PRO | Creative Side Body Flow

We're gonna move into a short box series, bring your foot bars down. I recommend one red spring or heavy spring. Of course, it could be a medium spring. Box is going into the extra short position. So for those of you that don't know what that is, for me, it means the box is going in front of the shoulder blocks and the headrest is going to be down.

So this is inspired by some work from the mat and the ladder barrel. Have a seat facing the back of your machine, the feet are on the headrest. You're right at the edge of the box, tuck your tailbone under and reach your hands back behind you. I'd like to stay on the fingertips if I can. Bring your legs up to tabletop and get your sacrum flat to the mat, chest towards the thighs. We're gonna start by inhaling and exhale drawing that leg back here, inhaling, and exhaling. Of course, you could stay with the single legs or move to a double leg.

Notice that we have the option of going pretty low with our thigh bones here. Check-in and make sure you're not just laying down on your hands, right? Your hands are there to support you but don't put too much weight on those hands. Last one, rock yourself up and then turn to face camera. And we're gonna go into a kneeling side kick variations. You're on one hip.

Your hand is going down towards the carriage. And again, I'm not leaning on that hand very much. You're in a sharp diagonal. This hand comes behind the head, from here, lift the leg up to the height of the hip, and we side kick forward one, two, back one, two, and inhaling for two, and exhaling. For two, and inhaling for two, exhaling one, two, the trunk is still, and back for two, inhale, and tail. Now bring that leg center pause here.

Check out what your trunk is doing and circle the leg. So I want both sides of your trunk absolutely straight. Make sure your circle is hitting the backside of that circle and pause. From here, some of you will repeat the side kick. Everybody reach your leg behind you. Some of you are gonna interplay with some rotation here.

So now we kick forward, we rotate open to the sky, and then we rotate down for two. And we inhale one. Two exhale one. Two, the tempo's a little slower because we got a lot of movement here. One, two inhale one, two exhale one, two, and push yourself up and pick up the rope that is right in front of you. We're gonna go back up and over into that side kick position, and we're gonna begin doing just a little bicep curl here.

And again, the bicep curl is sort of like a distraction, so don't be distracted by it. The spine is long, and now many of you are gonna add a leg lift. And I don't really care where you add the leg lift. It feels organic to me to do them in opposition that may not feel organic to you. Important part for me is the trunk.

And now some of you will stay here. Some of you will come down to the form. Notice I'm not leaning. I still want that long position on the bottom side of my trunk and same bicep curl here. And of course, some of you could slide that bottom leg out as well.

Really consciously squeezing that bicep. Last time, listening carefully carefully to this transition. Up, we go. You put the rope down. You step into the well, the leg comes on top of the box. So this should look like ladder barrel to you now. We side bent up and over to that leg, and we open.

And again, up and over, and open. One more time. And open from here, we take a promenade. So you pivot on that foot. You face the back.

The fingertips come down to the risers. We're gonna bring the knee on top of the box. We're gonna bend the knee. We're gonna take a quad stretch, and we're gonna hold it there. And we're gonna repeat that whole series on the other side. So setting up for your kneeling side kick, you're on the side of your hip, hand is on the carriage, top hand behind the head, lift the leg up to the height of the hip, and we kick forward two, and back two.

Now, this was traditionally what was known as a sniffing breath. I think that works well here. It helps maintain the rhythm and the flow of the exercise. Sh. Last time, come center, and now that circle that top leg, making sure you're hitting the full circle. Imagine your sort of inside a magic circle and hitting every point on that circle. Last one here, now sweep the leg behind you.

Some of you will do leg kicks again. Some of you will rotate your trunk down towards the carriage. And now the leg kicks forward, we do our sniffing breath. One, two. We rotate. We reach for two. Inhale. One, two. And there's something about adding this action to the trunk. Again, oddly satisfying for me. I'm not sure why.

It's just like a mobility that feels effortless and kinda juicy and good on my body. Two, one, two and one, two, and one, two, bring yourself up, pick up the rope closest to you, and back down into that position. We're adding a bicep curl here. Get all your ducks in a row, nose, sternum, belly button, pubic bone are in the same plane. You do not wanna lose tension on that carriage.

And now you'll add a leg lift, whatever feels organic works for me. And I will say that to clients as well. Again, my focus is what's happening in the trunk know there's a tendency to drop the weight into that hand that's on the carriage. Last one here. You can stay here.

You can come down to the forearm. But don't lounge there. Begin your bicep curl. If the neck begins to fatigue, it often does for clients, you can just look down to a moment towards the spring, and then bring that head back center Many of you will stretch the bottom leg out as well. Oh, I just almost base planted. Last one here, everyone. And we transition all the way up, put the rope down, step into the well, straighten the top leg up.

The leg is turned out. We're ready for a ballet stretch. We stretch up and over towards the leg. Long, long body, inhale back vertical. And again, up and over, a great place here to cue, breathing into the top lung.

Yes, and up. One more. It does make a difference. Up and over. Your clients can find this. Breathe into the top lung and all the way up. And now we take a promenade, so we pivot the standing leg. We reach for the risers, We adjust our back leg back onto the box.

We reach around. However, it makes sense, and we take a little quad stretch. Guess what? We're back to the beginning. Have a seat back on your machine. And we roll back and the hands come down and the legs come to tabletop. Maybe you repeat exactly what we did in the beginning or you begin to add some rotation.

So many of you know where I'm going with this already. And again, you have choices here. So maybe the knees stay bent. Maybe you've decided the legs go straight. Whatever you're doing the rules are the same.

Right? So you're constantly pressing your chest to meet your thigh bones. The final expression of this, of course, comes into a hip circle. So we would Take the legs through center, rotate to the opposite side, and up. All the while the head and shoulders are remaining undisturbed, and up. Inhale, sweep through.

And up, even yourself out. That works nice with the knees bent also. From here, rock yourself up. Turn around. And lay on top of your box.

We're gonna do a spring change down to a blue spring. Hands are just going on the platform. The legs are lifted. The chest is lifted We're doing a little swan dive slowly though. So we go down into the well, let the legs go up.

It should feel pretty good. Lift the chest. My body is finally feeling warm. And again, the legs go. Reach from the glute, shoulders stay down, and lift. And last time, and lift, walk your hands back, walk your hands to the box, take a little stretch, take your hands down, drop your head, bend the knees, and peel all the way up. Well, that was fun.