Rebalancing Mat

Hi everyone. I'm here for mat workout using the large ball today. And this class is somewhat designed to kind of go back into some basic connections. Um, I've been away for a little while doing some travel. My back has been feeling a little tighter than normal and hips too. And I just feel like I want some support from the ball, uh, to do some to mat work. So come along and join in. Let's just start sitting on your ball and legs in parallel and just take a couple deep breaths. And then also with the ball, why it's so lovely to work on is it provides a such an amazing environment for feedback.

So with all the coming and going that you might be doing travel or whatnot, sometimes you're, you're kind of left feeling a little one sided or a stronger tilted or pulled a one direction, uh, like I am feeling, but the ball will give us that feedback of whether or not you tend to buy us to that side. And if you can write that and, and equalize that and hopefully stay in your center. Alright, so I'm going to turn sideways and let's just work on some seated pelvic curl if you want to think about it that way. So just upright with your spine, knees and a 90 degree flection is pretty, pretty good there and feet wider than hips is also fine. So as you take your breath in nice and tall through your spine, just using that exhale to start rolling that pelvis underneath, rolling the ball towards your calves. Maybe I'll put my arms here and just even in this first moment you've feeling that you're rolling evenly across the back of your hips and your sacrum and that wonderful deep abdominal connection. Unless inhale as we roll the ball back and come back up just sitting tall and again, exhaling as we roll. So I'm taking a c curve through my spine but still trying to stay lifted through my upper back and out the top of my head rather than collapsing under that curve and then rolling back to sitting tall and again, exhaling.

I'm just real feeling that easy motion and inhaling to come back. Let's take three more. I'm trying to imagine too that the back of my pelvis and sacrum are really wide open so that that that stretch can start to come into my back and then the front of the pelvis and the abdominal is getting a little more narrow and pulled together in their front for that, that kind of Gurney of support. Here we go and rolling back. Just one more time to warm up that c curve thought and that deep abdominal connection.

Here we go. And sitting tall. So I'm going to take my feet just a little bit further forward. That might allow me to go further back into that position for adding on. So as you exhale, curling to your sacrum, well just hold that shape or that c curves.

Now loading that abdominal wall on the front. Let's take the arms out toward a t on an inhale and then exhale back into the folded elbow position. And inhale as you open and exhale as we close four more times. Inhaling open, try to hold that contraction holding your upper back to your head. Nice and tall.

Last two, not popping up. Belly Button area out. Okay and last time inhale and exhale close and lets use an inhale to come back up to sitting, Tal and we'll add onto that. Exhale as you contract back underneath again into that c curve. So this time I'll rotate towards you arms, don't have to open yet and then come back to center and away. So this is a place we're trying to know.

Stabilize ourselves on that ball, not let it roll away or us rule off of it and twist. So the slight sense of my feet. Now heels pulling in toward the ball so that my hamstrings are connecting into some stabilization and let's take that right back up to sitting tall. All right so we'll take it again, take a breath, curling it under. So this time we'll add a little of the arm opening as I rotate. So just easy reach and return so that loads those abs tiny bit more and IX forward and twist.

Start Looking back to that backhand, adding some more rotation through this cervical and upper back last time. Each direction, a twist and center and west and center and then rolling all the way up. Take a quick stretch for your hamstrings guy. So knee, knees are straight. Just lean forward with your back in extension. Take a couple breaths and then bend your knees to come back up. Okay, I'm going to walk my ball back because we're now going to walk ourselves on the ball. More of that pelvic curl and walking her feet out. Okay, so I think again, arms and Jeannie position, taking that breath in.

So very slowly, take a step forward and curl your hips under and then you'll take another step and keep curling your hips under. So we want to stay as central in the mat as we can. Walking down, walking down. And then as we come out, making sure head and upper back, shoulders are on the ball. And then maybe just we'll hold our hands on our pelvis, just making sure we've got a good position here so that the pubic bone isn't dipping down, which would be arching our back.

But we have a good flat position across our pelvis and ribs. This is a chance to isometrically work into the glutes and the back of the pelvis and hamstrings. Okay. So that's Kinda the Nice symmetric. Now how do we get out of here? When have you start to lift your head? Start walking backward, curl into that seeker shape. You have to push with your legs now. So I'm pushing myself as I continue to sit up all the way to the start position.

And we'll do that a couple of times. Okay. And exhaling. So rounding, starting with your opposite foot. Now cruel into yourself. Get really deep into that. Maybe think of the rolling like a ball exercise from the mat.

That feeling okay. So again, we're here with our back of our head and our shoulders and our pelvis lifted. Let's start adding a little bit of arm work to it. So chest expansion out to a t on an inhale. It feels so lovely. Exhaling close and again holding that pelvis in that same place.

So trying not to overarch the back. I'll do four more times and exhaling clothes that an interesting place. So if you have one side that's [inaudible], you're getting pulled to it. See if you can minimize that. Stay nice and centered. I had that feeling with my heels again, that they're pulling toward the ball. [inaudible] take one last time and exhaling now fooling the elbows right into that genie position. Lifting the head and the chest.

Starting to walk backward with one of your legs and feet. You've got to push. And as you push back with the foot, you're sitting more forward, sitting more forward, sitting more forward and up. One more time. Take an inhale and let's do it. Walk her hands this way. Rolling down. Rolling down, walking out. Oh, here we go. Arm is back overhead. Do a little arms circle. Staying nicest, stable on the head and the shoulders.

Take these circles as large as you'd like and to do five or six each direction back of the legs. Nice and active here to keep a thought of a pelvic tilt. Take one more this way, which will be five circles. [inaudible] reversing for five palms up. Really reaching back and then down to the ball and again, keeping that pelvic tilt and I'll walk back one step here. And Pelvic tilt. Last two circles. Big, expansive and stretchy.

Only opening things up, huh? All right, you leave in the arms in front, pickup your head in your chest, and then let's just walk back a couple of steps so that we're, our chest is above the ball, your pelvis is on at your lumbar spine is on it. Then some pulses coming forward and back. Ah, and back. So I'm thinking of exhaling just prior to my movement. Like I'm leaving my lumbar on that ball and pushing off to come forward.

[inaudible] one more straight ahead and I'll do six on a little diagonal in one and three and for last two here and we'll do six on the other side. Here we go over and Oh yeah, love that ball for feedback. I almost leaned off of it a little bit too much here and four and five and six. Come back to the center and let's come all the way up. And I want to get more on my mat because I feel like I'm leaving the stage a little bit here. Okay guys, one more time rolling down.

So that same idea just to our sacred men lumbar. Okay. And some arm circles from this position. So you really do have to stay integrated in your c curve and then taking the arms up and open down in forward five or six times up out, down in forward and lift open down in forward last too in this direction. And then the last one down, reversing it again is big of a reach with the arms as you'd like. [inaudible] exhale when it feels really challenging.

Mainly considering not to lose that abdominal contraction that's in, it's back towards your sacrum and lumbar last time all around. Let's hold it and walking up. Okay, good. I'm going to turn and face you just so I can have a different vantage point for a moment. Feeds a slightly apart. Okay. So we're now in our open stance position and I want us to focus for just a moment on how we're sitting on the ball that we're not leaning to the left or leaning to the right that both sides of the pelvis are even and then taking your arms out to a tee position. We're nice and open and let's do some seated twist. Okay. So on an exhale either direction. I'm taking a mind to my left.

This is where it lets really focus on the connection of our pelvis against that ball and that we don't lose the evenness in the sit bone position. Weight of the [inaudible] buttons and we can inhale center and exhale to the side and inhale and to the opposite side. I'll do just one more. Each position with the arms here. It's really think of turning through the spine and ribs, not too much from the belly button area, if any. Okay. Adding on and we'll take our arms first.

Lifted shoulders are easy. Turn to the first side and as we turn let's lower the arms and press down. Touch the ball, lift yourself back up through center. So just adding a little more. If you had some hand weights, you could also do that, that here, using those, but you don't need any extra weight. Use the air and press down as you press down.

Work to sit taller and turn and press. Notice how even we are in our sitz bones, even through the feet. Last one each direction. Inhaling Center and exhale, pressing down and then lift come center and lower their arms. Okay, let's walk our feet together. Midterm profile again. Okay, let's test are a little more work into the back of the leg.

So if you want to hold on, you can, once again, you can hold her arms to the front. Let's walk down trying to keep that pelvis pretty darn steady. Okay? Just from the back of the rib cage, hands behind the head, and then go ahead and let your upper back arch over the ball. Let your head go back and dissolve as if we're wrapping ourselves around it. And you'll notice that your low back is in an arch as well.

So using that ball to help us make our spine shapes right. So we've got our curves now as we exhale, let's just start with basic chest lift everybody about five times five or six. So then lifting the head and chest and curling, kicking up that upper body and then taking a back mobile at. Whoa. Yeah, so there's that ball. Give me some feedback. I was starting to cheat again in a lean off that ball.

That's trying to steam very centered. Using the heels against the mat, pulling your heels toward the ball. Exhale, pulling yourself up. So that was three. Let's take our last three heels toward us. Chest toward the ball, toward the legs, toward the ball. Last one. Kid's gonna get a little more tricky here. So as we're lifted, walk your feet together, walk your knees together and back a step. Take an exhale and try to lift one foot. Then put it down there. Not Big tabletop legs. You're just basically lifting and lowering, trying to stay in that chest, the physician, and anchor that supporting side down as you lift the opposite, like up.

Okay. And so they're little, they're going to expose what side you're either weaker on or a little rotated on. Let the ball inform you. Find a way to get steady. I'll do one more each side. Well, I need this today and whew, totally fine. And then walk ourselves all the way to Tom. Okay. Coming down to the mat.

So I kinda seem like I was listing this way a lot toward my right, which would signal to me that my left side is a little sleepy, possibly still on a vacation mind. So let's wrap our feet across the ball. Arms by our sides, or better yet, keep things opening up with your arms out to a t. Take a breath. Let's see our pelvic curl here. Rolling off the Mat. Okay. Feet stuck to that ball.

Using a strength in the back of the hamstrings or at the hamstrings and hips and rolling back down. Shoot for five repetitions. Everybody find come all the way to level. Taking an inhale. And again, we're really trying hard not to push the ball away. I'm trying to roll evenly and stand evenly on the legs. Rolling back down, massaging those back muscles, moving the spine three more times. Inhaling.

So yes, your stomach muscles should be engaged inward, but let's focus more on the back of the legs and hips and the mobility of the spine. Try not to push that ball away. We are rolling up to it. Whoa. Lift, lift, lift. Yeah, I'm strings. Where are you? There they are and are rolling down. Take last time there and curl and let's roll back down all the way.

Okay everybody. So once you're all the way down, put your souls a feet together, butterfly the knees open and then just try to isometrically, you know, work your glutes for just a second and your external rotators and press your knees wider open. Okay. Then I want us to flex the feet and push the ball away and then pull the ball in while the feet are flex and then reclose them. So this is for hip opening. All right. And if you've been away or kind of just out of sorts a little bit, this is probably feeling like you need some intention to open up and stretch this out. So we're doing that here. Wouldn't take three more feet together, feet apart, and press. And once again here, notice if you can press both sides of your feet down evenly against the ball or if you're using one more than the other, hopefully even. Okay, we've got one more and press and pull in feet together and then walk the ball.

In a little more. Okay, staying in that butterflied position. Feet pressing. Now press firmer down on the ball with the sides of the feet. And without rolling your hips, let's just float the pelvis up. Okay, won't float. You've got to lift your pelvis up using the muscles in the hips and the back of your spine in your spine. Okay. And now can lower that down.

You don't have to roll. In fact, it's a little more challenging in a way to just come neutral down. And we'll do that again. Press the legs first. They stay pressing as we Lyft. Take a breath and exhaling down, trying to get the sits bones part of the pelvis even more toward the ball. Just one more of those pressings down to lift. Bend your elbows.

Just press the upper arms and elbows down against that ball or the floor. Excuse me. And your hips up, hips up and hips up. And then go ahead and simply come all the way down. They take our legs out to a straight line position, arms by your sides. Let's go actually way out to the heels. Three or four chest lifts.

So rolling the head, neck and shoulders, arms, reaching long for the ball and taking it down and exhale that basic connection of stomach to spine, spine, match shoulders. I'm using the ball, the out my legs. Find that alignment again with as little tension in the quads and hip flexors as possible. So what I want us to start thinking on the next one is can we float our heels up off the ball or just barely lift the weight like that? Let's do some pumping. [inaudible] two more sets. Not doing the full hundred.

We're just getting back into that connection. Okay? But what we can do is that a little bit of double leg stretch arms just to continue the feeling of connecting that chest lift, the hamstrings, the upper body and shoulder girdle. That's it. We don't need to do many and come all the way in. Okay. Put your knees over the top. And I think to challenge her balance a little bit with this, take her arms up, shoulders on the mat, knees toward one direction, but the upper body not changing, focusing on what's not changing.

So the stability of the upper body, your knees, your legs will go where they go, but I don't want you to lose the upper body. Okay? So tilting to the opposite side. Each side is going to feel a little different and center going to the first side. Again, feeling how your heels pull into that ball as if you could almost lift the whole ball off of the ground. We want to do that yet. Okay? To the second side, knees rotating heals, pulling in toward the back of the legs center. Let's take each side again.

Rotate our your heels pulling in. Yes they are. And Center and last time to the second side and center. Okay, so let's move on. Put your hands back down. Take your ball all the way down to your ankles. This is a rather large ball and pick it up and put your legs up. Okay, so find for a moment here the use of those inner thigh muscles, those add drs and pull your heels into that ball and just feel that for a moment. Okay? And notice that your ribs are still really nicely connected to the floor.

So let's stick maybe three or four repetitions without lifting your head up, which is pretty hard. Lower the legs without arching your back, but still work your inner thighs like crazy. Maybe even squeeze your butt a little bit and then pull the legs back up. We'll need like two more reps. It's not a lot, but it's intense. Again, this is about deepening and reconnecting some of your basic concepts. Okay. Last time I was to feel a heck of a lot easier when the head is up here. Let's try through you there. But this again, innercise working ribs, staying on the mat and yeah, for the vault up and last too.

So just reaching upper body stays in one position and lift last time guys, and reaching it down. How long can you sense through your legs and lift and then just let it come down. Okay, so let's come over onto our stomach. What? We're going to have to come up onto the ball. Okay, so here we go. It's always feels pretty nice, like continuing to workers, stomach muscles, but see curving things like that. You're going to get down on your knees. We'll walk out into a plank onto our hands here and let's just hold the position for a moment or two. All right, so we've got our leg supported.

That way we can focus on the support and connection in the shoulder girdle. I've got a sense of pulling the mat apart, not letting my stomach hang down, having a nice proud open chest here. Okay, and let's just walk back. We'll do that a couple times. So again, a nice breath in exhaling as you come out and connect. So let's bring in that inner thigh work back in long spine, hamstring, slightly active in. You're pulling that mat apart, getting set for some supported arm work there and taking it back. The next one will stay out a little longer and start doing some knees in toward the chest for more ab work. So finding that position. So then now bending the knees, pulling the ball and look with your eyes towards the [inaudible]. Oh, we're not piking our hips up today.

I want you to actually sit down towards your heels. I both looking at your knees and then roll yourself away. You've got to start to lift your hips up off the legs, off the knee, heels lengthen back out into that planky position. Breathing in to get ready starts from those lower abdominals belly button. Ribs to spine curve making like a little cat shell shape cap back over the ball.

Lift your stomach, roll the ball evenly as you come out as one more time. I left from the center. Wow. And linkedin. So we've got enough time here to do a couple to each side. So I'm going to take my knees toward my left elbow. First. Shoulders won't really travel any further forward over the wrist, knees toward that left side, just like we did line on her back.

We're not moving the upper body. We're moving the lower body lengthening out and exhale to the opposite side. Round and Lincoln, I think we just did another one each direction. We'll be fine. So upper body doesn't move. Lower body moves. Okay.

Lengthening out. And last time guys over to the second side, stabilizing through the shoulders, feeling that good connection, find some link God and then I'm walking back. Okay. We're not quite done with being on the hands, but give your wrist a little roll. That's enough and we'll come back out this time. Not quite as far. Um, the ball may be right underneath our pelvis, okay. But still the same position and connection with the upper body.

So now with keeping that good long spine, let's take one leg, activate the back of your leg a little bit more to slightly lift it up, doesn't have to go very high and then bring your leg down other side. But what we definitely don't want to do is lose the connection of rib cage to hips and over our set. Low back and just dip. I want a sense of pushing the floor down, stomach in to lift a leg and again and down and lift. Now I'm going to keep going with this one because I think it's important to recharge the back of the legs. If you've been sitting a lot or traveling a lot, we know the hip flexor start to get a little dominant.

I can't help it. They're helping us sit down. Okay, one more each direction. Trying to pull one leg a little higher last time, second leg a little higher, and then walking back. Okay, get on getting off the ham. Let's come into some side work. Okay, so I'm going to have with the ball right into the side of my leg, my hip, using the ball. Lean onto it slightly and extend that top leg out to the side. So what I want you to make sure to get yourself real close to the ball so that this arm can lay all the way over and or support your head. Okay? Find that pelvis again. You've got hip, hip, pubic bone, they're in the same plane.

Hopefully your butt's not back and your pelvis isn't back. If so, just bring your pubic bone ahead. Arm work. Just take a nice long arm, reach over and all the way down. Let's do two more times. Just open things up and should feel pretty good to stretch that side out. Inhaling and exhale. Okay. It's about to get harder. So come up and take that leg up. Now. Want to look at it, make sure it's parallel. Ideally leg is as high as our hip ideally, and take it down. We'll do six of them. So that was her first one. So again, I'm using my ball for some support, but I'm trying on this exercise not to just rest on it.

So we'll get a little bit of those side Ab muscles active last to lift and lower. Now lift in, hold it. Let's add those three arm movements again over and down, pelvis forward so the pubic bone shouldn't be tucked back behind your hip bones last one and over and down. And then bring that knee in and we can take the knee down, move the hands off the ball and reach away. Okay, so does that on the other side. Reconnecting to our lateral hips and our lateral body. Okay, so kneeling, taking yourself over first, collect that position in your pelvis, supporting the neck. So three times the arm reach. Ah, I feel so good to stretch pubic bone forward because it'll probably want to tuck back and arch back. So keep that pubic bone forward.

You'll probably feel your hamstrings and the glutes helping out there. Okay. And on the hip, raising your leg. Take a quick look to make sure your parallel pubic bone still forward. And down we go. So exhaling to lift and inhale the lower and three. Okay.

And then down three more times and it's lift. So let me feeling both sides of the pelvis here. Okay. Last time we're holding it for the sixth one. See if you can keep it hip height, three arm movements over and out. Pubic bone forward arm and yeah, and our last one and reach and down. And then just fold the knee in. Use Your hands to help you off.

Sit back to that hip and around and through. Okay. Let's just kind of finish this reconnection class with this interesting little squat in front of the ball. Hold on to it though with your hands and we're going back over it. So I like to stretch my legs first, extend the spine second and reach the arms third. Okay. And just feel that beautiful back then that you're being supported by with the ball.

Now to get out of this arms can come around to a tee position. Chin toward chest. Hold the ball and then Reese squat. Okay. And again, says the legs go first. Spine goes second all the way. Wrap yourself around and then reach with those arms. Take a good reach.

Let's add some arm circles. Do three each way an extent. Okay, last three, the other way, as big as you can, completely supported by this ball, buying them all with your hands. Pick up your head in your chest and re squat and we've got it one last time. And then over legs. First long spine wrapping and reach. [inaudible].

There it goes. Bye Bye. All right, one last big arms circle. Does one big one and then take your hands to the wall because your head and your chest, walk yourself in. Okay, and I'm going to finish this actually with a shoulder stretch. If you're down on your knees, if your knees are cranky and you don't want to be all the way down here, you could certainly put this up against a wall and do it with your elbows and the ball or come up on maybe the Cadillac or even the reformer to something a little higher so you're not knee bent. But if you're okay, come on down, set your elbow tips right on the ball and reach them hallway. Let your head come down.

It's okay if we let our sit bones go open right now in perfect. I'd prefer that. And then just let your chest start to sink downward toward the floor. And if you feel like this, you're not getting a lot of a change in position. That's okay. Just keep adjusting where your elbows are. There we go. Okay, so we're trying to get some linkdin to triceps and our lats and I'm going to have us take a nice deep breath and then using an exhale to add a little bit of spinal flection to this and then going for the extension chest down, but also chest toward that ball. Getting some stretch in the triceps and lats, and then the exhale. I've got to press the ball with the elbow lifting that c curve and again, oh yeah, and lift to moral. Go just fine guys. And we'll be finished.

And a rebalancing, reconnecting, opening back up and curve. And the last time lengthen. Let the stretch come into the triceps, let it come into the upper back. It's okay to let those back muscles contract. That's exactly what they should be doing.

And then bringing yourself all the way up. Okay. Thanks for joining me. I'll see you next time.