Class #5521

Whole Body Power

45 min - Class
157 likes

Description

Join Sarah Bertucelli in this zesty and powerful Tower class! This full-body workout places an emphasis on challenging your balance and stability, calling upon control in each move. Enjoy zesty variations of Squats, Thigh Stretch, and Teaser, all moving at a strong rhythmic pace.
What You'll Need: Tower

About This Video

Apr 10, 2024
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Transcript

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Thanks for joining me today. I'm super excited about the workout I have planned. It's a nice combination of some dynamic flexibility and strength. So let's have some fun together. Okay? We are using here the tower.

I u I use the Cadillac a lot more than I do the tower. So, the changing of the springs and whatnot, I'm going to be a little creative with because, you know, you just have to know your your equipment and know you. I do want you to think ahead and see that I am going to use the blue springs up top here. I am going to use the yellow, the shorter yellow springs. We do not need the the roll up bar. We're simply going to use handles.

And I've got the longer purple heavy leg springs. Certainly, if you're a lighter spring person, you could use lighter springs here, but I'm going with the heavy field today. So that's all. I'm not planning on using, any of the red springs or even the safety strap today. So let's just go ahead and get started. Yes? We'll have a seat here. Hold on to your hand. I mean, well, let's see.

You see where I put this yellow spring. I guess I should talk just for a moment about where this is. I'm up kinda high. I sort of would like it to be in between the high and this next one, but I'm going to use the high one today just because it seems like it makes better sense for me, but certainly you could adjust that. So I'm, you know, I'm 2 notches above where the push through bar sits, and you'll be a little creative with your decisions. Yeah? So let's find a place where you feel like you can let your arms kind of rest straight and sit up straight. So that's about where I think it's a good place to begin.

Ground down through your pelvis through both sides of your pelvis, your sits bones, sit tall. Let's just take a breath. With an exhale, we'll round ourselves back and come to the mat. So, you know, this spring here will give you a lot of assistance And with what I intend to do will be useful. Lift your head and chest and round and roll your up roll yourself up. But if you feel like you wanna change it, go ahead and change it now.

Sit tall, and then round and roll yourself back, find some breath that suits you. Now here when you're down, will you take your strong arms and pull them in the direction of the mat and lift and pull with the palms facing up in the direction of the mat, And think of that action coming not from your hands, but from your back, from your shoulder blades. And then round and roll up. So Again, that's that requires a fair bit of arm strength. Sit tall here. Now pull your arms behind you, bending your elbows so you're doing a bit of a low row.

And you're pulling back, shoulders pulling down, and back. I like to look up. And we'll do that again. Pulling back. And allow the arms to straighten.

Now we'll roll back again. Shoulders ground to the mat. We're gonna pull the straight arms down. Now my hands don't touch the mat, and that's okay with me. If yours can wonderful, we're looking for a little bit of strength here, nod your chin, and roll yourself up, and we'll do those low rows sitting tall, pull, and now extend your spine a little bit.

So this will be an option if it suits you to go into a little bit of back extension more is coming. On the next round. Here we go. 2 straight arms. Round your back. Roll yourself back.

Pull your arms down, press. So I'm a I say press because it's, like, sometimes it's what it feels like, but you really you're pulling from your back. Your arms down and round and roll up. And now we're gonna go back to that low row feeling. So elbows narrow, pull back extend your spine.

Do you want to hinge back? And come back up. Try again. If it doesn't feel good, don't, but I'm in extension and I keep the extension till my elbows or my head touches whatever makes sense, And again, if you have a lot of back extension, you might feel your head touch. And straight in one more time. Round and roll back.

And press 3. And 2, and I'm already warming up. I hope you are too. Around and roll yourself a beautiful flow here, sit tall, squeeze hinge, and straighten. Bend your elbows, extend your spine, and hinge, and straighten one more time.

And reaching back and straighten in arms to straight. Beautiful. So let's move into some footwork, but we're going to do it standing today. So you'll take your handles for me, please, and put them on your blue springs. So you can just leave that yellow spring right where it is for now. We'll use that again later.

So I'm holding the handles with my blue springs, and I'm gonna back. And somewhere around the middle of your platform is gonna be about the right place, but what I the way to figure it out is to walk back to where the spring when your arms are straight, pulls your shoulders forward. So you have to pull them back. Then look down at your feet just one time and make sure that they're square and even. You've got all four corners well weighted.

I'm gonna shift a little weight in my heels, although I'm up the balls of my feet are weighted too. And I'm gonna bend down trying to keep my back straight. As if I'm doing a wall squat, keeping the shoulders plugged, we're gonna squat down and up. Now will you please pay attention to your eye gaze? Don't look at your please look up, especially as you press up. Will you feel both of your legs participating? Try to get those glutes to participate a little bit?

Feel your inner thighs. 10 breathe, please. Certainly, if you wanna go lower, you may. I'm stopping at about 90 degrees, much like you might do if you on a reformer. We'll work a deeper squat a little later. Now I'm going to step my toes where my heels are.

And I'm going to have my heels lifted. So I'm in my maximum plantar flexion here, my maximum demi point without rolling out on my ankles. Has I been? Now you go as low as you would like to go here. Oh, it's fun about the springs. Is it gives you a little bit of assist for your balance, but It also gives you wiggle room, and the brain in the body an opportunity to adapt. So keep your eyes not on your feet.

Please look up in the direction of above where the spring is coming from in your mind, especially as you press up. It's a looking up slightly. And maybe try looking in a different direction if you'd like, perhaps dancing around to the right, the left, or holding the gaze somewhere where it feels challenging for you. Last one here. So I went a little deeper. In that position, lower your feet, we're gonna walk forward just a bit and make a small v position.

Small view. Oh, actually, let's stay. I did go for I went forward a little too much that first time it felt like. So I'm I'm just changing it a little bit so that I still feel like I've got a little bit of a spring, and I'm gonna pull open on the spring. Right? So my shoulders are plugged and I'm opening. Squeezing the heels together, we're gonna bend. Now if you flop and sit on your heels or sink into your heels, you're going too far.

You wanna be in control the whole time and keep the control for me. We're endeavor to. At the top, don't be shy about zipping those thighs together. Feel your shoulders free attention. And, of course, you are breathing.

Whoo. I am working hard. I hope you feel burn here a little bit in those legs. The challenge. Always love balancing and standing and using the equipment to do more pedestrian type things. So this is a really wonderful way to do it.

Good. We're gonna walk forward just a bit. My toes are at the very edge of my my surface. Now I wanna try to get to more of a second position arm. So, a wide arm, but it's not fully out to the side. Weight through the balls of the feet and the heels, and you're gonna bend as deeply as you can, and press up. Now, again, the goal here is to not go forward with my body. It says if I'm leaning up against or sliding down and up a wall and keep your gaze forward and up And we'll do a handful more here.

Beautiful. One more time, please. And standing nice and tall walk those feet together. We're gonna walk forward and just let our arms dangle for just a moment. And now working single legs We're gonna do mostly balancing, not quite as far back.

So I'm I just wanna feel like when my arms are just sort of resting, sort of, in front of me, I I don't have any spring tension. I might step back 1 more inch. So let's balance first on the right foot. And feel yourself balancing. K. So we're just using the spring as a balanced game.

You're gonna send your leg back behind you too straight. And send your arms out in front of you. So we're looking to try to create what feels basically like a straight line. With our body. Now depending on your height and the spring tension, your arms might be a little lower, but you're trying to be straight line. Bend your standing leg.

And straighten. Now I'm choosing to flex my leg that's in the air because I like the way that feels so I can get some glute recruitment. But you're welcome to point for the line, and I'm bending and straightening. And I'm doing 2 more and straightening. Good. And one more.

Good. Now I'm going to round my back, scoop into the spring, and stand tall, the knee came forward. I'm scooping into the spring as I round down and extend. Two more. Round scooping into the spring, finding the balance, and standing tall. And scooping into the spring and extending and rounding all the way in.

And let's please repeat that. On the second side, are you ready? Are you sure? 1st, find your balance, and then you're gonna lift your other leg up Now we're gonna extend that back leg to straight, reach forward just kinda resting on the spring, just using it for wiggle room, trying to straighten your standing leg completely, and then you're gonna bend and straighten. Again, I'm choosing to flex the ankle that's behind me. And straighten little knee bends and just working on balance and agility in the hips here. Breathing when it makes sense to you.

And just one more here. Legg is straight. So now we're going to bear some weight into the spring. And round the back as you pull your knee in and all the way up. Right? Good. And extend rounding down and to a flatback and rounding in, pulling the knee in, finding your balance on that one leg, and standing upright. My knee is in front of me.

And back, finding your breath and rounding in. And this is our last one. And rounding Beautiful. Woah. Stand on your 2 feet. Let's make a change here.

So you're gonna let those Blue Springs rest. You're gonna take your handles, please, and put them back. On your yellow springs. So you can choose to get down however you'd like. I'm gonna choose to hold on to my frame here and sit back. Into a deep squat, walk down, and have a seat on my booty.

You can get down a different way if you prefer. So now similar to how we began, we're gonna use these springs with separate attachments to work the abdominals a little bit, a little different than the roll up bar. So find a place where it feels like the right spot to begin. And what the right spot for me is when you don't want to have too much tension and, nor do you want to be too much slack. You wanna feel like, you know, your arms kinda have a pretty good place to be. Exhale to curl yourself back.

Bend your knees as you do. Lift your head and chest. Find your balance. So it's like a rolling like a ball shape. My feet are lifted.

I'm rounded through my back. I'm going to roll myself back, keeping the shape, and roll myself up. So I'm trying to keep the shape of my ball rolling and rolling. So I'm just using the little bit of pull from the spring that I have and working on breathing and keeping the shape. Good one more time, please.

So I'm gonna find the up position where I'm balancing on my tail like rolling like a ball. I'm gonna first tighten my ball. And then open your chest, straighten your legs. Find a teaser. Please tap one leg down, lift it up.

Tap the other leg down, lift it up, use your upper back, tap and lift, and tap 2 legs are lifted. Here we go. We're gonna bend the elbows and straighten. Use the upper back, bend the elbows and straighten. And bend the elbows straighten, round your back, lower your low spine down, put your feet down, lower your head. Stretch one leg to straight, then the other flexible feet.

Lift one leg up put it down. Lift the other leg up. Put it down. So keep your shoulders plugged away from your, toward the mat. So that the spring pulls them away from your ears as you do this long legged marching. Good. Now we're going to lift one leg up, and we're going to hold point the foot because it looks pretty and round and roll up to a single leg teaser.

Try to keep the leg right there and roll yourself back. Opening through your chest at the bottom, roll yourself up in the air, change the legs. Woah. There we go. And you can flex because I did that on the other side and roll yourself down.

Try to keep the foot right there and roll yourself up. And roll yourself down and roll up. We're gonna find it again. We're gonna lift the leg up. And we're gonna hold for 3, 4, 2, opening your chest. And for one, knees can come in feet go down, and we'll go ahead and rest that.

So we're going to use the, the springs here for our hip work Just so that it's out of the way, I'm going to move my yellow springs to the backside so that it doesn't make so much noise. Just so it's out of the way. You can do that if you please or choose not to. So, I've got my purple spring set up. The first notch above the push through bar, again, adjust is needed according to what what works best for you. So here, let's lie down. And I would like to work heavy and challenging here.

So can you set yourself up so that your arms are holding the base of the, poles here, and elbows can be straight. That's where I'd like to be. Certainly, you can adjust as needed. So put your feet in your straps and then put your hands in that position and keep that powerful position where you're actively using the arms. Bring your heels together, organize your spine, press your arms, urgent, not your arms, but your legs to straight, please, inhale in. Now if you've done this and you think, boy, Sarah, that is a lot of spring. I can't quite do it.

You can do one of two things you could get up and put your spring attachment down one. Or you could choose to scooch back a little and not have straight arms, but I really like straight arms here. So let's do one more and keep straight. Now with the heavy spring, your pelvis wants to get squirrely. So be mindful of where your pelvis is, where your head is, where your scapula are. Go down in space and lift up.

So can you slightly separate your feet? And take both feet to touch the mat and lift. We're gonna do that three more times. Salite separation. So why I'm doing that is because I don't want one leg to take a ride on the other leg. And then sometimes when we attach, that happens.

So now down one more time and up. Same thing in parallel. Down parallel and up. And down strong arms, strong body. Feel the adjustments needing to the adjustments that need to make in order to make sure you stay stable here. Right? Now check it out.

We're gonna go down and stay. Right leg is gonna come up circle around and down, up, around and down. So one legged circle, other legged bracing, reverse the direction 3 times 1 and 2 and 3 other side up, around, and down. 2, and one more time, 3, reverse the circle, 1, and 2, and 3. 2 legs come up. Allow your legs to bend and just rest for a moment. I'm gonna take my arms down by my side and just give myself a little tiktok of my spine, little release there.

Okay. Let's let the legs straighten. Now here's where you might need to adjust your body with your legs straight, I'd like you to feel as though you can hang on the spring and just very slightly lean into the spring with a nice neutral pelvis To perhaps feel just a little bit of stretch in the back of the leg. Now this isn't the kind of stretch we normally feel. I'm looking for the awakening of sneaky tissue.

So I'm sliding my legs side to side just leaning into the spring. And leaning into the spring. I'm not pushing the spring. And one more time, I'm gonna lean into the spring. And now I'm gonna go to one side and stay.

So choose which side you're on. So, I'm twisting currently to the right. Which means I'm going to take my other foot. So the one, the right foot and hook it kinda on top of the strap of the outside leg so I can pull down just a little bit more to find just a little bit stretch there a little bit of wiggle room. Try bending both knees slightly so the stretching leg is now bent, and I'm gonna roll onto my side a little more. And then come back. So I'm rolling to the right in this funky shape, and I'm getting just a little release, a little something in my hips.

As well as when the leg is straight, I'm getting a little something more on the outside of my hamstring, perhaps what we would call the IT band. Mhmm. Let's rest that. So just let your legs hang for a moment, and we're gonna go to the other side and then Take your other foot. So my left foot is gonna hook just kinda on top of the strap. It helps keep the strap in so you can play a little bit more with your foot placement. Try to keep your knee straight as you just lean a little deeper.

Explore. So I'm not trying to pull the spring. I'm letting the spring help me find a sensation and come up. And you have to be patient and you have to be curious and you have to just allow those positions to happen and allow tissue to soft and now try it with a bent knee. So the leg that I'm stretching is my right leg right now. And I've got my knee a little more bent, and I'm just kinda fishing around until I feel something.

And there it is. I can feel a little bit of the lateral line, glue, tissue stretching right now, breathing in, and breathing out. Beautiful. Let's come out of that. Gently bend your knees. You'll take your straps off your feet. My hamstrings are definitely speaking to me.

Let's just take a quick little spine twist here with your 2 feet. Connected to the, the mat, you're just gonna sway windshield wipers side to side. I'm holding the frame with my hands. You can do whatever feels right to you, but just a nice little stretch. There, nice little release. Good.

And then let's go ahead and make our way up right. To standing. So we're going to use the push through bar for a full body integration type exercise. So I find this to be quite fun. Just wanna make sure your springs are not in the way. So what I've done here is just moved my yellow springs so that it's not gonna get affected by the push through bar.

And in fact, you know what I'm going to do real quick just so it's out of the way? I'm going to move these leg springs back on the backside. So I don't have to fuss with them because we're not gonna use them anymore. Whoops. Alright. I should have done that first. So here we go.

So this is not the way I want this to be hooked, actually. I'm going to hook it so that it's on the same side. So I have 1 blue spring hooked up on the push through bar, and we're going to begin with what feels like a standing, roll down, basically. So just be mindful of holding on with your thumb as well so that you're safe with the push through bar and stand in a place where it feels like you can don't want you to be too rigid. You'll figure it out once you go down, but you wanna be not reaching too far, nor do you want it to be too close.

So you can see my arms are almost straight when I begin here. So I'm gonna round myself down. 2 legs are straight. And then what I'm looking for is a flat back tabletop. And what I'm hoping is that my push through bar doesn't go too far beyond the polls or maybe only up to the polls. Then we're gonna round all the way back upright. So I would call this kind of like a cat stretch standing.

Right? So we're gonna round and roll down. And then once I hit this parallel with the horizon, I'm gonna try to flatten out and extend my back a little bit, leaning some of my weight into those hands, into the bar, and then round and roll up. So be mindful of your eye gaze related to where your head is, keeping my arms straight the whole time here. I'm gonna pull down. K. Now Let's work this cat cow here.

So extending and rounding and extending shoulders are drawing back and rounding. Feel free to soften your knees if that suits you and rounding the back. And one more will extend. And then we're gonna round all the way back up, get ready for a change. Okay? Holding on still with your hands, you're gonna bend your knees as deeply as you feel comfortable. Could you come all the way down? If you can't, stop where you need to.

But if you're all the way down, allow your shoulders to round forward and feel maybe some stretch in your back. Bottom might make it to the floor. And then pull your shoulders back opening your heart to more weight on the front of your foot. Allow your shoulders to respond. And pull.

So ultimately, when we're in this shape, we wanna be able to have that position where the upper back is more engaged. Wow. The sky looks amazing. It looks fake out there today. Pull back with the shoulders and stay here, please. So we're gonna stay in this shape for a moment. Now, I'd like you to tip up onto the toes straight arms go up, knees go down, push forward into a chest stretch. K?

And then we're gonna round ourselves back. Tip back to the feet. And sit. Shoulders respond. Shoulders pull back.

Tip your knees down. Straight arms go up. Push into the foot stretch, the shoulder stretch, all that stuff. And then you're pushing into your hands a little bit using your abdominals and round yourself back, let the shoulders respond, and then pull with the upper back. One more time just like that, up and over, And so my knees are down and my toes are getting a wonderful stretch.

If you feel comfortable going further into the stretch, feel free to just make sure you can pull out of this, meaning I can press my chest forward. It's okay. Now we're gonna use our strong body here, strong arms to lift up and come back. One more thing. The knees go down. The body back. So with the knees down, I'm going to press my pelvis high, open my heart into a backbend, And then I'm going to come up straight here.

2 more times like that. So I'm going to reach back scoop my pelvis forward, open my chest, back bend, big quad stretch. It's kind of a thigh stretch, but it's a little different. We are definitely on those feet for a long time here, so hopefully your toes are okay. If not, your adjusting is needed and your building the agility.

So let's lift those knees up. Put the feet down. Look up and stand up. So now let's bring the feet all the way together. Okay? Hands a little closer that'll just make this move a little kinder.

And then like, chair pose and yoga, you're gonna squeeze the knees together and you're gonna sit to a squat position like you're sitting in a chair. Release one hand, follow the hand around, and then come right back to where you came from. Release one hand, follow the hand around, and come right back to where you came from. Let's do that again. In a half, big stretch. Exhale, and inhale, and exhale.

Let's stand tall. Beautiful. Let's turn to face the other side. So I the further back my feet are the more challenging this is. So you'll do you in figure out what works for you. But what I'd like you to feel is start with your feet a little bit behind where you feel the bar to be when it's touching your body.

And see if you can lean forward there. Now if that doesn't feel right to you, you'll walk or walk back. Whatever makes sense to you. So my feet are about Hit width distance may be a little bit narrower. I'm holding with power onto the bar, and I'm extending my upper back just a bit to stay open through the chest in this position, but I'm also using my abdominals bend the elbows until your body touches the bar.

And straighten, So you're getting a really nice active stretch, but then you're having to use your muscles to come out of it and straighten. So it's like The bicep curls with the spring, but we're pulling the weight of our body instead. So if you wanna work hard, remove your feet back more, If you're happy with where you are, stay where you are. One more time. So we're gonna bend and stay here now. You touch the bar to your body.

Push with your hands into the bar as you backbend over it. Oh, that feels so nice. Let's thread that together. Arms straighten. Bend, push into the bar, and back bend over it, and undo that, and straighten and one more time, and backbend over the bar.

Beautiful stretch through the front of my body there. Wonderful. So let's undo that, and we'll take the spring off of the push through bar. And I believe so that this is out of the way for the few pieces, it would be wise to take it up behind, because we're gonna be using this space down here, and you don't want to feel as though the push through bar gets in the way. Let's see. The yellow springs need to come back around to the front. And I would take them up a little bit higher.

So I've got them up 2 notches above the push through bar. So that's, you know, whatever Whatever spacing works for you here. So now this is gonna be dependent both on your strength, arm strength, and flexibility. So you'll adjust lower if you're feeling a little limited with your arms lifting like this in back extension. Okay? That's where we're headed. But right now, we're first going to do a little bit of side body work.

So once again, we're going to sit with, actually just one spring. So I'm gonna hold the spring that's behind so you can see this first time. So the the I'm gonna sit in a position where it feels like I've got a teensy bit of tension on the spring, but not really much. Okay? And now let's just go ahead and roll back. It's always interesting to roll back with just holding on to one spring. Let's actually do that.

Down and up a couple times because that feels really nice on my body. Kinda identifies some imbalances and roll back again. We'll do it one more time, and then we'll do the actual exercise I intended. So I'm rolling up, and I've just got spring assisting one side and not assisting the other side and having to manage that as a fun challenge. So now roll back and take the arm overhead, the free arm, and you're gonna take your back leg and push yourself onto your side.

So adjust as needed so you don't feel like you're gonna roll off the table. The spring is gonna pull your chest open. That's what I'm interested in. Stack your feet. Stack your shoulders.

And find your side lift position. So that means my legs are hovering. And I am stabilizing here with my core. Now we're gonna see how high up we can lift those legs and exhale to lift perhaps, but try to feel also that beautiful open chest position that the spring is helping you achieve. Pay attention to your bottom leg and check-in and make sure that it is not turned down.

In your mind, it feels like you have to turn it up in order to keep it glued in neutral alignment. So let's lift and hold here for a moment. Externally rotate, oops, both of your legs. And we're gonna do a little scissor here with the legs forward and change and change. And change. So one leg is forward, one leg is back, and beautiful. So lots of little wiggles there with the springs having to manage I'm trying really hard not to use my other hand to help me, so you're seeing all my wiggles here. Good.

And one more time. The two legs together back to parallel. Let's undo this. So bend the top knee, roll yourself back onto your back body. Let's go ahead and keep that leg actually straight in the leg. That's gonna be nicer. And roll yourself up to a sitting position. Beautiful.

So let's exchange springs here. Hold on just to the one spring, we'll roll back just like we did on the other side. We'll enjoy that roll back a few times. Take the arm overhead. So if you feel that you have to make little adjustments, you know, with your body to stay square, just pay attention to those and enjoy and roll back again.

Up and over. So we're gonna add on this time. And do the lateral body work. Or lateral flexion work roll back. Take the arm overhead use your foot to help you roll onto your side.

And adjust as needed, stack your legs let the spring, pull your chest open in your arm behind you. Good. Squeeze the legs together. Try not to use your hand too much. See if you can just feel that you're using your body. And all the wobbles and the wiggles are good.

We lift those legs up, and we lower down. And we're lifting up. So what are you thinking about here? You're trying to be between two panes of glass. You're thinking about your bottom knee not turning down toward the mat, but sort of up toward the ceiling in your mind. You're thinking about keeping your pelvis stacked and your shoulders stacked.

And letting the spring add a challenge here. So lift and hold now. Externally rotate both legs. We're gonna do that little scissor, one leg forward, one leg back, bump, bump, and bump, bump, and one leg forward, one leg back, and then just changing. And, again, What's nice here is the spring is going to make your body give you an opportunity to adjust rather than fall over, but it's allowing you just to kinda challenge your nervous system in a different way. Trying not to use this hand that's on the mat too terribly much, but if you need to do.

And then one more time here, legs are together, rotate to neutral, lower down. We're gonna unravel that by rolling ourselves back onto our back body, stretch your two legs to straight and roll yourself up to a sitting position. Alright. So now let's transition on to our bellies. We're gonna need going to use the same spring, the same yellow spring here for a little bit of back and shoulder work. Now for many of you, this will feel too high, so you might need to lower it down, but you'll see, where we are here. Okay? Why don't we step back maybe to a plank position just because that's a nice transition and then perhaps just lower yourselves down via push up? So placement for this is going to depend a little bit on you and your your reef your equipment as well.

But what I found with the tower here so that it doesn't make too much noise on the attachments. I wanna be just a little bit back from the bar. So when my arms are straight, I don't wanna be too far forward, but you can adjust as needed. So what I'm going to do first is pull I'm resting on my butt. I'm resting down. I'm letting my head even rest. You could put a towel underneath your face if you want to.

But we're gonna pull down into what feels like goalpost position. So I'm gonna use the the Cadillac to to gauge where my hands are. So if you cannot do this, you need to move your springs down a little bit because this is the starting position. If this is too much spring, change it. Okay? So here, I'm trying to press my chest into the mat and keep my head ever so slightly light. So I'm using my thoracic back extensions or extensors, if you will. I'm actually gonna tuck the toes and and straighten my legs so my legs are a little more active.

So my pads and my toes are down. Now we're going to go press down through the hands going into internal rotation and then allow them to come back up, stretching and external rotation. Now when you press down, that first one I was sloppy, I'd like you to try to keep whatever part of your arm is on the table connected. So you're gonna go down, staying close to the table, and then come up and let the spring take you into a little external rotation. You're gonna push down, and you're gonna let it take you into external rotation.

I'm going to keep my left arm. That's my back arm just as it is, and I'm gonna turn and look at my right hand. And I'm going to do 3, just seeing where that arm can go, seeing how that feels beautiful. And one more there. And then we're gonna let that arm stay.

We're gonna look the other way, and we're gonna see where that arm can go And what I find is very, very interesting, and I'm curious if you will as well, is when I'm doing bullfarms, I can't tell which one is weaker. But when I just do separate like this. My left one is much more challenged. Look to center. Allow your arms to straighten.

Let's take just a little rest in child's pose so hands come underneath your shoulders. You may untuck your toes or keep them tucked, but we're gonna push up and then sit back in a child's pose before we do a final back extension. Give a few breaths here. Perhaps your head is resting on the table. I've chosen to tint my fingers today so I can just kinda move around a little bit fluidly here and enjoy this position.

So we are going to to our hands and knees? How about we slide one leg back and then the other? And how about you just lower yourselves down via push up position Look for your springs. Reach over and grab the handles. And here, let's set up so that your arms are Being lifted by the spring, your head can begin resting. Your feet can begin resting. Feel that.

So see if you can plug your shoulders, not from the outside away from your ears, but from the inside away from your ears, almost as if you're bringing them closer to one another. Now keeping that lift of the arm, can you now float your body into back extension? Float your legs into extension. So you're just floating here. Legs are working a little bit more, but arms are being held up.

So now we're gonna focus on pulling down. So one arm goes down, the opposite leg change, change, and change. So focus on what's going down and see if it helps you wanna lift up more. Feel the root The rooting and then notice the other pieces just lift up for you. Rooting?

And rooting. Let's do one more on each side, please. And lower your body. Allow the springs to come to rest and just take a pause here. Shaking your back side to side, come through a child's pose if you need to. Otherwise, I'd like to coach you through A nice little quadriceps stretch.

So bend one knee, reach around and hold on to the top of that foot, and just relax your forehead on your hand. And breathe and stretch here. So holding that foot, you're gonna feel a nice stretch, hopefully, through your quad. If you press your pelvis into the mat, your pubic bone specifically in your hip crease, you might get some beautiful release up in the hip area, the sew as perhaps. But be curious here, perhaps roll your foot to one side or roll it across and notice what you feel.

And sit where you feel sensation that suits you. Breathing in and breathing out. Let's go ahead and change legs. So reach around. Hold on to the top of the foot.

The rest of your forehead on your hand or your forearm. And just enjoy that stretch. So remember, if you press your pelvis into the mat, specifically your hip crease and your pubic bone, you might get a little more stretch in the hip area. As you bend the knee. And when you can fully flex the knee, meaning the foot is the foot is touching your bottom, then you've probably already got pretty adequate quad flex flexibility, but you could perhaps lift your thigh up to create a little more.

I like to keep it more relaxed. And just sway side to side. Breathing in, and breathing out. Release your legs. Go ahead and tuck your toes under.

Push with your hands to your hands and knees. Walk your knees underneath you. Hands are underneath shoulders, knees are underneath hips. We're gonna round through the back, let the head relax. And we're gonna arch through the back.

And round through the back? Yen arch through the back. And one more time, we're gonna round through the back. And extend. Release that. Let's go ahead and come up to a standing position.

If you're on a tower, you can make your way up just standing on your tower. But since I'm high up, I'm gonna stand here and look at you. In health through your nose with an exhale, roll yourself down one vertebra at a time. Enjoy your final roll down. It's not your final roll down, but let your head relax.

Feel at ease here. You know, inhale. And exhale to roll up. We'll do two more there. Standing tall, opening your heart, looking up a little.

Relaxing your head. And rolling it. And just one more roll down, please. Feel your head heavy. And this time as you stack your spine and come to standing, Once you come upright enough, feel free to close your eyes and just be for a moment with your feet underneath your hips.

Roll your palms open, feeling openness through your chest. Feel long through the crown of the head. And then awaken your eyes. And I thank you so very much for playing. I'll see you again real soon.

Comments

Pepa G. Molina
Sarah!, Wonderful class! 
THank you!!
1 person likes this.
Fantastic! Would love even more in this genre. 
Michele M
1 person likes this.
Thank you Sarah!  That whole practice felt fantastic!  I especially enjoyed the back backbending!  
1 person likes this.
Thank you, Sarah! I enjoyed the class very much.
Z A
1 person likes this.
thank you🙏🙏🙏
1 person likes this.
Loved this, thank you.
Robin S
1 person likes this.
always great! you are such a great teacher for a newbie. Event hough I'm not that. I always learn something from your classes. As well they look so easy......until your done... the work is real! thank you @sarah 
Thank you Pepa G. Molina !
Wonderful Juliet B,  I will keep this in mind:) 
Yippee Michele M.  Backbends feel so very good. Perfect way to unravel life. Thanks for playing:) 
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