Creative Reformer Flow

Welcome to Pilates Anytime, everyone. I'm James Crader, and we are here for a reformer class with a couple of friends, Gia and Anula. So we're just gonna go some classic pilates movements with maybe some different cueing than what you're used to. When you hear this cueing, I don't want you to think that this is the absolute truth, that this is scientifically correct, I think this is just like, well, maybe how could I rethink some of the cueing and play and have fun with some of the more classical movements? So we're gonna start with actually the both of you sitting on the reformer.

Let's have you face inward, like you're sitting on a park bench. Good. And you can start with your feet and knees amply wide just so that there's a nice base of support, and then your hands can rest either on your legs, on your knees, wherever you are comfortable with, and make sure you're sitting in a way where you can feel your sits bones, those two bones underneath the butt cheeks. And from there, just begin to rock maybe to the back side of the sits bones and to the front side of the sits bones, just taking a qualitative analysis of how does that feel, do I have that movement in my pelvis? And then think, well, how's the rest of my spine responding to that?

Could, as my pelvis rocks backward, could I get maybe some flexion to happen in my spine? And that maybe when I go into the anterior side, or the front side of my sits bone, it inspires some extension. And if I can do that, is there, on the spectrum of my spine from the top of my head to my tailbone, is there a portion of my spine I overuse? Is it that mid-back, that mid-abdominal, that maybe I squeeze too much, or maybe it's my low spine that I do all of my extension with? And how can I redistribute that movement so maybe it feels a little more resonant, it feels like there is a continuity of movement from the brain to the tail?

And when that's no longer interesting, we're gonna have you sit up into your, you're more or less neutral, and then from there, we're gonna have you rock over to the left sit bone and kind of hike up the right sit bone on that other side, and see if that can inspire some lateral movement, like as I lift the left, maybe my head can kind of come over to meet it. And as I continue to do that, does my spine insist on rotating? Is there a different pattern that I let into that movement? Or is it really lateral movement? Do I keep my head still?

Maybe I need some vestibular training, some inner ear balance training? What am I gonna learn about my spine here? So we have a forward-back, we have a side-to-side, and if we made it three dimensional, what if you put on an invisible hula hoop and it just sort of went through that, and can I get all of that to happen in the pelvis, all of that to spiral upwards? Could I even get that hula hoop up around the neck and in through the shoulders? Where am I moving in my spine and where am I not moving in my spine?

And how can I begin to redistribute some of that load? What am I learning? You find yourself just going in one direction, what if you reversed it? Good. Let's do two more of those.

And am I breathing as I do this? Does it feel good? Re-find your center, and then lie down. When you lie down, we're using Balanced Body reformers, so we're just using three reds. So make it sort of that medium-heavy feel, whatever that means for you.

And to start off with, let's go right into the center of our arches, our foot arches. And press all the way out to a straight leg. Good. From there, can I completely soften my feet? I mean, just completely soften my feet?

And I'm gonna adjust Anula's feet here just a bit. We're just gonna come down just a little more into the center there so that maybe it feels like you've got some heel under and some forefoot over. And keeping my feet soft, can I increase the distance between my brain and my tail? Maybe just from an even imagery perspective, get more distance there, how did that affect my feet? Can I keep my feet soft?

The goal is as I bend my knees to come home, can I keep my feet soft? And pressing back out. And that's what we're doing, we're just moving in and out, keeping the feet soft. Where do I tend to hold tension? Do I hold tension on the inside, the outside of my feet?

And how is that reflecting all the way up? What you might notice is that the less you utilize the tension in the feet, the more the pelvis kind of steps up to the plate. And the pelvis might feel like it has to then regulate the tension from the springs just a little bit differently. And then next time you're out, stay all the way out, and experiment, could I keep my feet soft, but make my legs a little longer? Can I keep that much space in my legs as I bend my knees?

And is I press back out, still feet soft. And let's do two more. It's just kind of an awareness thing, like where am I holding tension? How am I responding to the spring tension? When you're home, let's go down to the balls of the feet.

Now whether you choose to wrap the toes over or not is up to you, but what I'm gonna suggest is can you monitor that the ball of the littlest toe is actually on the foot bar? Then from there as I press out, could I still soften my feet so that my heels sink under? And how much softer can I keep my feet as I come back in? Good. And you might notice, wow, maybe that affects my abs a little more, from a intrigue and investment perspective rather than how much can I squeeze to do that?

Do I still have the length in the legs and the spine? And then from there you can begin to play with tension in the feet. What happens if I keep the heels just a little this side of the foot bar, just a little tension? Does the pelvis and the abs, are they still interested, are they still playing there? Then bring your heels together, pressing in and out.

And these are all suggestions. If you have a different footwork you like to do, do that. Then the space between your belly button and your pubic bone could that get a little longer? We're gonna be talking about center line a little bit in this class, and the center line, I want you to think it's from your pubic bone up the center line of the six pack into the sternum, into the throat, up into the brain. Right now, we're kind of interested in the space between the pubic bone and the bellybutton, could that stay long?

Now, really squeeze your heels together and come in and out. Next repetition, barely let them touch. Which one feels better to me? Which one affects maybe my SI joints in the tension regulation system within the pelvis in a way that maybe invites some stuff into the practice that I wouldn't normally choose to activate here? And then next time you're home, stay home, let your feet go as wide as you'd like for a second position, and use your feet however you see fit.

If you want more heels, go there. If you want more balls of the toes, go there, but press in and out, to my standing position and then to my squatting position. And as I go in and out, how have I chosen to use my feet, how have I chosen to use my center line, how is my pelvis and my abs helping to regulate the tension of the springs? We hear a lot like the reformer should be an extension of your movement. What I tend to see are people using the reformer as gym equipment, it just becomes something to push and pull against, and what if instead it became an educational tool for how I regulate and respond to gravity, to tension patterns, and what I can learn about how my body can better move in gravity and move against tension, rather than just to push and pull?

One more of those. All the way back in. Next time you're in, keep your feet that wide and drop your knees to the right, and drop them over to the left, your feet can move, there's no rules here, you're just moving. One more to each side. And then we're gonna bring the feet and the legs together.

And you're gonna throw the legs up and over the foot bar. Here, you may even decide to kind of slide down so that the backs of your knees can touch the foot bar. You'll know what feels best for you. Go ahead and place your fingertips right on the top of the upper-est portion of your abs. Good.

From there, take an inhale. Exhale at the decompression of your lungs, invite your head and shoulders to lift up and off the mat. Let your inhale escort you back down, so those aren't two separate things, I don't lift and then exhale, or exhale then lift, it's like because I have breathed, I move. Good, how is that portion of my abdominal center line helping me or hindering me? Now, we're gonna have a test moment.

Come up into that, take a pause, can I come up a little higher? And then back down. Keep moving. That little bit higher, your spindle fibers within the muscle, there's always an extra, it's like a little millimeter, a little centimeter more. If you're using intra-abdominal pressure or some fascial connections to lift, your gonna come up and you're gonna hit a wall and you won't be able to suss out a little more movement, and this is a way to sort of monitor, am I using the muscle portion of my soft tissue or is it something else?

Then you can begin to slide your hands down the center line. What if it was between were your hands were and your bellybutton? Can that become my fulcrum point from where I lift? And if not, think back to your awareness exercise, where did I move? From probably from where it was right here, that's an easy, that's the T12, L1 area, that's a really easy place to move from.

This right here, this kind of L2 area is not an easy place to move from, maybe this is harder. Then go to the bellybutton kind of L3 area, how does that help or hinder me up? Can I suss out a little more lift? And then back down. Slide further down, maybe it's closer to the pubic bone, and start to come up.

And whether you use your legs, I don't care how you get there, come all the way up. Good, from there, you can move your legs to the side, I don't care how you get there but you're gonna slide back to where your legs are out in front of you. And before we do that, kind of lower the weight. I'm gonna suggest on this, again, being on Balanced Body, go to a blue spring, maybe a medium spring if you're on more of a classical piece of equipment. Good.

Regardless, your bottom is gonna be closer to your shoulder blocks, your legs are gonna be out straight in front of you, and then you're going to reach forward towards your toes. And I want you to grab a hold of your foot bar, good. And decide is that spacing good, is that gonna work for me? And if it is, flex your feet flat, and rather than think of it as a stretch, could I allow the back of my legs to glide towards my heel bones? So maybe I sensed that my legs have gotten longer, have gotten a little straighter without any extra effort.

We're definitely not looking for hyperextension, I'm looking for gliding sense of length. From there, with straight arms, with long legs and straight arms, try to pull the foot bar towards you. And notice how that engages the abs a little differently there. Can I keep the abs that engaged? And I'll just hover my hands, and then go back down, did my hand position move or is it still there?

Again, legs long, spine rounded, lift, and release. Am I over-using the area that I know I always overuse 'cause I discovered it at the beginning of the class? And can I use my abs and my spine differently here? As I go back down, could that arm pull be something other than shoulder work? Thank you.

Then from there, next time you lift your hands, could I use my whole spine to begin to lift my arms up so that my ears stay between my biceps and I sit up tall with my brain towards the ceiling, and then I go right back down? What portion of my abs, what portion of my spine is doing the work? Again, can I create the sensation that the arms are connected into the spine as I lift? And can that connection live there as I lower back down? On your last one, how can the gliding leg length help support that sensation that my arms are connected all the way down to my feet?

Open your arms, grab ahold of your straps. Good. Reach your arms out in front of you. And as you round forward in the direction of your foot bar, how can my spine help me out there? How can the leg length now influence my spine to lift and my arms to lift up tall and open my arms?

Again, as I reach forward, it is the leg gliding length, it is the stability of my trunk that allows my arms to lift. They're not unsupported up there, it's connected it all the way through, open up. Now you can continue to do this or you can do whatever version of rowing you know to do. Whatever you do, you got three more of 'em. Good.

Good, really I was looking for space and length. How does that create support, versus what else can I squeeze? Try to get out of that squeeze. One more. Good, all the way up.

Beautiful. From there, maybe put on a red on there, so you got a blue and a red, sort of a light medium weight. And we're gonna have you lie down. Legs in a tabletop. We're gonna have our hands in straps.

Good. And we're gonna have you just do a little test. Pull your arms all the way down. Do I like that weight? Is it gonna work for me today?

And end with your arms down to your side. Good. From there, could I suss out any extra length from brain to tail? Is my bottom tucked? Can it not be?

Could I literally, thank you, let the pubic bone travel that way, but allow the knees to come toward me, and can that not be a butt tuck? Good. If you have, they're doing a great job, but I'd like to see how much closer my feet can rest towards my sits bones so there's no knee tension there. Beautiful. From there, kidneys get to sink, it's a sense of sink.

Then lift your arms up, and pull 'em back down. How am I utilizing my hands there? Are they stuck here, are they stuck here? Is it because I learned that somewhere along the way? Or is there a different hand position?

Try it, what happens if I grip the straps? What happens if I do a little twist here or there? Which way gets more stuff invited to the party? And when you have found the grip you want to use, end with your arms up. Good, from there, could I lift my hands up closer to the ceiling, I mean like really lift?

Notice what that does or doesn't do to the rib cage. We'll explore that here in a bit. Pull your arms down. Could they, let's rephrase that, lift up, now pull the straps down, could your hands reach more beyond you? There you go.

When you lift, could they lift higher to the ceiling like you're literally gonna touch the ceiling? And as you pull down, they reach further than your hips. Go back up, and class, but probably a more familiar cue is now plug your arms into the socket. And now pull down. What does that do to my spine?

What does that do to my arms? One of them is gonna work better for you. You get to decide whichever one works better for you. And you're gonna do two more of those and then you're gonna do four arm circles in each direction. For my body, I like the extra reach.

It automatically engages some different abdominals in that serratus anterior into abdominal stuff, that's what I use. Good, circles. Good. Once you feel confident, those circles could be as fast or as slow as you'd like. I don't care, that's your practice.

I'm just curious what goes on with my shoulders and how does that relate to the rest of the body? Has my pelvis begun to tuck? Could I get it wider, could I get it longer? Let's do two more in each direction. And we're gonna end with our arms down by our sides, as long or as short as you would like, and then tricep presses.

I bend, then I press. As I bend and press, am I keeping the length or the shortness I've decided from my shoulders to my elbows, or have they begun to hike? Pelvis, little check-in there. And then maybe as I press my arms, I also begin to press my legs so that my legs straighten out and then as I bend, I bend. Good, that can be as low or as high as I'd like.

That's up to you. If I have that, maybe I invite my head and shoulders to lift up. What portion of my center line am I gonna do there? Good. And that can either be everything back or we can go into a full coordination.

We could lift, legs could open and close, knees can bend, and my elbows can bend. Good. Now you can do that, or I can reach, I can open, close, knees could bend, hold, could I get some tuck going on? Could I, thank you, and now elbows bend? Can I hold that pelvis off the mat as I press everything back out?

Lengthen the center line, open, close, knees tucked. Thank you, elbows bend, one more. Press, open, close. Knees, and a little tuck. And rest.

Good, straps go down, we're gonna bring out our long box from there. Once you have your long box set up, monitor that you're on a single blue. I'm gonna adjust these ladies' springs for them, but I want it relatively light. For this, I find it better to have the box on top of or covering the shoulder blocks. It's just a space thing.

You're gonna have to figure out for you what works or what doesn't work. From there, you're actually not gonna mount this up yet, you're gonna come to the empty space behind the box. Facing the box, you're gonna bring the ASIS, those hip bones right to the corner of the box. You're gonna lie down on the box and you're gonna grab ahold of not the top of the foot bar, but the sides of the foot bar. Monitor that your foot bar is secure there 'cause now with straight arms, we're gonna try to pull the bar toward us, and then relax.

And the question becomes could I use my back to pull the bar? And notice how that kind of intrigues a little extension out of that. It's not, oh, I have to pull and find extension, it's like because I have pulled, my spine goes into extension. Once you have pulled and you have found your extension, hold. Lift your legs up and off of the floor, and could the ASIS bones now sink into the box?

They will stay there as I lower my legs down, so pelvis does not move, arms are still pulling, now legs lift again. For me I always think, rather than lift legs, how can I lift the back of the knees? So as I lift and lower, good, good, think, can I get this to lift one more of those? And we're gonna end in the lift. Can I stay up there, bend my knees without dropping my knees and next time I straighten them out, could they be even higher than they were to begin with?

One more of those. Bend, pulling, stretch. Let your feet go to the floor all the way to the floor and use your arms now to, place you arms on top of the box, use your arms to push you backwards so that you can go into a standing cat cow position. Now, you might want to be down on your forearms, you might want to be on your hands, that will be up to you, but could I get a little standing cat cow thing going on? And we're gonna end wherever you interpret the most hamstring stretch to be.

Wherever your body feels the most stretch in the back of your legs, pause there. Once you have found that, close your eyes. And we're gonna switch the relationship. Think, it's not a stretch. It's not a stretch pulling my heels up, it's a gliding of muscles down my legs towards my heels, creating a little pool, puddle of water within the bottoms of the feet.

I can literally feel the hamstrings gliding down the back of my legs, widening my feet. From there, I can use my arms to kind of push forward and back a bit, I can use my arms to take me side to side a bit, however I want to explore that hamstring-puddle relationship is up to me. And when that gets boring, come on up. And if you want, you can drop your foot bar down now 'cause we're gonna go into pulling straps. So if you like it up, leave it up.

If you want it down, leave it down, whatever works for you. So we're gonna have you on your belly facing your straps. Infinite number of possibilities here. I can grab ahold of the straps, I can grab all the D-rings up higher. Here's my cue to you.

Grab a hold of the straps and show me your pulling straps. So go ahead and pull, and invite yourself up into the extension and go back out of it. I think every school has a different version. If it's arm circles, if there is a chest press, if there's a leg movement, great. What I want to know is how can you take that experimentation we just did and invite that to make your pulling straps less compressive on the spine, more lengthening brain to tail, more leg extension, and less squeeze to get there?

How am I using my hands to help me out, my pinkies? And how much easier and more levity could there be in this? One more, I'm going to pull, I'm going to literally float up and off the box, I'm gonna appreciate the length for just a moment, and then I'm gonna come back out of it. Take both straps into a single hand 'cause we're gonna turn over for backstroke. For your backstroke position, don't worry so much if your shoulders aren't on the box, what I'm more concerned with is can my sacrum be on the box?

Can my lower back and tailbone be on the box? Go ahead and put your hands on your straps, legs will go up into a tabletop, and we're gonna bring the straps to our forehead, good. And I want you to think, rowing is simply a preparation for teasers, so everything you're doing here is in preparation for your teaser. Arms and legs are gonna lift up towards the ceiling. You're gonna pause, can I get my brain and my tail to lift up more?

When I open, I only get reformer distance. Good, in a sweeping motion, can I take that and come into like a baby teaser where maybe my fulcrum is like L3 area of the center line and right back down? Think that back, where was I weak on my center line? Was it that L2 spot, was it the L3? That's where I'm gonna make my fulcrum.

That's the portion that I need to strengthen up to get into teaser. Arms are gonna lift, I come up a little higher, then I sweep. Good, again. We have four more of those. What I want you to consider is how much more warm body of water could this feel like?

Like you're in the Caribbean Ocean, there's an island over there, and you're just kind of backstroking away from it. And we're up, and we're up higher, and we open, and we stroke, and we're back in. Let's do just one more. Arms and legs are up, brain and tail are up. We open, we stroke.

We're gonna leave our legs long and we're gonna lie down with our arms in the letter T and lay the legs down, and you're gonna have a moment of consideration. I know teaser is coming, do I want straps or do I not? 'Cause it makes no difference to me. Make your decision, take your inhale, exhale. I lift my brain and my tail, I lift my arms and my legs, and I come up into my teaser, whatever that means for me, and I lie back down cohesively with continuity and space.

And back down, two more. I'm-a come up, reach, and right back down. Good, one more. And come up, reach, and then rest. Good.

You can drop the straps and we gotta take the box off from here. We're gonna bring up the foot bar back, or back, use your words, James. We're gonna bring the foot bar back up. Whatever position works best for you. And I'm switching it back to a red and a blue.

If you need knee pads, speak now or forever hold your peace 'cause we're gonna have a knee stretch exploration. So, hands are gonna be on the foot bar, knees are gonna be down, and the only thing I am really particular with in any of this, like foot to shoulder rest stuff is what your feet are doing. I'd like to see less of this, and more of this, so that the toes have some flexion to it, and unless there is a medical anatomical reason for that not to happen, see if you can veer more towards that. Now from there, set the bottom back just a bit, and I'm gonna make a reference from my mat class. Find your knee stretch shape, and then pull your nose off the floor, pull your ribs off the floor, and let the sits bones be wide.

Could I keep my nose and my ribs off the floor as I press my legs back? And back in, good. And I'm gonna go back, and I'm gonna come back in. As I keep moving, could I finesse that so maybe it's the sensation that the pad of my big toe presses out and the heel resists coming back in? The pad of my toe presses out, heel resists, so maybe that's a little hamstring to push out, and glutes resisting me in.

Pressing, and in. How much softer can I get up here? Am I overly bracing my spine? And could I relax my intestines, my kidneys, my lungs, all of that stuff on the inside, how much more space on the inside could I get? If this flat back version is working well for you or you're exploring it, stay there.

If not, go into a rounded shape with your spine. Avoid using that area or avoid overusing that area you know you overuse, and then press out, and back in. And out, and back in. Could not stay rounded, which will probably restrict how far your legs go? Press out and back in, we have three more.

Press out and back in. And two, press out and back in. One more, press out, press so far out, it opens up your spine, and then use your arms to pull you forward and up. Once you're forward and up, from your brain, round, round vertebra by vertebra by vertebra, until you end in that rounded flexed shape, use your legs to press out, open up, use your arms to help you pull up. Round, head to tail, legs pressed out.

It opens up my spine before I pull up, and just keep moving. There is a circle in there, there's an undulation wave shape that happens in there. And a finesse point, maybe instead of using your arms to pull in, what if you responded to the spring tension and it was the springs that pulled you in as you widened all the way up? One more, round to go back, legs press out, all the way up, hold. From there, keep that shape in your spine, use your arms to press the cart back and could I take my pelvis lower, lower, lower, lower, and chest higher, higher, higher, higher?

Right back up. If you have the ability, if there's a space in your lower back, when you press out with your arms, could you get the front of the legs almost down onto the cart without it being compressed in the low spine? And back up, one more like that, pressing out. And all the way back up. Round, to rest.

Good, from there, we're gonna go into a mermaid. We're gonna have your left leg, it's gonna be, we're gonna do a straddle-seated mermaid, so we're gonna have our left leg to the side, right leg in front. There you go. Good. Now I have it on a red and a blue, I'd like for it to remain kind of medium heavy.

If that's too heavy for you, decide. So let's just do this. Press your hand on the foot bar, press out, and just do a mermaid. Is that way too heavy? And if it is, change it.

From there, take your left arm, reach it out to the side, lift that left arm and as you go over, yawn. (yawning) And then come back in when you are done yawning. So that your mermaid becomes a pandiculation stretch. As I go over, I'm literally going to inhale, and I'm gonna fake it 'til it's real. And an exhale brings me back in.

So what we're doing is we're expanding that tissue, opening up the ribs, and we're getting that deep, deep, deep breath, resetting. One more. Pandiculation. (yawning) Power of suggestion. And all the way up, let's do the other side.

Good, so we have four here, that can move as quickly or as not quickly as you'd like. You know what's best for your body. So that hand is gonna go on, I'm gonna yawn as I go on (yawns) then right back up. Three more, opening up your internal organs the way that you need to open that up. Beautiful, last two.

I wish you'd make a face at me right now. (laughing) Beautiful yawns, one more. Yes. (yawning) And back in, good. From there, let's have you lie down and put your feet in straps.

If you switched it, maybe switch it back to a red and a blue, that's baseline, right? So if you want more, do more. If you want less, do less. We're just gonna do some classical leg stuff, but we are going to end up, we are going to end up in a pike and peel short spinal massage moment. So prepare yourself for that.

So we're gonna put the feet in the straps, but we're gonna start with knees bent. Good, because we've already been here today, right? So now we can kind of check in again. Is there length between my brain and my tail? Do I need my headrest to come up for this a little bit?

Is it good down? How am I gonna set myself up for success? With my legs in straps, do I need to have them squeezed together? How does it shift if they're opened up? What is just routine for me and what's working for me?

Give yourself the ability to play. From there, go ahead and press your legs all the way straight. And then as they bend, let them be in alignment with the black straps. Good. Pressing out, and back in.

We're gonna play with tension for a little bit. So, pause, as I press out, could my feet be soft and can I be so light on the straps? But as my knees bend, I want to push with everything I have into those traps like I am resisting, every bit of tension is there. On the way out, so light. Hard, push into the straps.

And that's a simple thing to remember, as my feet push away, I'm light. And as my feet come closer to my face, it's heavy. We're gonna press out and be light. We're gonna keep our legs straight. And as they lift, because my feet are coming closer to me, I'm gonna push into the straps.

And as I pull down, I want it to be as light as I can possibly be there. As it lifts and I'm pushing into that, am I tucking? Could I get some space, some length in that center line? Some width in the sits bones? And as I pull back down, does that create extra tension in my kidneys as if I'm being lifted up?

How can I let the hip joints just move? Good. If that's enough work for you, stay there and do that. If not, could that become circles? And maybe we'll do four circles in each direction.

Again, they can move as quickly or as slowly as they like. Visually, watch, do I have one circle going way out here and one circle kind of going here, what's going on with my circles? Two more, we're gonna lift, we're gonna open. Good, and here's one thing that's always interesting for me. So Gia does a turn out, and that's fine, that's cool, but I'm just curious, what happens if when you open, if your feet are required to stay neutral, how does that change it for you?

And then just move. Once you've done four in one direction and you've done for in the other direction, we're gonna monitor that the headrest is down 'cause we're gonna go up into a pike and peel. So we're gonna pull the feet down towards the foot bar, and then the feet are gonna go over the face up towards the ceiling, and then I'm gonna roll back down, vertebra by vertebra. That's the gross motion, right? It's an up and a down.

But as I go down, by feet are moving away from me, so I've got to go light. And as my feet are coming closer to me, I'm really gonna resist that, I'm really gonna push into that. And as it goes down, I'm gonna go light. Which changes how the rest of the body has to function, am I right? And what's often left out with any of these inversions is could you make an upper body work?

Could I let my upper body work for that? If that's good for you, stay there. If not, go up, upper body work, and go into your version of short spinal massage. Again, there's 107 of them, so whichever one works best for your body. As you go down, your feet are gonna move away from you, so go light on that and press out.

As your feet come up towards you, you gotta go heavy on that, right? Upper body work, upper body work, upper body work. I'm gonna frog down, I'm gonna roll through my spine, and I'm gonna transition down in whatever version I know to do. I have one more of those. And I'm gonna go up.

And I'm going to frog down. Upper body work as I articulate through the spine. What portions do I tend to overuse there? Take your feet out of straps, put the straps back on their handles or drop them to the floor, it's up to you, and you're gonna hold onto the shoulder blocks. You're going to have your elbows visible in the periphery of your vision, whatever that means for you.

What we're gonna do is take the legs in to a tabletop and we're gonna do a pike and peel without straps, whatever that means for your body. Height, I don't care, what I want you to figure out is how does that work the tension? So reach your legs, and as you go up, how am I going to use my spine here? What do I tend to overuse, where do I get stuck? And on the way down, as you move, how much lighter could my legs be?

One more of those. As I go up, I'm gonna push into my invisible straps, and I'm gonna come up, and then I'm gonna roll back down, all the way. Bring your knees into your chest and just do a little breathing there. Set your feet back onto the foot bar. This time on the balls of the toes, we're just gonna work with the feet really quick before we get up and do some arm work, so go ahead and press all the way out.

Do your traditional prancing there, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. Good. Let both heels go underneath, and then both heels together are going to lift, both heels together are gonna go under. Could I create the sensation that my heels are connected into the hamstrings, are connected into the glutes, and rather than it being a toe and calf push, it's like a whole back of the leg activity pulling up and gliding back underneath. I can literally feel the muscles glide up my body and glide back down my body.

And how does that shift, if instead of having 10 points, I just rolled to the outside edges of my feet and do that? Could I get that ball of the little toe on there, is it on there? And then how does that shift if I go to the inside of my foot? What's difficult for me to utilize? Is there still space, is there still length?

And then it became asymmetrical, maybe one foot does one, and one foot does the other. Or maybe another option is as I press out, I go big toe, but as I come under, I go little toe, there's infinite possibilities of just articulating and moving through the bony and the soft structures of the foot. How am I training my feet to respond to different textures? One more. And then bend your knees and come all the way in.

From there, we are gonna come up for some arm work. So we're gonna do our reverse chest expansions, our serve a trays, our hug a trees, all that fun stuff. I'd like to see if you can explore maybe just slightly heavier than what you're used to doing. We're gonna modify some of what the lower body is doing. So for me, I'm usually on a red and a blue here, so maybe if you're used to being on a yellow you go to blue, if you're blue, you go to red, blah, blah, blah.

From there, put your hands into your straps. And as you, we're gonna actually have you down on your knees and I'd like to see if you can explore one of, a foot position that sort of looks like this. If this is un-doable for you, give this one a try. If that's un-doable for you, you've got this option. Just something that is inspiring the feet to have to do movement, ala Philip Beach, ala Katy Bowman, ala anyone who's doing movement.

From there, arms reach down, and just arms reach forward, and back down. Do my arms feel connected into my body or does that movement stop at a shoulder joint? How could I get that motion to feel inspired and move through the whole body? Pause there. From there, can I come up onto my knees and keep pushing?

As I go back down, can I release the tension, and does that resonate all the way through the body? This time, can I do all that together? And come up, and back down. Luckily, I only have one more of those. As I come up, and as I go back down.

You know now do you need to shift weight? If you do, now's the opportunity. From there, we're gonna do, stay down, serve a tray for three, and back in. Does that feel connected through the body? Or does it feel just like I got arms doing something out there?

Could it feel connected into the body? Now serve your tray forward, come up onto your knees, and then back down cohesively with continuity, so that my motion is guided by the stability of my body on the grounded mat, responding to the tension of the spring, and back down. I have one more of those. We're going to come up and reach into that and back down. Let's go down and let's do three hug a trees there.

I'm super particular about these. It's a bodybuilding position. So it's not this, it's literally can I get those first few ribs to come forward so that the pecs are forced to do that versus a shoulder joint? It's big, right? Now this one's really difficult to navigate, so if you got a shoulder thing, if you've got a back thing, stay down there and do it.

If not, as I hug a tree, come up onto my knees. And then open up as I go back down. I have two more of those. I'm gonna come up, and I'm gonna go back down. One more of those, I'm gonna come up, and I'm gonna go back down, and then I've got some salutes, shave the head, whatever you want to call 'em, we're gonna go just arms first, and this is the killer, I'm gonna come up and I'm gonna come up.

Yes, and I'm gonna go back down, 'cause you got that long lever out there. And up, and back down. Come on feet, help me out here. And back down. Put your straps down, it's time to explore some elephants.

For me, I like a red and a blue. You might be different, but we're gonna take it through a progression. So your hands are gonna be on your foot bar, you're going to stand up on the machine, and I think for today, we're gonna have the feet maybe at most three quarters of the way back, we're not gonna go all the way back, and we're gonna go flat back to start off with 'cause again, it's gonna be a progression. And your shoulders are gonna be more on top of your wrists versus way back here like in a downward dog position. So we're gonna start forward.

You're gonna use your hands, and then pull your nose off the floor, pull your ribs off the floor, and keep your heels down as you press the cart back with an inhale, and let your exhale bring it forward. Because I've inhaled, it goes out, because I've exhaled. Now although we're gonna say heels stay down, what does that feel like, if you feel as if your big toes push that out? And how is that different than if the outside edges of your foot pushes that out? And I'm not asking for a toes to lift, your heels to lift, it's just simply, where do I get that motion from?

What is difficult, what is hard, and how does that relate to what I felt when I was doing that foot exploration in my prancing? And then what if goes asymmetrical? What if it's like big toe on one side and heel on the other side? And then it's a different way. And then it's a different way.

And if that feels good, then I'm gonna shift the weight backwards so now it's more like an extreme flat back, and I'm gonna do it again. What foot position is bringing the most to the party? Like where is it like, oh yeah, I feel hamstrings, oh yeah, I feel inspired in my abs, oh yeah, I feel my shoulders widening so that all that other stuff doesn't have to be other stuff? It's like oh, because I'm doing this, it's inspiring that. And if that feels good, now do your rounded back version.

And am I overusing that one area of my spine? Are my arms still connected into my body? Is there a continuity of motion there, so it's not arms doing one thing and legs doing another? I press out and I draw it back in. My inhale brings it out, my exhale draws it back in.

I have three more. I go out, I draw it back in, I go out, I draw it back in, one more, I go out, I draw it back in. And I should have said this before but we'll take a little pause 'cause I'd like now your headrest to go up. We're gonna go into a long stretch here, and we're gonna use the headrest as sort of a positioning location for our feet. So balls of the feet go in between the headrest and the carriage, and you're going to press out to your plank, and you're gonna decide is this the way I'd like to be on it?

And if not, speak now or forever hold your peace. You're gonna bring yourself forward. Could I come in front of my hands, how far can I come? Pause there, can I now come up onto my tippy-toes and stay on my tippy-toes without hiking, stay up on my tippy-toes to push back? When I'm as far back as I can be, can I pause the cart there and draw my energy back into my heels, going back, back, back, back, back?

Can I stay there and go forward with my arms? When I've reached that limit, can I pause there and go up onto my toes 'cause my body is doing it, not my feet, stay there as I go back, and drop the weight into the heels? You have two more of those. Good. Pull my nose off the floor.

There it is, pull my ribs off the floor. Good, one more. And then drop down to your knees. Beautiful. From there, like we're in home stretch, so we're gonna have some side body exploration and then we're all done.

So we're gonna have you turn so that your right hand is on the foot bar. Your right shin is sort of in alignment with the outside edge of your carriage, and your left foot, I know, it's a lot of placements, your left foot is gonna go onto the forward, on the mat in front of the shoulder block. Good. See if you can get rather than the toes, see if you can get the outside edge there. Good, we're gonna explore some side plank stuff.

Okay, knee stays down, foot stays down, left arm reaches out to the side, and I'm gonna use my left foot to push that cart away as far as I can push. My right knee presses down, there's not a bit knee in the house on that left side, so press out, there you go. My arms get as wide as they can be, and then I'm back in. It is the motor of my left leg that presses the cart as my body expands and comes back in. If I need a weight adjustment, a tension adjustment, it's now.

So pressing out, and back in. Here we go. Press out, in your most expansive, biggest shape, pause, do I have enough side body control to keep everything as is and pick up this bottom foot to place it over here? And if not, that's fine. Don't move, put it back, and then come in.

Yes, so we're talking points out there, we're not talking movement. If I can't do this, why am I doing star? So, exactly, right? So use the power of the left leg to press out its expansiveness, pause, do I have enough side body, it's not shoulder, it's not abs, it's not length, it's side body, to move that foot there and move it back without moving the cart or compromising that area of my spine or those shoulders? One more on this side.

Pressing out, stick it, move, move back, and come in. The good news is you're done on that side, the bad news is you got three on the other side. Okay, here we go. So it's fun, right? It's levity.

I'm not at a scarcity from where I can move from, right? It's not a shoulder thing, it's not a hip thing, it's my body. So I can press out, that's the job of my right leg. Something else can do the work. I don't even have to do it on that rep.

I can, and then back in. That's fine, it felt good for you. Go ahead and (laughs) real life, sometimes it happens. Let's do it again, pressing out. Anula Maiberg, ladies and gentlemen.

And back in. Let's do just one more. Good, I press out, there is an energy source that does that. I react to the tension, and then I re-react to the tension. And I bring it all the way in.

Good. We're gonna go into side splits to finish out. We're gonna be there for a bit, so put the foot bar down and decide on what weight you'd like it. For me, I would advise here to probably go somewhere in the range of like a red and a yellow. Good.

And let's have both of you face into the studio. Good, good. And I am so unparticular whether your left foot is close to your right foot or all the way out, you have a spot that you like, go there. Open up. Pause, go, is this the right weight for me?

Bring it back in, if I need to adjust. Open up. Pause, here's the deal right? All of us go out to where our body weight is useful, and then it's like, well, I'm done there, could you go out a little further? 'Cause that's the real tension, that's the muscle.

Pause there, how gracefully and with continuity can I bring it in without tucking, without over-squeezing? Can I just respond to come back in? So you're gonna go out to where weight helps you. You're gonna pause and you're gonna suss out a little more. Does that feel equal, right and left, or is it that one thing that you overuse?

And then bring it all the way back in. Now go out to right when you have to use the muscle. So you're gonna pause there and you're gonna hold. From there, could I just get a little hip sway without moving the cart? Could I get a little hula hoop without moving the cart?

Could I get a little flex and extend? And somewhere in there I'm gonna find like, okay, this is a different pelvic position for me. Maybe it brings more to this, maybe it's just an area that I need to work. I'm gonna hold that pelvic position and come back in. And I'm gonna do two more from that new pelvic position.

And it doesn't have to be, it's not the right position, it's just a new position. One more. And back in. Now how about we do three where you get to expand the whole body? And if your arms want to go up, if they want to go out to the side so you're gonna open up and it's a stretch, maybe there's an inhale that lives there.

Exhale, bring it back in. Two more like that. And back in. I have just one more like that, opening back up, and bring it back in. Hands can either go on your hips or be down by your side, doesn't matter.

What I would like for you to explore now is could my pelvis rotate to the left, or let's rephrase that, pelvis rotates towards the cart? Yes, and then press out. Before I come back in, rotate my pelvis the other way and come back in. Before I push out, pelvis rotates to push out, pop, hold, am I going only to my weight limit or am I going, going? Thank you, rotate to come back in, good.

Rotate before you go out all the way to that tension, pause, rotate before you come back in, come all the way in, stay in that rotation, and now press out, it's like you're moving backwards. Pause there, rotate, and come back in backwards. There's a rhythm to that, right? There's like this anterior, posterior sling, rotational thing happening, so let it happen. Rotate to move.

Rotate before you move. Good, one more. Could I relax my inside as I do that? Reach your arms up towards the ceiling, take your inhale. Exhale from my brain to my tail.

I'm gonna round down all the way and let gravity do the work. On the way up, can I let the hamstrings glide towards my heels to erect my spine up with continuity and my brain is tall? Arms are gonna lift up one more time. Big inhale, do they feel connected? Thank you, rather than, they don't have to pull down, they just have to feel involved.

Then, rounding down, brain to tail, hamstrings glide and puddle at your feet. And on the way up, I'm just responding to gravity to lift, arms now stay dangled down to my side. I take my last inhale. I exhale, 'cause I'm all done. Thank you so much ladies. (all applauding)

Great job. Thank you so much, I appreciate you joining us today.