Wake and Activate Mat

Hi. I'm Zola. This is a prenatal wake and activate mat class meant to work all sides of the body without putting any pressure on the abdominals, of course. As you go throughout your pregnancy, you'll notice things getting tighter, organs getting squished, and this is just meant to open all of that up and feel really nice. I'm using an over ball today, and that's it. Let's get started. Find a comfortable seated position.

I'm just gonna rest my hands on my legs. You can close your eyes if you want, and we're just going to breathe. Any way you wanna breathe, in through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the nose, whatever you want just to focus your mind on the practice. So Let's take a deep inhale, and exhale, let it go. A couple more of those inhale.

And exhale. One more time, breathe in. And out. For these next couple of breaths, I want you to really focus on hugging the baby into your body on your exhales using those deep core muscles. So take a deep breath in through the nose.

And as you exhale, really hug your baby in towards your spine, activating those deep core muscles. One more time like that, inhale. And exhale hug your baby. Beautiful from here going into some neck mobility. So let's drop the chin down toward the chest.

Circling the neck, ear to shoulder. Head goes back, ear to other shoulder, and drop the chin back down to the chest going to the other side. Let's do that one more time each side ear to the shoulder. Head goes back. Ear to the other shoulder, chin to the chest one more time.

Good. From here, place your hands down onto the mat. I'm gonna take my ear to my shoulder again, and that opposite hand's really gonna push down into the mat. So you can really feel that neck stretching. Now, very gently, take your hand Give yourself a little bit of traction. Very gentle. And then turn your head down toward your armpit and gently pulling the back of the head, opening up the back of the neck.

You can face forward and let that go go to the other side ear to opposite shoulder. Press that opposite hand down into the mat. And then gently take that hand for a little bit of traction. A gentle, gentle pull on the neck. Be very careful with that cervical spine. And then you can look down toward the armpit, gently pull on the back of the head.

And look to the front, and bring your head center. From here, reach both arms up to the ceiling. Grab your wrist. Pull that arm up toward the ceiling and over into a side bend. Try to keep both hips heavy into your mat.

Opening up those ribs. I know when I was pregnant, my ribs got very, very tight, very, very painful, and every day, every day that I woke up, I just felt stuck. So this should open all of that up. Good. Come up to center. Grab your opposite wrist, really pull that arm up to the ceiling before you go to the other side, dropping that hip down into the mat.

And open your arms out to the side, going into another side bin. I'm placing my elbow down on the floor and reaching up and over. Again, opposite hip really pressing down into the match shoulders away from the ears. Now adding a little rotation, I'm gonna look up to the ceiling, twisting my ribs up to the ceiling, and circle my arm back and around. My chest goes down to the floor as my arm comes down. And back to center.

Let's do that two more times this direction. Good. Reverse that. So chest down to the mat first. Circle the arm down. Tort the back. Open the chest to the ceiling and back to the front.

I'm gonna add a little breath to that inhale here. Exhale. Open it up. And back to center one more time. Open that chest to the sky, shoulders down. And back to center, push yourself back up to the center arms reaching long.

And let's go to the other side. So reaching up and over elbow down to the mat, pressing that opposite hip down into the mat. And then we start our little arms circle. So inhale twist the ribs up to the sky. Exhale circle the arm down and around chest to the floor and back to center.

One more this direction. And then go the other way. So chest to the floor first, circle that arm down and around. Good. I'm exhaling here. Inhale to open.

And back to center one more this direction. Back to center, push yourself back up. Good and rest your arms. Placing my hands back on my thighs, going into a little seated cat cow. So take a deep inhale rounding the spine, curling the tailbone under. And then inhale lift the chest.

Exhale round. Inhale chest to the sky. Let's do a couple more of these, exhale round. Inhale lift. Last one, exhale. And inhale lift, opening the chest, lifting the chin, and come back to neutral.

Okay. Let's take it down to the floor. As you get further along in your pregnancy, keep in mind how you put yourself down on the floor, It's better to lie down on your side first, and then flip over onto your back. Just be gentle with yourself. If you feel uncomfortable lying flat on your back later on in your pregnancy, Prop yourself up on a couple of pillows or use a wedge. Otherwise, we won't be here for very long.

Feed are flat on the mat, hip distance apart in parallel. Let's take an inhale. Don't move. And as you exhale, curl the pelvis under, smooshing a grape with your low back into the mat. Inhale release that.

Exhale curl the tailbone under pelvic tilting, smooshing a little grape with your low back. Inhale release. Exhale pelvic tilt. Inhale release. XL, pelvic tilt.

One more time. Inhale. And exhale. Let's go back to a neutral spine going into bridging. So this time, inhale curl the tailbone under and exh hale, continue to lift those hips up to the ceiling, pushing the feet down into the mat as the hips rise. Make sure to use those adductors and make sure the knees aren't splaying open to the side as the hips lift higher.

Inhale here at the top, exhale articulate the spine down, melt the sternum, the ribs, the waist, the hips, and release that tailbone. Again, inhale curl the tailbone under. Exhale roll it up. Inhale at the top. Exhale articulate down.

Bridging always felt really good for me when I was pregnant because I got to articulate that spine, get my spine moving because as I got further along, it could move less and less. So this is your chance to move it around. Inhale here. Now just because it feels nice, we're gonna add a raise of the arm. So curl the tailbone under on your inhale.

Exhale, lift those hips. Once you're at the top, reach those arms up and back. Inhale here. Exhale roll the spine down with your arms reaching behind you. Feels really nice. Once your hips are down, the arms come back down by your side. One more time like that.

Inhale curl the tailbone under, exhale roll the spine up. Push into those heels. Reach the arms back. Inhale here. XL articulate the spine down, sternum, ribs, waist, hips. Once your hips are down, the arms come down.

Good. Keeping your test down if you're twenty weeks or later in your pregnancy for the hundred. Remember, the hundred is a breathing exercise. So focus on the breathing, focus on the stillness of the rest of the body as you pump your arms. If you are twenty weeks and earlier, you may lift your chest if you feel comfortable doing that. So from here, lift your arms up to hip height, keeping your head down, inhale for five, and exhale for five. Excel, two, three, four, five.

Since we're not lifting the chest off of the mat if we're twenty weeks and later, you can focus on other things like that gentle squeeze of your glutes, like pressing your feet down into the mat to engage the backsides of the legs, like hugging your baby to your spine with every exhale. Like pushing your back ribs into the mat. That's a gentle reminder to myself too. Sholders down the back trying to touch the fingertips to the opposite wall in the room. Two more breaths.

Inhale and exhale. Inhale and exhale. Let it all out. And rest everything down. Now coming up to the elbows, I am going to turn to my side first, of course, push myself up, and then prop myself up on my elbows. From here, make sure you're not trying to push your low back down into the floor.

We're keeping a nice long spine here. The legs are still hip width apart. The shoulders are reaching away from the ears. Going into a march. Just lifting one leg up, keeping it parallel for now, and then putting it right back down.

The goal here is to keep the pelvis and the hips nice and steady. We want to exhale to march up. Inhale to lower down. Exhale lift. Inhale lower.

Good exhale hug the baby to the spine. Inhale down. Exhale. Inhale. From here, maybe it feels better for you to turn the legs out. So with a slight external rotation, continue your marching one leg at a time.

Continue pushing those forearms into the floor so that we're not sinking down into the floor. Again, exhale right leg. Inhale, lower down. Exhale left leg. Inhale lower it down. Good.

One leg at a time, bring both legs to a tabletop position. Making sure you didn't change your pelvis to lift those legs. Now from here, marching from tabletop, tapping the right toes down to the mat on your inhale. Exhale. Pull that leg back up. Inhale lower.

Exhale. Bring it back up. Inhale down. Exhale, hug the baby. Inhale down. And exhale. Now if you feel comfortable, try both legs at the same time.

Inhale to lower. Exhale, bring it up. Only moving as much as the pelvis stays the same. Inhale down. Exhale lift.

If you feel more comfortable doing your single leg marching, continue to do that. One more time like that. I'm shaking. Inhale down. And exhale. Bring it up and then one foot at a time.

Place those feet back down. Bring yourself back up just to give your shoulders a little break. Shake it out a little bit because we are going back down to the elbows. Same position. Leggs are together, feet are together, this time, and continue to push yourself away from the floor so you're not sinking down.

The chest is open and lifted. Starting with bringing that right leg to tabletop, I'm just gonna stretch the leg forward and bring the leg back to tabletop. Inhale out. Exhale bend. Inhale.

Exhale. Keep going out and in. And five and bend. Four three Two, find that little engagement of the glutes. Don't forget about the backside of the body.

From here, stretch your leg forward. We lift the leg up to the ceiling and lower it back down. Lift it up. Lower it down, keeping the upper body strong, keeping the pelvis as stable as you can, continue to hug the baby to your spine. Five more here, four, five, and lower, and four. Bring it down.

Three, two, one more time, up, lower it down, bend it in, put it down. The feet are together. The legs are together. Re adjust whatever you need to readjust, hug the baby into the spine, push your chest forward. So it's nice and proud.

Bring your left leg to tabletop. And then from here, we stretch forward and bend. Inhale, exhale, three, and four, and five. Five more like this, five. And four. Three, two. We keep that leg straight, lift it straight up to the sky and lower it down.

Lift it. And lower. Three. Keeping that opposite leg steady and stable. And five. Five more here. Exhale. Inhale.

Four three and two. And last one, lower it down, bend the knee, put it down, and bring yourself up. And shake it out, shake out your shoulders, shake out whatever you need to shake out. Let's place our hands down on the mat behind us so we can do some tricep dips. Now the feet are forward.

I'm keeping my legs hip width apart. Make sure the fingertips face the body. And I'm keeping my seat sort of in between the feet and the hand. So sometimes you can do it with the hands closer to the hips, but I'm keeping my hips more centered. Now from here, push the arms to straight.

Just make sure the shoulders are away from the ears. The chest is open and proud and bend the elbows and stretch. Not shrugging the shoulders, but bending the elbows. Bend and stretch. Bend and stretch. A little surprise arm workout for you here.

Continue to hug the baby to the spine. Enjoy the burn and the triceps. Bend and stretch. Let's go a little faster and 10. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, and two, bend and stretch, and sit those hips down.

And again, shake it out. From here, let's do spine stretch forward because it feels really nice. So the legs are about the width of your mat. The arms reach forward parallel to the floor. And my spine is nice and tall, like I'm sitting up against a mat an imaginary wall behind me. From here, inhale, sit even taller, exhale curl chin to chest, bending the upper back like a candy cane, rounding forward, keeping the arms parallel to the floor, hugging the baby to the spine, pretending like I'm gonna touch the top of my head on the floor between my knees.

Inhale roll it up. And exhale here. Again, inhale sit tall. Exhale peel your spine away from that imaginary wall that you're sitting up against. And then inhale, paste your spine one bone at a time back onto that wall.

XL sit tall. Good. This time we add a little traction. Inhale sit tall. Exhale round it forward. This time, once you're at the bottom, very gently place both hands behind the head and give yourself a gentle pull You'll feel the cervical and thoracic spine opening up. It should feel really nice.

From here, reach the arms forward again, inhale roll yourself up. And exhale release. One more time, inhale sit tall. Exhale rounded forward. You are a candy cane, bending up and over.

Once you're at the bottom, hands gently behind the head, giving yourself a gentle pull. Good reach the arms forward first. Inhale, roll it up. Exhale. Let it go. Good. Spine, stretch side. Turn your ribs over toward your right leg.

And do your spine stretch forward from here. So same thing rounding over. You'll feel a little bit more of a stretch in the opposite side of the body. But keep trying to bend the spine like a candy cane. Both hips are heavy into your mat. Inhale, roll it up.

XL sit, ah, center the body. Inhale twist to the left. Exhale round it down. Feel that stretch on the opposite side of the body. Heels pressing into the mat to engage the hamstrings, inhale roll it up, exhale, sit tall, back to center, and rest your arms. Let's lie down on our side to do some side lying leg work. Grab your over ball.

Line your back body up with your back edge of your mat. Option to rest your head in your hand or keep the arm long and rest your head in the bicep. Bring both legs forward to the front edge of the mat. This ball will go behind the knee, gripping it with the calf and the hamstring. Keep the thighs in line with each other to start, working the hamstring in the back side of the leg, and stretching the front of the hip, which gets no love when you're pregnant.

So we're doing it now. Let's squeeze that ball. Squeeze 10. Squeeze nine. Eight seven, keep hugging the baby to the spine. Four, three.

Two. Now hold that squeeze. We press the heel to the back wall, opening up the front of the hip 10 times. Seven, six, five. Four, keep the bottom leg pushing down into your mat. Last one, we do that again.

So squeeze the ball. 10. Nine, working the hamstring, working the back of that leg. For five, four, three. To hold that squeeze again, press the heel to the back wall 10 times. Eight, seven.

The rest of the body stays as stable as possible. Three, two. Again, third set, squeeze that ball. Nine, eight, seven. Six, five, four, three, to hold, the squeeze, press it back 10 times 10. As the heel presses back, the hip presses forward in opposition.

Five more. Five. Four, three, two, and one bring the thighs even with each other, lift that top leg up to the ceiling and lift and lift and lift. And lift. Five more.

Breathe. Two. And on one, bringing the knee forward toward your chest. And then taking the heel back toward your glute. So knee to chest, still squeezing that ball, working the hamstring, and heel to seat.

Opening up the front of the hip. It should feel good. A big stretch in the quad. Knee to the chest and heel to the seat. Need to the chest and heel to the seat.

Let's do two more of those. Need to chest. Heel to seat. Open it up one more time. Long spine to pull the thigh forward. Don't arch the back to press the heel back.

Let's take the over ball off. Place it somewhere where It's secure. You'll need it later. And then from here, lift that top leg hip height. Let's kick the leg forward.

From here, bend the knee, reach the heel to the back wall, just like you did with the ball. But once it's reaching back, try to grab your ankle with your top hand and take a little quad stretch here. So I'm gonna bend the elbow, pull my heel closer to the seat, but keep pressing the thigh back to the wall behind me. A beautiful stretch because we can't lie on our bellies to do this right now. Now from here, let go of that ankle. Try to keep the thigh bone where it is as you stretch the leg long behind you. Good.

Then sweep the leg forward again. So this is just a beautiful stretch. I like to do honestly anytime, not just when I was pregnant. And you really open up the hip, stretch out the quad. Try to keep the thigh bone where it is as you stretch the leg long behind you and sweep the leg forward.

One more time this direction. Bend the knee. Let the thigh bone go back. Try to keep the hip stacked. Reach back, grab that ankle, if you can, and then take that quad stretch. Good thigh bone stays, stretch the leg, sweep the leg forward.

We reverse that. So sweep the leg back Reach it as far back as you can without shifting the upper body. Thybone stays, bend the knee. Try to reach back for that ankle. I have tight quads, so this is very hard. And then take that watch stretch.

Good. From here, keep the ankle in the hand. I'm gonna bring that thigh to the chest here, and then let go. Stretch the leg. Good. Stretch that leg back. Thybon stays, bend the knee, reach back, grab, and stretch.

If you feel really good, you can also keep your hand on your ankle as you stretch the leg forward. Of course, if that feels like it's too much, just let go of the leg once it sweeps forward. Last time, bend that knee, stretch the quad. This is a very big stretch for me. It feels very nice.

And then last time, bring the thigh to the chest. You can let go, stretch the leg forward, and then bring it back center and lower the leg down. Carefully press yourself back up to seat it to switch sides. Before you go all the way down, grab your over ball. Same thing. Line up your body with the back edge of your mat and take your legs to the front edge.

Ball goes behind the knee. Give it a nice squeeze. See which side feels stronger. I can already tell my other side was stronger. Place your top hand down just to stabilize the body.

And from here, we squeeze that ball. So squeeze ten nine. Eight. Hugging the baby to the spine. For four, three, two, press the heel back to the wall, press and press. Use your glute to press that leg.

Five more for five. Four, Three. Two, two more sets of those. So squeeze the ball. Eight, seven, six, five. Just keeping everything nice and stable.

Two more. Press the heel back 10 times 10. And nine. Press your bottom leg down into the mat. Five more, five, four, three, To one more set.

Squeeze that ball. Squeeze and squeeze eight, seven, six, five. Try to keep the thigh bones even, even better if you can keep your top thigh bone behind the bottom one. Good, press the heel bat, and press eight, seven, six. Use your glute to press the heel for four, and three, and two, and one bring the leg back to center. 10 leg lifts. Keep squeezing that ball. 10.

Nine, eight, seven, six, five. Four, three, two. And on one, let's bring the thigh bone forward toward the chest, keeping the hips as stable as possible. My hamstrings are screaming, heel to the back wall. Good again. Forward with the thigh and back with the thigh.

Forward with the thigh and back with the thigh. Good forward. Two more sets forward and back. Last set forward and back. Good. Bring the thigh forward so you can take that ball away.

I'm gonna put it right behind me right here. And from here, lift that top leg hip height. Let's sweep this leg forward. Bend the knee, stretch the thigh bone back, reach behind you. Grab that ankle.

Get that quad stretch. Also a little stretch in the front of the chest too. Good. Keep the thigh bone where it is. Stretch that leg long. Sweet the leg forward.

Try to keep it on the same plane the whole time. Grab that ankle, get that stretch press the hip forward as you pull the thigh back. Good. Keep the thigh there. Shretch the leg behind you. Sweep it forward one more time this direction.

Bend the knee. Grab the ankle, quad stretch. Very tight right here. So I'm squeezing my glutes like crazy to press the thigh back. Good stretch that leg long, sweep the leg forward, reverse that, pressing the leg back, reach it as far back as you can From there, thigh bone stays, bend the knee. Grab the ankle. Reach for it.

Good. Take that stretch. Good. Keep the ankle in hand. Bring the thigh bone forward. You can let go here to stretch the leg forward, sweep it back again. Thybon stays, grab the ankle and stretch.

Good. If you want, if you have the flexibility and the accessibility, Keep the leg in the hand as you stretch the hamstring here, and you can let go to sweep it back last time. Bend the knee. Grab it and stretch. Thibone forward. Take that last stretch and then leg over top of leg and then lower it down. Beautiful, carefully bring yourself back up.

Let's stay on this side, going into a side bend. Option number one, keeping the knees bent at a 90 degree angle. My hand is on the floor, not directly under the shoulder, a little bit away from the shoulder, but not too much. 90 degree bend, press the hips forward, arm stays on top of the thighs as I lift into a modified side bend trying to keep both hips stacked on top of one another. Good. The pan slides down the thigh as I sit the hips down.

And again, lift up into your side bench, shoulder pressing down the back. And lowering it down. We do two more. If you want, you can extend the legs a little bit more, more like a three quarter bend. Make sure they're not all the way bent or all the way straight. The hand stays over top of the legs.

Pushing the hips up to the ceiling stretching both legs. Keep that modification with both knees bent if needed, and then bend the knees to lower the hips down. Let the hand slide over top of the thighs. And for this last one, lift the hips up. And for extra credit, you can reach the arm up to the ceiling.

Lift the hips a little higher. Hold for three, two. And one arm comes down first. And then lower the hips down. Good. Switching sides.

So let's start with the modified version. Both knees bent 90 degrees. Hand is down. I'm opening my hips pressing them forward. And from here, top hand over the legs, push into the hand, lift the hips, keeping them stacked, especially that top hip likes to sneak to the back wall, Try to keep both hips stacked, and then bring it down. Again, lift it up.

Use your glutes. Push them forward. And and lower it down. If you want to lengthen those legs, let's lengthen them out, keep the top arm long, pushing into the hand, lifting the hips, keep them stacked. And then slide the hand down the leg to lower the hips, bending the knees.

One more time, lifting the hips. Extra credit, reach the arm up to the ceiling with the hips a little higher. Three, two. And one hand comes down, knees bend, sit the hips back down. Beautiful. Let's come to a cross legged position.

Just to end with the juicy stretch, let's clasp the hands together, reach the arms forward, and round forward. Feel the back ribs open up. Maybe shift from side to side a little bit here. And then lastly, you just open the arms, lift the chest, lift the chin, give a little smile, and rest your arms. Beautiful job today.

I'm Zola. Thank you for joining me.