Freedom of Movement

Hi, I'm me Jo, with philosophies, anytime. And today we are going to go through a basic tower class, so feel free to join in. Okay. Um, before I started tower class, I want to make sure all of your equipment is all set up so we can have smooth transitions. So we're going to start and take these arms springs. I've got a yellow arm spring down here hooked on the bottom notch. Then we're going to take a purple leg spring and hook it up. If you're standing on your mat, it'll be about hip height for you. Okay?

So for us, that's a the fourth spring up from the bottom. And then we're going to take the roll back bar and Hook it. Not Quite on the very top, but just higher than your shoulder here. So for us, it's this top notch here. And then our push through Barbara, just going to leave hanging today for now, just to keep it out of our way. Okay. So we're gonna all start standing. Okay. And you guys are going to walk to the front of your mat. Okay, nice and tall.

Nice Palati stance. You're going to cross your arms and hold your powerhouse in and up. Cross your feet over, lift up onto your toes and control your body to that. Imagine there's a string at the top of your head pulling you taller as you go down control so there's no crash landings and then ease your body down into your mat and draw your knees deep into your chest. Make sure you're in the center of your mat and everything is square from here.

Lift your head and shoulders. Look at your powerhouse. It draws very deep in and up, keeping your power house as you extend your arms and legs for the a hundred and in three, four, five. Blow it out. Hundred breathing in. Good. Look down at your powerhouse. Pull it in. Lift your chest. There you go. Long arms and exhale the air. As long as your stomach can support it. We're going to take your feet here.

Yeah, no. Get those arms pumping. We want a nice, good pump, a vigorous pump, and if you can keep your hands above your hip bone a little higher there, Shannon, and empty the lungs. So the a hundred is a breathing exercise. We pump our arms right to get your circulation going. It warms us up for what's to come. Breathing in MDD, air, breathing in, scoop out the air, get it out of you, and inhale, lengthen and reach. One more breath in and then give it a full exhale. Get all the air out of your body and draw your knees back into your chest. Okay.

Take your legs nice and long and take a rule up. So you're going to reach your arms. Stretch yourself long and skinny. Nice Pilati stance as you peel to come up off your mat and around for the strap. Take your feet in the loop. If you have a strap, use it. You'll get deeper into your powerhouse. So get good tension on that strap.

Let we go back, give me more tension. Tight Pilati stance and slowly rolled for a rule up. Scoop in. Keep tension on the strap as you roll down one vertebrae at a time and reach and PLF scoop and exhale, stretch. Pass those toes. Lift Your Power House and roll one vertebrae at a time.

Tension on the strap at all times and resist right back up in the Arab. Exhale. Draw your navel back as you reached for me. Resist machine and scoop. Let your head drop. Lift your stomach up. Good. Now pulling you with your stomach to go back. Pull me, pull me. Yes. Keep pulling me one vertebrae at a time in that mat and reach one more.

Oh, stretch forward. Now scoop in your belly and pull me back, Kathy on the heavy scope. Use your seat. Shoulders down. Drop those shoulders. Bull. Come on and then take up your right leg. Let's give your right leg a stretch your left leg still into the strap.

Flex and make it long. Push through the heel. Now take your hands down at your side. Aha. Your collarbones are wide open legs straight to the ceiling now nothing moves in your box. Cross it over and then exhale around in back. Hold scoping in, but then exhale right back up into the air. Exhale back up. Scoop and pull back up. Good. Nothing. Wiggles on the Mat.

One more over. And then the reverse in. Nice loose leg, free to move. Cross it over out, but cross over there and cross over there. One more. Stretch your leg length and come up and reach for it. Stretch. Keep your ribs on the mat. Bring the leg to you, nice and straight. Lengthen and then switch your feet. So take that foot under.

Now take your left leg up. Give that a good stretch. This like pushes in the strap, holds your abdominals in and again, hands at your side. Nice wide collar bones and you cross your body and back up. Really Cross and up. Exhale, back up. Good. Your collarbones wide shoulders. Don't move your ribs. Don't move.

Stay planted in your mat. And then take the reverse and a good exhale up and empty out the air. Cross it around. Crust your body. Shannon. Go Cross it over. One more. Cross it and stretch. Reach for the ankle. Lift your head and shoulders and draw your powerhouse in.

Is that right foot still pushing energy through the heel. Flex. Yeah, bring both feet under the strap. Take another roll-up. So peel to come up, draw the ribs in and we're going to roll like a ball. So your feet come out, grab your ankles and make your body nice and small. It really drop your head. Bring your heels in, pulling close to your seat. Now go breathe in.

Exhale the air in with the air out with the air breeze uphold. Can you open your knees and fit your head inside? Yeah. Now get small. Now your feet never touched this mat. Here we go. Scoping in and back up and hold your balance. Drop your head in there and scoop in and hold your balance.

Deep stomach. Roll it back and then you're up. God, the stomach series of five. Lie Down and bring that right knee deep into your chest. Left leg long. Lift your head, lift your shoulders. Show me a nice hollow stomach and change going. Reach. Make it big.

One reaches in one long go. Reach deep stomach. Pull it into your ear, one in one length in reach. Don't drop a Kathy, but make it longer. Go out the window there. Reach long, lengthen and scoop and bring both knees in and rest your head. From here, we're going to take the double leg stretch. So again, lift your head and shoulders in. Once you're up, you stay there, grab your ankles and lift your body up in the air here. Now go breathe in and hold it. Arms are open, shoulder with open around, and then exhale, get nice and small. Now I know how tempting it is to lie down. Lift your chest, and as you reach, stay up, open the arms and exhale, bring it back in and get nice and small.

Get small, gets small, gets small again in the air. Hold, hold, open, reach. And the next hell gets small again. One more inhale, don't lie down on me. And then exhale, rest your neck. Rest your shoulders, catch your breath. We're going to take the scissors, so take your right leg up, length in the left leg and make sure your legs are on their center line. Give a little pull, pull change, pull, pull, pull, pull. Good. Now scooping that belly for me. Look down at your stomach as your arms and legs are straight as can be over here. Straighten them out. Straight DS, grab it.

Then straighten and stretch. Pull, stretch deep stomach over here. Stupid in Gavi, beautiful. Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, and then you rest. Yeah. Let's take the hands behind your head this time, the double, so both legs come up, lift your chest up, off the mat and inhale you just lower slightly whole. Then the next cell backup. Again, old in your stomach, but XL right back up. Inhale, scoop. Exhale to come up. One more smooth. And let's Chris Cross one knee and give me a good twist.

Big twist all the way around. Change and twist, storage, change, big twist. Empty the air. Really touch that knee and reach. Come around and touch that knee and go, come around. Touch the other side of that knee, rubbing around Kathy. One more and reach it and then you can rest. Ah, nice length and out your legs again. We keep coming back to this roll up.

So tight polato stance. Reach your arms and peel the come up ribs in for a spine. Stretch forward. We're going to start really tall and lengthen our spine so your heels are in the box. I want you to flex your feet and imagine you're leaning up against a wall. Shoulders are down, head on the wall, belly back in the wall, Chin Up.

And I want you to lift taller, grow an inch, get up off that seat and now give me a big breath in and lift. Drop Your Chin and round forward as you exhale. Exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, no scooping and come back up for air up tall and straight. And Inhale, lift. Drop your head and go round forward. Go forward, forward, forward. Push the air out of your body. Now lift your stomach and roll this back up and up and up. Stack it, stack it very straight to lift. Inhale up, drop your chin, blow it out, blow it out is if there's a belt behind you pulling you reach and then scoop everything to come back up all the way nice and tall, good.

Dry Your inner thighs tight together and without the strap. Take your time and slowly lie on the Mat. One Vertebrae at a time. Resist. Take your time, control it all the way to the mat. We're going to take the corkscrew so your hands are at your side. Collarbones wide and again, get planted into this mat as we take a little corkscrew.

So you draw your abdominals deepen and the legs will come towards you. Rotate over onto the right hip, but then exhale all the way down the left hip to come back to center. Reverse each time and over on the left. Exhale round. Good. Those shoulders creep up. Anchor down your shoulders and work from your powerhouse and in the air.

Exhale, scoop around and back up and empty out those lungs. Good. Try not to wiggle the ribs. Hold yourself together. And last breath over on the left. Exhale up on the right. Now. Careful. Lower your feet to the mat with control. Long legs. Pull in your power house. Control it. Yeah, assuming your heels touch, reach the arms and do another roll up.

Peel yourself to come up for the saw. Open the feet reach. So imagine you've got a pole running through your spine. Lift up on that pole, lean it back, and there's a pole also running from your middle finger through your shoulders to that finger. Straight arms, long line. Chin up. Now keep that beautiful lift as your twist left. Twist to the left, twist to the left, twist to the left, and then drop your head and stretch. Reach and reach beyond and reach.

And then everything comes back up and lift tall again. Go back to that position, come back straight again. Up Tall and lifted. And now twist, right and go reach, stretch, forward, stretch and two and three. And then come all the way back up and lift and again twist your waist and as you reach I want you to send your right hip back to me. No, stay here. What is this arm doing back here? Lift it. Work your tricep. Yes, that's it. And then come all the way back up to center. One more. Go twist and go. Send your left hip back as you reach right. Lift that arm there, Kathy, scoop your belly deep in and then everything comes up straight. Good.

Dry Your legs together and slowly lie down one vertebrae at a time in the mat. Again, we're going to take sidekick. So lets turn onto your left side and your feet come to the front of the box, but you want to make sure you line your body up with the very edge of your mat. Tendency is to bring your elbow forward, drop your head and next thing you know your whole upper back goes with it. So keep a nice long lift and the feeder front. Okay, from here your top leg comes up, but only hip height.

Your hips are stacked powerhouse in we're gonna swing front, back to the front, give it a kick, but then lengthen long to the back and front kick reach like someone's bullying. You make it long for the back corner of the room and up kick. But then reach, reach, reach and front little kick. Lengthen that leg one more up to your nose and then reach it and reach it. Straighten it out. And then together, now we take it side.

So kick up but don't just come down. Make your leg longer to get down. Kick up coming down edge. Pull your power house in as I pulled you in. Make this leg longer. Kick up. Now reach. Draw your stomach deep in his eye. Pull.

Make this leg longer than the bottom one more up. Now lengthen it and keep it good. Head high, Kathy. Don't look at me. Keep your lift now that it's long. Make a tiny circle. One, two, three, tiny, tiny control. Tiny but quick little circle and reverse back to three tiny circle. Circle and everything together. Yeah. Turnover on your stomach.

We're going to take one hand on top of the other and you want to really draw your shoulders down into your back. Keep them off yours. Now with a tight seat, bring your thighs, lift your legs and do two, three weeks. You take taxi [inaudible] good. Nothing should be wiggling on that mat. Hold your powerhouse deep and tight. Tight seat. And then easy go roll over to your other side. Make sure you're lined up on the edge of the mat. Elbow, shoulder, ribs, even your tail is back there. Okay, now that top leg, here we go. Take it up.

Hip Height, hip height and we go to the front kick and to the back. Long and front kick. But reach back up, up and reach. Let me see that second kick. So swing front and kick it again and then lengthen back and go fry.

Give it a kick. And then length in the leg and to the front kick and to the back. I know it's tempting to turn out, but can you give me a parallel leg when you're back here? Just make it long and reach one more front kick. Now everything comes [inaudible] comes together. Nice Palladia stance.

Adjust your body. If you shifted, don't look down that top leg kick up now. Make it longer to get down. Kick up, long to get down, kick up. And then this one we keep, it's longer than the bottom one here. Bring it down and [inaudible] days. Little circle, tiny, two, three, tiny circle. Nice, tall spine and circle and circles. Small, tiny Kathy besides of a quarter, Danny and reversed back to control that. Sometimes those motions, a little notions are harder. Danny, Danny, tiny.

Control it. Reach and then you can rest. Good. Let's set up for a teaser modification here. Let's take your feet under the Lope and we're going to bend your knees. Make sure you've got good tension on your strap and take your right leg long and your inner thighs together. Okay? Reach for the toe. Keep tension on the strap as you s slowly roll down one vertebrae at a time.

Thighs together to stay long. So you're on your center line as you go down and reach your arms. Okay? Now stay there or your ribs down in the mat. Every Vertebra on the mat. Okay, now from here, squeeze those inner thighs. Take your hands up. Draw your chin to your chest.

Now Peel up off your mat and hold here. And I know how tempting it is to come all the way up and see how you can hang out here all day. You can eat lunch here, can't you? Yeah, you're not in your stomach anymore, so you're up too high. All right there. You feel your powerhouse. That's as high as you go. Now I'm gonna Challenge you. Stay there. Can you lift for me? Lift those arms. Oh, you feel that now? Roll down one vertebrae at a time. Beautiful. That was different. Yeah.

So again, round up, but stay in your powerhouse. Don't come up too high. Scoop forward, but that's it. Then left. Now control one vertebrae at a time. Back on the mat to go down a hot. Switch your feet. So now your left leg is long. Make sure you've got a bent right knee. Zip your thighs. Give me a good tension.

Now Peel the come up, scoop forward right there. And then lift. Now control one vertebrae at a time to go down. Deep abdominals reach and inhale to get you up smooth. Then lift. Now Roll. Pulling your powerhouse. Get your waistband on the mat. Aha. Give me one more smooth in with the air.

Keep those legs here, right there. Go back. There you go. Now Lift and control. Fill your waist Shannon. One Vertebrae at a time. You got it. Good. Bring your knees into your chest. Pull them in. We're going to sit up and take the seal so your hands come in and around the ankles and when your knees are open like this, it's a little easier to roll through your back. So drop your head, draw your power house deep in, away from your thighs. And let's go rock down, clap, clap and roll up and back up. Clap, clap, roll down. Nice and smooth ice. Stay open so you stay straight and smooth around and scoop back up and go around and pick it up. One more smooth, round and easy sit. Feels good to roll.

Touch all the pressure points on your spine. Okay, let's take our leg springs. So you're going to lie down and take your feet into those springs. Okay. Now where that strap goes makes a big difference on your, on your exercise here. So your heels come together, toes apart, and we don't want the strap up on the top of your arch here because it's very hard to point your toe that way. I want on the bottom of the arch, bend the knees. Keep the feet long. Bottom of the arch. Yeah. Now that can stay there. Now reach for your poles, but your arms are not fully straight. Don't lock them.

The elbows are soft and your shoulders are anchored. Your hands can come higher. They should be just above your forehead and height. So Lindsey, take your hands a little higher. Kathy U2 hands should be there. Now you've got some leverage and to keep it, no shoulders anchored into your back and your whole spine is fully in the mat. Now imagine your feet are on the foot bar, so the foot bar when the reformer is not down here, right? We don't want to start here because when you push out, it comes from here.

We don't want that. Here's where your foot bar is. Now, when you push out and make it come from your seat, so use your seat, make these legs longer and resist in and get longer. Reach. Reach on the center line and bring it in. So work the out motion and the coming in motion, just like you do on the reformer with your footwork, you lang. Can those legs reach and then resist everything in control and go squeeze those inner thighs and easy. Bring it in and lengthen your legs and resist in one more.

Keep this one out. Nice turnout in those thighs. The leg circles go down, around, up, and as you like circle, your body should not be bouncing around on the mat. Your tail is stable, your arms are pushing, the ribs are angered. Use your whole body around up. Now reverse it together, up and around and up. So it's not big. It's a narrow with Wong. Straight legs.

Straighten those legs. Use your seat more. Squeeze, squeeze, and then bend your knees to come in. Good. Don't let your heels drop too low. Let's take some beats. So now lang, can those legs really reach through the toes with a tight seat? Little deep, two, three, four, long legs. Now if those springs are flying around, you're not working from the right area. Control your springs. Use your seat. Work internally.

Don't just bang your heels. The deep, deep, the beat. You feel the difference? Yes. Get all the way up into your hips and then bend your knees back in. We're going to walk the hill, so take your legs up a little and keep tension as you walk down. Two, three, lower, lower, lower and lift. Lift, lift, lift all the way up again down with constant tension on those springs. And Are you wiggling on your mat when you walk? Hold yourself steady. Walk down two, three, reach, reach, reach, reach, reach, reach c and up. Last one, lower down, lower down. Reach Long, long, long and easy all the way back up.

And Bend your knees to rest. Good. Let's take your feet out and take some arms springs. So you're going to have to slide down a little bit. We're going to keep our legs bent and if your arms are straight up to the ceiling, these are some light springs here. So when you start, we never want your hands back here so your hand is slightly, you can come on another inch down to me. So now on these springs, your wrist is about right up over your shoulder here. Yep. Nice bent knees, shoulders or anchored. Aha. Ribs into the mat. Squeeze now, anchor your shoulders down, off your ears. Keep them off your ears. That's the action.

Anchor your shoulders more as you press and hold long arm wide collar bones is your art. Your abdominal still drawn in an app and then easy. Let it go. Now drop those shoulders again, Kathy. Yes. Now when you pull it, you have to drop them even more old. You feel your upper back. That's correct. Now keep those shoulders anchored even on the return and anchor to hold. So you should feel this in your upper back. Reach for me. Make your arms long across the room and easy come up. Don't just press the Mat.

In fact, your hands shouldn't be touching to that anger, the shoulders. And now make your arms longer. Roll. Open this right shoulder Shannon, open wide. Now keep it open as your hands return. Last one. Anchor and press. Hold it there. Now make your fingertips long and tight. Palm space the floor. Drop their shoulders more. Kathy, come on. Reached out there into your back and and like a tiny circle and I mean a tiny the size of a little quarter. Pull those in the narrower Lindsey, put them close to your body. Stay in your little frame.

[inaudible] tiny circle and easy back up. Could you feel that in your back? Those fingers connect all the way to the top of your powerhouse that connects right into your back. Now Open your arms slightly. Once the arms are open, really catch your shoulders. Draw them down into your back and then in with the air porous to the top of your hipbone and hold a long arms wide collar bones. Keep the shoulder down as your hands come straight up to release so you open.

Catch your shoulders first. Yes. Beautiful. Catch your shoulders more [inaudible]. Now catch them more. I want the shoulders to stay grounded. Don't just move your hands and then come up open. Drop your shoulders. Yes. Now drop them more for me, Kathy. Anchor.

Then that's the action that's pulling the spring. One more open shoulders and pull. Anchor those shoulders way down off your ears with nice, wide collar bones. Can you straighten your arms there more Lindsey, and then let it rest. Good. Now Bend your elbows on the Mat.

L those are bent and they stay on the mat. Now we're not going to press the Mat, but I want a little tension. Let Spring so maybe press it halfway. Hold that. Now take your elbows and press pressing down in the table. Can you feel your triceps? Hold that, and then release.

So again, elbows are down. Press the spring, maybe three or four inches. That's all you need. But then I want the elbows to draw down in that table. Anchor them, and release. Let's do one more elbows down. Shoulders anchor, little press. Now press your elbows into the mat and let it go. Nice. Let's sit up and turn around for the roll back. So we want to take your feet on the Poles and you want to hold this bar shoulder with which might be to the outside of those screws here.

Work with bent knees, your toes. Stay on these poles, absolutely parallel. We need to bend your knees. Come on in. Come on in a hug. Now anchor your shoulders down and draw your stomach in. Roll to the back of your Cox at bone and slow. Take your time, take your time and land your head. Now by the time you hit down, we shouldn't be fidgeting. Every vertebral should be on the mat in its place. Now. Imagine you're stuck on the mat here.

You're very slowly gonna roll up resisting. Take your time. One Vertebrae at a time leaves the Mat. Okay, now take it again. Don't rush the rollback. Okay, slow. Draw your power house in and take your time and get your sacrum on the mat and just stay there. Once you have it, stay. Can you relax your shoulders and draw them down more? Kathy?

Now scoop your powerhouse deeper in and continue going the old way and land your head and you shouldn't have to Shimmy your body's on the mat. It should stay on the mat there. Now slowly come back up. One Vertebrae at a time. Resisting. Yeah. Again, slow. Draw your powerhouse in and take your time, scope and stay here.

[inaudible] take a good breath in. Don't move your spine, but can you exhale and draw your stomach even deeper without moving your spine? Really use your powerhouse. Draw that muscle in. Now go another inch. Roll another engine. Hold there in the air, and exhale. Draw your stomach deeper into that mat. Get into your powerhouse and then roll all the way down and land your head by now, every vertebrae should be down on that mat. Keep it on the mat.

You're going to inhale. Pull that by, right up to your chest. Hold it there. You still on the mat? Good. Don't let your ribs flare. Straighten the arms and again, inhale up to that chest and release it. One more. Inhale scopes. Stay in your mat, straighten your arms. Now roll up one vertebrae at a time. Long arms. Don't let your shoulders lift.

Take your time and easy release. Nice. Good work. Thanks guys. Thanks for joining me for math class.