Class #4702

Re-Balancing Mat

40 min - Class
200 likes

Description

You will find more space in your body with this Re-Balancing Mat workout by Madeline Black. She takes the tools that she used in her assessments to help Erin, Nicole, and Johnny adjust their movement patterns to allow for more functional movements. She uses props like a Wall, Overball, and Yoga Block to create feedback and resistance when needed.
What You'll Need: Mat, Yoga Block (2), Wall, Overball

Transcript

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Okay, we're gonna do a mat class with props. So we're using a half deflated ball and a yoga block. And later we'll actually gonna use two yoga blocks. So we're gonna start lying on your back with your feet on the wall. And you want your hips set about 90 degrees, maybe, maybe 80, but not past 90.

Yeah, and just have the block nearby and place your feet, you want, yeah. Perfect. All right, now you're gonna take the deflated ball and put it under your sacrum. So lift your pelvis and place the ball. Yeah, and make sure that it's a comfortable position.

So you're not too arched and not too tilted. Yeah. And then just relax on the ball. Good. And then place your hands on your pelvis, just so you can kind of sense the tissue tension there, and just notice that, and then just take a slow breath in through your mouth and exhale through your mouth.

Just kind of feel what that feels like. Okay. Now close your mouth and breathe in slowly through your nose and breathe out of your nose. So we're gonna repeat that again. So we're gonna be breathing into your mouth.

So breathe in. Do you feel what that does? Can you feel where the air is going in your body? And then breathe out of your mouth and then close your mouth and then breathe in through your nose (inhales deeply) and breathe out of your nose. So you can make your own sensory input from that way of breathing.

I'm watching you, when you breathe in and out of your nose, what I can see is a more rib cage expansion and less of an abdominal distension. I don't know if you agree with me, if you can feel when you breathe in through your nose, the expansion that happens with the back of your rib cage. So I want you to notice that. So just be conscious about the breathing of your, in and out of your nose, okay, as possible. Okay, now with your feet, what I want you to do is just stand on the wall with your feet.

Okay, don't lift or anything, just rest on the ball. Just kind of just, I want you to feel the activity and then try to let your abdominals go and let your back relax, and just let it, but use your feet on the wall to support yourself. Good. And one more breath. So breathing in (inhales deeply) and then exhaling down.

Good. Okay, now we're gonna remove the ball and place it aside. And you're gonna take the block and place it in between your knees. Yeah. Okay.

Great, so you wanna engage the block just enough to hold it so you don't drop it and you're gonna press your feet firmly into the wall. Like you wanna push that wall away from you without sliding your body (chuckles) and then drag your heels down the wall without actually moving your feet. So we're doing an isometric contraction. If you can feel that all in the back of your leg and you can feel the adductors and you might even notice a sensation in the pelvic area too. So it starts to work through that.

Okay, now relax. Yeah, good. And do it again. Feet into the wall. Drag your heels down the wall, engage the block a little bit and do a couple of breaths here.

So through your nose in and out, good and feel that activity and then relax. We'll do it one more time. Feet pressed into the wall, pull the heels down, engage the block and then do two breaths, keep working that isometric contraction. Good. All right and when you exhale in the last breath, relax.

Good, I'm gonna take it through one more time, but this time as you exhale, you're gonna actually do a small pelvic tilt. So you're gonna float your pelvis off the mat, that's it. And you're gonna hover there. So imagine your pelvis is like floating, but you really work in your legs, right? You're really standing on the wall using your adductors and you're gonna take few breaths.

And again, two breaths is fine. And then on the end of the exhale, you're gonna allow your spine to relax, roll down through the spine, into the mat and let your pelvis come down. Just let it all go. Good, again, legs engaged and breathing in and exhale curl. That's it.

And now think of it like you're hanging, engage the block. You can think of your spine like a hammock. You know how a hammock just hangs? Yeah, just let it hang and let your ribs hang into the mat. That's it.

But you're active in the legs and then roll it down on your exhale and we're gonna do that one more time. Stand into the wall, activate your legs. Exhale curl, float your pelvis up, think of the hammock hanging, ribs are dropping into the mat, you're just hanging off of that, but you're actively working and supporting through your legs. That looks terrific, you guys, and then roll it down. Excellent.

Okay, we're gonna turn onto your left side and you're gonna take the block and put it against the floorboard. Kind of on the left side of your mat, on the edge there. Good. And you're gonna place your left foot on that top of that block and place your foot against the wall. We're gonna have both knees bent this time.

That's the next one, yeah. Bend both knees, Johnny. Yeah. So you're gonna sit back like you're in a little squat, Mm-hmm. So your feet are parallel.

You want your top foot, which is the right foot, the height of your hip. And if you can, can you rest your knee on the floor? Yeah. Good, and is it possible to rest your knee on the floor and have your foot on the floor? Is that possible?

The heel? Everybody's heels off the wall. Is that possible? I know maybe it's not, the block is kinda high. so I wanna see that.

And I want both knees bent the same amount. So scoot down towards your, here, a little more, little more, there you go, perfect. So feet, that's it. You got it, that's it. Yeah, so you have to be actively pushing into the wall and if you can, the knee is gonna drop.

So we're doing external- that's it, external rotation, there you go. An abduction of that underneath leg. You got it, you guys. Okay, so now you're gonna push both feet into the wall like you did before. And if you can try to keep the knee down, but if it doesn't touch, it's fine, but just keep that- because you're still on external rotation.

Now, the top leg, I want you to drag the heel back. So you kind of pushing back against it. So it's just the top one, kinda push. Yes, and then stop and just relax but don't change your position. Stand into the wall with both feet and pull the top leg back.

Keep pushing into the wall. Again, it's that isometric we're doing through the hip. The knee is staying at the height of your hip. This is good. And then relax.

Okay, now I'm gonna change it up on you. We're gonna do the underneath leg. So press both feet into the wall and drag your underneath leg back. You notice how that feels a little bit different? Yeah.

And hold it. We're just holding for a few seconds and then relax. Yeah, let's bring this a little forward. Yeah. Good.

And again, pressing, it's the underneath leg now. Let's bring this forward a little bit. Uh-huh, just your pelvis, good. Okay. And then relax.

And we're gonna do that one more time. Push into the wall, pull the underneath leg back and relax. Okay, we get to do that on the other side. So the idea of pulling the leg back is activating the hip joint in a different way, right? So you get more of that back of your hip, post to your hip and also kind of sets the femur into the socket a little bit.

Good, so get a good, Nicole, you can be closer to the wall with your, yeah. There you go, perfect. Johnny, your hips can be closer to the wall if you can some more knee bend. That was good, Erin. Great.

All right, and bring your shoulders back. I know you're looking, but can you come back? Yeah, so we're a little straighter. Exactly, all right. So first we're starting with pressing both feet into the wall and we need to lower this down.

You're just a little too high and lift your knee up. Yeah, so we get this working and the top leg is pushing back. There it is, you feel it? Yeah. There you go.

Excellent. And then relax and again, press both feet into the wall. We're gonna keep, don't, when you do that, don't roll back. That's it, so you're pushing into the wall. It's activating here and here and then drag the heel back, there.

When the pelvis' staying, foot push here. There it is, right through here. Yep. And then relax. One more time.

Pushing both feet, dragging the top foot back and relax. Now we have the underneath leg and pushing both feet into the wall, dragging the underneath leg back, being mindful of the pelvis position and relax and press into the wall. Stand on it. Great, drag the heel back. Really nice, you guys.

Good, good, good, hold. Relax, we've got one more. (chuckles) Push into the wall. Drag the heel back and relax. Okay, very good. Let's move the block. (chuckles) Good, you guys.

It's hard not to move, isn't it? Okay, so now you're gonna stay on your side. You might as well stay facing this way and you're gonna move away from the wall so that your top leg can be straight. And the flat on the wall and the underneath leg is gonna be bent. It's this one.

So this leg is straight. The top leg is straight. Your foot's at the height of your hip here. That's it. And then we wanna think about our body just being aligned, you know, along the edge of the mat.

So the shoulder and the pelvis is on the same plane. And then that pelvis is gonna be stacked. That's really important. Yeah. Very good.

Excellent. Johnny, move your shoulders back. Your hips are great. Just move back a little bit and now reach this forward, if you can. That's it, great.

Now I want the edge of your foot to be parallel so there's a slight external rotation feeling for your hip. Excellent. Now you get to push into the wall here. So push into the wall and I want you to feel how, as you push into the wall, you're creating length above the pelvis, towards your ribs. You feel that activity?

Good. And then keep your leg straight and lift your heel off the wall. So you're pressing into the ball of your foot to lift. Nice, so you feel the hip hike? Good.

And reach your heel into the wall, creating the length, and lift, and press. So think of it as like you're flossing a little bit. So keep a little oscillation going. There you go and reach, excellent, up, and reach, and lift, and reach, good. Up, and reach, one more, and up, and stay into the wall now.

Now, if you can straighten your underneath leg, just straight, doesn't have to be too high. Actually, I want it more like 30 degrees. That's it. Can you straighten the underneath leg, Johnny? So your foot can go towards the ball actually.

Yes, so it doesn't have to be too high. Exactly. Nice straight leg. And I want you to lift your foot off the floor if you can. Just lift a little and down.

You got it. And lift, it's not easy, and down, and lift. Good, and you keep pressing into the wall too, right. Keep lift. Nice, Erin, good.

That's it, good. I wanna do about 10 reps. So that's about five. Unless you're counting, you can stop at 10. There you go.

Keep pushing into the wall. Good. Two more. Good. And rest.

Awesome. We have another side to do. You should be lucky we don't have three sides. (participants laughing) Okay. All right, so that top leg is straight, underneath leg is bent to start.

We want the foot the height of your hip. The foot is parallel. That little toe side. That's great, shoulder stacked, pelvis stacked. Awesome.

That's it. Good, all right. So start by pushing into the wall. It can be a little more forward here. That's it.

Good. And then lift your heel up. Keep the leg straight. Lift the heel, feel that hip hike. Nice, you guys.

And reach your heel into the wall. So think of it as that flossing movement. So hike it up and reach into the wall. Good. And hike it up, and reach into the wall.

Mm-hmm. Really feel the heel pushing into the wall, push into the wall with the heel. That's it. Good, lift the heel, and reach into the wall. And lift, and reach, and lift, and reach.

Excellent, one more. Up, and reach. Now keep pushing into the wall and straighten your underneath leg, not too high. There you go. Can you straighten the underneath leg, Johnny?

Yeah, the block in the way? I can get that for you. Okay, straight leg. And now lift up and lift your leg up and down. You'll notice a difference between your right and left leg, huh?

That's it, two. I'm gonna count for you, three. Good, four. Try not to roll back on your pelvis. Five, six, seven.

Keep pushing into the wall, Johnny, with your foot. That will help you stabilize as you lift. Doesn't have to be a high lift, we're just activating. Good, now I've lost count. (chuckles) And rest. Nicole, did in 20, right?

(Nicole chuckles) Okay, and rest. Okay, bend your knees and just relax for a moment. Okay. Okay, so we're gonna move away from the wall now. Okay, now we're lying on our back, right.

So what I'd like you to do is to bring your right knee up towards your chest and place your right hand on the top of your knee. Good. And now straighten your arm out. So it kind of push your knee away a little bit. Yeah, so exactly.

So you have the hand more like this on your knee. Like this, (whistles) there you go. Great, and now bring your left leg up and place your hand also on your knee like this. Exactly. Now pay attention to your ribs right now.

So take a breath in through your nose, fill up your ribs in the back. And as you exhale, kind of lean into the floor 'cause once we bring our arms up, you'll tend to wanna kind of lift the lower ribs off the mat. Very good. And Erin, I want you separate your legs a little bit. Yeah, so I want the knees as if they're a nice plumb line into your pelvis.

Good. And what I want you to do is bring your knees into your hands, but block, block with your hands, that's it, and don't hold your breath. Just kind of breathe out. So you're blocking there, hold it, and then stop that. And now switch your hands to behind your legs and then push your legs onto your hands and resist.

So now your legs are moving away from you. And then again, track where your rib cage is on the mat. So when you're pushing like that and you're going activating hip extension, you're not arching your back. Okay, now switch your hands. We're gonna go back and forth.

So these are isometric contractions for hip flection, right? And keep your breath alive. Don't hold your breath and then switch and press your legs away. That's it, keep pushing. Nice, and one more time, switch your hands, press your knees in and hands behind, press your legs away and track your ribs.

Kind of sink into the floor. Okay, and now bring your hands on the outside of your knees. So without moving your knees wide, push your knees out against your hands. Let's have- It doesn't have to be hard. Just push like that and then switch.

Bring your hands to the inside. Now, bring your legs in and resist. So legs should be working harder than your arms and then outside, push out, and then switch inside, engage, and relax and place your feet down. Excellent. Okay, keeping your feet planted on the mat.

I want you to bring your right knee up again. And this time I want you to take the cross arm. So your left arm on the inside of your knee. So you're on the- Perfect, okay. Take your right hand and just place it anywhere on your abdominal area.

So you're just gonna feel it, yeah. More on the right side than in the middle, yeah. And then what I want you to do, it's more like, not just side, but I should correct myself a little bit on the top inside. So I want your hand on top and side. So technically we would say the superior medial side, but it's just the top and the medial.

Exactly, so what you're gonna do is a little bit of hip flection so you're pulling the need towards you, but also a little on the diagonal. That's it. And hold it. And do you feel in your right hand some activity in the abdominal area? Yeah, that's perfect right in that area.

Okay. And then relax that. And we're gonna do that again. So pull your knee in towards your chest and a little bit on the diagonal to your- Excellent, and you'll feel a tone change in that area there. Exactly.

And then relax and we're gonna do that one more time, engaging there, pull the knee toward your chest and a little bit across. Not too much, just enough to activate the core there. Good. And relax. Let's do three on the other side.

Bring your left knee up. Right hand on the top. And inside, other hand on your trunk, good. Pushing the knee in towards your chest. That's flection and a little bit on that diagonal.

So it's adduction. (chuckles) Good, hold it. Feel the tone. And hopefully, maybe it feels different or the same. Right? And then relax and again, and bring the knee towards your chest and a little bit inward on the diagonal, block with your arm.

Good, and relax. And we got one more. So we're really bringing up all the activity deep in the hip joint and also deep within the pelvic bowl itself, right? Very deeply. Okay, and place your foot down and relax.

Excellent, all right. So have your heels kinda lined up with your sit bones. All right. And comfortably, so you can feel that you're standing on your feet and why don't you grab your block and place it between your legs. Yeah, it can be the wide one.

How is that for you, Erin? You wanna take your feet a little bit wider maybe, okay. Good. Great, good. So now you're just gonna lightly engage on the blocks, you wanna hold it, exactly.

And we'll just do a few bridges here. So start with your knees reaching over your toes and engage the block and bring your pelvis up off the floor and rest on your shoulders, yeah. So I want you to feel your shoulders and your rib cage kind of resting on the floor and then roll through your spine. Yes, down to neutral. Let's do two more and engage the block.

Reach your knees. Find that length. Really nice, Johnny. Really good. Excellent.

And down. Mm-hmm. And we got one more and you're gonna stay up. Good, stay there. Now what you're gonna do is imagine you have maybe water inside your pelvic bowl, and you're gonna pour some water out of the right side of your pelvis towards the floor, lower down towards the floor, but then change your mind and come right back up.

Don't actually touch the bottom and then bring your pelvis back and repeat that. Pour the water out of your right side of your pelvis and then bring it right back up, but bring yourself level. And then pour the water out and go down and then come back up. One more time, pour the water out. Excellent, you guys, and reach.

Let's do left pouring. So pour it out of your left hip. Nice and reach up, and left hip, and reach up. Let's keep the engagement in the block. Try to engage.

That's it and come back up. We got one more. Down, and come back to the level and then roll down through the middle. That was excellent. All right, let's take the block and put it under your right foot.

(blocks thud) Great. So in gait patterning, right, there are times when your one leg is in flexion and, Johnny, I'm gonna ask you to try to feel the inside of your feet more, that's all. So you don't feel the outside of your feet, that's perfect. In gait patterning, you know, we have one hip that's flexing and one hip that's extending. And this is what we're kinda creating here with the blocks.

So one hip is in more flexion than the other one. Okay, so we do the bridge here. So reach your knees over, stand on both feet. Exactly, now put your hands on your pelvis for a moment on the top of your pelvis and check to make sure that they're level on the top and the front, that's it. And then come down.

That's the other thing about having one foot higher than the other is it might take you into a twist. Okay, so keep your hands on top of the front of your pelvis. So come up into the bridge and push your, it's called your ASIS, at the top of your pose, push on your hands, kind of push up. Yeah, see how that helps activate a little bit more? Guts it and then coming down and then change your mind and go back up and push your pelvis up in your hands.

Give yourself some resistance with your hands that creates even more contraction. That's it. And then come down and again, and up, resist. Give yourself a little push down, push down on your pelvis, but push against it like we did with the legs and then come down and we'll do another one and up, push up, up, up, up, and down. Keep going, we're gonna do a few reps on this one.

This is a really good exercise for the hip joint. That's it, push up. Give yourself resistance and down, great. Let's do two more and up, push, and down, and up pushing, push on your hands. Good, and down.

Let's switch feet. (claps) Hopefully that felt good, huh? Yes. Yeah, let's get that straight. Perfect. Perfect.

You need a little help? Got it, okay. Great, braille is that what you said? Okay, all right, here we go. So have your hands there, you know what to do.

Start with pushup, excellent. And coming down and then you reverse it up. You can just keep moving through that. Pushing, push into your feet. Uh-huh.

Good. I like the breathing, it's excellent. Inhaling up and exhaling down is wonderful. Mm-hmm. Good, make sure you have that your toes nice and flat.

So you really push through the whole foot, Johnny, not just the heel, push through your whole foot. Like the suction cup we did on the wall, yeah. That's it. That's it, keep going, up, and down. Oh, you would say two more?

I'm not a good counter. So if you really wanna keep track, you go ahead and do that. Excellent, you guys, beautiful, really nicely done, (chuckles) and rest. Oh, Johnny wants to do five more. Everybody, you ready?

Let's go, no? (participants chuckling) He doesn't, (chuckles) okay. All right, so now we're gonna come into a quadruped position, and just have your blocks nearby, 'cause we're gonna use them in a moment. Okay. All right, (exhales sharply) on your hands and knees, have your hands a little further front than under your shoulders.

Okay, and then shift, yeah, just have your hands, so they're not under your shoulders, they're actually more forward, yeah. That's it, okay. And then just shift your weight forward a little bit. So you're over your hands, exactly. So your hips aren't in the 90 degree, they're actually a little bit less.

That's great. So maintaining your pelvic position, use your hands, you're gonna push back, like you're gonna sit back on your heels, but only go to the place where you don't change your sacrum or have any discomfort. Yeah, so as soon as you feel the end range, like that's the end right there, Johnny, your sacrum changes, yeah. Now pull your arms forward. Use your hands to pull yourself forward.

So we're getting some arm workout here too, right? So push out. Remember we talked about the lats attaching to the thoracolumbar fascia, it's part of the pelvis. So you have glutes, but you also have your arms. So we wanna use the shoulder girdle as part of your myofascial core.

And you wanna pull with your arms, good. Keep going. And when you come forward, Nicole, keep coming, try to keep, no, your pelvis is changing, yes. Try to keep it at this level. Go ahead and push and pull.

Keep it, keep it, keep it. Don't change it as you come forward, it wants to tip forward. Just try to keep it there. Exactly, do you feel the difference? So you're a little mobile.

So you tend to kind of wobble around there. Good. Okay, everybody come forward and stay. Okay, now you're gonna push with the left hand and kinda sit back towards your right heel. Just a small amount.

Not very far. Just kind of feel that diagonal and then pull yourself forward. No pain or discomfort. Try the other side, sit back and kind of lean, that's perfect, Johnny, really perfect. And come back and push a little diagonal.

Right, so what we're encouraging here is you can feel on your knees and your thighs that one kind of goes in towards the midline and the other one's going out and we call that adduction or abduction. That's it. So we're facilitating a nice mobility. Our deep hip joints, sometimes doesn't get this range of motion and weight-bearing because of the way that we walk. Okay, excellent.

And come back and finish, okay. So we're going to, are you okay on your arms or let's do a couple of cats here. So curl just to kind of stretch the spine out and then lengthen out. Everyone loves doing these. So flatten out now and kind of look up a little bit and you can pull with your arms a little bit, yeah.

And then curl. Try this for me as you curl, push your shins into the floor. Can you really actively push them in? And then release that as you lift your chest up and then push your shins into the floor as you curl, as you're curling. So you're really pushing down and then let that go as you arch and just one more time and curl pushing the shins.

Yes. And come to level, okay. And then let's come and we're gonna use the two blocks. So you guys who are using the purple block, let's put the purple block way up high towards the pubic bone. Yeah, you don't have to put a block in here.

Erin's choosing not to use a block in there because her leg alignment is such that she's very narrow between the legs. So you don't have to do that. But I liked that activity, the adductor, So it's optional. And you take the other block and you place it between your ankles and you can place it either the width way, if that feels good on your alignment or you can place it the narrower direction. That's it, that's good.

You wanna be able to, just practice for a second. You wanna be able to lift the block. Yeah, so you've got to find the position of the block that's best for you that you can grab a hold and lift the block. Good, okay. Be careful on your knees there.

Okay, now you're gonna lie on your stomach and if you need adjustment, I'll help you and then stack your hands and place your forehead on your- Exactly. All right, so first before we move, we wanna start that kind of activity in the body. So take a breath in easy. And as you exhale, I want you to think of your sacrum, just sinking in towards the floor. So we let go of any tension there and the sternum.

So as you do this, you might have to move your hands a little bit forward. So take a breath in. And then as you exhale, imagine yourself kind of flattening out. We're letting gravity help extend our spine. Exactly, good.

And again, breathe in and exhale at the sacrum sink. And then we let that sternum. So we get that nice length of the spine. All righty, so now you're gonna engage your blocks here and start to bend the knees. Bring the block up, now as you do that, what's happening to your sacrum?

Okay, let it sink and then come back down. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, that's good. Good, inner ankle and lift. I think we need to do the block this way, Johnny.

Yeah, that's okay. Engage there, perfect. That was good, that's good. That's good. That's good, so tall block is good for you.

Good and keep moving. So this is a posterior hip here. So yeah, and then as you bend the knee, you want that sacrum to deepen into the floor here. Okay, that's all right. Long block here, good.

And down, that happens sometimes you lose the block. Engage. Nice, Erin. Nice sacrum there. Good.

It's okay, don't worry. (chuckles) Got it. Hold on, I'm gonna make it tall for you. 'Cause I think that's better for you, good. I know, and engage. That's it, you got it.

And come down, sacrum sinking. All right, are you guys doing all right? All right, let's do one more each. Excellent. And coming back down.

Awesome. Okay, now what I'd like you to do is just, yeah, lift your head up, just like you're doing, it's good. Lift your head up, look at your hands. There you go. I mean not literally, I mean, yeah.

The back of your hands, I should say, Johnny, look at your hands, lift up. You lift your head up. So I wanna get a little extension. Now switch your hands so that you're kind of going this way with your hands. A little more, more of like an L.

Okay. Like this. Yeah, I want you to push into the floor. Okay, that's it. And you feel your block and push your elbows into the floor.

You don't have to lift or anything. You're just gonna feel where the blocks are. That's it, and sacrum sinking, up your heads up, we're using an extension for the thorax. So push your elbows down into the mat and lift your chest up. There it is.

So now draw that down. Now, pull your hands back, like you're gonna drag yourself forward. You'd feel the activation in your shoulder girdle. Excellent, now keep that. And if you can lift your elbows off the mat a little bit, they don't have to, just a little bit and then put them back down and lower your head down again.

Good, and now, widen your shoulders a little bit. I know it's a little awkward with the elbows, yeah. There you go, okay. So lifting your head up. Right, press your arms into the floor.

So we're activating there and then you're floating your head up and then you're gonna drag your hands back, like you're gonna pull yourself forward, pull yourself forward, pull yourself forward. Oh, that's really nice. Pull, engage your blocks and lower down and let your arms widen a little bit. So your shoulders can just relax. All right, one last time.

We're gonna float the head up and drag your elbows back now. Engage your blocks fully. There you go. And lower back down and relax, okay. Push yourself back onto your hands and knees and you can move the blocks towards the side.

Mm-hmm. Good. All right, pretty good. What do you feel you need? And we'll do a little bit of twisting?

Okay? All right. So let's, let's stand up. All right. All right, so just quickly for a moment, just kind of feel like how does your hips feel?

Do a little hip dropping, should feel pretty good there in that motion? Okay, so we have a couple of challenging things to do. All right, so you're gonna take your block and you're gonna stand on your block. So this require some balance. All right.

And the other leg, if you can and dangle the leg. So here's our balance. So use your vision. So really look far and look at the periphery, like look from the side here and place both hands behind your head like this. Good.

And it does help to push your head back into your hands, a slight amount to get that. That's it, so here we are. We're getting the balance. This is good, you guys. It's okay.

Now, just lower your dangling leg towards the floor. Just a small amount and then bring it back up. That's it. Lower your leg a small amount and bring it back up. Very good.

And a small amount. Bring it back up. Let's do one more, excellent, small amount. So we're getting that hip glide here and rest. You guys did amazing.

Step off for a second. Oh, yeah. (participants cheering) (chuckles) We're gonna do the other side. All right. So it does help.

I hope you're finding to use the vision that's far away, so not looking too close and the peripheral vision for your balance and also pushing your head gently back through there. Good. And then when you feel secure, go ahead and lower down without bending the knee if you can, and down. So it's just a small amount, heel down and then hike up a little, excellent. Down.

You guys are doing terrific and up, and down, and up, we got one more, down, and up and then step off the block. Awesome. Well, we're gonna stand on the other side again. (chuckles) Yeah, all right. And stand on the block again. And we're gonna have the hands behind the head again and this time, well, you can do that if you want.

The crane. The crane Karate kid. (chuckles) Yeah, okay. So what I want you to do this time is I want you to bend the standing leg and place your foot on the floor, but don't put your weight on it and then stand up again. So it's just a tap, like the surface, you can flex your foot, just have the skin of your foot to touch the floor and then come back up and try not to sink into your hip, right? So we don't want to sway out to do that if you can.

So if you don't touch the floor, that's fine. The idea, even if you just bend the slightest amount and straighten, this is good. Mm-hmm. Good. Keep pushing with the back of the head.

I'm thinking we're doing about 10. Yeah, one more? Awesome, all right. (claps) Switch sides. Yeah. It's really requiring the whole inner leg and outer leg to kind of work on that as you're standing, yeah.

Good. All right, little pressure. Yep, keep going. That's it, do 10. Good, straighten.

Nice. Yeah, one leg can be completely different than the other leg, right? Yeah, it's okay. (participants laughing) Better or not better? It doesn't matter, no judgment.

It's just noticing that it's a little more difficult. And then perhaps in your next practice, you really focus on that leg, yeah. That's it, good. I'm relying on you to count, 10. Good work, you guys.

Eight. Johnny said eight, all right. Good. (participants laughing) Now be careful. You're starting to do a hip hinge.

That don't go too far, there you go. 10, thank you, Johnny. Good. (chuckles) Yeah, that's great work. Okay, so we're gonna do some squats too. So some hip hinges, always a good thing for the hip joint, glutes, right?

Core. So take a hip width position, that's comfortable for you, okay. And let's have the hands behind her head this time again. And then we're just gonna hip hinge. So you just sit back.

So we want, again, just keep moving the sacrum, just stay in this position and then come back up. So it's that pelvis movement on the femur so that we're going here. And then as we stand up, the whole sacrum's coming up with you, right. And back. Good, and up.

You guys are good. Yeah, and back, and up. Good. Nice. And you feel how your weight shifts towards your heels when you're at the bottom and then feel your weight shift towards your toes a little more, okay.

So that we get that sacrum to move your center of mass here, move it forward. So get your weight towards your toes a little bit. That was better, Erin. You feel the difference? Yeah, so you feel the weight on the heels?

Not like you're lifting your toes. We just feel the weight there, now transfer your weight towards your toes. Yes, that kinda changes it a little bit. It helps with the hip extension. Okay.

All right, we're gonna do one more and you're gonna stay down there. So we're gonna stay down. Now, switch your hands to your pelvis. All right, and now we're gonna arch our tail. So go right and left, and right.

So we're doing the hip hike and hip drop, right. And now we wanna try to keep, if it's possible, you can go up and down a little bit, but see if we can not change, this would be a different motion, which would actually would be fun to do. But we're trying to recruit the hip joint and the waist as we're doing, yeah. Do you feel the difference? Yeah, so try to keep that there.

Very good, and then come back and then standing up. All right, and again, let's go down and now we're gonna shift the weight over to the right side and then come back to the middle and shift your weight to the left side, come back to the right side. So you feel how your weight goes to the outer edge of your foot? You can think of your ribs shifting to the side, rib shift to that side. You can think of the side of your head gonna to the side.

Yeah, so we get the whole trunk to get over that leg. Right, so we're not leaving anything behind. Okay, now we're gonna shift to the right and we're gonna stay on that leg and just unweight your leg. And then come back down, shift, feel the ribs, unweight, shift, unweight. Good, shift, unweight, one more time each side.

Shift, unweight, unweight, shift to your middle and stand up. Good. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Comments

Maria M
2 people like this.
thank you for another fantastic class, Madeline! Just what I needed post-holiday :)
Cynthia G
1 person likes this.
Always mind blowing, as well as challenge to body. Enjoyed that.  challenge is to be aware of the sacrum and to be able to shift to side and unweight the other leg. At the moment that is still in my head or rather just thinking the movement.
1 person likes this.
Loved the Hip Focus - brilliant 
1 person likes this.
What a fantastic class!! I really need this rebalancing. Brilliant. Thank you so much. 
Krista
1 person likes this.
wow I was in a a lot of pain before this class. Thank you for sharing this with our community 
Laura Maria
1 person likes this.
super class! feeling much more aligned in my pelvis after
1 person likes this.
this was so great and I enjoyed tuning in to my body and all the subtle movements
Ruth B
1 person likes this.
As usual, an amazing class. Pelvic stability and alignment is something I work on all the time for myself and my clients. I always learn a great deal from you.
Shaini V
2 people like this.
Fantastic class, my whole pelvic area feels more stable & open at the same time! 
Fantastic class! Loved it 🙏
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