Creative and Fun Mat

Hi, my name is Jia Calhoun, and today we're going to do a fun class. It's the end of the week. So I thought it'd be great for a little creativity. Um, some fun variations and we're just gonna play. So I'm going to start with a hundred just to get you warmed up. So let's slide down on your back. Hug your knees into your chest.

Just take a breath in and exhale, and then inhale one more time. And then as you exhale, curl or head up. We're going to bring your legs to tabletop. Arms are reaching out. And when the pump, the arm, still inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Inhale, we're getting ready to change the legs. Exhale, we're going to stretch your legs up to the ceiling in hill. And exhale. Inhale and exhale. Keep curling up. Lower one like inhale and exhale.

Inhale, arms are pumping strong. Exhale, scissor, the legs to switch. Inhale and exhale. Inhale, exhale. Both legs are reaching out. Long inhale and exhale. Last time. Inhale and exhale. Hold.

Curl up a little bit higher and then hug your knees in. Stretch your legs out on the Mat. Legs are going to be glued together. Feet are flex. Arms are going to reach back over your head. Take a deep inhale here. As you exhale, you're going to roll up, curl up or reaching towards your feet. And then inhale, exhale, roll down. Okay.

Inhale, arms back. Exhale, rolling up. Really gluing the legs together, reaching toward the feet, and then pulling the abs back to roll you down. Three more. Watching the shoulders, making sure they're not coming up by your ears, hauling out your abdominals as you roll back, reaching out through the heels. Two more rolling up and rich. Um, well when the abs back to rule you down last time. Rolling it. Yeah.

And then roll back. And then if you scoot it down like I have, just bring yourself back to the center of your mat and then hug your knees into your chest. Gonna do a series of five instead of our normal single leg stretch where we pull the legs. We're going to keep the legs at tabletop and push one leg at a time. You're going gonna curl up as high as you can. One Hand in front of the other against one knee. The other leg is reaching out.

So you're going to push the hand in leg into each other and then switch. Push seal it. Inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale. I like this way cause it kind of targets your lower abdominals a little bit more. Exhale. Inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale, asset and exhale. Exhale. Hug your knees in. Take a breath and then curl back up for AA. Stretch and heel, arms, legs, reach, act, feel circley arms.

Hug your legs in, curl up a little higher and he'll reach. Circle the arms. Hug a little bit higher. Three more. Circle and hug. Inhale, last to try to keep the naval pulling and to the spine. Last one, rest your head down. Take a breath, curl back up, legs up to the ceiling. For Citi, you're going to grab onto one ankle. The other leg is going to reach out.

You're going to pull this like in two times and switch pool, pool switch, keeping the legs passing through the mid line pool, pool, pool, pool, elbows are wide, shoulders are down. Do four and three. Two last one. Hug your legs in. Take a breath this time. Bring your hands behind your head. One hand behind or one hand on top of the other. Behind your head.

Elbows are wide. As you curl up, legs up to the ceiling. We'll have your heels together, toes apart. Inhale for three as you lower. Exhale for three as you lift so you lower two. Three, lift up nice and slow. Three lower and lift up.

Good. He pulled, pushing the head into the hands and lift. Two, three, two more. Gluing the legs together. Last one, curling the head and chest up a little higher and lift your legs in. Take a breath and then curl back up. We're going to bring the hands behind the head again. Elbows are wide, curling up as high as you can. Twist to one side. That leg has spent, the other leg stretches out, and then we're going to twist and switch and twist and twist that again, trying to pass through that mid line, staying centered as much as you can do two more sets.

Last set. Good. Come back to the first side and hold or do a little pulses up for eight, seven. Think of bringing the knee in as just as much as you're bringing your upper body in. Seven, eight [inaudible]. Switch and curl up to three. The other leg is three too long. Five, six, seven, eight, add rest. Whew, my now your abs should be nice and warm. So we're going to go into bridging, so we're going to bring your feet flat on the Mat.

Hip distance apart fairly close to your seat and arms are just reaching down by your sides. Take a deep inhale here. As you exhale, you're gonna roll your pelvis up to a bridge, one bone at a time in health, the top Axios, he rolled down through the spine all the way to your tailbone. Again, rolling up. I like to push down with my arms a little bit. Just to activate my triceps and to help keep my shoulder, chest and shoulders open and hit the top. Exhale you roll down. Two more plane rolling up. Still keeping your abdominals activated for support and rolling down.

The next one you're going to hold up, so we'll roll up. Think of your Chin staying off your chest. When you bring one leg up to the ceiling, you can point that foot. You're going to lower it down to meet the other leg and lift it back up. Lower down and lift. Lower.

Lift two more. Last one. Hold the leg up. Leg circles who cross over? Around and up. Cross over trying to keep the opposite leg stable. One more. Reverse the circle, keeping the hips square. The shoulders are square. Two more.

Last one. Bring that leg down there. Light comes up. Point that foot. You'll lower down and lift back up. For some reason, this leg, it's easier for me even though my left leg is generally stronger on two more. Last one, cross over for a circle and up and the weights even on both shoulders. One more reverse.

Open around trying to keep the hip stable. Last two and last one. Bend your leg, bring the foot down, take a deep inhale at the top, get your hips a little higher, and then as you exhale, roll down one bone at a time. Stretch your legs out on the mat again. Flex your feet, legs together, arms up to the ceiling. Inhale here, exhale, roll up to sitting. And then we're going to open your legs just about as wide as your mat for spine stretch. Inhale, you're going to grow a little bit taller. Think of lifting up off your sit bones. Exhale, you're going to bring your chin down. Reach forward. Head goes between arms.

Inhale, coming up. Exhale, you're going to reach forward. Think of pulling your abs back as your arms. Reach forward and rolling up and reaching forward. I like to imagine reaching out through the top of my head. That way you don't let my head drop too low. I'm on a roller two more.

And reach. Inhale, lifting up. Exhale. So we're gonna flip over onto your stomach for some scapular pushups. We're gonna do a progression of three versions. So if you feel like the one we're doing is appropriate for you the whole time, you can stick with that or you can keep progressing.

So we're gonna come onto your forearms and then you're going to have your knees on the Mat. So you're trying to make as close to a flat line as you can from your head all the way down to your knees. And then your elbows are just about under your shoulders. Your hands can be together or apart, whatever feels better to you. So you're going to pull your shoulder blades together to lower your chest and then push them apart to lift your chest.

So you're trying not to let it get into your back at all. It's just your shoulder blades moving up and down, holding the shoulder blades together, pushing them apart. Two more. And then again, keeping the abdominals activated for support. Timor last one. Good. So if that feels good to you and you want to go on, we're going to come onto your feet for a forum. Plank. Same thing here.

You're going to school, ease the shoulder blades together and then push them apart. So you're trying not to let your head do the work to your head. Staying in line with the rest of your spine. It's literally just the shoulder blades moving. Three more, two up. Last one.

Good. Last progression. You can stay there if you'd like or you can come to a full plank on your hands. Hands under the shoulders. Legs are long. Squeezing the shoulder blades together and then pulling them apart. Personally, I feel like this plank is easier for me than the forearm plank. I don't know why.

Foreign planks are always really hard for me to hold compared to regular planks. Two more and then press last one and then come on down. We're going to go into child's pose. Just take a breath and then we're gonna come back onto your stomach. We're going to do a variation of single or double leg kick. I don't like the bending of the knees. It makes my knees click.

So we're going to keep the legs straight and do a little like beat instead. So hands will go behind your back. Elbows are down toward the mat. You're going to turn your head to one direction. Bring your cheek down on the map. We'll lift the legs up so your are up and they were going to beat the legs together three times. So you beat one, two, three which the legs down, arms pushed back. Lift your chest up and then switch to the other cheek.

Lift and beat three, two, one arms reach back, lift your chest up and turn your head. Lift for three, two, one and reached back and switch. Three, two, one. Reach two more times three, two, one. Lift the chest, feed her down. Last one, three, two, one and rich, bring your hands to the mat. One Hand on top of the other. Your forehead is going to go on your hands. We're going to bend your legs. You're going to bring your heels together. I learned this from Deborah Harris and I really liked this kind of cro and clam exercise. We're going to lift your thighs up again and then lower them back down as you lift. Make sure your shoulders aren't creeping up by your ears and lower and lift up lower two more and lower. Hold this next one up.

Now with the buys off the mat, you're going to bring your legs together and open together and open. So if you're like me, you'll really feel your hamstrings. This is a better alternative for me to work my hamstrings instead of the single end. AA Kick where my knees clit. Four more and three last one. Stretch your legs long together. Knees apart. We're going to go push back into child's pose. One more time. Okay.

And then we'll roll up to a seated position. So now we're gonna go into teasers. So we're going to keep the feet flat for our teasers today because we're going to add some rotation and the legs are up. It just kind of throws you off a little bit. If you're going to start on your back, legs are fairly far away from you.

That way you have room to roll up. Arms are going to reach out in line with your legs. Shoulders are down, your back. Inhale here. As you exhale, you're gonna roll up to the seated position and heel at the top and exhale, roll down two more like this. Rolling up, sitting tall, and then roll back. One More plane, rolling up, reaching those arms all the way across. And then rolling back. This time you're going to roll up and hold. You're going to twist to one side, roll down on that side. Once you're down, you're going to stay on that side to rule back up and then come to center and then down the middle.

Okay. Roll up to the center, twist to the other side and roll down. Stay on that side as he roll back up. Back to center. Roll down. Oh again, rolling up center. So you're trying to keep both feet anchored on the mat. Twist, roll down one fiddle. Kind of feel a little bit lighter.

Roll back up, but you're trying to keep the way even back to center. Roll down and roll up. Center twist, roll back. Stay on this side as you roll up. Back to center and roll down. One more each side.

Rolling up, twist, roll back and rolling up to the twist. Back to center. Roll down. Last one. Roll up, twist to the other side. Roll back. Legs are glued together. Roll up, back to center. Roll down, roll up one more time. And then we're gonna come into our mermaid. So we're going to do a z sit today for the mermaid. So one leg is in front, the other leg is out to the side. You're trying to get both sit bones down on the mat.

Most likely they won't touch, but that's your goal. And then one arm is going to come down to your ankle, the other arm up to the side. You're gonna lift up and over towards your legs and then lift up and away from your legs and back up and toward your legs. Focus on the length and over one more towards your legs. This time you're going to add a twist. So you're going to come to your twists.

Both four arms are reaching down towards the Mat. Try to lift your chest up from here. You're gonna lift that back leg up and lower it down. Back leg lifts. So you're trying to keep your abs off your leg, you're pulling them up, chest is open, what do you form or and three, two, hold this one up in a, stretch the leg out and bend. So if you don't have both forearms on the mat, that's okay.

Just go where you can. Just try not to sacrifice that long spine for the twist and to hold the leg out. You're going to keep the legs straight, lift the leg up and down, lift, lift, keep pulling the abs in and up for more and three to hold it up. Now the same like that. You're going to reach that arm out, try to get as long of a line as you can. Really reach hold for one more breath and then back to your side bend.

And then back up. It's which are legs. So again, one leg is in front, the other leg is out to the side. You're trying to get both sit bones down the sides a little tighter for me. So this hip does not go down. You can grab onto your ankle, to the side of the arms, out to the side. And you're gonna lift up to go over towards your legs and then back up, lifting up to reach away from your legs. So you're trying to keep your waist as long as you can before you bend over and lift and away. One more towards your legs.

Okay. Um, lift this time you're going to twist four arms on the mat. Chest is open. You're lifting out through the top of the head. Lift the back, leg up and lower lift. This is great for dancers. If you want to work on your attitude and lift form more and three to hold it up, shut your leg out. And Ben, I need just cracked. There it goes again. Three, four.

The size is a little bit harder for me to twist the sides a little tighter, but I'm still trying to think of my chest reaching out. Hold like out. Lift the leg up and down. Go ahead, keep thinking about your abdominals. Don't let them go for the last four and three. Two hold it up. That same arm reaches out. Try to reach the two sides of the room.

One more breath and then lower it down back to your side bend. And then so we're going to finish with some planks and some side planks. So we're going to come to our plank position. If you feel better on your forearms or on your face, you can do that. I like on my hands. Find your plank position.

Just hold in your in one straight line from your head all the way down to your feet. They've already done this in the class before so she'd feel familiar. Now from here, keeping the body still, you're just going to bring your right leg out and tap it down and then bring it back to center. Left leg will tap out and center. So you're trying to keep everything still just moving the leg. So if I'm looking at the upper body from the hips up, I shouldn't be able to tell anything's moving and open, right? Like out the left leg out.

Yeah, and open one more each side. Okay. I'm going to bring one hand underneath the, on the center you're going to turn to the side. One leg is in front, the other leg is in back. Find that side plank. Just really hold. Reach that arm up. If this doesn't feel good to you, you can always bring that bottom leg down and come to a modified plank is hold her five, four, three, two, one twist. Backed here, full plank, and then bring the other hand to the center twist way. Reaching that top arm up.

Bottom arm is hopefully right under your shoulders and you're keeping that wasteless stood up for five, four, three, two, one. Back to your plank. Hold this just for one more count. Bend your knees, come back into child's pose. Take a breath, and then roll up. Roll your shoulders back and you're all finished. Thanks for taking class with me.