Kids Mat: Breathing

Today we are gonna go over breathing. I have Astella, my daughter and her friend Ellie today. She's going to join us for the remaining three classes in this series. And I'm excited to teach you a little bit about breathing. So breathing is extremely important because we can't perform as well as we want to and any sport if we are holding our breath and we tend to hold our breath a lot, especially when we're learning something, we hold our breath. So we're going to do some kind of fun things and try to use our imagination to learn a little bit more about how to release our breath.

And then when you do you get to really use it to your benefit, like in tennis, do you ever hear them make a lot of grunting noises when they professionals serve or one day return a ball. And then I know you both play tennis a lot, so you want to use that breath and that energy to execute the movement much better. So if you learn how to breathe, you can really use it to your advantage. So you want to learn a little bit about it. Okay. Let's take the mat. Stella, why don't you go there and Ellie and your feet are going to be towards me and then just go ahead and sit down and lie down. Good. All right. And we're going to, yeah, just, let's start sitting for a moment and I want you to think bend your knees and put your feet flat. And I want you to put your hands under your knees and we're going to work on rounding our back. Okay. So we're going to work on rounding our upper back and rounding our lower back.

And I want you to picture a [inaudible] c but we want to end up becoming a capital letter c and not a lowercase letter c. Okay. So when we inhale and exhale, we're going to like really blow up our back. Okay. And I want you to think about your stomach, kind of like your favorite. Um, what are those tensions, things that you guys like to squeeze stress ball. Thank you. One of those all at whatever Emoji or anything that you want.

I want you to think about that and how you squeeze it really tight and it relieves all your attention, right? Well, same thing. When you squeeze out all of your air, you're going to relieve all your tension, all your anxiety, and it actually releases a lot of toxins in your blood. So it's really important. So when you inhale, we're going to try to get the blood to go to like every last bit, every fiber in your muscles, and then when you exhale, you're gonna try to get rid of all of that kind of like a deflating balloon. Have you ever pictured a balloon going across the room as it deflates? That's what your belly is going to do too. Okay?

So let's go ahead and just take a breath and as you exhale and try to think of your belly like a deflating balloon, and you're just going to pull in and you're squeezing it like a stress ball, and you're going to take a big breath and try to really open up your upper back. And when you exhale, try to do it. Even just trying to round and round and pulling your belly. It's really good, Ellie, and a big breath. Good. Keep looking down. I love it. And stay in there and you're going to exhale. See if you can exhale into my hands. I love it. Very good. Stain there.

Go again in with the air and see if you can feel Ellie exhale that your air's going into my hands or do it one more time with me. Big Breath almost into my hands and then exhale even more stretching. Excellent. Really good. Why don't you go ahead and try to lie down one bone at a time until your head's on the map. So just go ahead and lie down. Aha. Good. And then bend your knees again and put your feet flat sell.

You want to make sure your head's on the mat. So slide a little more towards me and a little more center. Good. And then keep your knees bent. And now we're going to put our hands on top of our ribs. A little higher, a little lower, just there. Perfect. Okay, good. And I want you to take a big breath and exhale.

Exhale. So earlier we were rounding our upper back, right, and filling that up and squeezing out all the air in our tummy. So I want you to think about that right now and I want you to take a big breath and your ribs might float up. And as you exhale, squeeze all that air out and then maybe feel the back of your ribs round and get round or on the mat. And big inhale, you might feel the ribs float up, but as you exhale, see if you can feel the back of your ribs on the Mat. Can you feel that at all? Good. And so I mentioned tennis, big breath. So as you exhale, feel how your belly can pull in and the back of the ribs. And that's when you can really hit the ball really hard, whether it's a serve or volleyball spiking or any of that, right?

And big breath. If you would hold your breath, you actually go ahead and exhale. Would lose total control over that. Serve total control loss over the return or whether you're shooting a goal or anything. And same thing if you're dancing, you don't want to hold your breath or you won't be able to hold your balance. So breathing, super important here. So now I want you to straighten your arms by your side. You both have done an amazing job with your belly and I want you to try to reach your arms so long that they almost touched the end of this mat.

And now they're going to be a manual heart pump. K, they're like going to be pumping the blood through your heart and taking it through your lungs and all over your body. So I want you to lift them up a few inches off the mat and really strong and there are like a lever, right? And we're going to pump him up and down like this. And now I want you to see if you can put breath into this. So you are going to take a big breath. And then as you exhale, can you round your upper back and pull your belly and just keep your head down on this one. And big breath. I like it though. You know where we're going.

And exhale, just deflate your belly. It's like a balloon that's flying across the room and inhaling. Nice strong arms. And as you exhale, expand those ribs on the mat and pull your belly in. Good. So you've coordinated your breath with your muscles right now. So on the next exhale, we're gonna lift our head up and exhale, lift your head up, keep pumping your arms, keep coordinating that movement.

Can you pull your belly in any more and come up any higher? Yes, keep pumping. And then on the next exhale, you're going to bring one knee into your chest, bring it in one knee. Good. And on the next exhale we're going to bring the other knee in. So we're using our breath to help tighten our muscles, support us, and exhaling. And if you can challenge yourself more, you can reach your legs a little away with that belly sinking in and exhaling.

And just one more, head up more Astella and exhale. Feel your back into the mat, cause your pool, squeezing out all that air. Rest your head and hug in your knees. All is really good ladies. Okay, so we're going to rock up and sit up. We're going to use our breath on the back. So we're going to have our knees bent and feet just like we were in the very beginning. And your hands under your knees. Great. So we're gonna round your back again and I want you to put your hand on your lower back like this. Can you, so you feel your lower back and I want you to think about is it round, is it arched? How is it?

Cause we really want to round it. We don't want tension there. So we're going to use our breath to release it and now go up higher like by your shoulder blades and this area. I don't want it to move in the beginning. Okay. All right. So we're going to put your hands back underneath your knees. Take a big breath, exhale, pulling your belly in really, and then round your back. Round, round, round. Awesome. Big Breath. And this time we're going to move on the exhale, but we're moving that lower back that you just had your hand on.

We're going to pull our lower back back, moving back alley. You can watch me if you want. There we go. We're going to pull the yes until your arms are straight. Take a breath and then exhale. Keep your lower back where it is, but round your upper back. Oh, good. Bend the elbows. Keep coming forward. Good.

So remember we're going to be working on our breath here, so we're going to take a breath and then you're going to exhale. The belly pulls in and your body's like that balloon that's deflating and it's going across the room. It blew away from your legs and take a breath here and then exhale. Pull the belly in to come forward. Excellent. We're going to go a little lower and taking a breath. We're going to exhale, that belly pulls in and it's deflating like as if it's going across the room, down to the bottom of your shoulder blades. Stay there, take a breath, look at your belly and deflate it as it comes up. Excellent.

Good. Excellent. And do that again. Taking a breath and exhale. Make sure we're rounding this part. So yes. Excellent. That alignment will help you. Take a breath now and then exhale to come forward to make sure you're exhaling to come forward. Good. And in with the air.

And we're going to move with that. Exhale, the belly diff. Yes. You see how you just deflated that? That's going to help you with your rolling and take a breath and then exhale one more time. So we're going to bring your head forward to me. Yeah. Cause you don't want to move your head. You want to move this part of your body. Yes.

That makes it easier to keep moving. That you can bend your knees more. Excellent. Perfect Deli. And then take a breath and then round this to come forth. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That was so good. Good job. Now we're going to go all the way down. So we're gonna take, let's go.

We can start with the inhale as you start moving and don't hold your breath and then exhale all the way down. Come on, let me see that belly to flay. Deflate a Stella Polunin and then you get to rest down your head. The knees are a little bad. Good. All right. The breathing on the single leg circles is a little different. It's kind of like a quick breath. Okay.

I'm going to lie this way for Ellie to be able to follow me too, and I can keep an eye on you. Now Stella. So we're going to take a big breath and you're going to exhale. Squeeze out all the air in your belly to bring your right knee into your chest. I almost brought my other leg in and then you're going to straighten that leg and I want you to push your arms down on the mat and take a big breath and then exhale, your belly is going to pull in to the mat and deflate. Right now.

We're going to just take that leg straight down towards the floor and you're going to inhale. Good. And now as you exhale, deflate the belly. Exhale as you pull up, up, up. Good. Now we're going to draw a circle instead. So we're a good at. Cross our body a little down and then back up, right? We're going to do it quickly though. So the breath is going to be the inhale to start an exhale. Inhale, to start an exhale. Inhale to start an exhale.

Inhale to start an exhale. Inhale to start and hold. Reverse down with the inhale. Exhale over down. Cross as you exhale down. Cross as you exhale to cross. One more exhale and bend the knee in and relax.

So I'm hoping that you're starting to be able to pull your belly in with the exhale and that really lets you be stronger and controlled in your exercises. Let's exhale and bring the left knee in and then straighten it to the ceiling and stretch and then press your arms down by your side. And we're going to go straight down again to get that feeling. So you're going to inhale as the leg goes out and then exhale as you deflate your belly. Good. Now it's a quick reading, so it's circle cross as you inhale a quick exhale and cross run. Exhale, Karastan. Exhale three and exhale. Two more. Good. One more. Trying to keep your box square, reversing it down, exhale down.

Pull the belly in, down. Exhale two more. Always playing in the stomach. Last one. And then bend that knee in. Nice job ladies. Put your foot down and I want you to sit up any way you can. So I'm going to try to inhale and I'm going to exhale curling up.

Woo guys are good. All right, how are we doing? Good. So now we're going to practice rolling. So rolling. If you work, breath into rolling gives you a lot of control. So whenever you roll back, we're going to inhale and whenever you're going to come forward we're going to exhale. Okay. So when you especially roll up, cause you even might hold your breath when you roll back, but make sure the only way you can come up and you don't want to sound like a flat tire either because you want to look like a wheel with all kinds of like a bicycle wheel with a lot of spokes. Those spokes are your back bones and you want to roll through each one and roll up no matter what. Rolling exercise.

You don't want to sound like a flat tire on boom, boom, boom on the way up and your back's like flat flat. So breath really helps with rolling. Okay. So whenever you come up, you guys said it, you exhale and you want to really squeeze. We use out all that air. Just like when you started off and you were breathing and you were sitting and you really rounded your upper body. So we're going to try that. Okay. I'm going to face this way this time.

Oh I should be watching my daughter though with the rolling. So we're going to put your hands on your ankles, bring your knees close to you and see if your lower back. You can round it cause member has to be like a wheel so it can't be up like this. Elliot has to be pulled [inaudible] and then keep it like that and use your belly to bring your feet up so that the toes are up off the mat and then see if you can hold them up with your background. Good. All right, and we're pretending we're a ball like a tennis ball and the stitching's of a tennis ball and our ears are pretending we can go between our knees. Okay, here we go. We're going to inhale to rule back. Exhale to come up. Inhale to roll back. Exhale. You guys got it.

Inhale to roll back. Exhale, squeeze out of your house. Nice job. Inhale to roll back. Exhale stomach. Oh no flat spots in hell to roll back. Exhaling. Good.

Try to keep your head looking down at your belly when you start. Inhale, roll back even better. Ooh, that was so good, Ellie. One more. Inhale to roll back. Belly. Exhale. Squeeze here out. Did you squeeze it out? Squeeze all your air and oxygen out of your lungs. Good job. That was better, wasn't it? Astella you're rolling was better. Good job. Okay, so now we're going to do single leg stretch and double leg stretch.

So go ahead and just lie down with your knees bent and all you're going to do is take a big breath. In fact, put your hands on your ribs and take a big breath and then exhale and bring your right knee into you and put your hands on top of your leg and squeeze out that air until there's no more air. And then put your foot down as you inhale. And then exhale, bring the left one in. Squeeze out that air, and inhale, bring it. Put the foot down and exhale. Bring in the right knee. Oh, butt squeeze. Yeah, think you good. Put the foot down as you inhale and then start by squeezing the air out. Dad, sit. Nice Job Ellie. And then put that foot down and then exhale.

Bring the right knee in by squeezing that air out. Good. Now put the foot down. We'll do one more exhaling when you bring in the left. Good. And then put that foot down. Ellie, I'm going to have you scoot over just a few inches so you're perfectly centered. Nice job. V Together. Okay.

And you're gonna now just bring the right knee and as you exhale again and squeeze that air and grab it. Stay there and take a breath and squeeze the air out and bring your head up. So really feel, oh that's so good. Relax your shoulders a little bit. Cause remember we're squeezing their eyes. We don't want attention. And now the left leg is going to go almost to the ceiling.

Good. Like that. Head Up. Yeah. And take a breath and exhale. Squeeze your out to switch. Perfect. Head up more. [inaudible] and squeeze your out to switch. Good. And exhale, switch. I don't want your neck to hurt someone to help hold it. And switch. Good. And switch.

Good. And switch. Very good. Breathing and switch. Good. And now let's put your feet down and rest your head down for a second. Good. Bend your knees. Good. Now we're gonna get a little creative with breathing. I see if you can inhale for two counts and exhale for two counts.

So what does that mean? That means we're going to, when you're doing the exercise, you're going to inhale and then exhale, and then inhale, and the next hill. Does that make sense? So it's inhaling for a right and a left and exhale and for a right and a left. Because in sports and daily activities, we don't always do things at the same tempo throughout all our movements, we have to sometimes do things quickly, sometimes things slowly, sometimes medium. So you want to be able to use your breath in these times in this way too. Okay, so let's get into position with our right knee into your chest. Good.

Head up, left leg out, and we're gonna. Here we go. We're going to inhale. Inhale, exhale, exhale. Good. Inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale. Get your head up. Inhale, inhale, squeezy, squeezy, or at one more set. Inhale. Inhale, squeeze your out. Squeezy or out. Rest down your neck. Good. Good job. Nice. Okay. So next we're going to do the double version of that.

And I want you to stand up for a second. Let's have some fun. Good. Alright. So I want you to, when you take a breath, literally you want every little muscle fiber in your body, tingling with all this great oxygen that you're taking in, okay? And when you exhale, I want you to squeeze out all of your bad air toxins, intention. So when you inhale, I want you to feel like your body's like, like stretching. And then when you exhale, I want you to get tight as a ball and he can't exhale any more. And then you can do that with me. Okay?

So we're going to inhale all the way your fingertips and exhale, keep exhaling, keep exhaling, keep exhaling. Let's go for another inhale. Inhale all the way up through your fingertips. Inhale, inhale, inhale, inhale, good. And then exhale, bring all your air until you are going to pass out. And one more time in with the air, all the way up, all the way up. Come give me some energy. And then exhale.

Supplies used to hold the pinwheel front of you and you had to exhale until it stop turning. So keep pretending you have a wheel in front of you and then come on up. Nice job. So stand right there and I'll just show you the next exercise. Remind you of it. It's the double leg stretch. The only difference between what you just did and this one is you don't get to arch your back at all. So when you inhale, it's like your backstage is flat and then you, we that all that air.

So you pull the belly in still to keep your back flat, but reach and then squeeze at all. Yeah. Should we try it? Okay. Go ahead and lie down. Scoot down a little bit more. Good and lie down. Nice. And we're going to start by taking a big breath and then bend your knees in an exhale. Squeezing out all that air. Squeeze hands here. Yeah. Good.

Alright. Take another breath and exhale. Lift your head up. Let's hold onto your ankles. I remember how tight as a ball you got when you got down to the ground. Oh, that's so good. All right. We're going to try to keep your back flat and inhale, reach your arms back and your legs forward together though. Perfect. And then squeeze your air out. That's it. Inhale, reach arms straight back. And now exhale. Squeeze out all the air. Try not to move your head. Inhale, reach arms right back. Exhale. Exhale.

Squeeze that air out. Titus Ball. Just like rolling. One more. Actually, two more. Inhale. Good for you. Exhale. Squeeze it out. Bring in your head up more and everything. One more time. Inhale, fill up even those fingertips with air. And then exhale, exhale. And rest your head down. Good job. Good, good, good. The, we're going to sit up and do spine stretch forward. It's a huge breathing exercise. Good. We're gonna finish with this one.

Okay. So your legs are straight and you're going to have your legs a little wider, maybe almost to the edges of the Mat. Good. And we're just going to put your hands on top of your legs like this. Good. Try to sit up as tall as you can and take a pic breath. Inhale. And then we're going to squeeze it out by bringing your head down and then exhale, try to curl into yourself, Elly and sliding your hands to your feet. Good, good, good.

Now you're going to inhale to sit up. When you can't inhale anymore, you're going to exhale down. When you can't exhale anymore. You're going to inhale up. Try to make the head be the first thing that goes down as you exhale, and it's last thing that comes up when you inhale. So inhale, leave your head down till the very last second and then exhale again to go forward. Exhale, squeeze out all your air and this time when you inhale up, see if you can keep your belly in to work on your posture. Head down, inhaling up, inhaling up, head down, head down, head down to do the last thing. Good. Are those that.

Start with a big breath and then exhale down. Resist. When you sit up, getting the hair out of your eyes and then inhale up, throw vanity out the window. Just let your ponytail go where it is. Oh, that's so good. Thank you. I appreciate that. It's a beautiful look. Anyway. All right. You guys did a great job with breathing. Do you feel like completely cleansed? Great. Okay. Next time I will see you for precision.