Creative Whole Body Flow

Today, we're doing a series of exercises that are going to integrate all of the concepts that we have, explored in our earlier classes. And we're gonna think about rather than always looking inwards think about connecting with the environment around us, and maybe if you've got some friends doing class with you like I have with each other as well. So welcome. Let's have some fun. We're gonna make our way down to the mat. And we're gonna start with some bridging just to feel that sense of grounding.

So, the hip, the hip socket with the part, arms long by the sides. Just take a moment here just to breathe. In as you exhale, find that connection down into the ground. Connect through your feet and your hands. Notice your shoulder blades on the floor and the weight of your head.

And then as we exhale, let's just go ahead and roll up for our first bridge just as we normally would. Find that push down through the feet. Think about pushing down through the hands and connecting those shoulder blades. Take a breath in, and then as we exhale rolling down. And that should just help you settle from whatever you've been doing all day.

We're just gonna take the arms overhead. Let's not rest them on the floor. Just reach them actively Jo that as we go into our next bridge, we're gonna hump the arms back down by the hips and they're gonna stop just short of the mat. Take a breath in and circle the arms out to the side and overhead leaving them there Jo that as you exhale, you get that nice stretch through your ribs. And we'll just help your lats let go.

So we'll do two more like this, bridging with the arms pumping down. As we inhale expanding the body out laterally, reaching the arms overhead, and then exhale leaving the arms behind as you create space between each rib level. And one more rolling up, pumping the arms down pushing through a thickness like your underwater, arms go out to the sides and overhead and then rolling back down. We'll do another bridge a little later just to compare, but for now bring both arms back down by the sides and we're gonna straighten the left leg and we're just gonna give it a little wriggle. Just encourage the quad and the hamstring to be nice and soft and relaxed.

We're gonna press down with our right foot, not doing anything additional, but noticing how that activates through the back of the leg. Keeping our leg in the same line, we're gonna start to create a spiral by pushing down through the right foot, reaching that right knee out to the furthest part of the room, and then take that breath in, feel that openness through the inside of the right hip. And then allow that pelvis to return back to the floor, and you get that beautiful spiral to return, sinking the thigh bone deep into the hip socket. So again, we press down through the right foot really thinking about that outer edge of the foot, but also the big toe, breathing in at the top here, and then exhale and coming back. We'll do two more. And on the next two, just thinking about how, your shoulders are feeling on the floor.

So can you create this spiral mainly through the lower portion of the body and still keep that nice even weightedness through the upper body as you're moving? Last one, And I see this one's always really interesting. It exposes how much hip extension, you really have on each side. So it's a little bit of an insight. And then we're gonna change legs and we'll take a moment. Just give that right leg a little wriggle, encourage it to be relaxed.

It will probably try to help for some of you. We create that downwards pressure through the left foot and we're gonna press down so that the left knee can reach out away. And the pelvis will spiral opening up through the inner part of the left hip and then rolling down. So we've got to do three more and really noticing the difference between the left and the right side, not necessarily trying to fix anything, but just kind of taking note that might help you if you're dealing with any imbalances that are bothering you. It might be the last piece.

Who knows? Reaching, reaching, reaching, and returning down. And a final one, just so we're even. Try not to reach the knee across the body too much if you can help it, keep it in that same line, and then bring it on back. So we'll go ahead and bring the right leg back into position. Take a breath in.

And as you exhale roll the pelvis and really create that same energy with the two legs as you did with the one. And just see what it feels like through the hips. It might feel like you've got more range rolling down, and we'll do one more because why not? Let's indulge. Let's treat ourselves one more time rolling up. And then once we hit the top, because it felt so good earlier, we'll take the arms overhead.

We'll reach them Jo we create that opposition in the body, feel that expansion as we roll ourselves back down to the ground, and we'll keep the hips on the floor, interlace the hands and place them behind the head, and we'll float both legs up to tabletop. Come on up into a chest lift and straighten both legs up to the ceiling. We're gonna lower our left leg and rotate towards our right leg keeping it high and then move through for six to each side. Just getting that nice twist through the upper body. So now we're keeping the lower half of the body really steady and creating all of that movement through the upper body. So it's a nice change from what we just did.

And how about we do one more to each side? I forgot to count as usual. Estirmation is my friend. And then we'll bring both legs in and lay it down. Coming up into our chest lift once more straightening both legs, we're gonna lower the left leg. And then from here, keeping the pelvis steady circle the legs around a helicopter movement.

Here we'll do two splits, one, two, and then circle around. And we'll do two more to each side. So we've got the right leg high currently, sweeping it around, split split left leg is high, circle. Oh, thank goodness only one more to each side. This is quite a challenge to keep the pelvis steady.

One, two, trying to move together as a group. You can just pretend you have friends with you if you buy yourself, and then bend the knees into your chest and have a little have a little rock left and right. Jo let's capitalize on that, all of that rotation that we just did. We'll straighten the left leg down to the ground, and we'll take the, right leg up into the air. We're gonna do the version of leg circles where we rotate.

So we're gonna bring our right hip towards our left ribs And then sweep the leg around squaring the pelvis off and back up. Let's do three to each side. And again, kind of using your spidey senses to sense where you are in space and we'll pause at the top and go the other way. Trying to work with that energy in the room if you are working out with friends. And last one, And let's hug that knee into the chest and do the other side.

Okay. So hopefully those single leg bridges will help you here. So we're gonna go across the body, the left hip's coming over to the right ribs, and then sweeping around to stabilize. Here's two and three. Nice to think about this as a trunk exercise, not always as a leg exercise. And final one, and rest. Alright. Let's keep twisting, lady. So we'll take the legs into tabletop.

Just for the first one, hands can go under the side, and let's roll up into a bra into a teaser, I should say. Find that nice lift, get that sense of space, and then let's straighten the legs and we'll roll down the normal way. So roll it down. Find that sense of opening through the front of the hip. It's kinda nice. So our first teaser is just gonna be just gonna hold it and add a little twist to it. So when you're ready, go ahead and roll on up, scoop the legs up and we'll grab the right leg and lower the left leg to the floor.

Really energize that left leg. The right hand is going to open up. We're going to push the left the leg out into the left hand. So we're creating that energy into the outer hip. And then coming back to center. And again, twist and close. Let's do one more.

Use that outward pressure from the leg into the hand and then we'll lower the leg and just roll the body back down. Looks fancy but feels really nice and we'll roll back up again both legs. And then from here lower the right leg, find that connection with the left leg, get ready to release the left hand, and we're gonna twist, create that outwards pressure with the left leg and return. And twist. So thinking about how the connection of the leg into the hand might facilitate that rotation.

And then we'll let the leg come on down and roll the body. All the way to the floor. I'm gonna come up into a teaser one more time to scoop it on up. But then from here let's bend the knees and let the feet touch the ground and take the hands behind us. So we're gonna do a little can can motion here.

So let's actually take the knees towards our friends at the front of the room and then to the other side and then to the front one last time and we kick. And then bend in. And with this one, really working hard to just keep. So three and then kick the movement just in the lower body. So one, two, three, and kick, and in, and one, two, three, and kick. Coming back into the center, let's all turn towards each other into a little zed sit.

So I've got my left leg tucked back right now. And we wanna try to feel as balanced as possible with the pelvis, not always possible, but from here pressing down with both shins reaching forward to see if we can lift up. Trying not to press the pelvis too far forward and then coming on down. So really thinking about how we can keep the rib cage and pelvis in relationship with each other and then coming down the part I find challenging is getting both parts of the pelvis to feel like they're landing fairly similarly. It's tricky.

Okay. We're gonna take it up. And hold it there, take the arms out to the side, and let's all bend over to this way. Left and right is too tricky at this point, and then come on up. And over. So really using that down energy with the legs and up over and up. Over and up. And now from here, we're gonna go over, but then the pelvis is gonna find the ground.

We're gonna scoop forward kinda like into a spine stretch. We let the body return back into that mermaid using that lift and then return up to upright. So we go over, scoop, allow the hips to return, return to upright, and squaring off one more to each side over. I can really feel the muscles at the back of my hips really working to help keep me lifted and around and up. Okay. Let's bring our hips down and we'll swing the legs around to the other side.

Very good. Okay. So lots of internal and external rotation that we're dealing with in today's class. So first we'll just try going up and down. So pushing down with the shins to create that lift connecting our rib cage and pelvis with one another and then bringing the pelvis down. This is my tricky side. Yeah.

So we're bonding here over our tight internal rotators and open. And then let's come down and we'll we'll do our little mermaid on the next one. I think it's one extra, but that's okay. Arms are out to the side, and we're gonna go over and up. We did two of these to each side. Over and up. Of course, this is too much for you. You can do this with your hips down and up.

Using that pulling in of the legs as well as pushing down. Jo we go over and then sweep, allow the bottom to come down, go into that side bend and return to upright. And again, over around over and lengthen. Looking good. Over around. Nice. Glad to hear it one more time. Over around. Over.

And lengthen. Alright. Let's come on down. So I'm gonna have my right leg in front. We're gonna be in a little side seat position. Yep. And we'll have the back foot in line with the tail, and then the left hand in line with the pelvis, and the right hand is also going to be on the floor.

We want to have a little bit of space. So if you kind of imagine shoulder width apart, but on a bit of a diagonal. So, Krista, you can probably bring your hand a bit closer. Yep. That's it. So this is a variation of the twist gonna dive the head through and feel that connection down through the ground pushing both arms quite firmly away. And then keep that energy as your pelvis comes through. Feel that nice spiral as you return back to upright.

You got it. That's it. So we'll do two more roll and find that energy from the limbs. So I like to really focus on my inner thigh connection as well because it helps kind of figure out where the midline is in this really three d movement and then bringing it down. Let's do the other side. So we've got our left leg on top Our bottom foot is quite aligned with our tail.

So is our right hand and then our left hand. It's just a little way in front. So we're looking for that space Jo that you feel like you can dive through. So we sink the head down and really push the ground away and then spiral the body back towards the floor. If you can get that lift at the top, it's quite good, but depends a little bit on the range through your shoulders.

And then how can you find that up feeling through the upper body as your hips are dropping down? One more. Take it through. And then bringing ourselves back down to the ground Very nice. So we're gonna go into all fours, do a little bit more rotation. And then we can face sort of towards the center of the room here. And let's just do a nice cat because it always feels so good just to get that nice symmetrical movement through the body especially after we've been doing so much twisting because we're gonna do a little bit more. So we'll do one last round.

Just noticing the left side and the right side of the body. How do they feel? And stretch it out. So from here, we'll take the left hand and stretch it out long alongside the right leg. And then we're gonna lift both of those limbs up into the air. So keeping the right leg where it is just gonna take the left arm out to the side, and then we're gonna thread the needle. So really working on keeping the stability through our pelvis while we're rotating the upper body. We come out of that reaching the arm out to the side and then bring it forward.

And then again, so out to the side. I like to try to, delay the bending of the supporting arm for as long as I can. Yes. And then reach it out long. And there's our awareness of our environment and our friends, and reaching out, and then forward. And we can place the hand and foot back down to the ground and do the other side.

So sliding the right hand left leg, floating them both up, taking the arm out to the side, and then going for our thread the needle. So if you need to bend the elbow, do Jo, but you know, see if you can hold off a little. Find the arm reaching out. That reach forward, I think, is quite nice time just to figure out where your hips are in space. And if they need a little bit of love, and then take it out.

And forward, and we'll do one more. Out to the side, thread it through, bring it back out, reach it forward, and place the hand and the foot down. Make sure you've got enough room on your mat to be in a plank. So You can do a little test just reach the legs out and we're gonna go into a bit of a round body through the upper spine, through into the thoracic and flex back kind of like the up stretch on the reformer. So really finding that nice reach, you can go into a little bit of a down dog, but then when you come forward, think of that scoop coming up through the body. So you feel a little flex. We're then gonna pass through like a down stretch Jo the hips open and the chest open, we're pulling ourselves through, but then we're gonna let the knees bend and lay the spine back down.

Oh, feels good. So we go up And we keep the knees down initially, but then we energize the legs and then we're gonna push through a plank round through and end up in a nice like down dog long elephant. Scoop through the body, find that nice plank, move through that into extension pulling the chest through allow the knees to bend when you need and then roll the body down, just adjust your feet as needed, coming up through that swan, find the openness in the hips, feel that connection through the front body, and then round through. Lengthen it out, looking good, and then roll through. Very good. Looking nice. Find that extension.

Let the knees come down. And we're gonna finish in the up stretch position, I think. Coming on up, find that lift, scoop connect into the body, bring it through. Very good. Alright. So then from here, come back into a plank, And if it's available to you, lower yourself all the way down without dropping. It's coming down in a nice plank. That was pretty impressive.

Okay. Take the hands and stack them on top of one another. And you can let your forward rest onto your hand. We're gonna tuck the toes under for this, and I'd like you to feel as though there's a force holding onto your heels and is pulling your heels to the far side of the room so much so that your knees straighten and your thighs lift. But the initial movement is coming from the heels, and then we're gonna allow the thighs just to come on down.

So let's just do a few of these. They're fairly quiet, little exercise. Jo reaching the heels, feel that upwards pull through your inner thighs, but also your hamstrings and quads working together. I really love this because it sort of keeps you honest really helps you feel where you're getting your straight legs from. If you're just kind of pushing out into the knees, try to find that reach through the heels.

And then we'll keep that and just float the feet. Yep. And then tuck the toes back under and then lowering back down. This time, we're gonna float the spine up into extension as our legs are doing their thing. The timing's not too too crucial point the feedback and find that sense of connection through all of the extensors of your body.

If you can take the arms out to the side, let's try to go into some swan dive. So we're gonna use The breath to create this movement, we'll go for three more, thereabouts. Two one, who can count us one dive, and then let's go into a little child's pose just to recover from that. That was really nice. So hopefully you felt as supported as possible in your swan dive, with the activity of your legs rather than just relying on your spine extenses.

Alright. So let's roll ourselves up. We're gonna do some boomerang. Fun. So taking the legs, crisscrossing them, I'm gonna have my left leg on top. So it's gotta be one, right? So find that lift and dive forward feel that wrap through the backs of the thighs and get as much uplift in your spine stretch as you can.

So as we roll back, think of how you can use your pelvis to support the movement scooping the legs up and over. And then crisscrossing the legs, we're gonna find our teaser reaching the arms forward, thread them through, and then control the descent of the legs as you sweep the arms up and over. And we'll roll it back. Really trying to initiate from the pelvis, use the thighs, cross and re cross, roll it up, find that teaser, Bend the leg, sweep it through, bending the knees is what I did, not what you did. Let's do two more roll it back.

Scoop it. Recross the legs, scooping up into that teaser, bend the elbows through, find that connection, lower and circle last time. Bring it back. Up and over. Cross recross.

Roll it down. Find the lift and then, oops, bring the arms all the way up and over into our forward position. Alright. Very good. So we're gonna do some seal, and we're gonna use the last seal to stand. Okay. Let's do it.

So we're gonna thread our hands through. Allegedly. So from pressing the unit edges of our feet together, let's create our three claps and roll it back. And one, two, three, and then scoop it up. Okay. So I think let's aim for five more.

And think about how that pressure in from your legs and the pressure out from your arms connects with that contraction, but there's still lift It's a clever little exercise one more time. Let's disconnect and come on up to stand. Jo close. Alright. Feeling good? Okay. So lots of dynamic movement.

Let's bring it back. We're gonna do a little bit of chest expansion. We'll try to go up onto our heels, see how it goes. So How about we reach the arms quite a way forward and just explore that expansion of the back of the body reaching the arms out in front. So as we start to pull down, we're gonna connect through our midline and rise up. And then once we've hit our position with arms by our side turning left, center right, and then lowering the heels as the arms travel forward.

Okay. We'll go to the right next. So pulling in and up, and then we'll get there and we'll turn right. We'll turn left. Center and lay it down. So as long as you're feeling that connection through the body, you can always keep your heels down, but it's a nice challenge.

We'll go left. Center and right, and then down. And again, pulling in and up doesn't have to be perfect every time. Right. And let's do one more round. I wanna really explore that expansion of that and lift of the breastbone up. One, center, two, center, and down.

Last time. We know where our midline is. It's been identified. One, center, two, center, and down. Okay. Let's mix it up one more time. Okay. So we're gonna take the arms wide or the legs wide.

The arms are also gonna be wide. We're gonna do like a standing saw. So we'll use left and rights here. I'm gonna take that right hand around towards our left ankle. So we don't get as much feedback here of, you know, where our pelvis is in space.

We've got to use those spidey sensors again. We're reaching that top arm up into the air somebody's gonna take hold of it and help you roll up up up as vertical as possible. Just sweep it around, find that nice wide position, and we go the other way. So now it'll be the right hand Jo up, no at the left hand going over to the right foot. Reach reach reach reach reaching that top arm up, figuring out where your feet and hips are.

And then up we Jo. Someone's pulling you up. And then sweep that arm that was just in the air around. Let's do one more to each side. The left arm.

Do I always wanna do the same side? Let's go right arm towards the left ankle. Good. Reach, reach, reach, think of that pinky line, and then reaching up to the ceiling. And around. And now it'll be the left.

I figured it out. Reaching up. Imagine somebody grabbing hold of that hand, drawing you up back to upright, spiral it around and find that upright position. Okay. Standing twist. So we're gonna go towards our left foot. Both arms are going just for come around for the ride.

Right arm's going up and over. And I try to twist through our upper body as best as we can. Our heels will probably come up. That's totally fine. Pushing off the right foot, see if you can figure out where your midline is after that big twist. And then we go up with the left hand around.

You will probably lift a heel Find that push out and down, then use your feet to help bring you back to upright. One more to each side. Just let it continue now through pushing off the feet, figuring out that midline, big arm movement. So nice after all that weight bearing that we did earlier. And around We'll bring the feet a little closer to each other, take the arms up and just fall down, swing the arms up, and let's do two more.

If you're inspired to do a little jump going, I don't mind. Me. Yay. One more. Hey.

Thank you so much, Mary. Thank you so much, Christy. And, hope to see you on Pilates anytime again. Bye.