Strong Flexion Free Mat

Hi there. I'm Maria, and I'm with me Coo, one of my teachers from Body Line, and today we're doing a flexion free mat. So let's start in a plank position. The hands go right under the shoulders. Step one foot back. The other foot back And then just pull that plumb line in your body nice and long, sandwich the legs, and begin to focus on your breath.

From here, lower the knees down, and just shift your hips back to release pressure on the wrist. Come forward into a modified plank, and then shift the weight back. Pass through that modified plank, lift the chest up this time, drawing the abdominals in, breathing into the front of the lungs, curl the toes under, and then lift to a feeling of down dog, really pushing those hips back behind you, lower back down to the knees and come to that extension, inhaling, exhaling, curl the toes, lift yourself back up. Last time here, down on the knees, and inhale, exhale back to that downward dog, pushing that spine so long, dropping the shoulders, and come down to your knees to all fours. We're gonna go to thre a version of thread the needle.

So reaching one hand to the ceiling, and lower down. Let's come to the other side, push the ground away, turn, turn, turn, and lower down. One more time here, inhaling. And exhaling down. Last time, inhaling and exhaling down. We're gonna create an arm circle so that arm reaches forward and it circles back.

Same thing again. Forward and circle back. You can add a little feeling of a push up taking the body down and back. Inhale tuck that elbow towards you, pushing through that tricep, last one, inhaling, and exhaling, and let's do the other side. So that arm reaches forward and it circles back. Take your eyes and your head with it.

Forward following the fingertips with your gaze. One more here. Maybe adding that little tricep dip, we go down and we lift up. Again, my elbow is pointed straight back towards me. And up last time here, and up, and all the way back to all fours.

Now, let's circle the hips. Lift one leg to the side, and just a very simple circle in the hip, keeping the pelvis still here, really feeling that nice articulation, And let's do that on the other side, taking the leg to the side and beginning to make that stirring action, listening for the breath, the body is still. Two knees together, lift yourself up. We're gonna prepare for a thigh stretch. So a nice straight plumb line hinge from the knees, hinge yourself back as you come up, lift the arms up.

And then hinging back, the arms come forward and lift to come up. Again, maybe go a little lower and up. Last time, And up, we're gonna add to this. So we hinge as you come up, you're gonna circle and look to the back. You're gonna come into your thigh stretch, circle and look.

And into the thigh stretch, circle and look last time, thigh stretch, circle, bring the hands back center. And from here, lower down to your forearms, stretch one leg back behind you and turn out that leg. Let's begin lifting that leg straight up and down from the hip, maintaining the turnout, Last time, hold the leg up. Now, we're gonna add to this, bend the knee, tuck it behind the standing leg, turn it out and lift up. So we do a little internal rotation, a little external rotation. Inhaling and exhaling, check-in with your neck and your shoulders.

And we're thinking effortless effort. Last time, Keep the leg in the air and then walk up to your hands. Now, I want you to have the feeling of a seesaw in your body. Bend both elbows. You'll seesaw down to the mat and lift. And, again, seesaw down and push. The elbows are pointed into you down and push.

Last time, down and push two knees together, this come down to your elbows and set up for the other side. The other leg turns out, and we lift that leg up and down. Really enjoying that sensation, See if you can take your leg high enough that you actually feel stretch on the front of the hip. We tend to focus so much about the glute engagement. We forget that the front of the hip is actually on stretch as well. Now hold that leg in the air, bend the knee, come to your internal rotation, and then external rotation.

The breath is flowing. Use the center of your body to assist. And resist the temptation, they'll just lean into the forums, and lift, inhale, and exhale, last one, inhale, and exhale, stay here, walk up to your hands. Find that nice straight plumb line, and here we go. And this could be very small guys, and up, and inhale, and exhale. So wherever the crown of the head goes, that dictates how high the leg will lift. The lower you go, the higher the leg.

Two more, inhaling down, exhaling up. From here, cross your legs. Sit back, take the feet out in front of you, hands behind you, and we're setting up for a reverse tabletop. So press those hips up to the sky, pull the shoulder blades together, lower down. And again, stamping through the feet, the gaze goes to the ceiling. If you'd like to drop your head, go ahead and do that.

This is the last one. Lower down, take your legs out straight in front of you, and just lower yourself down to the mat. Bring one leg into your chest. We're gonna create a little brace with our hands, and you're gonna vigorously drive the knee into your hands. And now lift that free leg up and lower it down.

It can touch the floor or hover. But really, I want you to maintain that connection of the knee into the hands, and you'll notice how much that will keep your core engaged. Last time here, take the leg down and pause, reach that same arm up over the head, and now both limbs move, and we open. And we exhale. Put your focus on the center of the body.

Exhale. Last time, stay here, bend the knees in. Set up for the other side, So create that little brace, driving, not the hands to the knee, but the knee into the hands, drop the shoulders, and now lifting the leg up and down. And you can also do this with the knee bent. Keep making that imprint of your spine into the mat.

And now keep the leg down, reach the arm up over the head. Two limbs move. We lift, and we move away. Keep the connection. Of the knee to the hand, lift last time, lift, hug the knees in and set up for the first side again.

Standing leg slides out, compress, float the leg up, and now a little circle here. And it could be a leg that's high, and it could be a leg that's low. Again, the circle is going to match what's happening in the center of the body. Pull that knee in. Compress. The other leg reaches out and begin to circle.

You choose the height of your leg. And hug the knees in. We're gonna move to double leg stretch. The knees can be bent like I'm going to do, or you can follow me, koo. So we inhale everything moves away from the center, exhale circle and pull in.

Inhale lower, exhale in, inhale ribs tight to the mat, exhale in, last time, everything in. Roll on to your side. We're gonna set up for a side bridge series. You're on your forearm, the knees are bent. There's a little flexion in your hip, top hand behind the head.

From here, push forward into a straight plumb line, and lower down. So notice we're moving forward and backwards in the hip, and lower down. This time, we're gonna stay up. Take the top leg straight, lift that leg straight up and down. And you're pressing through that bottom arm. You're using the bottom obliques and the bottom glute.

Two more, relax the upper chaps of everybody, knee in, sit yourself down. You can repeat just that or go to something a little bit more challenging, lift yourself up, The leg stretches, and it lifts, we go to side kicks, and we go forward too. And I do like to use a sniffing breath. So we inhale for two. We exhale for two. Inhale and exhale, and inhale, and exhale fight to be still, inhale, and exhale knees together lower down.

So we're gonna add a little rotation to that. Take the leg back behind you and rotate down to the ground. And now as the leg comes forward, rotate to the ceiling, take that little pulse. We rotate down for two. We rotate up for two. Notice the tempos slower. We have a lot more moving parts now. And we inhale And we exhale, come center, lower down. Option of course to lift.

Follow me, koo for that. So start with the leg behind you. Rotate to the ground. And we go one, two, and one, two, and one, two, and one, two last time, one two, one, two, bring your knees together, and we push up all the way up and ready for side over. So we side bend over, and we reach to a diagonal.

And over, or maybe all the way up is better, and over, and up last time, over, and up, open the arms. Side bend towards your arm, breathe into that side lung, and then we side bend away. And open, creating length in that side body and away. Last one here and reach and away. Fun transition. Pull that leg in, sweep all the way down to the ground and land with your forehead on your hands. So we're gonna extend and rotate.

So rotate towards camera and lower it down. And then away from camera and lower it down. Now you have that bottom hand to help you. Go ahead and use that bottom hand and rotate one more each way, getting a nice flow here going, and lower down. From here, clasp your hands behind your back. We're doing a piece of double leg kick.

So from here, inhale, pull the arms back, lift everything up off the mat, long, long body, squeeze the legs all the way together, if that works for you, lower down forehead to the mat, And again, lifting everything out and up, heart goes way far forward, and lower down. And last time, out and up, creating lengths, and lower down, and then roll to your other side for side bridge. So the knees are bent. You're on your forearm top hand behind your head, find that bottom sideline position, and then lift yourself up. Yep. Go forward, and you lower down. Back up for two and lower down.

Lifting up, staying here, top leg goes straight, and now we lift that leg up and down. Two, make sure that leg is straight side from your body, and make sure you're not pushing your head forward with your hand. Notice the leg doesn't go that high for most of us. Bend the knee, sit yourself back down without collapsing the bottom waist. Come right back up.

Lift the leg up again, option repeat or go to side kick. Forward, two back one, two, breathing in for two, and out. The body is absolutely still without any rotation here, one, two, one, two, lower down. Okay. So reach that leg back behind you and let's add that rotation.

Rotate down to the mat to begin with. Swing the leg, rotate to the sky. For two, rotate to the ground. For two, using the breath. And try to find a little flow here. One, two, one two, one, two, one, two, come center, lower down. Now option to lift up and repeat.

So if you're lifting, take yourself up, sweep the leg behind you, rotate to the ground. And here we go, rotating one, two, one, two, one, two. Last one, one, two knees together, bring yourself all the way up to the other side for side over. We go all the way over, and we come up. All the way over elbow reaches past the edge of your mat, and up.

And again, long body, and up last time, long body and reach the arms east and west, side bend up and over towards the leg, open the arms, side bend away. And open, bending towards the leg, breathe into the top lung, open, and away, and open towards the leg, And away, here's that transition, pull the knee in, and sweep all the way down to the ground. Okay. Hands are under the shoulders. We are going to curl your toes under. Find yourself in a perfectly straight line, engage that core.

You can do it. Push yourself straight up in one piece and hold. Two, three, four, five, come to your knees. So we're gonna do a little version of, inspired by single leg kick. Let's take one leg straight back behind you at the height of your hip, the leg is parallel, and a little kicking in here. One, two, out. Again, one, two.

Now I want you to make sure that you're feeling a hamstring curl and that your thigh bone is not dropping. One more here, and then come on out. Take the other leg back. Abdominals are in, spine long, all that good stuff. Here we go, kicking one, two, out. One, two, out. Being really active with the glute and the hamstring.

Last one, lower down. Maybe you repeat that just as it is. You have the option of staying to the hands or following me coup and coming to the forearms. Let's find your plank position if you're doing it in plank. The right leg lifts up.

And here we go, we kick one, two, out. Two, out. Three, don't drop that thigh. Last one. Step on the foot.

Other leg lifts. And we kick one, two, out. One, two, out. Strong arms, guys. One, two, out. Put the foot down, come to your knees. Stand up on your knees.

We're going back to that thigh stretch. Take the arms forward. Let's take one hinge back. Lift the arms up. One more basic hinge and up. Option to add rotation.

Hinge rotate to cameras. Circle, and we hinge, and we circle, again, inhale and exhale and inhale and exhale bring your hands down to the mat. Take yourself back to a plank and hold two, three, four, five, slowly, ever so slowly, take yourself all the way to the mat. Okay. We're gonna do a little, a thing called scorpion. So lift one leg up the leg away from camera, bend that knee and reach it away from you. The shoulders stay square.

Pell this is rotating. Come all the way back and lower down. And again, lift the other leg, twist the lumbar spine. Enjoy that feeling. Reach through the back leg.

Pull the abdominals in and lower down. Let's do that one more time each way. I know this is really new for some of you. Lift the leg and then rotate. So the shoulders Stay more or less square to the bat and come back down.

But you gotta kind of figure it out on your own body. The other leg lifts and you rotate. The abdominals are in. This should feel good. We're doing extension with rotation come all the way down.

We're gonna move on now. Lift the leg up, come into that scorpion. Use your hands to push. You come all the way to seated. I'm gonna put my foot down and now lift the arm up May take the chest up.

Maybe the hips are up. You're pushing, pushing, pushing, driving the ground away, sit yourself back down and come back to the mat. And then lift the opposite leg up. And the knee, that's gonna take you right upright. It should feel really smooth.

Lift the chest. Lift the arm. Maybe you drive the hips to the ceiling. It should feel nice. Drop the head maybe, and then slowly lower to the mat, and coming all the way back down to the ground, curl the toes under, get yourself set, engage the core. And from here, again, you can do it straight up straight up. Back to your knees and come upright.

Okay. Almost done. Step one foot forward. And from here, you're gonna reach forward into a lunge. You're gonna come back to your knee and take that foot down.

Other foot comes up. Come forward to a lunge. Come back to your knee and down. Continue like this, and you might be surprised with how much balance this requires. And up, lower, and down, and step, and reach, lower, and down last time, step, and reach lower Stay on your knees, take one foot forward, come down towards the mat, maybe scoot that foot over a little bit, and just enjoy the stretch here in the front of the leg. Let's reach one arm forward.

The arm closest to the leg, and circle it all the way back and around. Bring that hand back to the mat. Two knees together. And the other leg comes forward, and then scoot it out a little bit. Like, make some space between your knee and your foot. Allow the hips to drop.

Allow your body to actually soften. Like, you gotta think soften to make soften happen. And from here, circle that arm forward, circle it all the way back. Come on down. Come back to your knees. Bring your palms onto your thighs.

Take a couple of moments just to feel the effects of your practice. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for being a part of this Pilates Anytime