Traditional Fletcher Class

Welcome to class. I'm Kyria and I'll be teaching a beginning to intermediate mat class. This has been requested by several of our teachers around the world. So, I hope you'll enjoy. We'll be using incorporating the Fletcher Percussive Breath Technique.

It is audible. I believe there is a segment on Pilates Anytime describing the breath technique. So, if you have an opportunity to watch that before the class, I think you'll benefit more from the class. So, we'll begin with what we call standing and centering. And we wanna bring attention to each part of the body.

And we'll start with the feet. So, I'd like for you to just lift your toes up, and lower the toes down. (breathing) Inhale to lift and exhale to lower. Let's open our arms with this movement. Inhale open and exhale close.

And try to feel that lateral movement through the ribs. (breathing) Two more times. And exhale. Last time. (breathing) And then pressing to the ball of the right foot, lower the heel.

Feeling that fold in the front of the hip. (breathing) And pressing the ball of the foot firmly into the floor, adding an opposite arm movement. (breathing) Adding a double breath. (breathing) Two more sets. (breathing) Last set.

(breathing) And then from here, simply plie reaching arms forward. Open the chest. (breathing) Lower the arms. (breathing) Folding into the hips. (breathing) Complete each breath cycle.

(breathing) Last one and hold the arms open, pulse back, engaging those upper back muscles without arching the back. Two more sets. (breathing) Last set. And then draw the wrists together and press down, feeling the length through the sides of the body. (breathing) And roll the shoulders up, place them on your back.

(breathing) Feel that length through the sides of the neck. (breathing) Last two. (breathing) Last one. And reaching the right arm out, left arm out. And center.

(breathing) And the right. (breathing) Rotating the neck, feeling that stretch in side of the neck. (breathing) Last one, out and center. And again, plie, reaching the arms forward, come into an upper contraction. Take a full breath to round over towards the floor, placing the fingertips on the floor.

Full breath to extend those hips up to the ceiling. (breathing) Inhale plie, exhale, press up. And plie. And again, press the hips up and bend. Last one.

And bend, and then release the heels and come down into a ball shape. Pulse the hips to the heels. (breathing) Two more sets. (breathing) Last set. And draw the knees down to the mat, shift off to your right hip.

And center the hips on the mat. Separate the heels so they line up with the sitz bones. Place the hands high on the shins and lengthen the spine up to the ceiling. Take a deep breath in, exhale into your contraction. Low contraction, inhale, lengthen up.

And contract back, two more times. Lengthen up and back, keeping those feet planted on the floor. And contract back, reaching the arms forward. Three more breaths to roll down, (breathing) reaching each bone into the mat, placing the shoulders and arms down by your sides. Extend the legs long on the mat, and just release any tension in the hips.

So, the legs will fall out to the sides. And let's work the breath and feel that imprint of the body and the spine into the mat. Take a deep breath in and exhale, imprint. (breathing) Feel the lateral movement into the ribs, and feel the length through your spine as you exhale. And again, deep breath in, and exhale every bit of air.

Last one. And exhale, fold the right leg into tabletop, and bring the left leg in to meet it. Holding this position, float the arms up to the ceiling and turn the palms to face one another, lifting the shoulders up into protraction. And then imprint the shoulders into the floor. Inhale, shoulders up, exhale, press.

And again, up. (breathing) Last one, press down. Turn the palms to face outside, and exhale, curl forward. (breathing) Inhale deep in that curl. Exhale back to the mat.

(breathing) Full breath to curl forward, keeping the hips down, (breathing) deep in the curl, back to the mat. (breathing) Two more of these. (breathing) Beautiful across the shoulders and back to the mat. Last time, curling forward and hold the position. Begin pulsing on a four count breath.

In, two, three, four, out, two, three, four. Two, two, three, four. (breathing) That's it, think of weighting the sacrum and the hips down into the mat. Take a full set to extend those legs up to vertical. (breathing) And four sets here.

So, Ron developed this progressive hundred partially to stabilize the pelvis, but also work the progression of the movement. (breathing) Last set here. (breathing) One more, sorry. (breathing) And lower halfway down with those legs. (breathing) Four sets here, lengthening through the toes, lengthening through the fingertips.

(breathing) Last set. (breathing) And take a set to lower down to your hundreds position. (breathing) So, it's like a long, hollow canoe shape, (breathing) pressing the shoulders into the mat. (breathing) Two more sets. (breathing) Last set here.

(breathing) Hold it here, take a deep breath in, exhale, lower the legs long to the floor. Inhale, lift the arms up, and exhale, stretch back overhead. That's over, lift the arms, flex the feet. Exhale into an upper contraction. Take a full breath to curl the body up and away from the floor, point, roll to the lower back.

(breathing) And a full breath to lengthen all the way out. (breathing) Lift and flex, upper contraction, heeling forward. (breathing) Point, open the front of the hips. (breathing) And again, try to feel each bone as you stretch out overhead. Two more of these.

Lift, upper contraction, hollow up and over. (breathing) Point and roll down, (breathing) stretching long overhead. (breathing) Last one. (breathing) Hollow to curl. Point and reach the lower back, (breathing) stretching out overhead.

(breathing) Beautiful, inhale, lift the arms up, press the arms down by your sides, and fold both legs in towards you, extending the legs up to the ceiling. Flex and point, (breathing) flex and point, two more times, flex, point, last set, flex and point. Full breath to peel the hips up and overhead, legs are parallel to the ceiling. Inhale, flex, and reach the spine long to the mat. Inhale, point, and exhale, peel up and overhead.

Flex, reach with the heels as you lengthen out of the neck, down to the mat. And point, peel up and over. (breathing) Flex and roll the spine down. (breathing) One more time, point and up and over. (breathing) Flex and roll it down.

(breathing) Point and hold this position. And let's just do a very beginning corkscrew. So, let's rotate the hips to the left, keeping the legs together. Exhale, pull the hips center. Inhale, rotate the lumbar spine.

Exhale, pull center. And again, to the left, and pull center. And to the right, and pull center, turning that into a circle. Inhale left, around and center. And to the right, around and center.

Think of circling the sacrum and around. And again, to the right, around and center. One more, each direction. (breathing) Last one, around and center, holding this position, lift the arms up, open out to a tee position. And lower the right leg long to the mat.

(breathing) Then try to press that leg firmly into the mat, and then pulse the left leg back. (breathing) Flex the foot, flex, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Take a full rest to point, and circle the leg across the body, around and up. That's it, keeping the hips still. Find the movement in the hip socket.

And again, around and traverse. Open, around and lift. Shoulders to the floor. Three, lift, last one, lift up, hold it here. Bring the right leg up and lower the left leg long to the mat.

Pulse it back. (breathing) Flex, flex, two. (breathing) Full breath to point. And four circles across the body, around and lift. Use the breath to move the leg.

(breathing) Last one and traverse. Open, around and up. (breathing) Stabilize that opposite hip. Last one. (breathing) Full breath to lengthen out to the mat.

(breathing) Lift the arms, flex the feet. Come into an upper contraction. Peel forward into a full contraction, rounding the body forward. And then just rock that contraction back to the back of your sitz bones. Point the toes, draw the legs in for rolling like a ball.

So, let's start with the legs together, hands a little lower on the legs. That's it, shoulders are down. And then press the legs out into the arms to make the ball more three dimensional. And take two breaths here just to deepen that shape, deepen that position. We're gonna maintain that shape as we rock back and up.

Inhale, rock back, exhale, up. (breathing) Pelvis up and down. (breathing) And again, up and down. Two more times, up. Last time.

Pelvis up and down. Draw the right leg in, outside hand to the ankle, left leg is long. Good, hands on top, elbows wide. And holding this position, just take a breath to switch, draw the other leg in. (breathing) And switch, outside hand.

(breathing) Two more. (breathing) Last one, holding that right leg in, roll down to your upper contraction, elbows are wide, chest is open, breath to switch. (breathing) And switch. (breathing) And switch. Pull from the back deep in the contraction.

Two more. (breathing) Last one. And fold both legs in towards you. Put hands a little bit lower on the legs, keeping the pelvis down. Inhale, stretch out and pull in.

Reach longer and pull in. Try to get the arms behind the head. (breathing) Two more, out, in, last time. Stretch out and in, and send both legs up to the ceiling, reaching for the right ankle, stretch the left leg long. Again, elbows wide, chest is open.

Take a breath to switch. (breathing) That's it, weighting the pelvis down on the mat. (breathing) And switch. (breathing) Last two. (breathing) Last one, both legs up to the ceiling.

Place the hands behind the head. (breathing) Take a breath just to deepen your upper contraction. (breathing) And inhale, flex down, point to lift. Flex to lower, point to lift. Flex to lower, lift.

Last one, lower and lift, hold it here, draw the legs to nighty-nighty. And then just keeping the legs at nighty-nighty, take a full breath to twist to the left, (breathing) shoulder and center. And a full breath to twist to the right (breathing) and center. (breathing) And again, to the left (breathing) and center, and to the right (breathing) and center. This time as you twist to the left, draw that leg in, extend the right leg long.

Full breath to the other side. (breathing) And twist, and twist, looking to the back elbow and twist. That's it, rotating around the rib cage. Two more, twist and twist, and draw both legs in. Reach the arms forward, rock up to a sitting position.

And extend the legs out on the mat. Separate the legs, flex the feet. Reaching the arms forward, think of lengthening up against the wall behind you. Take a deep breath in, exhale, spine stretch. Starting from the head, peel the body forward, even curve of the spine and full breath to roll all the way up.

(breathing) Inhale and exhale, peel forward. (breathing) And roll up with the breath, shoulders down the back. (breathing) And again, full breath forward, up and over. (breathing) And rolling up. (breathing) Last one.

(breathing) And roll up even taller than the first one. Open the arms out to a tee position. (breathing) And inhale, rotate left, or right, and center. And right and center. And again, left and center, and right and we'll go into a progressive saw.

Rotate left, saw once, and reach. Lift up, pull center. And again, to the right and reach once. Lift and center, two saws. Bringing out the waistline, reach farther and lift and center.

Reach and really press that air out. And lift, going into three. Rotate and reach farther, farther, up. Center. (breathing) Deepening the rotation and the contraction four times.

And reach, two, three, and four, and lift. And center, last one. Rotate and reach. Three and four and lift and center. Draw the legs to a diamond.

And thread the arms through the diamond, placing the hands on the base of the ankles. And come to your balance. (breathing) So, let's do this seal without the claps. And then I wanna do a very obvious clap coming from the hips for the next four. Inhale, rock back.

Exhale, up. (breathing) And rock back and up. Two more times, hips up and down. Last time, up and down. Inhale, rock back, clap, clap, forward, clap, clap.

Back, clap, clap, forward, clap, clap. Back, and forward. Last one. And forward, place the hands on top of the ankles. Good, so the arms are just on the inside of the legs.

Yeah, you got it right there, good. And let's press the right leg out, and pull it in. Press the left leg out. And both legs reach out and in. Starting left, and reach.

(breathing) And open. Both legs out and in. And then from here, both legs out. Draw the legs together. Open and then pull back to that diamond position.

Reach and together. (breathing) Two more, out, together. Open and diamond, last one. (breathing) And full breath, press out to V, holding this position. Inhale, rock back, and rock up, balance.

And again, rock back and up to the balance. Nice, two more. Back and up, last time, back and come up. Hold the balance, that's it. Yeah, just center yourself forward on the mat if you can, McKenna.

And legs out, hold it there. Draw the legs together, and then reach the arms so they form parallel lines to the legs. And then roll that shape out onto the floor, stretching arms out overhead. Going into the teaser. Circle the arms and lift both ends up, keeping that scoop in the belly, beautiful.

And then roll through the back and stretch out overhead. Circle and peel, reaching out to lift up. And then reach the lower back, open the hips and stretch the body. Two more. And up, that's it, and roll it out.

(breathing) Last one. And come up, and roll through the spine, and lengthen out, good. And let's just lower the left, turn down by your side, bend the left leg, placing that foot on the floor, and press with the left leg over to the right to roll onto your front. Start with the hands just underneath the forehead, elbows are wide. And let's focus on imprinting the back to the ceiling.

Take a deep breath in and hollow your belly up to lengthen through that lower back. Inhale and exhale. Think of creating a little lift right through here. And release slightly, and then reconnect here as you exhale. One more time.

And then find that connection, try to hold onto it. Place the hands outside the shoulders. That's it, so the elbows are reaching down from the hips. And let's just wing the elbows up towards the ceiling. So, bring the elbows up, and then press the elbows down to your waist.

Feel that connection into the back. Two more times, elbows up and press down. Feel that connection. Two more times, up. Last time, up and down.

So, we've connected the front and the back of the body. Peel the chest up into what we call a baby swan. Coming up, inhale, lift a little bit higher. And exhale, stretch out. And again, draw the shoulders down your back.

And inhale at the top, and lengthen out. So, use that Eve Gentry or Michelle Larsson cue of rolling the marble with the nose. Roll the marble, lift up through the chest. Inhale, lift, and exhale, lower. One more time, draw the shoulders down your back, and lift up and lower down.

Two breaths into the full swan. So, bending through the upper back, and then continue peeling up to even back bend. Inhale, lift higher, and stretch all the way out. (breathing) And again, two breaths up. (breathing) Go for that even curve.

(breathing) Inhale, lift, and lower. (breathing) And again. (breathing) And lift up, nice, Michelle. A little more lift with the chest. And lower all the way down.

Last one. (breathing) And peel all the way up holding this position. Inhale, lift, exhale, rock. And up, and rock, and lift, and rock. Up and rock, last one, rock, lift up, hold it, and use your contraction to pull your back into a rest position, stretching long.

(breathing) And two breaths here. And again. And let's walk the hands over to the left. So, walk your hands to the left, that's it. And press the right shoulder to the floor.

(breathing) Feel that stretch all the way down this side of the body. And then walk the hands through center, around to the right. And pressing the left shoulder down. (breathing) And then coming back to center, and come back down onto the mat. This time, up onto the elbows for the single leg kick.

So, draw the elbows back towards you. Try to draw the belly up away from the mat. So, we wanna limit that low back extension. And we'll start with the right and it'll be a flex, point, extend. So, let's all start together.

Ready and flex, point, and reach. And flex, point, and reach. And again. Keep pulling the chest through. Flex, point, and reach, two more.

(breathing) Last one, point and reach. And then come down onto your left cheek, hands high on the back, and reach the elbows to the floor. (breathing) So, let's just work the upper body part of the double leg kick first. Inhale, lift, reach and look out, and turn to the right. And again, inhale, lift, and turn.

Again, extending through the upper back and rotating the neck. Last one, lift, and turn. This time, lift up, turn and kick, two, three, and lift. And kick, two, three, suspend. And pull, two, three, two more.

(breathing) That's it, last one, lift and turn and kick, two three, and lift up, find that reach, lift. Place the hands on the mat. And let's press up onto all fours. That's it, so the hands are directly underneath the shoulders, knees directly underneath the hips. And going into a cat back, rounding through the spine.

(breathing) And then just lengthen out to a long, flat back. And then a full breath to extend the spine. (breathing) And a full breath to find center. (breathing) A full breath to round. (breathing) Full breath to lengthen out.

(breathing) And a full breath to extend. (breathing) And lengthen out to a long, flat back. And then come onto your left side for the side kicks. So, line up your body with the back of the mat. That's it, top hand is behind the head.

And let's lift that top leg, right leg up and lower it down. And lift up and lower down. And again, lift and lower, and lift, lower, lift it up, hold it there. And think of drawing circles with your heels. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. And traverse. (breathing) Hold it there and sweep the leg forward for two, back for one. And forward, two, and back.

And again, stabilizing the trunk. Last one, forward, two, and back. Stack the legs, one on top of the other. So, let's start with the turn outs. Turn out and parallel.

Turn out, parallel. Last two, turn out, parallel. Last one and parallel. Turn out, hold that turned out position. Point the toes in javelin, pay the leg in, up, flex, down.

And in, up, flex down. Two more, in, up, and press. Last one, up and hold that position. And then place the heel in front and in back. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Notice that U shape of the leg. Exhale, two more.

And exhale, last one. And draw the legs one on top of the other, parallel. And then lower down onto your left side and bring the legs back so they're more in line with the body. And we're thinking of lifting the waistline up away from the floor, reaching those legs as long as you can. Press both legs up and lower.

Press both legs up and lower. Press up and lower, last one. Up, lower down. Press the legs up, flex the feet in a walking pattern. Inhale, exhale, notice how vigorous this movement is.

Again, without moving the torso. Two more sets. (breathing) Last set. (breathing) And reach the legs long and together, lower down. Fold the legs in towards you.

And sit, bring the hands behind to extend the legs out to a teaser, and circle the legs to the other side, and come down. Good. Top hand behind the head. And let's lift that left leg up, lower it down. Just to hip height.

And again, lift and lower, last one. And lift the leg up, hold it there, circling forward. Circle, two, three, four, five, six, reverse. Circle, two, three, four, five, six. And then from here, reach forward for two, back for one.

And inhale, inhale, exhale. Inhale, inhale, exhale. Two more, keeping that leg on an even shelf. Last one, and exhale, stack the legs. (breathing) And turn the top leg out from the hip and parallel, keeping the pelvis still.

So, feel that action in the hip socket. Last one, and parallel, full breath to turn out and point the toes. And fold the leg in, reach up, flex down. Inhale, inhale, exhale. Last one.

Hold it here and place the heel in front and in back. Inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale, two. (breathing) Keep the lift in the body. Last one. And then stack the legs, bring them to parallel.

And come down onto your right side. (breathing) Take a breath to lift the waistline up away from the floor. And press both legs up and down, using the inner thigh of the bottom leg, outer thigh of the top, adductors and abductors. Two more, lift up, lower down. Last time, up, lower, lift up and flex the feet.

And the walking, inhale, exhale, two. Exhale, three. And four, and reach the legs long to lower them down. And then let's come back onto the back, center yourself on the mat. Arms long by your sides.

And fold the legs in so the heels are in line with the sitz bones. So, slightly apart. Again, feel those foot centers into the floor, feel the imprint of the body. And take a breath just to curl the pelvis. And then continue peeling up to a pelvic press position, so there's one straight line from your shoulders to your knees.

Rolling down just through the upper back. And then roll to the waistline. And then actively lengthen to place the pelvis. Curl the pelvis. (breathing) Peel the spine up, feel that length and that reach through the knees.

And inhale, roll, so think sternum to the mat. Beautiful, Michelle, then ribs to the mat. And then actively place your pelvis down. Two more times, curling. (breathing) And peeling up, reaching long.

(breathing) Roll the sternum. (breathing) Roll the ribs. (breathing) And place the pelvis. One more time, curl the pelvis. (breathing) Peel the spine, come all the way up, feel that opposition, that reach.

Now, press the heels up and reach the heels down. Keep the hips lifted as you reach the heels. Press up, reach down, two more. Up and lower, last time. Lift and lower, and then keeping the heels down, press the hips a little bit higher.

And roll the chest to the mat. (breathing) Roll the waist to the mat and actively place the pelvis. (breathing) Same position, simply draw the legs together and bring the heels a little bit closer towards you. Curl the pelvis up. A little bit harder with the legs together, and peel the spine up, holding that position.

That's it, pulse the hips up. Feel that hamstring connection. Five, six, and then keeping the hips lifted, extend the right leg out from the knee, place it down. And extend left leg out, place the foot. Right leg out and place.

Left leg out and place. Full breath to extend that right leg out. Fold up, flex down, that's it, just to the knee. Two more, lift and press, lift and press. Point the toes and place the foot.

Left leg out on a breath, fold up, press down. Lift and press, three and press, four and press, point, and toe, ball, heel. Press the hips even higher, roll through the chest. Roll through the ribs. Roll out through the pelvis, and extend the legs long on the mat.

And again, lift the arms, flex the feet, upper contraction, (breathing) peeling the body forward, up and over. (breathing) And roll up through the spine as you open the arms out into a tee position. Good, and a little longer through here, shoulders down. Let's take a spine twist to the right. Inhale, inhale, exhale.

And to the left, two and center. No shift of the hips. And center. Twist farther and one more set. Twist farther and center.

Last one. Reaching the arms forward, point the toes. Two breaths to roll down, arms down by your sides. And let's reach the right arm overhead. Again, bend that left leg and press yourself around onto your front.

Good, extend the legs out, reach the arms overhead. And let's separate the legs and the arms so you form a narrow X with the body. So, the legs are still in parallel but slightly apart. And lift right arm and left leg long away from the floor, exhale down. Notice how the head lifts with the arms, opposite arm and leg, and lower.

Try to get a little bend in your upper back. That's it, beautiful. And lift up and lower down. And then take a full breath to lift all four limbs away, (breathing) and full breath down. (breathing) Reach out to lift up (breathing) and lengthen to lower.

(breathing) One more, out to lift up and lengthen to lower. This time, lifting up and holding this position, shoulders down, opposite arm and leg. Inhale, exhale, very clean movement. Exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Two more sets, exhale.

Last set. And then stretch out and lower down. That's it, bend the elbows, place the hands directly underneath the shoulders. Legs are together, curl the toes under and press up into a plank position. Good, and again, just take a breath to stabilize and lengthen this position.

So, we wanna feel the reach out through the heels and the crown of the head. And let's do what we call a scapular push-up. So, I want you to round the scapula away from the spine, and then pull the scapula towards the spine. Away from the spine and towards the spine. And again.

(breathing) Last one. And towards, and then take a full breath to find center with your scapula. So, it's in between those two positions. And then we wanna stabilize the upper back. Four push-ups, bend and extend, bend and extend.

Keeping the neck long, extend. Last one, and extend. And then from here, fold the hips up to the ceiling, reach the heels down, press the heels up and open back out to your plank position. Hips ups, heels down. Heels up and open.

Two more. (breathing) And heels up, open the hips. (breathing) Last one. (breathing) And lift the hips up and hold it there. Walk the hands in and lower the heels as you walk the hands in, two, three, four.

Two breaths in the forward bend. (breathing) And rolling up, think of rolling up through the back of the pelvis, and then rolling up through the lumbar spine, rolling up through the thoracic spine. And then place the head right on top of the spine. Inhale, lift up, and grow taller as you press down. And again, lift the air and press.

Last two, lift up, press down. One more, lift up and press down. And you are done for the day. Thank you all very much. Thank you.