Find Your Way Reformer

Hi, everybody. I'm Christy Cooper. Welcome to class. Today's class is gonna be a performer using this small ball. My problem is a little squishy. If you've got a larger ball, then say this one. I think this is about seven inches across. Diameter.

I'm don't do metrics, so you can just visualize it. If your ball is a little bit bigger, you might have to deflate it a little bit for some of the stuff we're gonna do. So let's get started. Place the ball. Right. It's not directly at my ankles.

I'm putting it just a little bit above the ankles comfortably so, and it it just allows me to find my way. Where are my feet? I tend to roll out. Maybe you tend to roll in The feedback is sort of the point for me today with the ball. I think I'm gonna call this two steps backward, one step forward because there's gonna be a lot of oppositional forces that we're gonna play with. So right now, just feel the distance between your feet that is about right under your sits bones. And then just just an idea that you're going to imagine you're squeezing the ball, not from where the ball is, but from above it. So it's a subtle sense of the entire inner seam of your leg.

If that doesn't work for you, just think about it because that'll come up again. Arms her down. Just inhale. We're gonna do a forward roll down. I'm just turning so you can see that I start with my head. So will you? Rolling forward, leaving your arms attached to your collarbones. I don't drop to the floor, rounding forward. Oh, bend the knees when it's time mine need to now.

I'm really gonna bend them. And then as I straighten, them or getting near straight, I start to peel back up. Pealing back up. Just taking inventory so that you can start to feel the feedback of your own body. Inhale, arms are heavy. Exhale round forward.

It's like the bones are pulling you forward and you remind yourself that the muscles will support you along the way when needed and pretty much only when needed. Inhale, bend the knees. Exhale, start to roll up and straighten the knees as you come. Really sequentially as best you can rolling up. Looking for the tight spots, perhaps, looking for, the not so tight spots, keep going. Inhale. And exhale rounding forward.

Again, it that bring you back to that idea of the subtle sense of inner seam of the thigh, almost like I'm drawing the ball upwards inhale, and exhale roll it back up. Restacking, knees over ankles, hips over knees, pelvis over or hips over knees, ribs over, pelvis, inhale, exhale roll down. When you need the support, take it. It's not a ton of work, but your abs will kick in or they should perhaps. If you can get your hands to the floor, do, bend the knees as if you were bending from the middle of your back. Rounding your spine, heavy head exhale straighten.

Bend them again. We'll do two more. Kinda drawing the abdominals away from the thighs as you do. And straighten one more time. Bend. And straighten. From here, shift your weight a little bit forward because there's a real tendency to lean back for some of us.

Some of us meaning me. And feel for your bend the knees a little so that you can safely roll yourself back up, plugging those arms onto your back. And then from here, just let your arms come up in front. From your shoulder, turn them outward. Right? The ball is just there as a, again, tactile feedback. Open out to the side.

And we're not working hard right now. Sometimes we clench, we kind of draw, and we have to think we're working out, so we do too much. I'm gonna ask you to really reach wide. Like, let go to reach wide. You know, if you try it. If you really tighten, don't you feel everything kind of sucks into the spine?

Asking for a almost a neural stretch across the top of the arm. And then I come down. Do it again. Inhale up. Flip the arms from the shoulder joint. Take it out. Like, you're serving it up. Reach longer. Body still in alignment.

And come down. Other way, take it up. If you want a little more neural stretch, if you've been on the computer, like, I kinda have to try to point those fingers down, you can relax and bring them forward. And now one more time out when you get out to that easy, but kind of more of I feel more sensation. Rotate the fingers down. Okay. Just for fun.

Not really for fun, but let's try it anyway. So my fingers are pointing down. I'm just spinning the hands so that my fingers go downwards. Try to put them on your ear. Oh, nice, ulmer, ulmer stretch. On our nerves fresh, I guess.

And then just take it out. Okay. Go ahead and pick up the ball. We are getting started with some more movement. I have the a heavy load for me for leg spring set. So for me, on balanced body, it means four springs, they happen to be three red and blue, four springs and another reformer would work or less.

So it just set yourself up for foot and leg work. And then I'm leaving the bar here because I know I'm headed shortly. Have a seat. Kind of probably close to the front edge. We're gonna do a pelvic curl with a ball in between I'm sorry.

Come back up. This will be more fun. Ball between your knees. Hold on to the bar if you need to if it's locked, or maybe better still hold on behind your legs. Take an inhale. My feet are on that bar.

We're not using the feet. We're trying to roll the pelvis back, just a seated rollback. Settle again, squeeze of the ball, not necessarily where the ball is, but above the ball or or even below the ball. Inhale. Start the exhale. You can use your arms. Right? Get those shoulders over your hips and then you can straighten up.

Or you can try. Inhale. Exhale. The front hip bones pull away. The ball is just there for you to know it's there. To hold on to it, don't let your knees play. You look for that low back.

Inhale. Start the exhale and come on up. And if you use the arms, go ahead and use them. Kind of pulling them apart, but then you have to keep the ball and where it is. Inhale, exhale down. And this is an inventory check again.

Are you gripping your feet Are you pressing hard with your feet? Because no one would know given you have heavy springs on, you've loaded the carriage sit tall at the top, and exhale roll back. Soften where you can. So that you can be stronger where you need it. And down again. Hold it here.

Letting go of your right arm. Just float it up. Try not to fall back on the shoulder rest. X. I'll bring it down and hold on. You're gonna need to in a minute, maybe.

Other arm up, inhale just straight up. And back down. Hold. Still holding up ball. Right? Inhale. Start the exhale.

Come back up. Stay curved until you get shoulders over hips straighten out. You can even switch your hands to the front of your knees so you can sit really tall. And let's go down again. Notice where you wanna let go of the ball, deepen your tuck. One arm up. It doesn't matter which.

Exhale down. Trying not to fall back at all. That's the idea. Going back to go forward. Starting the same hold, inhale.

Start exhaling to come forward. Stay around it. I'm still hold rotating back to come forward and lift one more each way. There's a point where you well, for me anyway, I'm just gonna remind you to re tuck. It's okay to tuck here. One arm up.

Exhale down. Other arm up. Again, it's okay to use the arm. It doesn't help that much in this case. They'll support arm. Exale come up.

And lengthen. Last one, roll back. I'm gonna scoot forward a tiny bit. Adjusting for comfort. And because I think I'm actually loosening up a bit here. Little picking arm up.

Exhale. So the height really depends on how much you can hold yourself. You can go way back if you want. Inhale, hold. Start the exhale. Come on. Hoo. Heating up already. Head rest is down.

So let's go down and do a few pelvic curls and really get this party started. So I am touching the shoulder rest, but I'm I could be a little bit away. For now, I'm putting my feet on the platform. Trying to keep him straight ahead. Again, I'm holding the ball, but we could do weird things with our feet. So I'm gonna suggest you pay attention to that inhale. You could be on your heels.

I'm on my arches. I exhale to start the peel of the pelvis with the app. Once you get to the about the low back, you're gonna come up and reach those knees as if they could go over that foot bar. Step into those arches or heels. Inhale from your throat, you roll back down. One, and two, I don't know why I'm counting three. And let's do it on fours. Inhale.

Start the exhale. So really just notice when you start, here's one, you start to feel the abdominals kick in, then you know when you need your legs. And by the way, now you need both. Stay here for one second. Inhale, retuck or recommit to the pubic bone going towards your sternum. Mhmm. Oh, there your hamstrings, inner thigh, hold that ball, step into it more in that shape. Oh, and if you cramp, just shake it out.

Can't help you there. I'm on the verge. Come on down. Sequentially again. And now with all the out all the talking, let's do a couple more, start the exhale.

What do you need to get you up into this high slant board position? Give you a tip. Press into the back of your arms too, not to thrust your ribs, but just support you. Come on down. I had to watch my feet.

I tend to roll out, but I'm not going to on this next one. Again, it's not about how hard you squeeze the ball. It's about the reminder of that in or see me. You bring it in so that you can go up and down. We'll do one more. It's your chance to soften the neck a little.

It gets harder as you go up, but you you can remind yourself that we don't have to hold on to so much when we're warming up. And down we go. Alright. Folks, if your bar is locked, you can use your feet to help you up. I'm gonna just try and rock myself up. And we're gonna take the ball now.

I still have it. Not changing the springs. I'm gonna take the ball higher up on my or up on my back right around. I want to say shoulder blades, but that might be too high. We're gonna do a chest lift. So you're gonna go back over the the ball and then up, hands behind your head.

I laced my fingers fully, not kind of, come committed. My feet are parallel, and we inhale to reach back. Now this might be the one or two rep you have to figure out where you need to be. I I kinda land between the shoulder blocks. If you don't, you might have to scoot forward. You could even put your feet over the bar. And then we curl. Okay.

Situate yourself and now inhale to go back. Doing our best. Enjoy the extension. We're not really changing the pelvis here. That that is key for where we're going.

Start the exhale. In fact, just use your head. Like, your neck is starting the curl. Then here's where the ball is fun. Remember, I said that. You're gonna start pressing backwards into the ball. I don't mean with your feet. I mean with your spine just to make the curve you want.

So at the high point, like, right here, right when you're in that right under the chest line, try to pop the ball. Just no feet. Shouldn't have a minute there, but just try to push back and notice how it forces you forward a little bit. Let's go back. So this part is lovely. Start the Excel try not to tuck your pelvis.

It's a big difference. You wanna keep that stable. Press into the ball. Press into the ball. Press into the ball. And and by the way, your head is still comfortably in your hands. Take it back.

Roll the chin first. Those neck flexors matter. And then you can start pressing down. It almost feels good, doesn't it? When you try to push backwards to go forward, it's like, oh, my upper back isn't as tight as I thought it was. Well, maybe not that.

Me anyway. And roll the neck up, we come up, up, up, and back. We're add on. Exale to curl your neck. We press into the ball. From here, reach the arms forward.

Earlier I said something about keep your arms on your collar bones. What I mean by that is if your collarbones are pointed straight to the side, your arms can go forward without you reaching the shoulder forward. They just stay where they were. Now we press back into the ball with our front, really, to pulse. I mean, honestly, the more I think about pushing into the ball, the more curve I get.

Play with that for about four more. Keep the curve. Put your hands behind your head and take it down. Back into that expanded chest lift position, exhale curl up, head neck and shoulders. Reach the arms forward. Gonna change things a little here.

I turned my arms open like we did in the beginning of class, and now I'm gonna reach back with that right arm or pick one. But the last arm is the one I'm thinking about as if someone were pulling me forward, still pressing into the ball. Bring it back. Go the other way. Left arm reaches out. Look at it. Look at it.

But imagine someone was pulling you with that right arm or forward arm. And bring it back. Arms go up and behind your head. And take it down. Make any adjustments you need to.

That's what happens with the ball. We go back and chest lift up. At the end of that exhale, just extend your arms, going the opposite direction or whichever way you want. Reach, rotate. And the more you rotate, the more that forward arm is trying to help you as if someone were standing at the end and come back, other side, rotate. Look at it. Oh my goodness.

Center hands go up behind your head and down. It would be good of me to tell you I am bracing a little with my feet, but I'm not trying to push. They're just they're anchored there, which does helps. It does help. Curl up, arms forward, pick a side, rotate.

We're only doing one more each way. They're right here. Try to push backwards into the ball to lift you just to touch more. Come back. Other arm. Come back, arms up, put them behind your head, and down.

Okay. Help yourself up at least to a level position, and then you can come off. Returning the ball to the knees or just above the knees for that foot and leg work, I promised you a while back. I put my head rest up. It's up to you where you wanna keep it. I'm starting on the heels. And the pressure I have on the ball is not right at the knee. It's it's a little higher than that.

And again, it just reminds me that the space above it is the where I want some of the energy to start connecting me to the middle of my body. Arms are down, strong, collar bones wide push out, fully extend, and bring it back. Next day, I'll push it out, and bring it back. And and sometimes when the ball is between the knees or near the knees, I've noticed people don't straighten them. So I'd like you to just check.

You can look or just prove it. I'm not suggesting you lock and rest, but I am suggesting full straight as if you were standing. Always good to remind yourself that the tailbone's heavy. The spine isn't moving here. We're pretty focused here on the legs and stability. Let's just do one more out and in.

And both feet at the same time, again, your spine's not gonna change down to the balls of the feet. As best you can, just flex your feet here for a second. And then we're gonna lift off that, not to the high point, but somewhere in the middle, and you're gonna keep that. Arms are down. The the ankles, the the heels don't go up and down. That's what I'm trying to say.

I'm doing the same exercise pressing all the way up pulling in my mind myself back to that football. This one, in particular, paying attention to the toes, what are they doing? The ball will tell you a lot You'll find out which knee lands first sometimes a ball swivel. Like, mine just did. Alright. Then coming in, we're gonna press right back out.

Same thing. Lower both heels. Lift both heels. Bend in. Again, out. Lower both heels.

Try to keep your feet on the bar, meaning all 10 toes, five toes each side and back. It's out, lower down, lift, up, pull, and sort of a sense of solid, a solid stability in front of your body, so you're not letting the ribs flare. Down and f. So I'm pressing the straight legs lower the heels, lift the heels, and home. Press it out.

Lower, lift and homeward is staying out. Hold. Let's just lower the heels and lift the heels. Lower the heels and maybe think if the rest of your body is stable, which I'm sure it is, really start to think I'm gonna push the ball of the foot into the bar. I might even be thinking, like, my hamstrings could help lift my heels. It might not, but it could.

If I think about it, if I just think about my hamstring at all. Okay. One more time. And bend the knees. Okay. Let's do it. I'm gonna place the ball between the heels and the toes are wide.

Settle back into your neutral pelvis. This is basically what some people would start the foot and leg work with, but now there's this ball. Let's have some fun with it. Push out. Squeezing from the heels, right, or really almost the ankles and come back in and out.

And in. Having fun yet? Yeah. If not, hopefully, you're exploring or you're getting curious about why the ball does what it does or why you're even using it. But I have found that tactile feedback really helps. Just doing a couple more here. And bring it all the way back in.

Alright. From here, we're gonna sit up to change our springs. Down to what you wanna have in your arms to do ab work. I do two springs, but they're it's red and below. So it's It's medium heavy from my arms. That's all.

Some people might need a little bit more. Alright. So we lie down. The ball is gonna end up at your ankle, so you might as well do that now. I'm slightly away from my shoulder rest. Taking the straps from behind you into the middle of the palm of your hand. Alright.

First things first, just hold that. I have a a subtle tension on the on the straps. It's even pulled me ever so slightly off the bar. I just wanted you a little rotation. So let's go to your right.

The left foot will come up to keep the knees level. Keep the arms straight up too. Then gently press into that ball to bring it back. Other way, stable at top. Hit lifted. Oh, I pushed harder on that side, and then just a subtle squeeze back.

I'm only doing two more. I just want a little bit more rotation. So sometimes it helps me flex a bit more. And I'm hoping it does that for you too. Last one.

Okay. From air. Take the feet off the bar. We are first, just lower those absolutely straight arms almost to the mat, wrists are straight. Are you sure? And he'll bring it back up like you're pushing the arms through water, start the exhale and lower them down.

And up. This is sort of a prep for where I'm heading. So if you want to, you could extend your legs here and just stay down with your upper body or not extend the legs at all. But here we go, we are going to curl up and extend the legs on the diagonal. So curl up.

And reach those arms. That this is another one of those places where the more I reach my arms forward, the more I can curve because it's like I'm pushing backwards to go forward, Ben, the knees come down. So it's like imagine the ball was behind your shoulder blades again and come down. Two more. Keep reaching.

And, this time, we'll stay up. From here, reach the lakes up to 345 down. 2345. Email. And try to keep the hips still. Come on. Come on.

Stay strong. And by strong, I don't really mean the legs. I mean reach forward. Press the spine into the mat. The upper back or the shoulder blade part. Two more. Benjamin knees. Come on down.

Right. For the moment, we're just gonna move the ball. Okay? Take it off to your side. Don't let it roll away because it will be back. And then here, my hand's going back in the straps.

What I wanna do is you can use your legs, but Yeah. Just use your legs to straighten yourself out. It's light. Right? Now curl yourself up and try to find the tension in the strap. Alright? I'm gonna take my feet a little higher for that, but I'm reaching forward.

Then I'm gonna take the right leg up to three, four, five, and down. Two, three, keep reaching forward, left leg. Two, three, four, five, and down. Two, three, four, five. Right? Keep curling forward. Try to grab that foot bar. And down. By the way, you could push down on the straight leg on bar. I use that for help.

Why not? Take the help where you can get it. Here we go. And last one, From there, bend the knees, come down. Going up again. This time, you don't need the bar so much, but think about that feeling, curl up again, legs are out, one leg lower right over the bar, and scissor. Two, three of just alternating legs. Email, inhale, exhale.

They're straight leg. Email, inhale, exhale, exhale, and inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale bend the knees. Come on. Help yourself up, find your ball. Wait. We're going down placing ball.

I wanna say sacrum. I am gonna say sacrum. On same springs. And it's it's comfy, putting my headrest back down. So try to make it as centered as possible.

You'll adjust when you need to. But with a subtle sense of the tailbone, dropping over the ball rather than being the ball being so low you couldn't do that. So it's it's a sacrum blowback. Let's go with that. Okay.

Carefully, of course, you're gonna press out because it's a whole new world with a ball. I grabbed my strap. Sorry if I didn't say that. I grabbed my straps in my hands. I pressed out the straight, put one foot in with a knee bent.

And then that foot is gonna straighten so I can reach the other one. And then they're both straight for a second. Got my feet in the middle of the, the straps in the middle of my feet. We come into a frog position again with that subtle sense of a tilt over the ball. Arms are down for frog.

Again, just take a moment if you've done this exercise a million times and settles your back into the ball. It gets almost like the abs try to pop the ball. From behind, not by tucking. It's just a an idea of that tactile sensation. That's where things kinda start.

Not so much the back, but what could I do to stay in full contact with this ball? Of course, the heels are together. I kinda like it up on this angle because I could bend a little deeper without that tuck. Next one, stay out there, like, hinging at the hips. You can let the legs come up a little.

They don't have to be really high. Circle downwards open and come together. Down. Open. Just notice the difference by having the ball. It's like sometimes I think the energy or the intention goes to the extremity that's attached to something. So I like to sometimes think even without the ball that the straps are higher up, and my feet are a little soft.

It brings it higher into my hamstrings a little mic glute. Does make it somewhat harder to get deals together. At the top, stay there and let's reverse it open out down and around. If you're feeling really controlled, you could go lower and almost get a stretch through those hip flexors. I'm not really advocating for that today, but Just telling you.

Nice and smooth. Stern up that hip joint. About three more. And ideally, the ball hasn't moved much. You might be moving on the ball, but, ideally, I think this is it.

One more. Okay. If you have to adjust the bulb, please do make it so it feels like you're secure to a point. The leg bones are turned outward. We're just gonna open out to the side.

We call them openings. And then reach them back together without raising or lowering them. It's almost like if all you cared about was I'm in contact with the ball. I'm not wobbling, and let's just get my heels to come back together. You'll get the work a little quicker.

Another way to say that is my legs aren't really tense. They're kinda going along for the ride, and I'm hoping it's a smooth one. Okay. Little short spine from the ball. Make sure your head rest is down.

For the fact that the ball, you're going to leave the ball on this one eventually. I turned my thumbs of my whole arm externally rotated. So thumbs go up toward the ceiling. Kinda creates a little bit of a wall. They could stay down, but that's what I like to do.

So I can catch that ball if I need to. Alright. Start from where we are. We're at this 45. We're gonna roll over hinge over. Stay in the ball as long as you possibly can, hopefully, all the way to the stopper.

Now once again, you're pressing down into the ball first to lift yourself up, up, you're coming off that ball at some point and nice and long, resistance, not by pulling, but be still on the straps, bend a frog, and start to roll down. Roll down. You may end up having to readjust your ball. A little bit. Not much. Yeah. Not much. And bring the frog over.

Press out to straight hinge over. Feel that stretch. It should be a tiny bit easier, actually, if you've got tied hamstrings. Press down first. I mean, that's everything in Pilates.

It's like the that contraction and whether it's a rollback. Anyway, I'm getting excited. Roll up. Roll up. Barrier the ball. Ben to frog.

Your back doesn't change there. You can lower the knees really low or just keep the shape of your spine. Then we draw the thighs closer to us. We find the ball. We come on over. And a couple more at least.

Let's go folding over. Peeling up. Up up. Bend the frog from your throat roll down, looking for that cushion of the ball. And the frog position comes over again, push out two more.

Over. That's the hinge. Peel up, up, up. Ben to frog, roll down, seeking to find the ball, and heels come over. Last one, press out, hinge over.

Peel up up up. Ben, be careful not to look too much at your abs because sometimes up it's our neck in a weird spot. We roll down. We find the ball. We bring it over.

I'm guessing, well done, folks. Take one foot out. Remember, I kept the other foot, bent straighten the that one you just freed to find the foot bar, and then you take the other foot out, put the straps away. And my favorite part. Just lift your hips up off the ball, take the ball out, roll your spine back down. Tell me that doesn't feel good.

It's like you're in a hole. I love it. It's just that proprioception. Again, feedback. I feel good. Let's get ourselves up, please.

We're going into another stretch. It's the Eve lunge. Drop yourself to one spring if you're on one and a half, like me, one red. And now put your foot at the shoulder block as close to it as you can. Meaning the heel touches, if you can.

It's it's it's an effort for me. Like, forty years effort, but I'm really proud of it right now because that means my toes can also move. Anyway, I digress. The front foot, the foot on the floor is gonna go pretty far forward. And I'm placing the ball right in front of my thigh. I might adjust it as I go. But, essentially, again, I'm looking for this feedback.

So to start this with the hands on the bar, chest is lifted as possible. Pre I wanna press the foot back into the shoulder rest simultaneously kind of biasing towards a posterior tuck or pubic bone towards sternum. It doesn't mean my back is gonna round, but I have intention going that way. Alright. With that, I am actually gonna push back with the foot, feeling my thigh into the ball and holding the stretch. So again, if you've let your back go or you've let the pubic bone kinda relax, keep where your foot is and imagine you were gonna pull the pubic bone closer to your chest.

From there, just extend your forward leg, the one on the ground. So as best you can, press into the heel. I did flex my foot on that side, the down side to try and find that hamstring stretch. Hips are square. I'm gonna suggest to a lot of people who get too far into this. To hold back a little, make sure you've done sort of the tailbone in the air.

Sometimes you even feel it more if you slightly bend the forward knee on the ground, just so you can keep your back in that alignment. Alright. Set the forward the foot on the ground down, come in again. You're either gonna repeat the same one where you push back and hold, or you could keep pushing back where that knee came off and you try to maintain contact with the ball. And try not to hang on your arms. Try to be graceful. No.

Don't try. Just be. And allow the need to come back to the carriage, come on in, and let's just walk around to do the other side. Very different feel right now. This one's gonna be fun. Alright. Put your foot on the shoulder block. I've got my forward foot, the foot on the ground, pretty far forward, the leg of the reformer, And with the body and sort of that down stretch lovely position, arms is, you know, just free. Just use them for balance, really.

And then let's just press back. So in my peripheral sense in my proprioceptive sense. I'm I'm really just sinking down in my body. My leg's going back, but it's not about the the actual journey there. And do you see how if you kinda stay focused on ever so slightly more pressure into the ball than you might be thinking if it weren't there? I think you get more out of it. Alright.

Straighten that forward leg. You will put your chest to probably tilt forward. Looking for a long, spine, long leg pulling that hip back, adjust it so you feel a hamstring stretch. And then come forward, the foot just drops back down on the ground. And we're gonna do the same stretch again, or you have that option of once you've gotten into that stretch, if you wanna keep pushing the carriage.

Oh, wee. And try to keep contact with that ball and stay lifted and look proud, all the things. Oh, that's good. And bent, and come on home. Okay.

It's time for a little bit of arm work. So same spring. Yeah. Same spring. Some of you may wanna go heavier. I'm still on the one red.

The ball is gonna do the thing. It has been doing much of this class, which is just to keep us in alignment and remind ourselves of where the center is. The center isn't just the trunk, but we can create more of one to help us be stable. I'm coming up against the shoulder rest to do my chest extension. So I reach up a little higher than the buckles.

The ball just kinda gives me a little bit of security once I'm focused on it, shoulders over hips, and we draw the arms down and back hug those arms together and go down and forward just a little bit in front of you. Kinda just it's almost like an arcing motion or it feels like that to me. If I were just looking at my hands, it seems like they go down and up, down and forward. Trying to maintain sort of the infinity of energy. In other words, it doesn't I don't pull harder on any at any moment during this. Trying to keep the resistance so I can do fewer.

How much tension is in your upper body, not counting your arms, soften and pull. Next one. Stay back there for a second. And Think of rolling the shoulder blades together. Arms are so straight. You can almost touch your knuckles to the carriage.

That was a exaggeration. And pull back a little more. Slightly release a little more. Slide release a little more. Slightly release one more and carefully bring yourself out of that.

I'm turning this around for circles. You could you can put the ball down if you want, but I really do like this idea of it's not just my feet, my knees, but this whole center line. Alright. I am lightning it to one blue. To me, I'd call that, like, a half a spring or a light spring, reaching back to pick up the handles. Arms are straight. Again, trying to get my feet backwards.

And I am using I am sensing to press backwards so that I can use the front of my body more efficiently. So see if that means anything to you. Circle the arms, palms up right up overhead, not behind you, and come down the side, and again, nice and stable. Nice and fluid. Breathe however you want.

Up. Try not to let the knees get out from underneath you. You're going back with it, and you're in charge. I'm gonna reverse it here. This is a reminder. This one's can be tougher.

Make sure your hands are a little bit in front of you. If they get behind you, it's not only not fun. A little more dangerous and come down. So my arms are facing forward when I get up top, I naturally not so naturally. I turn the arms so palms go up so I don't get caught up in the straps. Up.

Turn and come down. And up. Turning come down and up. Turn and come down. You hear something's changing.

My voice, stay up there. It's index finger. And thumb touching each other, you set your hands behind your head. Oh, I shouldn't have tucked my chin like I just did. So I'll tell you don't do what I do.

Keep your heads looking straight ahead. And we're doing tricep, basically. Nice, broad shoulders. So this is not one I'm trying to point the elbows forward. I'm trying to get some more stability in the shoulders, actually. And not just the tricep.

And let's make this the last one. Separate your arms carefully. Let them come down the side. And then I'm gonna add back on the red spring. I'm actually gonna leave the blue on.

It's a bit much, but I love this one for the stretch it gives too. If your feet get tired, you can just move them forward and rest on the ball, the tops of your feet. So here we go. Roll those shoulders back. This time we do want those elbows nice and high, the body totally upright.

I bring my hands in near my shoulders. Do your best not to point the elbows out to the side. Keep them pointing back. And then from there, the upper arm does not move. Upper arm, right, upper arm.

And you've straightened and then bend again to the same position. Bicep was a beautiful chest opener. This is one, like, if all I did, I probably walked taller every single day. But there's so many more. Keep it going.

How about three more one? And two and that's the reason thing. You gotta be careful when you're done because it's like, oh, I made it. Help yourself out carefully. Carriage hits the stopper and you put the straps away.

Okay. We're getting there. Let's go for One more thing here. We'll do a little knee stretch. Again, just as a as feedback. I'm leaving my red and blue on. Again, a lot of people might be more used to two full springs. So feet are back in that position again.

Good for the feet. And as best you can, sit back. So I have the ball between my knees, sit back. And then peel, curl the tailbone up off your heels, but I'm still basically sat backwards a bit. I could take my hands off.

Until I start the exercise. Squeezing the ball, not where it is, but above it slightly. And how you push the feet back without unfurling the spine and exhale pull in and in. Just a knee stretch. It's almost like I don't know. It's sometimes it's there's a lot going on in any stretch, and there's so much to get out of it. So, again, this ball helps me to think, where am I really bending?

Or my knees doing all the work, not so much. And that'll do from there. Let's flatten it out. A little bit bigger. Your head comes up. Your back is basically flat.

In and push and in and push and in and push. Last one is there from there. Just lean yourself forward, lift yourself up. Keep the ball there. Look down under the ball. Take a moment and really kind of push away from the bar with your arms or shoulders and then drop your weight back into it.

Tail bone up. It's okay if you bend your knees a little, just keep them that way if you do. And now from the back of the legs, push back, exhale in. Push back, exhale in. Back, exhale in. If I can remind you that sense of drawing the ball upwards, it's truly just a sense. It's like trying to take everything to the middle.

That'll do from here. Just spin around the shoulders, press yourself into a plank and hold. In her thigh, a little more than maybe you normally might, from the middle of your body, just bike up. Let your chest go back so you line up with those arms again and press out. So the body rotates around the arms, but the arms themselves don't move much.

And back, and hit it. And pull back. I'm inhaling hold. Exhale to lift me back. One more while sort of bring it back. Go into the plank once again and then hold now.

Travel forward inner thigh. You don't have to hit the stopper travel back. Coming forward. It's that idea that I think was Corolla Triair, one of our elders said from hips to heel, your piece of steel. So this this ball helps me with that.

I think Romana said it too. It's it's it's good stuff. Just thinking about other places than just your abs or just your back or just your legs. Etcetera. Alright. That'll do. Bring it into that pyramid shape, and we can just step down and grab our boxes.

You're gonna need the ball. So keep it nearby. So I'm just lining up in the long box position. I could take the foot bar down. I'm trying to think if I was gonna use it again.

It's fine if you don't. Because it is it's another tactile feedback. You could just, you'll feel it if your legs are getting too low. I am going to one red spring. So boxes on long box position.

Which is on this side of the shoulder rest on the carriage. And then to get into this, this is your last superhuman trick. You're gonna put the ball between your ankles Maybe a tiny bit higher again, so you can really grab it. And we're gonna turn over. Good luck. So I just shift to one side.

Don't think too much about the ball because you can hold it. You don't have to if you squeeze it too hard, you'll probably lose it. And then come on to your stomach with your chest just near the edge. Ligs out straight, grab your straps. We're doing pulling straps. Just outside the frame.

You can wrap if you want. Color bones wide. Before we do anything, I'm holding the frame for the moment. Before we do anything else, draw your abdominals up away from the box. Think for a moment that your collarbones match the width of the box, meaning they're straight. Then with straight legs lift them a little as if that bar was still there.

You're gonna hover there. Then we drag those arms down and bend the knees. You can slightly lift your chest if you want. You don't have to straighten the legs and go back to the start position. We drag pull arms go right up next to your body.

And keep those legs lifted. What'd you feel those hamstrings too today? You're bum, why not? And I said you're bum, not you're bum, and pull pull pull. And stretch your legs and pull and stretch and pull hold. Arms are high. Squeeze those shoulder blades, arms in close to the body, lift the knees up, lift the knees up, pulsing up, up strong wrists, up, up, up, and up straighten the legs. Let the arms come back to the starting position.

You can reach back and grab the ball or you can just let it drop, come off the side. And let's finish like we started without the ball. Imagine the ball. You got that. You can walk around all day thinking where's the ball, feet apart comfortably, inhale, exhale round forward. So, like, even here, even here, you have it maybe hopefully a sense of if there were a ball at my low back, I would be more supported in the front.

And, just one more. XL roll down. Inhale, exhale roll up. Flow the arms up to chest height. Turn the arms out.

Reach out. Lift the chest a little bit this time. And just drop the arms. Swing. We'll do that one more time. Arms up in front.

Turn him over. Reach out. You could do the hand stretch to see if it's different or just drop it out and be glad you took the time for yourself. Thank you. See you next time.