Small Ball

Hi everybody, good morning. Welcome to my house, thank you for coming. Still feel like it's very strange and I can't see you, but I know you're here and so am I, as you can see. So today what we're gonna do is we're gonna work with overball. So I hope everyone has one of these.

And if you don't, you could use like a cushion, a folded up towel. Nothing would be quite as good as actually having this, piece of prop, but you could find a way to modify. So with that being said, once again, I'm very grateful to be here with you all and to have this opportunity to make movement together. So let's go ahead and get started. So we'll just sit in an upright position on the mat and take the ball and just rest the ball against the shin.

So the, my legs are separate. They're about sitting bones distance apart and I'm just resting my hands on the top of the ball. And I want us just to close our eyes and just lightly apply pressure towards the ball towards the shins like you're pressing the ball into your shin, and then let's just have a few breaths here. And as we inhale and as we exhale altogether here worldwide, we can just drop in to this space and potentially or hopefully let go of any other distractions that are happening. This is for me as much as it is mostly for me, I'm letting go of distractions and I'm bringing myself into this space with you.

And then let's begin creating some sensation in our body. So lightly pressing against the bone shin that allows the spine to lift a little taller. And as the spine lifts up, you feel the top of the head reaching up towards the ceiling, towards the sky and then open up your eyes and breathe in. And then as we exhale, we'll round the spine. So as I'm rounding the spine, I'm rolling the ball slightly downwards, and it's not a big movement at all.

It's just more of a feeling than anything. And then pressing into the shins with the ball, lifting the spine up and inhale and exhale as we go down. So we round the spine and I allow that ball to move slightly towards my feet. And I'm using that sensation that I'm creating with my arms to deepen against in the center of the body. And then we reach back up lifting the spine so that we come right over the top of the sitting bones, right up right on top of those sitting bones and inhale and exhale as we curl round the spine and inhale to lift up we'll do that twice more.

So we'll go down around and inhale and lift up and each time we lift up, can we feel that we get a little lighter in our body, little lighter in our experience and round, and now keep that round shape in the spine but remove the ball from the shins and place it behind you, not right up against your pelvis, but maybe a couple of inches back. You might wanna hang onto it for a minute, while we go back into it. So I've got maybe two or three inches of space between my sacrum and where I've placed the ball. I just want us to stay there and I'm very lightly touching the ball at this stage. I'm not resting on it.

So you're gonna roll back into that ball. And now I do want you to feel what it feels like to just drop into that ball and rest on it. So we're not gonna do that. So we're gonna instead take a breath in, get a little lighter on the ball and inhale. And now as we exhale we're gonna try to rotate the pelvis a little bit more under, so really deepening the roundness of the lower back and pressing into the ball and then return.

So it's a very small movement, exhale press into the ball by just deepening, by tucking the tail under, and bringing the pubic bone up towards the nose and then release and inhale and exhale, press back, and release and inhale and exhale, press back and release. And just one more time, exhale, press back and inhale, and then lighten up on the ball and exhale come all the way back up, take the ball in the hands and inhale. And then as we exhale we're gonna roll back. So we utilize that feeling that we just created and find the low back against the floor. So holding the ball into the right hand, open both arms out to the side.

You'll notice maybe that one side is a little, has to work a little harder just because of the weight of very light ball. We're gonna take the right hand to the left hand, hold onto the ball with the left and open in center, and then take the ball to the right hand and open in center and then take the ball to the left and open in center and take the ball to the right and open in center and take the ball to the left and open in center. And we are going one more time through, there one more time left and then find, on the thighs and roll the ball up to the knees and roll the ball back down and roll the ball up to the knees. And if this is too difficult for you, you could just put the ball down and use your arms hold onto your leg. There's something about for me at least, having that tactile feedback to work with, that really helps here.

Let's do three and back and two and back, and one come all the up, take the ball over the shin, let it round down, reach down for your feet. So you're getting a little stretch there and then roll back down. I'm just letting the ball move under my hands as I need. We're gonna rotate till the ball goes over the right thigh, we're gonna roll the ball up the right thigh and down and roll the ball up the right thigh and down and three and down and two and down and let's go all the way up that side. And then all the way through center, move the ball as you need, reach it down towards your feet, find a stretch, and then come back, coming back over the tops of the knees, rolling down to the mat, rotating to the left, and lift up and down, and lift up and down, and lift up and down.

And two more and one more, rolling all the way up and around, and then let's roll the body all the way down, onto the floor. Take a little break for. Step the feet together and step onto the ball. So be prepared to feel a little wobbly. The arms are gonna come down to our side.

We're gonna inhale. We're gonna press down into our feet, as we lift up into a bridge and inhale and exhale as we roll down, working through that lower spinal space and return and inhale and press down into the ball. And at the same time as you're pressing into the ball with your shin, you could perhaps feel that you're trying to pull the ball, back towards the pelvis and we'll roll down, down, down, maximizing the curvature of the lower spine, feeling the arms resting heavily on the floor and inhale and exhale to lift and inhale and exhale to go down. We're gonna do this one more time and then we're gonna make a change. So last time my friends lifting up, Oh, I'm rocking from side to side.

That's not good. So I'm trying to eliminate that and rolling down. And then what we're gonna do is, you can just pick the ball up with your feet and hand it to yourself. So now we have the feet separated about sitting bones distance apart, and we're gonna press into the ball with the insides of the thighs. And we're gonna lift up into that bridge.

You gonna want, you might find that you have a little more freedom here, a little bit more height, a little bit more range of motion, inhale at the top and exhale coming down, reaching out through the head, reaching out through the spine. Now you can decide how much or how little you wanna squeeze your ball. You can do a very vigorous squeeze, or you can just lightly press it into it, up to you. Roll up, that's what's nice about, I don't know movement we have many choices to make. We have many choices around rolling down how we can create sensation, how we can lighten up into the experience perhaps, or create more muscular work.

And we all get to make that choice and inhale and exhale to lift and press. We're gonna do one more after this one and hold at the top, but this is the last full articulation that we're doing for now. Coming all the way down and then inhale as the pelvis drops and now exhale to lift up. And we're gonna pause there. So now press pretty vigilantly into the ball.

We're gonna straighten the left knee and put it back down and straighten the right knee and put it back down. So that's the choreography. Now as you're stretching your leg, is it possible to keep the ball still between the thighs. It's a little difficult but it is possible, I believe. Left leg goes and comes back and right leg goes and comes back, Oh, did your pelvis drop, mine did left leg goes and back, not that time though, and right leg goes and back, and I'll just do one more staying lifted, one leg and then the other, and then both feet down, both hips up and inhale and going down rounding the spine and coming all the way down to drop into that neutral pelvis position.

Again take the ball in your hands, lift one leg and lift the other leg. So we have the hands just above the chest and we could just lightly press into the bone field. That's that pressure is not a hand pressure, but more of a under the arm pressure. And now we're gonna take the knees across to the left and we're gonna let the ball travel to the right and I'm letting the ball roll in my hands. And then we're gonna come back center and then we're gonna go the other way.

So over and center and inhale allow the ball to roll, kind of a soft hold with the hands and inhale and exhale. So now what we're gonna do, is as we take the knees to the left, we're gonna open the right arm and look at it and come back to center, hold the ball. As the knees go to the right, we open the left arm and look at it and center. So we have a full spinal rotation. The arm that's not holding the ball, just stays reaching up for the ceiling and center, kind of a little sloppy with my free arm there, fun fact.

And last time keeping the straight arm still or the up arm still and center. And last time to the other side, keeping that up arm still Meredith and center, and then place one leg down, place the other leg down, stretch your legs out straight, reach the ball over your head and then lift your head and chest and roll through your spine. Come all the way up flexing through your feet and just roll the ball down towards your feet and then come back up and we're gonna put the ball now, we're gonna bend our knees, we're gonna place the ball around the mid back. So basically I want us to be able to go into, thoracic extension over the ball. So you have to decide where it feels the best to you.

So for me, just underneath my shoulders, a little closer to the bottom of my ribs than anything, and then we're gonna take our hands behind our head. So lining your body, and from there, keeping the pelvis in neutral, we're gonna take the upper body over the ball and come back, little bit of flection and go over the ball and come back and go over the ball and come back. So feeling here that thoracic extension, but as you go back over the ball it's not a resting, not a place where we're just relaxing. We wanna feel that we can stay engaged. We can elongate the abdominals, even as we're going into a extension.

And we'll do four more back and lift and three and lift. Pretty simple but not too easy for me anyway, two and lift and one and lift. Now we're gonna go back and as we lift, we're gonna rotate left, keeping the right hip grounded and then back and rotate right keeping the left hip grounded and back, keeping the head resting in the hand, left and back and right. Can we do three more, do you think? And left and back and right.

It's up to you. How far back you wanna go. And two, I'm trying to go as far back as I can. What's difficult for me personally, is as I rotate keeping the pelvis really grounded, this is our last time to each side and across and back and across, and guys are going to do one more thing. We're gonna go back.

We're gonna lift in the center, hold the center, now rotate to the left and pick up the left thigh and then center and rotate to the right, picking up the right thigh. Just made it a little bit more challenging to stabilize, but I'm sure we're all doing amazing and back going slow 'cause we need all the focus that we can find here, left leg lifts and center and right, and center and back. And up and rotate and center and rotate and center. And two more back and up, and rotate and center and rotate and center. Everyone doing okay? Yes you say?

Last time lift up. This is the end. So don't save it for later and center and rotate and center. And then what we're gonna do here is, we're gonna take the hands behind the thighs. I'm gonna use our arms to help us up off that ball.

You gonna and pick up the ball, well done way to survive that. So now we're gonna hold the ball in our hands, you're gonna lift up tall, we're gonna inhale. And then as we exhale, let's all rotate right. Open up the right arm, leave the left arm where it is and come center and then rotate left, open up the left arm. So the arm is going with the ball and center and the other way.

Spiraling through the spine and center and the other way and center and rotate and center and keeping the knees and the feet side by side, as the spine just moves through space. One more like this and center and one more and center. And then we're gonna keep the ball in both hands. We're gonna turn are gonna reach up, take that ball back as far as you can, bring it back down and return and inhale and lift the ball, lift the spine, take it back down and inhale and lift up and down and return and inhale and lift up and return and center. Last time here, rotate and lift up and return and center and rotate and lift up and return and center.

Now go back to the first pattern, open up the right arm, put the ball on the floor, roll it away from you and reach up and back with your body. Then sit up, pick the ball up and return to center and go to the other way. Let the ball down, push it away from you. Reach up and back with your body. Come back up, pick the ball up and return and inhale and put it down and reach over it and come up and lift up and return and rotate and reach up and back.

So I'm thinking of lifting my ribs up away from my pelvis and sit up, and lift the ball and center and one more rotate and reach and back and center. And last time place the ball down, reach back, come back up, lift up, return and center, bend your knees. Put the ball between your thighs. Put your hands behind you and then give us a little hip flexor break, your welcome. Push up, so straightening the elbows.

Now squeeze the ball, pick your pelvis up and articulate. So roll through the spine, lifting the hips up, pressing the hips up, opening up through the front of the hips and then take the knees a little forward to open up the shoulders, come back, knees over the feet, roll down and come back into that straight line and inhale and exhale, roll up once you achieve that parallel line to the floor, that's where we can lean a little forward, come back, shoulders over hands, and then roll down all the way and inhale and roll up and lean over, what I just made that noise about was, I could feel my body shifting. So it wasn't equal over both of my feet. So I had to remind myself and I'm reminding all of us now out loud to really feel equality of weight between the legs, press into the ball, are you pressing into the ball equally on both sides? This is our last time, lift up all the way.

Lean a little forward, lean a little back. Now making a change, we're gonna go back into that round spine so creating a hammock with our body, pressing into the wall bend your arms and straighten, ten, nine. Every time you straighten squeeze the ball. Six, five, four, three, two, one. Let's take one more stretch lifting up and then let's roll all the way down.

Return the pelvis to the mat, take the ball behind the legs and hold onto it with your, I guess it makes the most sense for me, behind my ankles or just make it work for you. Little higher up behind the knees would be a little easier. We're gonna roll like a ball starting now. Find our shape. And we rock back.

Inhale and we come up and balance and we press into the ball and rock back and oh, come up and balance. Just the tiniest shift, the tiniest change in the exercise, can create a whole different challenge. I almost didn't make that time. And I pulled it together. Let's do three more, one and back, two and back and three place the ball down.

So come back on your mat. We're gonna take the ball onto the mat under the feet. Just have to get there. I've gotta figure out where I can be for the space that I have. And take the arms overhead.

We're gonna lift our head and chest, reaching for the ball, reaching for our feet. Now, as we curl up, we're gonna bend our knees and pull that ball towards our body. And then we're gonna stretch the legs, find the low back and return and lift the head and chest. And the challenge here is the knees bend, is to keep the pelvis still, bring that ball straight in because the pelvis can't actually stay still. What I mean is not rocking from side to side and then reach back and take the arms and inhale and lift and bend and curl and push away and then back and two more left and bend and curl.

It's harder than it looks. And reach back and down and when we lift up, and bend and curl, bring that ball right in, so that you can step on both sides of it and stretch your legs out straight. So now what we're gonna do is we're gonna hold that ball, right between the knees to start, or actually it will land where your hand, however long your arms are. So for me it's between my knees, then we're gonna bring the chin into the chest, pardon me. And we're gonna roll down.

So I'm just letting the ball roll up my arms. And then we're gonna come back up stacking the spine, bring the hands just back to where they started. So sitting tall and taking another breath in and exhale as we go down and reach forwards. Drawing in creating connection and then inhale and exhale to lift back up. And we're gonna do that three more times, here we go.

Exhale to go down. Maybe you'll notice that the ball rolls up a little higher on your arms. That's what's happening for me and roll up, sit up and two more, roll down and one more roll down and up, now making a change, going down. Now this time, instead of sitting straight back up, let the ball roll back towards your pelvis, but come out on the diagonal. So for me, I can't go down very long, I'm just not flexible enough, but if you are a stay really low bend your knees, try to lengthen out through your spine a little more and then stretch your legs and come back up.

So that's our pattern now. We go down, we lengthen the spine out. We bend the knees and lengthen even more so, then stretch the legs and lift back up and one more round down and reach out and bend your knees and stretch your legs. Did I say one more? I can't remember.

It was only just one second ago. Let's do one more just in case, go down and reach out and bend, get a little longer, a little longer, a little longer, stretch and then sit back up. And once you're up, we're gonna bring the legs back together, we're gonna rest the ball underneath the feet again, I'm gonna go a little further forward, 'cause I didn't have enough space last time, real life folks. Thanks for bearing with me. So here let me go down.

I'm using my hands just 'cause I feel like I needed a little stability in this moment. So however you need to get there, feel free. We're gonna keep the ball under the right foot. So you may need to shift it a little. We're gonna take the arms overhead.

So now we're gonna do a single leg curl and I'll lift the arms, the head, the chest. We're gonna bend the knee and bring that knee up and then push it back down. Let's stay just off the shoulder blades and curl and back and curl pulling the knee in, in, in, in, in, in, get almost into that rolling like a ball shape and back and two more curl in and back, pressing down onto that ball a little bit. Last one, curling in, going back and then let's come all the way down and we'll take the ball underneath the other foot. We'll lift our head and chest.

So we come up into that chest lift. So we're here, we're anchoring, we're flattening into the ground with our bodies, then we're curling and pulling the ball in and then pressing the ball out and curl pull the ball in and press the ball back. So finding the low back and three and back and two, five is enough, don't you think? And back, I do. And one, and then I have a special surprise for you.

You're welcome in advance, switch sides again. Now as we, let's come back up into that chest lift, this time as we bend our right knee, we're gonna lift and we're gonna turn and we're gonna go back to our shoulder blades and we're gonna lift and turn and go back to the shoulder blades and lift and turn and back to the shoulder blades. And two more lift and turn and back to the shoulder blades. And one more lift and turn and back to the shoulder blades, and all the way down, is that as exciting as I made it out to be, I hope so. And then you change sides.

So the left leg left foot has the ball, the head and chest come up, anchoring the opposite side of the pelvis and then we bend and rotate across that leg and center and rotate across the leg and center and rotate it cross the leg and center, only two more to go, rotate across the leg and center, last time rotate it across, go center in center, reach back both feet now onto the ball, head and chest up Oh, my ball really wants to move around and now we're gonna keep the legs straight as we roll up and her reach forward to take the feet off the ball, separate the legs, sit up, holding the ball in our hands. So I'm gonna talk left and right. So it's easier for me to describe, we're gonna rotate right. We're gonna let go of the right hand and reach back and we're gonna roll the ball forward. We're gonna lift the spine up, pick up the ball, sorry, my voice and center and rotate.

So the hand that holds the ball goes towards the foot and we're rolling it, then reaching out through this spine, lifting the ball, lifting the spine and return and rotate and roll and lift, center and rotate and roll and reach out, bring the ball with you as you come to center. So now let's try reversing that. So as we rotate right, the right hand holds the ball and we roll that ball back as we take that ride arm forward, you lift up bring the ball back and find center, which do you prefer? I'm not sure which one I do. I think for me, I don't know.

I can't say there are two different and rotate. Or maybe this one and push and lift and center and rotate and push. Yeah, I think this one and up and center, but it's nice to have options. Slide the legs together. Roll down through your spine, think of pressing the ball forward, pressing your legs forward and come all the way back down onto your back.

Once you get there, bend your knees, we're gonna take the ball in our hands and we're gonna bring it underneath our pelvis and rest it just underneath the sacrum. So just having the pelvis resting on the ball, kind of finding a neutral spine, bring your legs up one at a time. So your legs are resting on the ball. We're gonna come into a frog position with our legs, Oh, stabilize that's a cue for me. So see if you can sit nice and still on that ball as you stretch your legs out and pull them back and stretch them out, pressing back into the ball with our abdominals and then and bend and stretch out and bend and stretch out and bend and two more stretch out and bend pulling the heels back and stretch out and hold the legs out straight.

I'm gonna make a small circle, go down, open around together, down, open, up, together and down, open, up, together two more down, open, up, together reverse, open down together and center and open down together and center and open watching the legs move at the same pace, at the same rate, that's proving to be a challenge in this body down, together and up one more time, open down together and up, maximize your external rotation, open the legs wide and squeeze them back together. Another chance to watch the legs trying to move evenly through space, open the legs wide and press them back together and open the legs wide, stretching through the knee and squeeze back together. Let's do two more, open and press back together. As the pelvis still were dropped into neutral, last time, open and squeeze back together, and then bending the knees, place one foot down, place the other foot down. Then we're gonna do a similar action to what we started with.

So lift up off that ball, coming up into a bridge, take the ball a little lower. So it's more down near your tailbone. And then as you round through your spine. So this is gonna be a subtle movement. We won't see much, but hopefully we'll feel it.

So I have my pelvis in a deep posterior tuck, in a deep posterior rotation. I know when I'm gonna, what we're all gonna try to do is we're gonna try to, drop a little deeper into that. So it feels like you're pressing down under the ball and release a little and then press down so you try to around and as for me, I feel, squish the ball and push it out from underneath me and return and we'll do three more, press down and return and two more press down and return. And last time press down and then roll back up and just take the ball out from underneath you. You can just rest at your side for now.

Then we're gonna roll down, down, down and use that pattern that you just created. Can you get deeper into your flection? I sure can and return all the way and then stretch the legs out. Take the arm closest to the camera overhead, and then roll over onto that side. So we're gonna rest the hand on the ball.

We're gonna press lightly down on that ball. So from here we've got our whole body, lined up in a straight line. We're gonna start reaching the legs out and up. And as we do that, we're gonna push down on that ball, like a single leg pushup. No that's not a leg, that's an arm.

And down, you know what I mean. Single arm push up, a pec pushup, press down and lift the leg and down, and press down and lift the leg and down, and keep going. So we get a little arm work, we definitely all know that this is not about our arms, but instead about the center of our body. So we all know to focus there, bring a lot of awareness into that part of the body. We're gonna do four more.

So there's one and here's two and press down, feel that whole side body working one more time. Now, hold the legs, just off the floor, press down and curl the ribs to the hips. So I'm using the hand on the floor as assistance and go down we're gonna do this five times. We're gonna press down and lift up and return and press down and lift up and return, last two press down and lift up, if you wanna challenge yourself, you can see if you can lift your arm. And that's a little harder, press down lift up.

Maybe you wanna try removing your arm and down. Now take the top leg back and take the ball on your same side arm and push it away. So roll it forward. Roll it as far forward as you want, while you reach your leg as far back as you want, shifting where the ball is in space, kind of changes stretch for me anyway. So play with that and then come to center and then just leave the ball there for a second come up.

So what we're gonna do now, we're gonna keep our legs straight today. We're gonna take that ball underneath our body. So what I like to do here, what it is, what it does, what it allows us to do, is illustrates if there's actually any sinking into the ball. So lift up off that ball, so it's not really doing much except for holding space. This hand's gonna come behind us.

I'm gonna press the head into the hands I'm gonna lift the top leg up. And down, and up and down, and up, Oh, that was me resting on my ball. So that's the sound of what that sounds like, when I admonish myself, last time, lift up hold it up, flex your foot and go forward and back and forward and notice as the leg changes and moves through space, or we, can we keep the ball pretty still. That's not exactly easy, but you will feel that there is a slight, forward and back shift, one more, forward and now hold it to the back, lean a little bit forward towards the ball. So when I do that, it feels like the ball is gonna roll back towards my elbow or behind my elbow.

I'm gonna keep the head in the hand. We're gonna lift that leg up. And up and up and up, we did reps of six in my imagination. So if you're fussy about, being exactly equal on both sides bend your knee, give yourself a quad stretch, bend your bottom knee, bend both knees, give yourself a quad stretch, bring the leg around, set up for a hip stretch. I don't have any fancy ways to use the ball to stretch our hips.

But if anyone does, I'm happy to take some suggestions. So drop them down, leaning in, and now what we're gonna do is we're gonna take the legs. So this is my left leg. It helps to be able to say that. So it's clear, comes out to the side into the mermaid shape.

I'm gonna hold the ball in my left hand. So I'm gonna reach, I'll be reaching out away from the ball. So we're gonna lean over find our mermaid, hand comes down. We're gonna create rotation, put the ball down on the floor. And now we're gonna bend the right elbow or the hand that doesn't have the ball.

And we're gonna roll that ball forward, we're gonna roll the ball back, straightening the arm, unwind, lift up, put the ball on the floor and push it away. So that's the pattern that we're gonna do for a few more times. Pick the ball up, reach out, hand comes down, bring the ball with you as you rotate. Once it comes to the ground, we bend the arm that doesn't have the ball and we let the ball be rolled forward, feels so good to me. And then press back up, open the arm, sit up, put the ball on the floor and now roll it away and lean into it.

And then come back up. What do you think? And reach in and hand comes down. We'll just do one more, rotate, bend the right arm, or bend the arm without the ball and lean in, roll the ball forward, roll the ball back. Unwind, lift up, ball goes down, you can take it around or over, and then let's lean in.

So we roll the ball back towards the foot, roll the ball back as the body returns and come all the way out. Bring your ball with you. Go to the other side, lie down, lining the legs out, lining the body up in a straight line, placing your hand on the ball and inhale. So now as we exhale, we do that little pushup action. We press down with the arm to lift the legs and then we go down, lighten on the ball.

And we push down on the ball to lift those legs and lighten as you go down and press down and lift up and press down and lift up. So working through that whole front body, whole side body, bring awareness to the underneath side of the body. Many, many things to think about. We'll do four more here and down, and three more and down. And two more and down, and one more time, hold the legs now in the air and now bring the ribs to the pelvis and down, and bring the ribs to the pelvis and down.

So we did this five times and on the last two we gave ourselves the option. I don't know if I have room here because of my sofa, I'm gonna make a fist. So we go lifting the arm, taking the arm down and down, spatially challenged in here guys, and pushed down and lift up and lifting the arm and taking the arm and taking the body down. And this is where we get to take the top leg back and let it go back as far as it wants. And we get to roll that ball forward and reach for a stretch, any amount and then bringing the body back.

So now is the time where we come up onto our elbow and you take the ball and kind of wedge it underneath you. So mine is kind of about just at the bottom of my ribs. I got a little space in between my ball and my pelvis and comes, oh, I almost tipped on the side, hand comes behind the head. Now, what we started by doing, is just reaching out and straight up. Out and up.

And as the leg raise feel that you're lifting off that ball, that's three and you have six. Yes, one more. If the neck feels tight, check that the scapula is on the outside of the body and the elbow is not too far behind the hand. And last time, you should be able to see your elbow in your periphery, hold the legs, flex the foot, take it forward and back and forward and back and forward and back and forward and back. And two more and back.

And when we're in, this is where we can notice. I don't know about you, but I'm very different from side to side. And this is my last easy side. So we're gonna turn towards that ball, lifting the leg. So for me, it feels like I'm using my ribs to roll the ball backwards, but I'm also trying to lift off it.

Now we push up and up and press down with the bottom leg at the same time and three and keep feeling that you're light on the ball. two more, I think, I don't know, I've lost count, sorry. And bend the bottom knee, bend the top knee, give yourself a quad stretch. Now you can rest on the ball if you want. And then bring that leg, sit up.

And bring the leg around the front, hugging it towards the body, so cramp and sitting up, up, up, up, up, up, and dropping down, down, down, down, down, down, down into the pelvis. And maybe we use our arms in a more energetic manner to pull the spine up, maybe we lean into the stretch. Maybe it's even a stretch for you, but for me, these stretches are important. So thanks for indulging me and doing them with me. So now we're gonna take the leg out to the side.

So my right leg has come to the side and you don't have to be the same as me. I'm just, it's easier for me to cue it that way. Your right hand holds the ball, gotta move away. You're gonna lean and you're gonna place the arm. We're gonna bring the ball with us, as we go into our rotation.

Now what I do is I bend the arm that's on the mat and I take that ball out, and roll it forward, and then press back up with the arm on the mat. Bring the ball back, unwind. Lift up ball goes to the ground, rolls away, and we find that side stretch and then come up and over and down and into rotation. Bending the arm and rolling the ball. Maybe you roll it slightly differently.

Different orientation for a different stretch. Come back, open up, sit up, arm lift, then we take it over. And then we come back. There's one way, go down and rotate, bend and roll, press back, unwind, lift up, put it down, push it away, rotate your body. Let the ball roll towards your foot.

Let your ball come back to your side. As you come back into your side stretch and come all the way up, bring your ball with you and come down onto your stomach. So this is one of my favorite things to do, works really well for me. If you're a little more well endowed than me, it's I don't know. I've never had that experience.

I imagined that it would feel different, but what we're gonna do is we're gonna put the ball, have it kind of under my collar bones, more around my sternum. So not right up in the throat, 'cause that would feel uncomfortable. And then we're gonna just let our bodies come down on it. Want us to bring our arms to the sides of the mat. And so the sensation here for me.

So what we're gonna do is, we're gonna start gliding, do backward gliding with your scapula. So might even feel that you could pull your arms back now as you go to lift your chest it's subtle, but it feels like you can push the ball forward and then return and then do it again. So shoulder blades glide body lifts up, back extensors and return, again pretty subtle movement, but there is some powerful upper body work or upper backward to be found here, in my opinion. So go, go, go, go, go and down. And remember we're always supporting from the front of the body.

We're keeping our legs energized. We go, go, go, go, go. We're gonna just do one more. And so here's our last one, lifting up and down. So now what we're gonna do so.

So we're gonna lift the forearms. So I have my elbows on the ground. My forearms are lifted. We're gonna reach the body forward, take the arms out straight, bring the arms all the way back to the sides of the body and then bend the elbows. Go down on the ball, hands off the floor reach out, like the breaststroke, open up, a lower your body as you bend to bring just the elbows to the floor and reach out.

So the ball creates some support for us and we can really work on that external rotation of the shoulders as the elbows come down two more, reach out, reaching through the legs. They're not lazy. They get to work too. And one more reach out and around and bend, and go down and then just press up with your arms, sit back towards your feet, find a stretch and then sit back up. So we're gonna, I'm gonna turn and sit however you want. I'm gonna sit with my legs in a diamond.

I'm gonna take the ball in our arm and our hands, bring it out in front of you and then lift it up. So now what could we imagine that the lifting of this orb, lifting like a ball of energy and we can lift our energy as we lift this ball and we're gonna open up the left arm and put the ball on floor. We're gonna roll it away. We're gonna lift back up, bring the spine up, lift stop as the ball comes up and take the ball the other way and roll it away and lean into it and lift back up. And so now this ball is full of energy, full of light, and we're gonna bring it down.

And as we bring it down towards the chest, feel that you could simultaneous lightly press in and also try to pull your hands off the ball, creating a little upper back awareness. I'm closing my eyes again. And what I'd like to do in my own brain, is to take that energy that I want to move forward with into the rest of my day and make it the shape of this bar. And now take it from that and internalize it. And then we can open our eyes as we slowly, bring the ball down and rest it on the floor.

And then again, I just thank you so much for being here and for choosing to make space, to move with me today. And I hope to see you soon. Thank you for coming.