Day 1: I am Present

Welcome to day one of the challenge. Today's theme is I am present. It's all about being present in our powerhouse, present in our breath, but also allowing ourselves to take up space on the mat. So let's start by connecting to our powerhouse. Place your feet in Pilates stance, heels together, toes apart, and just check to make sure you're a fist distance between your big toe joints.

And then place your hands on your hips. When your hands land on your hips, you'll feel these hip points right in the front of your pelvis. I'm gonna use these to cue you throughout class a lot. So once you locate these hip points, feel as if you can lift them up towards your navel. Try that again.

Pull your hip points up towards your navel. It'll feel like you're lifting your lower abdominals up underneath your ribs. If that feels a little confusing, take one hand and place it behind your back, just like this. And then try to pull your lower abdominals back into your hand. Keep pulling your abs in, and at the same time, pull your navel up the length of your spine, so it feels like it lands right at the back of your neck.

You should feel like six inches taller. So connecting to your powerhouse, or being present in your powerhouse, is scooping in and up. Now let's connect to our breath. I just want you to let your arms relax, and just notice your breath for a second. Does your breath get trapped at the level of your throat?

Are you just breathing into your chest? Or do you actually feel breath all the way down to your lungs? To breathe even more fully, place one hand on your lower back, and then as you inhale, try to send your air all the way towards your hand. And as you exhale, lift your hip points up into your navel, navel to the base of your skull. Again, as you inhale, breathe all the way down to your hand.

You'll feel your tailbone reach for your heels. And then as you exhale, lift your abdominals and pull your navel up your spine. One more. Inhale into your hand, and as you exhale, just keep growing taller. So we're gonna keep all those sensations and start class at the top of your mat, in your Pilate stance, with arm circles.

Every time you circle your arms, see if you can deepen the scoop in your powerhouse and the length of your spine. So you're in your Pilates stance. Pull your abdominals in and up. Feel the three corners of your feet, the ball of your big toe, small toe, and the center of your heels. As you inhale, your arms float up, your tailbone reaches to your heels.

As you exhale, lift your hip points up towards your navel and grow taller. Inhale. Reach your tailbone down as your arms float up. Exhale, lift your hip points into your navel to circle. One more, inhale, reach your tailbone down as your arms lift up.

As your arms go down, lift your lower abdominals. Reverse the circles. Inhale, your tailbone reaches for your heels. And then exhale, lift your hip points up towards your navel. Inhale, reach your arms up, tailbone down.

Exhale, scoop your powerhouse and grow taller. Are you still breathing? Inhale to reach up. Exhale, empty your lungs. This time stop with your arms parallel to the mat.

We're gonna do a traditional descend onto the mat. Stack your forearms one on top of the other, press your arms into one another and lift your collarbone up. But if you have a history of hip, knee, or ankle issues, please just meet me on the mat. If not, grow tall through your spine and bend your knees. And then to lower all the way to the mat, start sending your elbows and your chin way forward and your hips go back.

So elbows and chin forward, your hips go back. You're creating a counterbalance. And then with control, with the lift in your powerhouse, lower all the way down onto your mat. Place your hands behind you, scoop back a little bit and grab the backs of your thighs. My feet are parallel and in line with my hip point.

Lift your powerhouse, curl your tailbone under and roll all the way to the mat, arms are by your side. I'm gonna scoop my feet in a little closer and we'll start with pelvic tilts. So these hip points are gonna pull all the way to the back of your waist with every pelvic tilt. So I press my arms into the floor, take an inhale down to my lower back. Exhale, I consciously pull my hip point to the back of my waistline and I feel my lower back flat on the mat.

And then I inhale and release. Each time go deeper. Exhale, rotate your pelvis back, pull your hip points to the back of your waist. Can you press your arms into the mat too? And then go right back into neutral.

One more, exhale, empty your lungs and pull your hip points towards the back of your waistline. Hold here, keep pressing your arms into the mat, and then release, go back into your neutral pelvis. From here, you're gonna focus on stabilizing the bottom of your box, your Pilates box. Your heels go together, toes apart in Pilates stance. Press your arms down, now find that deep scoop in your powerhouse.

Pull your navel all the way to the back edge of the mat. As you exhale, scoop, my knees go back but my sit bones reach forward. And then I'm gonna press my arms into the mat, pull your hip points up to your navel, navel to the back edge of the mat, so your legs just float down. Notice the movement comes from my hip joints. And again, take an inhale.

Exhale, I pull my knees back but my sit bones go forward, so there's no pelvic tilting, no movement in my lower back. And then inhale, pull your hip point into your navel, navel to the back edge of the mat. We'll do one more. Take an inhale to your lower back. Empty your lungs to draw your knees into your chest.

Now we start with the hundred. So from here, reach your arms up towards the ceiling, feel the scoop in your powerhouse. Lengthen out the back of your neck called the cervical nod. As you exhale, chest curl, press your arms down. How much more can you reach across your mat with your arms?

Pull your hip points into your navel, navel back, legs forward, and you pump. Inhale, two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five. Pull your hip points up into your navel and pull your navel off the back edge of the mat. It's a breathing exercise so as you inhale, are you breathing all the way down to your lower back? And then when you exhale, are you emptying your lungs?

Inhale two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five. So you're connected to your powerhouse and your breath. Create length. Reach your legs further away, maybe lower them down an inch. And as you reach your legs forward, can you pull your waist off the back edge of the mat.

As your waist goes back, reach your arms past the front edge of the mat. Two more sets, 'cause who's counting. Two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five. Final one. And exhale, two, three, four, five.

Scoop your powerhouse. Hug your knees into your chest. Rest your head. Press your arms into the mat by your side, scoop your powerhouse to float your legs down, going into the roll up. Extend your legs in front of you and your leg, your feet are flexed.

Reach the sole, or your heels forward, and pull the soles of your feet back. Pull your hip points up into your navel and then reach back and allow your ribs to come off the floor and your arms to drift down onto the mat. Take an inhale. As you exhale, you empty your lungs so much that your ribs slide forward and pick your arms up. So you're connecting your arms into your powerhouse.

And then lower them back down. Inhale down to your lower back. Exhale all the air out, your arms float up. They reach back, your heels reach forward. One more, reach your arms back.

Exhale, slide your ribs forward. That's what picks up your arms. From here the roll up. Arms go up towards the ceiling. Inhale to dive your head through your arms.

Roll up, round forward, and exhale. Press the backs of your thighs into the floor. Can you find that scoop even here? Lift your powerhouse and then I'm gonna put my feet under the strap. If you have a strap, you can do the same.

If not, keep using your feet really strongly by reaching your feet forward. So now you're in the C curve, press the backs of your thighs down. Inhale, roll to the backs of your hips. Exhale, reach back, don't let your arms touch, stay connected to your powerhouse. Arms go up.

Inhale, dive your head through your arms, lift your powerhouse as you round forward. Inhale, lift your powerhouse in order to do that pelvic tilt and roll all the way down. Let's do two more. Arms go up. Inhale, dive your head forward.

Pull your powerhouse back in opposition. Round forward. Notice I push my thighs down and I find that lift and then curl my tailbone under. Backs of my hips touch. Waist, bottom tips of my shoulder blades, one more.

Arms go up, inhale, pull your lower abdominals back. Round forward. Find the lift in your powerhouse, lift and curl back. Inhale to the backs of your hips. Exhale, roll through your spine.

Arms go up and back. Arms go up towards the ceiling, lower them by your side. Bend your knees and place your feet flat in Pilates stance. We're gonna do a prep for the roll over. It's an extension of what you already did.

Press your arms firmly into the mat. Scoop your powerhouse, pull your knees back. Your sits bones are forward. Reach your legs up towards the ceiling and press the backs of your upper inner thighs together. If it's hard to straighten your legs, put a little micro bend in your knees, but try to keep your legs up.

Press your arms into the mat. Exhale, pull your hip point to the back of your waistline and notice how that brings your legs closer to your face. And then lower all the way back down. Again, press your arms down. Pelvic tilt.

Pull your hip point to the back of your waist. Your tailbone is starting to curl up. And then lower all the way down. Again, exhale, pelvic tilt. Can you pull your lower abdominals in deeper and feel like your tailbone is lifting up to your heels?

And then lower, two more. Press your arms into the mat. Press down, curl your tailbone up. Can you pull your navel in deeper, lift your tailbone up higher, and then lower down. One more, exhale, empty your lungs.

Curl your tailbone up towards your heels. Press your arms into the mat. Lower all the way down. From here, bend your knees back into that frog position. Scoop your powerhouse.

Float your legs down. Turn your legs into parallel, to set up for single leg circles. Interlace your fingers behind your right thigh and pull your knee into your chest. As you pull this knee back, slide your left leg forward. Now take up space, reach your inner heel all the way to the bottom edge of the mat, and then scoop your powerhouse in the opposite direction.

Feel like the crown of your head is going that way. And then press your right thigh forward against the resistance of your arms, and find a tabletop. Now my sit bone and my heel are reaching forward, and I pull my waist back. Extend your leg up towards the ceiling, turn your leg out. Press your arm into the mat, let's just focus on what's touching the mat first.

Press your left leg down and your arms down. Inhale cross. Exhale, scoop your powerhouse, lift your leg up. Inhale, press your left thigh down, your arms down, and draw a small circle. Inhale, exhale, pull your powerhouse back and lift.

Two more, inhale, are you reaching through that left inner heel and pulling your powerhouse back. Now when we reverse, go ahead and take up space. Open as wide as your shoulder. Reach past your bottom foot and lift. Open.

Pull your powerhouse back and reach your leg forward. Open, circle it around and lift. Two more. Open, reach to that bottom leg. Open, reach to both legs and lift, final one, open.

Circle around and lift, hug that knee into your chest. Place your right foot down. Interlace your fingers behind your left thigh. As you pull your knee back, reach your right inner heel past the bottom edge of the mat. Pull your powerhouse in opposition and then against the resistance of your arms, press your leg into a tabletop.

As you press your right leg down, extend your left leg up and turn it out. Press your arms and your right leg into the mat. Little circles. Inhale, cross. Scoop your powerhouse and draw a small circle on the ceiling.

Inhale cross. Press your arms and your right leg down and lift. Three more, cross. Exhale, press down into the mat and scoop your powerhouse. Cross, exhale around, and lift.

Final one. Now take up space. Open as wide as your shoulder. Now reach past your bottom leg, which means you have to pull your powerhouse back in opposition, so your ribs don't pop off the mat. Two more, open cross and lift.

Final one. And lift and then hug your knee into your chest. Hug both knees into your chest, rock up to seated for rolling like a ball. Once your feet land in your Pilates stance, place your hands next to your hips, lift your hips, and sit as close to your heels as you can. Now this is a place that we often collapse and sink into our spine, so use your arms to lift your spine first.

Support it by doing that pelvic tilt we did in the beginning of class. So I'm pulling my hip points away from my thighs and I'm thinking about diving my spine up and over my legs. In one motion, lift your powerhouse and grab your ankles. And then lift your powerhouse more, lift your feet up, trying to avoid collapsing into your spine. So lift your powerhouse round forward.

As you inhale roll back, lift your lower abdominals, exhale, come up and see if you can stick it. That was not so good. We'll go again. Lift your powerhouse, lift it more to roll back. Now lift your lower abdominals up and try to stick it.

Inhale, roll back. Exhale, press your ribs into the mat to come up. Are you getting your whole spine massaged on the mat? I lift up, rolling your lower back, waist and ribs. Ribs, waist, and lower back to come up.

Two more, inhale, lift to roll back, and then lift your lower abdominals to come up. Final one. Lift in order to roll back, and then lift to come all the way up. Place your feet flat. Place your hands behind you.

Lift your hips and straighten your legs. Go to your roll-up position, press your thighs down. Feel that lift in your lower abdominals. My heels reach forward and I pull my waist back. Heels forward, waist back, heels forward, waist back.

Rest your head. Draw your knees into your chest. Series of five. Right hand goes on your ankle. Left hand goes below your knee.

Curl your head and shoulder blades up. Pull your powerhouse back and reach your leg forward. It's that scoop in your powerhouse that's holding your leg. Now scoop your abdominals in and up and switch. Scoop your abdominals in and up and switch.

You pull your abdominals into switch, and again, scoop. Now once you straighten this leg, can you reach it forward even more and pull your waist back further. Scoop, reach your right leg way past the bottom edge of the mat, and then scoop and switch. Scoop to switch. And pull.

Take up space on the mat by reaching your leg past the bottom edge of the mat, and pull your waist off the back edge of the mat. From here, hug both knees into your chest. Rest for a beat. Every time you rest, reconnect to your powerhouse. Pull your hip points up into your navel, navel to the back edge of the mat.

Double leg stretch, a breathing exercise. Take an inhale, exhale, curl up. I'm pressing the backs of my ribs into the floor to lift up. Inhale, my arms are in my peripheral vision, legs forward. I open, exhale, scoop my powerhouse to bring it in.

Inhale, allow yourself to expand in two different directions. Open, scoop your powerhouse to pull your knees in. Inhale to reach. Circle, exhale. You know, can you reach your legs forward more.

Exhale, the more you reach your legs forward, the more you can curl your upper body up. Inhale, reach. Exhale, the more you reach your legs forward, the more you have to pull your hip points into your navel. Two more, reach, circle, exhale. Final one, reach, can you hold it.

Make your legs longer, pull these hip points into your navel, circle, exhale. Rest for a beat before you go into single leg kick. Single leg stretch. So pull your hip points up into your navel. Curl your head and shoulder blades up.

Grab the back of your right ankle with both hands, left leg goes forward. If it's hard to keep your knee straight, you can move your hands. Pull this leg towards you twice. Pull, pull, scoop, reach your leg forward. Pull, pull, reach your leg forward and down.

Pull, pull, scoop, pull, pull. Bottom leg reaches, front leg pulses. Pull, pull, scoop, pull, pull. Abs down, legs up. Pull, pull, abs down, legs up.

Abs down legs up. One more set. And then from here, hug your knees into your chest. Rest for a beat. Rest means reconnect to your powerhouse.

Grab the back of your head, interlace your fingers, pull your navel all the way towards your hands. Curl your head and shoulder blades up. Reach your legs up towards the ceiling. Feel the backs of your legs, so you feel like you've one leg. Inhale, pull your powerhouse back in order to reach your legs forward.

Pull your hip points into your navel to lift. Inhale, pull your powerhouse back first. That creates the stability. And then exhale, reach your legs forward to go up. Inhale, reach your legs up to go forward and down.

And I scoop to lift my legs up. Two more, inhale, scoop, reach maybe a little bit further. Keep reaching. Exhale, lift. Final one.

Reach, pull your abs back. Lift your legs up. Bend your knees. Rest for a beat. Reconnect to your powerhouse.

Going into criss-cross. Interlace your fingers behind your head. Pull your navel all the way back towards your fingers. As you exhale, I press the backs of my ribs into the floor for leverage, in order to lift me up. Reach your left leg forward.

Try to curl up and meet your left shoulder to your right knee. Can you twist a little bit more and then lift up, rotate your right shoulder to your left knee, and then scoop to lift up and twist. Scoop to lift up and twist. One more set. Pull your knee in deep as you rotate.

Last one. Hug both knees into your chest. Rest. All right, let's rock up to seated for the spine stretch. I'm gonna grab the backs of my thighs, rock up, separate your legs so they're a little bit wider than your hips.

Pull the soles of your feet back and press your legs down. Find that same scoop in your lower abdominals and then reach your arms in front of you, shoulder height and shoulder width. Inhale down to your lower back, lower your chin. Exhale, keep that scoop in your powerhouse as you round forward. Keep pressing your thighs down.

Can you pull your lower abdominals back more and feel like your lower back is sliding up the wall behind you? Inhale, lift your powerhouse to roll all the way up. Exhale. Inhale to your lower back, lower your chin. Empty your lungs and round forward.

Keep that lift of your hip points up and then inhale, lift your lower abdominals as you press your thighs down, and exhale. Three more. Inhale, lower your chin. Empty your lungs and round forward. When you have no more breath you inhale, roll all the way up.

At the top you exhale. Inhale, lower your chin, empty your lungs. Keep exhaling, keep exhaling till you've no more exhale, and then inhale, lift your lower abdominals, and exhale, final one. Inhale, lower your chin. Exhale, round forward.

Can you go a little bit deeper by lifting your lower abdominals, and then press your thighs down? Roll all the way up. And at the top you exhale. Open leg rocker. Bring your legs together.

We're gonna transition like you did rolling like a ball. Lift your hips, sit directly behind your heels. Your feet are in Pilates stance. Find that lifted spine. Reach your arms through your legs and grab the tops of your ankles.

Lift your powerhouse more and feel like you're pressing your head through the ceiling. Scoop your powerhouse to float your feet up off the floor. Let's test balance. Lift your lower abdominals to extend your right leg, and then lift your lower abdominals to bend your knee. And again, lift and extend your left leg.

Do you have equal weight on both sit bones? And then lift your powerhouse to bend your knee. Now find that lift, you're gonna extend both legs up towards the ceiling. And as I lift my lower abdominals, I press my upper arm bones down, head up to open leg rocker, do your cervical nod. Inhale, lift your waist to roll back, lift your lower abdominals to come up.

And again, lift in order to roll back, and then lift your powerhouse to come up. Three more, lift your lower abdominals to roll back. Exhale to come up. Two more, inhale to lift and round back. Exhale to pull your lower abdominals back.

Last one, lift to roll back and then come all the way up, and can you balance. Bring your legs all the way together. Bend your knees, find that start position, place your feet flat, hands go behind you, lift your hips, slide back. Round forward like you just did the roll up. Press your thighs down.

Reach your heels forward. Pull your waist back. Keep rolling down one bone at a time. Your arms go up. Lower your arms by your side.

And then slide your feet in and bring your legs together. We're gonna do a little rotation of the bottom of your Pilates box, of your hips. Press your arms into the floor. As you inhale, rotate your hips to the right. As a result, your knees will fall.

Let your knees be heavy. Pull your lower abdominals in and up. Exhale, scoop your powerhouse to bring your legs to the start position. Other side, I'm pressing my arms through the floor. I rotate my hips and then I exhale, I pull my abs in and up and return.

Inhale, as you roll keep pressing your arms through the floor, or through your mat. And exhale, pull your hip points up towards your navel, navel to the back edge of the mat. As you rotate to the left, keep reaching your right sit bone towards your right heel, and then exhale and return. One more set. As I rotate, my left sit bone is reaching for my left heel, and then exhale and return, final one.

Inhale, rotate from your pelvis, and then exhale, scoop your powerhouse to return. Hug your knees into your chest to set up for the saw. Just like spine stretch forward, you separate your legs wider than your hips, press your legs down, reach your arms to the side. Really lift your lower abdominals and lift the bones in your lower back. Press your head through the ceiling.

How much taller can you get in the seated position? From here, twist to the right, and then see if you can twist a little bit more, feel like your hips are twisting to the left. Flip your right palm up, press it up, and as a result, your head goes down and your left arm reaches for the outside of your right foot. Can you pull your right ribs back towards your right hand and go a little bit lower, and then reach back, lift your lower abdominals, come up into a twist, and center. Lift and twist your ribs.

Feel like your hips are twisting to the right as your ribs go to the left. Flip your palm, press your tricep, the back of your upper arm up, and round forward like the spine stretch forward. Pull your left ribs back towards that back hand and then lift your lower abdominals and then come up. Let's add some flow. You twist and then round forward, pull your right ribs to your right hand.

Reach back to roll up and return center. Lift to twist without letting your hips move. Round forward. When you roll up, can you get even taller? Lift the bones in your lower back.

One more set. Flip your palm, reach back, and then reach back further to come up and center. Final one, lift, round forward, pull your left ribs back to your left hand. Roll all the way up and center. Let's do a swan prep.

Bring your legs together, flip onto your stomach. You'll place your forearms on the mat. My thumbs are right above my shoulders. In this position, slide your shoulder blades back towards your hips. Press your head through the wall in front of you.

I'm looking straight down at the mat. Now most importantly, it's connecting to your powerhouse. Reach your tailbone towards your heels and pull your hip points to the front edge of the mat. From here, inhale, pull your hip points towards your ribs, and then lift your chest. Feel like it's sliding up the wall in front of you.

I'm pressing my elbow points down and pulling my shoulder blades together, so my chest is open. Reach your tailbone and legs back. Pull your chest forward and then lower. And again, remember your shoulder blades go back, your head goes forward. Your tailbone and legs go back, hip points forward.

Inhale, pull your chest forward and up. Are you still lifting your powerhouse? Press your elbow points down, open up your chest, and then meet your legs and tailbone back, chest and head forward, one more. Inhale, scoop your powerhouse, pull your chest forward. Press your elbows and all 10 fingers into the mat, and then scoop your powerhouse, lower all the way down.

Going into single leg kicks. Turn your hands into fists. Connect your fists to the crown of your head. And then same thing, swan prep. Pull your chest forward and up.

You can scoot your elbows in a little bit. I'm pressing my upper arm bones down and back, pulling my chest forward and up. Lift your powerhouse and then pull your right heel to your right sit bone. And then you pull it in a little bit closer. As your leg goes down and back, pull your chest forward and up.

Other side. Scoop your powerhouse, pull your heel to your sit bone, pull it closer, reach it back, now we flow. Kick, kick, reach back with your leg. Kick, kick, leg reaches back. Kick, kick, chest goes forward and up.

Kick, kick, reach. One more. Final one. And then hold the scoop, that lift in your powerhouse. As your chest goes forward, tailbone goes back.

Your left hand grabs three fingers of your right hand and your right ear goes on the mat. Can you anchor your hips into the floor and pull your powerhouse forward? Kick three times. Press your feet into the floor. Reach your tailbone back and pull your lower abdominals off the front edge of the mat.

Send your chest forward towards the wall in front of you. Reach your tailbone in your legs back. Other side. You kick three times, three, press your hips down, two, and one. Press the tops of your feet into the floor.

Reach your tailbone back. Pull your hip points forward. Now find that opposition, chest forward, tailbone back. A little flow. Kick three, two, one, press your feet down and scoop, send your chest forward, arms back.

Last one, kick for three, two, one. Feet down, pull your powerhouse forward and reach back, can you make it longer, and then lower all the way down. Sit back on your heels. Round your spine. Circle your arms and grab your heels.

Pull on your heels and lift your waist. I pressed my feet and the tops of my knees into the floor to round my spine more. And then roll up one bone at a time. We're ready for my favorite. The neck pull.

So sitting up tall today, I'm gonna slide my feet underneath the strap. If you have a strap, do the same. And then separate your legs and flex your feet strongly. The neck pull. Interlace your fingers behind your head, squeeze the bones behind your ears, and use your hands to pull your neck up.

Keep pulling your neck up so your head goes through the ceiling, and then lift your powerhouse even more. Keep pulling your neck up and then pull your waist behind your shoulders, as your sit bones reach for your heels. I'm still pulling my neck up and articulating against that resistance. As soon as you land, I pull my powerhouse back, reach my heels forward. I roll up, round forward like the spine stretch.

I lift my lower abdominals, roll up. Pull your neck. Lift your spine. Keep lifting your neck up. Pull your waist behind your shoulders.

Find that pelvic tilt to roll you down one bone at a time. Let's add some flow. Inhale, roll up, exhale, round forward. Inhale, roll up. Pull your neck, pull your waist back.

Tailbone forward. Two more. Inhale, roll up. Exhale, elbows stay wide. Lift your lower abdominals to roll up.

Pull your neck. Waist goes back. Pelvic tilt to roll down. Final one, roll up, exhale. Press your thighs down.

Lift your spine up. Grow taller. Pull your waist back. Pull your head up towards the ceiling. Lower all the way down.

Arms go by your side, you're ready for the neck, not the neck roll, shoulder bridge. Bend your knees and place your feet flat. My feet and knees are in line with my hip points. Press your arms into the floor, starting off with the pelvic tilt we did in the beginning of class. Rotate your pelvis back, so I'm pulling my hip points to the back of my waist.

Press your feet and your arms into the floor and continue rolling up. As I roll up I'm just thinking about that pelvic tilt. I keep pulling my hip points to the back of my waist, sending my tailbone up through my knees. Once you're here, do you feel all 10 toes, the ball of your big toe, small toe, and your heels, and the backs of your arms and all 10 fingers. Now sink your chest bone between your shoulder blades.

Roll down one bone at a time. And again, start off with that pelvic tilt. Pull your hip points to the back of your waist. Press down with your arms and all 10 fingers. Press down with your heel then all 10 toes.

Roll up into your bridge. Make sure you're not here arching your back. Pull your hip points to the back of your waist. Tailbone goes forward and up. And then roll down, one bone at a time, we're gonna add on, the add-on is optional.

Do your pelvic tilt, press down with your feet and arms, and then peel one bone at a time off the mat. Once you're here, keep pressing your arms and feet down deepen that pelvic tilt. Press your left foot through the floor. Bend your right leg into a tabletop. Press your foot down.

Really try to get that right foot up on the ceiling. Scoop your powerhouse, bend your knee, and place your foot down. Press your right foot through the floor and then lift your leg up into tabletop. Push your right foot down. Try to get your left big toe up on the ceiling.

And then bend your knee, lower your foot down. Did you lose that pelvic tilt like I did? Curl your tailbone up towards your knees more. Pull your hip points to the back of your waist. And then from here roll down, upper back, middle back, lower back, and tailbone.

All right, let's do a prep for jackknife. Bend your knees into your chest, and you'll see this as an extension of something we've already done. Press your arms down through the mat, that's super important. I'm pressing all 10 fingers down and my upper arm bones down. Scoop your powerhouse, send your legs up towards the ceiling.

Start off with your pelvic tilt. Pull your hip points to the back of your waist. Now can you roll up higher, which means you need to press your arms down, lift up. Try to suspend your hips off the mat. And then roll right back down into your neutral.

And again, starting off with your pelvic tilt. Pull your hip points towards the back of your waist. Now press your upper arm bones through the mat. Press these ribs down into the floor and lift up a little bit higher, and then roll down. Notice I'm stopping at my waist, it's super hard.

So try not to roll onto the back of your neck. You do a pelvic tilt. I'm gonna press down with my ribs and my arms. Try to lift up, my rib cage is on the mat. I'm gonna roll back down.

Last two, pelvic tilt. Pull your hip points to the back of your waist. Use your upper body. Press your arms through the floor in order to lift your hips up. Keep reaching your toes up.

Pull your waist down to lower. Final one. Pelvic tilt and then press down into the mat to roll up. Keep sending your toes up, pull your waist forward and down. And then from here, hug your knees into your chest.

Rock up to seat and we'll set up for the sidekicks. Start with your right side of your body lined up with the back edge of the mat. You're basically simulating your standing position. So reach your heels for the bottom corner, the crown of your head to the top corner, and you cup the back of your head with your hand. Use that hand to pull your neck away from your tailbone, and then place your left hand right in front of your waist.

Lean into that hand a little, and against that pressure, open up your chest. Press your legs together and lift your legs up. Can you keep tractioning your neck like you do in the neck pull? And then send your legs forward, lower them all the way down. Anchor your bottom leg into the mat, turn your top leg out, and reach this hip away from your armpit.

So I'm creating length and space. And then this hand goes down, swing your leg to the front and hold. Are you still leaning on this hand and turning that top leg out? Now reach all the way past the bottom edge of the mat and press your thigh bone behind you. Lift your lower abdominals under your ribs.

Reach all the way past the bottom edge of the mat to swing your leg to the front, and then reach past the bottom edge of the mat, but lift your powerhouse, we're gonna flow. Swing it to the front, exhale, lift your powerhouse. Swing it to the front. Exhale, lengthen. Can you keep lengthening the crown of your head away from your tailbone?

One more. Hold it back. Now are you twisting? Try to keep your shoulders in your hip stack. Reach to that bottom leg, reach to the top leg, and lift your lower abdominals.

Transitional heel beats. Bring your legs together, flip onto your stomach and stack your palms one on top of the other. Reach your tailbone back. Pull your hip points forward so you're in your powerhouse. Scoop even deeper to lift your legs up off the mat, reach them through the wall behind you.

Open them as wide as the mat and then press your upper inner thighs together, we do that 10 times. Open close for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Can you make your legs longer? Press your head forward, lower your legs all the way down. Let's do the other side.

I'm gonna flip so I can keep facing you. I'm gonna lie down on my left side, line up the left side of my body up with the back edge of the mat. Remember you wanna create length. So reach your heels that way. Pull your head in opposition.

Hand goes right in front of your waist. Press your legs together to lift them up. And then as your legs go forward, feel like your tailbone is going back, and then press your bottom leg into the mat, turn your top leg out, reach this hip away from your armpit. Lean into your hand, open your chest. Swing your leg to the front and pause.

Turn your leg out so you keep this length in your side body. And then reach all the way past the bottom edge of your mat. Lift your powerhouse to avoid twisting. Swing your leg away from your head and then forward, and then reach it as far away from your head as you can to press it back. Now you flow.

Swing it to the front. Are you still anchoring that bottom leg and reaching through your bottom heel? Are you still reaching the crown of your head away from your tailbone? One more. Swing it to the front, hold it back.

Make your leg six inches longer. Pull your powerhouse up and pull your head away from your tailbone. From here, stack your legs one on top of the other. Turn onto your stomach and then sit back on your heels. Round your spine.

Roll all the way up, we're gonna set up for teaser. We're gonna start off from a rolling like a ball position. So come to the base of your mat. Feel that lifted C curve, so I'm pulling my lower abdominals up under my ribs, rounding my spine, and looking downward slightly. Lift your powerhouse, grab your ankles.

Now lift your lower abdominals to float your feet up off the mat. Try not to change anything in your spine, but lift your hip points into your navel. Reach your arms forward and up. I'm actively reaching, so my arms aren't just hanging out in space. I'm reaching forward and up to the top of the wall.

Now lift your lower abdominals and extend your legs into a teaser, trying not to move your spine. Now you will move your spine. Start off with that pelvic tilt. Pull your hip points to the back of your waist and roll down to the bottom tips of your shoulder blades. I'm reaching my legs and my arms forward and up, and then I gotta roll up and reach past my toes.

Now this is a weird cue, but I feel like I'm reaching from the base of my armpits up towards my pinky toes. I'm gonna lift my powerhouse. As I roll back, the base of my armpits are still trying to reach forward for my pinky toes. Same thing in return. Reach from the base of your armpits.

Pull your powerhouse in and up to reach. One more. Lift your lower abdominals, pull your waist back, but reach the base of your armpits forward. Keep feeling that. Arms stay parallel to your legs.

Pull your powerhouse in and up. Reach up into your teaser, find your balance, and then go right back into your rolling like a ball position, place your feet flat, and you're ready to go for a swim. So flip onto your stomach, reach your arms forward and legs back. Connect your arms into your powerhouse by sliding your shoulders away from your ears and pressing your head through the wall. Reach your tailbone back, hip points forward.

As you inhale, lift your powerhouse, float your arms and legs up. Find that swan prep that we did earlier. Send your chest forward. Right arm, left leg. Left arm, right leg.

Can you swim? Inhale for five counts and exhale for five. Keep pulling your hip points forward, tailbone back. One more set, and then reach your arms and legs in opposition, lower all the way down, and then sit back on your heels. Round your spine.

From here we're gonna go into a forearm plank. So you're gonna start off at the top of your mat. Make fists with your elbows directly underneath your shoulders. Press your pinky fingers down and pull your shoulder blades away from your ears. So you see what I did there, I pushed down with my pinky fingers and pulled my shoulder blades back.

Keep that connection to your back. Extend one leg back into a plank. Keep that connection to your shoulders and extend your other leg back. Now instead of having your hips up, press your hips down. Reach your tailbone back.

Pull your hip points forward. Press your pinky fingers down. Slide your shoulder blades down your back and look at the space between your forearms. Try to hold this and scoop deeper into your powerhouse. Press your pinky fingers down.

Shoulder blades down your back. Walk one knee in at a time. Sit back on your heels. Let's try that again. Go prop yourself up on your forearms.

Remember connect to your shoulder girdle first. Press your pinky fingers down, pull your shoulders away from your ears. Lift your powerhouse, extend your other leg back first. Reconnect to your shoulders, extend your other leg back. Try to make a straight line from the crown of your head to your tailbone.

Press your pinky fingers down, shoulder blades back. Pull your hip points forward. Reach your tailbone back. Keep pushing down with your forearms so that your ribs don't collapse. And then lower down one knee at a time.

Sit back on your heels, round your spine, and then roll up one bone at a time, and let's do the seal. So flip over and go to the bottom edge of your mat. Place the soles of your feet together. Reach your arms through your legs and grab your feet. I hold onto my feet like cans.

My fingers go on to the outer edge, thumbs go on the inner edge of my foot. Press the soles of your feet together. Press your inner thighs into your arms and your arms back into your inner thighs. Lift your powerhouse and look down. Clap your feet three times, three, two, one.

Do the same on your back, lift your hips up, clap two, one. Dive your head forward. Clap, two, one. Lift to roll back. Clap, two, one.

Lift your lower abdominals. The clap comes from your thighs. I open and close my thighs three times. One more set. Roll all the way up, find your balance.

Keep pressing the soles of your feet together. Press your arms into your legs, legs into your arms, and lift your powerhouse. Come up to a standing position, in whichever graceful way you can. So come all the way up and we'll finish with the chest expansion. So you stand in your Pilates stance like we did in the very beginning of class.

Make sure there's four fingers distance, or a fist distance between your big toes. Ground down to the ball of your big toe, small toe, and the center of your heel. Pull your hip points up into your navel. Lift your navel to the base of your skull, so you grow taller. As you inhale, breathe into your hand and pull your lower abs back.

Exhale, grow even taller. From here, reach your arms forward, pull your waist back. Inhale, sweep your arms down and behind you. Reach for the back edge of the mat. Lift your hip points up towards your ribs.

And then you look over your right shoulder, look over your left shoulder, look center. Exhale, lift your hip points into your navel, arms go forward. Inhale, pull your lower abdominals in and up, reach your arms down and back. My chest goes forward and up. And then I look over my left shoulder, look over my right shoulder, look center, exhale, lift your lower abdominals and return, a little flow.

Inhale to reach back, hold your breath. Look right, look left, look center, lift your powerhouse and reach forward. Last one, inhale, lift your hip points up towards your navel, reach back. Hold your breath, look to your left, look to your right, look center, and then lift your powerhouse to reach your arms forward and up. Arms go up towards the ceiling.

Can you lift your waist above your fingertips, reach your tailbone towards your heels? And then from your side body, press your arms all the way down by your side. So that is the end of day one of our challenge. Today's mantra is this. I am present.

I am present in my body, my mind, and my breath. I move with intention and make conscious choices. And I allow myself to take up space, not just on the mat, but in the world. So with that in mind, your journaling prompt today is I am showing up for my Pilates practice because. I am showing up for my Pilates practice because, and I would love for you to share some of your responses in the comments below, if you feel comfortable.

Thank you.