Kathy Grant Inspired Mat

Hello, my name is Maria. Um, I will be leading you through a mat class today. My teacher, Kathy, um, had a lot of different ways of going around this work. She was a choreographer, so she played a lot with um, variation and, um, I'm going to do the same so things will be a little bit maybe different and uh, but I hope you like it. So here we go. We're gonna start in the middle of your maths and I just want you to stand through your feet. Take a moment. Those of you who are at home, you could be against the wall if you wanted. Um, but for the rest of us, we're just here standing through our feet. We're going to sing Kathy's song to begin and I'll lead you through that.

Just have your arms relaxed at your side. We're going to start by, uh, zipping up through your lower belly, which is from the pubic bone to your navel. Like you're putting on a tight pair of pants. You Zip, you draw your belly button to the back of the waistline. You put on your belt, feeling everything gather and come together. You put on a tape measure or a vest to close the front. I want you to feel how that lifts you up.

The top of your head starts to lift and float away. I take the arms up, I'm gonna grab the right wrist and stretch over to the side. Now really stretch. You can lean over. Also shifting your weight. Breathe into that lateral side, breathe into your rib cage and then use your songs. Zip belly button to the back of the waistline to come back up again.

Switch hands and again, you could be in a little V, you could be parallel. Whatever feels strong and secure through your legs. Lean into it. Come on over. That's it. And then breathe into that lateral side. Really feel the rib cage and then use your song to come back up again.

Lift to take the arms down. We're going to do a 10 count roll down. Starting at the top of your head, your head nods forward like you fallen asleep. That's 10 and you curl down. Nine eight you can soften the knees. Six five let the arms hang.

Three, two, one, stay there. Take a full breath into your backspace here. Exhale, you're going to take another breath. You're going to do a 10 count roll-up, thinking of Kathy songs, zipping up. Belly button to the back of the waist line. Put on your belt.

You can soften the knees if you need to so that you can really sequence through your spine. Feel the shoulders come back onto your body. Head floats up. Beautiful. Take the arms behind clasp. All you do here is lift the chest right open the front. Imagine that the front of your chest is like a picture book that's opening. I want you to feel the stretch across the collar bones, thinking up with the eyes and the chin, but keeping the back of the neck nice and long. Beautiful. Release that.

Ah, good. We're going to do our 10 count. Roll down again and walk out into all four. So drop your HEADSS ten nine eight soften those knees if you need to feel the spine. Articulate and bend the knees and walk yourself out. If your knees should be underneath your hips, hands directly underneath your shoulders, you can walk back and make yourself, you know, line yourself up on your mat. You want to make sure that your knees are hip width apart, right?

We all think that our hips are much wider than they really are, so just dried and a little more narrow. Also, make sure that your wrists are directly underneath your shoulders. I want you to feel that the palm is into the floor, right? And not too much pressure into your shoulder of, sorry, into your wrists. Tuck your toes under ladies, feeling the back here. Flat tabletop. Imagine you could have a tea party on your back.

You're gonna organize yourself again with that zip and that belly button to the back of the waistline idea. You're also going to put on your vest and your tape measure when you feel like you've organized yourselves. Gonna Float your knees up off the floor and hover. Stay. Feel the pressure down to the arms. Feel the arms suck up into the socket. Feel the belly button drawing back to your spine and let the knees float down.

Really Nice. Everyone. Yeah, so the back doesn't change. We're going to move into a little bit different of a position here, but we start the same. So you're going to draw yourself float up, pull everything in hold. You're going gonna pull your right knee into your chest, drop your nose to meet it, stretch the back leg. Shift your weight forward. So straighten this leg out. Push your body weight forward. Sorry, I didn't explain that very well. Here we go. There you go. That's it Christie. And then come back. There you go.

Bend those knees come down. Good. We're going to try the other side. You're going to float yourself up. Tuck your toes under. Sorry. There you go. Pull the knee now. Feel round here. Right? Really pull the need of the nose, nose of the knee. Kiss your knee if you can, and then come back to your float. Hold.

Change legs. Pull the other knee in. Exactly. Keep your hips low. Get down, hover the leg over the floor. That's it. And then switch. Come back into your hover and go forward again. Stay low. Curl. Get tighter into your body. That's it. Come back to your hover. Last one. Go forward. Shift that way. Push back through that back leg.

That back leg is strong. The stronger you push that knee cap up, the easier it will be. And come back to your hover and put your knees down. Beautiful. Great. Great. You're gonna walk yourself back into a, just a little ball here. Yeah. Great. Just let your head drop. Feel your heels release down into the floor. Breathe into your backs. Let that tailbone release down.

Let your head release down. You don't actually have to do anything right here. Just breathe. All right. Walk your hands back towards your feet a little bit. You're going to sit down, but before you sit, you have to really find this under tuck of the pelvis so that you can sit down without falling onto your bottom. So walk your hands back, use your hands. Sit down softly. That's it. And keep your feet tucked in.

See if you can balance, take your feet up off the floor. Find that rolling like a ball moment without actually having to roll. Soften your sternums. Feel that tape measure action. And that wrapping around of the belt, lifting you up to come over. Beautiful. Put your feet down, hop to the middle of your mat. Feet are hip width apart. We're going to roll down on your backs and you have two options.

You can take your arms in front or you can bring your arms behind your head. Now behind your head's going to be harder, but no judgment. Choose whatever you want. Okay? And we're going to make a hissing sound to roll down. Okay? So that you're just continuing to breathe. Okay?

We're going to roll down maybe a count of 10. So take your time, take a deep breath and exhale. Good. Very nice. Anchor those legs. Anchor them down, anchor them down. I could be helpful and nice and hold your legs. Okay. Hands go behind your head. Walk your feet in a little bit. Yeah, I want you to feel like you can really anchor down through your feet.

Okay, good. You're gonna Inhale and twist to your right. Curling forward directly. Yeah, come directly. Stay here. That's your inhale. You're going to exhale to the center. Hold. Float those shoulders off the floor. Inhale, twist and space twist, twist, twist, and now roll down onto that shoulder, across your back.

Put your head down and now we'll go to the opposite direction. So you inhaled tool list to the left. Come on up with an exhale. Inhale, twist the other way. Exhale, roll through your spine. Beautiful, beautiful. Again. Inhale, curl up. Exhale, lift.

Inhale to west, and then exhale, roll down. Keep those elbows nice and wide. Ladies, and here we go. Opposite side. Inhale, exhale, float up. Now feel the feet anchor into the ground. Xcel, rotate, rotate, rotate, rotate. And then rural. Now we're going to do that one more time. One time only, and over in exhale, come up. Float flow, float am rotate in space, but stay high. Stay high, stay high, and then roll down. Beautiful. Okay, rest. Bring your knees into your chest.

You're going to float your knees up. Hands down at your side. You have two options here. You can bring your hands real narrow. You can bring them a little wider. I prefer a lewd wide. Bring your legs to tabletop and a little bit in. Yeah, exactly.

So that you're not really just gripping like crazy at the front of the hip. The legs stay squeezing together. Right as if you only have one leg. You're going to take the knees to the right and you can let that left hip come off the floor. But pause, right? You don't want to tip over. You just want to feel the lateral abdominals kick in.

Use Your exhale to come back and go the other side. Inhale, pause. Start by drawing the waistline down into the floor. Let the legs follow the breath. Inhale to the other side. What I'm looking for here is that I see the breath. Initiate the legs returning that the legs are not powering through this exercise. That's right.

So think about maybe those numbers of that roll down that we did. 10 to one. Try to articulate the vertebra back to the mat. Good. One more time. Pause everyone. Extend the heels away from your belly button in here. In this position.

Stay where you are. Just extend the legs. Straighten them out, Kristy. There you go. Go. Now. Exhale, bend the knees back and return back to center. Inhale, come the other way. Use your arms here ladies. Be Shy. Extend the legs out, Ben. Monies. Come on back. Good. Again, it's the breath that's initiating. Inhale, good.

And now what I'm looking for is that those heels are lengthening out in that belly is driving down and then bend the knees, come back. Great. And that your arms are working. Yeah, that you are using the arms to create stability through the upper body so that you can get beautiful expression through the lower half of you. Let's do that one more time. I lost count already. Disaster. I can't count and teach at the same time. [inaudible] come back. Rest. All right. Put your feet down. Very good. All right, so we are going to extend actually, let's see, how am I going to have you do this? Extend the right leg up to the ceiling.

Take the arms back overhead. All right. Everybody has their right leg up. Okay. Their left leg is PR. You're pressing your left leg down into the floor. Really feel that kind of tripod of the foot, right as you curl forward and lift the arms, you're going to lower the leg down six inches from the floor for our hundreds. So here we go. We're going to inhale and pump. Two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five and pump two, three, four, five. And exhale, two, three, four, five.

I'm going to lose count of course. So we're going to do another three rounds here before we switch legs and hopefully we'll all do it at the same time. Now stretch the legs out. Touch the person across the room from you. Squeeze the bootie underneath. Float that leg up. Are you ready? We're going to switch all together. Go switch legs. Keep pumping. I think two, three. Beautiful. Good.

Now wrap that thigh under. Push down through the leg. That's stabilizing and [inaudible]. Feel the length through the front of the hip. You can keep curling forward. It's not about holding still here. It's about internally curling into it more and more and more and more.

That be like 136 rest. Take the legs long on the floor. Take the arms overhead. Okay. You're going to flex the feet. I want you to stand through your legs. Imagine there was a wall there. I want you to lift the arms just a little bit and organize your arms into your shoulders. Okay? We're going to do the roll up, right?

You're going to float the arms up to the ceiling. Take a moment. I want you to do a head lift, curl forward, look between your arms, find your horizon, and then you're going to continue to curl up, reaching over towards your feet. Oh, I can help. That's it. And now you're going to roll down and roll back singing Kathy Song, zip belly button to the lowest part of the waistline. Put on your belt, put on your tape. Measure your vest. It's there to help you. Okay, that's one. We're going to do four more.

Inhale and exhale. Push through those feet. I want you to stand in your feet. Stand in them. Gimme this gimme your legs, Karen. That's it. And then sing the song and you go down slowly with control. That's it. That's it. I'll, I'll, I'll let you go a little bit. There you go. Holding onto her real tight. Okay. Here we go.

Inhale and use your breath. Ah, come here, my friend. That's it. Oh yeah, yeah. Friends help friends. Okay. And then push out through your heels. You want to touch Amy's heels? Amy, come here. Gimme him. That's it. That's it. Okay. I think we only got one more though. Again, like I lose count. I can't, can't count. Good. All right. Yeah. Push the back of the legs down into the mat as much as you can. Yeah.

Excellent. And roll down. Yeah. Great. Okay, everyone. Excellent. You're going to bring your right leg up to the ceiling. We're going to do treat now. I'd like to have trees start with the legs a little bit, uh, away from you.

So you're not actually at 90. You're going to hold the base of your thighs. So everyone put your hands on the base of your thigh and we're going to climb up the leg, but slowly, right section by section. One, two, three, four, five, fives. Good. And then we're going to go down down to three. Four. Yeah. Yeah. Go and we'll do it again. I don't fall. Try to control it. Let me tell you the secret. You got to push the leg away from you, so if you're struggling to come up, you need to move your leg a little bit further away from you and let's walk down keeping that leg not in 90 by more like, I don't know. I'm not good at angles either. 40 yeah, let's do that one more time. Come up and really walk.

If you find that you're skipping a whole section, yeah, that's the part that you have to work hardest at. Okay, Amy. Gorgeous. Look, this is where we're going to do. Okay? You're going to try to lift your spine a little higher, extend your arms so that your leg lowers down a little bit. Sit Out of yourself. Imagine this belt floating higher above your rib cage. Now keeping that you're going to rock back under the soft part of your bottom.

Pause and now bend the knee towards you. In a way. Actually keep the leg straight. Just bend. And I want you to release the front of your hip flexor. And it's not about how close you can get the leg to your body. In fact, it's about how much you can relax the front of your thigh. So Christie, don't bring your leg so close. Keep it straighter and just little tiny pulse forward and back.

That's it. There you go. And now hold that leg out away from you. Lift the spine. This kind of soft zone right here, that's softer for some than others. And you're gonna drop your head forward and stretch the upper back over the me. That's it. And then stack up. Lift and walk down. Oh wait, fancy transition here.

You're going to open the arms. Hold that leg out into space. Be rocked back onto that soft part of your bottom. You're going to lift the other leg up, both legs, float, switch. Grab that leg quick and take it down. There you go. Good. Keep breathing. Walking up the leg. Here we go.

Hand over hand. That's it. Push that leg away from you to help you articulate. Walk down. Great. One more time. Come on up. Anchor the leg. The Cam. The floor. Yeah, stay there and lift the spine a little bit and come in and out with the leg in and out. Again, relax the front of your thigh as much as you can. It's just the arm. It's just the arm. Good.

Now hold that leg out there. You're going to rock. Sorry. You're going to lift up through your waistline and curl your head forward towards the knee. The leg can be a little lower. Yeah, exactly. And then stack up. Roll a little bit back so you're on that place that you know you can balance arms open out. Here we go. You're gonna lift that leg.

Balance this and drop the other leg down. Walk down that leg. Really Nice. Everyone good? Excellent. We can lower that leg. Excellent. I like it. I like it. Bring your knees into your arms are down at your side. All right, we're going to do Kathy grants bicycle. So arms are down. You're going to start to paddle your legs or peddle. That's the word I wanted.

Pedal your legs. You're on a bike. Now, Kathy was really specific about her imagery. You had to really be in the image. Can't pretend to be on a bike. You have to actually be on a bike. Now your bike is going up a hill, so it's got to be slower and tough. Bring your hands up to your imaginary hand, the bars.

You're going to float your head up and you're going to look in the direction that you're going. Gonna look to the top of that hill and you're going to sit up as you [inaudible] maintain the same rhythm through your legs. Don't lose them. Beautiful. And now you have an option. You can reverse or you can keep going the same direction and roll down onto your back. One of the main important Keith secrets, the thing that I do is I squeeze my hands like crazy. You could have balls in your hands, right?

The more you push away with your handles, the easier it'll be to come up. So let's come on up again. Inhale, exhale, push through it. Come on. Come on. Keep those legs working. Yeah, good. And then take it down. Now when Cathy would see that you are working really too hard, she would say, you know, what are you doing? Like pushing a truck. She'd be like, you're just lifting your body.

So this last time I want you to come up and I want you to make it look effortless though. I know inside you're working like crazy. That's it. That's it. But squeeze your arms and then roll down. Good. Excellent. Okay. Hands behind your knees. You're gonna roll yourself up to a sitting position.

I'm going to kick your legs out behind you and come into a plank. There you go. So I like to do plank with the legs together. Okay? I want you to be able to feel the strength through your legs. This is what's important, that you can push your knees up or towards the ceiling. You can shift your way back into your heels a little bit.

Feel the length from the heel to the crown of your head. Bend the elbows and slowly move yourself down to the floor. Elbows nestled into your sides. Straighten those legs. That's it. Lay down. UNCURL your toes. Swan. Lengthening the crown of your head forward, organizing the shoulders onto your back, calming on up.

We're going to do this three times. Open the front of the chest again. There's that idea that you're opening up a picture book and then roll down. That's it. Feel the length coming out of the crown of the head. As you come up, I want you to press down through your whole hand. Make sure that you're thinking through the fingers here, not just through the rests, and you come up as high as you are comfortable to come up and then go down.

Everybody Swan will look a little bit different. All right, and then again, I think this is a third time. Good. Now stay here for a minute. Think more open through the front, right? Feel the arms, draw in, and then take it down. Beautiful. All right. Here's the hard part. You can tuck your toes under. Okay? You can cheat and keep your knees bent and push yourself back up into your plank.

But if you really want a super challenge, I want you to fire up through your legs. I want you to push those knees caps up to the ceiling. Squeeze the legs together like you only have one leg and lift. Gorgeous. You're going to take your right hand. Move it to the center of your mat. You're going to spiral the body open into a side. Ben, take the arm up to the ceiling. Good. You can have your legs stacked, one on top of the other, or you can be crossed. I'm fine with both.

Whatever makes you feel like you're strong and steady. All right, ladies, take the arm over your head. Lift your hips side bend up. That's it. We started this at the beginning. Beautiful, and I'll come back to your long position. Put your hand down. Face the floor. Don't lay down yet. Hop the other hand to the middle. Rotate Open. Yeah. Again, take your pelvis slightly forward, cinch up through your legs. Sing Cathy's song. If you're struggling, zip belly button. The last part of the waistline. Put on your belt. Take their arms over. Stretch. Gorgeous, gorgeous.

Now feel the arms strong into the floor. Take the arm up. Come back to your plank and here what you're gonna do is you're gonna just flip yourself over. I can't demonstrate that I just had a baby. You guys do it. That's it. Flip yourself over. Beautiful. Just move. Okay. Here we are. Pelvis, lifting, eyes forward. Kick the right leg, up and down. Left leg, up and down.

Keep your hips high. Keep your hips high. Beautiful. Beautiful. You're strong. You're gorgeous. That's it. Chest is open. Shoulders back. Beautiful. One more and sit down. Ah, ladies, awesome. Flex your feet. Okay, we're going to do twist. Okay.

You're going to take the arms out to the side. All right, so yeah, you're good. Stand through your legs. Yes. Arms a little high. Stagger yourself so you don't hit yourself. I mean, hit the partner. Next, you take a deep breath. You're going to exhale, twist to the right. [inaudible]. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Now, exhale and hold. Okay. Yeah.

The right leg is going to bend and you're going to slow lift. Lift the spine, lift the spine, lifts of swine. Bring the foot to the knee. Stay here. Cross. Bring the hand to the knee and twist yourself around and back a little bit more. Reached for the lovely lady across the room. Beautiful. And then come back to center and we'll do it again to the left and up. And sorry, I do pew that very well. Come back to center.

Inhale and exhale. Pulse, pulse. Inhale. Exhale. Sorry. We can do that three times now we're on the other side and now bend that knee up. Keep lifting through the waistline. Keep lifting through the lace lie. Now wrap your hand around your knee if you haven't already, and give yourself a little more torque. Beautiful. Come back to neutral. Slide that leg out.

Beautiful. You're going to now roll back to stand. So bring your knees in, grab underneath your knees, roll back. Inhale. Exhale. Push yourself up. Turn around, take the arms up inside. Bend. Stand through your feet. Come back, switch arms lift. Good. Come back to center. Bring the arms down behind you.

Clasp. Lift the chest, roll the shoulders behind you. Load the eyes and the chest forward. Come to neutral. Stand through your feet. Let your arms relax. Take a deep breath here and we are done.