Dynamic Side Body Flow

Hi, everyone. I'm Carrie Pages, and we're gonna do a mat class today, skipping fundamentals. We're just gonna go right into the workout and hopefully sweat a little bit, so here we go. Having a seat, reach your arms straight out in front of you. You're gonna slowly take a nice inhale there.

We're exhaling down to the mat. About the time your low back touches the mat, I want you to draw your knees into your chest and find Pilates V stance with your feet. Maintain your curl, arms reaching long. Extend the legs out for Pilates V footwork. One, exhale.

Bend the knees. Inhale out, two. Exhale. Bend the knees. Inhale, three. Exhale to curl.

Inhale, four, and bend. Inhale out, five. Exhale. Inhale out, six. Little more curl.

Inhale out, seven. Beautiful. Bend it in. Eight. Bring it in.

Keep the gaze down as you continue to keep the back of the neck long, and let's bring it in. (snapping) Knees together. Point the toes. Inhale, legs up. Exhale, bend the knees.

Inhale out. (snapping) Bring it in. Now, if anyone's feeling a little tired in the neck, one hand goes behind the head. Just use the weight, the strength of your arm to hold up the weight of your head. Continue.

And inhale. (snapping) Keep that nice curl, take it out. (snapping) And in two more, inhale. Exhale, last one, out. Bring it in, flex your feet.

Extend, inhale out. Exhale, find a little more curl, there it is. And in. Keep the gaze down, it helps. (snapping) Exhale in, inhale out.

Bring it in. Inhale, lengthen the legs. Good. Out six. And in.

Out seven, bring it in. Regroup the curl. Eight, yes, and in, two more. Nine. Last one, 10.

Hug the knees, put the head down for just one breath. Inhale, prepare. We're gonna exhale, curl up. Reach your arms long, and inhale. Point your feet up above the hips.

Exhale, keep the legs right where they are. Flex the feet and draw the abdominals in. Lower your legs two inches as you point. Exhale, flex the feet. Pull the abs in as you do so.

Inhale, lower two more inches. Exhale, flex the feet. Going down to your best working level right here, keep the feet pointed, and we do 100. Inhale, two three four five, and exhale, two three four five. Keep going.

The good news is you only have to do three more reps. Inhale, two three four five. Exhales, gazes down, curl up. Last breath, inhale two three four five, and exhale. Draw the knees into the chest.

Place the head down on the mat. Extend your legs all the way down for our first roll up. Take the arms to the ceiling above you to start. There you go, straight up. Inhale, prepare.

As you exhale, the arms go back to the wall behind you. I want you to take a moment right here. Deepen through the low belly. Soften your ribs down, and heavy your sternum down. This is what you wanna return to every single time you come out of your roll up.

Lift your arms. Lift your head. Peel the spine up, inhaling. Exhale, stretch over. Good.

Now take it back. Inhale. (snapping) Exhale, rolling the spine down. The arms go back. Stay checked in with the way we started.

Little more rib connection, ladies. Soften, that's beautiful. Lift the arms, lift the head. Inhale, peel it up. And exhale, reaching over.

Inhale, start to come back. Exhale, navel to spine, spine to the mat. Stay checked in with the front body. We come up again. Inhale, lift the arms and the head.

Peel up. Exhale, take it over. This time, taking it in to a roll up rollover combo. You're gonna inhale, roll up to sitting tall. Take your hands, press them actively down into the mat.

As you exhale, draw your abdominals in. Press with your hands, and roll over. Everyone, flex your feet. Open and close your legs. Start to come down with control.

Don't rush it. Let the abdominals move you, not gravity. As you start to lower your feet, you're gonna exhale, lift your head, and start to come up. And let's really flex the feet on the stretch over here. Inhale, sit tall.

Bring the hands to the mat. Exhale, draw the abs in, roll it over. Good, now flex the feet. Open and close, zip 'em in. Start to come down.

Legs are gonna stay low, peel to the mat. They lower. You lift the head, and control that up. That's so nice. Exhale, big stretch over, ladies.

Flexing the feet, toes to the top of the head. Repeating that one more time. Inhale, roll up. Bring the hands right down into the mat. Abs draw in as you press with your hands to take it over.

Flexing the feet. We open close the legs. And come down, nice control. Alright, big challenge here. Keep your head down.

We're actually not gonna repeat that again. Point your feet to the ceiling above you and breathe in. Start to lower your legs down, and if you can do it, take 'em all the way to the mat, but keep the front body pulling in, pulling in, pulling in. Breathe a little, breathe out. Find an exhale, find a little more exhale.

That was so nice. And you get to rest the legs down. Although that was really nice. And hard over there. Alright, so if you wanna scoot down onto your mat a little bit if you started to scooch off of it, go ahead.

For the single leg circle, take your hands, place 'em down beside you on the mat. Very nice. Bring your heels together, in Pilates V stance. And press your heels into the floor. Careful not to lock the knees.

So just the littlest release of that lock as you press the heels and find your butt and your hamstrings. Press your hands actively down so that you find the backs of the arms. Now, you probably flared your ribs, so let's breathe in. Keep all of the legs and arms stuck, and exhale, pull the front body in. Sternum heavy, ribs soften down.

Low belly drops in. Alright. Keep your foot closest to the window behind me pressing down into the mat. Take the other leg, lift it up. Inhale.

You're gonna cross the leg across the body. Exhale, circle. Inhale, pause at the top. Exhale, circle. Inhale, again.

Exhale from the belly, and up. So your core is what's moving your leg, not your leg, exhale, inhale, reverse. Exhale, inhale, lift one. (snapping) Exhale, inhale, lift two. The arms are still pressing.

The leg is still pressing. Four around. One more. Five around. And up.

Very slowly bringing that leg down. The heels come together. Make sure you're not grabbing in your neck. Take your fingertips, walk 'em down, a quarter of an inch lower. Re-press the hands, re-press the heels.

Reconnect in the front body. Other leg floats up, inhale lift. We cross the body. Exhale. Inhale, lift one. (snapping)

Exhale. Stop on a dime. Exhale from the belly, up. Exhale, up. Last one in that direction, reverse.

Exhale, move that foot to the mat. Press it. Press your hands for extra strengthening in those triceps. Around, up. Exhale, up.

One more, exhale, bring it up. Press the leg back down with nice control. Heel to heel, take another moment. Open through the chest. Reach the arms long, press them down more.

Press your heels down more. Put more energy in your abs. And relax. Very nice. Draw your knees into your chest, ladies.

Alright, so we are gonna bring the hands underneath the legs for a moment. And straighten your arms, and press your legs against your hands. Lift your head, gaze forward, with the most control you can muster up, come up, and just find a balance position at the top. Yes, and just let the arms straighten, and hands under thighs, and just roll up to sitting. A little bit more.

Oh, that's it. Perfect, right there. Alright, so now, for rolling like a ball, we're gonna take the hands, and bring 'em down onto the ankles. Alright, so take a moment in this position. Bring your gaze down, and take a nice long breath in.

Exhale and stabilize the position of your pelvis by drawing the low belly in, setting the ribs in place, and pulling the armpits to the hips. There's your side body. Now we roll like a ball. Inhale, take it back. Exhale brings you up.

Yeah, let's go again. Inhale, take it back. And from the low belly, you stabilize the pelvis. There it is. Inhale, take two back.

Exhale, armpits to hips. There's your side body, that's gonna help. Inhale takes you back. And let the side body with the low belly bring you up. Do it again like that.

Inhale, take it back. Exhale, come up. Now hold right here. You're gonna go back with an inhale, and come up more quickly. So inhale back, exhale come up.

Good. And again, take it back, come up. From the low belly. That should give you a little more connection. Take it back, come up. (snapping)

Good, one more time. Inhale. Bring it up. Very nice. From here, ladies.

We're going right into the stomach series. So you're gonna start to lean back a little. Go into a parallel stance with your legs. Start to roll the rest of the way down, extending the leg closest to the windows out straight, and curl. We're switching the legs.

We breathe in one, inhale two. Keep going. Exhale, and two. Maintain the curl. (snapping) And two, soften the shoulders.

One, yes, so the abs are what are moving the legs. Exhale, everybody hold. Put your hands behind your head. You're gonna twist to whichever knee is bent. And now, switch.

So we're crisscrossing. One, and two. Exhale one, and two. (snapping) Try looking behind you a little to see if that'll help you rotate more. One, and two.

Inhaling one, both knees in. You get to put your head down and rest for just a moment. And that's long enough. Inhale prepare, tuck the chin, curl up with the exhale. You can put your hands on your knees.

We're staying down to start double leg stretch. With an inhale, extend. Arms and legs out. Circle the arms, bring it back. Inhale, take it up.

Exhale, bring it in. Pause here. Pretend your nose is on a wall. When you move your arms and legs out, don't move your nose off the wall. Inhale, take it up.

Exhale, bring it around, good. Inhale, take it out. Exhale, bring it around. Once again, inhale, exhale around. Hands behind the head.

Twist to knee for crisscross again. One and two. (snapping) And exhale, one, and two. Inhale, curl through the middle, ladies. Don't lay back.

One, beautiful, two. Inhale one, both knees in, head goes down for just a breath. We're going into scissors. Inhale prepare, exhale draw the chin into the chest. Curl up.

Leg closest to me extends up to the ceiling above you. Hands up behind that ankle. Let's hold for just a second. Set your shoulders in place, and ask your abdominals to hold you here, instead of your arms. Two little taps with the low leg.

One, two, switch. (snapping) One, two, breathe. Inhale. So the press comes from the bottom when you tap. One, yes, good.

Inhale. Keep the gaze down. Exhale, one more set. Inhale. Both legs up.

Bend your knees. Hands behind your head. Crisscross to me again. Inhale one, and two. That's it, try to look behind you a little.

Inhale one. And two, exhale one, and two. Inhale, both knees in. Head comes down. Just one more.

Big breath in to prepare. Exhale, tuck the chin into the chest. Nice high curl. Extend your legs up to the ceiling above you. Really use those hands to hold up the weight of the head, giving a little more curl, and relax your neck.

Lower your legs. Inhale, take them down and hold them. Start your exhale from the low belly. That's what pulls your feet up. Again, inhale, take it down.

Exhale, bring it up. Think about the nose on the wall thing. Get up into the wall. Inhale, lower the legs. Good ladies.

Exhale brings the legs up. And again, inhale. Exhale. There it is. Now hold the nose right where it is.

Inhale down, last one. Exhale pulls the legs up. Bend the knees. Crisscross one, and two. And exhale, one, and two.

Inhale, curl higher through the middle. Exhale, look behind you. Inhale, both knees in. Exhale, rest down. (all sighing) (laughing) Oh, that was funny.

Okay, so guess what. You get to do swan next, which I know is welcome. So bring your hands under your legs for just a moment. We're gonna transition by sitting up, crossing the ankles, and then moving into a plank, okay? So with your head down, set your shoulders in place.

Let your abdominals guide your head up. Go ahead and rock up for a moment, and pause. Cross the feet. Put the hands down, extend the feet back. And hold.

Good, if you'll stay right there so I can check you out. Take a deep breath in. Good, exhale. Think about when we were preparing for our roll-up. And I told you to get the front body nice and strong.

We need that here. Inhale, prepare. Lower your body slowly to the floor, front body active, front body active, and you get to rest your forehead, and relax for a moment. Extend your ankles so your feet are okay. (laughing) And draw your heels together.

Give me a little inner thigh. And then give me a little more, where your inner thighs meet your butt. Yeah, and then low belly up and in. Tailbone lengthening out. Or, tipping under just a little.

Pubic bone pressing down. And here we go. Float the head and the chest. Press into the hands. And you're coming up for your first swan.

Beautiful. Doesn't matter how high it is. Exhale takes you down. Very nice. I don't want you to fight keeping your heels together.

Let 'em separate just a little bit if you want. That'll really free up your extension. So give that a try. Float the head and the chest. Press into the hands.

That's it, ladies. Move up, elongate up. Beautiful. And let the exhale take you down. Yeah, it's kinda nice to open your legs apart, isn't it?

That's a rule I love to break. (laughing) Here we go again. Float the head and the chest. Press into the hands. Let's take the navel to the spine.

We're all gonna hold there. Since everyone is just about to a straight elbow, open the chest just a little more. Roll your shoulder bones back. And just lift your gaze, just an inch higher. It's okay.

And then take it all the way down. Very nice. You get to push up to your hands and knees. Sit back on your heels. Do a nice child's pose there.

Rounding out the spine. Good. Alright, we're gonna take a slightly different approach to this stretch. Come up onto the hands and knees again. Let the head hand down between the arms.

Big inhale. Exhale, round your spine as high into the sky as you can. Sacrifice the shoulders, just round. Now breathe in, and sit back only halfway to your heels. So that you're really maintaining a lot of length in your lower back.

Go ahead and sit back, maybe another inch or two. But what we're doing is trying to pull the front body away from the legs so the low back is really getting a stretch. Then feel free to go ahead and walk the hands out so that you rest your head down. And just kind notice how that really is a different stretch than being kind of in the extra rounded position. Alright, we're gonna turn around.

You're gonna lie down on your back for shoulder bridge. Oh, you went into a ponytail. (laughing) You must be hot. For shoulder bridge. You wanna bring, everyone wants to know, how far are your heels away from your bottom.

I don't know, I just eyeball it. But I'm gonna ask you to move your feet out just a little bit. I'd like it a little more open than the heels directly under the knees, just a little. So I'm actually gonna give you just a little correction here. Yeah, can I take this leg right there.

Okay good. Alright, so lovely. To start your shoulder bridge, just take a moment there and breathe in. And as you breathe out, put some pressure into the balls of your feet, and kind of, as you push into the balls of the feet, it's like a 10% effort. It's not a real big deal.

But let that just kind of give you maybe a little bit of glute hamstring work. Prepare again with an inhale. We go through a pelvic tilt. So we are articulating up. Navel drops into the spine, because your belly does it.

It tucks the pelvis, and we're rolling up. Now, as you get up to the top of your bridge, your weight will shift out of the balls of the feet. It'll go into the heels. And I want you to think of puling the heels underneath your shoulders. And you don't even need to move the feet on the mat.

It's just a feeling. Breathe in, stay there. Exhale, take another moment to draw the abdominals in, and tip the tailbone under just a little more. There is almost always a little more room for finding neutral at the top of your bridge. Pause there with an inhale.

And now we're coming down. Sternum heavies, spine articulates down. Bone by bone to the mat. And really try to find that neutral, get all the way down to neutral. Okay, breathe in again.

We repeat it. Exhale, navel into spine. Push into the balls of the feet. And curl up. Very nice, ladies.

The higher you get, the more the weight shifts into the heels. Without even moving your feet, just think of pulling the feet under your shoulders. Then find another breath where the exhale heavies the sternum a little, and sets that pelvis a little more in neutral. So it's just a little bit more of a tuck there, right there. Now we inhale, and we're coming down again.

Exhale, so yeah, going down. Breathe out. It was really fun to hang out there for a really long time, isn't it? Oh yeah. Okay, so now it's even gonna, it's gonna get better.

So inhale prepare. Exhale, draw the navel into the spine. Exhale, get there. Good, so when you're at the top, just reset that pelvis just in case. Think of dragging the heels under the shoulders, and go up to a high tippy toe.

Good, now just stay right there. I want you to pretend that you have a magic circle wrapped around your thighs. Press out against the circle, and so the knees actually go about as wide as your shoulders, so a little wider than armpit width. When you do that, get like an inch wider, you should feel your side butt kind of turn on. And if you don't, scoop your belly, and tuck your tail a little more.

Now bring the knees in an inch. Press 'em back out. A little in and out. (snapping) A little in and out. A little in and out.

Two more, in and out. One more, in and out. (laughing) Hold right there for just a second. Scoop the belly, find neutral again, 'cause you might have lost it. Come back into knees in alignment with the way they're supposed to be.

Put your heels down. Take a second right there. Big inhale, roll all the way down to the mat. Very nice. Straighten your left leg all the way down on the mat.

Bring your arms underneath your right leg. Very nice. Alright, doing like a little climb a tree here. Aren't you excited about that? It's a little welcome, isn't it?

So here we go. Lift the foot up, inhale. Exhale, bend the knee. Very nice, ladies. Inhale, take it up.

Now use your abs to bend your knee. Pull the abs in tight. That's why the knee bends. Inhale, take it up. Then we hold.

Now we use our abs to flex out foot. Toes lower. Inhale, point the toes up. The abs pull in so tight, the flex happens. Inhale, toes go up. (snapping)

Exhale, flex the foot. Inhale, point up. Alright, from right there, your leg's not gonna move. I just want you to breathe in. Tuck your chin and curl forward like you're gonna do a roll up, but I'm not gonna have you do one.

Walk your hands up to your ankle. Now, rest your head back down, and take your leg with you. Very nice. And now you can take that leg, lower it all the way down, and just have that moment where you're so excited because that leg feels so fantastic. Look how long we got.

(laughing) That's right. Pilates works. Other knee into the chest. Hands underneath that leg. Good, alright, here we go.

Inhale, the leg goes up. Abdominals draw in. (snapping) That's why the knee bends. Inhale, the leg goes up, too. Exhale, bend the knee down.

Inhale, take it up, three. Hold it, flex the foot. Abs draw in. Point the toes, inhale. you're so so strong in your abs.

Your toes flex again. Inhale, toes point up. Exhale, flex one last time. Inhale, point the foot. Lift your head, look forward.

Walk your hands up, and don't be selfish on your walk now that you know what's coming. Get up there. Good, and go back down. Aw, don't look so sad. Draw your shoulders back and down.

Good. Alright, take that leg, lower it all the way down. Alright, and just, ah. Now you're double long. Okay, so we're gonna go into jackknife next.

Knees into the chest. Start today. Hands pressing down. Yeah, scoot down your mat if you need to. So with your arms pressing down into the floor, you're gonna inhale and extend your legs up to the ceiling above you.

Find a very nice zip of the heels. Let's do Pilates V today. Your next exhale lowers your legs to your lowest working level. Doesn't matter where it is, know your body. Go over.

Inhale, roll over first. Then we exhale, lift the feet up. Now take a second here, and I want you to have more weight on your shoulders. So everybody roll down like two inches. This is where I want the top of your jackknife to be today.

Because you feel like you're gonna fall over, don't you? Yeah, it's fun. So hold there with your inhale. Start to come down with your exhale, and just feel like someone's holding your feet up. And then just pause right there, and make sure your abs are what are holding you there, and then come, oh gravity takes over sometimes, so you gotta make sure.

Lower your legs to your best working level. If you've lost it, find an exhale. We go inhale, take it over today. Exhale, lift it up high. (snapping) Not too high, though.

You stay on your shoulders. Good, now start to come down. And you know, maybe think of moving your feet towards the girl in front of you. Yeah, and then just hover right there. Just make sure gravity's not doing it, you are.

And continue the rest of the way down. Very nice. Regroup the reach of the arms. Take it over again. Inhale, roll.

Exhale, lift up. Good. Alright, I won't make your hold this time, but anticipate that I might. So come down, and you're doing the work. Not gravity.

That's it. That's beautiful, ladies. Take the legs down to your working level. Regroup the reach of the arms, in case your shoulders are on your ears. We have two more reps. (snapping)

Inhale, over. Exhale, lift up. Good. Inhale, start to come down. You're being suspended by your feet.

Exhale, legs lower. And here is your last repetition. Regroup your arm reach, go. Inhale, over. Exhale, lift up.

Inhale, start to come down. Well let's do the hover right there, just in case. Push your feet forward to the girl in front of you, just like an inch. And then control it down. (laughing) Hug your knees into your chest.

Very nice. Alright. I'm sorry. So we are gonna do only one exercise from the sidekick series. So if you're like me, that makes you really happy.

So you're gonna lie down on your right side, facing me. And we're just doing the both leg lift lower with a little icing on the cake. So lie down, and we'll just go ahead and put the head down. Yeah, on the arm there. Okay, so take a moment, and think back to the way we started our roll up.

Whenever you're on your side, the tendency is just to lose it all. So we lose our ribs, we lose our pelvis. So, good Meredith. So you take a breath in here. And you're gonna exhale, and find that front rib connection.

Take the top leg, lengthen it a little so the pelvis is stacked. You have one hip over the other. And now, just activate your inner thighs. And then use your butt to activate your inner thighs. Okay, so take a breath in.

Exhale, pick both legs up, as if they're one. And then lower 'em down. Alright, I want you to go ahead and let your right side soften into the mat today. So when you lift your legs, go ahead and exhale. Let the right side heavy into the mat, the left side is what's lifting your feet two inches higher.

Yes, and take it down, inhale. And again, exhale. So it's like the breath is coming from here. The bottom leg gives you a little extra lift. Inhale, take it down.

And again, exhale. So it's kind of like a side up on the reformer, except you're moving your legs, not your upper body. Inhale, take it down. Alright, here's our last and best. Exhale, bring it up.

Alright, hold there. Don't let your top leg move at all. And actually, keep the top leg where it is with your left side. Your bottom leg lowers. Take it down.

Pick the bottom leg back up. Lower the bottom leg, (snapping) pull thigh to thigh. Lower. Thigh to thigh. Lower.

Lift it up, one more. Lower. Lift and hold. Draw your inner thighs, knees, ankles, heels together. Pick both legs up higher.

Lower them down. Very nice. You can sit up. Put your head on the other end of the mat. That's it.

Okay. Take a moment there, breathe in. Find the front body. Just like we did in our roll up. Ribs in, waist in.

Looks really nice, ladies. Breathe in again. Pick both legs up as if they're one. Exhaling. With an inhale, lower down.

And again, exhale. Yeah, just right there, exhale lift. So you'll be grumpy 'cause you can't go as high. And then inhale, lower. (laughing) And exhale.

Bottom leg pulls against that top leg. Pull those legs up. And lower down. So really feeling now. Exhale lift.

That the side is pulling in, and that's your tool to pick your legs up. And lower down. And again, exhale lift. (snapping) Alright, hold there. Keep the top leg precisely where it is, and you're using that top waistline to do it.

I'm talking for a long time on purpose. You can get that bottom leg back up, there you go. Now you get to lower it. Inhale down. Exhale lift, one.

Lower, exhale lift. Move from the thigh. Thigh bone zips in. Lower, lift in, one more. Lower, lift in, hold.

Let's make that bottom leg straighter. Pull the thighs together more. Pick both of 'em up. Lower them down. Very nice.

Okay. Roll over to your bellies right where you are, to do a child's pose again. So push up to your hands and knees. Let's just take a second there to find that moment where we rounded up really high first. Yeah, and then sit it back a few inches, just process through getting a little more low back stretch.

And then eventually just take it into that full rest where you let your body elongate out. And hopefully you need a side body stretch, so walk your hands over to the left side of your mat. Good. Yeah, and try today taking, so we're on the left side of the mat. We're gonna take the left hand, put it on top of the right, yes.

And push against that hand to create a little more length in that side. Walk the other way, ladies. Yeah. So you go over. So now, because we're going over to the right, we're taking the right hand, placing it on top of the left, and that's it, pull in, so let's go, this guy on top.

There you go. Oh no, you were right. You go back. You were so right, sorry. (laughing) Alright, go back to the middle, ladies.

Alright, so. It's time for teaser. Turn to face one another. So facing the center here. And we're gonna start sitting for teaser.

So we're gonna do maybe more than three teasers. But the first version is the prep. So just make sure you have a mat behind you. I think you're all okay. Alright, and then we're gonna just start here.

Inhale prepare. As you exhale, draw your navel in towards your spine. See if you can tuck your pelvis just a little more. But I want it to come from the belly. Yeah.

Now let the shoulders come back a little, and a little squeeze of the armpits to the hips to find the side body. Extend your legs up, inhale. Exhale, from your abdominals, you deepen so much, that as a result, your knees bend. Okay, let's do it again. Inhale, the legs go up.

You exhale so deeply that as a result, the knees bend. Very nice, let's do it again. Inhale, the legs up. Stabilize the pelvis. Yes, that was beautiful.

Exhale bend. Find that deep connection. Okay here we go now. We're extending the legs up. This time with an inhale.

Now we find our teaser. Arms reach. And you're there. Inhale, prepare. Exhale, move your pelvis first.

Not your head. Tailbone under, and that's what moves you. When your low back touches, bring your legs into your chest, and rest for just a moment. Lift your head, look forward. Start to come up.

Extend the legs, and just let that naturally bring you up. This direction, we're actually thinking of keeping the pelvis as tipped under as possible. Let's take it back down. Find an exhale to facilitate the movement. Tailbone under.

And under. The abs do the work, not gravity. And the knees bend. And you rest your head. You give me one more like that.

Lift the head gaze forward. Inhale, bring it up. Stabilizing that pelvis in that little tilt. Exhale, take it down again. Let's hover.

Deepen, continue all the way down. Knees into the chest, and rest. Good. Alright. Full teaser.

Extend your legs out. And down onto the mat. Let's use, just like we did our roll up, to prepare for the exercise. So hands go to the ceiling above you. Good, alright, let's inhale.

Arms straight up. Exhale, arms go back. Sternum heavies, ribs down. Low belly deepens. You've gotta have it here, or you're set up, you're not gonna make it.

Let's get a little more ribs. Yeah, you gotta set yourself up for success here, girls. Okay so here we go, first teaser. Lift the arms, lift the head. Teaser, arms and legs lifting up.

Let's bring the arms parallel to the legs today. Alright, now take it down. Exhaling, start to float your arms. Lift your gaze a little. You rest, but you don't really rest.

You're pulling your ribs in, your abs in. You're ready to do it again. Lift your arms, lift your head, bring it up. Yeah, you can never relax on teaser. And here we go.

Exhale, take it down. That's it, beautiful. Good. Christie, you're gorgeous. And here we go one more time.

Lift your arms, lift your head. Teaser it up. Good. And now here we go down one last time. Take it a third of the way down and exhale, just hover.

Find another inhale. Another third of the way down, exhale. Just hover. And then the rest of the way down. Find a breath out.

You can just rest your arms down beside you. And relax. Very nice. Okay, similar to the transition we did after rolling like a ball, you're gonna roll up. We'll cross the legs, and we're going into leg pull front.

So, let's bring the knees into the chest to start it. The hands are right underneath your knees, or your thighs, rather. Breathe it in. As you breathe out, lift your head, look forward. I want you to let your arms straighten, and your legs press against your hands.

That's it, so the arms straighten. That's it, press the thighs into the hands. Come up. Your abdominals guide the movement. Now, when you cross your feet, keep your abs deepening.

Bring your hands down. Find your plank. Alright, so in this position, we revisit the start of class. Ribs in, waist in, body elongated. With an inhale, one leg up.

Rock back, exhale. Come forward, switch feet. Inhale, up. Rock backwards. Come forward, switch. (snapping)

Exhale back. Forward, foot down. Switch, exhale back. Forward, foot down. Switch, exhale.

Y'all look great. Forward, down switch. Exhale, beautiful. Forward, foot down. Stay there.

Take a big breath in. We lower to the mat. Exhale, abs are tight. Tighter. All the way down.

And relax. Push up to your hands and knees. Sit back on your heels. Quick little stretch there. That was very nice.

Everyone. So here we go, mermaid next. So for mermaid, I want you to make sure that your bottom is in the very center of your mat. Even though our legs are gonna go over this way. Okay, so yeah like sitting in the middle.

But then take your feet over. Alright, so it's always an option on mermaid to open up that position. You don't wanna feel yucky in your hips. But if you can, you stack thigh over thigh. And we're gonna take the left hand, really hold onto the ankle.

Or the shin, or whatever you can hold. And your arm comes up. So you're gonna inhale here. With an exhale, lift up and over. Go ahead and let your shoulder lift a little, and just keep the bicep on the ear.

Alright, so we're inhaling. And we're gonna go to this little moment right here. So I just want your left side to hold you there. That feels good, doesn't it, Christie? Lean out.

And then put the hand down. Maybe slide it a little bit, elbow down. And bottom waistline lifting up and in. Arm comes up. Now use the hand on the mat as little as possible.

Start to come up. Bring yourself up. Have a little moment. Bring your hand down, arm comes up. Side bend over.

Inhale brings you up. A little moment. Lengthen. Hand slowly down. We're not falling over.

Arm comes up. Use the hand as little as possible. Have a moment. And over. So from here, we're just gonna do a little rotation.

You're gonna twist. Pull back deeply in the belly, and almost lean back as you bring your arm all the way down. Let's reach it down like past, yeah, just like that, past the leg a little. Now come back. From here, it's gonna feel a little like a swan.

You're just gonna open the chest. More than opening the chest, open the arm back to the wall behind you. Nice, ladies. Beautiful. And now come back, and we go to here.

Alright, so we're gonna do the mermaid dance now. You're gonna take your arm. Reach it like this. Your feet are gonna come kinda under your bum. You're gonna come up.

And you take your mermaid tail. You kick your mermaid tail to the side. And take it down. You okay? (laughing) Alright.

So with that hand on the shin, arm comes up, big inhale. Exhale, take it over. And just like that arm, get a little closer to your head. So maybe your body doesn't go as far. But your, yeah, the reach is there.

Now come up. Have your little moment. Lean out. Hand down. Elbow down.

And you go up and over. Yeah, bottom waist lifting. Beautiful. Arm comes up, and you use that right side, and you lift, have a moment. I know, it's awful.

Hand down, and come up, and take it over. So here's where you might find on the other side, you might not stack your thighs. And that's perfect. Come up. Have a little moment.

Lean, hand down. And over. Arm comes up. And you lift. Have a moment.

And down. Up. You looked really happy about that, Meredith. (laughing) You're gonna twist. Reach your hand down.

So as your hand goes down towards your shin, you let your head release. Round back an inch more. Come back. Face me. Good, and then we take it in to a little swan kind of.

Reach that arm back. So move the arm more. Come back. And reach. Very nice.

We're gonna mermaid dance, getting into balance control. So the arm goes out. You're gonna come up. Alright, this is kinda silly. Everyone, kick your mermaid tail towards the girl beside you.

Sit down on your bum. And reach your legs out. Sit tall. We're transitioning right into balance control. So inhale, prepare.

You're gonna roll back. Go ahead and put your hands down. Your legs go over. And you're just rolling to right there is perfect. If you can, both arms at the same time, they're gonna circle out to the sides of the room, and you reach back, and you're gonna try to hold your feet.

Yeah, okay nice. Breathe in for me. As you breathe out, lift the leg closest to me, up. And try not to fall over. Good.

And then inhale, try to switch. So you're coming up. See if you can roll, there you go. And switch, breathe out. Now switch with your abs more than your legs.

Initiate the switch by pulling your abs in tight. Hold. Again, exhale, hold. (snapping) Once again, hold. Take the top leg down to meet the bottom leg.

Circle your arms around so they're beside you again. You're gonna use a little momentum here as you articulate your spine down to the mat. Bend your knees. Rock through, and stand up. Very nice.

Everybody turn around. Face the opposite direction. Arms straight up to the ceiling above you. Finishing with Pilates pushups. Walk down the body to the thigh, one.

To the floor, two. (snapping) Three, walk out, one, and two, and three. Bend the elbows. Inhale, exhale, press one. This pushup is only as big as you can make it.

Bend, press up. And keep the front body. Press and hold. Tuck your head down. Walk back like you're doing a pike.

One, to the foot. Two, to the other foot. Three, walk up. One, to the ceiling, and three. We go down again.

Walk down the body. One, reach through the floor. And three, walk out, one, and two. Everybody hold. Bend the arms, inhale.

Exhale, press one. Inhale, exhale, press two. Inhale, exhale, press three. Hold. Tuck your head down.

Three walks of the hands. Go one, two. This is dynamic coming up. Walk up the legs, one to the ceiling, two to the ceiling, three. Last time, one, and two, and three.

Walk it out. One, and two. It's the last set. You might have smaller pushups. Inhale again.

Now use your abs. Press with your belly. Inhale bend. Exhale press from the belly. Once again inhale bend.

Exhale press from the belly. Tuck your head, it's like a pike. Walk back one, and two, and three. Walk up one, and two to the ceiling, three. Circle your arms down.

Very nice. Now do one more time, reaching your arms up to the ceiling above you. Think about the way we started our class. Remember, you had your ribs in. Oh, that was so pretty.

And then circle the rest of the way around. And go on to the rest of your day with that beautiful posture.