Rise and Shine Mat

Rise and shine Pilates anytime. Today's workout is about waking everything up, the muscles, the joints, the brain. That way, we can be prepared for anything that this beautiful day will throw at us. So let's wake up together, reach up for the heavens, and then stretch and yawn. Just like you're waking up out of bed. Let's add a little movement from side to side as you step into this.

We are undulating the spine, we are rolling out the wrists, and we're just waking up. Yes. Let's get the blood flowing set and a strong intention for class today to start this day right together. Let's do two more of these and go for some squat swings. So reach those arms up together and then sweep them back behind you. So it's up, and it's down. After a few controlled squat swings, let's let it rip down and up.

Lower down and up, use your core muscles, support your spine, Maybe this feels a little labored, maybe it feels fun. Just check-in with how you're feeling right now. If you're feeling good about this, add the relevé, little up, and a little down. Let's do a few more squat swings. My heart rate is already stepped up a notch.

So I'm gonna go a little bit bigger because I like where this is going. Last two Pilates marches, on deck. Let's get classic here for Pilates anytime, arm over arm, press those shoulders down the back, abs in tight, and start marching, bring those knees up. Try not to sway from side to side. I was showing you what not to do. Instead, stand tall in your truth. Yes.

We are going deep today. Deep with the muscles, deep with our intentions. Come on, get those knees up. But never at the expense of your upper body, shoulders down the back abs and strong point those toes. Wakey, wakey.

Let's add the arms for a little variety and to get the blood flowing. If you know what I mean, arms up to the sky called skull crushers here. That's a nice thought. Crush somebody's skull. Apparently, I have a little rage, and I'm gonna stand in that truth today.

I encourage you to do the same. Maybe a a loving message here. Oh, to each skull. One more time on each side. Great. Let's balance on one foot. That will be a true test where we're at this morning. Standing tall, Still, lift your right leg, pass a, kickstand is fine if you need it.

Take your hands on top of your shoulders and give me a few circles going forward up and back. Wow. This is more challenging than it was in rehearsals. Last to switch feet, switch directions, mobilizing those shoulders, So good for our postural muscles to start the day with some shoulder mobility. That way, we can stand really tall with our shoulders back. We deserve the best.

So we are going to be the best heels together, toes apart, arms out to the side, soften your knees for a forward fold, use your core muscles, hinge forward, round it down, drop the head, pull your abs in, roll up your spine and arms come out. Let's do that again. Forward fold abs in, drop everything down, roll it up with intention, two more times. Round it. Fold it over, and up.

Last one. Pick up something from the floor. Some good energy. Send it to the world. Yes. The world needs us right now.

Let's come down to quadrupeds on all fours. Come to one side and again, dive in and come down to all fours so that your shoulders are stacked over your wrists your hips are stacked over your knees, fingers are forward, and really make sure that you spread your fingers out and grip the floor so the wrist is in an anatomically sound position, shoulders down the back, push those shoulder blades apart, lift the neck, and let's go for cat cow rounding the spine for your cat, dropping the head in that flexion, and then the ex yummy extension lengthen rounding, and extending, soften the elbows, feel a little deeper connection into the core, and most importantly stretch the heck out of your back. All of those vertebraes are asking for a little space from one another. Let's give it to them. One more time with an animal sound. That's just for fun.

Great job. Let's go into our body wave. Let's start with a modification in child's pose as we shift our weight forward and drop the hit for our upward facing dog extension. Now if you're feeling frisky, you're gonna hover those knees and roll it forward bone by bone and create your own body wave, some interpretive dance movement. I want you to tuck the tailbone around the spine, hips down, chest up through the shoulders. Look up.

Chin to the chest, round it back. This is Kat Cow two point o, rolling forward, getting our plank working, and, of course, mobilizing the spine. Let's do this two more times. Really exaggerate it. Hips down, chest up. Always feel free to come back to the knees.

If you're feeling this too much in the wrists, the back. Otherwise, let her wave, and then sit back for your child's pose. It wouldn't be a true wake up call without some push ups. Just to check-in with the body, feel free to modify on the knees. Fingers forward, on the knees crossing the ankle's body as stiff as a board here, inhale down, exhale up, can you get your chest to touch the floor? Just notice that today. How does that feel?

How do you feel on the right compared to the left side, inhale down exhale up? Can you do a few full push ups? Exhale up. Inhale down, exhale up. How many more can you do? I mean, we would be here a long time if I answered that. So I'm just gonna do one more, and then sit back in your child's pose.

Throw the needle. Take a quick stretch for the shoulders. Pika boo. One more time to the other side. Push that shoulder down and around, feel the stretch. We are going on to our low side plank.

Side one. Come down on the forearm. Option to stay on the knees here, just a little hip lift. So make sure the elbow, the hips, the knees, all in one long narrow hallway with the body, lift your arm up, little hip lifts up. Up, up, option, more difficult, tripod, up, up.

Last few, breathing, assert your shoulder down your back, looking up at your hand, And now thread the needle, reaching under, and then reaching up. Make sure you're threading from the right places. Right? We don't want to go into a snake and twist. I want you to twist out of your ribs, and lift. Does anybody know how to sew at home?

Something I haven't yet mastered. Good on my bucket list. And Great job threading the needle. Let's transfer to the other side. Efflessly option again to come to the knees for those lifts.

Some of you may already be up in that tripod. I'm gonna join you there. Lift. Lift. Last few here before we thread the needle on side two.

I love this little lift. Give me a little oblique wake up call, hold it, thread the needle, reach under, and then reach up a few more twisting out of the thoracic spine where the ribs are, exhaling any bad energy out as we breathe in the good energy. Two more. Take a deep breath, exhale everything out as you twist, twist, twist, reach up. And gently come down and come to a seat at the front of your mat.

Now we get into some core work. You didn't you didn't think I was gonna forget the core work. This is Pilates after all. Grab your thighs and we do the rollback or considered cat cow for the abs. Keep your feet planted. Use your arms. Tuck your tailbone, scoop the abs in, look down, and then look up as you lift up.

Once again, we're exploring the range of motion of our spine, trying to get all those sticky parts to loosen up a bit. For me, it's my mid back. I know I'm not alone on that. So I'm really focusing and creating that space. So I have that optimal posture I'm standing as tall as I can as I bring up to a seat. Great. Roll yourself all the way down on your back, supine position, pelvic tilts.

Let's take a moment this morning to rock the pelvis forward and backwards, and I love the image of a bowl of cereal. Because I love serial, but also because it helps me understand that range of motion as if I'm spilling the serial towards me or if I spill the serial away from me, We wanna find the spot that's right in the middle. So let's find that neutral pelvis, and let's keep that for the abs series. Cradle the head, hand over hand for your chest lifts. We're going to add the left leg out lift your chest with the leg and lower.

Exit, pull the abs in, lift the leg, feel the stretch of the hamstring, and lower. A simple leg lift, a simple chest lift, but so much is happening. Get the air out, breathe in the good air. Let's do a few more. Upper abs are floating our chest up, lower abs are floating our leg up.

Everything has a role. Everything deserves a proper wake up call. Last one. Good. Hold that leg out, bend the knee, lift the chest, and let's begin a twist. And we are warm enough now where we are ready for that thoracic twist.

We threaded the needle, and now we twist towards that leg. A few more lift and twist back to center. What I see often in class is that people love to twist out of the neck. I want you to keep the lineage of your neck here, the line through the crown of your head and spiral from the ribs. And allow the head neck and shoulders to follow. Hold the knee in, extend the leg up.

Let's touch the foot with the opposite hand, pinky to pinky, think of the saw on the mat, keep that neutral pelvis down. I noticed that mine started to lift, and we're just reaching to opposition here, feeling the burn, find that burn zone by keeping the pulses really small, really specific here. Last four, three, two, and one, hold that leg out as you roll to the side for a quick side series on that same left leg. So stack your elbow, shoulders, hips, everything in that one straight line on the back of the mat, and let's kick forward with a flex foot point the leg reach back. So in that line of the hip, sweeping leg kicks.

Kick, kick, point reach. Give me that accent at the front. Kick, kick, kick, point stretch, stretch, as if kick, kick someone's pulling that leg out of the socket, you have to use your abs to stay intact let's do one more on this last one, sweep to the back and hold it and make about, you know, the size of a plate, some circles. Make sure the hip stays stacked. The circles are precise. Let's reverse those circles about eight circles in each direction.

Notice how you feel on side one. The right side stabilizing below us, lifting that waist, and let's lay on our back, integrate all of that great work. And let's do it again on side two. Always a little more challenging on side two. But just like the day ahead of us, we are going to embrace the challenges.

So right leg extends out long as long as you can abs in, lift the chest, lift the leg, and lower. Exhale as you lift, inhale as you lower. I noticed the fire on my stabilizing side, so I'm gonna use that really planning my left foot in so I can really stabilize and isolate the exercise feeling my upper abs and my lower abs at the same time here, like a human accordion. Last one, hold that leg out, bend the knee, twist towards it, and back out exhale twist, inhale stretch, bottom left rib to right knee, up and twist, up and stretch, we are twisting responsibly, bracing our core. Let's do two more before the dreaded pulses Just kidding. We are embracing them.

I said, extend the leg, pinky to pinky, lift and reach, lift and reach, keep your sits bones, everything down, planted, isolate the exercise, come from the correct place. Use your core, lift and twist. Let's go for six, five, four, three. I'm gonna touch that pinky on one. Close enough. Let's roll to our other side for those sidekicks Make sure your backside, the elbow is all in one straight line. You feel free to use the mat as a guide here because of course our tendency is to round the upper body.

To be human. So here, we're going to do everything we can to reverse those patterns. Now the longest reach of the leg, the left waist is lifted, side kick, and sweep it back. Flex, kick, kick, point, stretch back. A wonderful hamstring stretch.

And then that arabesque pinches the seat, works the glutes. So important for the low back to get a healthy dose of back extension. So important for the body to have the glutes warmed up for all the fun things we have planned today. Kick, kick, hold it to the back. Let's make those precise circles the size of a plate.

No bigger, no smaller. What do your circles look like on the whiteboard reverse for the rest of the class to see? I'm just adding a little friendly pressure here, some competition. That's what it feels like to be alive. Last one.

Awesome. Let's go on to our stomach for some swan exercises next. So for swan, we're gonna work in three parts, hands underneath your shoulders, elbows in tight, long neck. I have my legs hip distance to give myself a little bit of extra space in my back. But here, I want you to use your hands and actively track yourself forward, like you're dragging yourself forward, lengthen the spine, pull the abs in, and lift yourself up for a swan lift. Now we make this a three part motion by taking our hands off the mat, lifting up as high as we can, and then using our hands to find that one day my swan will be here, and then lower yourself down. No hands, pinch the shoulder blades wide, use your hands to find your optimal swan one day. We are manifesting this position and lower yourself down.

Navel lifts off the mat, hover the hands, lengthen through the crown of your head, and it really isn't about how high we lift. It's about how long of a line. We can create from the toes to the crown of the head. Let's do this one more time, back extension, working the spine a erector muscles, the two columns along the spine, lower yourself down. Single leg kicks, put those fists together, bring yourself up like a sphinx and kick your butt twice with one leg, twice with the other, see if you can pass the legs in the air. As you continue to track yourself forward, encouraging those postural muscles to set down the back, feeling the hamstring as you kick, kick, pass, kick, kick one more time on each side.

Kick, kick, kick, kick, and then push yourself back into child's pose. Take it all in. You're doing great. Roll yourself up, and let's do the thigh stretch. Now this exercise on the knees, making sure we're using all of the muscles that we have just woken up to get our body in one straight line.

Arms reach forward shoulders down abs in. It's the limbo time hinge back hinge back hinge back hinge back and then bring yourself up with control. Notice what muscles start to ignite. Of course, it's called by stretch. What a lovely way to think about it. Yes.

We are stretching and lengthening the muscles, but I'm feeling the burn. See if you can go back a little bit further on that note, embrace it. Let's be honest. If it was easy, everybody would do it. So many benefits. Working in the kneeling position.

It ignites different muscles in your quads, your hamstrings. Everything has to work a little differently depending on the center of gravity. Where we are in space. Okay. Come on. Let's take this last one a little bit deeper a little bit deeper. Oh, come on.

Fine. Aspirational. You got it. Don't try that at home kids. Alright. Have a seat, and then thrust those hips forward for the extension.

Sit back into a seat and push those hips forward. Let's do this a few more times. That feels really good. Because I get to squeeze my seat at the top, sit all the way down. Let's do this three more times, strong glutes, mean a strong and supported low back, But let's be honest.

I know why we're doing these exercises. It's all about the thirst traps. Just kidding. Bring yourself up and let's finish on our feet. Man, we've been through so much together. Reach up for the sky and just notice how your body feels a little different as we stretch and yawn.

I'm awake now. I'll tell you that much. Let's finish with a few stretches. Take your right leg back into a lunge, reach to me, and then circle to your left, circle the body back, circle to the right, bring yourself up and let's balance on one leg in an arabesque, soften the standing leg, reach the arms out long, leg behind you, smile, bring your feet back, other side, left leg back, reach to the right using your core muscles, back extension. We've been working towards this. This is our recital at the end of our class.

Open your heart. Open your arms. Find that balance. How does the balancing feel compared to twenty minutes ago? A little bit easier for me.

I'm not gonna lie. Place your feet down, float the arms down. Right ear to right shoulder for a next stretch. Give a friendly encouragement with the other hand and float the left arm up and down. Just noticing how that changes the stretch.

Arm up when the arm floats down, feel that lengthen muscles that hold up my beautiful head. And then come to the other side, float the arm up, and float the arm down. No need to force the body into any position. Sometimes we just allow gravity to do its work. One more float.

And now the grand finale, our final postural stretch, take your hands behind you, interlace the fingers, open your heart, open your chest, Good morning world. Bring yourself all the way up and over. If you can clasp those heels of the hands together, shake your head. Yes. Shake your head. No. Drop your arms.

Final roll up, tuck the seat abs in, bone by bone, stack it like a totem pole, bone by bone, by bone, by bone, by bone. Stand tall. Stand tall in your truth. Stand tall in your beautiful strong body. Reach up to the heavens, and let's bring our hands to heart center.

And say thank you for this beautiful day. Thank you for hitting play and waking up with me. Let's work out together again very soon. See you next time.