Foam Roller Stability

Welcome to class, I'm Keria, and I'll be teaching a class incorporating the Fletcher Braided Towel, and the foam roller, and before you take this class, please take the tutorial on the Fletcher Braided Towel, there's a whole technique to using this towel, and you really benefit from it before you added another piece of equipment, so we'll begin with the towel work. So what I'd like for you to do is bring the towel down so it's just open from the body, and then from here think about lifting up through the center of the body, and inhale plie, and exhale lift tall. And again folding at the hips. Breathing in to reach forward. exhale to lift.

One more time reaching forward. And lifting up. And then reaching forward pull towel taught at the chest. And then just work the top towel pulls, pulling from your back and exhale. And again pull and exhale, think of reaching those elbows out to the sides.

And pulling the towel with your inhalation. Two more times, pull and release, last time pull and then hold that pull, let's inhale the towel up overhead, exhale all the way down to the hips, inhale to lift up, and exhale down and try to feel that role of the arm in the shoulder socket, and exhale, pull down, last time lifting up, and down, lift the towel up overhead and hold it here. Glide the shoulders up to your ears, and then think of wrapping the shoulders down the back, and again glide up, and pull down. Two more times, lift, last time lifting up, and pulling down and then draw the towel down so it touches your upper back, so the arms form a W shape, exhale and press the towel toward the ceiling, inhale pull, and exhale extend, and again re-engaging deeply into the back each time, without arching the back, and up, this time over the towel down and continue extending the arms behind you, inhale, lift and stretch the chest, exhale lower, and again lifting up. Inhale to lift, and lower, this time lifting the towel up, continue that movement wrapping the towel round the hips, reaching the elbows forward, pulse into the plie here, rounding through the lower back, two more sets, last set, and then lengthen the legs, open the chest, reaching the towel behind you, full breath into your contraction, full breath to expand through the front of the body, and contract.

Two more, opening. Last one, open and then just simply lower the towel down, press it up through that W shape with the arms, and all the way overhead. Pressing the towel down to the hips, and then from here reach the towel behind you, opening the chest, and forward. Looking straight ahead, open, and forward. Last two.

And then open the chest, reaching the towel behind you, think of clapping your arms. Two, three, four, and then again round the body forward, and roll out through the spine, contract, and lengthen up, last one contracting forward, and then continue rounding forward, placing the towel right alongside your roller, hang the arms, hang the head and roll up through the spine, circling the shoulders. Two more. Now let's come to the far side of the roller. With your back to it.

Four plies here, plie reach, and lengthen out, and again. Keeping the backs nice and long. Last time plie reach, and lengthen up, and plie, round the body forward, and come on down into your ball shape, so release the heels, and gently pulse your hips to your heels, opening up the lower back even more. Notice the double breath with the movement, and then reach back to sit back onto the end of the roller, sit up tall and separate your feet so there just in line with the sit bones. Reaching the arms forward, contract back, inhale lengthen up, and contract back, and again lengthen up, contract back, last time, lengthen up, contract back, three more breaths, roll down with control, two, and three, all the way down.

That takes some work. Alright from here let's imprint the spine down into the roller. Take a deep breath in, and exhale, close the ribs, deep breath and expand and contract through the rib cage, and see how much movement you can get through that part of your body. Last time, deep breath in, and exhale, let's add a contraction through the pelvis, so take a deep breath in, exhale, curl the pelvis up, inhale and lower it down, exhale curl, inhale, lengthen and lower, and again curling up, and lower, notice how they are initiating with the abdominals not the legs, and lower down, and then turn the palms to face at the ceiling, and then just brush 1/4 of the way out to the sides, exhale lower. Let's come out a little bit further, and lower, and again, a little further, and lower, and then come up to a high V with the arms, all the way down, turn that into a circle, so it's inhale open, exhale press down, inhale open, and press down, try to keep your spine on the roller, reach, and press, one more time reach out, and press down, and then take a full breath just to open the arms out to the sides, palms to the ceiling, full breath to hug a tree, full breath to round, and stretch the chest open, and again focus on keeping the spine on the roller, and open.

And again, reach, and open wide, this time reach, hold that position, inhale reach that rounded arm down to the hips, exhale all the way overhead stretching, inhale down to the hips, and exhale overhead closing the ribs, two more times, reach, and overhead, last time reach to the hips, and overhead, and then bring the arms up over the chest, and extend them so they form parallel lines, draw the shoulders up, and wrap the shoulders around the roller, and again up, closing the ribs as you draw those shoulders down, two more times, up, last one up, wrap the shoulders, and then just starting with the right arm, reach the right arm up, and pull down, and the left up, and pull down, two more times, up and down last time, up, down, turn the palms to face forward, and let's draw the arms into a W shape, pulling the elbows down to the floor, and up, two more times, pull to the floor, we'll do the same movement with the towel, one more time, pull to the floor, and press up. And then let's reach the arms oppositionally, so the left arm forward right arm back, inhale lift, and exhale switch, and again focus on keeping the base of the ribs on the roller, two more, last one, and notice how the breath keeps them synced together, last one up, and reach, and then lift up and switch, this time we are gonna turn this into a circle, sweeping the arms out to the sides, and press through, out to the sides, and press through, two more times, open, last time, open, and press through, and just reverse that, so full breath to pass through, inhale around, and exhale through, and again around, nice Michelle, exhale through, two more times around, last one, and bring both arms up to the ceiling, and press the arms down by your side. So let's pick the towels up, it's right alongside, so the towels right up over the chest, this will be a segment incorporating towel work with the roller, and so what I'd like to do here is the same thing we did when standing, it's just the thought towel pulls, inhale pull the towel taught, exhale release, and again pull it taught, and release, two more times, taught, and release, last time taught, and release, now keeping the towel taught, hold it here, let's exhale press the towel down to the hips, inhale lift and reach it back overhead, inhale up, exhale down to the hips, lift up, and overhead, the last two. Last one, lift and press it down to the hips, and up, and overhead, holding it there, inhale with the towel over the chest, exhale into an upper contraction, and take a full breath to lengthen back reaching the towel back overhead, inhale towel up, exhale into your contraction, and full breath to lengthen back, notice how they are not moving the pelvis, they're just moving through the upper back, upper torso, lift and contract, full breath to lengthen back, going into a full roll-up, inhale lift the towel, exhale upper contraction, and a full breath to curl forward, and over, inhale lift, exhale low contraction, and a full breath to lengthen all the way back overhead. And again towel up, upper contraction, curl up, this is not easy, rounding forward, inhale lengthen, exhale contract back, and a full breath to complete the movement, just one more of these, lift and upper contraction, curl forward, you got it and over, inhale lengthen, low contraction, and roll back, and stretch.

Good, and then we'll contract on the diagonal, so taking the right arm, curl forward on the diagonal, left arm sorry, and full breath back. And again starting with the right, and full breath back, and again, the left curl on the diagonal, and back, try to keep the towel over the crown of the head, back last two, and back. Last one, and back, and just lift the towel up over the chest and press it down to the hips. Good, so now we'll add some lower body into this, we call it a marching series, so what I'd like you to is bring the towel right up over the chest again, so this is endurance work for the upper body, and I think most of us need a bit more of that, so as you pull the towel taught, I would like you to draw the right leg in, just to that 90, 90 position, and exhale, release and lower it down, pull taught, and draw the leg in, and lower it down, and again, inhale, pull taught draw the leg in, and lower it down, last time fold the leg in, and lower it down, adding that W pull to this movement, so as you draw the right leg in, draw the arms to a W and press up, and lower, pull and fold into the hip, and press up and lower, two more times, pull and fold into the hip, lower, nice, one more time, pull fold into the hip, a lot of balance work here, and lower, and then keeping the arms extended. Draw the right leg in, and extend that leg up to the ceiling, as you lower the leg lower the arms and the towel so everything is working together, all the way out to the floor, that's it, and draw the leg in along with the arms bending, and extending, and a full breath to lengthen all the way out, so we're doing four turns on the right, and draw the leg in, and up, and full breath to lengthen out, so they're working really hard to balance here, one more time, and draw the towel in, and press it up, that's it, and full breath, so losing our balance is not a bad thing, and then just draw that leg in, and press the arms up to the ceiling.

Yes nice, draw the left leg in and up to start, and out, and press arms and leg out on the diagonal, good, draw the arms and legs in, and up, and full breath to press out, and again, in, and up, that's it, and full breath to press out, one more time in, and up, and full breath to press all the way out, that's over (laughs) and then bend both legs, yeah but it's something to work towards. (laughs) alright, let's press the towel up, and press it down to the hips, lift it up, and overhead, just to center the body, lift down to the hips, up and overhead, following the breath, last time lift and down to the hips. Good, so in this next segment which is a semicircle segment, we're gonna use the towel in the first part of the to create a little traction and also safety for the neck, so lift the towel up and please the towel just around the base of the skull, so around the occiput, and reach the arms forward, so they are giving themselves a little bit of traction, and length through the back of the neck, and then as they take a full breath they're gonna roll back to what we call a tabletop position so the neck is extended, and then using their upper contraction again to curl forward, and again notice how the neck just follows the line of the upper back, and curl forward, closing the ribs, two more of these, this feels great on the neck. And curl forward, last one, and curl forward, and then take the towel out from behind the head, reaching the towel forward, right in front of the chest so it should be centered with the sternum, same movement, full breath back, and forward, so notice how their necks are following the line of the upper back. And forward, last two, and forward, last one, back and hold it here, curl the hips up away from the floor, so we want to see one straight line from shoulder to knees, a little bit higher through here, and then extend your upper back over the roller, folding at the hips, reach the hips down to the floor, lift the towel, and contract forward, lower the towel down there perfect, roll to the upper back, peel through the hips, curling up to that length and position, shoulders to knees, extend the upper back over the roller, reaching the hips long to the floor, lift the towel, and contract forward, two more times.

Towels just up to the ceiling here, then curl the hips, then extend over the roller, and folding at the hips to come down, towel up, and curl forward and then rolling back arms to the ceiling, peel through the lower body, then extend back, reach the hips, lift up, and curl forward, nice work. Alright so this next segment is with the hips on top of the roller, and we want to basically position the roller so it's right across the sacrum, it's still in the pelvis, so not on the lower back, not too low on the pelvis, right across the upper pelvis. So from here draw the legs together, and place your hands just on the sides of the roller, and think of pressing in to the sides of the roller, so you feel that with across the shoulders, and let's extend the right leg out from the knee, so we call this a knee vault, and exhale toe, ball, heel down, and the left leg out, place down, and again, right leg out, place down, and left leg out, and place down, adding onto this, right leg out, lift it up, knee to knee, place the foot, and the left, reach fold in the Hip, knee to knee and place the foot, two more, knee to knee, and place the foot, last time reach the leg out, lift it up, knee to knee, and place the foot, and extend the right leg out, lift it up, bring the left leg in, knee to knee, and extend it up to meet the right, good flex and point, I notice the articulation through the feet, flexing at the ankle, pressing through the ball of the foot to the toes, two more times. Last time flex, and point, so keep your throat a bit more open, nice. And let's inhale reach the right leg forward, exhale lift it up, and the left, hip extension and up, the right, and up, and the left, and let's work hip flexion, right leg back towards you, and up, left and up, right and up, left and up, reach the right leg back, right leg forward, let's hold that position, and just pulse the legs apart, pulse two, three, four, five, six, seven, inhale together, exhale apart, and pulse, two, three, four, five, six, one more step together and apart, and pulse, two, three, four, five, six, seven, together, and apart, and again.

Holding this position circle the legs out to the sides and complete the circle all the way round, inhale open and continue that circle around, and again open and around, two more. Last one, open and around, so the left leg is forward right leg is back, hold it there, bend the left leg draw the leg in, and pedal through, all the way through, and the right leg pulls in, and through, and left, and reach out and the right, and reach longer two more times, last one, and out, and then extend both legs up to the ceiling, flexing the feet as you lower both legs, inhale, flex and point up, and again flex and point up, against just center the body and point up, last one, and point up, bend the legs, curl the hips away from the roller, and press it out so you can place your feet. Actually place the knees over the roller, and just relax for a second. Take a deep breath in, and exhale, imprint the spine, two more, just a brief rest before the next series, last one, and exhale, and then place the feet on the roller, and reach for your towel, and bring it right up over the chest, so you can choose to either work with the legs together, or slightly apart in this one, and Claudia is wisely separating her feet slightly apart, alright so again as you pull the towel taught, curl the pelvis up with a little exhale, inhale release, exhale pull, inhale release, two more times, pull and curl the pelvis, and release, last one, and hold it here, continue that pelvic curl up to a pelvic press, reaching the arms overhead, and then stretching the spine long to the floor through the ribs, and all the way up through the pelvis. Inhale, lift the towel up, exhale curl the pelvis, full breath to stretch long overhead, that long line from shoulders to knees, rolling half way down the spine, and actively lengthen out placing the pelvis down, inhale lift, exhale pelvic curl, full breath to curl up and reach overhead, lengthen the throat, reach the ribs, and then lengthen out through the pelvis, one more time, lift and curl, and lengthen up, and overhead, rolling down sternum first, and then out through the sacrum.

Lift up, curl the pelvis, and peel up reaching overhead, holding this position, take a breath and pull the roller in just a few inches, inhale release, engage the hamstrings, slight release, two more times pull, and release, again this is not easy, and release one more, and release, and then pull the roller end, hold that there rolling halfway down throat first, rolling through the waist out through the hips, and lift the towel up, and press it all the way down. That's done, alright so let's go into the next chapter, so will put the towels away, so the next series is a series of cats going from flexion into extension with the roller, and we'll take a full breath to start with the pelvis and extend the spine all the way out, and full breath to lengthen out, and again starting with the pelvis curl the pelvis under, and round the back up to the ceiling, inhale and exhale out, and inhale and exhale round it up, and what we want to see is that the pelvis doesn't shift back or forward with this movement, so there's almost like a pivot point right through the center of the pelvis, and then curling up from here, and again full breath out, and full breath to contract under, and up, and then place the roller on a diagonal slightly to your left, so we'll do the same movement on the diagonal, we want to keep the sides of the waistline long, so it's a full breath to lengthen out, starting with the pelvis, stretching out so it will feel more of a stretch on the right side of the back, and then curl the pelvis under to come up, a little less with the neck, and again full breath out in the diagonal, and full breath to contract up. And two more times, lengthen out, and pull in from the lower belly, low back, last one lengthen out on the diagonal, and same thing to the other side. And stretching out, and up, so we do take the pelvis off center for this one, and again lengthen out, and up, last two, reaching out, feel how the breath guides the movement, and find that deep low contraction, last one, and curl from the base of the spine, and let's do two just in the center. And full breath out, and a stretch, and full breath to contract up, last time, full breath out, and contract up, and then from here circle the arms and reach the hands back to the heels, all the way to touch the heels, that's it, so you can place your hands down here, if you can, and then release the hips back to the heels, sit and press the hips forward, and release back, and forward, last two, hands on the heels, less with the neck, and forward, and set the hips back to the heels, and press forward, and set the hips back to the heels, and then from here circle the arms around and come forward into a rest position, let me just take the roller out, good so we're here on the floor, and take a deep breath into the back, and exhale, deep breath in, so hopefully your spines feel a little longer, you feel a little more engaged through your bodies, last one, and then curl the toes under, roll up to your ball, and two sets of pulses here, reach the heels to the floor, straighten the legs, and roll up on four breaths, first breath through the sacrum and tailbone, second breath through the lower back, third breath through the middle back, and the fourth breath to place the shoulders flow with the head, inhale lift up, and down, and up, two more times, lift, last time, lift and press down, and then just draw those shoulders up and place them down, thank you all, thank you all very much.