shoulder to the hip. Take the arms off the mat, over to the left. Left elbow is bent, again, actively reaching that right arm long and straight. Good, and then bring your hands back to the center.

We're gonna lean forward into a kneeling plank position. Tighten up through your core, your hips, your glutes, and then just lower yourself down to your stomach. Okay. The feet are open hip-distance. Bend both of your knees.

Take your hands to the outside of your feet. Place your forehead down onto the mat. Now, press your feet into your hands. Press your hands into your feet and let that lift you up. Breathe in at the top.

Exhale, lower down. And again, press your feet into your hands, hands to feet. Lift, open up your chest, lift, and lower down. And one more time. Press your feet into the hands.

Lift, press, press, press. If you're inspired to do so, rock forward and back a couple times. Keep your head in the same position. Three, two, one, and then stretch everything out, legs long, arms reach back. Lift the chest one inch higher for three, two, one, and release.

Hands by your shoulders. Press on back into another lovely child's pose. Good. And then from here, just come up onto all fours. We'll just do a little cat cow to release through your spine.

So curling your tailbone under, roll through lower, middle, upper. Drop your chin to your chest and then lift your tailbone. Roll through the lower, the middle, the upper, getting a spine extension. Two more, exhale, round the lower, the middle, the upper. Lower your head and then raise your tailbone.

Roll through lower, middle, upper, head. Last one, exhale. Really scoop your abs in. Press your hands and your knees down through the mat and roll through your spine. Articulate one vertebrae at a time.

Good, and then sit on back and grab our ball into our hands. Hold it in your hands. We're transitioning onto our backs. So slowly roll your spine down. Use your core.

Use that spine articulation, one vertebrae at a time. All right. So the arms are right up in line with your shoulders. Your feet are gonna come in hip-distance apart and then we're gonna move into a single leg bridge. The right knee comes to a tabletop position.

Tighten up through your left glutes and your core. Just keep those arms lifted. Press your hips up. So lift at the top, inhale, lower. Tighten through your glue and lift and lower.

Exhale, lift, and lower. Two more like this. Lift and lower. Exhale, lift, and lower. Now, as you lift your hips straight and your right leg, stretch and bend.

Let's go ahead and flex that foot a little more. Stretch, point as you lower. Flex and lift and lower, two more. Flex, press up, and down. One more time, press and hold.

That leg is long, right leg. You're gonna lower it down. Point the foot, lift. Breathe in, breathe out. Three, exhale.

Four, exhale. One more, and up. Let's bend the right knee and lower the hip to the mat. Good. Place the right foot down, left leg comes up.

Tighten through your right glute, hamstring, and core. Press up and down. Press two and down. Press three and down. Press four, down.

One more time. You're gonna hold it up and then lower it down. We're gonna extend the leg, flex the foot, and down. Flex, press, and down. Press through your heel, lift, lower.

Two more, press up, down. Now hold the energy up through your left heel. Lengthen your leg. Inhale, lower, point, and lift. Flex, point, two.

Inhale, exhale, three. Inhale, exhale, four. Inhale, exhale, five. Bend the left knee and lower the hip down. Place your feet down onto the mat.

Roll your hips up into a bridge. Take the ball underneath your lower back. Rest your lower back onto the ball and lift your legs straight up to the ceiling. If you don't have a ball, of course, you can do without, but this feels really good to open up your hip. You're gonna take the right leg back straight, lengthen your left leg, stretching those legs long, and then switch and stretch and stretch.

So we pull the stomach in to create some stability and then we stretch the legs away in two directions for three, two, hold it, bicycle. So now this one, I love because it really opens up the front of your hip. Stretch. Five, six, seven, eight. Two more and then reverse.

You're reaching the foot down towards the mat, down and up, down and up. Four, five, pull the abs in. Six, shoulders down. Seven, reach, reach, reach, and then lift your legs. Bend your knees.

Place the feet down. Press your hips up nice and high. Just move that ball to the side. Roll down through the upper spine. Roll down through the middle spine, the lower spine, and the tailbone.

Awesome. We're gonna roll onto our side. So, coming onto your side, you're gonna have the ball in your hand. So let's bring our elbow, shoulder, hips, all to the back of the mat. Bring your knees forward so they're in line with your hip and then just hold that ball out in front of you.

Your hand is resting lightly on the ball. Heels pull in toward the glutes and then getting a little hip mobility, open the knee, lower. Open the knee and lower. We're trying to keep the hips stable and then work the range of motion that you have. Exhale, open, lower.

Three more, open, lower. Two more, open, lower. Last one, open, lower. Now, adding on, you're gonna rotate the leg out, work internal rotation. The knee comes in, the foot goes up, turn out, rotate in.

Three, rotate in. Four, rotate in. Five, keeping the hips really still. Six, rotate in. We'll do two more like this.

And last one, adding on, you're gonna rotate the leg out, stretch the leg, bend the knee, turn it in, rotate out. Extend the knee, bend, rotate in, and turn out. Stretch, bend, rotate in, turn out. Stretch, bend, turn in, four more. Out, stretch, bend, turn in, three more.

Turn out, stretch, bend. And your last two, hips are still stretch, bend. And last one, turn out, stretch, bend, rotate in, and then lower that leg down. Okay, you're gonna press yourself up. Turn your palm up so you're on your forearm.

Again, this is a Julian Littleford variation of side plank. So palm is facing up, shoulder's pressing down. So engage your delts, your lats, your obliques. If you can, bring your legs out to straight, lift up. Arm down to your side.

Nice and strong straight plank. From here, lift your leg up hip-height. We're gonna kick the leg forward, whew, and we're gonna kick it back. It goes forward and back. How still can you be?

Three, breathe out. Four, exhale. Five and six. Two more, seven. Last one, eight.

Bring your legs together. Hold your side plank really strong for five, four, three, two, one. Lower your hip down. Make a figure four with your legs. Give it a lovely mermaid side stretch and then just open my arm out.

Reach your right arm up and let's thread the needle. Do that combination two more times. So coming into your mermaid side stretch, open the arms out, thread the needle, and open the arm and side stretch and open and thread the needle and lift. Bring yourself back upright and let's do everything on the other side. Grab your ball if you have it.

Swing yourself around and then setting up with our mat, elbow, shoulder, hips to the back of the mat, knees in line with your hips, heels pull toward the glutes. Stretch your arm forward. Tighten up your core. Here we go. Rotate out. Down, exhale, two.

Down, exhale, three. Down, getting a little hip mobility, four. Hip strengthening, five and six. Two more, seven. Adding the internal rotation, let's rotate out, rotate in.

External rotation, internal. Here we go. Three and four, rotate five, rotate six, rotate seven and adding the leg extension, turn the leg out. Stretch your leg. Bend your knee.

Turn it in and out. Stretch. Bend the knee. Turn in and three. Stretch, bend your knee. Turn in and four.

Stretch, bend the knee. Rotate in. Halfway there, four more. Tighten through the core. Keep your hips steady. Three more.

Bend, turn in, last two, stretch. Bend, turn in one more time. Stretch, bend in, release the leg down. Let's go into our side plank. So you're up on your forearm.

Okay, palm is facing up. Stabilize the underneath side of your waist. Take your legs out to straight. Lift your body up, arm down. You can always modify, should've said that the first time, with the bottom knee down.

Raise the leg. Here we go. It goes forward and it goes back. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale, four and back. Five and back.

Six, back, two more. Seven. Last one, and bring your legs together. We hold it for an extra five, four, three, two, one. The hip goes down.

We bend our knees into the figure four. Give it a beautiful mermaid side stretch. Stretch the arms, reach up, and thread the needle. Reach the arms out, mermaid side stretch, reach, look up, and thread the needle. One more.

Open the arm, side stretch, raise up, and thread the needle and lift yourself up to the center. Okay. Very good. So let's move into a teaser. Okay, a little heads up. We've got a fun series coming up.

Teaser, jackknife, open my rocker. It'll flow. So keep your ball in your hands. Let's roll down onto our backs. Roll down, one vertebrae at a time.

Okay. So arms are straight up with the ball in hands. Knees are gonna start in a table top. Get your body centered and connected. So ribs together, abs engaged.

Take a big breath in. As we exhale, roll yourself up to your teaser position and then extend your legs if they're not already. Take the ball between your feet. Reach your arms forward. We're gonna roll down.

Pull your stomach in. The legs are lowering. The arms are reaching back. Stretch and lengthen, two directions. Raise your arms.

Raise your head. Float yourself up to a teaser. Grab that ball, feet together. Roll your spine down. Flexible through your back, lower back, middle back, upper back, legs long, arms reach back.

Raise the arms. Raise your head. Exhale, roll up to your teaser, and then place the ball between your feet. So we're gonna roll down one more time. Touch the lower back, the middle back, the upper back, the shoulder stretch, the arms.

Raise yourself up. Exhale. Roll up, roll up, roll up, hold it. We're gonna move into a jackknife, but follow me. Your arms are gonna come down to your sides. You're gonna lift your legs up to 90 degrees.

Make sure that ball is secure in your ankles. All right, so from here, take a big inhale. As you exhale, lift your hips so legs go back overhead. Jackknife, your hips stay still. You lift the legs straight up.

Squeeze your butt, squeeze the ball, and let's roll down, roll down, roll down. Legs go down. Raise your chest. Roll up to a, whew, a teaser. And then we're gonna roll down.

The arms go down to the sides. The legs go through 90. They lift up and go overhead. We jackknife the legs straight up. Squeeze your butt.

Squeeze your inner thighs. Feet to ceiling. Roll through the upper back, the middle back, the lower back. Raise your head up to a beautiful teaser, and here we go. Roll down.

The arms go down. The legs lift through 90. We use the core to go over, the legs jackknife up, and then we roll down, upper, middle, lower, raising up to a teaser. Open the arms. Bring them behind you.

Hip circles are next. Take the legs to the right. They go down, around, and center. Two more, and exhale, center. One more.

Exhale, center, reverse, breathe in. Exhale, center, breathe in. Exhale, center. One more, center. Bend your knees, but not to the mat.

Grab the thighs, lift up. Whew, we're still working. Take that ball to the side. Hands to the back of your legs. Point your toes down.

Okay, a little break, kind of. And then you extend the right leg. Hold it there. Extend the left leg and bend your knees. Scoop your stomach in.

Stretch the left leg. Stretch the right leg. Bend the knees one more time. Stretch the right. Stretch left.

Now, hold it. Take your hands up to your ankles. Raise your chest, lengthen, lift, breathe in. Exhale, roll back to the shoulder blades. Exhale, roll up and balance.

Exhale, two more. Roll back, roll up, and lift the chest. Roll back, breathe out, breathe out, and lift. Now bring your legs together. Last three.

Exhale, back, exhale, up, and lift. Two more. Exhale, back, exhale up, and lift. One more. Exhale back, exhale up, and lift.

Grab the back of your legs. Bend your knees. Whew, we're gonna stretch the legs forward. We're gonna do a stretch again. This is one from Julian Littleford, from his kind of classic mat class.

So your feet are flexed. You're gonna sit up straight with your arms down by your sides. Abs are in. Take the arms straight up. Now lengthen forward, the flat back.

Drop your head down. Oh, feels so good. Just stretch down over those legs. Roll up one vertebrae at a time. Take the arms out overhead.

Hinge forward. Drop your head and stretch. Roll up one vertebrae at a time. Raise the arms up. Hinge forward, flat back.

Round up over your legs. Roll up one vertebrae at a time. Let's do three more. Turn your legs out, heels together, toes apart. Lift up, hinge forward.

Drop your head down and stretch. Roll the spine up. Two more, lift, lengthen. Core tight, lean forward. Drop your head and stretch.

Engage the core to roll up. Last one. Lift up, hinge forward. Lower your head, round, and roll up. Whew.

Last thing we're gonna do is just separate those legs out to a wide straddle position. Hold the ball. Let's relax the feet, relax your thighs, and then just walk that ball forward. Let your head relax down. You can use the ball either to rest your head on or you can stretch it away, whatever feels good.

And then just stay here. Take a nice, deep breath in. As you exhale, pull your stomach in, maybe releasing a little bit more. One more breath, inhale, and exhale, release, release, release. And let's use the core to roll the spine up to seated and then just bring those legs together.

Huh, very good. And I just want to thank you all for joining me for my Pilates flexibility mat class.