Focus Flow Intermediate Mat

Hello. Thank you for joining me for this Met class. We are gonna start standing today. So I'm gonna face this way. Standing in an upright position.

And if you've taken any classes with me ever before, you know that we always get to just take a moment. I like to close my eyes. You can decide what you wanna do with yours. Just find yourself in your body. Check into your feet.

Check into your alignment. Feel the body lifting up in space. And then open your eyes if they're closed and take your arms out to the side. Allow your arms to come up over your head reach up and back. Let the arms get heavy. Reach out to the side.

Super wide arms come upright and allow the arms to come back to the sides of the body softly and then bring the head down. Articulate down through the spine now, bending the knees as you go or softening the knees as a maybe a better way to say that. We're gonna pause at the bottom and bend the knees and stretch the legs and soften through the knees and push the ground away and roll up coming up to standing, establishing that upright position, and go around with your arms and up through your chest, and around with your arms and up right in the body as the arms come down and bring the head down. Roll through the spine. Allows the knees to soften a little.

Feel that you're weighted on both feet. Checking into your body. Lots of things to think about here. So we lift up. Oh, no. We bend the knees. Sorry.

I was thinking about the next thing. Please forgive. Bend the knees now. And push the ground away and roll. I'm gonna do one more. Take the arms out.

Let the body expand. Feel that sense of expansion as the arms reach out, come into an upright position in your body. And last time for now, gin drops down. Abdominals pull in. The body goes down.

Paying attention, focusing inwards, pausing at the bottom, bending the knees, stretching the legs, softening the knees and rolling through the spine. Once you're standing, turn the palms of your hands face back, and we're gonna sit back nice and low. And push with arms and sit back. So just getting nice and warm in our body, leaning into the heels of the feet. Really feel the connection of the back of the body.

And up will do five more bend. And press with your arms and bent and press with your arms and three and press with your arms and two. Feeling is the body's going, pelvis is going away from the hands. We're gonna make a change. We squat, stand, adjust onto the right leg, reach down with your arms and lift your left knee.

Both feet on the ground and squat and stand. There's a shift onto the other leg as you lift the right knee. Both legs down and sit and stand and one leg and down and sit and push with your arms. Continue to push down with your arms as you're lifting the opposite leg. And down twice more times, what means four total.

So two more to each side finding something to fix your gaze on helps with balance both feet down and sit and stand and lift up. And down. Last time to eat side. So last two, lift up. Go down. Last one.

Lift up, and go down both feet on the ground arms reach around. Interlock your hands. Flip the palm space up and do a side bend and come to standing. Just feel that you're really allowing your body to open and standing. And take the arms out and do a side bend and take the up arm over as the back arm reaches around like a windmill and come back.

And stand, and inhale, and windmill, letting the body rotate, and back, and was only gonna do one to each side, but I think we should do one more because it feels so good. Let's go reach reach around and back and stand and let your body just flow through the shape. But focus on finding connections and back and up and take the arms overhead again and open the chest. And take the arms down. Roll down through your spine. This time bring your hands all the way down to touch Bending your knees if you need to to make that happen. We're going to bend the left knee if you can straighten your right leg super.

Open the body up towards the leg. That's straight or straighter. And return back to center both knees soft. Left arm lifts as their right knee bends and you feel that body rotation. Oh my back just correct.

That's exciting. And come back both knees soft, and we'll do one more bending the left knee, opening yourself up. Coming back and alternating sides. Coming back and bend your knees, roll over your toes, press your feet down, lift your pelvis three times stretching the feet. Bend your knees.

Keep the heels down. Roll over the toes. Press the heels down and stretch. And one more. Bend the knees. Roll over the toes.

Stretch and take the feet down. And this time, we're gonna bend one more time. Okay. And now this time, we just sit down. Okay. Reach the arms for it.

Get super close into your legs and go back and up. Just flow and go back. Feel the feet on the ground. And go forwards. Pulling back in the abdominals further and further the closer you get out towards your legs and go back. And lists.

Deep in and go back. This is the last one. And lift and now do a rotation to the right and go back on the right side of the body and up on the right side of the body and then get all the way forward as you come through center and go the other way. Back on the left side of the body, keeping the lower body as stable as possible and we'll go left this time and back just to make things confusing and up the left side. And center, and then right, and back, oof, and up, and center one more time. Right? And down.

Up and center left. And, I think we have to do one more starting to the left. Sorry about that. And center left. Go down the left side of your body. Come up the left side of your body.

Go into the middle. Go to the right. Go down the right side of your body. Go up the right side of your body. Come into the center and in the center, please roll all the way down and adjust your feet for a pelvic curl.

Move to the middle of the mat. Feel the arms pressing down. The feet pressing down and roll. Coming up into a bridge, finding a straight line in here. And we go down one vertebra at a time.

Just feel the fluidity of your body as it moves through space. And within that fluidity, there can be some focus direction, some direction into the connection of the heels to the ground. Some focus into the inner thigh muscles, keeping the knees parallel to one another. And with all of that focus direction, pressing into the arms, there can be flow. So find if you're so inclined to the sensation of flow in your body.

Let's do two more. Listing up. Organizing, going down all the way, lifting up arms active and going down. And now we're gonna go up again. We're gonna stay up.

And we're gonna do that balancing on one leg. So lifting one knee. Organizing as both feet go down and take the back pelvis straight down. And straight up. So similar to what we did in our warm up, except for now, we're just in a different relationship to gravity. So a squat, I don't know.

In my mind, that's the same shape. Stepping into the right leg with the left. Take the left foot down. I think we did one to each side. And down.

And squat. And stand so if I change the pattern on this midway and one leg and down and the other leg and both feet down and two more. And lift and float and ground and float and ground and hover and press and one leg and down and the other leg and down and both legs on the ground. Roll all the way down. Take your time here.

Let your body open and stretch and come all the way back. Bring your hands behind your head. Feet and knees together. We're gonna take both knees to one side inhale. And exhale, pull to center.

And inhale over and exhale. Pull back to center. So create the feeling of resistance of drag. And center and go over, feeling the waist, staying connected, but also finding a stretch Let's do one more to each side in here. And exhale.

And inhale. And exhale and in the center come up into a chest lift flattening the spine on the ground. Reach forward with your arms. You can hold if you want. I'm not holding today. Reach, reach, reach, lift your arms up.

Way back. Put them behind you and come down. Work on the down. And flow, lift. Push down with your feet as you reach forward with your arms. Pull down with your abdominals as you take your arms back. Don't fall down. Stay lifted hands behind that.

And go down and curl forward and reach forward. Keep the height of the body as you go up and back, hands come back and we go down. We're making a change. We go up. Forward, up, back, lift the thighs.

Hold the legs. Come up. Stay in an open round shape. Open round shape. Find your balance. Go back down.

Take the arms behind the head. Put your feet down and put your body down. Oh, yeah. There's a lot to remember there. And now we go Up. We reach.

We take the arms. Bring them back. Lift the knees. Press your chest to your thighs. Hold your legs.

It's not a rock. It's controlled. It's deep. It's focused. Come up.

Staying around. Go back. Bring the knees in a little bit past the pelvis, take the hands back, and put the feet down, and go down. You're welcome. One more. Lift up.

It's hard. That's why I said you're welcome hard for me, so maybe you're welcome to me hands back behind that. Mees up. Take the legs. Curl, find it, find it, find it, curl back.

Hands back behind the head. The feet go down and the body goes down. There's something fun in store for you. Are you ready? Lift up. Same pattern. Arms arms go up, they go back, knees come up, we hold, we do our little rock, balance, Go back, hands behind your head crisscross.

Five, four, four, three, three, two, One. Both knees in. Take the feet. Be careful with your back. Keep it flat and go down. Guess what?

We're going again. Head and chest. Arms forwards. Arms up and back. Stay there as your knees come up.

So we just find that shape. Then we take the legs. Then we do our rock. Focus, go back, hands behind your head, and we go crisscross. Four, three, two, and one.

Both knees in head down, legs straight up. We're gonna tip the legs to the right. We're gonna roll around the pelvis to the left and find center and inhale and go down. Around and center and inhale and down, around and center and inhale and down around and center. And one more time. Around and center.

Last one. Abend your knees in. Hug your knees into your chest. Let your legs circle in your out. Hold your knees and circle your knees. Three, two, isn't that?

And one. Change the circle. Opening the hips three. And two. And one.

And stretch your legs out and take your arms up. Inhale as you lift your head and chest flatten your spine. XL as you come up into a c curve. Inhale, open the arms as you sit. Reach back forward and round and go down.

And back five times. Head chest and arms. Roll up. Open at. So I'm just coming into a straight back there and reach forward squeezing the abdominals by pressing the arms into there and going down and back and and lifting and open and go back and down.

This is where we see if I can count to five. I really don't know. And back, I think there's two more. Add and chest. Press down with your feet as you come up.

Reach forwards. Open out, come back, and go down, and reach back and lift up and go up. And this time as you open flex your feet, and we're gonna twist and center and reach the arms straight across and center and twist and center feeling energy in your body reaching in an upward direction, twist, and center, and twist and center. And last one, but there's a change. Take the arms up.

Lift the body. Open the arms. Come to center. Go over the other way. List the arms.

Open the arms. Come back to center and take the arms forward and articulate down through your spine. Reach out towards your feet. Flatatten your spine. Round your spine, and reach your arms forward and your legs forward as you sit all the way back up into a straight alignment and go down.

So we flow. We take the body out. We take the body back and articulate through the spine feeling the energy in your body rising as your spine rises and go down. And reach out and go back and articulate through And one more. Go down.

Reach out. Reach forward. Articulate through and roll down all the way and turn onto your side. Just pardon me while I shift my mic. Okay.

So we're gonna go bend the knees. And you can just rest your head down on your arm. Doing a little hip work here, we go up with the knee and down and up with the knee. And, and work into the end of the range. Very simple, but effective. Two more.

And, down, one more. And down, keep the knees down, lift the feet. Same thing with the up, and down. Oh, you'll get a little work in your bottom leg as well. That's a bonus. Three of five, two, and hold the knee straighten the knee, bend the knee, bring the knees together.

Open the knee. Storating the knee, bend the knee and bring the legs together and open the knee and reach and bend and together. Does two more make five? Someone needs to be my counter. And we'll do one more.

Just a bonus up and kick and bend and come all the way down, lift up. Bring the leg around, passing through a hip stretch on our way to the mermaid. We go out and reach and rotate the body. We're gonna do a little combination today. Let the chest reach forward.

Come back, unwind, come up, reach over. Now this up arm is gonna circle to the front We're gonna come around with the other. Our men press up with the pelvis. The up arm does one circle. Goes back overhead. As the hips come down, we go.

Around with that arm back into the lateral flexion stretch and then we're back to up and we hinge and go down and come around and let the chest pull through the arms. You can press your foot into your knee. And you can allow your spine to round if that feels good to you. It sure feels good to me and open and come up and reach over and then take the body around. Let that hand find the ground.

Take the body up. One circle. Back overhead. We go down with the pelvis, start to come around. Oh, enjoy.

And up. One more. Such and come around and feel the upper back working, and you can push the mat away as you go back around and then come around. Come up. Take that arm up and over. Take a big circle around and lift up.

Opening the hip flexes. I almost forgot the arm circle reach around back overhead. Go down and come all the way back through. And then we'll just bring our soft to the other side. I'm gonna straighten my knees and roll down just like I did on the first side, and then we'll turn.

Taking the head down on the arm. And these are bent. Spine is aligned and we go up and, and push the knee open, and push the knee open. And two, what I mean is create resistance for yourself. Find some work in your body. This is number one, and we go down, and now we take the feet up.

And we do the same thing with the knee. Open. And down. And open, and down. And three, and down. And two, and down.

One more hold it there and kick. Oh, don't change your spine. That was a correction for me, but it's a reminder for us all too. And back and bring the knee in and three. I'm saying it out loud now so I don't lose track and down and in and two. Now counting down and in and down and one. Oof.

That's a lot. Coming down with your feet. Come up in your body. Bring the top leg around. We'll pass through a stretch on our way to the next stretches. Hugging the knee in, dropping the hips down, lifting the spine up, step small pause, and then we'll bring the leg around.

And we'll come up for the mermaid hinge. Take the hand down. Come around. Remember the feeling of letting everything link together. You can arch. You can round. If it doesn't feel good to you, you could make your own choice.

Is unwind. Come up. Reach over. And now we take that arm around. We come all the way through, bringing the other arm up overhead.

Take the arm around to the back. Back overhead, reach through that arm as the pelvis comes down. And then as soon as it does start to come around, and then back up and hinge and touchdown. And come around and just find the stretch in your body that feels good to you today in this moment, come around, come up, reach across. Circle forward.

Hand comes down. Palvis comes up. Find that hip flexor stretch and circle the arm. And back overhead. And go down and around and enjoy. I'm just pausing because it felt good.

Here we go. Last one. Reach over. Touch down. Find your rotation. Let your body move in a way that feels very authentic in to you, like what you need within the suggestions that I'm providing.

Come around. Take your time if you need it. Reach up. Find that hip stretch. Open the arm in a circle.

Come back overhead, go down, come around, and come up. Bring the arm down. Let's turn all the way down onto our front, bringing the arms down onto the mat. Just outside of the forearms flat on the matches outside of the upper arms. Gonna glide through the upper back.

Lift the forearms. Energize through the legs as you reach your arms overhead. Take the arms all the way around to the outsides of the thighs. Bend your elbows, elbows to the ground, forearms off, and then lower your body down. Glyde the shoulder blades back.

Find your upper back connection. Lift your forearms and your hands. Reach forward with your arms. Come all the way around back to the sides of the thighs. Ben the elbows, elbows go to the ground, and everything comes down.

And glide first. And left. And reach out and around and elbows down feel that connection of your elbows helping you find your upper back and down. We'll do two more. Go. Galide first.

Then the forearms. Then the reach. Bend all the way around. Bend that elbows. And, darn, this is like full body experience here.

Let's do last one. Reach up. Lift the forearms. Reach overhead. Reach out to the side and back, bend the elbows, and take your body all the way down.

Slide your arms out in front lift your legs, lift your arms and inhale, swimming, and long breaths inhale. And out. And one more. And out. Lower your legs bring your arms around to the sides. Bend your arms and put your hands down.

Press up round through your spine as you start to take your pelvis back over your feet. Just taking a moment there to allow the body to have a stretch. So come forward over your hands. Tuck your toes. Lift your knees.

Lift your pelvis. Press back. Come back forward over your arms. Bend your knees. Hover the knees straighten the legs.

Press up and back. Go back down. When you bend your knees, you have to you might have to lean back a little. And straight to the legs once again stretching the feet and reach out the lower legs, the calves, and come back, and bend the knees. And stretch the legs and hinge.

Letting those feet get some love and hinge and bend And last time straighten, we're gonna stay up. Push back. Walk in with your feet one at a time. Keep them straight. Let them pass.

By one another. Bend your left knee. Bring your right arm around. Open up. Come back to center, bend the right knee, bring the that arm around.

Come back through center. Head drops down. We find our center. Roll up pressing with the feet, finding the full articulation of your spine bring the arms around, bring the right arm down, slide the right arm into that right thigh and let yourself lean into that direction pressing into the left foot stand up, bring the left arm down and the right arm up, reach up and over. And both arms overhead and open your arms.

We're going slow. Gathering some energy from the universe. Big wide open arms. And allow your body to come upright as your arms return to your sides. We'll just pause here for a moment.

Noticing being present in our bodies. And thank you very much.