Hi, today we're going to work on the one to chair. Um, and this class is a very special class dedicated to my friend Heikki from Finland. He requested it specifically, so Heikki this one's for you. I'm gonna start standing at the back of the chair. I have one one spring, one medium spring on just standing right up against the chair. I didn't take the arms up. Inhaling an exhale, bringing the arms down and the taking the arms up. Just gathering yourself, feeling the length of the spine, bringing awareness to your body, bringing the arms down and inhale. One more time. Lifting the arms up. Feel the whole spine lift as the arms reach overhead and from there, exhale, curl the spine forward. Allow the hands to come onto the paddle of the chair
I always start tilting my tailbone up first so I can really make sure that I get the length out of my lower back before I start taking the paddle downwards and XL drawing in and as I come up, I'm pressing against the paddle, pressing the paddle towards the chair to keep my scapula
This time we're just going to let the hands come away from the chair. We're going to continue until we're standing up on our feet. And one last time, lift the arms up out to the side and press the arms down. Coming around to the front of the chair, we're going to come down onto the mat, well onto our backs, placing the heels of the feet just forwards of the top of the chair. So I'm resting on the edge of the paddle at the moment and as I pressed down, my feet will reach over the top, placing the head down, the arms reach just next to the body. Let me press the paddle down. So now my feet are reaching over the top in a prehensile light position.
Pausing to breathe in for the pelvic curl. We curl the spine rolling up bone by bone, pressing the arms back into the mat. Finding that long diagonal line from needs to shoulders. Inhale and exhale. Feel the undulation of the spine. The idea is that we hit each vertebra individually.
That's a good thing to think about. Keep it the paddle on the ground as we drop all the way back in here. XL, curl the spine, pressing down on the paddle with the by, lifting up through the hips. Inhale, and as we roll down we continue that downward press on the paddle. Keeping it still is, especially as we work that lower spinal area. That's where it's tough as most of us. Now inhale at the bottom. Draw down, flattening the spine, roll the spine, press up high. Feel the length of the arms. Feel the length of the neck.
Inhale and exhale to curl the bodied back down. Just do that one more time. Inhale and exhale. Rolling the spine up. Staying up at the top. Let's look. Float the left foot off the bar and reached down in tap and float the left leg and reached down and to feel that there's no deviation from the center line of the body as that one leg moves through space. Last two and last one.
Reach down, placing the foot down, trying not to have to adjust the pelvis much if at all, and then lift the right leg, reach down, touch and exhale. Support in her reach and touch and Xcel to pull. Inhale, reach and touch. Exhale to pull. Last too. The pelvises high and lifted. It hasn't sunk. We placed the foot back down onto the paddle.
We inhale there and exhale, curling the spinal all the way back down into the mat. As the pelvis comes down, allow the feet to lift up. Bring the arms out to the sides with the palms of the hands up and lift the legs. One at a time. Off The chair in here for the spine twist. Let's go to the right first and exhale as we draw back through center. Inhale, feel the abdominals polar opposite to the knees as the knees drift across the center line of the body and exhale deep into drag back. Inhale, reaching across. Opposite arm reaches law and XL back and inhale, reaching across and Xcel back and inhale, reaching across. Extend the legs here. Draw us the stray legs back to the center and fold the Neesan.
Inhale over to the left. Stretch the legs out. Pull back to center and fold the knees and center. We'll do one more like that on each side. Stretch the legs out. Continue to really hug back against the spine with the abdomen center and full and reaching across. Stretch. Ah, find center and fold the knees. Place one foot down on the paddle again.
You're going to go right again to the front edge of that paddle. Nope. Let's go to the top and we're going to press the paddle halfway down. Bring the hands behind the head, holding the paddle. Still here we inhale and as we exhale we're going to just curl the head and chest up, causing to breathe in and releasing back down. I've changed my mind about the feet. Pardon me.
I think we all have the right to change our minds from time to time. I'm going to go on my arches. Press the paddle halfway down. So to do that, I just backed up a little bit. I'm much happier here. It's an easier place to hold. Xcel curling the head and chest up in your reach behind the thighs. Exhale, draw a little deeper. Lifting a little higher. Take the arms up.
Keep the hype in the body. Reach the hands back behind the head and exhale to lower the body down. All the while the paddle just stays. Exhale, curling the head and chest up. So we work the hamstrings, the hip extensors, reminding us arms behind size. Curl up a little higher, reminding us to keep the back of those legs active. Reaching up and back. Place the hands behind the head and take the spine down. We'll do two more.
Exhale to curl up. Inhale, hands come behind that x. We find a little bit greater lift. We reach hands by in the head and we take it all the way to the ground. Last one, just a gentle abdominal work more. I'm up. Exhale, curling up in your hands behind size. Exhale, lift a little more. Reach. Ah, hands back. Hold there and twist to the right. Exhale, chess lift with rotation. Inhale to center and exhale across and up to the left.
Inhale to center. Exhale across. And to the right. Inhale Center. Exhale across and up to the left. Inhale through center. We'll do two more. Reaching up and over. Find the center, reaching up and over. Find the center. Reach forward. Let the paddle come on.
Lift one leg at a time. Hands come to the knees. We reach out for the double leg. Stretch and curl back. And inhale, reaching just over the chair with the leg and curl back. Notice that we just keep the height of the trunk as the arms and the legs move through space. Inhale back and exhale to come around and reach
Here's two. We're going to do eight. Feel that there's a strong rotation happening around the ribs and not in the neck or with the face. So that had just arrests heavy in the hands as we rotate around the center of the body. Three more, two more.
So my feet are now on the frame of the chair. Arms reach overhead. We're going to lift the head and chest. We're going to curl the spine up, reaching for the paddle, seeing around as the hand sign the paddle and then press down on the paddle to lift the spine into extension. Curl the spine. As we, as we uh, let this springs pull the paddle up. Let go and float back. Let the arms start to slide up overhead. Inhale, head and chest. Press down on your feet. If you need a little help to get you through any sticky spots, use your arms. Fine the paddle. We'll find back. Extension lifting up
The arms are already reaching back. Inhale and chest Sta.
We'll do two more. We reach overhead. We inhale head Chester, the exhale and curl. Press down. Extend the spine. Almost feel as though you're trying to drag the chair towards you last time. Round the spine. Reach back, lift a curling up.
Find the chair and lift the spy. Stay here. Bend the elbow. Pull the spine closer to the the size and stretch the arms out. Take the paddle all the way on. Stand up. Walk around to the back of the chair and adjust your spring tension for footwork. Recommend two springs of some description.
I'm going to use a magic circle today with my footwork. I'm not important. If you don't have access to a magic circle, you can bring your hands behind your head, out to the sides, down behind you. There's a myriad of armed choices. I just like to give my arms something to do while I working my legs. It's more of a full body experience.
So what I'd like us to remember that the circle is cylindrical has is our trunk. And every time we press into the circle, I'm going to ask that we press into the sides of our body as well. So here we go. My arms are straight out in front of me. Inhale, exhale, press down on the paddle. Press in on the circle and lift through this spine release. Draw in and up on the abdominals. Press into the circle, press down on the springs release.
And again we reach and release. So you're not gonna generate a massive squeeze here with the arms straight. But what you can feel is that there is pressure, not just from the front of the body, but more specifically in the back of the body. In the shoulder stabilizers. We'll do four more and as the paddle comes up, actively draw it up through the center of the body three and release and two and release one and release. And then place the toes on the chair. Inhale here.
Gonna prescence press down, press into the ring, press down with the legs, organizing my toes properly and exhale and lift as high as you can up with your knees without changing the alignment of your spy. So we're pumping the chair, we're pumping the ring, reminding ourselves that the most critical element to any footwork on the chair is the challenge of using the abdominals in the back extensors in a balanced way. Just to support this spine. As the legs move through space, we'll do four more. So we're not ever pressing the paddle so low that we lose our pelvic position, our neutral pelvic position last time.
I just caught myself pressing and leaning forward into the ring. So let's try not to do that. Let's try to maintain the positioning of the spine. Here we can generate a little bit bigger squeeze. But I again, I want to remind you not just to squeeze with the arms, but to really draw in through the sides of the body to work. The shoulder stabilizes to work the trunk stabilizers last four here, rising up through the crown of the head. The top of the head has the legs. Press down twice more and last time heels come to the outside of the chair.
Make sure that when you're lining your knees up there going just over the second toe so you're not turning your feet out more than your knees. Let's keep the ring here for now. Let me just press generate if you will. A sense of squeezing the thighs towards one another as the arms are pressing towards one another. Reaching down but also lifting up, reaching down, but also lifting up every time. Reminding ourselves the stability of this spine again is of primary importance.
We'll do that four more times. Press and release and reach and press and two and one. Lifting the legs. Come onto the toes here and now we're going to take the arms all the way overhead. This is the most challenging, perhaps to maintain good, proper spinal alignment, but we'll give it a go. We press into the ring and release, and as you're pressing down with your legs, feel the top of your head reaching through the ring, up through the center of it. Press and release and press and release and press.
Lifting the spine. We'll do four more and three her rising up
Just lightly resting the fingertips on the chair. Just gonna work and work our cath. So we press and then I want you to pull back as well. So you press down in, feel that it's not just the cabs, but I want you to try to access your hamstring as you're reaching down and reaching down, all reaching down. And we'll do five more as the foot poles and presses.
The spine is constantly aligned. You could choose to do this with your hands off the chair if you want it. You have to really monitor your balance there. Last time, please stay hands down, lift the knee, step back onto the mat, picking up the opposite foot. Okay, setting that knee on the chair. And again, organizing the, the foot that's on the floor so the heel of that foot can press down. And then again, we worked through the foot, we hold the alignment of the pelvis still and as the toes reach down towards the floor, lift and pull up through the spine, through the center of the body, always anchoring with the back leg. Keep the back like very strong. And again, you could decide to do this with your arms out in a more, in a balanced position. It's a bit more challenging all the way around.
Not important how low the paddle goes to the chair, but if your flex or to the floor, excuse me, but if you're a flexibility allows for it. Just you can go all the way down. And then we'd draw. We press the backs of the thighs forward the abdominals up towards the spine. The arms are pulling back toward the legs and the inhale, and then focusing the flection from around the ribs. So the ribs press, the tailbone tucks under. You get that nice rounded spine and inhale down and exhale currently using the full amount of your breath to ring all the air out of your body.
And inhale one more like this. Exhale to curl. When they add on a little challenge here. We're going to inhale, draw up through the spine. Press the paddle down. Be careful with this when it's harder than it seems. Exhale, float the heels up. You need to lower the heels down and exhale. Pull up on the paddle. Inhale, press the paddle down. Exhale, cruel the spine, floating the heels off the floor.
Try to stay nice and align through the feet in you. The heels come down and exhale. We draw through the center and inhale, reach down. Exhale, float up in. You know the heels come down and Xcel to Corolla. One more time. Keep the shoulders all the time. Well away from the ears. Excellent. Floating the heels up.
Inhale the heels come down and exhale. We curl the spine when the springs let go. Gonna continue up onto our feet. Hi and I reach in and add that spring back to when you took away or whatever the spring is that you wish to use for your pike. So pressing down on the paddle, bring the hands just towards the front of the chair, drawing in through the center of the body. Dropping the head heavy.
We inhale as we exhale, we curl the spine. So we try here to meet like find the same position, curl all the way to where the springs let go. And then on the inhale, work your way down and feel the abdominals. Try to create space between the skin of your stomach and your tank top or your tee shirt or whatever you've got on your body and drawing. It's drawing not only inwards into the center of the body, but into the mind. Go deeper in your focus.
Make every repetition better than the last.
Bend your knees without allowing the paddle to lower and then pull even higher off the paddle. Inhale, bend the knees, paddle season. Exhale, draw high, and two more. Inhale, exhale. So try not to sink down and put pressure down on the springs. As the knees are bending, there's always an upward lift. Last one, carefully lower the paddle all the way back down to the ground. Step up
So we're going to do the forward lunge and we're going to do a little arm work here as well. So I have the handles, um, just to assist me in case I need them for the forward lunge, but also we're also, we're setting up for some, some pretty serious arm work.
If I need to, then we're going to come back, find the paddle.
Then feel here at the top you're trying to lift your feet like the feet are really loud. I can actually float up there and then bend, press and bend. Press the handles towards one another as you're pressing up to more bend and press last time
Gonna come all the way down and then just control the paddle as we come off it.
Reach down and lifter, dressing up nice and high, and then slowly taking the body down. Well, one bone at a time. Television touches the like stripped away. We lifted the role of any hold down then.
Lift. Lift and push that leg on the chair down into the chair. Opposite leg reaches up into that vertical position. Last time on both sides. Well, thanks Dan. And then as we roll down this time, just draw the legs in close. Nice and close to the body.
They'll drift across the paddle. We'll find our way all the way down. Bend your knees, hug your knees into your chest and Rola [inaudible]. Turning ourselves around, reach through the chair and take off one of the springs. So I'm now I'm back to one medium spring
Try not to drop the head all the way forward, but instead feel that the top of the heads almost reaching up and forward to complete the curvature, that long curvature of the spine. Then without changing anything else here, we just rod down on the panel and as we press the paddle down, it's like we're dragging it inwards to our waist and in here and dragging through the waist and in. Yeah, and two more
One more time, pulling in and resting down. Bend the knees to let the springs come on. Shift back and place the feet down. So you're gonna come off to the side. I'm going to remove the handles. We'll do a little rotation and back extension work.
So I think of using my bottom obliques, not thinking about my arm at all. Bottom obliques or rids. Come closer to the pelvis and then the ribs on the top of the body. Draw me back or not the ribs with the obliques. They do come closer to the pelvis on that side though.
I'll do go down again and reach out and down again and reach Ya. Take the hand from behind your head. Breathe in as you take the paddle down. Breathe out as you now rotate towards the chair, into a mermaid. Breathe in as you unwind back to your stretched position and breathe out. As you left. Notice as you're lifting and lowering, there's never any throwing around of the neck.
We're all just movements of the spine, churn and re and inhale and lift. One more. Inhale down. [inaudible]. Exhale, find your rotation. Pause there. Keep that back leg reaching away from you. And then inhale, we're going to lift that leg and lift the sponsee. Come up onto that outside hip and inhale, everything goes down. I guess that would be an XL. If we're going to inhale to lift, lifting the leg, lifting nice and high, don't just kind of bring it halfway and then exhale everything back in the leg and the paddle. Reach away from one another and inhale reaching her and exhale pressing down and two more reaching out.
I'm pressing down. Yeah, the last one, reaching out. Let's stay here. Let's bring that arm out. Let's lift, see if we can find our balance here and then allow that leg to gracefully come to the floor. Reach the arm that was on the paddle up and over as you slide your opposite arm down that leg that's on the ground and then coming all the way up and we'll just turn sides. So opposite hand down, finding a long line through the spine. Other hand behind the head. We reached the spine over.
Inhaling and then exhale. Stay all the time. We're really light on that bottom arm and in her reaching over, feeling the scapula on the bottom side. It's a wide on the back. It doesn't squeeze towards the center of the body. It moves away from the center of the body and then lifting up and two more reaching over. Explore that stretch. It's worth it and lifting up.
Last one, reaching over and lifting up. Take the hand that's behind your head. Reach it out to the side. Inhale, we take it down. Exhale, we reach around towards the chair, opening up through the spine. Breathe in. As you unwind, that arm just floats above the shoulder. Eyes straight ahead and exhale to lift into your long line. Inhale as you reach. Yeah. Excellent. As you create spinal rotation, think of it as a rib rotation.
Inhale as you reach open and excelling as you lift up last time. Inhale to reach down. Exhale to create rotation. Pause their hands just underneath the shoulders, leg, reaching away. We're going to lift the spine on the inhale and float that back leg nice and high and then exhale. Everything reaches away. And India, Florida, working through the upper spine, working through the hip and reach away.
Come back up, turn over so that your pelvis is resting on the chair. Closing the paddle, organize the legs so that they're just parallel to the ground and make sure your belly is not hanging out in space than float the paddle up off the floor. That's going to be our starting and finish position. From here, press backward into the paddle with the hands. Lift through the spine, working through the upper and middle back and lifting very much through the chest, keeping the legs consistently high throughout and then exhale undulate back down so we're parallel to the ground again. Inhale, so reach out through the crown of the head, opening the chest, keeping the legs just floating there, who work through the center of your body as well. So we support this spine and reached down and three more reaching and lifting up and yeah, and too, so trying for an articulation through the spine. Feel the upper back. Feel the upper back
Let's stay round here and press down into the springs, but lift up into the spine and then we're going to reverse the lift. So we are Cha
So take the arms out and up in here. Unreached Yana well, thanks for taking class.
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