Energize and Lengthen

Hi, today we're going to do mat work with the towel. I have a regular size bath towel size towel, hand towel size backhoe, and I'm just going to take it by the corners, the opposing corners and roll it. And it might not stay rolled up all the way and that's going to be just fine. Um, this class I would like to dedicate to my friend Michelle who asked me to teach it a really long time ago. I'm finally doing it. Here's for you Michelle. Okay, here we go.

So what I want you to do is sit all the way up and take the towel in, rapid behind your legs, and then let your arms just drop down to your sides for a minute. You won't have any tension on the towel. Close your eyes. Do a small, gentle drawing backward, letting the elbows lift up, letting the spine lift up as though you're using the towel to pull your body more upright. Pausing here, just feeling the muscles of the back. Starting to lengthen and energize. Inhale, you can open your eyes whenever you're ready. Exhale, we're gonna Tuck the tail under. Start to roll back, the arms will straighten.

So use the towel there behind your legs to give yourself yourself something to work against. So I'm drying back into the mat with my abdominals. My arms are still holding the towel, they've straightened down in healing and we're gonna round back up. So bring the shoulders over the pelvis. Elbows are reach out wide and then lift the spine up in Yam and exhale, rotating the pelvis under, letting the arms straighten. So just beginning to move the spine through space.

Think fluid motion of the spine in you and exhale around back shoulders over the pelvis and lift the spine in here. And exhale three more times. We're rounding down, deepening into your work. Perhaps setting an intention for your work today in here and around. My intention almost always is to try to work with ease. I'll work on that all the time.

Xcel [inaudible] around allowing the arms to straighten. Feel the shoulder blades sliding away from the ears in healing. To pause XL, use your arms here to your arms in your abdominal, bringing yourself all the way back up. Lift the spine. And one more. Inhale and exhale. Rounding down. Yeah, such towels. A nice way to add a little arm. Work into our practice and her rolling backup.

Lift this fine. Take the towel out from behind the legs. Hold it out in front of you. We're going to reach the arms up now lifting up through the spine. Take the arms forward as we round the back and roll back. Coming down just a little lower part of the back. Meo lift the towel up.

Exhale, lower the towel down and roll up as the shoulders come over the pelvis. We changed from around spine to an upright spine. Arms overhead. Inhale, exhale round. Drawing the arms down parallel to the floor. Roll back. Find the low back against the mat. Inhale, arms lift, arms come down. And as you're holding that toe all the time, we're gonna do a little bit of an outward pull on that towel. So widening into the back. Lift the spine in you. Exhale, round the spine. Roll the body back.

Inhale, lift the arms. Exhale, lower the arms. Inhale to pause and XL to lift. One more time here. Inhale, lift up. Pressing the arms back. Try not to push the head in front of the arms, but instead keep the head right between the arms as the arms are reaching up for the ears. Same thing here. Inhale, the head stays still. The arms now can go further back. Exhale, press down. Inhale and exhale to roll up.

Lifting up through the spine. Exhale, bring the arms forward again. Roll back. We're gonna rotate the body first towards me and let the tell come up. So it's what's that? Perpendicular to the Mat and inhale center and exhale, rotate. The Delco goes straight up and center.

So what I'm thinking about with my towel is my bottom arm is pulling the towel down and my top arm is pulling the towel. Find Center, rotate, pull and center. Rotate pool and center. Last time, rotate. Pull apart, find center, rotate, pull apart. Find Center. Inhale in the center and XL to Rola. Lift the spine, arms overhead. Xcel round again, roll back this time keep the towel parallel to the mat and rotate this sign again. Inhale and exhale. Inhale and exhale. So Nice.

Why wait to feel or just to see that the body's rotating straight across. You might see the tell go down on one side. Try not try to keep it nice and level or do one more time through inhale and center and inhale and center and let the body come all the way down. I need to scoop myself in positioning and for a pelvic crow reached the towel so it's just hovering off the floor. If your hands get tired, I alternate between what kind of a pinching grip with my thumbs and a holding grip with my hands, so into a pelvic curl. Inhale, exhale, round the spine, roll through the spine. The arms are going to travel through space.

They're going to come across the thighs. We're going to pull down against the body with the towel as we lift the hips up into the towel and then we're going to roll down all the way, so letting the arms simultaneously move as the spine moves. Inhale as we come all the way down to the tailbone. Exhale round. Feel the weight on both feet evenly. Pressed the towel into the thighs, lift the body up into the towel. Inhale and exhale around chest, the back of the rims, the space between the ribs in the pelvis.

And finally the pelvis drops back three more India and exhale rolling up. So we're not just putting that pull down against the legs. We're keeping that, especially as we take the towel away from the body. That outward pull with the arms, feeling the outsides of the shoulders working last two in you and exhale to Rola. Wrap the towel around the thighs, lift the towel back up and allow the spine just to rebound back down. Last one. Inhale and exhale. Rolling up up, uh, holding. Inhaling and exhaling. Rolling back.

Yeah. From here, bring the arms so that the arms are just over the chest. Lift one leg, lift the other leg, knees together. Keep the towel still as you inhale and bring both knees towards me and XL to come back center. Try not to let the towel lose its, um, taught position and exhale as you rotate your knees across. Pool the abdominals in opposition. Trying to keep the arms still, the upper body still in here and exhale and inhale and exhale and inhale and exhale last time breathing into, go across, breathing out to come back through center. Okay eating and just that gentle rocking action in the pelvis.

Breathing out to come back through center. Place one foot down, place the other foot down. Reach back and place to tell behind your head. So what you're doing here is creating a little hammock. So I've got it right, resting at the base of my skull, all of those within my vision in here, we're coming up into a chest of so we curl up nice and high, letting the Tel support the head hold. Inhale and exhale to lower. So continue in here and lift to think about working your body in all directions. So not just working as we come up, but also elongating, creating work as we come back into the mat. Exhale to lift ribs, fly down the front of the body, shoulders, slide down the back of the body.

Inhale and exhale to come down last two times. Inhale, prepare and exhale to lift. Hold. Your lift is you in here. And so to lower down one more time, India and exhale to lift. Hold the lift here in heel to pause. XL, rotate to one direction. Keep the elbows wide. Keep the head heavy. Inhale to center at. So lift and rotate in the other direction.

And inhale to center. Notice as you rotate, one way the opposite side of the pelvis stays heavy, stays down, lift and rotate and center and lift. As you rotate and center and keep the head just dropping down into the towel. So create a little bit of work, a little more. Work for the ABS with a heavy head. Last time. Exhale, center and down. Inhale again. Exhale, correct, or that had in Chester.

So now keep the upper body lifted, lightened up in the feet and pull the knees into the chats and inhale, reach away five times. Exhale, pull the knees into the chest saying, just off the tips of the shoulder blades. Exhale, pull the knees into the chest and [inaudible] and two more pulling in and out. And one more. Excellent pulling and now holding here, we're going to drop the feet down. We're going to curl the thighs into the body and lower the hips and curl the thighs right up like you're rolling like a ball and rivers and and curl in and down at Kerlin and down. Last time, notice we're doing a little pause at that end range. Pause, pause. Lower the pelvis, stretch one leg out, stretch the other leg. [inaudible] take the towel out from behind the head and bring it just on top of the thighs. Take a breath in here and Xcel. Roll the spine up as you lift this mind.

Bend the elbows and bring the towel into the chest and then stretch the arms out. Round the spine and roll the body back. Starting to lift the arms as the head comes down, the arms float off the mat. Inhale, head, chest, arms. Exhale. Pull the towel apart as you roll. Shoulders come up over the pelvis. Inhale, bend the arms, pull the towel into the chest, get nice and tall. Exhale around and reach forward and roll back on his back. Head down. Inhale, head, chest, and arms. Exhale, articulate this spine up. Inhale, bring the arms into the chest, stretch the arms round the spine and roll back.

Alright, and one more in here. And exhale to list. Bring the back up tall. Stretch the arms back round. Roll down now, but not all the way. So just to the very lowest part of your back.

Think of flexing the spine even more. Lift. Float the left leg up. And then we're going to bring the knee under the towel and reach out and bring the knee under the towel and her [inaudible]. Continuing that outward pull in and out, in and out. Last time curl and the hack and all the way up and lift and stretch the arms out. Round the spine. Roll back.

Find the small of the back against the mat and float that right like and bend. Curl and reach out. Don't forget to continue to pull the towel apart as a, you're trying to tear it apart at its middle. Here's number three of five, two of five, and our last one coming in. Stretch the leg out, lower it down, India and rural all the way up. Lift the spine, flex the feet, arms reaching overhead, and then Ben, your spine forward. And if you can lasso your feet there, hook the towel around your feet and pull yourself forward. Dropping the head.

Okay. Take the towel off your feet and lift up tall. So now we're going to inhale and rotate towards the mirror or towards me. I think of this window as a mirror. It's not even a mirror, it's a window. So that didn't make any sense, but that's okay. And come to center. Inhale. As you rotate, exhale, bring the towel into the chest, lift the spine even taller, stretch the arms back out and exhale to center and inhale and pull and reach and center and twist and bring that towel back and reach and center and twist and pull and reach and center. Twist, pull, reach, making a change. Lift the towel overhead.

Now twist with the arms overhead, Ben, the arms. Lift the spine into the towel. Stretch the get taller and center and twist. Ben, get taller. Stretch and center and twist. Ben, get taller. Stretch and center and rotate. Pull, reach and center and rotate. Pull, reach. And Center. Last time. Pull, reach and center. [inaudible] bring the arms forward. Roll the spine back.

Okay. As your lower back comes into the mat, slide the feet in. Bring them up to tabletop and wrap. So the towel comes across, over the knees, pulling down on the towel to lift the body up. This is the double leg stretch. We're going to ticket out and then wrap left.

Little slower than usual. Out Bend Wrath. Lift and reach and pull. Curl at reach and curl and five. Exhale in. Inhale. Feel the stretch away from the center of the body here.

Three out, two out, one over the body. Down the knees into the chest. Take the towel back behind the head again. Cruel. The head in chest. Sta. Heavy hands, wide elbows, single leg stretch. We're going to do this way for five fi four, four, three. Yeah. To add a bicycle, so pedal one to to release. Pull the legs away from one another. Four, four, five fat and row verse one to bringing that leg right up to the center of the chest. Three, three, shoulders down. Four, four. Here's our last time. Five five both legs, up, knees, bend head.

Yeah. Following that same pattern, we'll add rotation, curl the head and chest. Starting with just as simple crisscross. So five and five, four and four. Three heavy head. All right, last time. Here we go into a bicycle. So we peddle one.

Feel the stretch in the legs to lift the body theory. Keep your height for last time. Hold it here. Reverse one. So you're rotating up into that straight leg. Two to three.

This feels really hard to me for, we're almost there. Number five, both legs up. Bend your knees, plant your feet down onto the mat. Had comes down. Arms come in front of the chest. Again. Inhale here. We're going to roll this spine on. Lift the left leg off the floor. Keep the pelvis high.

Now just organize your towel so that you're having to really fight to get to it, but that you're able to touch it with your legs. So I didn't move my arms considerably forward. So we're gonna reach for the Mat and kick. Reach for the Mat and touch in the Ajo. Move that towel around. Bring the leg back up the same every time.

Last one. Hold the leg there. Now just pressed against the towel in tip. Talk the leg to again holding the body. Still. Three, four, five. Bend the knee, arms overhead in here. Lifting the hips and roll the spine down.

Let's keep reaching the arms back there for now and then bring the arms over the chest and again in here. And again, exhale, rolling up. Left leg stays on the mat, rightly comes up and stretches. So again, you just organize your arm position so that you can find that towel. Challenge yourself down. Back touch. Inhale, exhale, touch three. Yeah. And to [inaudible] one, hold n ticktock Ooh, it's harder on this side for me. Three my towel shaking now must see my arms are tired.

And five bend, lifting the hips. Stretch the arms out, roll the spine down, lift the head up, bring the knees under the towel, wrap the towel around the thighs. Nice, wide Elvis. Bring us yourself into a little ball and roll. So rolling like a ball. Keeping the positioning of the body consistent. Inhale to rock and exhale to that.

And Inhale to rock. Finding your balance. Three more in here and two more and back. Ooh, that's me losing it and that's all right. [inaudible] in here and back. Stretch your legs out. I had to put my towel down for two seconds.

Pick it back up in. You're lifting the spine for the spine. Stretch forward. We're going to India. Prepare in a roll down so the arms are going to just reach out over the toes. Pause in here and exhale to roll the spine. Back Up. Articulating [inaudible].

Yeah, yeah. An inhale and exhale to roll down. Reaching through, reaching head, reaching out into the towel, shoulders sliding back and XL to Rola. Even that gentle pull apart with the arms and around and India and exhale to the left. Yeah. And adding extension in here and her reached the spine forward. Laying thin. The backout long toss. It comes right up towards the ears.

Take the body back forward and lift the spine in here and exhale around India fully. Finding the extension round and lift up. Exhale and three more. Rounding the spine, arms to the ears. Lead the spine out into that long diagonal ly. Reach back down or roll back up and in here and exhale. [inaudible] lift the back out long.

Pull the abdominals back towards the spine. Dive back forward and roll back up. Last time around the spine. Reach the body loan, lower the body forward and roll up all the way. So let's just place the towel in between the length of our arms, a tiny break.

Bring the arms out to the side for the saw. So rotate towards me. Reached at length in the spine out as you come up to sitting and unwind and twist and dive forward. Reaching the arms away from one another to lift and send your hands, swing and stretch. Feel that oppositional energy through the arms as they reach away from one another.

That reach of the arms helps to Elongate the spine and center and inhale and reach and lift and center and in you and her reach and lift. Last time. Inhale to the rotation. Exhale to dive in. How to get longer. As we sit up and center. Inhale, we rotate. Exhale to die in Yoga. Longer to sit up, find center, rotate towards me.

Take the opposite hand down or take the hand that you're rotating to comes down onto the mat. We're going to roll onto the feet. Press the hips up, lift up, opening up the hip flexors. We're gonna sit back down. Stabilize the shoulders and find center in heel. Cheer, rotate. Hand comes down. Rotate onto the feet. Reach up, come back down and send her one more time. Twist and lift and back and center and twist and reach up and back and center. Keep your town nearby. We're going to use it again, although right not, not right this minute. All right, this minute what I want us to do is bend our knees, heels lined up with the tailbone.

Push them out away from you with your forum so that you feel that there's a straight line from your shoulder blade all the way down to your pelvis. Lifts the opposite arm up. Inhale and now just lift the hips up so you should feel that whole bottom side of the body. We're going to rotate under. Come back to straight and let the hips come down. So press the arm away, tighten up the underside of the body, left.

Reach through, unwind, and let's inhale to lift. Exhale to thread the arm through. Inhale to unwind. Exhale to come down. Two more. Inhale to lift. Exhale to reach through. Come back and down. Here's our last one. Lift.

Reach under and back and down. So this next part you can do on the mat with your pelvis or you can do off the mat with your pelvis. I'm going to lift my pelvis up, so we're going to take that top leg out and swing it forward. I'm going to take my hand behind my head and forward and back, forward and back, letting the whole undercarriage of the body where and five, six going all the way to 10 and eight and nine. Keep lifting up out of that shoulder. 10 take the leg out to the side and 10 circles.

One to working right out of the outside of that hit. Six. Seven you'll feel. Feel your bottom hip working too. Here's our last one. Reverse your circle. Ten nine pressing the head into the hands. If it doesn't feel good to have your head on your hands, you just reach your arm up into the air.

Less three to what? Ben, that knee, lower this spine down. Sit yourselves up and so the bottom leg is going to come out from underneath the top lake. We come up into our mermaid position. Bring the arms out to the side. Inhale as you reach across towards the Mat. Gently land on the mat with that under side arm XL, haul round the spine. Hands come parallel to one another. Inhale, pull the body. Four, lengthen out. Exhale, push the mat away around the spine. Inhale, unwind.

Here we have to take a little leap of faith. We got to reach out and take it all the way over to the other side and then come back out. We'll do that twice. More. Inhale to reach over. Gentle. Exhale to rotate. Use Your abdominals in. You'll keep the abdominals gently active. Lengthen out through the spine, rocking the tailbone back.

Exhale, press the Mat away around. Inhale, open and exhale, lift and take it over. One more time. Reach out and over and comes down. Exhale into rotation. Inhale, lengthen out. Exhale, round the spine. Inhale to reach on.

Excellent to lift off the mat, reach all the way over, pause here, and then do a little quarter turn so that the upper chest comes down towards that bottom leg, inner knee. And so let's come up and just swing the legs around to the other side. Coming down onto the forum, feed our stat again, you want to push the, um, what's that? The forearm into the mat. Feel how that helps you to lift that undercarriage of the body. Opposite arm in the air. Inhale, pick the pelvis up. Exhale, take that top arm through, reaching underneath and go into rotation.

Inhale, we open back out and Xcel don't lose that shoulder stability. Keep the body straight and India and exhale reached through and inhale, reach out and exhale to come down. And again, lift and thread there and unwind and take it down. Last two. So even that down is important. Even that downward pool. So as the pelvis is coming down, we're still lifting up the undercarriage of the body. Last time. Inhale and exhale and open and down.

So here's the part where it's fine to stay all the way down on your pelvis. Just reorganizing my shoulder stability and we're gonna lift the hips. If you, if you're going there and take those top leg out and swing forward and maybe the hand comes behind the head for support. Maybe it stays in the air, maybe it comes down onto the pelvis. Here's five. Keep lifting up out of that lower body for three, feeling that bottom hip on the mat, working two and one. Take the leg to the side and circle ten nine, eight.

Keep the abdominals working. Keep that shoulder stable. Three, two, one and reverse. Ten nine, eight like you're moving through something sticky. Five, four, three, two, one. Bring the leg in, bring the body down, slide that underneath, leg out from underneath and sit up all the way for the mermaid. And so the arms come out to the side. Inhale to reach over diving across. Exhale to rotate the body around.

Nice light in the arms. Inhale, lengthen out through the spine. Exhale, push the mat away around. Inhale to open and lift up to take the arm over, enjoying that stretch. Reach out. Inhale. Over hand comes down. Exhale, rotate, round. Inhale, elongate. Exhale. Push the mat away. Inhale, open and exhale.

Up and over. Last one, lift up, reach out, hand comes down, body rotations lengthen and round and open and all the way up to take the body across. So he stayed for a little bit longer than this last stretch. And then we did a little bit of rotation, a quarter turn towards the bottom leg towards the legs, the opposite leg to let the stretch move a little bit lower down the back, a little bit more focused in the lower back here for me anyway. And then come back up.

So going to have us come down onto our stomach and I'm just going to rotate so that my towels with me, cause we're gonna use that again in a minute. So bring your towel into the front of the mat and come all the way down onto your stomach. Oh, so it's there. We can just use it as a little poem. That's handy. Okay, so let's bring our arms just down the sides of the body. Gonna Slap Ida, the shoulder blades down the back. Pardon me, my voicebox break sometimes reach out through the spine.

So I'm doing that gliding backwards action with my arms. Then we're going to press into the forms. We're gonna lift the elbows up, stretch the spine up, look forward, bend the arms, elbows come down first and then pull your spine out down and again, sliding the shoulder blades down, reach out through the spine, allow the arms to begin to push. Now we'll reach out checking that you're equally weighted over both hands. Equally weighted thing is a big deal for me because I often feel so unequal, so it's a reminder for me as well as you and again, reach out and taking the eyes forward. Inhale, exhale. Lift the pelvis around back so you're sitting back towards your feet and then roll back through. Bring the pelvis forward, then the arms and lower the body and let's do that again.

Slide the shoulders down, press into the arms, lift, press onto the knees, round the spine, roll back, pelvis comes forward. Body is lifted, elbows bend and spine comes down. Last time, lift on, reach up, eyes forward, eyes down. You look into your centers, you reach back, reach through, lower the pelvis, lower the elbows and lower the spine. Take the arms out in front of you just about matte with or slightly more narrow. Float the head and chest up. Float the legs into the air. Float the arms off the mat. Lift the left arm in the right, like the right arm in the left leg hand. Inhale two, three, four, five and out into three, four, five and out. Using the breath to create the rhythm out.

Two, three, four, five, two, two, three, four, five, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, four, five. Out, two, three, four, holding arms. Reach around to the sides of the body. Head turns towards me. Hands come behind the back of the legs are still lifted in the air. We're going to kick one, two, three stretcher and kick. One, two, three and stretcher and kick one. Elbows down to three and stretcher and kick one, two, three and stretcher.

Take the legs down. Separate the arms. Place the forms down onto the mat. Push off your forearms, bring your knees in and sit back into child's position. [inaudible] roll of all the way. Pick up your towel and stand up. I feel really tall on this mat when I stand on it. Fun Fact. Okay, so we're gonna make a big step, a really big step. Stepping into a lunge position with the right foot.

Here we go. Big Step. And now we're in that lunge position. Front leg is bent back. Leg is straight. Want you to bend your elbows, bring the towel into the chest, bend the back knee. Touch the mat if you can, and then straighten that leg again. Bend. Bring the knee down and press out. Try to stay weighted. Try to keep that bottom leg still.

So we're back to pulling the towel apart. Here's to stretch out. Opening the hip flexes a little bit. Stretch out. Hold here and now straighten the front leg. Bring the arms in and push away and push the mat away.

Bring the arms into the chest and reach out. God, I love your led Jessen. Push and reach those two energies. I was up push with the leg and a pull with the arms and then they reverse themselves. This is our last one. Here it is. Yeah. Hold it here. Lower your towel down. Place your arms down. Step the right leg back.

Lift the left leg up and we tap down and lift and two and three, four and five. Hold it here and now. Five pushups, leg up or leg down here. Rosa, one and two. Three, four and five. Place the leg down. Lift the pelvis up. Press Away with the C. Roll through the spine. How do I get us back to our feet with the towel? I don't know.

I don't know. Let's bend the knees. Take the towel. Let's try. We'll see if this works. So lift the hips and then just swap with the towel in your hands on. That's okay. What? Taking the towel in your hands. Pelvis right over the feet.

Pulling the towel apart and rolling. Okay, so again, another big step this time with the left way. Leap of face, certainly a leap of faith for me, but I made it. Okay. So front leg, sister, back, knee bend, arms bend and stretch. Pull the towel apart. Continue to pull it apart as the arms straighten. Keep the abdominals working. Press two, press one and now hold that back leg straight and push the front legs is straight.

Bringing the towel in and then reach through the back leg as you lunge back down and pull back. I'm very to be on the side. Reach out, pull back strong in the backway. Reach forward to. Nice to finish our practice on our feet one and, and then Ben, forward hands. Come to the mat. Step the left foot back.

Lift the right leg up in top. Live five top four, three two one holding your hand. Five push hands. One, two, three. Put your leg down if you're tired. I'm tempted for, but I'm not gonna. Number five, plant the foot. Round the spine. Lift the hips, heels come down, back lengthens. He has lifted. Roll the body forward.

Pausing here, round the spine. Hike the knees towards the floor and shoot back out. Straight around. Nice invigorating way to move on to whatever's next in the day round. Reach out, strong body around [inaudible] last one around. Hurry Cha and then lift the hips.

Heels come down. Let's start walking the fee in towards the hands. Try to do that with straight legs if you can't. And then once you feel like you're balanced over your length, let your knees bend and let your body hang forward over your head. Let the head relax and in here and uh, roll the spine.

Yeah, I'll have to like straighten [inaudible]. [inaudible] the knees, roll the spine down. My arms are literally trembling, just halfway. And the second fun fact of the day in here. And exhale [inaudible] and then standing tall. Bring the arms out to this. I just soft bend the knees soft and the arms float down in the body stands up and to the side.

I teach your rail does. That is one of my favorite things that he does. I learned it from him. Thank you Rachel and Nina bringing softness into the body but also strength. Who worked hard today? I worked hard today. I'm sure you did too. And then let's take the arms forward and just let them ripple down and inhale forward. Yeah.

Down one more. Inhale forward and all the way onto your feet to have a great day.