Class #495

Lengthening Mat

60 min - Class
49 likes

Description

Meredith's goal for this Level 2 workout was for all her students to feel taller at the end of class. Meredith will have you practicing your balance, feeling a supple spine during abdominal work, and strengthening your upper body and back with light hand weights. Enjoy!
What You'll Need: Mat, Hand Weights

About This Video

Aug 17, 2011
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Transcript

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Okay. Alrighty. Well, we're not going to hold the weights right away, but we are just going to set them. We're going to start with some roll-down, so just set your weights down. Maybe as you stand facing forward, position your weight so that they're just on the outsides of your feet. Hey, we're working with lightweights. Two pounds, three pounds, and I wouldn't go much heavier than that. All right, let's just shift forward. We're swaying in the breeze, the breezy worries that is today, and find your balance over your feet. And here comes a train. Maybe we'll do that for just another minute. Oh, I don't hear it anymore.

Okay. Raise your arms. Grow longer and taller with your arms and bring your arms around. Yeah, you know, I have this client, we're going to do it again. Who has been going in for bone density screenings? All right. She's grown two inches. She's grown two inches. So that just goes to show you what Paul is can do for you. So believe it, when you think about getting taller, raising the arms.

This time we're going to bring the arms down. We're going to fold forward with the chest, allowing the arms to be heavy, keeping the shoulders on the back, letting the body just lightly reach forward. Checking in with yourself. Lengthening at the bottom. We breathe in, breathe out. As you start to curl the spine back up, hollowing through the abdominals, coming all the way up to standing. We're going to finish with the IME. So let the arms follow the spine. Press the arms down, maybe a little bit backwards, and then let the head fold forward.

So we just add in that little arm circle at the top, supporting ourselves as we fold the body forward. Inhale, exhale, lifting through the spine, pressing the pelvis forward in space, letting the head float up or reaching the arms up. The spine grows three inches and our HRA and we're doing two more. Rounding, healing, a sense of energy through the midline of the body. Inhale, feeling the musculature. Suppote support the bones and uh oh I'm FDI. Hang around last time. Folding far, letting tension out of the body. So we're starting this class. Fresh. Ready. Excellent.

Coming up on having the rooms to follow. Rise up onto your toes, reach your arms down, keep yourself up on your toes, raise your arms back up, reach your arms down, raise your arms back. I have nice, easy motions with the arms hold here. Feel the fingertips and the spine grow longer as the heels come down, sort of spine gets even taller, even taller. And then as we come down, we're going to die for like you're diving into a pool. [inaudible] at the bottom. We're going to pick up our waste. If you have any doubt about how that's going to feel for your back, I would bend the knees, maybe let's all the knees and just letting the weights hang in our hands as we peel back up.

All right, we're going to do a little balance where today, so send the right leg forward. Maybe off the mat is a good idea. It's just easier off the mat. If you want a bigger challenge, feel free to stay on the mat. Shoulder blades down, feel that those weights are more than two pounds, that they're 10 pounds. They're pulling the shoulder blades down, raise the arms up and raise the leg and press the arms and just let the leg lightly touch. Let the arms go slightly behind you and [inaudible] and slightly behind an app. And [inaudible] getting that open through the chest or openness through the chest.

The leg doesn't have to lift very high. You can even bend your knees should you want to. It works just as well. Let's do two more and one more. Keeping the leg up. Bring the leg and the arms to the side and bring everything back down. Just hover off the ground. Bring the on up, arms out to the side, pressing down through the shoulders, the foot just skins the floor. Uh, seeing nice and supportive through that standing leg.

Try not to veer off center as the lay comes to the side and down. We're going two more times. MMM. And out and push down. So obviously we work, we're working on the way out. That's a given. We can, we work on the way down last time and maybe it was at two to add on another and then push the spine up taller. Let that leg come to the ground, so in the left leg forward, so we just float the leg up. Imagine that as your arms float, they lose their light and easy and then the work, all the work happens on that downward pressure. By the way, with the leg as it comes down, you can activate the back of the leg and work there on the way up.

I want you to try and let it be easy. Finding ease in the movement. It's always a good challenge for ourselves to see. Definitely need support. We definitely need to work strong, but can we work strong and still be easy? We've got one more to go here. Pressing the on slightly backwards and up and slightly backwards in here comes our circles. So we go up, we take the legs in the arms to the side and we press and we come up nice and fluid. Feel almost weightless. Imagine doing this in a swimming pool.

Did we reverse? We didn't reverse did we? No. Last two. Well last time. All right, and bringing the arms down. I'm going to turn to that. Um, I'm in profile, but you guys can stay where you are. Take the right like back again or back. Now bring the arms up. So we're going to press the arms down and it's all, it's as though the movement of the arms as it comes to the legs is pushing our bodies downwards. It was a little bit late in queues. Here we go. Press down with your back muscles. As that happens, lift up with the backside of the moving like and just float as far forward as you wish to though. The ultimate goal eventually, and it's early here so it doesn't have to be.

Now it's to get parallel to the ground. Gotta use the back of the leg that's behind you. Last to raising yourself up and lifting. One more time. Reaching back. Oh, I didn't make it. And come on. Changing sides. I've got the left leg back. The arms are gonna come up again in front.

Shoulder blades down and we press the arms down. Hovering that left side, sending the body energetically forward. So for me it's the, the feeling is more about going forward than it is about going down. And another thing you can think about is to stretch the head and the feet in two separate directions. So there's again, a sense of growing longer or taller. Last two times reaching, reaching and up. Just when we're here, reaching and stepping in, just let the arms rest down the sides of the body. We're going to inhale, stretch down the left side of the leg or down the left leg, and then feel the obliques work as you lift back up. Here's a place where we can imagine that we've got heavier weights, pulling the weight of the weight, pull you over, and then engaging to lift up.

And then we stretch over loving that way too to reach down into the ground and then left doing over to the other side and left. We're go on one more time here. Maybe you'll get a little further this time. Push into the opposite foot and come on. I'm gonna push into the opposites, which is to anchor and come up. Turn the weights to face back and we're just gonna do 10 little pulses back. Think about more down than back in fact.

So it's as though you're trying to drag your knuckles along the ground, focusing on the upper back, the extension through the body, the abdominal support, the movement. So although our arms are moving, we're not arching the back to move the arms last four and three focusing on that middle back too. And [inaudible] good. Bring your weights with you. Just come and sit down on your mat. We may use the wait to get our, I may give you options for the weights. So just set them somewhere where you can reach them again. All right, so we're and tall. Wrap the arms around. So actually pull the elbows right underneath the knees and then use the strength of your arms to pull your spine right up into your thigh size. Okay.

Just tastes settle in there for a second. Feeling the strength of the upper back. Start to slide the hands away from each other. The I could just come to the backsides of the legs breathing and we breathe out. Moving the spine, feeling the pelvis move under, just go to straight arms and then roll back forward.

We're going to stay around the elbows bend and then the arms stretch pulling deeply into the abdominals and the elbows bend as we crawl. Flow word and then we roll kind of like a way and forward and back. [inaudible] it's warming up through the lower back, forward and back. It's going to be our last one. Do what you can to make it your best one. Sit up tall, reach the arms forward. Exhale, find your way down to the middle back. Inhale, take the arms up, bring him around to the sides. Opening through the shoulders. We curl back forward. Stay round, exhale to come back.

Inhale the arms reach. They come around to the sides and we exhale to curl back forward. Create length in the round shape of your spine. Back and arms. Press the shoulders down. You could do this all with weights if you wanted to.

I'm choosing not to at the moment it's an option. And Ah, last time. Rolling back. Arms, arms around coming up, sitting tall, turned towards me, rolled back that side of the body, keeping the pelvis squared. We let the arms come up and across. Rotating just the body, not the bottom half. Roll a rolling up and center and go to the back. Exhale as we tuck the tailbone under, let the pelvis move for us.

That's the way to open up through the lower back. We go up and around and up. Unwinding. From there. Inhale across. Exhale to come down. Inhale the arms just flow, bringing the spine around to the other side. We exhale to curl and find center. Go the other way. Rolling back, taking the arms up and then across.

Rolling through center, coming in center. Roll back as much as you want to feel strength, maybe the low back. Hold onto the legs if you wish to. If not, don't take the arm closest to me back and look at it and come home. Inhale. As you stretch that side of the body open and exhale as you recommit and come back as you were each opening up through that rib and XL to come back and inhale to reach and exhale to come back. Let's do one more to each side. Reach back and home and back and arms forward.

Inhale, exhale. Come all the way up. Hands on the tops of the knees. Press into your arms, pull chest forward as you lift it, and then sitting up all the way. Let's scoot a little closer to the feet. We're going to come down for the pelvic curl. Here we go. Letting go. Sliding the feet, maybe even close as still as you bring your body all the way down into the mat.

Inhale to prepare. Exhale, hollowing through the abdominal starts to pick up the pelvis that rolls one vertebra at a time away from the ground. Press into the arms. Inhale, exhale as you come down through the chest. It just falls between the arms and then we feel one bone at a time sequentially moving down the mat. Pelvis comes down. Here's something I've been playing with as you roll up. Yes, you're using your abs. Yes, you're using your legs, but press down with your arms. Feel the upper back. Hold and breathe in. Breathe out as you come to flexing the spine. And as we do this manipulation of the spine, let the spine feel springy so that the action of moving one part of the spine causes the rest of the spine to respond.

Last two times. We're rolling. Breathing in and rolling down. One more to go. We're rolling. Uh, let's hold at the top without changing anything in the pelvis. Pickup the left leg. Squeeze the inner thighs towards one another. Roll down the spine evenly, right.

Feel the center of the spine all the way to the tailbone. Roll Baca and lift the hips and roll all the way. Pressing the arms into the mat to keep the collarbones long and roll all the way. One more to go. Just like this. Rolling down and rolling at. Feel how strong you are. Even with one leg off the ground, set that foot down. See that the pelvis is still stable. The other leg comes up and here we go. Hollow. Find the pelvis down evenly and Peele.

Resist the urge to allow the shoulders to start creeping up into the ears or the collarbones to curl. Both of those things are going to want to happen naturally. So we've got to resist. And one more time. Peeling down and peeling up. Place the foot down. Take the arms and reach them overhead. And as you now take your spine to the mat, let's stretch it, massage it and lengthen it. Bring it all the way down.

Bring your arms out to the side. You can either hover them off the ground or displaced them down there in a t shape. Pick up the legs, tilt your body towards me or your lower half towards me anyway, and Xcel to drag back through center. Let's go the other way and come back center. And anyhow, we reach away from that opposite arm or finger or shoulder area and inhale across. Feel the stretch through the chest by that you couldn't get can get by anchoring the shoulder, warming the body coming across to the other side and back.

One more time. Each side, over Halloween, the abdominals and again and back. [inaudible]. Place the feet down. Bring the hands behind the head fully into locking your hands. Press the head into the hands so that you're not lifting your neck out of your hands as you curl your chest up. So it's, it's all opposition like a weight using the head like a bowling ball pressing into a hammock. Inhale to pause. Exhale, feel length as you stretch your back down into the mat. Coming up again, pressing their ribs down. The shoulders are heavy, the heads pressing into the arms. The upper backs turned on pause. Inhale and exhale to come down.

It's always nice to get a little bit of inner thigh work here in her thighs. Support curly, pausing and lengthening down. Come up again on your exhale. As you inhale this time, reached behind your thighs. Guide yourself a little forward. Let go. Take the left leg in the right arm and opposite side, right leg, left arm, and you're marching in space. Push the arm down as though it was still attached to a weight. Inhale up.

Exhale down. Inhale up. Exhale down last time like fill down. Hold there both arms. Now overhead, rebound the elbows. Commit to head heavy in hands and come down. We're going to come up again lifting up.

Reach behind the thighs. Here's another Xcel to just look for more. Let go as you lift your left leg, take both arms to the outside of the left. Put it down. Come centrally, arms, go over the knees, lift the right and center. Guide the leg into the body from the abdominals. Let the leg muscles themselves be pretty loose.

The big XL as you reach over, sawing all the way up to the elbow on that side, reaching across and center and reaching across and center last time to either side one and the end hold center. Take just the arms up, circle the arms forward. Take just the arms up again. Put them back behind your head. Commit to heavy head and release yourself to the ground. Let's stretch the legs out. Stretch the arms up, lift the head in, chest hollowing the abdominals. We roll through the spine.

Stay round at the top end long. Exhale to come down. Feel the base of the spine first. Then feel each bony landmark after that. All the way down in here. Float the spine up, but as you float, pull backwards and wait with the abdominals and roll back. Healing each piece of the spine. Come into contact with the mat. Well, imagine your spine as is it a string of pearls.

So one follows the next as vertebras go and down and then back and left. He'll take your arms towards me, your spine towards me. Roll down that side of your body. Come through center. The arms are going to drop through center. We're going to lift up the other side. Roll up the other side. Stay round as you slice through center. Turn towards the back.

Feel the pelvis move first. Roll all the way down. Come across center. Roll all the way out and hollowing backwards. We reach forward. Let's go one more time. Around this time. Come all the way down to your head touches. As it touches your arms, travel overhead. We lift the head and chest or rolling up the opposite side of the spine and coming through center I was looking to create a little mobility, reaching back.

Be kind to your body across and taking a big stretch forward or just a small stretch forward whenever you wish. We're going to end up coming back again. So what I want you to do is let the legs go. Start to roll back. Find the backside of the hips. Pause there. Push the arms down as though you're pushing against resistance.

Lift the right leg, squeeze the inner thighs together. Cross the right leg over the left and push it down. Come up, cross it over, [inaudible] and down and cross it over. You get that little bit of inner thigh work and across as you go across with your leg. Press Down with your arms. So just solidify that. Feel like this is our last one. Come all the way down. Start to raise your arms up and then had comes down.

We're lifting and rolling all the way back to the starting position. Pausing at the top, rolling back, finding the base of the spine or the lower back, and then lifting the left leg and crossing over the body and down. And we get that little back press as well. And, and squeezing through the inner thighs. That's school easing through the inner thighs. Uh, we have two to go. You right, you're right. Okay, good. Come all the way down. Let's take the arms out to the side.

We're going to do a big leg circle bigger than we're used to. Bend the leg closest to the back, stretch it into the air, flex the foot. We're going to take it all the way across the body so the pelvis lifts off the ground and then swing it around out to the side and up. Bring it across, pick up the hips, take it around, out to the side. And on the left, just three more. That's x. How has become around.

Inhale as we go through that initial cross and exhale as we come around last time, feel what w the abdominals have to do to stabilize the pelvis here we're going the other way. It's in, you know, to excellence. Stretch the hip and pull back with the obliques and all cross and the hip just falls into place. And a cross opening up through that side of the body. And two more and last time. And then we're just going to bend and take the leg in the hand and twist to the left. As you twist the left, take your gaze to the right all the way over across the fingertip. If you haul a three your abdominals, you may be able to go a little further or get a bigger stretch or any way a more functional stretch. Come back to center. Please stretch the right leg out.

Let's bend the left knee. Hold onto the abdominals. It just floats into the air and then the foot flexes. We lift the hip off the ground, we swing the leg around and lifting down around and let it feel fluid. Let it feel easy. Last too, and last one, you can go the other way. Coming out. Inhale, exhale, cross across, picking up the hip and then pulling it back with the abdominals out across, hollowing through the waist as the hip falls back. I love these too.

They're like, I don't s yeah, I love these two. No qualifications. This is our last one, unfortunately. Let's bend the knee, hold onto the opposite with the opposite hand twist. Look over the opposite shoulder, bringing it back through center. Let's bring the arms over the shoulders, the knees to the chest. Start to slide the arms up towards the ceiling, and then the chest rises and then the arms press down into the ground and then the legs stretch, and here's our a hundred. Breathe in and breathe out. Two, three, four, five and and pressing down on something springy in three, two, three, four, five in inhale, and four, two, three, four, five in India and five, two, three, four. Shoulders down, and exhale. Bend the knees and inhale, stretch the legs.

Keep the arms going. Exhale, bend the knees. Inhale, stretch the legs. Three more like that. Bend the knees, crawl even higher through the chest. Stretch selects more. Stretch the legs. Here it is. One more. Inhale hold.

Take the hands up just near the knees and raise that just over the tops of the kneecaps. Hold it. Lift the legs up. Get a little bit of rock going. So you just reach for the knees. Just tiny. You're staying down. I'm not coming all the way up his, his back and no, and back and back. And I [inaudible] last one. Hold. Bend the knees and make a bigger rock. Just gentle fluid.

Come all the way up. Place the feet down on the mat. What do I want? I don't know. And then you can keep the knees. Ben wanted something and then I changed my mind right in the middle of wanting it. I want rolling like a ball. So we're holding on. We've got the shoulders pulled down and got the abdominals pulled away. D, here we go. It's an inhale to rock back to the shoulders and exhale. Find your balance at the top. I'll find my balance next time. Here we go again.

And uh, and, and um, tomorrow. Um, last one. Let go well back. Keep the same shape. Try to avoid rolling onto the next. You stop at the shoulders. Try this. Um, when you're coming up, pull the heels into the body and back. And last one [inaudible] hold at the top. Just place a fee down for a moment.

Put the hands on the tops of the knees. Lift the spine first forward towards the legs. Let the tailbone press back and then start to extend through the upper body. Allow the eyes to guide your spine and then curl back. Rounding and flexing through the lower back.

We're going to go there one more time. So press forward undulating into the front of the legs, lifting through the spine, and then coming back. Starting to slide your feet and roll backwards. Keep Ahold of your knees. We're going to come down onto the mat, into the double leg stretch position for the double leg stretch here. It is pushed through spaces.

The arms come around and reach and push and reach. Feel the expansion that is the inhale and the contraction that is the exhale. Allow the body to feel those rhythms of expansion and contraction. As you move last three out, Anna Arra and uh, and r and ah, and around. Hold onto the left knee. Stretch the right leg.

Pull up a little higher and change who reach and reach and honoree and fun. Squeeze into the glitzy. It's like go and just reach above the knees. Just on the outsides of them pulling the knee. Maybe a little closer. Now last two, we're going to go into the criss cross so the hands are going to come behind the head. Let's twist towards me. Sorry, late call and across to me and a cross. We're going to do three more and then I'm going to change it.

We're going to make it into a bicycle. So here's two. Here's one coming towards me. Hold. Stretch that leg up. Take it straight down. Bend the other stretch and across. Stretch. Pull in, stretch up, pull it, stretch up to the top leg.

The one that's just stretched goes straight down the bottom. He bends and pulls in. Oh, you can do it. Okay. Do you want? What do you want me to stop? Do you want me to slow it down? Yes. It, well, it's not a neural thing. You can do it. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to go slow for just a couple.

We'll do like two more to eat side. Okay, so find your position. Find hands behind your head. Stretch the leg for this away from me. Out. Turn to the leg closest to me. Stretch that like up. Now that like the one that's straight up there goes down and you bend and twist to the other. That light goes up. Now it presses straight down as you bend to the, Oh, you got it.

And up and pull around and that leg stretches. It's like hamstring three Chris Cross something bicycle. Is that enough? Okay, that's enough. Oh, did you get, did you get the whole time? Stretched the fingers and the toes away from one another? Maybe even let the back lift a little, stretch the abs and then the lift and then come all the way up and let's take a quick stretch forward. Got To get my hair out of my way. It's hot.

It's hot. Yeah. Okay, let's do some spine stretch. What do you think? That sounds Super Fun, Huh? All right. So sit and tall, sitting right up, reaching the arms forward with the arms. Be Light. Breathe in and let the spine be light. And then let the head be light. And we filled with lightness as we fold forward.

Breathing in Lincoln a little further in XL to ex restack. So we just stack the spine right on top of the pelvis, holding as we, and he'll get a little bit of a squeeze in Warren's exhale to come down. Stretching inside of the legs, inside of the feet. Inhale. And we come up. Can we go down again? [inaudible] come on. All right, we're going to take it forward again.

So find your Ford position. Stay around, but hold onto your ankles. Now start to move the pelvis in the opposite direction. So the hipbones move forward. The tailbone moves back, so we stretch the pelvis out and then lengthen the spine. So let your hand let yourself use your hands. Then let go. Nice light arms as they float up in space. We're gonna bend the elbows, pull the elbows back and stretch the arms up. I think, I suppose you can do it here. Candy.

I suppose you could do it like forward like this with if for your shoulder if you want it to be here instead of overhead. So there's a choice for everyone. Kind of liking it here. So either forward or up. It's totally up to you. This is a bit easier as far as shoulders go or up. And Paul decide. All right, hold it bent.

Sit Up. Should be easy. Stretch your arms. Turn towards me. So excellent. Yeah, and he'll create link. Come on, unwind, turn the other way and reach across creating length in the spine as you reach out. Remember that the arms work oppositionally here so the front arm goes forward with the back. I'm trying, it's like, let's see what's a good visual. As you go forward, it's like someone's pulling you back and you're having to fight that with the arm only and the abs maybe. So we're being pulled around your back arm and your waist while your top arm forward arm. Oh Man. It's trying to be free.

Oh, Anna and [inaudible]. Another neural thing. Here we go again, reaching across. I'm not so sure about that one. Not so sure. But if you're convinced, close. Okay guys, last one. Back to the back. Reaching forward, lengthening up, bring it home. Bring the hands behind you. Bend your knees, press up with your arms, find a nice straight back. Find the backsides of the legs. So we're engaging.

They're going to pull the abdominals and we're going to come up into a bridge. So we press the hips up and then we press the hips a little higher and then we lift the chest through the shoulders. We're just going to sit down in that flat back and sit back up. So push as you, and especially if you have the tendency to overarch or lower back, you want to think about just biasing the slightly towards a tucked position in the pelvis. And we got down and we come up and then we come down and we come up.

How about two more down. I'm gonna change it just a little bit on this next one. You can keep going with this motion up here. Stay. Keep the right leg down, stretch the left leg forward and pull it up. Five. Push down. Four. Keep lifting the chest. Three, two, one. It comes in. Check out the pelvis, pick it up, stretch the other leg and up.

Press down to lift and press. So it floats and push us. Last two and last one for the leg back in. Curl through the spine, rolling backward towards the arms and curl back forward. It's like, I don't know, I feel like a slinky and curl back again.

Letting the spine be affected by the other parts of the spine. So with the low spines rounding, it's going to affect or be in relationship to the upper back. Yeah. Oh what a good thing. I love the swings by the way. I didn't even think about that but it kind of is. Now we have to do a few more cause I've got it now. Pull back and reach out.

I'll get us off our wrist right now and reach out and then let's just say it's done with a flat back. It's totally like a swing. Ah, yeah, no, I love that exercise even more. Okay. Sitting up tall. Did you know that? That's my favorite pastime when I have free time. I love it. So fun. Okay. Sit up tall. We actually feel free and like a little kid dancing on the balls. Not bad either. Hands behind the head. We're going to trust her in the body.

Feel the rotation that the spine allows and come back to center. Focus on the front and the back. Working in coordination and center. Remember that you can grow taller using politeness two inches. No. Now she's normal. She's, I mean she's just so, she's in her fifties normal, normal woman and stretching across. We're going to come back towards me changing just a little again.

We're going to take that outside hand. Just a little guide. Just be gentle with your body. Let's give yourself a little more and then lift the chest a little and then come back and the hand comes back. We're going to go to the other side, reaching around, guiding yourself across, lifted just a little, come back home and bring it back. Let's keep the hands on the head and just fold all the way forward. Letting the hand support the neck or stretch the neck, and then let the hands come to the ground. Roll up, dragging your arms along the ground.

Take your right knee and bend it into your left leg. Turn the body, reach forward. Stretch. Yeah, and then take the right arm and reach it further than the foot or further than the where the left hand is. And then unwind the spine. So rolling the right rib cage up towards the ceiling, maybe lifting the chest a little there and then reaching back forward and come up and switch your reel. All right, so we turn and we walk this guiding the spine forward. Lots of abdominal work. Check out the pelvis, make sure it's level, take the left arm off where it is in, reach it further and then allow it to be just light as we stretch the body around the spine and then take it back down and come all the way up. Yeah. Okay. Lie down on your side. I'm gonna just do the um, just I say just, I don't know why I say just, but we're going to do the side lifts cause we're going to float.

We're lighting easy today. Doesn't it feel good? All right, let's take the top arm up, reaching it up towards the ceiling and then as we exhale, float the legs up as well. And then as we inhale, lower the legs down and then engage with the center of your body a lot and reach and reach. Imagine that the legs could just be weightless. We're reaching all the way up until the arm. I mean that's not a good cue cause it's never about how high you go, but you know, it's working for me. Two more. I last one. And now bring the arm down onto the legs and slide that arm up towards any reach. Oh, all the way into the Nanda and all the way the legs are hovering, reaching up and reaching up. Just check in with how much you're using your bottom arm to, to push. Try to let that be lying. Just two more.

Um, I just got my myself leading with my headset. Let's keep the head in line at the spine. I'll be a good example this time and last one. So it's just out and down and then lower the leg, the bottom leg. Anyway, take the top leg and bend it. Bring it around. Want to ask us to hold onto it. If it's comfortable. I like to reach around underneath. That's my thing. But if in front feels better, that's okay too.

So our heads down, lift your bottom like lifted all the way until you can touch your top leg with it. Let the hand holding the, the bent knee. Stretch the neck. And then we just pulse. Pulse. Tiny like you're squeezing a walnut between your inner thighs. Last three, two, one. We're going to go backwards, down and up. Backwards. Down and up. Okay. Again, I think eight times is plenty. Don't. Yeah, so we'll do two more and one way and then we're going to go the other way back around and up. It's done. Try to stay behind the pelvis.

Try to stay as high as you can with your like, sorry, what? Like a d or I was thinking about this the other day when I was teaching it. You know that little happy face at your cell phone makes when you make a d when you're trying to make happy faces like that shape. Okay, we're done. We're good. And that size, two parentheses, that mild space on the side because you don't have a horizontal, you get parentheses, just parentheses, like that's a happy face. Oh, if you do the semi or not as to Michael is semi. Colon means weak. Yeah. Regular Colon means eyes and the parentheses are smile.

That's happy phase or winking happy face. Or if you do like the d, the capital d, it's like laughing like mouth loud, laugh, open mouth, laughing item. We digress. Okay. Here's what's going to happen. Now we are, we've got our knees bent, knees bent, heels lined up with hips. Just open the knee and push it down and open it. Imagine you've got like finger spy master in between your legs, member, the Susan Somers thighmaster squeeze that in your mind and squeeze your apps to just kind of fast. We're going to do two more rotating and hold. Now I want you to feel, so we were in external rotation. Now can we feel the movement of the bone within the joint as we go internally?

Rotate externally, rotate so's knees. So it's not about the extremities, it's not about the bones of the toes or the knee. It's about that femur. The head of the femur. Turning Tourney Turney Chutney. I'm gonna do one more. So here it is, and now turn on hole. As you stretch the leg towards the ceiling.

Imagine it being pulled out of the pelvis for you and bend it. And we're going to do that seven more times. And as you do, I want you to feel rotating externally even more so it's as the knees trying to pull behind the ear as it stretches and pull behind the ear as it bends. Just check in with your pelvis. It shouldn't be moving back at all. I'm gonna. We'll do three more, I think. I don't know. I'm bad counter. I think it's work clothes. Here's to, and he has one and then let's just bring the knee into the chest. I get in, keep holding on, but turn it up.

Is he open up the inside of the leg and then reach around for the ankle? Bring the knee back. You didn't know what the hell was. I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh at you. I'm noticing I'm no gee, no. I am not a genius with Nick. I'm still after spending even I get with that. Okay. Let's look. I love your chain size.

If I'm no genius, you're not a genius. I didn't say make your way onto the other side. Here we go. The legs are long and straight. We're light, but the light arm and the light legs and work the waist, as we lift the legs, reaching them outside and reach, can we get them feeling of getting longer here too, any longer? All over the place today. I'm um, I don't know. I've never been five, eight I'd like to be, maybe I could grow a couple inches. Oh, this is that, that was at take the, I'm done. Just contract through the upper waist and reach all the way to that outside knee. And uh, so as you're lifting through your waist, let your head go that way. Yeah. So I just caught myself lifting with my head too, and it's like the fingers in the head go opposite opposites and I tell him, go ahead. Ah, the lake, stay on. There's still, I suppose we have two more to do. So here they are, Horn and Ju, uh, I bent, forgotten, reach around the foot or in front of the foot and just push that neo and get a nice stretch in your neck as you lift the bottom leg. Okay.

And just up and a little pulse pulsating movement. Five six, seven, eight and we're going to go to the back and we're going to make a laughing, happy face. Let's just say it's a capital, right? D and it's a backwards one here, right? No, that's a regular one. And we're trying not to lower the leg much, so it's as small as it can be and we only have two more and it should feel hard. Let's go the other way. Down, back and in, up, down, back now. I guess it's not backwards. I don't know. I'm confusing myself.

I'm going to stop talking for a minute. How about this? Hold your abdominals in. Reach the leg away from your body as it lifts up and let's do three more. Don't remember to push that leg you're holding on. If you push the knee gently away, you'll get a good next stretch. And this is it. Oh yes.

And then we've got the heels lined up with the hips. The knees pointed straight forward. And just check in with your pelvis. Checking with your advert is going external rotation and down. We talked about squeezing that Suzanne Somers, thighmaster blue and red. Did anyone have that idea?

Okay, well I had this idea, um, once we have two more to go, this, that I would, it was had like this big long car trip. I was like, well I'll just, I'll work out in the car. So we're going out extra rotation. Remember we're thinking about the head of the Femur, so spiral and spiral and Iceland light. I decided that I would squeeze the Susan Summers sly masters here like three hours or four hours from, from Tahoe all the way to Chico. We were going water skiing and ski. Not even a little, I couldn't water ski. I couldn't even move my legs. So I don't recommend two hours into that story. This is it. Here we go.

Knee up and it was like a comedy show today and then Bend, oh cramp. And then keep them rotation happening. Really spiral and support. And then with that spiraling in support, reach out and bend and fine. Long leg and bend. I don't want to stay three more. I think I was one. And then just tap into, I promise we do use the weights again. Didn't, I forgot all about that. I said I might didn't, I didn't. There was no promises. I think that's it. Oh, we bent in, pulled in the stretch in and then the hand there and bring it out and then continue to spiral around holding onto the ankle and press the pelvis forward. As you slide the leg back. I have a good idea actually. We'll use the wait again and maybe we'll do it now. Let's come up right. Cause that's how we did.

Yes. Okay. So everyone okay on their knees. If you're not happy on your knees, you could sit on something, a box or a ball of something like that. Oh, grab your weights. This can be easily done without weight. Are you going to do the the side arms? Yeah. Um, so what I want you to do is just let the weights kind of sit in your hands and um, touch them together. Like your knuckles. Say there like wonder twins unite and then try to pull them apart. But they're magnetized. So you'd get that.

Don't you remember Earth Day? It was a cartoon? Maybe I'm maybe the, maybe from my generation. Anyone out there? No one had twins. Okay, here we go. So, all right, think about it this way. Instead, we've got a very strong magnet holding the weights together and we're trying to pull them apart from our shoulder blades. Can you feel that in your back? That's what you want. So it's like your hands are pushing in, but your elbows and shoulders are pulling out. And from there we're going to have to do this. [inaudible] you don't have to do this. You can put your weights down. We're just going to go up now. Feel the shoulders go heavy as the arms.

Just stretch the weights. Just fit in your hands and pull down. You love this. Okay. I love this too. So here's something to think about. We're definitely getting backwards here. Shannon. You're leaning back a little bit. Just bring your ribs and that's perfect. Um, what was I saying? We're getting, uh, shoulder work. Oh. Um, feel the stomach. Feel how it supports you. There's your, there's your base, right? And then the arms make you taller. Shoulders go into the base.

When we wake up the next morning. Yeah. Yeah. That's fun. That's all though. And then bring them across back to magnetize knuckles, and then we're gonna open out reach and keep that sense of reaching away and bend. And as the hands come together, the elbows reach away and reach, unwinding through the arms and pull back. Keep the elbows about us slightly lower than the shoulders and slightly lower than the shoulders as they reach out. And I think we'll do about three more. Feel the back. You're leaning back a little too depth.

Just go ribs and think about like a little sit up in space. Okay. And in, Gosh, this time's gone by so fast. That's it. And, and so here's what we're gonna do now and how long you can do it from standing. You're just going to reach out. This arm's going to go up. We're going to bend over. Just go where you want to from standing. If you can. You're going to reach and touch the weight onto the ground.

Look down at your pelvis. See that's facing forward. You just go, Oh, you can do this step. Yeah. So balance the weight on top of itself and then push. And here's where we can imagine holding a heavier weight. Pull the shoulder blade down to stretch the arm straight up. Or You could stretch overhead and get a bigger stretch in the waist.

Bend and stretch overhead. All that feels good. And Bend and stretch overhead. One way. The hard part is to win meal up and over. Find the stretch. Check the pelvis down at the hand and pull the top shoulder down as you stretch the arm up. And that's dope. See Him. Ah, and then we'll do one more like that. And then we have the option of going over.

So here's that. Oh, there it is. Oh, and bend over. And Ben, we're going to stress that arm out. Retrieve the bottom weight left up. Turn the palms up. Maybe this one's not advisable with, with either, I don't know. Ah, just light with the arms and then let the weights make the arms feel heavy and then she'll, the lightness in the spine as the arms come up and the lightness and the spine is the arms drop to the ground. So we have to hold the spine up against weight holding the weight of the world.

Yeah. And let's do three more reach, growth, awe and open and get tall. And, and when, let's just bring the arms all the way down. Oh, that feels good. Okay. We're done with the weights, but what we're going to do instead is come onto our hands and knees. You do a little spinal mobility. It's front supported abdominal shoulder stuff. Okay. So the hands under the shoulders. Um, guys, this can be done just by curling and extending the spine if you wish. If you don't want to put weight on your arms.

But if you do want to put weight on your arms, we're going to come to plank position. Okay. And then we're gonna curl the spine. So it's like you're going to attempt to round your back and then pull the knees to the ground and then stretch the legs back and find stray and curl the spine as you bring the knees to the ground and stretch the legs back. Find stray and curl and rich and curl and reach to more and reach occur. [inaudible] and reach on hold. Take the right leg and lifted up. Five. Reach it long. Feel the length through the head as well. Maybe a little lower with your pelvis.

Done. Set. Let's change legs. Find support. Stretch. No movement in the pelvis and too Siri or lower down just a bit Shana. Yep, that's it. And then down knees, just scoot your knees in a little bit so they're right underneath your pelvis. Take the right leg, stretch it straight back behind you, round your spine, Holler the abdominals and try to pull the knee into the nose. And then stretch lot any incurring through the toe and through the head and curl. So you've got ropes on your neck, pulling you this way and you've got ropes on your leg, pulling you the other way. Your spine is just being like a slinky, right, stretched into directions. Feel it.

Bend effortlessly, under each last time. Any range. I don't know how that needs to come to the ground and change. I'm taking the left leg out. I meant to mention that this is an abdominal exercise.

So if you hadn't felt your abdominals, try to and strong straight back and curl as a leg goes back in your body, come straight, pull the shoulders towards the waist. And don't be afraid to really round the back. Last two times reaching and reaching right aside of something. And I'm not sure if it's going to work, but let's see, it might feel good. So what are we going to put the, let me take the leg closest to me. It leave it on the ground. Take the opposite leg, just lift it and slide it out. So we're going to turn the body, turn the body, take the top of arm up and just over the head. That's all. It's just that, oh, it doesn't feel good. Stretch the arm overhead. Stretch the leg into the ground and then let the, here I'm coming up and to return to the grant.

And here we go to the other side. So we stretched the leg out, we start to pull the pelvis around, the opposite arm comes up and then it goes overhead. And as it goes overhead, you just push your toes in the opposite direction. Ah, yes. And then the arm comes back and we come back home and let's just slide out and do a tiny little back extension and be done it. Um, here's what I have in mind. Cool. Okay. So what we're going to do is rest one hand on top of the other and the head on the hands. Find your abdominals, press gently into the elbows and guide them downwards towards your armpits.

So there's your upper back in there, how to turn it on and then allow the head to come up. And then hang on tight with your hands. You're going to pick your arms up, bring them to back to your forehead and lower the whole piece down. Let the Elvis start to guide themselves to the hips. Let me lift the head. [inaudible] I'm giggling because I'm remember the licking the Matte Q. Christy's Deb set it. Deb. Set it. Okay.

So what we're talking about when you're talking about looking in the mat is reverse articulation of the spine. So it's like the nose, the chin, the neck, and the neck feeds into the upper back. Can you feel it? Oh yes. And then the hands, oh, and not even works better. And then let's go down. Yeah. Uh Huh. So let's do it again. Look the man seriously. Just please. All right. And then now the hands come to the nose, the bottom of the nose, right. And then d and then let the forehead come down. I love it too. Let's do two more.

I'm letting the spine extend. Don't go too far past the middle back or don't go beyond the middle back. And then allow the hands to just make that a little heavier. And then down. Oh, that feels one more time reaching out. Lengthening the spine. Let's lift the arms again. And this time just stretch them out and bring them back to the hip and bring them out to the sides. Keep the legs strong here.

They'll support your lower back and then reach. So we're just going from a t shape and as you come to your sides, I want you to try and feel your pinky fingers. Press up against your thighs and open just to more reaching and open. I last time or reaching and open. Bring your arms back. Well, let your back relax if you need to and come up onto your knees and sit back on your feet stretching out through the back.

If you want to have your hands back, that's fine too. Or bent spine, the position that feels good and stretchy and easy and loose. And then when you're ready, we're going to roll out and bring the legs around front and just come to sitting. I'm going to sit with my legs in a diamond cause that's comfortable for me. You could sit with your legs however you wanted or you could stay on or you could be on your knees or you could sit on something. How long? Maybe just, um, I think you're going to be happy as if you just stand up and sit on that box right behind you. [inaudible] cause then you'll be able to relax and I want you to relax.

Good. Perfect. Okay guys, we're just going to raise our arms up nice and light and easy. You can cross the crossing feels happy or just be happy. Take one hand across one side of the head, and then the arm just floats down towards the ground. Again, nice and light. Let it touch. Breathe into the stretch. Invision that muscle that's tight. And so many of us just lengthening and softening.

And then let the stretch go away by just relaxing the arm that's down. Bring both arms back out. They might even feel like they're floating. And then over to the other side, just down. Lay on where it lands, and then just let the, let it open and stretch and give some oxygen to it. And then let the stretch go and start to float both arms that right up.

Feel the spine grow long, and then reach back and then round forward, and then lift up and then reach back and around. Five very nice and easy. Just moving. Now it's moving and open. See You tomorrow. Reaching, rounding, lengthening. Oh, you can just float the arms. And last one, reaching. Lifting.

And how do you think we're taller yet? I am too. I feel taller. Heck, hey, we're done.

Comments

1 person likes this.
This website is the absolute best!!! Each class is awesome. Your studio is so beautiful. I look forward each morning to a great workout and a relaxing view. Since I don't live at the beach this is the next best thing!
Pele
Fun class indeed. I usually don't like standing pilates much but this one I felt working. When doing 2 sided work, pls. pls. tell us how many reps to do on each side. It will help us stay even (important in pilates) and focused inspite of the digressions.
Thanks ladies. Pele, that is not one of my strong suits but I will try harder. I appreciate your feedback!
1 person likes this.
Great class Meredith! I felt like I had a great workout!
1 person likes this.
Meredith , that was so nice to hear at the beginning about your client gaining 2 inches! Thats just so inspiring. I go for my follow up bone density later this year and while I have not lost anything in height I am hoping to see improvements in my density numbers. I have osteopenia..so my Pilates is so important.. TY for the reminders of why this is such wonderful work! Great class by the way! Jamie
3 people like this.
To my dismay, I found out I had osteoporosis, despite being a Pilates instructor for several years. And though I really tried not to do those things that are contraindicted, which I never let my students do, I found myself doing them from time to time. I was diagnosed two years ago, and just got my bone density reports back for this year. I no longer have osteoporosis or penia! I'm off the drugs, and only take calcium and D3. I was ecstatic when I found out!
So Meredith, it's true, it does make you taller! Also, I love this class, and the realness of it. If you can't laugh and have fun with your workout, those all important endorphins will not kick in!
1 person likes this.
Hey Meredith, I remember the wonder twins!! And I totally "got" that cue! thanks!! ;0)
1 person likes this.
Meredith, you kicked my butt! I took your spine corrector yesterday and this one today and my abs totally gave up. I love it!
Thanks girls! So happy you liked it! To you ladies with osteoporosis/osteopenia be sure to check out Rebekka Ronstein Pilates for Buff Bones! She already has a couple of classes here and is teaching again this weekend. Her newest workshop/classes should be up on site soon. She is fantastic!
1 person likes this.
thank you again!
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