Deconstructing to Rebuild

Go there now, and hey Brett, how are you? Good, how are you doing, Kristi? I'm doing great, I'm doing great. For everyone, I want to apologize a little bit that we had a, I want to apologize to Brett. We had some technical difficulties, so he's without a mic, but it's Brett Howard.

So he'll be able to do that, and we'll fix it for next time. Thank you, Brett. What are you gonna do for us? Well, the series is called Building With Brett, and so it is for building up each other. So what we're doing is we're laying down a foundation and we're gonna start building up.

And so it's kind of like taking skills, and laying those skills on top of another. So if you're building a building, you have to start with a really strong foundation. Once that's set, you can build onto floor one, floor two. So by the end, you're gonna have a nice, strong, solid structure. It sounds like this is for everyone.

It's certainly for me (laughs), so I'm really looking forward to it. Again, thank you for being here and I'll let you just take it away, let's begin. Thank you. So, hello everybody. I'm Brett Howard, and we're gonna be building up.

So today we're gonna focus this on just taking some of the exercises that you probably already know, and just giving some little breakdowns. And before we start, if you have a towel available, it's very helpful. You don't need it for the workout, but a couple of exercises we might use it as a prop, especially for any type of rolling up exercise. So let's start with a warm-up. I'm gonna have you start by going onto your hands and your knees.

Hands are gonna be directly underneath your shoulders, knees directly underneath your hips. Then from there, You're gonna round the back like an angry cat, dropping your head, dropping your tailbone. Bend it from there, arch the back, head up, tailbone up. And again, inhale, round the back like an angry cat, and then exhale. Arch the back, head up, tailbone up and again.

Inhale, round the back like an angry cat. And exhale, arch the back, head up, tailbone up. Last time, inhale, round the back like an angry cat. And then exhale, arch the back, head up, tailbone up. All right, I'm gonna have you turn around.

And what you're gonna do is you're gonna have your feet flat on the mat, in line with your knees, in line with your hips. Arms and fingers are gonna hold on to the back of your thighs. We're gonna do a roll down. You're gonna start with the tail. You're gonna round down, one vertebra at a time, opening up the lower back, trying to get as much of the lower back on the mat as you can.

When the arms get to full extension, you're gonna hold there. You're gonna lead with the crown of the head, bringing the head towards the knees. Then roll up through your spine and tailbone. Lower back, middle back, upper back, neck, head. And again, starting with the tail, you're gonna roll down, one vertebra at a time, trying to get the lower back on the mat as much as you can.

When the arms get to full extension, you're gonna hold there. You're gonna lead with the crown of the head, bringing nose towards the knees. And then roll up through your spine and tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back, neck, head. And one more. Tailbone under, rounding back, opening up the lower back, trying to get as much of the back on the mat as you can.

Then take the hands off. Continue to roll down, one vertebra at a time, all the way down onto the mat. All right, what you're gonna do is you're gonna bring your feet together and knees together. You're gonna either bring your hands behind the head, or if you're on a flat mat, you can bring the arms out to the side. We're gonna do a little bit of spinal rotation.

You're gonna bring your knees over to the right, as the head turns to the left. Then the sequential sequencing. Pull down the rib cage, lower back, pelvis, to come back to center. Then knees to the left, head to the right. And then pull down the rib cage, lower back, pelvis, to come back to center.

Knees to the right, head to the left. Then pull down the rib cage, lower back, pelvis, to come back to center. Knees to the left, head to the right. And pull down rib cage. Lower back, pelvis to come center.

Last time, knees to the right, head to the left, and pull down the rib cage. Lower back, pelvis to go center. Knees to the left, head to the right. And pull down the rib cage, lower back, pelvis to come center. Okay, arms gonna go down to the sides.

You're gonna open the legs, parallel distance, and we're gonna start with a little bit of bridging. You're gonna curl the tailbone up. You're gonna roll up to a nice bridge. Then from there, you're gonna soften at the sternum. You're gonna melt down one vertebra at a time, like a wave rushing forward all the way down to the tail.

And again, tailbone initiates, rolling up to a good bridge. Try to open up your hips. Then from there, soften at the sternum. Melt down one vertebra at a time, all the way down to the tail. We're gonna go for one more.

Tailbone initiates, roll it up, lift it up to a nice bridge, and you're gonna hold that position. Keeping the hips up, you're gonna inhale, and lift the arms to the ceiling. Exhale and reach the arms back, back, back. Inhale, arms go forward. Exhale, arms go down onto the mat.

And again, inhale with the arms up. Exhale and reach, reach, reach. Inhale, arms go forward. Exhale, arms go down to the mat. One more, inhale, lift the arms up.

Exhale, reach back, back, back. Now, roll the head, neck and shoulders up. And as you roll the head, neck and shoulders up, roll the hips down. You're gonna reach forward, fingertips forward, to bring up through the abdominals. Now, lift the hips up.

As the hips come up, head, neck and shoulders go back, and lift. And roll the spine down, one vertebra at a time. And as you roll down, roll the head, neck and shoulders up. Reach forward and engage your abdominals. One more, lift the hips up.

Head, neck and shoulders go back. And then roll the spine down. Head, neck and shoulders round forward and engage your abdominals. And then bring one knee into the chest, then the other knee into the chest. Zip up through the abdominals.

Extend the legs up 45 degrees. Start pumping up and down. You should be in with the air. Breathe out, two, three, four, five. Inhale, three, four, five and exhale.

Three, four, five, three. And exhale, three, four, five, four. Exhale, three, four, five, five. And exhale, three, four, five, four. In with the air.

And exhale, three, four, five. Inhale, three, four, five. And exhale, three, four, five, three. And exhale, three, four, five. In with the air.

And exhale, three, four, five. One more set. And exhale, three, four, five. Easing of the chest, rest your head. We're gonna go for the roll up.

And what we're gonna do first is we're gonna do an exercise I call the good morning roll up. So we're gonna bring the soles of the feet flat onto the mat. Arms are gonna go straight up to the ceiling. Then it's going to be a simultaneous action. You're gonna simultaneously roll up to your spine.

As you roll up to your spine, slowly stretch the legs straight. I'm gonna reach forward into C-Curve. Then from there, you're gonna bend the knees. Roll down, slide the feet in all the way down. Arms are gonna go slightly back past the shoulders.

And arms to ceiling as you roll up slowly, reach forward into C-Curve. Then from there, bend the knees. Slide the feet in. Roll down to your spine, all the way down. One more, roll up.

As you roll up, stretch the legs reach forward into C-Curve. Then from there, bend the knees. Roll down one vertebra at a time, all the way down. We're gonna go for three more. This time, we're gonna have straight legs.

If it's hard for you to roll up, you can always take a small towel, place it underneath your lower back. Make sure it's in the small of the back, above the pelvis. Arms to the ceiling, flex the feet. And regular roll up, straight legs. Then you'll just inhale, round and up, and exhale C-Curve, hands forward, sliding back.

Inhale, round down one vertebra at a time. Exhale, all the way down. And again, our arms to ceiling. Just gonna push back into my tail, reaching forward to C-Curve. Then roll down one vertebra at a time, leading with the tailbone.

And roll all the way down. One more, roll the head up, push back through the lower back, and reach forward to C-Curve. Roll down, one vertebra at a time, all the way down, and head goes back. Now, if you have a towel, just remove that. Let's bring the feet together and knees together.

And take your fingertips, and you're gonna sit on your fingertips. You want to imagine that your fingertips are like a scale. You're gonna keep the scale very balanced, and you're gonna open the right leg to the side. Then from there, close the knee. Now open the left leg to the side.

And then close the knee. Open the right leg to the side. As you open the right leg side, you're gonna really wrap through the left obliques. Then you're gonna pull the leg back to center. Now, stabilize with the right side as you open the left leg.

And then close the knee. One more time, right knee opens as you wrap to the left side of the obliques. And then close the knee. Last time, left leg opens as you wrap through the right side of the obliques. And then close the knee.

Now, we're gonna remove the hands. Imagine that you still have your pelvis on that imaginary scale. You're gonna lift the right leg up, knee to knee. Then from there extend the leg, and you're going to lower the leg down to the ankle. Keeping the weight equal on the scale, you're gonna rotate back to center and lower the lady down to the ankle, then circle outward, but don't allow the scale to tip.

And again, lower the leg down through the knee, and circle out. Feeling contractions to the left side of the abdominals, lower and circle around and center. Last time, down to the ankle, and circle around to center. Let's reverse this. You're gonna open, circle down and lift up to knee level.

And again, open to circle down and lift up to knee level. As you're opening, really wrap through the left side. Control the pelvis from tipping. Two more, open, circle down, and lift up to knee level. One more, open, circle down and lift up to knee level.

Bend the right knee. Then extend the left leg up on each knee. Keep equal weight on both sides. You're gonna lower the leg down to the ankle, circle out, return to center. And again, lowering down to the ankle, two.

And circle out, and come back to center. Down three, really wrapping to the right side. Control the tip of the pelvis, and down. Imagine you're on that scale. Keep it nicely balanced.

Last time, down and circle around, and center reverse. Go out to where you can control it. And then lift up to knee level. And again, go out to where you can control and lift up to knee level. And three more, out and down.

And lift up to knee level. Two more, out and down. And lift up to knee level. One more time, out and down. And lift up to knee level, and bend the knee.

Good, bring both arms straight up to the ceiling. We're going to go for a good morning roll up. Gonna roll up to your spine for a five, four, three, two, one, with a C-Curve. Roll up to your spine, with soles of the feet flat onto the mat. Then you're gonna hold onto the back of your thighs.

You're gonna start with the tail. You're gonna curl down, one vertebra at a time, bringing those safely towards the mat. Then once you can feel that your heels are light, you're going to float the legs up and then make two right angles with the legs, table-topping shin boats. We're gonna go for an exercise called Zen Rock. So you're going to initiate with your tail, and roll tail from under, safe from under.

Rotate L five, four, three, two, one. So it doesn't look like I'm moving much. Then from there I push my legs into my hands, slowly rock up to my center position, trying to not get flush with my pelvis. And again, I'm going to start with the tail, and roll under tailbone, safely. Lower back slowly rolling down.

Then from there I'm gonna push forward with my thighs to rock up to center. So it's a small, controlled movement. One more time, tailbone under, safe from under. L five, L four, L three, L two, L one. Then I'm gonna go forward through my thighs.

Now what I'm going to do is the same thing, But we're gonna take it a little quicker. So we'll rock back one and roll up one. Rock back two, keeping the legs nice and broad. One more, rock back three and come up and balance. Hold there.

Drop the feet down, feet together, but still hold up at the back of the thighs. Fast, three more. Rock to the lower back, come up and balance and hold, Two, three, try not to gets stretched. Rock back, come up in balance. Two, three, one more.

Rock back, and come up in balance. Two, three, walk the hands to the front of your thighs, under the knees, rather. Now rock back and come up and balance and hold there. Now walk down to the middle of the shinbone. Curve back, then come up.

Now, you can stay to any of these places, but you can also now just walk down to the ankles and rock back, and come up in balance and hold there. So you always have someplace to hold. This is your control, or here, or here, whatever works best for you. Now, we're gonna do an exercise called the single leg stretch. Right hand on ankle, left hand on knee.

Left leg is gonna extend out 45 degrees. Slow and controlled. You're gonna roll down to the base of the shoulder blades. Gonna pull the right leg in, change. Pull the left leg and change, two and two.

Change, three, and four. Four, five, five and pull and pull. Two, and two, three and three. Four and four, five and five. Both knees in, double leg stretch.

Arms back, legs reach. Circle the arms out, bend the knees. Grab the ankles, give yourself a good pull. Simultaneously, arms and legs out. Circle the arms, bend the knees.

Give yourself a good pull, one more. Inhale, three, circle, exhale and then pull. Inhale, four, exhale, circle and then pull. Inhale, five, exhale, circle and then pull. Five more, inhale, reach.

Exhale, circle in. Inhale, two and exhale, circle in. Inhale, three, exhale, circle in. Two more, inhale, reach. And exhale, circle in.

Last time, inhale, reach, and exhale, circle in. Single straight leg, but let's a brief break. Rest your head for three. Rest two, rest one, okay. Now, move your hands behind the base of the head.

Roll the head and shoulders up. Then extend your right leg straight up to the ceiling. Left leg out to 45 degrees. Turn both legs slightly out. Pulse to the right and back twice, pulse, pulse.

Change, one, one. Two, two, two, two. Three, three, three, three. Four, four, four, four. Five, five, five, five.

Change, hold, you can hold the back of the thigh, or the back of the calf, or the ankle where you can. Maintain a straight leg. So you're gonna pull the right leg. Pull pull, change. Left, left, change.

Two two, two two. Three three, three three. Four four, four four. Pull, pull and pull, pull. Both legs up, bend the knees.

Rest your head. Double straight leg stretch. Now, if you're tight in your hamstrings, or you're tight in your hip flexors or lower back, bring your hands underneath the hips. Bring both knees into the chest. Then roll the head, neck and shoulders up.

Otherwise, hands behind the head, one hand on top of the other. Both legs to the ceiling, rotate the legs to Pilates stance. Now, lower the legs only to where you can control, and lift the legs up to 90 degrees. And again, lower two three, lift up to 90. Lower three two three, lift up to 90.

Rotate the legs parallel, bend the knees, rest. We're gonna do seven more. But I want you to bring your hands underneath your hips. Now feel what the weight feels like on your hands at the moment. Roll the head, neck and shoulders up, Looking at your abdominals.

Extend both legs straight up to the ceiling and rotate to Pilates stance. Now, as you lower the legs, try not to increase weight on your hands, and lift up to 90 degrees. And again, roll, two, three, lift up to 90. Roll, three, two, three, lift up to 90, rotate the legs parallel, bend the knees. Rest your head.

We're gonna do four more, using the mat as a reference. So, hands behind the head. Roll the head, neck and shoulders up. The distance between bottom, rib and hip will stay the same throughout. You're gonna extend the legs up, and now lower the legs for three counts without increasing that distance.

Then come back to the center. Lower two three, lift to center. So it's an integration of the rib cage and pelvis. Lift to center one more time, one, two, three. Lift to center, rotate the legs, bend the knees and rest, good.

Now we're going to roll the head, neck and shoulders up, and we're gonna go for the criss-cross. I'm gonna twist to the right, extend the left leg out and hold for three. Hold for two. Hold for one, change. And hold two, three, change.

Two, two, three, change. Two, two, three, change. Three, two, three, change. Three, two, three, change. Four, two, three, change.

Four, two, three, change. Five, two, three, change. Five, quick time change, one, one, two, two, three, three, four, four, five, five. Knees in and rest, good. Take a nice hug of the legs.

Bring your feet down to the mat. Arms straight up to the ceiling. And we'll go for a good morning roll up. So roll up five, four, three, two and one. Good, open the legs to a V.

Now I have these boxes here. If you don't have the boxes, what you can do is is just open to the width of your mat or slightly wider than the mat. Now I'm gonna have you actively flex the feet. And then you're gonna reach the arms straight out in front of you, and then slowly lower the arms down onto the mat. Now, we're just gonna roll forward one vertebra at a time, as you slide your fingertips front.

Now, imagine there's a wall behind you. Roll up tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back, up against the wall. Now, you're gonna keep your lower back against the wall this time. Now everything from above the ribs, you're going to round forward. Then after rounding from the bottom rib up, you're gonna be pushing back through the bottom while you're down.

Then roll up tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back, neck, head. One more, pull back through the lower back as you round forward, as you slide forward. So really reach as far forward as you can really stretch far back, lower back. Then roll up tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back, neck, head. Good, bring the legs together.

Shake out the legs. Now, imagine you have a pillow on your lap. You're going to just rest on that pillow, and take a deep breath in. And big exhale, exhale, exhale. And again, we'll breathe in.

Don't force anything. And breathe out, out, out. One more time, breathe it in, nice and relaxed, and breathe out, out, out, good. Roll it up to your spine, one vertebra at a time. We're gonna go back to that roll down position.

You're gonna curve under. Then from there you're gonna, deep into the Powerhouse, you're gonna lift the legs up so the legs are parallel to the floor again, the shin boats. Now, wide out, navel's gonna go back. You're gonna rock backwards and come up in balance for three, two, one. And again, rock back, come up in balance and hold.

Now, if this is easy for you, extend the legs straight, rotate the legs. Otherwise if you're still working on it you can keep that right angle. Then you're going to rock backwards, come up in balance for three, two, one. And again, rock back. And up in balance, hold there.

Now you can either keep the hands where they are, or you can start to walk up anywhere between above the knee to the ankles, okay? Same thing, rock back, navel back. Then round forward. As you round forward, pull back through the upper ribs. Those are the brakes of the car.

And again, rock back and come up in balance for three, hold two, hold one. Now from here bring the legs together. Reach the arms forward, and hold there for three. Hold there, two keep pulling back through the upper ribs. Three, roll the spine down without the legs moving.

At the last minute, bending at the chest. And rest your head, good. Now what you're gonna do is you're going to roll onto your side. And then you're going to bring the hands behind your head. Elbows are gonna touch, and we're gonna open a book.

You're gonna follow the elbow with the eyes, opening up a book. Then from there, close the book. Follow the elbow with the eyes. And again, open the book, two, following the elbow, and then close the book, follow the elbow with the eyes. One more, open the book.

And again, close the book, following the elbow with the eyes, and hold there. Now rest your head. And then one hand on top of the other hand, same thing. You're gonna get a little bit more range here. Gonna open up the book, follow the fingertips with the eyes.

Then close the book, follow the fingertips with the eyes. And again, open the book. Try not to move from the waist down, and then close the book, follow the fingertips with the eyes. One more, open, allowing the chest to move. And then we'll close the book.

Now, top shoulder blade, It's gonna go forward. You're gonna slide front and release. And again, slide forward, two, and release. One more, slide forward, three. and release. Okay, you could flip over to the other side, but just so I can see you guys, I can't see you (laughs), We're going to just switch this way.

So I'm gonna have your feet aligned with the hips. Hips aligned with the shoulders, hands behind the base of the head, and elbows are gonna touch. Now, open a book. Follow the elbow with the eyes. And then close the book.

Follow the elbow with the eyes. And again, open a book, two. Follow the elbow with the eyes. And close the book, two. Follow the elbow with the eyes.

One more time, open a book, three, following the elbow. And close the book. Follow the elbow with the eyes. Now, same thing, straight arms. Open the book, really move from the chest, though, up from the ribs, and then close the book, following the fingertips.

Hold them, so the arm's moving because the rib cage is moving. And close, good, one more time. Open, following the fingertips with the eyes, and then close, follow the fingertips with the eyes. Now, top shoulder blade's gonna slide forward, which makes the arm slide forward. And then you're gonna come back to center.

And again, slide forward, two, and back center, two, one more time. Slide forward three and back to center, three, great. So I'm going to flip back around and then you can either bring the hands underneath your hips for the next exercise or you can keep your arms down by the sides. Now extend the legs straight up to the ceiling. We're gonna rotate the legs.

We're gonna go for the Corkscrew. Now, circle the legs, right, down, left center, stop. Circle left, down, right center, stop. One more set, right, down, left and center. Left, down, right and center.

Rotate the legs parallel, bend the knees. Keep the right knee at the chest. Extend the left leg out onto the mat and flex the left foot. Extend the right leg up to the ceiling. Turn out the leg.

Now, equal weight on both hips. Keep the hips on the mat and the scale, and keep the scale balanced. Over cross to the left, circle, control by wrapping to the (indistinct), instead of the obliques, and then cut across and open and wrap one more time, and across. Open, nothing moves in the pelvis. Reverse, really wrap through that left side as you open, then go across and come back to center.

Wrap to the left side. Down, across and center, one more time. Wrap, down, and across, good. Rotate the leg parallel. Bend the knee, give yourself a nice pull at the leg.

Let's change legs. You're going to pull in with the left leg, flex the right foot, then extend the leg up. Turn out the leg, press down the hands, shoulders, pecs on the hips and the right leg. Now go across. Nothing changes in the hips.

Then come back to center. So it's the body that controls the leg. It's not the leg that controls the body. One more across, circle out, center, reverse. Wrap to the opposing side to open, and keep the left hip down.

Wrap to the right side of the obliques, then keep the left hip down as you go across, one more time, open, down, and across. Good, rotate the leg parallel, then the knee. Give yourself a good pull. So now, that was a single leg circle. We're gonna go back to the corkscrew, which is essentially a double leg circle.

So I'm gonna bring both knees in, extend both legs up, rotate them and do two more sets of this. So that same idea of wrapping to the opposing side. So if my legs go right, I'm gonna wrap to my left side, vice versa. Okay, so pull the legs right, left and center. As I go left I wrap to the right, down.

As I go right, I wrap to the left. And center, one more, right. As I go down, I'm pulling up through the pubic bone, and center, and left. Down, right center. So it's always my body that's controlling the legs.

Not the legs controlling movement of my body. Now, arms straight up to the ceiling, feet flat. Let's do a good morning roll up, roll up for five, four, three, two, and one. Good, rolling up to your spine. And then you're gonna open the legs out to a V.

Then from there, you're gonna flex the feet. You're gonna bring the hands behind the base of the head. You're gonna twist to the right, and then come back to center. As I twist left, I'm gonna lead from my right shoulder blade. Someone pushes it for me to twist, and center.

As I go to the right, someone pushes my left side, just like a revolving door, and center. Now twist to the left and center, adding on. Twist to the right, hold. Right where my elbow line is, I'm extending the arms out and I'm just going to round my back forward over my leg. I'm gonna come back to center and then return the body to center.

Hands behind the head, twist. I'm gonna open round over my leg, keeping equally on both hips. Then I'm going to come back up and then center. Now, I'm gonna keep my arms off to the side. I'm gonna initiate with my left shoulder blade.

I'm gonna twist to the right. Drop both arms. I'm gonna reach the left little finger past the right little toe and reach, reach, reach, and then come back center. Now, right shoulder blade's just gonna be to the left. I'm gonna drop the arms as a solid reach.

I'm gonna pull back on my right hip in opposition, and come back up to center. and twist to the right. Drop the arms. I'm keeping my weight even on that imaginary scale. And come back up to center.

And twist to the left. Drops all, and reach, reach, reach, and center. Good, bring, I think the legs (indistinct), shake them out a little bit. Imagine a pillow, two pillows this time, in front of you. You're gonna rest forward onto those pillows.

You can rest and take a deep breath in. And a big exhale, exhale, exhale. And again, breathe in. And breathing out, out, out. One more time, breathe in.

And breathing out, out, out. Roll up to your spine, one vertebra at a time, up to nice, tall, straight back. Okay, so I'm gonna have you flip over onto your stomach. I'm gonna use the wooden dowels here, but if you don't have the dowels, you're gonna bring your hands to the outside of your mat. Now, position your legs together.

But if you feel any sort of compression in your lower back, by all means, it's okay to open. I would say, anyone over 40, open those legs. It works a little bit better. So you're going to elevate the hands. You're gonna lift your upper body up, and lower the body all the way down.

And again, lift the upper back up and lower the upper back down. One more, lift the upper back up and hold that position. Now, slide your arms to assist, but still use your back to come all the way up. Then from there, you're gonna lower the body. When you can, take the hands off and lower it down unassisted from the arms.

Now lift up, unassisted from the arms, then bring the hands out and allow the arms to assist, and lift. This time stay up there. Pull up through the abdominals, wrap through the ribs to the crown of the head, turn the head and look to the right. Circle the head back. Look to the left, look front.

Look left, circle again. Right and front, repeat, right. Circle again, to the left, and front. Last time, left, circle down to the right, and front. Now, lower the body down.

When you can, take the hands off. Control the descent the rest of the way down. Today, instead of child's pose, just go onto the hands and the knees. We're gonna limber the spine by going back to that cat, round like an angry cat, and then arch the back, head up, tailbone up. And again, round the back, lowering the head, dropping the tail, and then arch the back.

Head up, tailbone up. One more, drop the head and then head up, tailbone up. Good, you're gonna go onto your side. And you're gonna make a Sphinx position. In this position, push your fist down.

Stomach up, the ribs up. Rounding the head up. Now, you're going to lightly kick the right leg. Kick kick, now left leg. Kick kick, again, right right, left left.

Three three, three three. Stay strong in the upper body. Don't allow the kick to affect the body. It's all stable. Kick kick, four four, four four, kick kick, kick kick, kick kick, kick kick, one more, kick kick, kick kick.

Now lower down. Remember to bring your hands down onto the mat. Then what you're gonna do is you're gonna push your hips into the mat. You're gonna kick both legs three times. Kick one, kick two, kick three.

Now stretch the legs straight. Push your feet down. Push your hips down. Pull up through the thighs. Hold there, two, three.

Then once again, you're gonna kick one, hips down one, hips down two, hips down three. Now stretch the legs straight. Push down with the feet, down with the hips, back to the toes, long through the thighs. So you're really working more through your glutes and your hamstrings. Now, what you're gonna do is you're gonna turn the head.

Bring the hands behind the back. Elbows gonna go down, down, down. Now, slide the arms down the back. Keep the feet down. Keep the hands onto your thighs.

Lower down, face the other side. Bring your hands back up and press down, down, down. Then slide the fingertips down, and lower the upper back. But this time bring the arms back to the mat, elbows flat. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna combine everything together.

Simultaneously kick one and then two, three. Now toes back, fingertips back, feet down, pelvis down, thighs long and lifted. And when you lower down, start kicking one, kicking two, kicking three. Slide your fingertips down the back. And your feet are on the mat still.

Fingertips reach back, lower down a moment. Start kicking one, two, three. Slide the fingertips down, toes back, long through the thighs, back and down through the fingertips and shoulder blades. And last time, kick one, two, three. Slide the fingertips down, let them lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, and lower down, good.

We're gonna go back one last time to that pack cat. So I'm going to round the back like an angry cat, and then arch the back, head back, tailbone up. Two more, we'll round the back, lower the head, lift the tail. And then arch the back. Last time, round the back.

Then arch the back. Okay, turn around. Now, if you have a strap available, use the strap for the next exercise, which is the neck pull. Not an easy exercise for people. So if you do not have a strap, I'm gonna give you some options.

Option one, you can always bring the pad or little towel underneath the lower back, and you can push into that as you're rolling up and down. Otherwise, I'm gonna give you guys allowable cheats, okay? Allowable cheat number one. If it's hard to roll up as is, what you can do is you can bring your elbows forward and help yourself up that way. If that's not available for you, elbows forward, you can take the hands off to help yourself come up.

If that's still not working for you, what you're going to do is you're gonna bring your elbows forward, hands off, bend the knees slightly, and then round forward. Okay, so those are all allowed. Most important thing is that we want control. So I don't to see what I call a scenic route to help yourself get up. Other thing that I don't want to see is throwing up to help yourself come up, all right?

So nice and controlled. You have your cheats, use them. Okay, now what you're gonna do is you're gonna roll up, inhale, exhale, nose is and gonna go forward to knees. Inhale, exhale, long lower back, and go back, and go back, and go back, and 10. Today we're not gonna hinge.

You're just gonna forward the head, curl the tailbone under, and roll down through your spine, one vertebra at a time, feeling every single roll on the way down. And again, rolling up, inhale, and exhale, nose to knees. Inhale, roll up to your spine to a tall back. Don't hinge, tailbone under, head folds, a low tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back and neck, head. We're gonna do one more.

Pull the hips aside from the foot back, and then reaching forward. Roll up through your spine to a tall back, making sure that the ribs don't splay. And then round under tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back, neck and head comes all the way down. Okay so, what you're gonna do is you're gonna lie onto your side. You're gonna have one line from elbow to tailbone.

You're gonna bring your feet forward at a 45-degree angle here. Then from there, you're going to keep the line of the femur the same. You're gonna bend your knees and have your feet come in line with your hips. Now, what we're gonna do is we're gonna do a few inward rotations. They're going to keep knee to knee, and you're gonna lift your foot up, and lower down.

Keep knee to knee, and you're gonna rotate the leg inward and then rotate it down. Knee to knee, lift the hip, not the hip, sorry, foot. And again, two more, lift the foot up again. And lower down, one more. Lift the foot, and lower down.

Now, what we're gonna do is we're going to reverse this. External rotation, gonna open the knee, and then close the knee. Open the knee, two, and close the knee, two. Open the knee, three, and close the knee, three. Two more, open the knee, four, and close the knee, four.

Last time, open the knee, five, and close the knee, five. Now, both legs, we're gonna inwardly rotate. Then from there, we're gonna open the top knee, keeping toes together, and close the knee for the clamshell. And again, open. Stay nice and strong through your core and close.

And open three and close. Two more, open four and close. One more, open five and close, good guys. You're gonna lower down the feet. Then from there, keep the line the same, just extend the legs in one line from seats going to heels, on a 45-degree diagonal.

Now externally rotate the leg, Developpe. You're going to bring toe to the knee, knee to the shoulder, extend the leg up, resisting down and toe to the knee. Knee to the shoulder, extend the leg up, pressing down. One more time, toe to the knee. Knee to the shoulder.

Extend the leg up. As you press down, reach out with that foot and then reverse it. Lift the leg up, knee to shoulder, toe to knee, and then slide the foot down. And again, up, knee to shoulder. Toe to knee, and slide down.

One more time, up, knee to shoulder. Toe to knee, slide the foot down. Now we're gonna go for the up and the downs here. You're gonna kick the leg up, resist the leg all the way down. Again, up two, resisting down two.

Up three, resisting down. Quick up, slow and far out down. One more time, leg up. Rotate the leg as you resist down. Now, imagine that your bottom leg is a match pad.

Your heel is a match, and you're gonna strike it one, strike two, three, small circles, four and five. Reverse, strike one, strike two, strike three, strike four, strike five. Good, now keep the body nice and stable. You're gonna imagine that your body's like a grandfather clock. Your base is gonna be the body of the clock, torso.

And then from there, you're gonna lift the top leg up. Your leg is gonna be the pendulum. You're not gonna move the base, only the pendulum. We're gonna kick front front, and then go as far back as you can. And again, kick kick, and then reaching long, three three.

Reaching long, four four. And reach, five five. And elongate five more, kick kick. And reach, two two. And reach, three three.

And reach, two more, kick kick. And one more, kick kick. And reach long, long, long. Okay, good, I'm having you lie down onto your stomach. One hand on top of the other, and forehead will go on top of that.

Reach the legs out, float the legs up and stay long. Open the legs, close the legs. Open and close. Three, and close. Four, and close.

Five, and five more. Open, and close. Two, and close. Three, and close. Four, and close.

Five, and now a quick foot. Open close 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Squeeze, last set of open, B, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Squeeze, lower the legs. You can flip to the other side.

I'm just going to change my direction. And then you can have one line from your elbow to your tailbone. Feet are gonna go at a 45 degree angle. We'll end it up to your core. That is your anchor.

Lift the top leg up, hip height. Now, you can have the bottom leg flexed or long, your choice. Kicking, front front. Long to the back, two two. Long to the back, three three.

Long to the back, four four. Long to the back, five five. And long to the back, good. Now, leg on top of leg. You're gonna bend the knees, and we're gonna go for a little bit of internal rotation.

You're gonna lift the foot up, and lower the leg down. Lifting up, two, and lowering. Lift up, three, and lower. Lift up, four, and lower. Lift up, five, and lower.

Now, let's open the knee, flexion rotation, and close it. Open the knee, two, and close. Open the knee, three, and close. Open the knee, four, and close. Open the knee, five, and close.

Now, both femurs are gonna internally rotate with the shinbones up. Then you're gonna open the top knee and close it with a clamshell. Open, two, and close. Open, three, and close. Open, four, and close.

Open, five, and close. Good, lower the shinbones. Stretch the legs out, Developpe. Turn the leg out, and then just slide the toe up to the knee. Bring your knee to the shoulder.

Extend the leg up, resisting down. And again, toe to the knee. Knee to the shoulder. Extend the leg up, resisting down. One more time, toe to the knee.

Knee to the shoulder. Extend the leg up, resist, let's reverse it (indistinct). Kick it up. Knee to shoulder, toe to knee, and down. Kick up, two.

Knee to shoulder, toe to knee, and down. One more time, three. Knee to shoulder, toe to knee. Now the up and the down. Kick the leg up, resist it down.

Kick up to, eyes (indistinct) reach on that one. And three, and I'm gonna reach, reach, reach. Two more, up, and reach, reach, reach. And one more time, quick up. And reach, reach, reach.

Small circles, keeping the external rotation. Circle one, circle two, circle three, four, five, reverse. Circle one, two, three, four and five. Parallel the leg, and yes. I did five first.

Now let's do five more with the leg up hip height. And kick front front. Reach to the back, two two. Reach to back, three three. Keep that base still.

Two more, and long to the back. One more, kick kick, and long long long. Okay, leg on top of leg. And then what you can do is you can just shake out your legs. I'm gonna move this back.

Next exercise, if you use a pad or a towel, for an exercise like a roll up, you can also put it here. 'Cause we're gonna go for a teaser. In a way, teaser is one of those exercises that people feel is quite hard, but it's really just the placement of it. So if I do a roll up, that's actually the hardest part here. If I check my whole body, I'm in a teaser position.

So if I can find my C-Curve here, teaser actually is not that hard of an exercise. Okay, but before we get to that teaser, we're gonna do a couple with modifications. So I call this one the assisted teaser. You're gonna slide your fingers forward. You're gonna extend the legs straight up to the ceiling.

You're gonna hold the back of the thighs. Now, like a see-saw, drop the feet. Rock up to a rounded shape. Keep that C-Curve, keep holding back the ribs. Extend the legs and hold for three, two, one.

Reach the arms forward, two, three, roll with the spine all the way down. Knees into the chest, and relax. Let's do that once again. Hands forward, chin forward, legs up. Hold the back of the thighs.

Simultaneously drop feet, bend the knees down into a rounded shape. Try not to go too far forward. Keep the weight behind your shinbones. Extend the legs straight and hold for three, two, one. Reach the arms parallel to the legs, two, three.

Roll the spine all the way down. Ease into the chest, and relax. Last time, hands forward, chin forward. Legs up, hold the back of the thighs. Drop the feet, bend the knees.

Rock up, then from there extend the legs and hold two, three. And then arms can go parallel to the legs, two, three. Keep the legs still and roll down two, three. Ease into the chest and relax. Now, feet down, then extend arms straight up to the ceiling.

Try a roll up. You can always use that towel. Roll up. Once your ribs are on, push in to them to come up, okay? Then from there, we're gonna roll into teaser.

Gonna make two fists, tall back. First we're gonna do this little bit of rowing. Gonna curve under, bringing this, fists into the sternum. Should bring your rower back to the mat. Then you're gonna lift up and stretch the arms straight.

And again, curving under, under, under. And then stretching front. One more, curving under, under. Keep that under. It's important to keep the lower back curved.

And then open the arms. Then from there, keep the seat firm. Try some one plane, add it, heels get light. When they get light, it can allow the legs to fly up. And then reaching forward, I'm gonna bend the knees and sit up to a tall back.

I'm going to round my oars. So this is a (indistinct) exercise. I'm gonna curve under, bringing my lower back onto the mat. Then from there, I'm gonna open the arms, I'm gonna press in one plane, making sure my arms do not lower. And at a certain point, my legs will fly up.

It's like magic. And bend the knees, but I would say it's not magic, it's physics. And one more time. We're going to curve under, deepening in the core, bringing the low back to the mat. Then open the arms and in one plane, press back on that plane.

And at a certain point the legs will fly up. Then you're gonna reach and keep the legs there. You're gonna roll down where you can without moving the legs and then roll back up. And again, roll it down where you can without moving the legs. And then roll back up.

Each time see if you go a little further. Roll down, keeping the legs still, all the way down, bend the knees into the chest, and rest your head. Good, all right, you're going to roll over to your side. Then from there, you're gonna help yourself up. You're gonna extend your leg, and then you're gonna bring your heel in line with your pubic bone.

So right here I have my left leg straight, and I have my right heel in line with my pubic bone. Now I'm gonna bring my left hand and bring it against the heel. I'm going to extend my other arm up, right arm up, and then I'm going to bend over to the side. As I bend over, I'm gonna use my elbow to help to increase the stretch. And then I'm gonna come back to center.

And again, I'm gonna bend over. I'm gonna use my elbow to help increase the stretch, equal weight on both hips throughout, and come back to center. Last time, I'm gonna use my elbow to bend over and stretch, stretch, stretch. And come up, both arms side. Now, other arm to here.

I'm gonna reach up, and as I'm reaching outward, I'm really actively pushing down with my hip as I reach out to the fingertips. Then I'm going to use my side to come up, and then see if you can do this unassisted. Otherwise it's okay to help yourself. And we're gonna go for the other side. I'm gonna bring my heel in line with my pubic bone.

Arm up, I'm gonna go over and stretch, two, three. And come up to center. Over and stretch, stretch, stretch, and up to center, one more. Over and stretch, this is my tiger's eye. So I'm gonna hold here and come up to center.

Then from there, both arms side, arm goes to here and then reach, reach, reach. And then come up. And both arms side, and then relax. Now, if I wasn't teaching a class, I would probably had you do a little bit more on that tiger's eye, but we're all different. So some things you just bring awareness to you, and then when you're doing it by yourself, you can always do a little bit more on that tiger's eye to help balance it.

Okay, we're gonna add on to that exercise next week. Now, what we're gonna do is we're gonna do an exercise called the seal. I'm gonna have you guys dive through, grab underneath, curve in the lower back, and you're going to find a nice balance and point behind the systems. Pull back through the grips. We're not gonna clap right now.

We're just gonna roll. We're gonna curl back, and then head forward in balance, two, three, tailbone under. Fold in forward in balance. Now, we're gonna do two more, but this time we're gonna do two claps. And we're gonna roll back.

I'm gonna clap, one two. Roll up, clap two. So it's a waltz, clap clap, roll, clap clap, okay? Now, we're gonna keep that underlying waltz, and we're gonna add a third clap bar. So this time we're gonna start clapping.

Clap two three and roll, clap two three. Up, clap two three, roll clap two three. Up, two three, down, clap two three. Up, clap two three, down, clap two three. Up and stick it, park it, lure it, keep it, and then round forward.

You're gonna round over the legs, let your head rest. Take a deep breath in, and big exhale. Nice and relaxed. Don't force anything. Inhale, and exhale.

Let the wave do the stretch for you. One more time, take a deep breath in. And big exhale, exhale, exhale. Slowly roll up through your spine. One vertebra at a time, to a nice, tall straight back.

And you guys are done for today. Thank you guys for joining me. Each week what we're gonna do is we're gonna slowly build on, so this was our base here. And we're gonna also take other exercises that we went through and maybe went through a little quicker today, and deconstruct those, while we keep layering on our other exercises and other skills. So thank you guys.

I hope you guys have a wonderful day. (lips smooching)