Kathy Grant Inspired Mat

So hi everybody. Hi, Cara. Welcome back. We're going to do mat class, and I always add Kathy Grant and my own stuff into the traditional repertory as well, so I'll probably scoot you around. I don't always use the traditional order.

I take liberty where I can, and have fun, and follow my instincts, so that's the way we're going to go, OK. So come to the center of your mat. And we were talking earlier today about centering, right? Like you don't get centered. You're finding center.

So I want everybody to close their eyes, and sort of visualize your central axis of support, is what I like to call it, OK? Visualize that central axis of support, and I want you to just allow yourself to feel your feet. And I want you to sway forward, and sideways, and backwards. And get all off that center. Right?

Get all off that center, and come all back onto that center. Because actually centering is only interesting if you're willing to get off center. Right? So Andre Bernard called that ex-centering or one of those brilliant people that I like to read. So we want to be ex-centering and centering, so we're going to be searching for this vertical axis of support.

But we're also going to be really willing to get off of it when we need to, OK? Take a step forward. Good, take a deep breath in, fill the ribcage. Arms forward. On the exhale, we're taking a low squat all the way down.

Now you're going to let your heels rise. Don't stick your booty out, guys. And come on down. Good. Take your hands down, straighten your legs, drop your head, and curl your tail, and roll up, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Now, again, that's referring to the Kathy Grant bands, and if you don't know that, you can find it on the workshop, or in other classes. We're going to keep referring to that again. You're going to take a deep breath in, and exhale. We're going to go all the way down. Let your heels lift, and come into a full squat.

Now this time, you're going to put your hands down. You're going to bring your booty down, and you're going to plant your feet. Cross your arms, take a deep breath in, find your central axis of support. Paintbrush eyes. So everybody, nod your head yes for a second, so you can find that perfect spiral that happens there.

I know, me too. And exhale, slowly down. Me too, Marianne. Roll all the way. Good, just take it down through your spine.

Good. Now, when you hit one of those bumps in the road, don't cuss at yourself like that, yeah. Just go, oh wow, that's interesting. I really can't get through that spot, and lift your head. Give me one and two head lift.

And then come in, everybody say it, three, four, say it, five, paintbrush eyes . There she goes. Seven, eight, these are our Kathy Grant warmup situps. Ten. Take a deep breath in on your way back.

My name is-- go. [STUDENTS TALKING] Don't let it slide forward there. Very good, that was better. Good, take a deep breath in. Give me a head lift one and two.

Come up, three. Hold. Say, 3, 4,5,6, 7, 8, 9, 10. [STUDENTS TALKING] Come into four. 4, 5, 6,7, 8, 9, 10.

Come into five 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Six. Six seven 8,9,10. Seven. 7, 8, 9, 10.

Eight-- sorry. 8, 9, 10. 9, 10. Ten. Oh, , that's how it rolls, guys.

I didn't make it up. Talk to the maker. Take it back, take a hum. [HUMMING] That has to do with breath control. I'm standing on my friend's feet to help her.

Good, take a deep breath in. Lift your head. Exhale. Come up into your green room. I'm sorry in advance for this.

Do not lose your head, my love. Pulsing back this way. Here we go. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. A little higher 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-- don't rock your butt, Lea.

9, 10. Use your hamstrings. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. All the way up. Up.

Up. Up. Here we go. We're going to do some Pilates. All right, take your arms straight out, take a deep breath in, follow my instructions.

If you can, roll back slowly. Take it easy. Watch your head. You know what to do. Keep it.

You're going down to four, stop. Take your hands behind your head. I'd like your elbows narrow, and I'd like you to wrap your scapula wide on your ribcage using serratus anterior. Pull your right knee into your chest, piston hold. Left knee into your chest, piston hold.

Now don't park and ride, guys. You're reaching your elbows up, wrapping your scapula, breathing. Yeah, straighten your legs up to the ceiling. You're doing great. Take three grams of weight off your booty side by using your hamstrings, contracting a little bit in the butt side, and lower your legs.

Good. Stay there. Take a deep breath in. Take your booty out of the basement. Lift your right leg to your nose.

And put it back down. And your right leg to the nose. And put it back down. There, sorry, was I squeezing you too tight? And down.

Put it back down. And again. Put it back down. And then your other leg. And put it back down.

Look, now figure out how to be with yourself in this difficult time. Figure out to be with yourself in this difficult time. And bring both legs up. Take your-- keep your hands where they are, and point and flex the feet. And breathe.

Good. So you have to figure out to stay with yourself in this difficult time. It's a difficult exercise. You have to feel the crown of your head reaching. You have to keep curling up like you're doing a forward roll the whole time.

Put your arms down by your side. Don't drop your booty in the basement. 2, 3 4, 5 6, ready. Exhale. Inhale 2, 3, 4, that is so much better now.

Good. You feel that head lift? Nice. Inhale 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Almost.

Slide back. Keep going, I gotta help my girlfriend over here. That's the place. Stay with it. Stay with it.

Good, why don't you lower legs for the last three, please? And don't drop your booty in the basement, I know. Curl up, you're doing a forward roll. Forward roll with your head, right not with your tummy. And rest.

[STUDENTS TALKING] Alright, I can go home now. OK. Straighten your legs out, please. Flex your feet. I know, well, right?

So keeping in mind, if you don't fatigue the muscle a little, it's not going to get stronger, so you want to feel that. Take your arms over your head. We're going to do roll ups. Flex your feet, everybody. Pretend you're standing on something, and don't drag your feet backwards.

Inhale, lift up. Exhale all the way through. Good. Now you remember my image from other times-- you're on a raft-- so roll back, and don't push down on your raft to get back. But float right on the surface of the water.

So you're floating right out on that ocean on this raft, and as you lift your arms and you inhale, and you exhale, and you come up. You're not going to push down on that raft. Don't you push down. Nice. Keep straightening your elbows.

Keep reaching your fingertips. Inhale, take it back. Rotating your pelvis, open the front of your hips. Exhale. Good.

Good. Keep thinking about where your head is relative to your spine, and up, inhale. And exhale. Push against me, Lea. Yes.

Great. Great. Great. Now everybody pretend you're pushing against the person in front of your feet as you roll back, and don't take your feet with you. Don't drag your pelvis with you.

Articulate. Good. You can lift your chest wall a little bit more. Yeah, that's all right. And rest.

Arms down by your side. Good. Lift your right leg up. Straight leg lift. Lift your left leg up.

Straight leg lift. Inhale, take your legs up and over. Don't throw your legs. Lift your booty. Open your legs, flex the feet, roll down.

Keep your knees straight. Keep your legs active. That's it. Good. Keep reaching out of the crown of your head.

Inhale, take it over. Curl your tail. That's it. Now don't sink your raft, guys. Exhale.

Good. Chins off your throat. You're tucking your chin too much. Good. Reverse your legs.

Open. Take it up and over. Now don't drop your feet for me. Just keep them floating. Keep lifting your hamstrings.

Now pull together, roll down. Now keep that lift. Think about opening the front of your hips, Sarah. That's right, guys. Go over.

Don't tuck those chins. Lift your chin. Lift your chin. That's it. Now your legs should not be dead weight here.

Right? You should be using your quads, your hamstrings your everythings. There's no dead weight. That's beautiful. And rest at the top.

Legs straight up to the ceiling. I want to take a little diversion here and do something else. Take your hands behind your head. Bend your knees. I learned this from a Forrest yoga class from the yoga practice I do, but I want you guys to feel your tail curl.

You're going to open your legs into a frog position. It's called frog lifting through. You're gonna lift your heads. Try not to overly externally rotate your legs. It's a position that you would be in for gondola.

Flex. Good. Now look at your pubic bones with your eyes. Wrap-- get up, sweetheart-- wrap your shoulder blades. Yeah, I know, it's, like, might be against the Pilates law, but you can do it.

Open. There she goes. Take a deep breath in. Curl your pubic bone towards your navel. Don't move your legs.

Exactly. Exhale. Put it back down. Or inhale, put it back down. Exhale.

Curl your pubic bone towards your navel. Inhale. Put your butt back down. Exhale. Curl your pubic bone towards your navel.

Use your hamstrings. Keep your hips open. Inhale. Put your butt back down. Exhale.

Curl your pubic-- exactly. Put your butt back down. You have three more. I want to see it move. Push in to me, Meri.

Use your hamstrings. That's it. Oh, yeah, low belly. Let's see it. That's it.

And bring your legs together. Good. Feet down. Or head down. Good.

You guys feel that? So, basically, I just wanted you to find that isolated from everything else, because the stakes get really high in the ab series. And as you start throwing your legs out in space, you're going to want to drag your booty into the basement, right? And you need to find that little particular curl, so that the weight of your legs can be helped. Otherwise, you're going to fall.

You understand? So don't forget that feeling. I'm gonna say the whole thing through when we get there. It's been very helpful . OK.

So here we are. Take your right leg up for hamstring stretches. It was the diversion that will apply in a moment. Breathe. Good.

Here's one of my favorite ways to do this right now. Straighten your supporting leg, flex your foot. Good. Lift your head, and hold your ankle. Or your foot, bind to make a basket with your fingers.

Stay committed. Now just fall backwards, but don't move your hands. Go ahead and lie down. Oh, you're doing the splits. Ha ha.

OK. Good. Take a deep breath in. Nice. tricky.

And nice. And then bring that leg down to 45, and do tree. You got to stand on that supporting foot. Walk up, here you go. Good.

Use your arms. Use your arms. Lift your nipples. Eyes up, eyes up. Good.

And walk it down. Now don't fall. Lift up, nipples up. And go down still, but keep this up. Right.

Because you're sort of falling back into it. Yeah, walk it up again, please. There she goes. Pick it up. Now, Lea, bring your sits bones towards each other.

Use your hamstrings as a base there, because you're going to need them. All of you, actually, I just happen to be in front of her. Go back down. There you go. Arms down by your sides.

Let's do single leg circles, real traditional. Cross it over, inhale. Exhale, bring it around. Inhale. Exhale.

Now you're all on a raft still, so don't go rocking the boat like that. Inhale. Exhale. Other way. Big circles, don't be shy.

Take that leg, girl. Go, enjoy yourself. Yes. Yes. Watch your Cadillac, Lea.

And last one. Bring your knee into your chest. Roll up to seated. Easy does it. Stay with me.

Stay right there. I'll demonstrate on this side. Pick the foot up. Now float, lift, and lower. And lift.

Touch your leg, and lower. Oh my god, my quads are working like crazy. Good. Now switch legs, so you're going to be going to stretch the hamstring on the other side as you roll down. Roll down.

Roll down. Go to that same basket weave. Tricky, tricky. Breathing. And it's like somebody knocked you over, and you fell back, and then your leg just comes with you.

Yeah. And it just gets you out of your own way a little bit. Look at that-- Karen's gorgeous expression. Inhale. Don't bend your knee.

Yep, right there. Good. Breathe. You could circle your ankle if that's interesting to you. Point and flex your feet.

Whatever you're looking for. Good. But you've got to breathe. Let's pump up that breath, guys, please. Yeah.

Seriously. And lower the leg, and come into tree. Walk it out. Now really walk. Pick up your nipples, Kristi.

All the way up, all the way up, all the way up. Go, go. Don't fall. There you go, right up there. And then take it down.

Now you're moving your booty under, right? Now you watch your head, darling. That's better. Yes. Indeed.

That was it. You did it. One more time, up. Breathing. Now you're going to keep narrowing across the booty side, right?

Give me a flexed foot here. And stand in the backs of your legs. That's what you need. And take it down. Good.

Soften your gaze, Wendy. Keep that nervous system down. Good. Single leg circles, here we go. Inhale.

Exhale, home. Inhale. Good. She's hyper-mobile. Let's go, girl.

Just don't tip off your raft. Yeah. One more. Other side. And take it out.

Good. So what does it take not to fall over? That's all you need. You don't need anything else. Good.

Bring that knee into your chest. Roll it up. You've got some leg lifts to do here. So you're sitting up tall, nipples are high, head is reaching, and you are lifting. And lowering.

And lifting. Now I wonder why my shoulders think they should help. Oh, not necessary. Yes. Up, bring both knees in.

You're ready for rolling like a ball. Pull the ball breathing in from the belly, from the Kathy Grant work. And inhale, roll back. Exhale, home. No windsurfing, guys.

No pushing back up here. Inhale, roll back. Pick up your booties, and exhale, home. Let's do three more. Watch your upper back, Kristi.

Lengthen through your head. Exhale more. There we go. Gorgeous head. Don't look at me.

Keep going. Nice. Keep it lengthening. Nice. And rest.

All right, stay. Float, no rest. I lied. Stay. OK.

So remember what we just did when we did that thing-- that's probably not a very good shot-- and we curled the tail, right? We're going to find that right now. You're going to go into this position. Hold the leg into your nipple a lot. Now curl the tail to go down.

Here's what I call windsurfing. Not interested in that. I can't go back because I have this pack on, but I need you to curl your tail to get backwards. That's it. Reach out of that leg, Lea.

Now once you get to single leg stretch position, take it all the way. Go. Inhale. One, and two exhale, three, four. Now keep your head one, and two, and three, right?

You're doing a forward roll the whole time. Keep that head lift, one, and two, and three. Keep that head lift, one, and two, and three. Keep it. Pull both knees in.

Inhale, stretch it out. Hold. Go 1, 2 3, 4, 5, 6,7,8. Hold. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

In. Inhale, out. 1,2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7,8,9, 10. In. Take it out.

1,2 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Squeeze it in, and change to scissors. Right leg first go. One, two, switch. One, two, switch.

One, two, switch. One, two, switch. Switch. Switch. Keep the breath.

I want to hear it. Watch your head, my love. You know where you are. That's it. Now you know how to do it.

Take your hands behind your head. Take both legs up to the ceiling. Take a deep breath in. Pick two grams of weight off your booty side. Do not drop your butt to the basement.

Lower your legs. 3, 2, 1, hold. 1, 2, 3, up. Good. Keep doing a forward roll.

3, 2, 1, hold. 1, 2, 3, up. Keep doing a forward roll with your upper body in your brain. Yes. In your brain.

Keep doing it. Don't stop doing it. It's like you're trying to take a somersault into your pants. Take a somersault right into your pants. And rest.

Nice. So you know even though you don't see yourself moving, in your brain you're moving. Because gravity is your partner, and gravity is a real serious partner, y'all. Right? OK.

A little different version of twist today. Also something I'm borrowing from some of my yoga friends in Denver, which I just think has been helping me a little bit. So basically you're going to go ahead and bring your knees into your chest and straighten your legs up to the ceiling. I'm in, again, not lay back because the pack. And take your arms over your head like this in this peaceful gun position.

This is our Charlie's Angels pose, remember? All right, here we go. Take those arms over your head for a second. You're going to curl up and come across your right leg. Yep.

And you're going to bring your left leg down. Now, with that I want you to come up to your ankle. Go 1, 2, 3. Lie back, both legs up. Other side.

Go to the hip first. Make sure you're rotating, and then glide up. One. Right, but don't come out of your twist when you glide. 1, 2, 3.

I know that was really six everybody. And take your legs up and head back. And again, come to the other side. So you get around to the hip, and then you try with that just to reach up a little bit. One-- breathe comfortably, Karen-- 2, 3.

And switch That's it, Lea. That's good for you. And one more time. Take it over. Split.

So you're over there, then you're just gliding up. So you just-- yeah, don't untwist though-- so you're gliding up. Woo, and she pulls her off the mat. That's it. Great.

And rest back. So the reason why I like that to help us learn crisscross is because I feel like in crisscross, what happens is everybody's swinging their shoulder girdle around. And when your arms are in this Charlie's Angel position, you're more likely to understand that you have to rotate your ribcage. And you just can't cheat as much. So I just found that when I started doing it that way, I was like, wow, I've really been getting away with murder in the swing here, right?

Roll up to seated, please. Let's get ready for open leg rocker. I love using the ball breathing in open leg rocker, so you can use that from the Kathy Grant Hundred workshop "Before the Hundred" that we just did. So you're going to put that ball in. You're going to stretch your legs up.

You're going to hold your chest high. Now, everybody take your two sits bones, and pull them up towards your heels. Yes. Use the backs of your legs. Inhale, roll back.

Exhale, home. Now, keep them, keep them. Yes. Inhale, back. Straighten your legs there.

You've got it. Exhale, home. Maybe less Achilles for you. Inhale, back. Keep your legs straight.

Exhale, home. Pick it up. Right. No windsurfing. Inhale, back.

Exhale, home. Take both legs together at the top. Take your arms out to the side. Stay with it. You're perfect.

Take your hands down by your side. Put your hands down. Curl your tail 10-- keep your legs up-- 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3. Get all the way down. Legs are up.

One. 90 degree legs. Please open your arms, so they're a little wider, palms pressing down. For a really large tick tock. Sorry in advance for this exercise.

However, I think it's quite excellent. So you're going to come all the way over towards the seaside. And you're going to float your legs a few inches off the floor, or, in our minds, are hoping. And then you're going to come back. Now this is one of those exercises that I should know by looking in your eyes that you're doing something so terribly difficult and slightly impossible.

And come back up. That's beautiful, Meri. Great. Inhale. Take it all the way over.

Float it. Float it. This is also because I have great yoga teachers. They make me do this. Exhale, back.

I know, dammit. And one more time. But this is what's required for corkscrew. So I don't want any faking in your corkscrew. Here we go.

Corkscrew to the windows. Inhale. Exhale. Take it all the way up if you can, or not if you don't want to. Other way.

Now use your obliques You just did it. So go up from that angle, yes. That's it, Kristi. Inhale, over. Exhale, watch this table if you're on the end.

Yes. Press your hands down, team. Woo! That looks great. Good. Please take your hands, or roll down.

That was great. Roll up to seated for spine stretch. Stagger yourselves, please. Take your arms up. Now, where am I?

One of my teachers says on the floor, pretend you're in a toaster. And don't burn your nipples or your back side. And I thought that was so cute. I was like, oh, wow. So I was like, oh, OK.

So here you go. Exhale. Curl forward. Good. Now keep reaching.

Don't get stiff. And take it back up. Get back between the toaster. Good. And take it forward.

And bring it back up. And take it forward. Keep reaching, honey. You're kind of like dying out there at the end. That's it.

And back up. And rest. Laterals, Kathy Grant. Take your hands behind your head. We're going to the right.

You're going over, 2, 3, 4, hold. And rise, 3, 2, 1, and over. Next side. Over. In the toaster, Meri.

And up. Yeah, see. It's very visceral, right? Because you know if your nipples are getting burned in that toaster, man, that's, like, horrible. Good.

So we did ribcage breathing today. I'd like you to add that. Go over. Take a pause, and breathe into that up rib, please. Yes, Karen.

And up. And other side. Over. You're a little bit displaced. You need to do a lateral tilt first.

Yeah. So you can get all the way down that way. And up. Great. And arms down by your side.

Good. Get on to all fours, please. The fun begins, because I can now play with you. OK. So let's float our cat first.

So come on up, and float that cat. So you're going to come into a flat back table cat. You're going to float your cat. Now, look out a little bit, and check it out. We're going to go 10, 9, 8.

10, 9, 8. It's only my butt, Lea. So guys, watch me for a second. Boom. Boom.

Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Nothing easy about that.

Just your booty side. Here we go. Float your cat. Get it on. Booty goes 10, 9, 8, under.

And then booty changes into extension. Float your knees. There you go. Curl it. Good.

Float it out. Curl it. Now hold it. Bring your right knee to your nipple. I'm sorry in advance, and hold.

You can tuck your head down now. Two. Pull it in, Karen. That's it, and float your cat. And relax for a second.

OK. Second side. You're back up. Curl your tail. Next leg, pull it in.

Drop your head, and hold. Breathe. Good. And down. Good.

Now come into a flat again. Flat back floating cat. Take your right leg out. Put it down on the floor. Left leg out, put it down the floor.

Put your legs together. Ziploc freezer bag your legs, and find a straight line between your tail and your head. Everybody needs to curl their tail and use their booty muscles like crazy. Plie your arms. Bend your elbows.

And push back up. Stay with me. Now where's your scapula? Plie your arms, and come back up. Great.

Now, go all the way down. Float it down. Take it easy. Take it easy. Nice strong, ladies.

Gorgeous, all the way down. Take a deep breath in. Come into your swan. I love my prone series. I love getting on that belly and getting up into extension.

Enjoy that. Up you go. Come on, swan. Everybody, swan. Everybody.

There you go. And back down. Good. Now, you guys don't have your shoulder blades so prepped. Again, that's prepped.

Your blades are squished to your spines, so you're thwarting your ability to move your spine. So let your shoulder blades be, and pick up your spine to do a swan. Thank you. That's right. That's right.

Gorgeous. Gorgeous. And back down. That's right. Now here we go.

Full expression, bring it up. You were like, I was in the full expression. Well, guess what? There's more. There is more, baby, because I'm going to ask you to bend your knees.

I'm going to ask you to bend your knees and do a king cobra. You use your extension in your neck, my love. Yep, more. There you go. Bend your knees all the way.

Come on. Open the front of your quads, breathe. Stretch it all out, and roll down. Don't drop the back of your neck, but that looks really beautiful, right. Wow, you too, Sarah.

You're dropping the back of the neck a little bit there. Beautiful, guys. Come up on your forearms. OK. Good.

So just check it out. I love to add that bending knees, because guess what's in your repertory for Pilates. Rocking horse. Guess what nobody does? Rocking horse.

Guess why. Because they never bent their knees in their swan before, so they don't know how to do rocking horse. Because they end up like this. And you can't really rock from there. Right?

And it's not that sexy. You know? You want to be up on the tops of your legs. Right? So doing that swan and bending your knees, that gives you that full expression of back bend, right?

So now we're going to come in to forearms down. Right? Single kicks. 1, 2, reach. 1, 2, reach.

Keep going. 1, 2, reach. 1, 2, reach. And go 1, 2, reach. And 1, 2, reach.

One more on each side. And we're going all the way down. And here we go. And 1, 2, 3, stretch, and reach. This is all part of rocking horse.

1, 2, 3, and reach it. Wait, you have to keep doing a back bend with your heads, guys. 1, 2, 3. No park and ride. Keep going, keep going, keep going, and stretch.

Great. Put your hands under your armpits. Kick your toes up. Push up into a plank. Thank you.

Leg pull front, lift your right leg. Lower and lift your heel. And down. And other leg. And down.

Keep your hips level. Not that level. And good. That's great. And rest.

Pull back into child's pose. That looks great. So roll up for a second. So sometimes once I get on the belly, I want to stay for a while. Because you want to get that extension and keep getting more juiced out.

Right? You don't want to do one thing, and then like leave it, right? So it's nice to get through that whole series and keep working for that. When I was making that correction about your scapula, I want to be clear again, because I'm not sure that was clear. A lot of you were starting your swan with your scapula pinched, so that means my chest wall is forward.

I have a hard time doing a back bend. Because a back bend actually needs to go backwards. Right? So if this is my mat, and, I'm here to start I can't get up. I need to start not in a back bend, so I could do back bend.

So that's why I'm asking you not to do that, because you were already in extension-- passive extension in a certain way. So then it's kind of like, oh, I can't get up, right? So you want to make sure you're-- if I can always pretend the mat is here, and here I am. I don't want to go like this to do a back bend I actually want to do that. And then I can really go forever.

Do you guys feel that? But if I went this way, look at how when I have to stop my back bend. I'm done. I can't. I'm locked up.

I'm locked up. You feel that? Great. Perfect. Let's do rocking horse.

So one of the things that I feel like is important is that you do your rocking horse your way. Right? These are very advanced exercises. So if you don't make the bind, and you need to have a different version of it, you need to do a swan because the way your back is, you do what you need to do. But flex your feet if you're doing it.

And kick your feet into your hands, and get your hamstrings on. Right. Hook onto my sits bones. And get up. Good.

Stay. Breathe. Push your feet, yes. Yes. You have so much more than you think.

Now if you want to rock, go for it. You do not have to rock. But you mustn't rock with your head. You got to rock with your hamstrings. Take your arms forward, and do the swimming.

2, 3, 4, breathing. 2, 3, 4, and go. Karen lift your eyes. And rest. Good.

Just take a moment of quiet. Great. Come up to seated. Swing your legs forward, and let's roll back for shoulder bridge. So we're still in the back bend family.

We're doing a series. Bring your-- yeah. Here we go. You're doing great. We're almost done.

We've almost made it. Curl your tail. Come up. It's your tail. It's your crown of your head.

Check back in. Take it easy. Yeah. And roll it down. So I wanted you to check in, and I want you notice when you go up, do you fall back?

And could you come up without falling back? So curl it up, and keep-- like my fingertips are under your upper thoracic spine, Meri. Don't pinch me. Stand in your own legs. Yes.

That's it. Now that's different for you, because you love to fall backwards there. You have a long, pretty spine. And roll down. That's much-- so you're working with your head.

You're doing very well, because your playing. It's wonderful. One more time, everybody. Just your own thing. This is not torture.

Yeah? This is just really interesting, so now relax your jaw. Yeah. And be in your range. Be yourself in your shoulder bridge.

Like every shoulder bridge is different. And roll down. Straighten your legs. Teaser. Give me a head lift, one and two.

And come up into your teaser. Float. Surprise yourself. I mean, isn't that wonderful? And take it down.

Now I hope that was so beautiful because I taught you a good class and not because these guys are taking cameras of you. Take it up. So you have all your parts, and this is one of those exercises that expresses your success. Keep it going. You've got it.

See how different? She said yes. And roll down. That's great. Because if you pick up your head with your head, you have 10 pounds in control in your teaser that you were dragging before.

One more time. I know that might have been a big sentence, but. There she goes. There she goes. Good.

Nice. Candace is just, like, perfect. And take it down everybody. And lift your head, and roll up to seated. That is clapping in sign language in ASL.

Did you know that? That's how you clap in ASL. And this is how you do a Liza Minnelli special, you know? OK. So let's finish with a little bit of crab for fun.

It's one of my favies. I can't demonstrate, because I have not to mess up my microphone today. So but, I'd like you to sit somewhere in your mat where you can be both forward and back. So you know, in your crab, you're coming to this expression. Right?

So Lea, what I'm doing here, remember how we did cat? Right? And there was this cat and this cat butt? When I get to here, I'm honing those hamstrings and curling that tail. You should be able to like, you know, waa, boom, boom.

Right there, OK? Like seriously. All right? Let's try it. All right, ready and go.

All the way up and over. Curl it. Don't you fall on your head, young one. Come on. Get it.

Sarah, you've got to open the front of your hips. That was mediocre for you. Pick it up right now. Hips. Hip.

That's a girl. No, don't fall on my hand. Yes. Hamstrings. That's it.

That's it. And two more, you guys. Not too much weight on your head. Not too much weight on that head, please. Yeah.

That's it, Candace. Just do what you can, girl. You're awesome. If that's your end expression, be proud right now. And that's it.

All right. See if you can roll up in that position like I just did. Get your booty under you. See if you can get up on your knees. Roll up.

Roll up. Put your feet down. Yeah. Yeah. You feel how you get your-- yeah.

Uncross your legs. Yeah, great you're on your knees. No, you're there. You're there. Just joining you.

And then you're going to kick your toes under, and you're going to come into a squat. Yes, you are. And this is how we started our class. You're going to drop your head. You're going to let go.

You're going to let go of a whole bunch of stuff that you keep in there that you don't need. So don't hold here, my dear. Go. There you go. Take a deep breath in.

Exhale, and just let it go. Let yourself be changed. You know, like, don't stand up the same person. So boring. I mean, you might find something else really fun.

Bend your knees, roll up to seat standing. Your tail goes under, your head's the last to come up. Yeah. That's it. Wow.

You guys rock. Thank you. [CLAPPING] That was hard. That was real different. And you're finding your way.

I think you can tell when it's right, because you've got this kind of glow in your face. And when it was off, it felt like the old way, right? One of things that Kathy always said about Mr. Pilates is that he said, no, no, yes, no, no, no, no, yes, no. That's it. And she'd get on the subway, and she'd be like, OK, when did he say yes?

OK, when he said yes, I was doing, I think I was doing this. So then she'd go back and she'd try to do the yes again, and if he said yes again, she'd be like, that was it. Right? So it's the same way of finding these nuanced changes. It's like, you just try to find that little-- it's not about a position, but it's like, oh, yeah, that feels like what it was when we were nailing it.

Now we keep trying, and drive in that neighborhood. There you go. There you go. You're welcome. You're welcome.

We're done. You're welcome. Yeah, we're done.