Activate Mat with a Block

Hi. I'm Delia, and today we'll be doing a mat class using a yoga block. I have the block at the front of my mat, and I'm gonna move it around in a little bit just so that you could have a better view of my hips for one of the exercises. But for the most part, you'll just keep the block right where it is. So we're gonna place the block to the front of the mat and the block is gonna be let's just call this long ways on the mat with a flat down. I'm gonna place the block between my feet or put my feet around the block, I guess.

And I wanna give that block a little bit of a squeeze, but not too hard. Just enough to engage up the inner thighs, and we're gonna take a couple of breaths. So inhale through the nose. And exhale through the mouth. And as you're breathing, I want you to make contact with the block between the feet, to try to lift up through the arches into the inner thighs, and hopefully that's gonna help with that pelvic floor lifting and the firing of that inner unit.

So deep inhale breath here. And last one, as I reach my arms to the ceiling, let's do a little roll down. So arms reach, palms face forward. Let's keep the arms with the ears as we round and reach the fingertips to the floor. As you come down to the floor, you could soften your knees, if you have really tight hamstrings, at no point should you feel a little bit too much of a tug in that lumbar spine.

Let's roll up, feel the body stack behind you on those hamstrings, the hips stack on top of the legs, and then you roll yourself up with your head to be last two more times. Exhale to flex, rounding through the spine, fingertips to the floor. And exhale to roll it up, turning through those wheels. So as we go down, we'll turn through that head wheel first, the ribcage, then the pelvis. Until we find that deep stretch, and you can hold here for a moment and pedal those knees.

Get a little extra stretch at the side of the hip, and then we'll roll all the way back up and then swing the arms down to the side. Let's do a few standing squats. My arms are reached forward as I drop my bottom down. And you're just trying to really wake up and warm up the legs. So whatever squat feels comfortable for you, I'm gonna maintain a nice flat back with my eyes forward, and I'm only gonna swing my arms to the height of my shoulders as I also warm up my shoulder joint. Two more.

Last one. And now let's check on that balance. Now this is a soft mat, which has a little bit of feedback on there. And so it's gonna be a little bit harder to balance on my Relay and then lower my heels down. If you're struggling to keep that balance on a soft pilates mat, just step off to the side on a hard floor, It'll make it just a teeny bit easier.

So I wanna spread my toes. I lift my heels up twice more. Last one, and now I'm gonna alternate the relevay squat. So I'll squat first, stand up, lift the heels, lower down. Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, exhale. I like that two breath pattern. It slows me down. It keeps me focused, but you could breathe in whatever pattern you'd like. To make your workout more efficient for you today, two more inhale and lift the heels, last one, and then lift the heels. Now we're gonna work with the block with one leg keep the block where it is while you're watching and I'm just gonna turn the block sideways towards you so that you could see my hips. I'm gonna take my right foot to the top of the box and then lift myself up to where my toe is still touching the mat for balance.

My hands are on my hips so that I could feel where my hips are because I'm gonna try to level those. So with a nice long leg on the block, you're gonna lift the foot off. Try to level the hips as level as you can and then lower the toe back down. And if you'd like to keep the foot on the floor, the whole time, just soften the knee that's on the block. So that way, it's a little bit easier to touch that floor. And what you're doing here is you're activating all the stability muscles on your hips, and then trying to find where that pelvis aligns.

One more time, and I can already feel that burning just a teeny bit. Let's do a little narrow squat. So drop the hanging foot to the floor. Do a little narrow squat and stand, and we'll do six of these and lift. Three more.

Two more. One more. And now I'm gonna do a wider squat. So I'm gonna go out to the side and then step towards the block and up two. And three, and you can go as wide as you'd like. I'm staying right here. Three, two, one more time.

And now I'm gonna step back and because I've switched the block to face you guys, I'm gonna lunge off the mat. But you guys stay on the mat. I'll lunge behind and step forward and behind and step forward. Don't wanna step step too far back because it'll be hard to find that standing position again. You'll do three more.

Two. Last one. Now let's alternate for three sets. So you go to narrow squat. Wide squat, lunge, narrow, wide, lunge, one more only, wide lunge, and return. So now that you've seen what the hips look like, I'm just gonna turn my block back to the front of the mat, and we're gonna do the other side so you'll get that side view. Now my left foot's going to be on the block, and I'm gonna come up standing and I'm going to level those hips.

So it's just a slight pivot. So if you thought of your pelvis like a clock, I'm bringing my right hip up to 03:00 and I'm keeping my left hip at 09:00. So my head would be 12. Right? So once I've done a few of those and I could feel that left hip stabilizing or those muscles working, I'll go into my narrow squat. For six.

And down, three more, two more, one more. Now I'm gonna step slightly off my mat for a wider squat for six. Three more, two, and one, and now the lunge. So not too far back. And this is my stronger balance leg. So hopefully this one cooperates a little more than the last leg.

We've got three more, two, one more, and now let's alternate three sets. So, narrow squat, wide squat, and then lunge, narrow wide lunge, one more set, narrow wide lunge and return. So shake off those legs, and then we'll just have a seat. So I'm gonna sit and grab the box or block with my hands, and we'll call this wide, feet are flat onto the mat, and then the legs will be as wide as you feel comfortable. With the arms out in front, we'll go into a little roll back. So we'll flex through the pelvis roll back until the block meets the knees, and then sit all the way back up. And now that we've warmed up the legs, we'll warm up the spine and lift.

And exhale and lift three more. Two more keeping the gaze forward. Last one, and we'll do three sets now of a little rotation with that half roll back. So as you're rolling back, bring the block towards the right side of the body, keeping the legs level, back to center, and over to the left side, and back to center. Letting your eyes follow the block, So that way you keep that spine moving smoothly throughout. One more set, and then we'll add in a little around the world.

So we'll go back to the center. I'm gonna start to the right. You'll exhale rotate like you did with that last exercise, bring the arms up towards the ceiling, rotate over to the left side, bring the arms down to the level of your shoulders, sit up, back to center. Inhale to the left, exhale to roll back, inhale one big inhale all the way over to the other side, and then exhale back up. One more set. Inhale to the right, exhale to roll back, arms come to meet the ears, rotate to the left, sit all the way up, and back to the center.

I'm gonna place the ball now between the knees. Or not the ball, the block. You might hear me do that a few times. Black ball. You guys still have that yoga block in your hand.

So the block's gonna be between the knees, and I want you to really feel the engagement of those inner thighs. It's not as soft as a ball. So you're not be able to press as hard, but you just want enough that you feel like those legs are nice and wide in the hips and the feet are in line with the knees. From here, I'm gonna lie all the way onto my back, and let's work on some ab curls. Let's interlace the fingers behind the head, feet are flat, elbows in your peripheral.

Let's lift the head up, draw the ribs towards the hips. And then roll back down. And let's do a four, a two breath pattern. So inhale to nod the chin, exhale to flex up, inhale to pause, exhale to lower. And you could do it one breath pattern.

You could go exhale to roll up, inhale back down. Let's do that three more times and lift. Gazing towards that block and again and lift, stretching between those shoulder blades. Last one, and then roll yourself all the way back down. Let the arms go by your side and float the legs up to tabletop softening the lumbar spine into the mat or your lower back.

If your lower back allows you to, we're gonna lower the toes towards the mat, but only lower as low as that lower back will stabilize and then back up. So just a double toe tap to the mat. And I like the inhale to reach away because I like the exhale to pull it back to center. Almost as though those toes are attached to the belly button by an imaginary string. Inhale exhale here, one more, and pause.

Now I'm gonna keep the legs at that tabletop and release the fingers back behind my head. This time, I'm going to lift the head and shoulders up to flex then tap my toes to the mat, then lift the legs back up to tabletop, then lower the head. So step one, head and shoulders up. Step two, toes to the mat. Three, the legs meet the top, and then you lower.

And again, and return. And with the head up, it's gonna be a little bit easier to tap those toes. Because it's physics. So the upper body is up higher, which allows the legs to go down just a teeny bit lower. And again, only go as low as you're able to maintain stability of the back. And then return back down.

Let's go ahead and lower the feet, keep the block between the knees, and let's do a little bridgy. Arms are long, feet are in a comfortable position right in line with those sits bones, which The block actually helps with that. I'm gonna roll the hips off the mat and find my bridge and make a little adjustment here at the top where my shoulders are nice and wide my eyes are towards the ceiling and I could feel where the glute and hamstring meet. From here, I'll roll myself all the way back to the mat and then release back to neutral. Now for those of you that have tight hips, the block might be too narrow for you.

So just place the block to the side and continue the movement. If you have to have your legs open just a bit wider, it's totally okay. Now we'll roll back up into that bridge position so that we open up the front body, and then I'll lower the hips down with a flat back almost as though my tailbone is leading to the floor. Sometimes I like to cue that the mat is hot. So as soon as the butt touches the mat, I wanna lift it right back up and the block is helping me feel where the gluten hamstring meet instead of over firing in that hamstring.

Let's just go one more time. And then a little bonus. Let's just do a little alternating of the glutes. So to be in line with the warm up and the hip awareness and mobility, you have two hips, not just one. We'll do one more on each side, and then lower all the way back down.

I'm gonna take the block into my handout for a little part of the app series. So the app series of five, we're gonna do a couple here. So with the block in my hand, nice and long. I'm gonna take each leg up to tabletop and then reach the arms to the ceiling right above the shoulders, flex the upper body up and hover the block right above my shins. Single leg stretch. Right leg reaches one.

Two. We'll do six sets and three. Four, five, last one, and six knees, a stop at tabletop. You roll down. Now a little variation of your obliques, should not flex up. My left leg now is gonna go out.

I'm gonna bring the block underneath my right, grab it, and then almost like a figure eight. As I go around, and I'm going to actually rotate it a little confused there for a second. And I'm gonna rotate my upper body as I move through my legs and the blocks. So you get a little bit of those obliques. I'll do one more set, and then back to center, and then release back down.

Now let's place the block between the feet. So you want it long ways just like that. And then make sure that you feel like the block is steady. Please don't let go of it and let it hit you in the face there. So bending the knees, and keeping the hands behind the head. This is a variation of double leg stretch.

So I'll lift my head and shoulders up, and I'll bring my elbows close to my knees and my knees close to my elbows. My upper body doesn't move. My torso stays the same. I'll extend my legs out to that double, double leg stretch position, open up my elbows and then bring it back. So legs move and elbows open.

We have three more, three and two. Last one, lower the head and shoulders, reach the arms behind you, lift the legs to the ceiling. Let's do a little block toss. Head comes up, you reach for that block, drop it into your hands, and only lower the legs as low as your lower back and stabilize, bring the block back to the feet. And then rest back down.

Head and shoulders up, grab the block, legs together, lower, lift, back between the feet and rest. Four more. Inhale, grab, exhale, inhale, grab with the feet, exhale. And again, grab the block, lower the legs, lift the legs, grab. Now, I wanna end it in my hands. So I'm gonna lift the head and shoulders up.

Grab the block. And if you can, and you can soften your knees, I'd like for you to lower your legs down to the mat long as you reach the block overhead and pause for a stretch. I'm gonna turn the block sideways so I can grab the edges of it and come into my roll up. Arms up towards the ceiling, Had and shoulders come up. I'm gonna roll myself up.

I'm actually gonna scooch back because I came off the mat a bit. Reach the arms out in front. Hold that for a stretch. Arms and torso in parallel over the legs. Roll down. Slowly, and reach the arms overhead.

Inhale arms up, chin not, exhale to flex, and lower. And whatever variation of roll up you'd like here, this is a nice stretch, nice spinal articulation, make sure that you are nice and smooth on your roll up. You could always grab onto the side of the leg to give yourself that little assist and roll yourself back. We have one more. You're gonna roll up, exhale.

And then flex your ankles here at the top, lift your upper body up, find a nice extension, fold back over your legs, and let's place the box. Or the block down onto the mat. I'm gonna flip my legs around to be in an all fours position here. And now we'll go into a little extension in this modified position Great if you're pregnant too because we will not be laying on the belly, so this is a great exercise. My left hand is going to be on the block.

My right hand is going to be on the mat. So because of that, my shoulders are offset. From here, what I'll do is I'll bend my elbow of my block hand so I could try to level out the shoulders. I'll extend my right leg away opposite of the block and I'll bring the leg back in. And extend. Almost as though you're sweeping out and away. And reach.

Inhale, exhale. Let's do two more. One more. Now hold that leg there. Reach the arm out without the block in hand.

And to that extension, place the hand back to the block and drop the knee. Inhale reach exhale return. Some would call this bird dog if you're yogi. This is also just a modified swimming exercise. One more.

Now arm and leg go out, and I want you to pause here and pulse. For six and five, four, three, two, and one, and return. Before we continue with the other side, I'm gonna have you turn the block sideways and rotate the upper body to kneeling. So now we're gonna go into some side kneeling using that same leg. So place the block where it feels like you can reach and it's comfortable preferably preferably before, in front of that shoulder. So I'm gonna place the hand down, make sure my arm feels good, my free hand behind my head.

I'm gonna lift that leg up to the height of the hip. I'm just gonna lower and lift that leg. So working on those a b doctors outer thighs. Take a gaze over towards your foot, make sure that you feel like you're in alignment. Just a couple more.

Hold that leg up there and just small circles from the hip, maintaining as much parallel as you can. Three, two, one, reverse. For six, five, four, three, two, one, and then drop the knee. So it meets the other knee and just give yourself a quick little stretch. From here, we're gonna have a seat and finish off this side lateral work by going into a little side bend.

So I'm gonna take that leg I just worked, bring the foot in front of the other. So now They are they intersect at the ankle. My forearm is down onto my knee, and I'm gonna come up into a side plank, then I'm gonna lift my hip towards the ceiling into a pike And I'm gonna reach that free arm towards my back leg, and then I'm gonna rotate back onto the mat. Five more. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale, exhale, four more lift, squeezing those inner thighs for support, and then back. We have three more. Lift through those hips. Reach for the back leg. Good.

And two, inhale up, exhale reach, and return. Last one, these are challenging. If done correctly, reach away. And return. Now we get to do the whole thing over.

So we're gonna rotate to all fours, place the block underneath the right hand. Make sure that the left hand is in alignment with the shoulder as well. Neither are underneath you. Elbow is bent, and I'm doing my best here to align those shoulders. Then I'm gonna reach the opposite leg out for three.

And reach. Actually, let's do three more. Three for six total. And two. Last one now will add the arm.

So you reach away for six. One. Inhale exhale two. Two more. Now in the last one, we'll hold it. Slightly look up to open up that chest and six pulses, five, four, three, two, one, and release down.

Bringing that block to the side, and then coming into kneeling. Just making these adjustments here. And then my arms out to airplane as I bring my hand down, and then take that leg out. Make sure that that shoulder feels comfortable because it's hard to adjust it once you're in motion. Hand behind the head, and lift and lower that top leg for six.

We've got four. Three. Two. Hold the leg up. Six circles. Going forward to back.

And six circles going the other direction. Last one and bend and stretch. Now I get to see the back side of this exercise. So I'm gonna put that ankle perpendicular to the heel, hand onto the block forearm on the knee. So the feet actually should be aligned the front foot with the knee and the front of that block. You'll lift up, you'll reach under, you'll rotate back, and you'll pivot back to the mat.

Inhale. Exhale, inhale, and exhale, four more and lift. You wanna challenge yourself. Don't drop all the way down to the mat. Three more. Lift it up.

Rotate You can hover here and up and turn. And I'm gonna lower that hip again just for two more. Last one and up and reach and back and lower. That was hard. I'm gonna keep the block where it is.

And I'm gonna lower myself all the way down to do some counter intuitive bridging. So lying on my back. I'll take the right foot and place it on the block. Long ways. And I'll do my best here to line those feet up, head down.

And let's just go into just that hip lift again. So the hip lifts up, and then the hip lowers down. And you lift for four more. Up. Try to keep those hips level, even though you've got one foot on the block. The emphasis is going to be on the glute that's got the foot on the block.

On the next one, hold it up, shoulders wide. Balance here, lift the left foot off the mat six times one. And two three four five Now hold that leg up. Lower that block hip six times one. Inhale exhale two.

Hip square three. Two more. One more, foot comes down, spine comes down, and you release. We'll take the block over to the other side. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Just shift it with your feet. Your foot will be on the block, feet will be together, adjust your torso, and you'll start by lifting and lowering. And just put the first one, you'll know if you're in the right position. Make sure that that knee tracks over your foot and that you're firing that pelvic floor to help fire the glute max so you don't go into that hamstring so much. On the next one, we're gonna hold it up.

You'll notice one hip's gonna be more stable or more flexible Keep those arms down, lift that leg up and toe tap for five, four, three, two. These are challenging. Stay up there. Now lower that hip, and lift, like you're picking up a pencil between that glute and hamstring, three. Two more. One more. Hold. Foot comes down.

You roll down. And you release. I'm gonna grab the block with my hands and then bring it overhead. So now the block is overhead. My legs are up at tabletop.

A little teaser time, possibly. So let's bring those arms up to the ceiling, and I'm gonna keep my legs at tabletop as I peel off the mat and then come up into a modified teaser. So my back is gonna be straight as I bring my arms to the ceiling, but I'm gonna keep my knees bent as I roll all the way back down to the mat. And if you wanted to extend your legs and do the full teaser, have at it. Reach your arms up.

Roll up, feet will adjust. Arms come up, and then I'm gonna roll myself back down. And again, arms come up. Exhale. Roll it up.

This time, I'm gonna hold, and I'm gonna extend one leg out only as I reach up. Bring that leg down. Reach up with the arm too. I'll do two more sets. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale one more.

And now I'll extend my legs long, arms to the ceiling, pause for three for two. We're not rolling backwards. We're rolling forward. Roll and stretch and release. Let's take that block now and bring it between the feet again, just like we did in the beginning, except in the narrow position. And we're gonna do a modified control back. So I'm gonna have my hands behind me.

I'm gonna reach my arms up. This is how I find that position. I bring and find my range of motion. Fingerhips are either forward to the side. But not back. And I want you to lift those hips up and open up through that front body.

Lower those hips down. We'll do five more before we complete this workout today. I love this because I could feel my bicep stretching. Make sure that you've your eyes are not gazing too far back into extension. You've got a nice safe position with your neck.

I believe we have two more. One more. Now can you stay up here with me and then just crab crawl the fingers forward? And then reach the fingers forward from here. You're in this crouching position, go ahead and take the box out, place it in front of you, place your hands onto the box, extend those legs, and stay folded forward.

Taking three breaths, inhale through the nose. Exhale through the mouth, you have two more. And one more so they release those arms, roll yourself up like just like we did in the beginning of class Reach the arms up towards the ceiling, interlace those fingers real quick to the sky and give yourself a little side stretch. And you guys are all done today. Thank you for joining me on this mat with the yoga block.