Taking Root

Hi. My name is Brett Howard, and I am joined again with Chloe, and we're gonna add on to the class that we did previously. That class was planting the seed. This one I call taking root. So we're gonna develop some of the exercises that we've done previously and add on to it. So instead of starting with a roll down, I'm gonna start you lying down this time. Great. And then I'm gonna have you bring both knees into the chest Then from there, you're gonna roll the head neck and shoulders up. Then float the arms up.

You're gonna zipper through the abdominals, extend out to your working level. We're gonna go for hundred. Pump inhale three four five, exhale three four five in. I'm gonna take my hand away. XL three four five in with the air.

And exhale three four five inhaling. And exhale three four five inhale. Today, we'll do the full hundred, so five more sets in with the air, and exhale three four five in hailing, and exhale three four five in with the air, and exhale three four five two more sets, and exhale three four five, yes, one big breath in five, one big breath out for five bend the knees into the chest, and you can rest the head. I'm gonna have you extend the legs out on the mat. I always like to use the strap, so let's use the strap again.

So you're gonna lie down, but today, let's do it without the bar. You're going to reach both arms straight up to the ceiling, but imagine that this is still a frame. So your collarbone is one line. Your arms are the other two, and then you have that imaginary line there. Roll the head through and round forward, and reach and let the head drop in the frame.

Roll down one vertebrae at a time, and we have a roll up and exhale all the way down. The arms go slightly back. Arms to the ceiling. Head goes through the arms round forward and reach, reach, reach. Roll back one vertebra at a time.

And round all the way down, arms can float a little behind. Arms to the ceiling, head goes through the arms, roll up, and reach. While you reach there, think of pulling down through these underarm muscles there. Then round down one vertebra at a time. Good.

And then yes. All the way down, and then arms go slightly back. The arms are beautiful, but let's just have his hands be a little longer. Arms with the ceiling, head goes through the arms, round forward, and reach. Reach pull those underarm muscles down. Yes, and roll down. One vertebra at a time. And all the way down last time, arms to ceiling, head goes through the arms, inhaling, exhale reach, two, three, inhale roll back very good.

Self correcting there. And exhale all the way down, down, down. Great. I'm gonna have you keep the left foot under the strap. Take the right leg out, give yourself a gentle pull inward. Good. We're gonna go back to nine points of pressure into the mat hands down. Shoulders, head, stomach, hips, and the ninth point is that left leg.

You're gonna extend the right leg to the ceiling. Rotate the leg out again. Then from there, we're gonna make it a little bit more circular this time. So across This time as you circle, just go to where you can without that hip coming off. And again, across, circle down and up exactly, and across, round and up.

Inhale across, exhale up one more time across, and come up, then reverse it. Little out. A lot across. A little out. Lot across. As you circle, make sure to lead from the inner thigh.

Try not to let the toe lead and across one more time, inhale. An exhale across rotate this leg parallel, bend the knee. And give yourself a gentle pull inward there. Then from there, bring the right foot under the strap. Take your left leg out. Take a gentle pull inward there. Yes.

Then from there, you're gonna extend the leg up to the ceiling. Then externally rotate the leg. Keep that external rotation as you go across a little bit out and center, and across. Out and center. And across, still thinking of that double pan balance scale, across equator and right pan, left pan. And again, across, round and up. Let's reverse.

A little out, a lot of cross up in a stop. Inhale, exhale up in a stop. Inhale, yes, at the stop. Just as important as the movement. Inhale out. Excel across one more time, inhale.

XL keep that rotation good. Now rotate the parallel, bend the knee and take a gentle poo in word. Great. Both feet are gonna go under the strap. I'm gonna float both arms straight up to the ceiling. Roll the head through the arms.

Roll up for five four three two one. Good. You can take your hands, place them down onto the mat. Then bend your knees scoot your bottom a little bit forward towards your heels exactly, take your feet out of the strap, and then you can hold on to your ankles, and we're gonna roll like a ball. Broad wide elbows to the side. Then from there, rock back.

Come up in balance for three, two, one, rock two. And up in balance, now hold there. Now I'm gonna give you a little variation. You're gonna bring your elbows on top of your kneecaps. Then you don't want it to separate. You don't want it to slide. It might happen, but that's our goal.

They're gonna rock backwards and come up and balance And you feel that work there, and again, rock back. And come up in about yes. Very good. Now bring the hands back on your ankles. Now that same intention, imagining the elbows are on your kneecaps, rock backwards and come up in balance. Yes.

One more time rock back and come up in balance hold there. Now the next thing we're gonna do, I call the sexy Pilates transition. You're gonna keep the right hand where it is. You're gonna bring your left hand onto your knee there. Extend the left leg out to 45 degrees.

Now be to make it sexy, you have to be slow and controlled, roll down one vertebra at a time to the base of the shoulder blades hold there. Now look at the belly button pull that knee in, then from there, change legs, and pull. That's it. Change and pull. Change pull. We have a single leg stretch. Change three.

Change three. Change pull. Let's go for four more today. Right, change, left, change pool, change pool, two more inhaling, inhaling, and exhale, and exhale both knees and rest your head. Two, three, bring both shoulders just a little bit to the right. Yes. Both knees into the chest.

Hands are gonna go on to your ankles. Roll the head neck and shoulders up. We're gonna go for the double leg stretch. Simultaneously, arms and legs reach. Good. Circle the arms first, bend the knees second arrive together and give yourself a good pool. Let's go for seven more.

Inhale reach and exhale circle in and pull. Inhale out. And exhale circling in. Inhale out. An exhale circle in and inhale. And exhale, let's go for four more.

Inhale reach and exhale in. Inhale out, and exhale twice more, inhale out. And exhale in last time inhale reach, exhale in and rest your head for three, two, One. Let's bring hand on top of hand. Bring that behind the base of the head, curl the head neck and shoulders up up, up, good. Right leg up to the ceiling.

Left leg out towards me. Good. Let's turn both legs out, and we're gonna do a little bit of a scissor. Right? And it's gonna go back back because this, like, reaches change. 11. Yes. 22.

2 2. 3 3. 3 3 4 4. 4 4 1 hold there. Now reach up, grab ahold of here, bring the leg towards the hand and go one one change.

That's correct. And now let's change legs and go the other leg, pull, pull, change and pull pull. Pull pull. Two more. Pull pulling and exhale and exhale both knees and relax. Good. Now, for the next one, bring the feet down onto the mat. Bring your hands, place the hands underneath your hips.

So we're gonna go, maybe just a little bit lower with the hands. Great. We're gonna go back to that image of the double pen balance scale. But this time, one your ribcage are on one scale. Your pelvis is on the other scale. And so you wanna keep those scales balanced.

So knees into the chest. Then from there, you're going to extend both legs straight up to the ceiling. Now, what you're gonna do is you're going to not increase weight on the pelvis side, and she lower won't be a big movement, lower two, three, and lift up to 90 degrees. Good, and lower down to where you can control without increasing weight on the hands and lift up to 90. Yes. One more lower, lower, lower, and lift up to 90.

Mees in. Relax. Good. Bring the feet down. And now take the hands away. Bring the hands behind the base of the head. Then bring both knees into the chest, then both legs straight up to the ceiling.

Now you're going to imagine there's a bar right at your rib cage. Sorry about that. You're gonna round over the rib cage, rounding forward and go over over, over and roll back down. And again, round over the rib cage, round over, over, over, roll back down. Let's go for one more. Round over the ribs, go over, over, over.

Stay there. Now, double pan balance scale lower two, three, up to 90. And lower two, three, lift to 90. Let's do four more today. Lower two, three, lift.

And lower two, three, lift two more. Round over those ribs and lift. Yes. And one more time, lower two, three, lift. Mees in. Relax. Good. Alright.

Then from there, You're gonna bring the hands behind the head again. Now elbows down. Now for the next one, your temptation will be to lift your elbow up, but the elbow that we're twisting to, you wanna try to keep it down on the matte, even though it's not quite on the mat, but imagine it's on the mat. Alright. Matt's a little bit more narrow there. You're gonna bring the left side across the body. Yes. And they're gonna lead with this shoulder and go across across across. Now, hold there.

Let's open this elbow a little bit. And then lower down. Then let's go to the other side. Now, left elbow stays down. Right side goes across across across. Very nice and lower down. Good.

Then go across across across and lower down. And now across the other side across across across and lower. We're gonna go one more. Go across. Across across. Stay there with my clumsy self, then from there, you're gonna bring this knee into the chest. Right knee in. Then from there, left leg extends to 45 degrees.

Yep, and you can stretch this knee. Then from there, you're going to curl this right side. Up up up and hold it there for five. Strader here through four. Hold three.

Hold two. Hold one, knees in and relax. Good. I know that was crow. Now let's go to the other side, feet together, knees together hands behind the head, keep that left double, then go across, reach, reach, reach, then stay there. Now bring your left knee into the chest.

Then stretch the leg, lift that left shoulder up, often hold for five, hold four, hold three. But this time you don't lower, you're gonna switch and go to the other side and twist. Two three, change twist to three, change twist. Two, three, change twist, not too quick time twist. Right twist, left, twist, right, twist, left, knees in, relax. Very good.

Alright. Yes, that was a lot. So what you're going to do is you're gonna extend both legs out on the mat. You're gonna float both arms straight up to the ceiling. You're gonna draw the inner thighs together.

Then you're gonna roll up to your spine for five four three two one. Good. Let's bring the heels to the center of each of those blocks once again. Great. Then from there, you're going to have all 10 toes straight up to the ceiling. Great. I'm gonna just rotate you in just a little bit right there. And we're gonna go for spine's stretch, but we'll start it here today.

Engage the glutes, lift the spine, round forward, hands forward, stomach back, heels forward balls the feet back. Then from there, roll up to your spine, tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back, neck head. And again, lift, round over reach, rounding over that beach ball. Good. And then roll up to your spine. One vertebra at a time. Last time, lift round over and exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, inhale, roll up to your spine, one vertebra at a time to a nice tall back. Great.

Bring the legs together. Relax the arms down. Imagine there's a pillow on your lap. You're gonna rest your torso forward on that imaginary pillow. Just relax there.

Take a deep breath in. And a big exhale, exhale, exhale one more breath. Breathe in. Breathe out. Out. Out. Great.

Then from there, you're gonna roll up to your spine. Now, last week, we did a rolling like a ball and we started in a tabletop position. Let's go back to that position. So you're gonna hold on the back of your thighs, tabletop the legs, open the legs shoulder width. Now nice wide elbows.

Same thing we're gonna start with. So we're gonna rock back. As you come up, pull back through the ribs, those are the breaks of the car. And again, rock back too, and come up and pull through the ribs stay there. Now that looked good.

So keep this shape back nice and rounded, extend both legs. There we go. And then we're gonna open here. You're gonna externally rotate. Then you're good here. Same thing, rock back, and come up in balance for three.

Yes, two. One rock back, and come up in balance, and I'll hold it there. Anywhere between where your hands are now, to your ankles, anywhere in between. You can hold on to where you feel like you're gonna have the most control. Broad in the elbows, navel back to rock back, and come up in balance for three. Yes. Two.

One rock back, come up and balance and hold that position. This is good. Bring the inner thighs together. Now, don't change anything. You're good. Just pull through the ribs float the arms and reach forward, hold it there one. Yes. Hold it there two.

Hold it there three without touching my hands or roll backwards. Good, knees, and relax. That was a very good clue. I know there's a little panic there. But you did very good.

Alright. Now what you're gonna do is you're going to hug this. Great. And you're gonna have eight points of pressure into the mat now. Hands to, shoulders head, stomach hips. Then from there, similar to the single leg circle that we did, but it's two legs, and I'll circle right around left center.

Left around right center, on your own, right around left center. Left around right center, relax. You can bring the feet down. I'll take this from you, and then you're gonna scoot your body just a little bit to your right. Good. Now both knees into the chest, both legs up to the ceiling. We're gonna do the same thing, but now with extended legs and rotate it.

You're gonna circle the legs right around left center stop. Left around right center stop. Right. Left and center. Left down. Right one more set.

Right down. Left and center. Left down, right center, good bend the knees, and take a nice hug of your legs. Great. Then from there, you can bring the feet down. Great. I'm gonna have you flip over onto your stomach facing the back.

You're gonna bring your chin over the back edge of the mat. Good. Now, these that are on the side of the mat, those are your dowels. You're gonna elevate your hands one inch above those dowels. Then if you're not, if you're on the metric system, that'll be about 2.5 centimeters Then from there, you're gonna lift that upper body up, good, and lower the body down. And again, lift the upper body up, and lower down. Now imagine you're a turtle.

You're gonna peek out of it, your shell, lengthen to go out of the shell, then lift, then bring the hands onto the dowels, continue to rise as high as you can, which feels comfortable for you. Good. Then lower the body. When you can take the hands off, control the descent down. And again, open just a little wider that'll help you as well, lift the upper body. Then hands on the dowels can go up to your comfort.

Now stay there. Pull in and up through the abdominals, turn the head look right. Circle the head down. Look to the left. Look front. Yes. Look left.

Circle down. To the right. Look front. One more set. Right. Circle down. To the left.

And front, last time left, circle down to the right and front, lower the body. When you can take the hands off, control the descent, then hands onto the mat. You're gonna sit back into child's pose, sitting towards your heels, and you're just gonna relax here. Good. Is this okay on your knees? Great. Then from there, you're gonna go on to your stomach, and you're going to make a sphinx position just like this.

You're gonna push down with your fist, press down, push down with your elbows, legs together. Then bring your elbows a little bit more forward. Maybe just a hair more. Good. Now, what you're gonna do is you're gonna push down with your fist, down with your elbows, down with your shoulders, but lift up through the abdominals and ribs. Now, imagine my hand is the ceiling. You're gonna push your fist so hard into the mat that your elbows will lift up a little bit, and you're gonna touch here. Now, keep your head on the ceiling, but put your elbows to the mat.

Yes. And let's do that once again. Push your fist so hard in. Yes. Touch the ceiling. Keep touching the ceiling.

Pull your elbows onto the mat. Now, keep touching the ceiling with your head. You're gonna bend the right leg, kick, hilt or bottom. Kick, kick, now left leg. Kick, kick, and right, right. Left, left. I'm gonna take my hand away. Kick, kick, kick, but keep touching that imaginary ceiling and kick, kick, kick, kick, let's go for four more. Kick kick inhaling, inhaling, exhaling, exhaling, kick, kick, kick, one more kick, kick, kick, kick, lower the body.

Great. And then you can go into child's pose once again stretching out your back. Alright. So far so good. Great. Now, if your knees are feeling okay, keep your seat connected to your heels, roll up to your spine one vertebra at a time. If your knees were not okay, we'll just have you lift your hips up as you roll up. That was good, though.

Let's have you turn around. I'm gonna have you bring your feet underneath the strap here. Good. You're gonna open this time very wide. Great. Then from there, I want you to bring one arm around the waist, then the other arm around the waist, round forward over your forearms, but the head drop there.

So you make a tight little ball. There's an exercise similar to this on the reformer, cut the short box round. You're going to keep this round shape You're gonna roll back one vertebra at a time, bringing the sacrum to the mat. Then from there, round forward over your forearms. And again, rolling tailbone under.

Sacrum under. Now roll to the lower back. Lower oh, sorry. Let's go a little more lower back under, then round forward over your forearms. Now imagine there's a low ceiling.

Roll back tailbone under. Sacrum under, lower back under, middle back under, now round underneath the ceiling. Don't touch and not even the pony tail. There we go. And again, roll under tailbone under. Sacrum under, lower back under, middle back under, roll to the shoulder blades now, maybe a little bit more, and then roll underneath the ceiling, but over the forearms.

Once again, roll under tailbone under. Sacrum under, lower back under, middle back under, roll to the shoulder blades, and then roll back up. Now hands behind the base of the head. Keep the same rounded shape imagining that you're rounding over the forearms, roll under tailbone. Sacrum.

This time, we're gonna roll all the way down. Good now, round over your imaginary forearms underneath the ceiling. There we go. I know this is not my favorite exercise either. Then this time, roll up to a tall back. Now on this one, though, I call this position, what you might not know, Princess Leah. So princess Laya had these little things here. So bring hand on top of hand, bring that behind the head. Good.

And then try not to interlace either. Good. Now, roll down one vertebra. Add a time all the way down. Okay. Underneath the ceiling, rounding up. Oops. Someone took the scenic route a little bit, roll back down again. Now, yes, this exercise is hard. So I give allowable cheats.

So One allowable cheat is if it's hard, you can bring your elbows forward to come up. If that's still hard, elbows forward, and then just take your hands off gently to come up. If that's still hard, elbows forward, hands could come off, and then you can bend the knees a little bit. But just make sure you come right through the middle. All those cheats are allowable.

Okay? So rolling up, you could take any of those. Give that again. Someone went over to the right there. So you can allow the hands to come off a little bit.

So roll up hands off a little bit and bend the knees a little. That's it. And then round forward and stretch. And rolling up. This exercise is also my Achilles Hill, then roll down one vertebra at a time. If you need one of the allowable cheats, you can use it. And again, one more time, roll up Second time, it will usually be a little easier. That's better and round forward and stretch.

That's good. Then roll up to your spine. Lea. There we go. Now roll it down. One vertebra at a time all the way down, down, down.

Alright. That was good. Okay. Bring your legs together, scoot back a little bit, then reach the arms straight to the ceiling. Then from there, roll up to your spine for five four three two one. Yes. Let's take the feet out of the strap. You're gonna make a diamond with your legs and bring the soles of the feet. Yes.

Then you're gonna kind of dive through with your hands and then hold underneath. And we're just gonna do a simple rolling back and forth, like a ball, but in this position. So eventually, we're gonna clap with this, but today, we're just gonna roll. So curve under to find your balance, let the feet rise there. Good. Let the head drop down, and this is a little harder.

So to make it easier, you're going to when you roll up, think of your head really reaching forward. So rock back. As you come up, head comes forward. Yes. Rock back and head forward. And again, rock back crown of the head forward.

Let's go for three more tailwind under. Crown of the head forward, two more. And forward, let's go for one more. And forward, and I'll balance there. Two, three, you can let the feet rest down.

Let your head rest down. Forward. Sorry. Sorry about that. And then just rest front, relax there, relax the shoulders, take a deep breath in, and a big exhale, exhale. Exhale. One more breath.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Out. Out. Roll up to your spine one vertebra at a time. And, Chloe, you are done for today.

Thank you.