Class #531

Deepen your Practice

55 min - Class
3 likes

Description

Monica offers new Pilates instructor, Rebecca Niess, a private workout offering detail for her that will encourage you to go that extra bit deeper too. Even though this was a class for one, Monica will keep you moving right along with exercises like the Swan Dive, Bicycle, Jack Knife, and Boomerang. You'll feel like you are the only one in the room too as Monica cues her way through this tough workout.
What You'll Need: Mat

About This Video

Oct 05, 2011
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Good morning. All right. We're going to start off with a nice strong plotty stance. Great. And lean forward so that your weight's on the balls of your feet. Soften your knees, just a hair. Excellent. You can add. All right, that looks good. Now keep your hips here and lean your shoulders forward and in front of almost there. Good. Now you just pulled your weight over to the left.

So I want you to keep your shoulders where they are. Literally, you're pulling your ribs almost like this. So we're going to pull them fill up over here. Yes, yes. Good. Well let me put the back. There we go. So now I want you to, I'm just going to hold you here so that you can look down at chair, right through your, to your navel and see if that looks pretty square to you. Does it? Okay. So if you look down, your ribs were just pulled over like a half an inch over this way originally.

So now I've moved you. So they're right in between your shoulders and making sure that that feels square to you. Now. Cause sometimes when we hold ourself differently and then we align ourselves, then it feels all off. But it feels okay. All right, great. So I'm gonna probably have you pull over throughout your workout a little bit and it's going to be hard not to go with your shoulders, but to actually keep your box where it is and just move over with your rips. Okay. All right.

But where I want you to just pull the belly and you're doing a great job with that and feel it. Lift like an elevator. Put one arm over the other. We're going to work on transitions today and I'm wanting you to put one foot in the front of the other and lower yourself down. Really pulling your belly in and up and lengthen your tailbone down to the floor. That's great. It's always okay. Just lengthen. You're using me to push her to aha. To lengthen your tail on down in the lift your stomach. Perfect.

Put your hands in the middle of the mat and then lie out long in the middle of the mat. Perfect gesture Roland down and reach your arms long. Good. Reach through the tips of your fingers, reach through the tips of your toes and just stretch. Really reach. Nice. And now let's pull all our body together by exactly. Inhale, bring up your arms. Exhale, bring them down by it. Just rest them down. Keep your head down and just anchor good and have your legs. However, it doesn't need to be an apply stance, but I want you to really feel that Naval pull in deep, deep, deep, and lifting up into your, up underneath your chest bone.

Wonderful. Good. And I want you to try to now bring your knees into your chest. Use your stomach to bring your knees into your Jesse's your stomach to lift your head up, to look at your powerhouse. And now your shoulders are in line with your hips. I want you to watch what goes on with your ribs and lengthen your legs away from your powerhouse. Good and pumping. Inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Reach all the way through your toes like you're doing a soft point. Good.

Really fill the lungs up and exhale. Exhale. Two, three, four, five. Nice. A little more energy. You're back in those pumps. There you go. Good. Good. I had to deepen that powerhouse. I want you to keep going and feel how your arches are lifted and lift through your inner thigh. Lift through your pelvic floor, lift through that powerhouse. That's even better. You got that little extra bit deeper. Very nice. Make sure your eyes are looking right down the middle of your body, not over to your right at all. Good.

Keep reaching long through the back of the legs. Pull in those arch. Squeeze those inner thighs together. Warm them up. Wake them up. Get me two. One more after this one. Inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two scoop pulling in, pulling in and lower the legs. Lengthen the arms behind you. Legs are going to be right on down and you're ready for the roll up.

So we're going to bring the arms up to the ceiling, head to the chest and curl up one boat at a time. Good. Keep your hipbones over the seatbelts and roll back one bone at a time. Lower back, middle, and reaching up and back. Arms head. Good. Rolling it up and stretch and roll in it. Break it apart just a little bit on the way up. First the arms, then keep the arms doped up to the ceiling. Huh?

And now stretch your head all the way between your arms. Now come up one bone at a time. Good and reach and roll back. Lower back. Get them all in a line when you roll down. So can you see it all that your ribs are pulling to the left right here? No.

All right, so look down and just keep your shoulders where they are. Exactly. Exactly. Now they're going down the straight line and reaching back and we're going to do arms head now. Curl up. Just one bone. The next bone. Good. Scooping in. That's what I want to. Just a little more precision and reach and we're going to roll back.

Lower back gut pulling over a little bit. [inaudible] and reaching back. Give me two more. We're going to do arms head and rolling up. Beautiful. Powerhouse. Pulling in and up. Reaching and rolling back. Scoop it low. Last one, arms head, pulling in and up. Good.

The next exercise is going to be the roll over. Why don't you just keep doing this one? The rule over is exact opposite of the roll up finishing. So we're going to read the arms down by your side. Now the legs on this transition, you were just doing the roll up, which in order to keep your lower body stable while you're rolling up, you have to really pull all those muscles around, squeeze and lengthen away from you. And when you do that, they naturally turn out into that Pilati stance, right?

So when you're then going to go over to the rollover, we do, we have them still in the same exact position, but going over. So keep a hot and we're going to keep scooping and we're going to touch the floor. Push back on the balls of your feet. So flex the feet [inaudible] and push down on them. If you can't separate the feet, shoulder with a little wider, push back on them if you can too. And then roll down as if you're pushing your heels away.

So now they're parallel and you're rolling shoulder with apart. But parallel. We're going to keep this anchor length and down as low as you can. Squeeze together and roll over in that Pilati stance. Probably push back on the balls of your feet open, pushing back, and now parallel again. Really lengthening out the heel down, down, down. Keep your powerhouse in lower scoop together and over. And this is your last one with them together. And then open.

And now roll down lengthening one bone at a time. You're going to go down, click your heels together, open them, and go over with them over. Squeeze your legs together. And now we're going to roll down and enjoy the stretch. Oh yeah, it's nice. And we're hips went over to the right. Take them over to the left. Yes, go down. Open over, add good. Push back on the balls of your feet. Slide together. Good. Now really lengthen that left hip there yet. Go keep lengthening the, I'm sorry, the right hip. So we're going to just keep going this way, this way last time, go down, open and over with flex feet and parallel. Good.

And slide together and we're going to roll down. Good. You squeeze the inner thighs as you go down, you lengthen. Think of tower on the Cadillac. All right, keep your right leg and lower your left. So our transition is still an exercise. So we're going to keep this and we're going to cross down around, up, cross around, up, cross around, up to more, up to your nose, down to your ankle. Really turn that hip out.

[inaudible] so that you can get all the way down to here around. Give me one more like that. Reach long from the hip. There you go. Reverse Dan reaching long. Good. Always working on keeping that hip flexor stretched long as you pull up. There you go. Keep coming up. Nice.

One more and switched legs. So you're going to bring that leg down. Good. Try that down again. So when you pull it up, lengthen that hip so it doesn't hike and use your stomach good. Use your stomach all the way to your nose to that shoulder. Cross down to the ankle Roundup. You can get down to that ankle. Reach. Good so that you lengthen the like all the way from your lower back.

Press into me as you reach for that. Oh, now we're talking. So you keep that lower back down and reversing it. Damn good. Reach from that lower back. God dances, those obliques. Really pull it in to that lower back. One more reaching long through that hip and enough lower the leg and use your powerhouse to roll up to a seated position. Put your hands by your hips, lift your bottom forward and prepare for rolling like a ball. Yup.

And we're going to pull your navel really far away trying to pull your hipbones back. Good. Now keep that, those hips like that, and bring your head between your knees. Don't allow those hips to rock forward. Stretch the spine and stet and now pull the navel deep into your back to roll back. Inhaling. Exhale to come up. Very good. Keep pulling in. Really try to get those hips to leftover the spine in an enjoyable way.

Like don't tense up doing it. Try to relax and let your hips come all the way up in with the air. Exhale up. That was beautiful. That's what I wanted to see. Inhale, roll back. Cause I know sometimes we try so hard that we can almost tense up doing it. Two more. Inhale, roll back. You have a beautiful rolling like a ball. Two more.

Inhale. Roll back. Ears between those knees. Yes. One more. Inhale, roll up. Exit row. Lower your feet down on the mat. Put your hands behind you and still using your stomach. I love it. We're going to roll back preparing for series of five. And when you do that, only down to bring your right knee with you. [inaudible] just keep up. Let's try that again. So you're sitting up and you're going to roll back and we're only going to stop at the bottom of our shoulder blades and we're gonna already start lifting this left leg. This knee is almost to our ear.

Let right hands on your ankle. Perfect. That's what I want. So you'll hit that position when it from a seated next time when you're sitting up and you'll pull back into that. And this is wonderful. Long loose leg and we're gonna use the send me to switch and right and left. Good. Avoid doing anything with those shoulders, right and nice and long and squeezing that right hip, left hip lengthening just like you did for single leg circles. Stretching from that. Lower back, that leg. Reach it. Good.

One more set. Really reaching and grab both ankles and now in how? Reach your arms back. Good from your lower back. Stretch here. They had an exhale. Good. Inhale, you're progressing into here and reaching an exhale in. Pulled more into here. That's it. And exhale. Two more.

Pull into here. Press yes. Last one. Reaching long and pull it in. Right leg up to the ceiling of left leg forward and same thing right here. And switch and pressing and me to switch and switch, you have to really announce up to tempo, right, left, right, left anchor. Pull it up, pull it up. They just fly through your rooted into the floor, rooted in and those are lengthening from here. Stretch, right and left both legs up, hands behind your head, and press your head into your hands as you lower the legs down, down, down, and SCL up and stretch down enough.

And your legs stretch all the way from here. And they pull up and they routinely age Anna and two more. Reach, reach, reach, reach and up. One more time. They had presses into those hands and up. And now bend this knee. Beautiful elbows.

Keep them that wide as we twist all the way up to that right one. Keep pulling your right elbow back. Keep pulling your right elbow. Look at it. That's it. And switch. So we're going to keep looking at this left elbow and keep pulling it around. Nice.

And pull this one all the way in and against scoop. Pulling back this elbow. And last set. I want one more. Really pull into here. More scoop into your back. Yes. And last time, there we go. And hug in both. Nice, nice. Use your power house to sit up for spine. Stretch forward. Legs open a little wider than the mat.

Sitting up tall with your arms straight in front of you at shoulder high. Good, very nice. It easier hipbones right? I want you to pull your navel behind your hip bones. Lift up to the ceiling and now roll off an imaginary wall forward head to just start with the head. Then the next bone could keep these hip bones right over those sit bones and go down further, further, further, and then rolling up. Very nice. Roll up through the neck and squeeze a seat and lift up. Again, I need you to expand the space between these bones more stretch and really pull one bone out, a part coming back and rest a little bit. Now let me feel a difference.

Let me be a little different. Nick. Navel to your spine and lifting off your seat. Let me feel these get, Oh, that's what I want, and now pull them apart as your head goes down and the next bone and the next. Good, good. Stretching and inhaling up and a little rest. Let's do that one more time. Inhale up and exhale forward.

Keeping a distance. Even pull your toes back. Flex your feet. Push the heel away. Keep stretching this part. Very nice and inhale, rolling back up. Shoulder blades and rest. Good. Now those same hip bones, we're going to pull back with our powerhouse, pulling back our pelvis, pulling back that. Let your legs float up from here. Bring them up up to your hands. Voila. See how I'm just pulling you back?

They'll grab your ankles, Graham there, open 'em up. That's it. We're ready for OpenLink rocker, so it's just pulling deeper into there. Getting into the right position here. It looks really good and we're going to look down at your belly and roll back in with the air. Exhale right on up. Hold a nice inhale, roll back. Exhale, pull right into that spot and lift up even through the head.

That's it in with the a roll back. Exhale, scoop it in, and three more. Inhale, roll back. Exhale. Now use the belly to pull into here more, a little bit [inaudible] keeping it in. How high can you lift your chest without losing that lower back? I love it. Look down at your belly. Pull right into here and roll. Press your ribs down as you come up. I like for you to use, press the back of your bra strap down more on the way out. Okay, so it's your waistband willing back.

Press that bra strap to come up and then keep those ribs. And as you lift and lift one more time, probably added like five, but we're doing great. Keep those in and lifting. Crawl up higher on your legs. Bring them together. And now leave them there as you roll away from them. Head down, leave the legs, get one bone at a time. Progress your arms into the mat and there you go. You can bend your knees for a moment. Just take a little break.

We're going to go into corkscrew. We're going to do three sets. Okay. The first one, you're going to keep your bottom on the mat. The second set I want you to lift just your waistband. And the third you're going to lift all the way up with your back. Okay? So we're gonna really work from here though.

So you're doing a good job scooping in. Press your arms into the mat, press your ribs deeper. That's a hard one to do. And now anchoring reaches far to the right as you can anchor into me and then around left and center and God to this side, scooping. Good. And now to the right. Yes, down, around. Lift. Just your seat. Just your seat. Not too much. [inaudible] the lower belly. Come down the middle and then to your left, let me see you use just that lower belly. Oh yeah, great control down the middle to your right around now.

Roll through that point and all the way up there. You go down straight down [inaudible] and then go to your left. Scoop it in and pull right? That's nice. And rolling. Straight down, straight down. Really, really straight. [inaudible]. Now we're going to sit up for saw right on up.

Open those legs, arms. Reach out to the side and you're ready to go. Little bit more. Your peripheral vision with those arms. You don't want them out of your frame. Pull back your toes and I want you to lift up through the powerhouse and twist to your right. Good and really pull into here. Yes. Inhaling up, twist and exhale.

Really pull, keeping both hips down. Inhaling up at tattooist and exhale all your air. Exhale, exhale in with the air up. Twist. Exhaling, always have your powerhouse pulling in. Good. Your pelvis does not move in this exercise. It stays nice and stable.

So this is going to turn a little bit more like so. Now bring this pinky up to your baby toe. That's it. And we reached like that and you're going to look instead of to the side. Look straight down at your knee. Oh, there we go. Inhaling up, twist, keeping this hip here. Reach for the baby toe. Drop that shoulder more and stretch forward.

One more set on your own. Inhaling up, twist, emptying the lungs, cut in with the twist and really exhale. Exhale, exhale and inhaling up. Rest your arms. Squeeze your legs together and turn right onto your belly. Great. Get nice and centered. Hands underneath your shoulders. Good. And we're going to pull in your powerhouse and we're going to lift up your head and chest. Keep lengthening that lower back, lifting up all the way as high as you feel it's all right on your back. And then look at your right shoulder.

Circle the head down around to your left and look forward. Look left. Circle the head down around to your right and look forward. And now come down pulling your belly in and out the crown of your head. You're lengthening your spine so much on the way down, and we're going to pull it up again. Scoop it in. Looks good looking left, beautiful down all the way over your right shoulder. Look forward. Look all the way over your right shoulder down around left. Look forward.

Have a little check on your stomach. Make sure it's in and up, and come down as if you're pulling that mat behind you and lengthening your body in front of it. There you go. Pop onto your elbows real fast and push your fist together. Good. Oh, I'm sorry. Bring your hand body right back down. I want you to do Swan dive, so you're going to pull back up into that position. You'd good with [inaudible] and so we're not gonna pause. Their arms were just going to keep them long the whole time. All right. On the count of three I want you to stay, straighten your arms, reach forward.

One, two in reaching forward and legs go up, arms up, legs, up, arms, up, legs, arms, legs. One more arms and legs and rest. Melt, settle. And then round up. Scoop your belly in. Keep this nice length and sit back. Letting your hipbones lie onto your thighs. Good cause you really need that stretch back there. I'm not sure why you hesitated. You did a fabulous Swan there.

Go ahead and go back forward onto your body and onto your elbows. That's it. Good powerhouses in all the way out the crown of your head. And now squeeze those legs and lift both of them up a little bit. Engaging the hamstring and bottom and we're going to lift and kick to your bottom with the right just one leg. Two double kick, one, two and left.

One to think of lifting the thigh and knee though and the other legs reaching long. There we go. Lift and lift to him having your and my hand deep under your stomachs. You really support that lower back and lifting kick. Really get that knee up. Get that thigh up. Last set, right. Two and left two and now, right facial cheek on the mat. Hands come up as high as you can. I'm just going to pull your head a little more center. So there we go.

That's it. And hands up a little higher. Press your hips together. Lift both of them up from your inner thighs. Lift both of them up. Legs up there. You're your butt straight. So we're going to pull, there you go. See how much light you have. Wow, that's good. Let's keep that as and dry. Not taking your back as we kick it three times.

You just your bottom kicking. One, two, three. Great. Legs down. Lift with your powerhouse. Switch cheeks and kicking. One higher with those knees. And let's see if you can get your knees together on the next set. Okay. And he's closer. Present together. Yeah. And because you can, so why not? And switch and kick two, three and lift. Lift. Lift your chest up. Forward. Forward.

That's it. Round your back and sit onto your heels scooping it. Very nice. Good. Alright, we're going to turn over for next poll. Andrew gonna lie on down legs, hip with the park, little water. Perfect. One hand over the other behind your head. And I want you to keep your elbows as wide as you can in with the air.

Bring your head. Exhale, pulling in and up. Kiss your knees in how? Sitting up tall. Now pull those hip bones back with you. As you press your head into your hands. Pull the hipbones back and go back. [inaudible] still tall, tall, and in curl the rest, Dan. That's all right. Um, in other words, I don't want you to just go back with the upper body so that you arch your lower back, but I don't want you to round and think I wanted a nice, tall back.

Almost like on the reformer. If you were doing short box, you're gonna stay, go back tall, tall, top for about six inches. And then you can curl down. But always lengthening through the neck. Pull back even a pinky toe in with the AER X, Z in with the era and think tall in and up out of the County. Had pushing into the crown. Yep. Yep, yep. And now curl and down. That's it. In with the air. No break. So exhaling forward. Inhale, sitting up tall. Lift off that seat. Pull right into that.

Lower back and lengthening Dan. Good. And Ryan on up. Annex. Sailing forward. Inhaling up, pull back even those pinky toes and going back, pulling back. Push those heels away and up. Yes in with the air to sit up tall. Exhale. Push those heels away from your seat. Let me see some seat work.

Pushing those heels. There you go. And one more time. And with the air last time, I promise. Exhaling forward. Inhale. Sit up tall and going back pool with a tall back, tall, tall lengthening and melting down. Ready for Jack knife legs to go to a 90 degree angle. Arms by your side. So pull those legs and starting there. Good.

Really reach those shoulders long. Feel the shoulder blades slide down the back. Anchor the navel down in those ribs. And I want you to pull your legs over to a 90 degree angle with the floor. Okay. So don't let him fall down right there. And we're going to squeeze up to the ceiling. That's it.

And we're gonna roll down one bone at a time. Nice. Good. Not so much energy in those feet. That's all I was thinking right now. More energy in, in your powerhouse. Feel like your legs are light as a feather. And think about your hips when I do this exercise. I imagine a, you can bend your knees for a moment. Could I imagine a diagonal?

Cause it's this exercise takes all I got right. So this is where your hips want to be. They're going to be right over your shoulders in a second, right? And I want the hips to rise with control right over that diagonal. Okay? Right up, right up a nice slope in that way you're leading from here instead of making it too much with your legs, okay? Okay.

And then we're gonna squeeze up your legs and come right back down on that diagonal. Okay? Your legs are gonna end up parallel with the ground and then completely perpendicular if he can, right? And then come down. So your hips, the only thing your hips are going to do are going to rise up on this diagonal. And they're going to come down on that diagonal. Okay. Forget about the legs almost and let them do whatever. And just think hips. So wrapping in, squeezing, and let's get to this point on a diagonal.

Let's try that again. I'm gonna help you with your legs. So scooping in and I want you to use your hips. We're going to lift your hips on a diagonal, on a diagonal. Beautiful. Now, Jack knife, right on up and squeeze. Awesome. And I'll help you enjoy this as we come down. Push me away though. Push me away.

And we're going to come right on up on that diagonal hips on a, Oh yeah. And now squeeze all the way up and now come down really gorgeous. We're going to do it one more time. Just lengthen your hips a little bit to the left. Yep. And scooping in and hips. Oh yeah. And now, right on, up and coming down. Very, very nice. Good. We're going to go ahead and bend your knees for a second.

Great. So I know that your legs didn't go exactly parallel, and that's probably what you were thinking, but your hips did so much better. So the goal is not that the legs are parallel, the goal is more that they're going over without falling to the floor or lifting too high. That's, that's the, you don't want to just lose control and they flop over like that. The legs are the only thing that takes you over. So you fall down, your hips are way more, the hips are way more important. And then the trying to get to a long perpendicular is the next thing. And then coming down with control from there. So those are more your aims.

All right, let's try a little shoulder bridge here on the same type of thing. Um, not shoulder bridge, a bicycle and scissors. So more hip work. All right, so we're gonna bring your hips over. Good. And put your hands underneath. Do you have okay. [inaudible] all right. And we're going to reach up to the ceiling from your hips. Forget about those legs. Keep this right leg here and reach out. Left straight, straight, straight. Good. We're going to start off with scissors and switch your hips. Okay, good. So on here, try not to take the leg too far over here, but make it go down. Good.

And now switching. I'm gonna let go cause I don't want to throw off your balance and, but don't kick me, but that I will do. Yeah, stay away from me and reach that way into the floor and rage. Envision Romana right now and she can get the good switch. She can switch legs. She can get this like all the way to the floor. Go for it. Retreats, right? Yeah. And now up to the ceiling. As you switched. Think up. Yes.

And down the middle. Pull it. Pull it more, a little bit more. I know. Just try. That's it. I love it that you trust me. Climb up that like likes to fall off to the side. Last time scooping in and lifting and I had been lengthening. That is great energy and legs up to the ceiling and take your hands away and lower down your bottom for a moment. God. Shake out your wrists. Bend the knees.

And we're going to [inaudible]. I do bicycle. So now it's the full length. Okay, so like [inaudible] and you're going to come right on up hands where they need to be good. There you go. And same thing here. Let me just straighten out your neck. Reach for the floor with that right leg or left and reach. Bending and stretch. It doesn't matter. Reach good. And I'm just going to stand over on front of you.

Keep going because we liked to fall over to this, right? So this is center. That's it. Whatever you're feeling in that leg to keep it wore away from me. That's what'd you do? Gum it up. Let's do two more sets here. Up. Go on the other way. I mean, and we're going to reverse it. Take care. Okay, so now reversed. Push away. There you go. Good. That one was going.

Got gotta lift that. See right on up. Nonsense. You know how hard these are and good, good. Going the other way though. Push away and then that's, there we go. The reverse is always so hard. Good. Now use right through here to get there. And that's what LinkedIn's now use right through here. Here to push. Good.

And one more. Yes, add mass. One left. That's it. And then legs up overhead and lower down your bottom. Roll through and shake out your wrists if you need to. Good. Bend your knees and we're going to put your feet down here. Good.

Let's take your shoulders over just a little bit more. Good. And we're going to do shoulder bridge now. So yeah, those are very, very hard [inaudible] and so that's exactly what we want is see how we're continuously working to lift our seat up more and to work our legs more freely so that the, the Jack knife, you did fabulous on changing that. So same energy things. All right, we're going to press your hips together and roll up. Your legs are parallel. Put your hands under your hips, bend your elbows in. Put your hands under there yet. Go good ass.

What was that? A little different. Okay, so we're going to keep it comfortable. All right, so you're going to, again, not let your bottom have all its weight on your hands, but try to keep squeezing it up. Eyes on your hip bones. They are great and I want you to lengthen your right leg on the floor without moving these on the floor. Good, and we're going to keep them square. Don't let them fall over this way as we lengthen the right leg up to the ceiling and flex down. Lifting your seat up. Think up to the ceiling and really lift that right seat up.

We're going to do one more time and really lengthening, lengthening, and now return back to the mat and let's stretch out the left foot. Good. Three times up and flex down your bottom. Starting to go down. We're going to okay, stop that. Good one more. Lifting, lifting, lifting there. Put the foot back down. Take away your hands and roll down through your spine. Very straight. Very nice. Roll up to a seated position.

Push your heels away and arms out to the side for spine. Twist heels together though. Voila. Good. Scooping in and up. We're a little bit here. I want to see your hands more peripheral. Great. Pull your toes back, lifting off your seat. Your stomach is going to be like a wet towel that you're wringing out as you twist, reaching, twisting, very nice and come center.

Good. And twist to your left. All right, good. So those are your freebies. Now, no toes sliding past each other. We're going to keep him even. And you're gonna twist. Good. That's it. And center. Now we're keeping our hips even and twist. Be careful with those arms not going.

And I'm out of your peripheral vision and center and pull. Pulling with the right obliques. Really pulling back. Pull those toes back. Yes. And center and scooping in and twist. Twist pool. Book black. Ah, keep twisting both ribs facing that wall. Both shoulders. There we go. Come center. And relax as lie on your right side for sidekicks.

Nice work. Good. All right, pull back your elbow. I'm sorry. We're going to line up her whole body on the back edge of the mat. Great. Good. And rest your head on your hand. Nice. Bring your legs forward. Good. All right, we're going to enjoy it. Quite a bit of legwork here.

So this hand is going to be right in front of your stomach. Shoulders look good. Most important things is going to be your hips. Beautiful long feet for me. I want you to not have energy in your feet today from Kyle. We're gonna have it all as if the work comes just from here. We're going to lift this leg up just a tiny bit.

Turn it out so that we're not hiding the inner thigh. Okay? I want you to always be able to see your inner thigh fact. I want you to hide your outer thigh. Think of that. Okay? Stomach is in and out the crown of your head and we're going to sweep it forward and take it back. Be more free with this, this, take it as far as you can, Rebecca, to go forward and back and forward. I want this to stay here, but move that leg, reach it long, reach it forward, back forward. Really take it up and take it back. And four, you can take it back further. Squeeze it back, squeeze long. Yes, and forward and back.

And we're gonna do one more forward and back, long, long, long and legs together. Keeping this hip right here where you gonna push it up to the ceiling flying away and then squeeze a thousand pounds down. And don't move this hip this time and stay here and come down from here. Squeeze. Come on. You can squeeze. Ah, there you go. Push up and squeeze down ratio. That's good.

And three and law and two and rage. One more. Up and pulling in your past day there. Five little circles. One, two, three, four, five. Reverse it, two, three, four and rest. Good. I want you to bend this knee. Put the foot flat on the mat, knee up to the ceiling and grab your ankle. Good. I want you to imagine a stack of books right here and pick up that stack of books. Can you pick them up any higher, any more? Good. Now I want you to imagine a huge hula hoop right here and I want you to circle that. Hula-hoop. It's going to go down to the flow. Start down forward.

Take it all the way up to the ceiling, all the way back down, all the way up. Good. Really engaging that inner thigh that you just stacked, booked up that stack of books we're going to do. One more would need to go back, back, back, back. Good. Reversing it. Go back, go up, go all the way forward. Love it. Yes. Reaching. Make that leg longer. Touch the end of the room and around up. One more time. Reaching and lower that leg down.

Nice little forward and both legs long. Now we're going to do bicycle. Lifting this leg up, just a hair. Don't hide that inner thigh. Turn it out. Bring it forward to your thoughts. It all the way forward. Straight, all the way forward. Knee to chest. Okay. Need a chest. Really use that stomach to pull in and now need a knee.

Good. Keep the hip right here. Now keeping the heels close to your bottom as it is. How far back can you take that sigh and now extend long behind you, beautiful you to reach it forward and need a chest and now need a knee. And now keep this hip here, this heel on your seat and back and back and back and extent. Yes. One more. Does it feel it all like similar to shoulder Ridge.

When you're doing that back when and we're going to keep this here and note heel on your seat and you can take it back further. I know you can't go pull it in that power house. Yes. Present this leg, reaching it forward and extend that leg legs together. There's three reverse. Now don't hide that inner thigh. Take. Ah huh. Now bring that heel all the way to your seat. Knee to knee, all the way to your chest and make sure that hip opens and taking it back.

Nope. Take it back. That's it. Now pull that heel to your seat. Need a knee. Need a chest and extend. This is your last one. Keep going back as far as you can. They didn't really keep the knee there and pull the heel to your seat. Nice.

Need a chest all the way through an extend. Love it. Legs together. Great job. Good. All right. Press the underarm into the mat. Press all this into the mat and use these muscles. You're going to keep your hand there.

I just don't want you to lift up off of that arm. We're going to pull in, squeeze and legs together and lift both legs up. Very nice and yeah, and pulling him. Bring both legs up. Stay there. The lower leg goes down. Pulling up one down, pulling up, squeeze down again. You want to make it the energy up higher. Two more here. One more time. Pull it and stay there. Now, big, big moonwalk here. Open the legs. Big scissors, big and switch lengthening. Reach for the ends of the room, the powerhouses in and up reaching. Don't forget to go behind you with that bottom leg. You go far with that.

Have one more and switch and legs together, but still lifted and a quick quick, quick walks which went far faster. Think inner thighs. Don't hide this inner thigh. Don't hide it. There you go. Faster and lower down. Roll onto your belly. Make a small pillow for your horse, forehead with your hands. Beautiful length, pulling in and up out the crown of your head and squeeze those legs up and we're going to tweak and get them up a little higher. Let's try that one more time. You did get him up higher but a little bit in the lower back.

So keep that length and lifting up mainly from here. Now 20 beats one to squeeze my hand. Get those inner thighs. Make it from the inner thighs, not from the heels, right? Ten one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Lower down. I want you to switch so that your feet are where your head is and we're going to be facing this way. So line your back all the way on that edge. Nice. Good. Bring your feet forward.

All right hand there. Good. Alrighty. And we're gonna do it. Good. Alright. Powerhouse, long legs, no energy in those feet. All the way through the foot. Lift this leg up at hip level, turning it out slightly, scooping it and forward and back. Really make it free. Forward, back and forward. Like a pendulum. Just swing through and forward and back.

Great back. Love it back. Really pull it up to you knows, trust yourself that you're more flexible up to nose. That's it. And all the way from here. One more time. Up to nose and back and now legs together and now without shortening the waist, push it up, huh? And then squeeze the inner thighs dam up. So I'll let you get a little more comfortable at. Now keep it more stable up.

That's better. And squeeze. Where's my squeeze? So you're putting too much energy in your foot. It's okay to flex some point, but make sure it's coming from the right place. So go up and now really S that's it. Now you've got it. Add two more up and present to me. Inner thigh last time and for us. Now hold it there.

And five little circles. One, two. Don't forget to go behind this leg though. That's it. And reversing it. Two, three, four and five. Nice job. Bend the knee up to the ceiling, foot on the mat. Stack of books right here. Let's engage the inner thigh to lift a little higher, a little higher. And now let's start by going back. Go down to the floor all the way up to the ceiling.

Really thinking about that hula hoop. Make that leg go really forward. Really up to the ceiling. Back behind you. Nice job. Really strong inner thighs here and here. Let's go for the reverse. Back up to the ceiling and forward. Great. Nice body position. Beautiful. Two more.

Last time and long. Keep that leg forward though. Down you go. Bicycle. Long leg both legs long. Sorry. You okay? Scraped there? Lift this leg up a little bit. Turn it out. Turn. So don't hide that inner thing all the way through those toes.

All the way up to your nose. Bend the knee into your chest. I would love to see you keep this. Um, straighten the leg forward. Again, when you bend the knee, I want to see this hip stay where it is and your stomach really almost round your lower back and that your backs really S in the nice C curve here. So bring this leg up a little bit, kick it forward as forward as you can. Okay. Turn the knee up a little more. That's hard. I know, but this beautiful round back. Keep it as you pull your knee into your chest. That's better. That's much better. Need a knee.

Good. Now keep this hip here as you take it back further with the heel glued and then extend. Great. All. Pull that leg forward all the way from here and keeping in. Scooped into your lower back if that's awesome. And then bring the knee back from here, from their attics and and one more.

Scoop it in. Great job. Need a knee. Keep taking that knee back and extent and legs together for the reverse. Keeping this hip here now really pull that heel to your seat. That's it. Need a knee and scoop into here to get that knee all the way forward and extend.

Good and back. Heel to seat. Need a knee scoop here. Good. Extend and legs together. Very nice, very good. And we're going to squeeze both legs long and lift them both up and pulling in. That's it. Stay there. Lower leg goes down, pulling up one.

Just the lower two up three, squeeze it together. Four, five, hold and big scissors. Big, good. And switch. And switch length in that hip and switch. Try to keep it long. Reach for the ends of the walls. Really reached through those hips. Stretch through that thigh. Stretch through that foot. One more back and legs together.

And a quick walk. Turn 'em out a little bit in. Quicker, smaller, like a quick Manhattan walk like you're in Manhattan. No faster. They're all passing you behind. Pass fast pass routes. No. And lower down the, that's better. Lie on your back. Bend your knees into your chest, God and just stretch. Nice. Take your hips over just a hair. All right. So you did, you've done so much. Um, really nice breakthroughs on how to hold your legs more from here.

See if we can get that with the teaser. So I want you to bring your legs up to the ceiling and lower them down to a 45 really trying to pull away from me. [inaudible] right into that lower back. Reach your arms back. Good. And Naval pulls in and up under your sternum as you roll up. Beautiful. Don't pop those hipbones. Uh huh. Yes.

And rolling away. They're very nice. And rolling it up and next hail. That's nice. And inhale, start rolling back and exhale. Good again. Run on up. Beautiful. Stay there and keep pulling your belly away from me.

We're going to lower your legs a little and pull them up. Oh, I can let go up. Come on up. I really could let go on those and you, I'm going to, I will. I want you to do them on your own from that lower back. Good. And strike a match it up. Good. One more. And now reach everything away. Roll down your legs. Roll down your lower back.

Very nice. And will everything up. All from here. Pull into here to lift those legs. Beautiful. Really good form. And we'll everything away. Pull right into their reaching. Yes and again, one more right into there and roll everything. Wham, not even helping you. I'm just leading that body. Very, very nice. Good, nice job. I want you to sit up, cross your right ankle over.

Your left is called boomerang. I love it. And I think it's really good for you to get a nice flow and how the legs flow from that lower back. So hands by your side a little bit more forward so you don't roll over. Okay. And we're going to pull your belly deep into your back. And without moving your back too far backwards, let's see if we can lift your legs up off the mat from here.

So see how far we went back with our back. [inaudible] we're gonna stay there and in and up with the belly to lift. Oh yeah. Now keep rolling back. And the legs will go to a 90 degree angle with the floor. Hold it. Here. We're going to do, I'm doing one slow in one K we're going to do a super sharp open-close.

Okay. And now roll down through the spine. Keep your hands down as long as you need to. Roll up to a teaser. Keep coming. Hands down hot and keep coming up. Hands down. Use them. Use them so that you're gonna come up and now reach for your toes. Good. And now, hands behind your waistband, behind your tailbone.

Good. And see, Hmm, they're released. Just grabbing onto each other. And now how close can you bring your ne nose to your knees? All the way. Where's your knees? Go for your knees. Reach forward for your knees and slowly lower those legs.

Let go of your hands and big circle. All the way to your equals God. Now let's see how your feet are off to the side. Pull on center and we'll do one more slow. And then we're gonna do two quick. Okay, so sit up tall. Hands by your hips, pulling back into here to lift. Excellent. Roll all the way over.

Now show me a sharp good. Rolling up into a teaser. You can leave your hands down as long as you need [inaudible] cause I don't want those legs going down. I want them to stay here. And then you continue to slide up to reach there. Did that make sense? And now hands back behind your waist. Good. And now really pull that, knows all the way.

Full word as you lower down big circle to your ankles. Excellent. Now do the best you can. And that's what we want. Scooping in over open-close roll up to a teaser, continuing the reach forward. That's fine. Hands back and then scoop. Scoop. Good and hands come all the way forward.

So I'm allowing you one little cheat and that is, you can keep your hands there a little longer if you need to. The goal is to continue them forward as you come up for a teaser. Okay? But if you need to so that those legs don't make your back pop into a sway, that's fine. And pulling back. Last one. Roll it back. Open. Close. Rolling forward. Beautiful. Nice hands behind you. Now show me all that effort.

Lengthening your spine to your knees as you lower down those legs. Come forward. Forward 40. Yes. Reach around, grabbing onto those ankles for a nice stretch. You deserve that one. Nice work. All right. Now from your center, I want you to pull back your ankles and grip side under four seal. Yes. Clap two, three. Inhale back. Two, three. Rolling up. Still from that center. Now stay right there cause I want you to keep straightening your legs a little more. Reach with me [inaudible] and a little lower.

Can you pull your hipbones away from me? Like [inaudible]. That's it. That's it. So we're just a little too even better. I want you to pull right there and [inaudible]. Okay. And lowering dash and glove. Two, three at inhale, roll back to three. And exhale. I'm trying to figure out what it is I need to get you to lengthen your legs more. Cause your arms. You want to make feel like they can. Um, yeah, so I feel like they're tight here and instead I want you to scoop and length and more. That's it. And clap. Just an inch. See how much, because I'm the same height as you. There's, you know, but I, I they felt like they were more in here and gripping and they're going to be pulling away here. Light hands clap.

So they're an inch off the floor here. Really allow your lower back to fill up. Open up and open them up as you roll back. Open that lower back. Beautiful. And roll up and keep that open. Lower back. Nice and roll back and rolling forward. Open. Nice. Think about that.

Open lower back here as you clap and roll up. Two more in with the air. Clap two, three. Empty the lungs. Two, three in with the air. Let go of your feet. Cross the ankles and roll through that. Open back as you stand up, roll through that open, lower back. Up we go. Good. Exhale all the way up, straightening your legs out, and now I want you to keep pulling your powerhouse into the back and inhale as you press the earth away. Lifting, lifting, lifting, and exhale.

Really good job. Loved all those breakthroughs. Good work. Thank you.

Comments

I really appreciate Monica's classic training and cues. Taking the time to really teach to the individual body in front of you (Rebecca) is key to her understanding the work and her body. The Jackknife cue regarding the hips coming up to a diagonal really spoke to me as a teacher. I am always trying new and improved cues when teaching overhead exercises to achieve the goal of moving the hips first, not the feet or legs. Thank you for the great attention to detail and being precise, it is so important in Pilates.
S.C.
Wonderful teacher. Great attention to detail- Thanks
Agreed, loved the detailed cues to help deepen the practice to the next level.
This was my first class since joining and I loved it! The cues were extremely helpful. Thank you!
CJ
monica, I thoroughly enjoyed this class. I felt you were teaching me so much more, cues were great, instructions- very good. thanks a million. blanche.
WoW. This is my absolute favorite mat class featured on pilates anytime. Amazing teaching skills- I learned alot here, esp. the extra awareness for spine stretch foward, single/double leg kick (with thighs off the mat!) and jacknife. Mahalo Monica!

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