Mixed Equipment Basics

Hi, this is Jane. Do you remember Jane? Jane was here about what, a year and a half ago. Jane lives in bath. That's an England, she's she say, how do you say that ball? No, Beth. Oh, Beth. Okay. So Jane lives in Bath in England and she's come to have a session last time that she was here. Go ahead and lay on your back. Last time that she was here, we gave Jane her very first Palati session ever.

Um, since then she's had a couple more, but we're going to give her another one and that's exciting. So Jane, go ahead and bend your knees. What are we going to do is just rest your hands on your ribs. So we'll just start to by taking a couple of breaths. So as you inhale, I want you to feel that lateral expansion of breadth that we've spoken about. And as you exhale, it's just a reminder of that end of the exhale, end of the exhale and of the Xcel blowing all the air out of the body and pulling in just below the belly button, like a couple inches above the pubic bone. And inhale again. So we're getting to get moving pretty much straight away.

But I like to just start with that reminder of breath and how in order to keep the abdominal muscles engaged through our Plati session, we have to do that lateral breath pattern. So one more time, Jane in here and then drawing in in through the just the tissue and then feel the softening of the ribs and how it's like the pubic bone in the ribs can energetically pull together. Yeah. And I know that she's, she's connected cause I can feel it in cause I can see that she's out of breath. So bring your arms down. Okay. So we're going to move into a pelvic chrome's just going gonna shift this foot a little forward cause there'll just a little crooked. Okay. So the pelvic curl or the bridge, just take a breath in that lateral breath pattern. And as you exhale, what I want you to do is I want you to flatten your spine against the mat. And then just piece by piece, I want you to start to pick your body up off the mat, your pelvis off the map, yet you're doing beautifully rolling the spine up. And as you do that, feel as though your knees are stretching away from you, but your heels are pulling back towards you.

It's a nice way to get a hamstring cramp. Lift up a little more right there and in here, and then you're going to drop down through the throat, through the chest. So we lay the spine back down, starting at the very top of the spine. That's really nicely done, Jane. Feel that your head can kind of stretch out this way as you lay down.

And then as you go down you're going to go up just a little bit past that neutral alignment and into a lower back heart and just feel how, it's just cool how the head gets to slide, just feels nice. And then do that again. So reaching the arms towards the feet, rolling the body. I feel the ribs are gonna drop just below the pubic bone. Inhaling to pause and exhaling, softening the throat, softening the chest to the arms. The shoulder blades are just on the outside of the back near the arms so they don't have to pinch together. Yeah, and drop all the way down neutral and go a little past neutral and let your head slide.

And then we just remind ourselves that our pelvis is connected to our head all the time. Yeah. And let's do that two more times. So rounding a, so I think it's important to, especially when just starting, go ahead and start lowering down to just continue to practice. Already learned skills rather than making it important to do something brand new all the time. Let's do one more exhale, feeling the arms reaching this time Jana, I'm going give you a little add on. What I want you to do is take your arm straight up towards the ceiling and then reach them back over your head. They're not going to go on the mat, they're just going to hover off. And then as you roll down, I want you to create a sensation of reaching your spine in both directions using your arms. So like there's something above you that you're reaching, you feel how that kind of gives you a little bit more feeling of range coat. And then you just can bend your arms and what you're going to do with your hands. So you can just bring them just to the mat like that. Does that comfortable? Yep. Okay, cool. So they could be straight out, but then she just kind of hang over the outside. So she's just going to do that.

But I'd like for you to do, Jane is take a breath in. As you exhale, let the ribs soften and lift this leg. So we lifted the leg with support from the abdominals. Take another inhale. Exhale, lift this leg through. Just using this stomach to get ourselves into position. Really. Okay. So what we're going to do is we're going to bring the legs into a table top shape, and that's like a 90 degree angle from the hip to the shoulder.

I wonder if this would be comfortable for you. Try this. Okay. Is that nice? So then she's just holding on the outside of the mat and said, and what's nice about that Jane? So we're going to do spine to a supine, and that means the knees are going to go over to one side, keep the knees aligns here, and lifting off one hip onto the other. And then you want to put what's nice about that is you can kind of think scapular ribs and then pulling back through here as you come back. The drop down here first. Yeah. So the ribs soften down. Then the bony motion of the rib area kind of talks to the muscles that live around there. And then inhale as you come towards me, lift this knee to make, make a match. This knee. Yeah. Good. And then exhale.

You could feel the Scapula and how it's related to their rib cage and their rib cage and how it's related through the muscles of the trunk into the pelvis. Let's do a couple of more. So in order to keep the knees lined up, you've got to lift one hip right off and lift onto the other. Try and keep the knees aligned. That's gorgeous. And then exhale, softening, pulling the dominoes away from the away from your clothing and in, he'll come towards me. And so instead of doing that with the hip, just lift it straight up off the mat like that. Okay. Yeah. So, so what's, so what you're wanting to do is actually, yeah, that's a really common pattern that happens.

So you just keep the nasal line. It only happens on that side, which is interesting. Good. Inhale. Well, I remember there is something on this side with you anyway. Yup, there is. Okay. So we're just using our eagle eyes and we're learning about j good. This last time on each side please. Yeah. So that side's really good. This I'd almost think of reaching your sitting bone towards me as you're lifting. Yeah, that was better. Good. And Center.

Alright, so from that place where you just going to place the feedback down onto the Mac, reach back and put your hands behind your head. So here's where we get into our serious abdominal work. You're ready for this? All right. So what I want you to do is I want you to inhale. You're going to lift your head and chest up off the mat. So coming up into like an ab curl. Yup.

Take your hands and just rest them at hold onto the backs of your legs. I want you use your arms to find a really connected position in your trunk. See how much you can drop your pubic bone without allowing your lower back to leave the mat. So that's that. That's our place. Now I want you to stay lifted with your stomach muscles. Reach your arms. Keep reaching your arms up.

Keep lifting your body at reach all the way back from me. Pull your stomach in. Pull your stomach in. Pull your stomach in. Put your hands back behind your head. Oh, and feel that you're laying yourself longer down as you come down. Awesome. Look at that beautiful movie. That's great. How'd that feel? That's it's a little bit of work. If it's making you sweat, it's hot in here. Inhale again. Exhale, head and chest.

Come up and in reach. Yep. See how much you can drop the tailbone. Remember we're looking for as best of a neutral pelvis as we can. Use your arms to help you. Don't be afraid and then let go. So that would be once you've shown that you're going to lift up, go away, back, go put, don't fall down. That's right. Good hands. Go back.

Oh, shoulders reach around the front of the body. Scapular comes around the front of the body. Good. And lay back down. Yes. Let's do two more. You're breathing right. Okay, good. Yeah, so if it, when in doubt and, and I'm not talking about breathing our how and when to breathe and you feel like, oh my God.

Well she shut up so I can tell them when we're learning now when to breathe. Just breathe. Yeah. Breathing and breathing. I chaos. Yeah. Let's go again. You think that we matched our outfits on purpose, right? We did not do that, but it's kind of funny that we are very matching. Okay, here we go again. Exhale to the left. Okay. You get to hold on. You get to lift, lift, lift, lift, tailbone, just wherever you can. But the low back needs to imprint or arms.

It's right there where it's gets hard, right as they pass the body. Stomach pulls in. Thank you Jane, and then lay your body all the way back down that so super. Let me do one more and then we're going to do something even mean are, and then we're giving you that so curl up a little more. Or You just say it's just your chance to kind of just really lock that into place. Let go. Reach up, up, up. Keep the, hit the chest up high. You're doing amazing. You feel that more in your stomach than you do in your neck, don't you? Okay, awesome. Good. And then go back down.

So we're going to add some rotation to that and I'm just going to give you a little guidance and a little support because that's the kind of friend I am. Okay, good to go again in here. Exhale left. Let me get right up off those shoulder plays. You go ahead with your hands. Yeah, that's awesome. That's really good. Just look up a little. All right. So bring your hands back behind your head. Yeah. Good.

I'm going to give you a little support here. Widen your elbows. Good. Bring your head. Look up a little. Okay. So now, even though I'm helping you to lift out of my hands. That's right Jane in you. As you exhale returning, we're going to go right rib, left hip. Left Rib. Left hip. Yes. In heels. Stay lifted in center. XL. Left Rib, right. Rebut those right rims. Slide towards the spine there.

Bowl. Trying to go the same direction. Inhale. Center. We're trying to move just the upper body and keep the lower by. Still don't go quite so much with your face. Just let your face follow your ribs. That's better. And Center. You're doing okay. Yeah. Almost done. No, that was better. That was so good. So good. So good. So good.

Center and uh, Ben over at center and here we, you go. Change. Just read. You did so beautifully and that was really, really nicely done. Okay, so she's warmed up. I think we're going to grab a reformer. All right, so we've got Jane on the reformer ready to go. We're going to just go into some foot work and so do you think that it would be more comfortable for you? Do I have your head and lifted up? Lift your head for just a second. Is that more comfortable for you? Do you feel like you can see me better or do you like it better down or flat?

You know why I like that the most? Go ahead and lift up again. I like that the most because then it doesn't pushing the head forward because of that. It's like, yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. I'm glad. All right, so what you're going to do is you're going to stay right there on your feet. You're going to just reach your arms all the way. You might want to back up just a little bit because the springs are doing shoe into the shoulder, right? I wasn't sure if I needed to get right up into them and then flex your feet, so we're just going to push and do some in and out pushing.

We're going to get your right on your heels. When I want you to think about starting with is by pushing, like pushing into the bar to just to feel the back of the legs. Turn on. Exactly. You're there and then push from there. Yeah, that's it. Shoes are reaching out. Good. And do I lock my knees when I do that and then I'll tell you. Okay.

First of all, I'm curious about this. Spring has Springfield springs fine. Okay. So what you're wanting to do with your knees is straighten them and really squeeze these muscles and just make sure they're not going behind your ankles. So this one's hyperextended a little bit. Okay. And then bend. So as you're doing that, what you can think about, like as you're tracking back, I'm starting from the back of the like right when the knees are just in front of the ankles. That's when the quads turn on [inaudible] and then bend and think of pulling the reformer in just as much your act as you were actively pushing it away. Okay.

Rather than being passive with it. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So you're not riding the springs, you're, you working away from ice. I feel that. Yeah, I see what you're doing. Yeah. So you're a little heavier than that on this leg, which makes me know, which makes me guess that it's working a little harder than this one. So I just want you to just put a little heavy up on the left. On the left. Yeah.

Good. So we all have a have side that we like to stay on on a little bit more on. In fact, I'm standing on my left side as we speak, so I'll heavy up both sides if you will too. Yeah, it's good. It's good to have a reminder of that because you don't, you're not really aware that you're doing it. [inaudible] nice teas. Yes, you had beautiful. So James only had a few sessions, but she knows how to move her body and she said natural and she's also going to start doing more politeness when she goes home, which is exciting. So we'll check back in with her next year.

So this knee likes to just get kind of tracks outside, right? So as you bend and just keep it right face up. Right. It doesn't have to pull in towards it. I like to touch the other knee, but it likes to just go a little wide. See if I let it go. It will do that here at cracking. It's the reformer. Oh, your knee come onto your toes. It hurt. No, I could just, I'm just aware of it cracking. Yeah. All right, so we just continue. We're just going to push out. So what we're going to do with the feet here is right here.

You want them right in this high heel position, but then when you bend, I want you to just stay with my hands. So where that's going to, where the foot is going to change is at the ankle joint. So good bend, Aha. Just stay light on me though. This field that you're touching me, but you're not pushing on me or, or lifting away from me a little bit closer with the knees. Yeah, go ahead and then been dead. Right. And then we can bring our awareness all the time to the abdominals. Right? So you can use that breath and it's not going to be like extra hard for the stomach to push the legs, right? But just being aware of, of keeping that breath patterning. And you can use your breath like our rhythm could exhale one way and inhale one when it's not important to me. Which one? We're just gonna do one more Jane.

So push out for me right with me and then stay with me as you bend. So we just chill. It's changes at the subtaler joy coat. And then we're going to bring the heels together. Okay. Stay on your toes. So what we've done is just come from parallel and we've made a small v. Well I want you to think about squeezing is a little bit under here, right?

That the, the deep external rotators of the, of the hip work I live. And you're going to squeeze your heels together to access your inner thighs and you're gonna press out. I'm speaking to Jane A. Little bit more in muscular terms than I would to maybe a regular beginner because I know one thing I know about Jane is she knows a lot about anatomy so I can, and she knows what I'm talking about. Jim, I want you to stop for just a second. Lift your head. Can you see him? This one is wider. Okay, so that's what I was talking about it.

That was happening in, it's happening in all the things that I'm wondering if that's something that's like affecting the knee for you. It could be. It could well be push out again. Sydney. Jane was telling me a little earlier about she's got some discomfort in her knees and it might just be the way her knees are tracking, like when she's doing things like walking or riding her bike. That would make sense. Yeah. How does that feel? Is there less cracking? It's, it feels good. Cool. Let's do three more.

Wrapping from the back legs, zipping up the inner thighs and Ben and keeping the heels together and keeping the heels together all the time. They're squeezing together. Keep that right knee in. Nice. Good. That I know. It feels real strange. I'm guessing that it does, but it's, it's actually that's that. That's even, it's probably what I need to do more of. Yes. This knee pain that I have. Exactly. Yes. So get the muscles strong and get it to, I'm sorry.

I'm like telling her what to do with my hands. I'm going to use my words, Jane. We're going to separate the feet now. Palm that put them on the outside of the bar. All right, cool. We're just so just imagine that you've come from that Small v position into the, into this position. The feet are still doing the same thing. The hips are still doing the same thing.

You're just not squeezing your heels together. Okay. Go ahead and push out. Keep that right like in yet. Good. And then Ben didn't. But what you can do to find the inner lining of the legs, keep moving. I'll talk to you while you move his. Think of squeezing the heels together. Think of pulling them together on the bar. Yeah. You feel that?

I feel it more as I push away. That's okay. So how do I make that on the way? Okay, now I get it. You got it? Yeah, I got it. Some of this data that, okay, so sometimes it's just like what? I have to make my brain tell my body to move a certain way and maybe it takes a minute or two. I really liked that conscious effort that you're creating and you're tramadol.

You feel like you should be passive, but it isn't. Oh, you can, but you got to control what you're doing. You're there. Yeah. That's where Polonius is all about. Isn't that fun? And what? That's one one thing I really love about it and just let the chose relax a little bit and that's one thing I really love about it. When they're like, what really made me fall in love with it? As a matter of fact, it's like that you, the fact that you can't really do it without thinking about it, you have to think about it. Otherwise you're not really doing anything. Exactly. I mean let's, let's move on and let's come to the toes on this bar and the bar so you can make the shapes, but like to be really successful in the technique, you could have to use your brain. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I'm gonna separate these just a little bit.

Think of lineup with the sitting bones cooked. So push out for me from there. So we're just gonna do what we call calve raises, which is kind of a normal cavity. So you just, your heels go under the bar and you can really work them down. Think of that, pull from here and then lift. Nice and pull away and go ahead and then see if you can find the line muscular line to keep, keep moving. Go down all the way from the heel to the hip, like lifting from a little bit like where the glutes and the hamstrings we've connect. I don't know what's the right word for that, but I'm not sure. Squeeze. Yeah, I can see what your lay, I don't know anybody where they meet Meld or are they mailed?

Maybe. Kay. Let's do one more like that. That feels good. I bet. And then you're going to alternate your feet. So you come from a high heel position. Bend one knee, one knee. I had the Nigos up, the foot goes down. You meet in the high heel position. So lift both feet. Yep. And then you change that. You're basically like walk.

Are you walking or peddling the feet and left and change. Yup. Good. And left. And so now I you to bring your awareness to your hips and see if you can do that movement in your feet without actually letting anything happen in the pelvis. And what you could imagine is you've got like a, I'm going to use a kind of a graphic image, like a meat skewer. Skewering your two hips together. Right?

So the greater trow canter's stay aligned. This one wants to hike. That's not surprising. The one on the right. Yep. Yeah. Oh funny. Yeah. Good. Better. Yeah. Cause I'm thinking of it, trying to keep it down. Then you might actually feel like it's pulling further than it normally. Yeah. Poles.

I'm just gonna have you do one more to each side and more to each side. And then if you dropped both feet under the bar for me, do you feel like a us? Keep them on the bar, but just drop your heels, give you a nice stretch is your reward. Oh, that is good. That is nice. Okay, then didn't come in. Okay.

So the next thing we're going to do is we're going to add some arm work and we might even give you another abdominal exercise today. Lucky. Yeah. How does that sound then? My favorite. Okay, so you're going to have you hold onto the straps with your hands. Yup. And then what I want you to do with your arms before the legs go anywhere, it's just pushed towards me. Yep. And then just like that. And then once, as soon as the legs lift up, you're going to find tension on these fit on the spring so it can keep your wrist real straight. You can hold around the strap or you can do straight fingers.

It's totally up to you. Support through the center of your body and lift your legs. One at a time. Yep. Good. And then the other, so your legs are going to come up into that tabletop shape that we were in earlier and you're going to breathe in. As you breathe out, I want you to push your arms towards the mat so there's the bare bones of the movement. Push down and lift up to your start position. So now what I want you to envision as you continue to move is that the breastbone is dropping, that the ribs are softening and those two actions are what's moving the arms through space, abdominals drying in. So we feel how when you're working with your breath and working with just the orientation of your bones, you can get the this stomach muscles to feel the work too. Yeah. Yeah.

Good. And again you, you really have to sort of, you have to think about engaging them. Don't do other than what you just pulling with your arms. It's not what you're trying to do, is it? Well your, your pulling with your arms and you want to engage the rest of you. You want, do you want to do more things? Yeah, I feel that cause yeah. Okay. Awesome. Okay, so what I want you to do next on the next one when you get to the bottom is you're just going to turn the palms of your hands to face your hips. Yeah, lift them just a little higher. So they're just at the midline of your body and take them out to the sides.

And the last time we met together and did Palase and pushed down, we talked about just straight down palms of the hands are going to face you and just pull the arms to your sides. Oh, I see. Last time we did this exercise together, we talked about the visual, go ahead and open up a fireplace, bellows, right briefings and then suppressing the air out. That's my favorite visual, right? So the arms are doing what the ribs are wanting to be doing in the pilates breath cycle, pulling down and squeezing the air out of the body. I'm going to you, I'm going to help you with for like, I'm not even helping you.

I don't think you need me. So we're going to do two more like that. Inhaling to open Jane's on our red and a blue spring doesn't need to matter to you, Jane. I'm just telling. Telling it like it is. Okay. So now what I want you to do, come down with your arms. Turn the palms of your hands to face down. Lift your arms up over your shoulders. Keep the carriage still mean.

You have to keep your shoulder blades still as you open your arms back out to the side that to the t and pulled down again. Good. Lift your arms over your shoulders. So stop there where you where you have to find work to keep the carriage still is here. So you have to push into the straps a little as they open. Good. Go open to a t. That's it. You got it. That was much better. And then debt. We need to feel that all of your ribs are down on the mat.

I'm a little detail with stickler. Detaily so open. Yeah. Great. So you feel the stretch across your chest and pull in. Just do that one more time. I don't think we did this one last time. I think we did. Yeah, I think we did. Can't remember, don't barely remember what I had for dinner last night and pull down. Good. And then go the other way. Go out. Okay, so it's a little trickier in this direction.

You got to keep those under our muscles working. That was so good. And push straight down. That was good. You got ride away. Put reach out, palms face you under our muscles. Keep the carriage still and push down and open ribs are saw. That's all to breathe in this one. Ah, sorry. There you go.

Do you want me to give you a breath idea? So what if we were to inhale as the arms open, make it a big long inhale. Start. Exhaling when you need to. Go ahead now maybe you need another inhale and then you can press down. And then what we're going to do, Jane, I want you to hold yourself there. Reach towards the foot bar a little more with your arms.

You feel how that helped your shoulders away from your ears. Bend your elbows, your elbows are going to come right up next to your sides. Just like this. Hug them tight and then your palms are gonna face down and you're gonna keep your elbows into your body, but you're going to straighten your elbows. Oh yeah. It's a tricep exercise and bend. So where I want you to also think about working as you're continuing to move, do that tricep and reach for the foot bar all the time because I want you to feel that you're working right in the middle of your back. You find that it's like the shoulder blades go down first and then the arms move it. It doesn't have to be like a really strong depression.

It's just an idea of connecting in the middle of the back of the muscles. And again, you go to, you've got to think about it. Yeah, totally true. Do Chew or reach for the foot bar, elbows reaching in and the last one. Go ahead. That's great. Lift your arms up and put your feet down on the bar. Okay, so here's a second level abdominal exercise and how lucky you you them, they just change your spraying and putting on one spring, a green one strain.

Scoot a little bit away from the shoulder blocks, okay. But then find that same arm position where we started with the very first exercise so that you're just straight up over your shoulders. Maybe like a mommy. Do Mommy's do that zombies. Okay. So once you're ready to then lift your feet up off the bar, remember to do that with um, with support. Okay. So what I'm going to have you do is you just can come back into that tabletop position. This is like a chest lift. Your legs just happened to be in the air, so you're going to read them to prepare.

I want you to start by lifting your head and chest. And as you lift your head and chest, your arms are going to push down and you're, oh, you're stuck. You're curling your just two thighs that keeping your thighs, just keeping them good. And then bringing your arm. Start bringing your arms up. Keith's next time when your arms are two left, I want you to keep your body up as far as you go, as long as you can. Inhale, exhale, head and chest, come up, stomach muscles dry and you're lifting your shoulders up off the bed. You're reaching out for the foot bar. Now as you're starting to lower down, keeping reaching up for me, up for me, up for me, up for me.

Kind of like what you did in chest lift with the arms and then the head has to go down as your arms come to there. Does that sound, does that seem fun? And hacks? Nice. Good, good reaching. Feel that you're pushing out towards the football. Look up here a little bit and then reach up and that's the hard part right there. And then lay down. Oh, okay. Is that enough? Yeah. Okay, cool. Seminary adjust the spring. Again, we're going back to that red, blue spring and we're going to go into some hip circles. So what you, what we're doing is essentially putting your feet into those straps. So how you do that as you put your push out with their feet on the bar. Yup.

And one foot goes into one strat and then if you just hold your foot like that, the carriage will stay still. And then bring the other foot in. Yeah. Good. It's a little foreign this for the first couple of times, but it does feel nice. Okay. So why don't you do, is bring yourself into like a small v shape with your feet and drop down towards CSE. Feel your pelvis is nice and heavy. Okay. So the, Yep. Just keep looking, keep that much pressure against the spring. So if I take my foot away, you don't move. Perfect. I know. So that's going to be your starting and ending place. James, what I want you to do is take a breath in. As you exhale, push out with your feet. But yeah, whole your ads get pushed out. Squeezing the heels together. You can let your feet a little higher so that the strap stay out of your way and you're going to push all the way. Yeah, yeah. Oh, whoa. Good. That one is that okay? That was fun. It doesn't hurt. Okay.

But I just want you to notice something. So why I'm gonna let you go, I and want you to watch what happens if feel how you drop off to the right. Yeah. So that's that powder. Never Watch it. So when you really think of standing in that left leg all the time, bend your knees is on the inhale, maybe just to about there. And then press out. And as you press out, think of turning the right knee slightly in towards the strap and then push out towards me. Stomach muscles pulling back. Legs are stretching out. Good. Inhale, bend, squeezing the heels together. Gorgeous. I'm gonna let you go.

I'm in the middle. Exhale, press out. Keep reaching a little to the left, so that's perfect. That's the center. Oh, and don't Zev dropping. Think more of like you're going to kick me in the chest. No, I don't want to think that. Or how about you? You don't have to think of kicking me hard, but let's let me change that verbiage. You're going to aim towards my chest, but I'm not ever going to be in your way. Okay. Okay. And then bend.

Yeah. So if you go too low, the straps will get in your way. Okay. Yeah. This, this, this feels weird. You know, it's new to me, so, okay. You don't have to be perfect today and then I'll tell you a big secret. You go on. You never are going to be perfect. Good. Then I um, that I, I, I gave up on that a long time ago and then I keep dropping it. Don't say no. You're good here. You're good here. Just push straight up. Yeah, towards me. That's perfect. I feel that this time. Yeah, I could see my legs shaking. I do think that's amazing.

I love it when that happens. Okay, one more time. Push you out towards me. Okay, so now Jane, what we're going to do is we're going to make a circle. So you're going to take your legs, you're going to push down, not right so far that you feel that your lower back feels like a wobbly and you're just going to separate. That right leg will want to drop. So keep it a little high in your mind's eye and then you're going to do keep that rotation happening in your hips as your legs come across the center of your body. And they'll touch, got pushed towards me a little bit. Heels together, toes apart. You can soften your knees to do it if you need push down. Okay. So this is the center over here.

When you stand this like not too much and then out. Yeah. And then you'll want to make the circles equidistant to each other and then keep the pelvis heavy it once to lift up, doesn't it? Yeah. And so that, that'd just be, and the hamstrings are in the back. Push towards me. Keep that external rotation happening for me and then open out. Come around. Good. Keep the turnout. Good. Tailbone stays heavy and just do one more push towards me.

Push over to the left. Okay. Yeah, I can really feel that going into the lights. Really Weird. Yeah. I guess this is why you need to have somebody show you at the beginning, you know, cause you wouldn't have the whole time. So even if like, even if you've been doing plies for 20 years, you can be practicing the totally crooked. You need eyes on your body or mirror a mirror. And I think that stop and then open. We're just reversing.

So you're gonna push down, heels together, toes apart, feel the inner thighs squeeze together. Um, and I think, no, it's a good reminder to all the teachers out there that we all need eyes on our body cause you just don't know. You just don't know. No matter how long you've been doing polarities, especially if you've been doing it for a long time. Let's stop there. So this is good. Actually. Just feel really good. Yeah, I like it. It's hard to say what you've got to concentrate on is making even on each side. And I feel like I'm just jerking around. Great.

It's just not easy. And so we, you know, we go through our life and we build little idiosyncratic season to our body and into our posture. And then we, when we're really careful about looking at how we're moving and from a, from a real specific perspective, those, um, like muscular imbalances tend to show up. Hmm. Good. One more. But what I am noticing about you that's different than the last time I, we'd worked together is that your rib cage lays a little heavier. Last time it really wanted to lift a lot. Okay, Jane, we're going to be done with that now. So I want you to lift your legs up.

You're going to bend your knees, we'll take one foot out. It will go down. Just like that. Take the other leg out. It will go down. Now you have a feet on a solid surface and keep safe to come home. Yeah. Good. And let me just going to have you come up, okay.

Okay. So we're going to do a stretch today. Okay. So I'm going to take Jane down to our red when red spring when I'm have you do Janice, stand up on feet. And then what you'll do here is you're just going to put your hands on the bar like this. You'll put one foot up against the shoulder black, and you'll be on the knee on this side. On this side. Yep. And I'll talk you through it from there.

This foot's gonna come right up here to the outside of that frame. Okay? So what I want you to do is get that foot snowballed right up close. But instead of tucking the toes under, doing what you're going to do a push up just like that. Okay. So what we're going to do is we're going to bend this knee and then this leg j in the right one is going to push. There were former backs you're going and it's like a lunch.

It is a lunge actually. It's called the lunch, the standing lunch. So what do, what you do there is lifters, chest and your eyes. Think about post yearly tilting or tucking the pelvis a little bit, holding your abs, and then you can continue to go down if you're not getting enough of a stretch. So you can, so where should I be feeling this in the front? Yeah, I feel it though. Yeah, that's exactly where I'm feeling it. Yup. To me, just breathing in and breathing out. You know, you could even test that and continue to come down a little further and I don't know that that's true. Right. I'm just letting you, letting you have permission to deepen your stretch, if you so does.

I can feel it in my left leg as well. Oh good. Yeah, that's a bonus. And then today, that's just going to be where we're going to come up from. I have you changed sides? Yes. They just walking around to the other side. Beautiful. Tucking the toes under, keeping those toes nice and flexible. The right leg goes right up to the frame of the reformer. Yeah.

Excellent. And then you're going to push the left side back, go on a bias towards rotating the hips under, and then you want to open the chest and lift the chest so that you're just reaching down, finding that stretch. Another nice thing to do is to feel that you're squeezing the back of the leg, like you're using the oppositional muscle and just breathing just a little bit tilted. Okay, Jane. So now you can come all the way back in and then we're going to have to learn a new exercise. It's a fairly simple exercise. Have you ever done yoga? Yeah, I have done it. You know the pyramid position?

That's like the down dog. So very similar shape to that. So what you're gonna do is you're going to get upon to the reformer like this. You'll put your feet up against here and then you'll, we're going to you into a pyramid shape. Okay? Okay. Yeah. Cool. All right. So the good, the getting into the shape might be the trickiest thing. Once you're there, then you're going to be good.

So do we eat to think of is instead of holding the weight on your arms, shift your weight into your legs. Yeah, but key, I keep the heels of the hands on the bar so you have something nice to hold with. And then what I want you to do is bend your knees a little and then bring your back out so it's nice and straight. So you're gonna lift your chest the other way. Arch your back. So stick your boobs out. Oh by. Yeah, no, that's perfect. Yeah. And that's excellent. Okay. You're going to bring your head just here, but I want you to feel as though is that your back is going down and your s shoulder blades are going toward your pelvis. Actually away from your hands.

So come up port Ho, open here. That's perfect. Now lift your head again and do this. Okay, so shoulder blade, stay here. Head stays right there. Okay, so where you're in position told you that was going to be the hard part. Now all you're going to do, Jane, is you're going to push the carriage back with your legs. As you breathe in, keep your bat body just still there, not your whole body, your upper body. As you breathe out, pull your abdominals in and bring the carriage underneath you. So like they're going to come back towards your hands. Good.

I don't want you to see if you can create more space between your ears in your shoulders. Thank you God. I'm going to just stay here with you to remind you of that in here. To take the legs back. This is called the elephant Xcel to pull this shoulder blades towards your pelvis as your legs come underneath you shouldn't, it might feel like a little bit of a back stretch. Probably a hamstring stretches. Well let's do three more exhale.

Shoulder blades to tell her nipples are lifting towards me the other way. So stick your boobs out instead of in [inaudible]. And then Paul shoulder reach down wide in this space here. That's excellent. One more time. Go that abdominals pull up towards the sky and you braiding your carriage all the way back here. So that's super.

Have you stepped down onto the ground? So the bar is safe to put a hold on to k. How'd that feel? Good. Yeah, we're good. Cool. We're going to do a little bit more arm work now. So I'm just going to grab this box. I know.

Put It on the reformer. All right, well what I'm going to ask you to do is just sit on it. Your feet are going to end up here. Okay. Okay. So usually employees, when do any sort of arm work?

We're always going to talk about the back a little bit. So what I want you to do is I want, we need to just hold above the buckles on that little rubber bit and then just bring your arms. So they're just a little bit in front of your pelvis. Yes. Yeah. And straightening. Just reach outside of the box. Okay. So this is an exercise we call chest expansion.

You're going to reach just outside of the box. The first thing is to lift your back into your best posture. Then I want you to start to move your arms towards behind you, Kate. Keep them straight. No, I'm not sure what you mean. Okay, so you're going to go like from here towards Oh yes. Done side. Yes. Gotcha.

Yup. Yeah. Now as you do that, well, what do you think about squeezing right here? Good. And then go a little for, they don't have to go very far back. Oh, that was a crack in the shoulder. There you go. I'm old. Alright. Gee, we're going to make a smaller range of motion, but that actually has sounded like it felt good to fall. So what I want you to think about, basically we're going to create a pretty small range of motion.

So not so far forward that you feel like it's pulling your shoulders forward and not, yeah. So that's basically the role. So maybe really just finding the back. Think of using the arms. Go in. When you're ready, push your arms down to lift your back up. I like that a lot more. I just went, I thought I was going further than I needed to. Yeah. Again, you don't, you don't have to or need to be perfect for me ever. So that do my best. That's, um, that's, that's good news. All right. So what I do want you to think about is this, you're doing a brilliant job as you go back, but just like on in the foot work here, I want you to not let it go when you go forward. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yup. So pull back, drop the shoulders towards the ground, especially the left one. Hmm. And then fourish that's it, Jane. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. So being a soldier. Yes. Except you know, soldiers are taught to do, they're taught to stand like this and then that's hyperextend. Yeah. And then that creates its own set of problems. So, you know, every population has one nine. Just kidding. We're all just amazing and we are just moving cumins trying to move our bodies. Let's just do one more like that. Chain Kaylene a little forward. Push this arm towards the ground. Yeah. Nice.

Grab that. Keep it the south. They just remembering to do it on the right to keep it as you going. Yeah, it is. That's hard. Really, really. Say It's, you just got to remember, you just got to stay in touch with it, haven't you? It's like, and the minute you let your mind why [inaudible]. All right, cool. So I'm gonna have you step up off the box. All right. I'm a teacher. Fairly challenging exercise. You up for a challenge. Yeah. It's not going to be super, super undoable.

It's just you're just gonna feel your muscles. It's working. So this is the beginning that says it's a precursor to an exercise. You'll learn much later, but it's such a good exercise for the sides of the body that I'm going to give it to you now because I think you're going to be amazing. Okay. So we're setting up for side overs. So Jane, what you do, this thing is going to go over your foot. Okay. Or leave it there for you. You're going to sit and when you sit, you're going to sit on the on like balance on your greater trow.

Trocanter that doesn't always feel real comfortable for everyone to just tell me if it doesn't, this leg is going to come up onto the box with you and you're going to start with your arm down. Yeah. Here facing this way. Doesn't matter where it can do both sides. And basically what you're gonna be doing is just holding your body up like this and it looks, I don't know what it looked like. It looks like you didn't really simply, well, you know, let me just give you a little perspective. Do you want to know how many years I've been doing [inaudible]? 20 yeah.

Half of my life. So, okay, so you're good. That's going to help you put your foot right up underneath there. Good. And then just put your hand down there and then your, that's where you can always go back. Okay. So what we're gonna do, Jane, is we're going to straighten this leg. Now we can pull it towards me a little bit. This leg. Yeah. And then what we're basically trying to find is just a straight line in the body. So this going to stay just there.

Want you to lift this part of your body up. This is going to do like that. So now, just so you know this, you're gonna feel your hip. You probably already do. I don't want you to work these muscles right here. So pull them towards your spine. All that's going to happen, Jane, is you're going to let go of that head rest. Yeah, bring your head this way. Just holding that, holding that that arm can stay exactly as it is. I like what she's done. She's giving herself a little bit of assistance by holding onto her leg.

I'm totally down with it. Just breathing and breathing and one more breath and there's good news. Hand comes down, elbow goes down onto that head rest. Don't be afraid. This is a stretch and it feels good. And then this arm gets to reach.

And if you turn it like that, you'll get more Ange. How's that feel? Yeah, kind of give you a little stretch. That's reward for doing such a herd. Extras because I was, when I was doing that. Well you did a really nice job and I really liked that. What you did with your hand. Here's another thing that feels amazing. If you take this hand and put it on the frame in front of you, take this hand and put it on this side can essentially use your arms to maneuver your spine into a stretch that feel amazing to you. Yeah.

It helps when you're doing any stretching to push in both directions. So like push out with your leg. You can hang out there as long as you wish. And when you're ready to come up, you just get up with your hands. That's good. Isn't that good? Yeah. After the other thing and then we just do it exactly as it is in your way. Um, I'm don't know, I've never done it before. Don't know which way it's supposed to be. Oh, I was just with it in your way. Was it bothered? No, no, not at. Okay, so that thing Q as in, Yep.

And you might get right on your side, the side of your hip, but your hips felt fine in dough and go more in the middle. Yeah. Good. But this hand down. So where are you going to give you? Oh, we're going to get you all the way set up before we make you balance it. Just hold yourself there. All right, so one side's always easier than that. I think I get the feeling this side's going to be harder. [inaudible] we're going to remember cause so that next time we can do the hard side first. So basically what you're doing is like standing on one leg in a straight body.

Okay, so that's great. You guys get to see what Jane did with her hand now. So when she ready to go, you want to squeeze, lift up into the strap with your hips, squeeze your abdominal muscles and then yet bring your hand around and you're just holding, which can take about five breaths. You can just soften through the shoulders. She's doing a great job. This is not easy. Make a little adjustment last time.

Nice. Awesome. Okay. You put your arm down, your elbow down. Oh yeah, that was great. Was it hard on that side? No, it wasn't touch. Yeah. Good. So we've found your heart side first. This one comes up sometimes if the shoulder blades pinching towards the spine, it will be a little tricky to move the arms. If you just bring your shoulder blade kind of around the front of you, then your arm, well get more range.

I don't know. I'm going to give her a stretch by putting one hand on her shoulder, on her shoulder blade and one hand on her pelvis and pooling. She's helping me out by pushing her leg the other way. Nice. That makes a difference. And then you can do the thing where you hold the frame and yeah, this is for you. So I don't know where it feels the most amazing in your body, but you do. Yeah, but out there.

So you'll just find that in. You just have a couple of breasts and just don't rush for anyone and come up when you're ready. Oh good. Hey. So we're going to do one more exercise. And the last exercise that we're gonna do today is the back exercise. So I've never taught you a back exercise on the equipment before. I know that for a fact. I've never, but I'm going to teach you one now and it's kind of a nice exercise.

I think that you'll like it. An easy one to finish with. Yes. Not gnarly. Um, it's a thinking one. Okay. But yeah, we'll be good. Yeah. This, that lab, that one was the most, almost most hard, but I think you knew you needed the stretch. It was good. It was good. But it's, yeah, I was shaking. Yeah, it's a hard one. Okay. So what you'll do is you're going to lay down on the front of your body. Your chest will just come up over the front of the box. A, your feet will go that way. Your hands will go on the frame. Okay. It's a light spring, so it might move around on you. So just, just know that.

All right, cool. So we're going to get you set up. Comfy. Cool. So what I want you to do with your lanes is I want you to just create a little bit of energy in the back of your legs. Now they don't have to lift up very high. I just want you feel that you're kind of holding them about as high as the box. Next step, reach your arms as far forward on the frame as you can.

So reach away out there. All right. And so then what we're gonna do is we're just going to bring some attention to the back. So the first thing I want you to do is just feel the arms are going to stay straight. Just feel that there's a little gentle gliding backward action with your shoulder blades this way. So, so that's gonna you're, you're gonna pull the reformer with your shoulder blades. Exactly. Continue to do that. Jane, you're in the right place. Lift your head a little.

Bring your awareness into this part of your body. Good. It's not going to be a big range of motion. Yep, that's fine. Just pausing there. You feel that work in here? Do you feel a lot in your low back or a little, it's not too bad in my lower back. Yeah. Cool. And then release back down. So a couple of strategies that you can employ around the low back.

It's not wrong to feel your lower back muscles, their muscles, they sometimes need to work. But if you work a little more from the front of your body, like pulling your abdominals into your spine. Not Thinking about going fuck up necessarily, but thinking about going forward. So last time we did a similar movement to this and you talked about you were envisioning like a snake to your little bit that you're envisioning as a snake and like the back of the snake is lifting or unfurling or something, some sort of unfurling that was happening. So stop there. This is going to come up in, this is going go down.

So do I need to be lifting up different? A little, not, not, not necessarily. Let me just say that differently. Let think about the rib cages on both sides exchanging places. So this one goes forward and this one drops down. It's just kind of a way to get you to show your bosses differently. Okay.

I see what you mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're not actually lifting the ball, but you kind of go forward at the same time. Yeah, exactly. And because you already have a lot of lift in your spine or extension in your spine, basically you, I don't know if you believe it or not, but you are in back extension right now. Thoracic extension. Really? Yeah. It's happening mostly because you have some cushion. Oh yeah. So Paul, so what we're doing is we're just allowing the body to maintain thoracic extension, just speaking to the muscles that help to support it. Exactly.

That was super different. Did you feel that? Definitely do that couple more times. So something shifted that said it's not a pinching, it's an, it's a downward and an awareness and hold it when you go back as well. Ways. Yes. I see. I can feel when I'm not doing it. Yeah, cool. Cause then it's just, you feel like it's just pulling with my own tiny little springs.

It's not going to feel hard anywhere. We've got around a blue spring. So do one more pull from the back. The bought the carriage moves as a result of those muscles turning on. I feel that in my lower back now. Okay, let's let you have arrest. So that's enough sometimes, right the anyway, let's hope that's enough.

I'm gonna have you step down onto the floor. I will. We're going to do one more thing. Okay. Just stand on this side and this is an easy thing. So just face the ocean and you get to look at that beautiful view we don't want you to do is just stand tall on your feet. Take a breath in. As you exhale, you're going to drop your head forward towards your chest and I just want you to think of rounding over towards the ground and your arms can be heavy.

Your knees can soften you just standing on both feet. So you might notice how you that, how the body wants to shift back and forth on the fee. Just try to stay heavy over both feet. Drop your head so you're looking at your shins. Take a breath in and then as you exhale, you pull in and out through your waist. Yes, exactly.

You start rolling your spine up, tucking the tail under, and essentially you're just using your front body to stack your back body back up, standing in an upright position, allowing the arms just to hang line, top of the edge or reach up. Do that one more time in here. Drop your shoulders as you drop your head and just let any tension that you might have in your body or built in your body. Go. It just goes, it's gonna fall into the floor at the top of your head, and then you're going to end here. I think you're quite bendy. And then you're going to ask, she told me she wasn't bendy and I think she's Bindi did and kind out the way, and you are done, my friend. Well, thank you. Now we have wine.