Beginner Full-Body Flow

Hi. I'm Gia, and today we're gonna do a class using the ball. We're gonna start on our backs. So you can lie down with your feet hip distance apart, and you're gonna place the ball between your thighs. Arms just down by your side. And before we begin, we're just gonna take a nice deep breath to ground us.

So take a deep inhale through your nose and exhale out through your mouth. One more time. Inhale through your nose. Fill your pelvis heavy into the mat, exhale through your mouth. Take another inhale.

And then to do exhale, you're just gonna squeeze the ball between your thighs as hard as you can. Inhale release. Exhale squeeze. Inhale release using those inner thighs to squeeze ball. Inhale release.

Exhale squeeze try to get your feet flat on the mat. Inhale release. Exhale squeeze. Let's do four more and release. And squeeze. Start to feel your abdominals engaging.

Inhale squeeze. So you're getting a nice activation through the center of your body and squeeze. One more. Inhale. XL squeeze and hold. They're gonna release halfway, so you're not squeezing as hard as you can, but just there's a little bit of pressure.

Arms are gonna come up to the ceiling. Take a deep inhale. As you exhale, press your arms down, curl your head and shoulders up. Inhale roll back, exhale press down curl up. So this inner thighs are still active.

Now you're just activating your abdominals a little bit more. Inhale release, exhale push down curl up. Two more and curl up last one and you're gonna hold this one up. You're gonna do a little pulse up, pulse up and up. You're still squeezing that ball.

We have four three two. One lower back down. You're gonna bring your hands behind your head, one hand behind the other. Elbows are wide. Take a deep inhale.

You're gonna curl up and hold again. You're gonna twist to one side. Keep both shoulders off the mat and then come back to center. And twist to the other side, and back to center. Try to keep your hips still so it's just your upper body rotating and center, and twist. And center.

And twist. And center working the obliques and twist and center. Two more each side. Twist and center and twist. One more each side and twist, and center last one, and center roll back down.

Take a breath, and then curl right back up. You're gonna go to the first side and hold, and your little pulses up here. Eight, seven, six trying to keep both hips facing the ceiling. And then you're gonna switch to the other side, and little pulses up for eight, seven, six. Five four three two one back to the center, curl up a little high if you can, and then roll back down. Arms gonna come down by your side. And to keep the ball where it is, just bring your feet out away from you a little bit further.

And then squeeze up all again. Arms come up to the ceiling, take a deep inhale, exhale, press your arms down, curl your head up, and then continue rolling up until you're reaching all the way up with a straight spine. And then from here, you're gonna round your spine. Pull your waist back and roll all the way down. And then push your arms down, curl up. Continue rolling all the way up. Push your feet into the mat, lengthen your spine at the top, and then roll back and pulling your waist back toward the mat.

To roll down one bone at a time. Keep squeezing that ball. It'll help especially as you get to the challenging parts in your spine. Squeeze a little bit more. And then roll back. Breathe exhale when you're moving.

And then rolling up. Shoulder stay away from the ears. No tension there. And then roll back. We're gonna do one more full roll up.

Last one rolling up. And lengthen the spine at the top, and then pull your waist roll back. And then one where you're gonna roll up and hold, lengthen your spine at the top. And then from here, you're gonna roll halfway back Find a position where you can hold it and then squeeze that ball a little bit more. You're gonna roll one inch up and one inch back for a little pulse.

Up an inch and down an inch and up. So pulling your waist back toward the mat every time. And down and up an inch and down. Again, relaxing those shoulders, making sure there's no tension. Squeeze that ball a little bit more and up and down for and three and two and one and then roll all the way up. Link there's fine.

We're gonna roll halfway back again. I'm just gonna add a little rotation. Here, find that position where you can hold it. You're gonna open one arm out to the side, rotate, and then come back to center. Other side. Rotate, and back to center. So your hips again are staying still just like when we were on your back.

You're just rotating from your waist. And center and rotate out and center. Rotate and center still squeezing that ball. Rotate center. And back to center one more each way.

Rotate last one, and then roll all the way up. And we're gonna stay seated this time. You're gonna have your legs just as wide as your mat, feet are flexed. And then if you need help getting your spine a little taller, you can always bend your knees. Otherwise, keep them straight. The ball is gonna stay between your hands. Sitting up as tall as you can take a deep inhale.

As you exhale, you're just gonna squeeze the ball and hold. Two, three. Inhale release. Exale squeeze and hold, two, three, and release. So as you're squeezing that ball, you're pulling in your abdominals still to help get your spine a little taller and squeeze two, three, release and squeeze two, three, release arms are staying straight and squeeze reach those fingers long and release two more and squeeze two three release last one, squeeze two, three release. Now you're gonna squeeze halfway just like when we did had it between your inner thighs. So not as hard as you can.

Make sure your feet are flexed, take a deep inhale grow a little taller. Exhale, you're gonna reach your head toward the ball and round your spine for a little spine stretch. Inhale roll your spine back up. Exhale round forward, reach your hands toward your feet. Inhale, roll all the way up.

Exhale round forward, waist is pulling back as your arms are reaching forward, inhale roll up. So you have a little opposition here, and roll forward. Two more, inhale roll up. Exhale as you round forward. Last one. And then roll forward.

So think up as tall as you can. Keep that squeeze in your hands. You're gonna rotate to one direction. And then come back to center. Inhale rotate the other way.

Exhale come back to center. So your hips are staying still. Just rotating from your waist and center. And rotate trying to keep the ball in front of your chest the whole time. So it's not just your arms rotating.

Twist and center and twist and center one more each way. Making sure your spine is still getting taller each time. Last one. Now we're gonna combine those last two movements. So you're gonna twist first then you reach your head toward the ball for a little saw and then roll up and back to the other side.

Twist reach forward and roll up. And twist still flexing the feet. Roll up. And twist round forward and roll up one more each way. Twist hips are staying still, pulling the waist back.

Last one, twist and round and roll up. You're gonna bring the ball down. Just roll out your shoulders, shake out your arms, roll them the other way, and we're gonna lie down on your stomach. So you're gonna have the ball in front of you. Wanna make sure your legs are either together or hip distance apart, whatever feels better for your spine.

Your arms are gonna be straight with your hands on top of the ball. Take a deep inhale as you lift your chest up, push down on that ball, exhale as you lower back down. Focusing more in your upper back. Inhale lift, exhale as you lower down. Try to lengthen your legs as much as you can.

Inhale lift, and exhale lower. Three more. Lipping up. You can really use that ball to help lift you up. But focus more on the length than rather how high you're going. And lower.

Last one, you're gonna hold this one up. Lengthen your legs a little bit more, you're gonna lift one leg up and then lower back down. Other leg lifts up and lower. Lift and lower. Keep pulling your shoulders away from your ears. Lift and lower.

Up and down one more each side. And then lower your chest down. Lift your chest back up and hold. Now from here, you're gonna lift both legs up. You're gonna beat your legs together.

So we're gonna be in, in, in, in, in, reach those legs as long as you can, in, in, in, trying to get those legs to touch. And four three two, one, lower your legs down with control, and then just let go of your ball and push back into child's pose, get a nice little stretch for your back. Take breath. Really push into the mat. I'm gonna roll up.

You're gonna grab your ball and we're gonna come onto your side. You're gonna place the ball under your ribs and then you're gonna be on your forearm. You want your elbow right under your shoulder. Your bottom leg is gonna be bent. Your top leg will be straight.

Then you wanna make sure you're not just lying on the ball. You're lifting yourself up and it's there for kind of feedback. So from here, the top arm can just be down in front of you. You're gonna lift the top leg up and then lower back down. So I'm only lifting it a little bit higher than my hip or at least to hip height. You don't have to go too much higher than that. Up and down. Make sure your knee is facing forward so your leg stays parallel up and down and then just keep checking that bottom shoulder.

Make sure it's away from your ear. Hold it up and then you're gonna bring your leg front and back. Front and back. Pushing down on that bottom leg to help you stabilize your body and back. Four more. Trying to keep it hip height the whole time.

And two. Last one. Bring your leg back to center. You're gonna make a little circle. So you're gonna go up and around to the front.

Reach that leg as long as you can. And then reverse and back. Two three four five, six, seven, eight. Lower that leg down for a second. Just relax for a second. You should be feeling that top hip.

Now from here, you're gonna lift that leg up hip height again. Flex your foot. Again, making sure your foot and your knee are facing forward. You're gonna bend your knee into your chest. And then push it leg out. So it's like you're pushing something really heavier away with that foot and reach. Check that bottom shoulder, make sure it's away from your ear and in and out. So lifting up off that ball and reach in and out. Two more in and out last one.

And then lower that leg with control and we're gonna switch to the other side. So again, that ball's gonna be underneath your ribs. You're gonna be on that forearm making sure your shoulders away from your ears, bottom leg is bent, top leg is straight, lift up your abdominals, and you're gonna lift that top leg up hip height. You're gonna lift the leg up and lower it down. Up and down. Trying to reach that leg across the room, up and down.

Four more. Three two, and just keep checking your waist, making sure it's lifted. Now you're gonna bring that leg up hip height and hold. You're gonna go front and back. Front and back. Again, the bottom, like it's pushing down to help stabilize you.

And we have four three. Two. Try to keep it hip height. Last one. And then little circles. We'll go front and around. Two. Three, four, five, six, seven, and reverse back.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Lower it down. Rest for a second. Take a breath. And then lift the leg up hip height again. Flex your foot. You're gonna bend your knee into your chest and then push out.

Again, it's like you're pushing something really heavy with that foot. Finding that resistance in both directions and bend and stretch. Check your waist again. Bend and stretch. Bend and stretch two more. Bend and stretch last one.

And then lower that leg down with control and then come on up. We're gonna stretch out your hips before we move on. So you're gonna lie down on your back. The leg that you did first, you're gonna cross that foot over your opposite knee. Pull your leg into your chest for a figure four stretch.

You can rock side to side if that feels nice. Just breathe into it, let it release. Take a breath. And then switch sides. So again cross your foot over your opposite knee, push it leg out to the side and then pull your leg into your chest.

Breathe into it. Let it release. And then bring your feet back down onto the mat. You're gonna bring the ball between your thighs again. So this time you want your feet pretty close to you. I like to be able to touch my heels with my fingertips.

Arms just down by your side and make sure your feet are parallel. You're gonna take a deep inhale. Exhale squeeze the ball, you're gonna roll your spine up to a bridge one bone at a time. Inhale at the top. Exhale as you roll down.

One bone at a time. Release as you inhale, exhale squeeze roll up, inhale at the top, exhale scroll down one bone at a time. Release once your pelvis is all the way down and squeeze as you roll up. Make sure your feet are flat on the mat and then roll down. Inhale release exhale squeeze and roll up.

It should feel good on your spine to roll through it and then roll down. We do two more like that and squeeze and roll up. Think of reaching your knees past your feet so you have length on the front of your body and roll down and release last one like this and we're gonna add on. And then roll back. Now you're gonna roll up and hold.

Keep your hips nice and high. You're gonna open the legs release and then squeeze. And release and squeeze. Try to keep your hips up the whole time. Think of pushing down with your arms, opening your chest, and squeeze.

Release and squeeze. Four more, and three. Keep looking straight up at the ceiling too. Last one, and then squeeze as you roll down. Release as you inhale.

We'll roll back up. From here, you're gonna keep squeezing the ball. You're gonna lower your hips an inch and then pulse it back up and lower and lift. Lower and lift. Think of using your glutes to lift up. Lower and lift.

Three two last one and then roll all the way down. We're gonna roll up one more time. From here, you're gonna rotate your hips, lower them down. Try to keep your spine neutral and lift back up. Twist the other way, and then lift back up. So you twist and lower and lift twist and lower and lift. As you're doing this, trying to keep both knees facing the same direction.

So you're not letting your knees rock side to side. I'm trying to stay centered. Just rotating around your spine and rotate lower and lift four more lower and lift lower and lift one more each side. And lower and lift, take a deep inhale at the top, lift your hip hips a little higher, exhale as you roll down one bone at a time, and then take the ball out Just put it to the side. You're gonna rock side to side.

Hogging your knees into your chest. We're gonna stretch your legs out on the mat. We're gonna do a roll up to sit up that doesn't work for you, you can always bend your knees with your feet flat on the mat, feet are flexed with your legs glued together, arms up to the ceiling, take a deep inhale, exhale press your arm down, curl your head up, roll all the way up to a seated position, and we're gonna come on to your side for a side plank. So you're gonna be on your forearm. You can either have your bottom leg bent with your top leg straight or you can have both legs straight with your top leg in front of the bottom. I'm gonna have both legs straight.

So you wanna push down on that bottom arm. Keep your shoulder away from your ear. Top arm can be on your hip and you're just gonna lift up into a side plank and then lower back down and lift your hips up and lower back down. Think of using your obliques to help lift you up and lower, lift up and lower, lift up, and lower, hold this next one up. I'm just gonna hold for five four three two one and lower back down and we'll switch to the other side.

So again, bottom leg can be bent or you're gonna have both legs straight with the top leg in front of the back bottom. Your bottom arm is gonna be right under your shoulder and your forearm. And top hand on your hip. From here, you're gonna lift both hips up and then lower back down and lift up and lower again using your obliques to lift you up and lower. Lift and lower. Two more.

And lower, hold this next one up. And we'll hold for five four three two one lower back down. And then just roll out your shoulders. We're gonna come into a regular plank now. So you want your hands right under your shoulders.

You need to be on your knees or on your feet. Find that plank position. You want your head in line with the rest of your spine so look straight down. Try not to drop head, squeeze your legs together and just hold it, push away from the mat. And from here, you're just gonna rock front and back.

Front and back. And if you're on your knees, you can still do this. You don't have to be on your feet. And back. Four more three two and then come on down, shake out your wrists. So we're gonna do a few more planks.

It's a little bit of a challenge. If you need to rest, go ahead and rest. Or if you wanna come down to your forearms, that's always an option. You have different variations that you can do, whatever works for your body. So I'm gonna come back onto my hands because that works better for me.

Come back to your plank. Again, you can be on your knees if that feels better. Squeeze your legs together, pull up in your abdominals. You're just gonna rotate your hips and then back to center. Rotate your hips the other way and back to center. And rotate and center.

Rotate again, try not to drop your head. You wanna keep looking down at the mat. So your next stays in line with the rest of your spine. Rotate and center. Two more sets.

Rotate and rotate last set. And then lower your knees down. We're gonna come to a quick little child's pose just to rest and then we're gonna do a little bit of a push up challenge. So from here, Come on to your hands if you weren't already. Again, you can be on your knees or on your feet. Hands are right under your shoulders. Squeeze your legs together.

You wanna turn your elbows so they're pointing straight back. And we're gonna do five push ups. So you're just gonna bend your arms and then push back up and bend and up. Ben stretch two more. Ben stretch last one. And then lower your knees down if they're up.

Shake out your wrists. We're gonna do that two more times. You can stretch your wrist if you need to. When you're ready, we're gonna come back out to your plank. This is our second set.

Squeeze your legs together, pull up in your abdominals, elbows are gonna point straight back, and you'll bend your arms and straighten. Ben and straighten. Ben. Straighten, you're going in down one piece and up last one and then lower back down. Shake out your wrists. Again, go ahead and stretch if you need to.

Push ups have always been a little bit of a challenge for me. But I've been getting stronger working on it. You don't have to go all the way to the mat. Just go where you can. Last set, hands are right onto your shoulders.

Find your plank. Again, if you wanna change it so that you're on your knees for this last set, go for it. Squeeze your legs together. Bend your arms and stretch. So the goal is to try to get your elbows to brush this out of your ribs so they're going straight back. So it's more into your triceps and less into your pecs. Up one more. And then lower your knees down.

That's our last set. Go into child's pose. Take a breath. And then when you're ready, just sit up for a second. Shake out your wrists.

We're gonna do one last thing on your wrist. You're gonna come onto your hands and knees. We're gonna do a little cat cow just to finish off. So just gonna arch your back as you inhale and then round your back as you exhale. Inhale arch exhales you around.

Just mobilizing your spine, getting everything loose again and we'll stretch a little bit and arch. And round one more time, arch your back, and round. Come back to a neutral spine, and you're gonna lie on your back. We're gonna stretch out your legs. Just because it did do quite a bit of hamstring work.

So one foot's gonna one leg is gonna be down on the mat, stretch long. The other leg, you'll just hug into your chest. You can rock it side to side. Just loosen up your hip. From here, stay center.

You're gonna stretch it leg up to the ceiling. If your hamstring happens to be pretty tight, you can bend the other leg and have your foot flat on the mat. The leg that you're holding, you're gonna flex that foot and just stretch that leg toward you. Let's breathe into it. Try to release any tension. It was cooling down after a bit of a challenge for your abdominals, upper body.

And your legs even. Now keep your opposite hand on your leg. The other hand's gonna come down to the mat and cross your leg over towards your shoulder or opposite shoulder and shut your it band. Take one more inhale and exhale and then bring that leg back to center and then reach it all the way down. You're gonna bring your other knee into your chest. Again, you can rock side to side with that leg, loosen up your hip.

Come back to center, stretch your leg up toward the ceiling. Again, bend that bottom leg if you need to. Flex your foot and reach that leg toward the ceiling or as high as you can. Try to hold on to either your calf or behind your thigh. Try not to hold behind your knee because that'll kind of make you bend it a little bit more and you want to keep it as straight as you can. Now keep your opposite hand on your leg, the same hand as your leg is gonna come down. You're gonna cross over towards your opposite shoulder, stretch your IT band.

Keep reaching out through that heel. Take one more deep breath here and then bring your leg back to center and then lower it all the way down. I'm gonna do one last roll up to sit up so flex your feet keep your legs glued together or bend your knees and bring your feet onto the mat. Take a deep inhale with the arms up, exhale press down, roll yourself up. I want to finish with the little side bend.

So you can sit. We'll have the soles of your feet together. Sitting up as tall as you can. Arms are gonna reach out to the side. I'm just gonna reach over into a side bend and then come all the way up and then reach over to the other side.

And then back up one more each way because it feels nice. Reach. Try to lengthen that side of your spine and up and reach and bring your hands onto your ankle, and you're just gonna round forward, stretch your back. And then roll all the way up. Just sit with your legs crossed.

I'll finish with the little shoulder stretch. So you're gonna cross one arm over and stretch your arms. So they get as tall as you can and then back to the other side. Reach that arm across your chest. And then just bring your hands on to your knees.

Take a deep inhale, lift your shoulders up by your ears. X. So roll them back and down. One more time, inhale shoulders up, exhale, do lower. And thank you for taking class with me. I'll see you next time.