Tutorial #3166

Going Deeper into the Mat Work

55 min - Tutorial
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Go deeper into the Mat work with this tutorial by Monica Wilson. She focuses on being present and really feeling every movement. This is a perfect tutorial for anyone looking for why we do these exercises so we can get more out of our practice.
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Sep 22, 2017
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Today, I want to give you a tutorial on getting a little deeper into our New York pace mat. I had a lot of fun teaching at the other day with Juliana and with Brianna, but I just went from one exercise to the next and then I gave you as well a whole tutorial on transitions. But today I would like to give you something that teaches you not how to do the exercise, not what it is, but really why and the depth of it. So I hope to give that to you. A Romana always made us understand that we, when we're going to do an exercise, you want to really mean it. Really be present almost as if you're on stage and there's a spotlight on you.

And what kind of energy are you going to give everybody? So, uh, we're gonna, I'm gonna try to give that a little bit here with our same exercises, but if you've gone through them really fast and maybe you wanna learn a little bit more about them, this is the class for you. Okay. So we're going to start with the sit. So Juliana, come over here. Stand up tall. And we always start with the sit, which is an applauded stance. And the, it's not just to make you feel clumsy as you sit down, but it's really the time whether you're next to the reformer or whether you're about to begin your mat. You want to really connect your mind with your body and have a domino effect of all of your muscles. Start here. So we have the feet, two to three inches apart with the toes. A little wider for me. Yeah. Did, it just depends on the person's feet. And I would turn out your uh, left one a little less than your right. One a little more. There we go. Yes. Alright. You want equal way on the ball of every toe, not just on your big toe, not on your little toe, on the side of the foot and on the heel.

And that is because you have to have a strong foundation for you to now feel the arch does not have any pressure. It's nice and lifted so that it can lift your inner thigh muscles so you can lift your pelvic floor muscles. So you can feel your lower belly and powerhouse lifting. Great. We want one arm over the other and that is because the upper body, maybe if you push down on me and feel your upper stomach engage, you really want to feel that upper stomach engage in the back of the thighs and seat. Connect to that. All right. So most importantly on your sit is the feeling of fighting gravity, resisting gravity. So we're going to pull your powerhouse in and up, cross one leg over the other or in front of the other.

And I want you to keep pulling your belly yes into my hand and lifting it as you lower yourself down. Good. So keep pulling in and up. Keeped maybe try this at home. Pull it in and up. Uh Huh. And lowering gently to the mat. That was beautiful. And she really lowered herself without tilting her bottom out. So why don't you go ahead and stand up and show me that version. Good.

So if she would have not been connected with her mind and body. So you always want to have a picture of what does the exercise need to look like. She just gave you that picture. Now, if you just tilt forward like this and sit down, then you're not using your powerhouse the way we want to. So keep that visual in mind. All right, we're going to go ahead and do it one more time. Okay, good. Scooping in. Go ahead and let me see the energy of those arms and in here, pulling into your lower back, lifting as you lower yourself down, keeping your hips under your shoulders as much as possible.

Beautiful. Nice job. And you're going to lift your bottom back and lie out for the next exercise, which is the a hundred I'm going to transition to a high mat so I can work with her more with a up here and let's go ahead. All right, beautiful. So we've lied down. We're going to start our hundred and I'm going to start it by helping her achieve the ultimate goal position. We're going to draw when I have those inner thighs being pulled up, our arches pulling up our inner thighs scooping and gorgeous. We're going to lengthen our legs up.

Just set eye level as you lift your head to your chest. So we're going to hold there. Good. Now you're going to school. There we go. Nice. And I'm going to have you pump your arms. Inhale, two, three, four, five X. Good. So this is the goal. A little low. We're using the back of the thighs scooping in. Why are we doing this? We're warming up our powerhouse, right?

This is the only exercise on the mat for our powerhouse. Scooping it. Yeah. Good job. She is working hard. You want the bottom of your shoulder blades down, filling up your lungs with air. Exhaling all the toxins, all the stale air from your lungs. Really important. Or at least at 70 really reaching, scooping in.

You want to feel the connection of the back of the thighs and see kind of pressing down on a one two chair pedal. Yeah. One more. And exhale and lower the legs down. Completely. Good. Reach your arms up and we're ready for the next exercise. We're going to start with them up. Good. Just your head up. Good. Alright. So I'm sorry, not your head up, head down. There we go. Good.

Shoulders and joint. All right, so what we're doing this exercise if we really mean it, we're going to try to lift up one bone at a time. Just one bone out of time. So drop the head between your arms so your ears are between your arms from your powerhouse. Good. Yes. Now try to use just your upper stomach. Good to curl up and then the middle and then the lower. Good.

And then keep this really like blown up letters c instead of a tight, squished letter c cause we're trying to have space between each vertebra. That's the why. And we're going to roll back down scooping in. Good drawing the arches and those inner thighs and the lower belly and scoop. Yes. As you roll down, reaching up and now elongate from the upper back, your arms back. Don't let that come off the mat. Reach from here. Very, very nice. Good. Reach your arms up. Head through your arms. Scooping in one vertebra at a time.

Yes. And she's keeping her shoulders over hips as she stretches instead of sticking her bottom out behind her so she can get a good lower back stretch. Pull your arches with your, your inner thighs scoop. Let's get that lower back. Yes, you don't want to skip any vertebra and lengthening as you go back and the arms come up and the head and then scoop and then yes, you're stabilizing with the legs while you're doing this exercise and drawback the lower belly to go back. Yes, dad, sit lower back metal. Let's do three more everybody. Here we go. Stretching out, arms lift, head lifts and now just curling up one bone at a time and you know it in a straight line. We're going to roll them down. That is so important. Big Letters.

See here almost like the short box. If you can picture that back of the thighs of pressing down, scooping in one thing that she's doing, which is really, really amazing and two more and she's pretty much staying in spin the same space. In other words in and lift up out of that lower back as you stretch forward. This is something that's often missed is this scoop and lift out of the lower back and rolling down. She's drying those arches towards her, her inner thighs, her stomach. Good. I was saying she's staying relatively in place and that is another goal.

And one more time. Arms head scooping in, upper back, middle and little big blown up, lower back. Instead of moving all the way off your mat, you want to stay as much as you can in one place so that you really are stretching that back line of your body. Beautiful. Good. And finish it with the arms stretching from the upper back. Good arms pressed down by your side and hug and bring a the right leg up to the ceiling and stretch it. Good, good. Turning that leg out a little bit. This legs down the middle of the body. Okay, so you should know on this tutorial we're trying not to go over too much of the basics in what, what the exercise is about, but what we want it to be like, right? So we're going to press your arms down by your side. Good.

And I want you to pull, keep the thigh a little turned out and use your belly to pull that leg all the way up to your nose all the way. Use this right here. Oh, now we're talking. That's it. And we're going to keep it a little turned out and cross over to your shoulder. Beautiful. Now from that lower back, we're gonna reach that turned out leg all the way down to the bottom, top of the foot. Beautiful. And you're going to open as wide as you can not move that hip. It's gonna move a little bit, but you don't want it moving too much. Go for it.

Good. And then Romana was always insistent. You stuck right at your nose and that's takes a lot of control and a lot of energy. Now you're going to try to do that as quickly as you can because when you do it, slow becomes a quad exercise. That's not what it's about. And I love to picture as if I'm doing the splits right here. Like, Ooh, I'm really doing this splits. You want to get a lot of energy. And again, like you're on camera. Okay, because you are okay. So let's scoop in and cross all the way down. Don't forget that foot.

Reach for it. Yes, scooping and reach. Nice. Two around and one more. All the way down and reverse. Now reach out for it so that you stretch all the way from that lower back. Yes, and back the five fields it and really want to lean out that thigh. We want blood flow to get into this hip.

So the more you linked it at one more and stop at your nose. Good. And let's switch. Legs left leg up. Good and stretch that leg towards you. Grabbed behind the calf. Yes, this leg is down exactly the middle of the body so that she can engage the back of the thigh and see, pressed your arms into the mat so that you have energy going into the mat and energy going up. And we're going to do the same thing. Turn the let's reach that hip a little bit. Good. And we're going to pull it cross to your right shoulder.

You should feel a ginormous cross thigh stretch here. You're going to keep pulling in and from this left lower back, reach all the way down to that foot and then you feel that nice long leg open as wide as you can without moving that hip and stuff at the nose. Okay, wonderful. Scoop, scoop, scoop. There we go. And to tempo for cross reach all the way in up. Good Cross. Reach it up. Good. Really get that length and scoop. Good.

And working the waist here, getting that thigh and reverse and long down, around and up. Pull it, scoop it in and pull that fi out of the hip. So we're not hearing that. Click. Ooh, yeah, reach out of that hip. Yes. One more. Good. And bend that knee and yes, so you can hear a click sometimes and that's means the hip flexors starting to work a little bit and we're crossing a ligament that we don't want and we can get very technical and anatomical here, but if you scoop more and you lengthen more, it goes away. Let's keep it at that. All right, we're going to lift your head up and do a beautiful transition.

Just like your roll up earlier, one bone at a time so that fluid can go in between each vertebra and keep your spine lubricated and extra young and flexible. Lift your bottom forward to your heels with your hands. Good. All right, next is rolling like a ball. Excellent. We're going to put open the knees and put your ears between the knees. Yes. Good. And you did a gorgeous job. I'm going to have you actually lift your bottom back just a little bit right now. Good. That is a good goal. Position working.

We might get there and leave your feet down just for a second and I want you to scoop your belly in and use it to bring your shoulders just a little more. They're now pulling your lower belly into your lower back. Lift up your fee. Aha and balance. Beautiful, excellent. Pulling your lower belly and now it's a time to massage your spine so you don't want to jerk it around. So you want to really, why are we making it look so good? Why are we as tight as a ball to again, get fluid between all of those vertebra? Really stretching it out instead of jamming the spine.

And we're going to pull into our lower back to roll back in with the air. And exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale and in with the air and exhaling all the way gorgeous and in with the air. And exhale. See if you can try to prevent the upper back from moving at all and just use that. So strengthen your upper stomach by holding yourself there with the upper stomach and make your lower belly be what pulls you back. Gorgeous and exhale good and in with the air and exhaling. Very nice.

One more in with the air and exhaling. Scoop, scoop, scoop. Very good. Let's see if you can cross your right hand onto your left ankle and your left hand onto your right wrist. Voila. So just a little more compact and pull those heels here seat. Make sure you keep that right hip long and let's do a few more coming forward a little bit more onto your hip bones. Okay. And inhale, roll back and exhale, roll up. That's it. And inhale, roll back. No popping out that belly when come home.

You're working on that deep scoop. One more. That one was nice. Good. Okay. And rest your feet down. And we're going to transition to a series of fives. So bring your right knee with you. Good. And roll down just to your bra strap. Our right staying here.

So if you were on stage, this one would be down the middle of your body, right at eye level. And that knee is scooped. And as you can beautiful. Want to see these legs? Muscles get nice and shaped in that seat, pulling towards you. Gorgeous. And we're going to switch scooping and switch always from the powerhouse. Powerhouse, switch and switch. Nice.

That's the stomach I to see it is so nice. And now we're going to add lengthening that leg out from that hip. Yes. Scooping in, stretching, reaching, pulling in. One more set left and grab both knees, ankles in, double leg stretch. Reach out, hold. Love it. Exhale in and reach.

What are we looking at here? Let's see. Let's hold that powerhouse. Sorry. And push down on me with the back of your thighs until your legs are at eye level all the way down. Not with your knees but with the back of your thighs. So does your seat and press down in La. Oh yeah. Now reach your arms back behind you and take your powerhouse to your fingertips and pull yourself together. Ooh. And now go down to that level as if you're pushing out the reformer bar. Scoop, scoop, scoop in opposition. Thank you. And in good.

So picture your feet on the reformer bar in your scooped in, in and out. Lower your arms just as low as your toes and pull in. And lastly, I want you to make sure you're hugging and midline rather than going out. And one more scoop. Yes at scoop. Scoop. That's it. And pulling it together. Nice. Right leg up, left leg forward for single straight leg. There's a band here. Hold yourself that sit.

Try to get your upper body right over your bottom of your shoulder blades and we're going to switch left. Good. And switch and switch. Really reaching. Touch the ceiling. Reach out, touch and reach. Reach. Yes, that's it. Beautiful. Flying through the air. Your legs should feel light and fluffy but long stretch and challenge in the powerhouse, but really lengthening those legs. Last one both legs up, hands behind your head. Good. Scooping in. And we're going to press down from here as low as you can.

We're lengthening those hips. We're reaching them and scoop it on up and down. Long reaching and up. Yes. So do you really have the head pushing into your hands and scoop it up? Two more and we're reaching from here and heads pushing into there and one more.

You go down to the mat if you can and spice it up. Whoo. Good. Bend that right knee and tourist. Good, good, good. And switch. Feel of controlled. Flat Pelvis. Stay here for me right there. Press down with this leg down the middle of your body.

Not the toes or the knee, but this. Yes. And then pull in and come up a little more and pull the left elbow back and twist the left elbow to Aha and keep twisting. Twist with, I know you could and switch. I'm not, don't mean she is really with the right cues and switch again can get that goal, which is a straight line from this toe all the way back to this back elbow is the goal. And so that was actually enough sets hugging the neath. Woo. So you are going to try to get your back elbow all the way back with that toe. You did a very nice job on that. Nice. Sit Up for spine. Stretch forward.

Kay. Open the legs and that's it. Good, right open. That's it. Feel wait on both sit bones. Scoop in drawing a line from one hip to the other and arms up at shoulder height. So what are we trying here? We're trying to again create space between each vertebra. So pull your belly into your lower back and try to lift up, creating space in between each with touching the crown of your head to the ceiling. That's where you're starting. You're slipping off your seat, almost pushing the back of the thighs down into the mat, getting that scoop.

And now your goal is to touch the crown of your head right here on the mat. But not between your calves, not even between your knees, but between your thighs. That is the goal. So we're always lifting in this lower back. And now we're going to inhale up, starting with the lower back. [inaudible] good.

And let's take a breath to grow its haul and we're going to exhale, head. Keep. Exhaling, exhaling, exhaling, lifting, lifting, lifting, and inhale all the way up, up, up, and exhaling down head. Good. Next bone. Keep lifting from your par. Yes, down, down, down. Inhaling up from the lower back, middle, and one more. Exhaling down, head rounding. Really creating and breathing into each vertebra.

Beautiful. Good. We're going to draw our powerhouse in and rock back and we're going to do open like rocker. So we're here. I'm a little bit more scooping and right there. Good and lengthen. Think about this long back line so that your legs just float up to your ankles, your hands, ankles to hands, and relax. Good. So the goal on this exercise is to really come forward onto your sit bones.

So we're going to turn out a little bit. I want you to draw. Think of that arch, inner thigh powerhouse and scoop it all the way up to your chest and then come forward with that energy all the way onto those sit bones. And then from your powerhouse, lift your sternum up, up. Very nice. So each time I want you to try to get back to this position. Okay. So we're going to bring our chin to your chest, draw those inner thighs with you and roll away from me. Scoop it in, rolling back and with energy. Come right back up and see me. Good.

That's good. That was little. A little leggy. We're going to try it again and scoop in. Good. And let's try to roll through our bra strap or the bottom of our shoulder blades. That was a lot better. And now draw in the lower power house until you fall away from me. Look at me to come right back up to me. Yes, that's part of it.

Yes. And you're gonna draw that lower belly in as you roll back, but then make sure you're looking at something so you'd come right back up to it. That's it. One more on your own. Lifting and then coming right back up. Scoop and you're always trying to lift up more out of that lower back, lifting all the way forward onto forward with your shoulders forward with your head. But scoop that lower belly and more. That is it. Squeeze your legs together, leave them here and roll down your lower back, middle back. Good. And the legs are up for corkscrew. Go ahead and bend them for a second. Good.

When we are moving at a nice fluid pace, then we don't need to pause at all. Since this is a tutorial, I'm giving her a little bit of breaks. So though as you're moving at this pace, you start to tighten up and that's not okay. So we're going to press down your arms, very deliberate pace here and we want to have beautiful energy with the back of the arms going down. And so the back of the ribs are anchored and your powerhouses anchored and yet your legs are reaching to the ceiling.

You still feel that connection of the arch and the inner thigh and that powerhouse corkscrew. You want to really challenge your waist Romani sub. Say Your love handles, but she, you know, she could get away with talking like that. But um, when you're wise and accomplish, so keep your belly in and think about your left side as you reach your legs to the right. Yes, pulling away and then reach them. How far can you go without falling over? Keep. Uh Huh. Ooh. Yeah.

Do you feel that big stretch day over there and now with your lower back on the mat, reach as low as you can. We're going to go down stretching in all the way. Right. Left. I mean and center. Let's reverse that. So we're going to scoop into your back. Always start there and then you're going to use that right side to resist as you go. Left, left, left, all the way down to your right and center. How'd that feel? Don't forget your inner thighs squeezing those together.

Now finally, I want to see it really close to the mat. Okay. We're looking at where we're on camera. You gotta get a show me do it like you mean it scoop in. We're going to go from far right all the way down to the left and center. Good fluid though. Left all the way down to the right. Another set scoop. Pull it in, work the waist and work those hips.

Last one all the way down around. Good effort. Alright, let's sit up for saw right on up. Good arms are going to go straight out to the side, but a little on your peripheral vision. Make sure you're able to see them and I'd love for you to spread your shoulder blades apart, spread your shoulders apart. Think of all the arms in your muscles, in your upper arm.

And right now you're actually engaging your elbows. So we're going to, and that's really common in women, right? We love to work our knee instead of all of our thigh muscles and we love to work our elbows instead of our biceps and triceps, which you have beautiful biceps and triceps, but we're going to, I want to see every muscle of them as you reach your fingertips to the walls. Gorgeous. Now we're talking. That was beautiful. Scooping in. Do you feel weight on both hips? Super important. Let's keep weight on both hips as you twist to the right, keep twisting, scoop, scoop, scoop. Pull it in and now you're going to reach the Pinky to the baby toe. Reach it, pull it in, pull it eyes on your belly. Hips are even right. Yes.

Good. I even want the shoulders even and I want this elbow not working. I want this tricep to lift this pinky. Yeah. Oh yeah. Full body workout. Always scoop. Stacking your spine up. Book the Farms. Go out to the side, twist to the left. Pinky. Keep twisting. Keep twisting and pinky.

Good. Goes down to that baby toe. Yes. Exhaling right here. Soften that elbow. Lift the tricep to lift the baby to the pinky. Yes. Good. And inhaling up, it's a breathing exercise, right? So we're going to twist and we're going to pull that ribbon to our lung and squeeze out all the toxins until again. Exhale anymore. And then you're going to inhale up, twist to your left, working your love handles and exhale are coming and you don't have any.

So I can joke with you about that. And in with the air twisting and exhale, pulling that rib. Feel yourself really cleansing your lungs in with the air. Last one, pinky going to that baby toe. Hips are staying squares. You're getting that lower back. Good correction and rest. Very nice. Beautiful.

We're gonna squeeze your legs together and flip onto your stomach. All right, now for the neck pool lets a neck roll. Sorry. We're going to bring your hands. That's actually a perfect position. We're going to keep them there. That is the the goal. And since we are doing the goal, I love it. We're going to stay there.

We're going to press your pubic bone down into the mat. I want you to squeeze those inner thighs. Press your pubic bone down so that your lower back doesn't shorten in this exercise. In fact, you're trying to create a little tunnel under your belly button by pulling in and be acutely aware of what is your pelvis feel like when you're lifting up so that you don't have lower back pain. Now we're gonna imagine a big physio ball behind you and I want you to roll up overtaking your head. And then the next and then using your arms until you can calm totally upright.

Can you straighten your elbows? Pretty Nice. Good. And we're going to keep supporting with the lower belly. So your lower back feel. Okay. All right. And we're going to look over your right shoulder. Who she corrected her shoulders, Chin to the chest around to the left and look forward. Good.

The shoulders don't move at all. And to the left, you're supposed to relax your neck in this exercise and hold. Now pretend your hands bring your fingers together if you can, our big suction cups and pull that mat behind you as you lengthen your spine out, the crown of your head to come down. So that's what you're really trying is again, creating space in between each vertebra. We're going to relax those shoulders. There we go. One more. Let's see that pelvis pressing down, scooping in, supported and coming up with your powerhouse. Lifting up your powerhouse, pulling it up. There we go.

We're going to start looking left first around and center and the other way. That's it. Good. Hold for a second. How far right can you look? Try and look over your right shoulder. Drop your left ear just a tiny bit. Nope, that's your right ear yet. Keep looking. Keep looking. You're really trying to stretch your neck. Chin.

Now scrapes your collarbone over to the other. Can you look back at me? Ah, there you go. Now look forward, but a little down. Lengthening the back of your neck and use your belly to lengthen out the crown of your head. Look down a little more. Good. As you're coming down, pull the mat behind you. Lengthen out. Pull up in here more. Lengthen out the crown of your head. Very nice. Nice job. Lift up onto your elbows for single leg kick. So did y'all get that picture of really looking over your right, your shoulder as you're doing the exercise, attention isn't in your neck.

It's in the, in the, your whole body is strong and supporting your, your, um, neck so that it can move freely. Okay. We're going to press the forums into the mat. Elbows a little wider. Maybe. [inaudible] knuckles pointing together. Good. There's a few different ways. I can't remember which way I did on the New York Mat, whether it was uh, this way I have a feeling I did it with the elbow straight under. Either way is great. Find what works for you today.

I'm going to go over the one where the fist start together and elbows a little wider because I want to really work her underarms. So she's going to push down her forearms, tighten the under arms in the chest and lift up with that. That's it. Pressing the pelvis into the mat but lifting the powerhouse. Beautiful. All right, so our goal here is to lift up both legs without altering our back. Gorgeous. And let's see if you can touch your right foot to your head.

Good. So stay here, lift your knee up, lifting the thigh up. Good. Pull in that toe all the way I love. So then your head keeps coming back, doesn't it? And then extend when you extend the leg, it's up, up, up. You should be getting a really nice hamstring cramp by now and we're going to switch like so the leg that's down isn't actually pressing into the mat.

It has to stay lifted. So I'm going to hold this like up and reaching down the middle of your body. Lift this thigh as up as you can. Get that knee up. The thigh up. Yes. And then re switching. Good. Now this time do a double kick to your head, but keep that thigh up as you double kick at one, two. Good. Reach at long. One two, reaching it long. One, two. The leg reaches.

Yes. Andrew reaches. Now let him pass each other. Keeping those thighs and knees up high and [inaudible] squeezing towards the center if you can. Squeeze more than center. Yes. Hunting and midline. Last one and dressed. Whew. That was really nice. One thing that she did very well is she didn't rock her hips side to side because she was extremely working her hamstrings and seat right chic on the mat. Good. That's your left. All right, hands right here.

Good. And so the goal here is to have your hands up as high as you can between your shoulder blades. What's your flexibility level? And then after that you lower your elbows as low as you can, but you don't, uh, keep your hands lower just because your elbows can't touch the mat. Okay. But let's roll those shoulders here. Good. Excellent. You want both eyes to be able to see? Yeah, and one ear to be on the Mat. That's hard for some people.

Want to see what your neck flexibility is. Okay. On here when she, when you kick your bottom, I want, I don't want to see our whole body shift forward to three. Instead, I want you to press your bottom down to three. So try to avoid any cheek sliding facial cheeks lighting. So we're going to lift both legs up like she did on the other one. You're going to reach those hips long and keep that pubic bone down as you kicked three times one, two, three.

And now press those legs down and lengthen the arms as you pull up. You're good. Stay here. Find your pelvis stabilizing into the mat. Find Your Power House and lift up higher, higher, higher and switched cheeks. Nice work. Bringing your hands up as high as you can. That's it, but no chicken wings. There we go. How are both eyes? Can we see both eyes?

All right, good. Good. Stabilizing that pelvis. And I want to see a lot of light under the knee and the thigh. Did we see light under here when she's kicking? So as you kick, we're going to keep that light. One, two, three. That was better. And now you're going to press that pelvis to lift up higher, higher and higher. And switch and kick two, three and lift two, three and kick knees above the mat. Yes.

And lift two, three. And that's enough. Good. We're happy. And you're back and sit on your heels. Good. She's doing it like she means it. She is working her hamstrings. When you do that series properly, it is very common to get a good hamstring cramp or a calf cramp cause you're trying to find your hamstring. Let's flip over onto your back for the neck pool. Great. All right, so we're going to separate your legs.

So they're hip with apart. Good. Yes. And we're going to put your hands one over the other behind your head and you want to stack up your spine just like you did for spine stretch forward. Great. So we want to use the back of our thigh. Sometimes I bend my knees a little bit and I slide them straight, pushing away my heels from my seat to really get that connection. And then you're gonna push the back of your head into your hands from your powerhouse. Yes.

And the goal is to stay tall like this for about six inches. Kind of like get on the short box. Okay. So we're gonna feel the inner thighs draw towards you to your pelvic floor and lower belly and go back, hinge back, pulling that lower belly with you. Lower end. Now curl the rest down, scooping in, in, in, and we're gonna keep your elbows wide as you roll up. Yes. And inhaling up, stacking your spine.

Push your head into your hands. Don't arch your back, you're arching your lower back. Take it with you. Take your lower belly with you and girl the rest down. Good. And three more scoop it in. And roll up tall. So this time exaggerate the bottom of your box. Take your hipbones with you. Yes. Keep taking your hipbones with you. And now curl the rest down. Scoop, scoop, scoop. Elbows wide on the way up. Here we go. Scoop. Yes.

And inhale. Sit up tall. Good. And we're going to push your head into here and you're going to pull this with you. Squeezing your bottom, squeezing your bum. Beautiful. And roll the rest down. Yes. One more time. Elbows nice and wide. Here we go. Yeah. In with the air up and scooping in.

Pushing those heels away from your seat. Beautiful. Long back and curl the rest. Ha Ha. Good shots lie on your right side. We're going to face the camera here. Left side. I knew that. Yeah. Slide back to the back edge. Good. So we're going to do side kicks is the next thing.

We're going to bring your feet forward and taking your elbow back a little bit. Good. And rest your right hand right here. So I want you to really work on putting the back of your hand. Put both hands behind your head like you did with neck pull. So you're, you're not supporting yourself at all with your left hand. Hm. That's a bet. There you go.

Can you put palm over palm and pull on those occipital bones back there? Yeah. Okay, good. So now you have an idea of what your bottom hand, you can keep this as an advanced position. Let's do an intermediate, but now you know what your hand should feel like it. When you're basic and you're learning, you get to use that bottom arm like a headrest. But when you're getting more advanced, you want to be pushing your head into that hand and feeling it from the upper stomach.

You want a straight line from your tailbone to that elbow and then the legs a little less than a 45 degree angle forward their foot more forward. When your beginner further back, when you're advanced, let's lift this like up just at hip level. Turn it out a little bit. And now we're going to try to strengthen this hip. We're going to reach the leg longer than the bottom leg and in opposition you've got your arch pulling your inner thigh and your pelvic floor and lower belly. This way you use your powerhouse to kick up to your nose. Hold.

Good. Keeping the leg just like that. Pull it forward more, more, more, more. Yes. And now we're going to take it back. We're going to hold it straight out from the body right there, there, because we started getting shorter. So you have to reach Kay, have the toe a little bit up to the ceiling, soften the knee. And I love pausing here when I'm doing my own workout because it reminds me to really get the back of the thigh and the C and use those muscles. How much can I, how far back can I take that leg using those muscles back, back?

Who? Yeah. I now keep reaching longer than the bottom leg and ticket to tempo, all the way up to your nose, all the way back. You can do a little double pulse. I like it. A little double one, two, and back. Each time as if you're onstage and you're a rocket and you need to kick up to your nose and all the way back and use your powers to kick up to your nose and all the way back reaching for all of the walls really touched the walls. Yes. Keeping the leg a little turned out so you can strengthen that hip. We've got one more. Oh, we lost a little steam. Kick it up to your nose. Yes.

And all the way back and legs together. Good. All right. We're a goal here is to keep this hip as long as you can. And we're going to use the outer thigh to push up up to your ear. Good. Hold it there. And now tighten the inner thigh if you can, and squeeze me down. Good. Very good. Now make that leg longer than your bottom one. Good.

And you should feel that all the way from your lower back stretching and the same thing. You're not using it and you're doing a good job not using it as a headrest. So when the leg comes all the way down, the goal is to have this gorgeous posture. Keep that heightened length in your waist as you push up and use that inner thigh to grow tall and as if you're standing up with the outer thigh and inner thighs. If you're standing up with that outer thigh and inner thighs, if you're standing and one more up, gorgeous, hold that beautiful posture and instead of circling the hip, just circle the leg five little times. It's going to go forward. One, two, it goes forward and back. Four, five on your own. Reverse one. Make it longer. Then your bottom three, two, one and rest. Very nice. Lie on your belly, making a small pillow for your forehead. Good. That's it.

And you're going to again, always stabilize with that pelvis with the pubic bone pressing down stomach, pulling up off the mat so you don't hurt that lower back. And we're going to lift those legs up and hold them there and open them as wide as the mat. Yes. And now squeeze them all the way together. Find your inner thighs all the way together. Good. Open them as wide as the mat. It's a little too wide, a little narrower. And then squeeze all the way together. One more time. Not so what? Yes.

And squeeze all the way together. Light under those thighs. The thank you. Now can you hit that range? Double timing it. Relax that chest. Here we go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Reach your legs longer out of your hips, across the room to the wall. Behind you is you squeeze the inner thighs enough. Nice job.

Roll to your other side. So we're going to rely on your right side. Now slide all the way back and then they can see how you nail this position from this side out, right elbow back a little more. There we go. Good. And so we are going to put both hands behind your head to start that off. So this hand can't be arrest.

So we're going to put it all the way palm over palm, right? And then that you're in a stretch. Those occipital bones you ask, do you feel that? Okay. And now, like I said in advance, you can keep that hand there, but today we're going to rest it in front of our belly and that looks good. The hips look even beautiful. All right.

Okay. We're going to scoop and maybe bring your hips forward. Just a tiny bags are a little off the mat. There we go. Good. And the feet lifting. Let's, before you even lift, let's add a little different feeling. I'm going to try to teach from this side so that they're able to see everything. Let's push something away from you on the mat and slide this leg long all the way to that corner. Right? Good.

So we're going to keep this hip and beautiful turnout. Now I want you to bring the leg all the way to me using your powerhouse. Good. Keep the knee a little turned out and try to come up just a little higher, higher, higher. Great. We're going to hit a straight line with our body again, going out, reaching long pausing when it's straight with our body and we're going to a little bit further back. Yeah. And we're going to use the back of the thigh and the seat to take it back, back, back, back. Really use this in bicycle. If you do Matt with bicycle that you take that leg back like that good.

Holding the hips, stacked one over the other. And here we go to Tampa. Pull it one, two and back. Keep your hips even. What to and back is your head pushing into your hands. [inaudible] and forward with the powerhouse back of the Fi. Don't forget to reach a long and good. This is one exercise that did a tremendous leaning out on my thighs.

Add two more. Really making the quad length and out completely and hold the legs together. Cause I love soccer and I love it's involves a lot of sprinting. I'm gonna hold the hips right there so your muscles can get really short. And if you keep really reaching across, then your thigh muscles will have the benefit of taking the full length of them.

Okay. We're gonna slide that left leg longer, longer, longer and push it up to the ceiling and squeeze your inner thighs together. Keep your hips here so you can use your outer thigh. Sorry. That's excellent. It stays there and you push up and long body up and as if you're standing right. So we're squeezing on her thighs out and squeeze the inner thighs. Yep. And you scoop in and one more time.

Hold that beautiful posture. And we're going to circle five times small. It's tiny. Yeah. Reaching three, two, one reverse. Don't forget to go back and work that bottom for making that leg almost circle in the arch of the bottom leg. Beautiful. Good. All right, we're going to lie on your back for teaser. Good. Bend the knees into your chest, extend the legs up and shake them out.

Throwing a little fit and then hug your knees into your chest. Good. But we're going to transition to the low Mack just so I can get in and really assist you properly. Okay. So all right. So go ahead and bend your knees into your chest and I'm going to have her rest. Her feet on my thighs is so that we get into the really deepness. So hands here. Good.

And I always can feel the difference between your arm strength and your powerhouse strength. So you're doing good right now. So we're going to pull our powerhouse into the mat and I'm going to try to pull you up and you're going to try to keep down with your powerhouse. So you're going to try to use your upper set to hold you down. And Jen, you're going to try to use your middle set and your lower set. Good. And you're going to come up and you're going to try to touch my shoulders. Yes. So that is the goal of the teaser and that's what it was called.

It was called the teaser. And we're going to roll down. Now you're gonna pull me down with the lower set [inaudible] and then you're pulling me down with the middle set, comma, pull me down with the upper set so you really feel how deep your stomach muscles pull into your spine and stretch each vertebra. So you're challenging your stomach, but you're stretching your spine and we're going to bring your head up and you're going to try to stay down while I pull you up. And I have to obviously use my powerhouse too. And so Joseph plot is used to say touch my shoulders and then he'd move away.

So that's why it was called the teaser. So you're going to keep your powerhouse and keep reaching forward to touch my shoulders. Here we go. You scoop into your lower back. Yes. Don't let the lower back move but reach away from it. Oh that's good. And then rural down your lower back first. Yes. Pulley medium. This also just like the Rola is very important to roll down one bone at a time in a straight line.

So you have to be very even and now you get to do it on your own. Trying to pull into each vertebra very even. Good. And then keep pulling into your lower back. Reach your upper back away to touch my shoulders. Thank you. And then roll down your lower back, middle back. Beautiful.

You can put your feet on a wall to try to do this at home. We're going to step back a little bit and you're going to try to come up now. So you want to still length and pull into your back. Good length in the right hip. A little more for me. Thank you. And now reaching out to that lower back. Good squeeze.

Try to feel the arch. Pull towards you. The inner thighs. The pelvic floor. And that's what scoops. Yes. Good. Soften. And he's one more with me here. Arms head and pull into your body. Lengthening the hips.

Good at rolling down. Good. Lower back. Uh Huh. I'm going to let go here now and now you're going to have to come up with your belly pulling in no ridge in your belly. Here we go. Gorgeous. Keep pulling into your lower back. Yes. Scoop, scoop, scoop. Find the back of the thighs.

Press down and imaginary pedal and let's lower those legs and pull them back up with your powerhouse. I'm just adding this to yes, because she needs that connection. One more and here and now we'll everything down. Push that imaginary pell. Pull down your powerhouse. Nice work. Good. So that's your teaser. Yeah. Pulling into your back to support it. Stretching each vertebra away and not, did you see how she kept her lower back yet stretched her upper back forward?

That's super important. Let's go ahead and roll up for the seal. So same like her roll up. She's going to pull into it. She's going to lift her bottom forward to her ankles, to her heels. And now let the knees open out and let's see if you can re still do that beautiful example of the lower back here with the seal. So I want you to leave your feet down for a second and yes, and get this scoop that is beautiful.

And now keep using it as you balance the feet. Just an inch off the floor. Good clap. Needs a little narrower. Beautiful. See if you can tighten your inner thighs. Just engage them. Just think, okay, I've got some from tone, inner thighs, right? Use those to clap your heels together. One, two, three.

That's beautiful. So now you have a solid pelvis. When you do that, try that again. Thinking about how your hips are solid. Good. So you're not like just a floppy seal on the sand. Okay. Your flippers, your feet should be floppy but not your hips in your inner thighs. Cause now you get to draw in that lower belly and roll back that lower belly and then hold it here and rest your head down and use your powerhouse to help lift your hips up over your shoulders. And then let keep, this is super important to feel this scoop and this lift and reach your feet down a little bit, a little lower. Clap your flippers. One, two, three. Good. So there's no like heavy smushing the pelvis down.

You're holding your weight up. That's beautiful. Now bring your head up as you start rolling back up. Here we go. Head and scoop. Oh that's good. See if you can challenge yourself by holding this yet again, reaching as forward as you can with your upper body. Aw Good. That's tough.

Pull back with the lower belly and let's see that stabilizing over your shoulders. Rolling back with the lower back. Hold those hips up as you clap two, three and rolling. Frequent question I always get is, isn't that too much weight on the neck and head scooping in? She is keeping the weight on her shoulders, not on her neck. She's also using her powerhouse to hold her weight.

That's it. And up. All those things are super important. Again, free flippers and you want to really start getting this control because later on we'll do one more and then we're going to stand up. Did you leave enough for him to stand up or you want to slide back? Yeah, I think you're good. The hold it right here just to note. So you're gonna scoop that lower belly in and take the shoulders forward. More upper body. Yes. Because when you do crab, you really have to have these basic skills of being able to hold your weight over your shoulders with your powerhouse. Here we go.

Let me see that one more time. Go on back. Clap too. Uh, we're going to do another one. We have a little, we will wobbled there and roll back your lower back. Holding your weight. Yes. Clap two, three. And exhale. Don't forget the breathing and last one in with the air. Good. And exhale. And I want you to pause when you come here. Okay. Hold. And we're going to talk about standing up. That was a beautiful seal. So now to stand up, you want to feel the back of your thighs.

You want to feel your feet pushing into the mat and you want to try to stay as upright as you did sitting down. You did so beautifully. So we're gonna use our powerhouse to lift up our chest as if we're have this beautiful diamond necklace on. That's right. How's your posture as it pulled in and out? Okay, come with me. We're going to come over here and we're going to finish with our recheck. Go ahead and stand there and we're going to stand near politest as exhale as you lift up and turn your palms out. Palms out. Good. Hold Scoop.

Bring this a little forward. The weight, Huh? And I want you to inhale and press the earth down as you lift your waist. Push me down and lift from here. Push down. Come on, let me feel you. I don't feel anything. Come on. Here we go. Yes, that's what I'm talking about. Lifting up all the way to the crown of your head. Beautiful, and now you're all done. Good job.

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Comments

Ewa
1 person likes this.
Thank You this is very helpful :)
1 person likes this.
I Love this Lesson
Sutthinee S
1 person likes this.
A solid foundation and hard work. Love it. Thank you for the lesson again
1 person likes this.
Always great to see you teach!
Monica Wilson
Thank you ladies! Glad you found it helpful!

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