Add A Little Heat

Good morning, everybody. For those of you that don't know me, my name's Maria, and we are shooting live from Bodyline in Beverly Hills. Let's get moving, everybody. We're gonna begin in child's pose. Let your knees be slightly open, lengthen your arms out in front of you, and then compress your sit bones down to your heels.

The arms are straight. The elbows are away from the mat. Stay here, and let's just take a few deep breaths together into the back side of your ribs, which is where most of your lung tissue is, and I learned that watching the news about COVID. Inhaling into the back of the lungs, and a long, slow exhale. Really just centering yourself, bringing yourself into your body.

One more time, inhale, and exhale. From here, come all the way kneeling. Pull the belly in. Take the arms straight up. Take the gaze straight up.

Pull the rib cage up and out of your legs. Circle the arms. Come back into your child's pose. From here, shift forward into cow. The chest opens.

Drag the mat back towards your knees. From here, curl your toes under, and press the hips up into the wall behind you. I love that transition. Shoulders are out of the ears. Go ahead and have a generous bend in the knees right now.

Don't worry about getting those legs straight. Just breathe and explore your body. Pull the spine long. Come back to your knees, back to cow. Chest lifts, and back to child's pose.

So that's our little warmup flow. Let's go through that again, a little bit quicker. Go ahead and lift yourself up. That would be a big breath in. Exhale, circle the arms.

Come into child's pose. Inhale, back to cow. Open the chest. Curl the toes back to down dog. Push that mat away from you.

Come back to cow. Open the chest, and back to child's pose. Compress the sit bones to the heels. Again, big breath in. Pull the belly in.

Sandwich the spine. Look for more length. Circle and come into child's pose. Inhale, open the heart. Exhale, curl the toes.

Lift the hips. Pull the spine long. Back to cow. Open the chest, and back to child's pose. One more time.

Inhale, cow. Oh, I messed up. Exhale, down dog. Inhale, back to cow, and back to child's pose. Okay, this time we'll do it right.

All the way up on your knees. Inhale, circle the arms. Exhale into child's pose. Inhale into cow. Exhale to downward dog.

Inhale to cow, and back to child's pose. Okay, we're gonna move on. Curl the toes under and lift to your downward dog again. Shoulder blades are wide. You'll notice now the heels are probably a little bit closer to the mat.

From here, walk yourself in. Bring your feet to your hands and maybe move a little forward on your mat. You can have a bend in your knees here. Put your hands on your shinbones. Inhale into half lift.

So you're pulling your heart past the edge of your mat, and then exhaling, arriving in a place that's a little deeper. Inhale, push into the shinbones. Use your arms to help you create some space, and lower down. Well some of you might do this with the hands on the mat. Inhale, push the ground away.

Open the chest, and then let everything drop. Make sure your weight here is forward on your feet, and again, my knees are kind of soft right now. Let's take a spiral stretch. Take the right arm, spiral it to the sky. Bend the left knee.

Push through the bottom hand. Especially when we don't have a machine, we really need to learn how to use that floor to help us. Come all the way down, and twist the other direction. Push the ground away. Open the chest.

Let the head just hang. Pull that left hip way far back, and let's change sides again, and inhale. When I pull that hip back, I really feel a nice stretch in my QL. And lower down. And last time, spiral, spiral, spiral stretch.

Come all the way down. From here, step a little bit more forward to the edge of your mat and find a ball shape. From here, sit down onto your behind, and we're going into braced butterfly. We did this yesterday. So knees are in about shoulder height, and you're gonna hook the elbows right up over the shins and pull the heart forward.

So this is prepping us for crow a little bit later. Keep pulling your belly button towards the sole of your feet. From here, take your legs out straight, and find the top of a roll-up. Shoulders out of the ears. C-shape in the lower spine.

Begin from the base of the spine. Tuck and peel yourself down. Pull one leg in with you, and take a gentle hamstring stretch. Drop the shoulders. Let's flex and point that top foot, and let's change sides.

The other leg comes up. Don't worry about the height of your leg. Flex and point the foot. Make sure your hips are nice and square, guys. No one's watching, nobody knows how high that leg is, but I know how that thought pattern.

Come back to the first leg. The head and shoulders stay down. Shoulders are long. We go to leg circle five times. Around and up for five.

Around and up four. For three, pelvis super stable. Two, last time. One, catch the leg. Lift the head and shoulders up.

Bottom leg lifts. Five scissors for me, changing for five, and four. Pull that leg into you. Three, lift the chest. Two, and one.

Pause. Lower back down into leg circle second side. Around and up for one. Around and up for two. Try not to rely on those arms too much.

And four, last one, five. Catch the leg. Bring your thighbone to your chest. The bottom leg floats. Reach it past the edge of the mat, though.

Five scissors. For five, for four, for three, for two, for one. Pull the knees in. Lower the head and shoulders down. Bring the hands behind the head.

Turn out the legs. Flex the feet as if you're on the reformer. Lift the chest up, so this is from your frog series. Press the legs out. Squeeze inner thighs, belly tight.

Pull the legs to tabletop, pause, and now curl the tail up off the mat without any momentum, and lower down. Let's go again. Squeeze and seal the inner thigh. Draw the legs in from the lower belly and then curl the tail up, and lower. Head and shoulders don't change.

Squeeze out. Pull in. Curl and lift, and lower. Last time. Squeeze out.

Pull in. Curl and lift, and lower. Knees together, head and shoulders down, arms in a T. Into knee sway. Inhale up and over on one side of your hip.

Exhale, pull back center. Up and over the other side. Reach, reach, reach to that opposing arm, and exhale, pull back center. Inhale up and over, and exhale center. Last time.

Inhale up and over, exhale back center. Rock yourself up onto your forearms. Now, I know you want to sink into those shoulders. Push them out away. Pull the rib cage towards your thighbone.

Stay here. Let's do that same twisting, up and over onto one hip. Exhale, pull back center. So we're really trying to find connection to the obliques here. Pull back center.

Crown of the head goes to the ceiling. Inhale, and exhale. And last time. Inhale, and exhale. Sit yourself up.

Cross your ankles. Grab your big toes with your index fingers, also known as crab. So that's your crab position. Take the legs back to the top of the roll-up, and we repeat a little quicker. Tuck and roll back.

Take one leg to the ceiling. This time, the head and shoulders lift. Bottom leg lifts. Leg circles, for five, for four. Keep your eye on that bottom leg now.

Three, and two, and one. Catch it. Lift higher. Five scissors, for five, four. Drop your shoulders.

Three, two, pause, one. Hands behind the head. Circle the leg around and up, and two. Size of the circle depends on you, and four, and five. Catch that leg.

Lift a little higher. Five scissors, for five, for four, for three, two, one. Knees in, lower down. Hands behind the head into frog. Squeeze the heels.

Press the legs out. Pull in and lift. Back out, two. Pull in and curl. Back out, three.

Pull in and lift. Seal the inner thighs. Lift, last time. And knees in. Hands by your side.

Option to take the legs straight now or repeat bent leg. Inhale, up and over. Make sure those hips are really stacked, guys. Big exhale as you come back center, and up and over, and exhale back. Like the exhale starts the action.

Think about that. Inhale here. Make sure that top waistline is very long. The exhale brings the legs up. Last time, inhale, and exhale.

Pull the legs up. Come up onto the forearms. Either bent legs or straight legs. I'm gonna stay bent. And from here, twist, and pull back center.

Keep engaging those obliques. Pull yourself back from the trunk, not the hip. Keep pressing your chest closer to your thighs. Last time like that. Come all the way up.

Take the legs straight if they aren't already. New transition. Twist your legs to me. Keep moving and arrive all the way down onto your side for side kicks. The foot comes up to the height of the hip, and kicking forward for two, and back for two.

Inhale, and exhale. The hips are nice and stacked, and there's a nice freedom in that kick. So we don't do that very often in Pilates where there's just a full release. So there's some times where you want to kind of let control of a joint to have mobility and range, right. Inhale, and exhale.

Last time. Inhale, and exhale. From here, pull your knees into a ball. Roll up back to the forearms. Take the legs up straight, and we're going to the other direction.

Spiral up and over, and go ahead and lay yourself down, and into your side kick. The foot is floating. Kick the legs forward for two, and back for two. Inhale, and exhale. Really keeping the stability in the hips and a nice freedom in the hip.

The leg is super straight. The whole body is engaged. Two more. Really find that glue as the leg moves to the back. Last one.

Pull the knees into your chest. Roll back to the forearms. Take the legs up straight. Lower one leg down. Do not change that lower belly.

Pull it up. Make sure you're not sinking. Other leg reaches past the edge of your mat, not to the floor. Big exhale up. Inhale, and exhale.

Chest closer to the thighs, and last time, inhale, and exhale. Bend your knees, and find your crab. Grab the big toes. This time we roll, so roll yourself back, and up. Find the balance.

Oh, mine was wobbly again. Roll back, and up. That was better. One more. Back, and up.

Stay here. Bring your shinbones down, take your hands to the mat, and step yourself back. Hold it here. Pull one knee in, and then the other. One knee, and the other.

One knee, and the other. Let's pick that up. One, two, one, two, one, two. Inhaling and exhaling, for three, for two, for one. Walk your feet all the way into your hands.

Bend your knees and come into a ball shape. Something a little different here. From here, see if you can straighten yourself up, reach your knees forward, and bring your hands to prayer. So it's a little bit precarious balance. Hands back down to the mat.

Sit yourself down. Find your braced butterfly again. Pull the chest forward. Take the legs out straight. You're back to the top of a roll-up.

Tuck and peel yourself down, bone by bone by bone. One leg to the ceiling. Lift the head and shoulders up. Here we go again. Third rotation here.

Around and up. Reverse your circle, and two, and three, and four, and five. Catch the leg. Five scissors, for five, four, three, two, one. Hands behind the head.

Leg circle, for five, for four, for three. This side is harder for me for sure. Last time. Catch that leg, for five, four, three, two, one. Pull the knees in.

Head and shoulders down. Set up for frog. This time, press the legs out. Let's beat the legs. Five, four, three, two, one.

Pull the knees in. Lift the tail up. Repeat. Squeeze out. Keep lifted.

Five, four, three, two, one. Pull the knees in. Lift the tail up. Lift a little higher. Last one.

Squeeze out. Beat, five, four, three, two, one. Knees in. Lift. Lower down.

Back to the rotation. Legs straight or bent. Inhale over. Big exhale back. Inhale up and over, really moving the pelvis, guys.

Exhale up. Seal the inner thighs a little tighter. Check out your leg lengths. Pull back center. Last time.

Inhale. Exhale up. Rock up onto the forearms. Legs straight or bent. Inhale.

Exhale up. Inhale, really finding that twist here, and up. The chest goes closer to the thigh bones. And up, last time. Inhale, and exhale.

Now here comes that transition. Take your legs to me. Continue on. Lay yourself all the way down, and this time, come onto your elbow. Hopefully you're still on your mat.

So pull your knee into your chest. Tuck your tailbone under. Have a flexed foot. From here, take that leg directly side of your body, and strike with your heel. It might even feel like you're slightly rotated in.

Pull the knee in. We're gonna use the hand to really draw the knee to the chest, the tail pulls under, and then you're gonna look to where you're kicking, right, 'cause there's a target there. Again, pull in, and press out. Pull in, and press out. Really drive through that heel, guys.

And the power comes from that hip, not the knee at all. Press in, and press in, and press, two more here, in, and press, last time, in, and press. Pull your knees into a ball. Roll back to the forearms. The legs go straight.

Rotate up and over the other direction, and arrive down on your elbow. Top knee pulls into your chest. Tuck your tail. Look to the side. Find your target.

Strike with the heel. Hold it there for a moment. Make sure you're working from the glute. Pull the knee in, catch the knee, tuck the tail, and press that heel side, and pull in, and press out, really connecting with those abductors. And pull in, and drive through the heel.

Really pull the toes back, 'cause if you were breaking, you wouldn't want to hit with the toe, right, 'cause you would literally break your toe instead of the board. Again, catch the knee. Tuck the tail. Strike with the heel. This should feel pretty good.

Strike with the heel. Last time. I would inhale, and then exhale. Pull the knees into a ball shape. Roll back to the forearms.

Okay, push that ground away. Take the legs up. Option to go back to single leg lifts, down and up. Some of you are gonna do two legs. I'm not gonna do that.

So maybe two legs go down, two legs come up. Keep pressing your chest to the thighs. Inhale, and exhale. I got to save energy where I can, 'cause I'm talking. And up, and last time, lower, and lift.

Bend the knees. Come up. Find your crab. Find your balance. Let's do two rolls.

Here we go. Roll back, and up to a balance. Drop the shoulders. Easy breezy. Back, and up.

This time we transition. So roll back. Come up and over your knees. Place the hands right in front of you. Now you're gonna step back to plank.

Some of you eventually will jump back. Find your perfect plank position now. So for me, one of the most important things that I teach, spin the biceps forward, hug in with the hands, press the ball of the foot into the ground, okay. So it's really on you to find all those connections to your body, and remember to use the ground. Source energy from the ground.

From here, bend your knees, and take a lot of steps, and walk your feet as close to your hands as you can. The heels are up. Drop your head. Allow your weight to shift into your hands like you're about to do a handstand. Now, spin your biceps forward.

That's gonna really get you out of your upper trap. Walk yourself back. Okay, some of you might go to rest position, and walk yourself back in. Set up those shoulders. Spin the biceps forward before you move.

Pull the belly and think about doing pike on the chair, guys, that last, last moment of pike. Walk yourself back. Everyone onto your knees, and into child's pose. Let's repeat our warmup flow. Inhale, lift your chest up.

Exhale into child's pose. Inhale into cow. The chest goes forward. Exhale to downward dog. Inhale back to cow, and exhale back to child's pose.

Okay, we're gonna repeat that walking plank, but some of you will do it from the forearm. Yes, it's more challenging. Use your forearm. Use your hands. Find your position, and it's a perfect position, or as close as you can get to perfect.

I should try not to use that perfect word too much. Squeeze in with the forearms. Spin the biceps forward. Here we go. Walk the feet in.

Doesn't matter how close you get. Use your arms. Try not to use the front of the hip, as crazy as that sounds. Walk yourself out. I find I use my hip flexors too much here, when I fold.

Go ahead and walk yourself out. So just like in Pilates, you really want to lift from the center of the body. The hip's gonna work, but we just don't want it to overwork. And walk yourself back. Okay, one more time, guys.

Walk it in. Use your breath. Lift the heels. Pull the belly up. All the way back to plank.

Bend your knees, into child's pose. Warmup flow again. Inhale, lift up. It should feel good. Exhale into child's pose.

Inhale into cow. My favorite transition, downward dog. Back to cow, back to child's pose, and back to plank. Okay, you guys still with me, I hope? Okay, your left leg pulls into your chest tight.

Step it forward. You're in a perfect lunge, or semi-perfect lunge. Pivot and face me. The toes point forward. Soften your knees.

Allow your trunk just to completely hang, dead weight. Weight forward on the front of your feet. Allow the head to be heavy so the weight of your body is doing your stretching for you. Bend the knees a little bit more, and slowly peel yourself up, bone by bone by bone, until you're upright. So, we are now more or less in TaeKwonDo land.

Bend your knees, and the knees head forward, and your toes head forward, so this is called horse stance. All Pilates rules apply. Tail is straight down. Chest is open. Pull your elbows straight back behind you.

Now really pull. Squeeze from between your shoulder blades. Take your two hands forward into a double punch. Really important that you have a super straight position through your wrist. And now pull, and push.

Pull, and push. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Continue like this. Keep a very deep bend in your knees, for five, for four, for three, for two, for one.

Stay here. Now pull one elbow back. Now remember, this is about two hands. The elbow is striking, the front hand is punching. And change.

This is a reverse punch. Change. Change. Keep those knees strong and bent. One, two.

One, two. And then start picking up the tempo, eventually making it very whip-like moving the arms as quickly as you can. Five, four, two, one, okay. Bring your right foot into your left foot and bend your knees deep. So this is called cat stance.

So here, we're not worried about staying neutral. There is gonna be some extension on your lower back. Step out to horse. Pull into cat. Step to horse.

So you're really using, the weight of your body is being transferred into that leg, and it's a strike. Strong bend. Stay here. Pull the other leg in. Find your cat.

Bend both knees. This leg is light, in case you need to kick. Step out strong into horse. Cat, to horse. Cat, to horse, staying on one level as much as you can, so you shouldn't be bouncing up and down at all.

Last time. Stay here. Let's put some arms to it. So come into cat. Double punch.

Strike, double punch. Keep moving on your own timing right now. Make it strong. Use the weight of your full body and the powerhouse to have strength through the limbs for two. Stay here, one.

Let's go the other side. The other leg comes in. Start in a nice cat. Chest is still lifted. Strike, pull in.

Strike. So in TaeKwonDo, we'd call it a kihap. I'm not gonna kihap today. I'm just gonna exhale. Move a little quicker.

Pick up your tempo. Listen for that breath. Two, one. Okay, legs go straight. Nod your chin.

Roll yourself down. Deep breath in, and exhale. Take a lunge on the right leg. Back leg is straight. Now we did this transition yesterday.

The back leg tucks in behind you, and now you're in a spiral stretch. Be nice and tall, belly tight. Continue moving that direction, and however you can, join me this way. Legs are straight, hands to the chest. From here, from the base of the spine, tuck and roll yourself back.

Keep the length. Open the arms, so this is rowing back from the reformer. Dive forward, really moving from the center of the body. Pull the arms so back behind you, shoulders out of the ears, palms turned down. Big circle up, and all the way past the toes.

From here, bend one knee in, and the other hand is behind you. Use your legs, step into your shin, and lift straight up. Inhaling into the chest, push the ground away. Use your legs, guys. Lower down.

Change sides, and then pushing into the earth, open the chest. Use that bottom shinbone. It'll help you so much. Come out of here. Hands go back up and over to the toes.

Arms in by your side. Round your back. Lift yourself up into tendon stretch. The pubic bone pulls up and points to you. Lower down, back to your start.

Tuck and roll yourself back. Open the arms. Dive forward. Pull the arms behind you. Circle up and over the top.

Pull one leg in. Lift into wild thing again, and lower down. Quick transition here, and lift, and lower down. Hands to the toes. Drag the hands back in.

Lift into your tendon stretch. Now from here, guys, bend your knees. Lift into table. Pull the shoulder blades together. The pubic bone points up.

Send the center straight back. Hopefully your butt doesn't touch the mat, and come straight through. Squeeze the legs. Push with the hands. And again, pull it back.

Option to be on your fist, also guys. And push through. Pubic bone to the ceiling. Let's pull back one more time. Lift the center.

Lower down. Pull your right knee into your chest. We're gonna take a little seated spiral. You can also catch your breath. From here, roll onto that knee.

You might need to adjust a little bit, and now you're in side kick position. Have some weight on the bottom leg. Lift that leg straight up and down, and I really want you to make sure that you're not retracting in your hip socket. The hip is really open. We're moving just from the abductors, and lift, and lift.

Keep the heel pushing through. Last time. Sit back down, back to that seated stretch. And now the other side. Pull the knee in.

Use your arm. Create rotation. Two hips, heavy to the mat. Roll onto that knee, and up to side kneeling. Flex the foot.

Lift it straight up, straight down, straight up, straight down. Make sure the booty doesn't stick out. Mine wants to so bad. Use the bottom waistline. Use the floor, guys.

Use the floor to create length in your body. Last time like that. Lower the foot down. Find yourself back in that seated twist. Sit nice and tall.

Back to the start. Let's move a little quicker. Tuck and roll. Open the arms. Dive forward.

Big circle up and over the top. Pull one leg in, and lift. Lower, change, and lift, and lower. Two hands to your feet. Sweep the hands into you.

Lift to tendon stretch. Push through to table. Draw the shoulder blades together. Sweep it back. Push through.

Be powerful. Use your legs. One more time. Sweep, and push, and I'm just gonna sit myself straight down, and find your seated twist. So when you're in charge, you get to take breaks when you want, which is nice.

Roll onto that knee, and come to side kick. So, we're gonna add the TaeKwonDo kick, so pull that knee into your chest tight, and then shoot out, and pull in. Tuck your tail. Look for your target. Put your hand on your glute.

That's a little reminder. That's where the power comes from. Push the ground away. Make sure you're not leaning into your hand too much. Your shoulder will get very tired if you do that.

Last one. Lower the foot. Have a seat on your booty. Seated twist. Other side.

Seated twist. Crown of the head to the ceiling. Roll onto that knee. Find your kneeling position. Pull the knee in tight to your chest, and then strike with the heel.

Pull in. Catch the knee. Tuck the tail. Strike with the heel. Pull in.

Catch the knee. Strike with the heel. There's a lot of balance here too, huh? In, and take it out. Lower the foot down.

Have a seat. Come back to that seated twist. And come back to your crab. Grab your big toes for me. Take the feet up.

Pause here, and we're gonna do two rolls. Rolling up to the balance. Again, rolling up to the balance. This one's the transition. Roll it up and over the knees.

Hands go down. Jump back. Step forward to lunge. Hold it here. Pivot and face me, and drop your head down, heavy, heavy, heavy.

Let's interlace the hands behind you. Let the hands drop up and over your head. Check in with where your weight is. Have your weight forward on your feet, please. Knees are soft.

Don't worry about a straight leg. Straight legs are overrated in these stretches. Release the hands. Soften the knees. Peel yourself back up.

And we're back into horse stance, so we're gonna add to our TaeKwonDo. Pull your two elbows back. Take your right hand to your ear, and now you're gonna block, so that's a strong sweep across the body. Sweep, sweep, so you're deflecting a kick here, and you're protecting your knee, for two, for one. Change.

Other hand comes up to the ear, guys, and strike, right over the knee, and it's strong, and there's a sense that your whole body is involved, for two, for one. Take the two elbows back. Come back to the ear. We're going into something called back knuckle. The arm is gonna come across your face, and reach out, kinda like sword.

Come back to the ear, and punch, and two, and the arm comes all the way back each time. So recoil is very important in TaeKwonDo. Pull the two elbows back. Other side. Hand to the ear, and block, and two.

Keep bending the knees. Lift the chest. Five, and six, and seven, and eight. Back to the ear, into our back knuckle. One time slow.

So you're protecting the face, and you're striking it way out there, not behind you. The target is right there. Here we go, and punch, and two, and three, and four, and five, and six, and seven, and eight, to elbows back. So, come to your cat stance. Bend the knees.

Right hand to the ear, and here we go. We're gonna go slow one time. We're gonna block back knuckle. Okay, so let's try that to tempo. In and we go block, strike.

Block, strike. One, two. One, two. One, two. And the arm comes all the way back to the ear each and every time, last time, and two elbows back.

Pull the other leg in. Strong cat stance. Don't worry about your pelvis here, but the chest lifted. Let's go slow one time. Hand to the air.

We typically are looking where our attacker's coming from. So we block, the hand comes to the ear, and we strike. Here we go. Let's go quicker. Block, strike.

Block, strike. And you're still using the strength of the legs. It's the whole body involved, guys, not just the arm. There's only so much strength in that arm, so we want to involve the weight of the whole body behind each move. Last time.

Two elbows back. Stretch the legs straight. Drop all the way down. Relax your head. Take a deep breath in.

Long, slow exhale. Okay, from here, come up to a flat back position, parallel to the mat. Hold it here, and let's check in with where your weight is. See if you can bounce your heels off the mat. Check in with your spine, right.

We're back in Pilates land, so spine sandwich. Take your hands on either side of your head, so you've created like a little propeller from the top of the head. Without changing anything from the belly button down, rotate to the right. Twist, twist, twist the ribs. Come back perfectly straight.

Keep the knees soft. They're not locked. Other way. Twist, turn, turn, turn. Come back center.

Continue to do this on your own, flowing from one side and the other, and as you're moving, see if you can feel the relationship from one tip of your elbow to the other tip of your elbow. Notice how the trunk is spinning around its axis. Your body is not moving up and down. You should begin to be getting fatigued also in the legs now, 'cause they've been holding us here for quite some time. Last time like that.

Two hands all the way down to the mat. Drop the head. Stretch those hamstrings. Lunge over to your right foot. Bend that knee.

The back leg is nice and straight. Tuck the leg in. Come to that seated spiral stretch. Crown of the head to the ceiling. Take the legs all the way out in front of you.

Cross the legs. Grab the big toes. Into crab again. Two rolls. Roll back, and up.

Hopefully there's a mat behind you, and roll, and up. This time we transition. Roll, come up and over your legs, and jump back to plank. One knee in and then the other. I'm gonna do this kind of slow.

You guys pick it up. Pound it out, guys. Spin the biceps forward. Push, push, push, and now listen for your breath while you're pushing. Inhaling and exhaling, for three, for two, for one.

Lift the hips up high into downward dog. Stay here. Pull the shoulders out of the ears. Big breaths here. Really push them out of way.

So now the body should be really, really gooey, like taffy. So pull, pull, pull here. Now that we're warm, you can really go for it with your stretch. Keep breathing. One more deep breath in, and long exhale.

Come back into your plank position. Make it a perfect plank. Take your left hand, put it right under your nose. Pivot on your two feet, and then remove your front hand, so we're in side plank, and I really want you to feel this side line of the body pushing, pushing, pushing the ground away. Make sure you're standing on your feet.

Come back to perfect plank. Make sure the hips are in line. The other hand goes under your nose, and pivot on the feet. Now really feel the inside and outside edges of your feet. Very important that you can transfer weight onto your feet, so your shoulder is not holding the weight of your entire body.

Breathe into that top lung, guys. Come back into plank. It's a perfect plank, and now walk your feet into your hands, bend your knees, and peel yourself slowly up, bone by bone by bone and be standing perfectly tall. We're gonna come into chair, so the feet can be together or slightly open. Bend your knees, cut your hips back, and bring your hands either to prayer position, or straight up over your head.

Now let's check out our position. Make sure you're not in an anterior tilt, right, so hip points are pulling up off the thigh bones. Belly is engaged. You're pretty far back on your heels right now. Keep breathing, breathing, breathing.

I'm gonna recommend you come back to prayer, and from here, shift and lift the heels up. Also an option to lift one heel at a time. The upper back is really, really straight, you guys. Keep the heels up. Lower the hands to the ground.

Sit your butt down into a ball shape. Okay, we're gonna go into that awkward pose again. So from here, the knees reach forward, the head and shoulders come up, and the hands are in prayer, and there's just like a feeling of calmness when you hit it, right. Keep breathing. From here, in one move, put the heels down, come back to chair.

Let's try that again. The hands come down. Bend the knees. Come down to your ball. Look for that awkward pose, and it is indeed awkward.

It's kind of precarious getting into that balance. Okay, here we go. One motion, chair, and come back down, bend the knees, stretch the leg straight, and peel yourself slowly all the way up. Take a breath in here, find first position, and we're gonna come back into chair again with our feet in like our little Pilates stance. Let's put the hands to chair, and let's try that heel lift, and again, you can just keep the heels down is fine, or you can do one heel at a time, or not listen to me at all.

Do whatever works best for you. Heels are up. Let's try taking a little pulse of the legs for two, for three, and four, and five. Come all the way down, and we're gonna try crow pose again. So, the knees are in towards the armpits, the upper arm.

This is really important, finding this connection of the upper arm to the shins. And the hands come to the mat. So this might be all you do, right, shift the weight to the hands, and I really want you to feel that the legs are totally supported by your upper arm. Rock back to the feet. Rock forward to the hands.

Lift the belly, and back to the feet. One more time. Forward onto the hands. Back to the feet. And from here, let's use your hands to help you come back to your chair.

Thighs should be burning. Let's stretch the leg straight. Keep the heels up if you can. Let's lower the heels. Peel slowly all the way up into your perfect position.

Inhale here. Exhale, come back to your chair. My calves are definitely have a nice burn. Lift the heels up and hold it here. We're gonna head back to that crow, so the shoulders come down under the knees.

The hands come to the mat. Find the shelf with the upper arm. Some of you are gonna lift the feet up this time. So you should feel really supported. The legs are just sitting on the upper arm.

See if you can find an easy breath, or keep working on whatever version of crow you got. Take the two feet down. Sit yourself down, and find your teaser. Maybe you hold the legs. Maybe the hands are off.

Maybe the knees are bent. Keep breathing, breathing, breathing, wherever you're at. Cross the legs, and drop yourself forward. Take a nice big breath into the backside of the body, and a long, slow exhale out through the mouth, and let's come back to that teaser. Maybe you take the legs straight.

Maybe the hands come off. It's a little different in yoga. It's known as boat pose there, but teaser for us. Cross the other leg in front, and drop forward. Take a deep breath in, and exhale.

And come back up, find your teaser, and open the legs to open leg rocker. Stay here. Without changing your legs, release one hand, and catch. Recenter. The other hand comes up, and catch.

One hand up, and catch. The other hand comes up, and catch. Stay here. Release your two hands for a moment, and catch. Make sure you got room behind you to roll.

Let's try rolling. Cross your fingers, everybody. Here we go. Rock back, and up. Oh, not so great.

One more, with control. Roll, and up. Hold it here. Release the legs. Lower the feet all the way to the ground, and sit yourself tall.

So we're perfectly set up for saw. Without moving the legs at all, twist, and now saw forward. Pass your pinky toe. Use this back arm to create space, and come all the way up. Twist, and saw forward.

Pull that back arm way far back. And all the way up, and twist, and dive forward, and up, and start to add a little speed, and up. So the hips stay grounded, but the belly button pulls back. Continue like this on your own, and see if you can stay out of your hip flexors. I know that sounds odd, but try not to grab in your hip flexors to bend forward.

Last time like that. Stay here and lower the arms, and now just pivot and face me, and you're still gonna be in your saw position so the feet aren't open super wide. Arms come east and west. Twist to your right. Now, we're gonna saw off your left big toe, so we're sawing the opposite direction.

I call this open saw. Create a brace here with your hand, and take the top arm to the sky, rotating the armpit to the ceiling, pushing with your bottom hand, and keeping your hip anchored, anchored, anchored to the mat. That should feel really nice through your lower back and your QL. All the way up, and center. Rotate the other way.

Saw forward. Pass the big toe. Create a brace. Push the chest open. Take the arm up and over the head.

See if you can spin that armpit back. Keep pulling the rib cage out of the pelvis. Push the opposite hip down, and come all the way back to center. Let's go again. Twist, saw, and again, I really use this posterior delt here, guys, to help me open, open, open.

Then the top arm comes up, and I'm still using that bottom hand to help me stay open. All the way up, and center. Other side twist, saw, create a brace. Twist open. Take the top arm up.

Think about taking a breath right now into the top lung. Come all the way up. Come center, and now let's go to your full stretch. And if you want to sit on something right now like a little prop, that's a good idea. Lift yourself up as tall as you can.

Go ahead and use your hands to lengthen your lower back. Sit tall. Flex and point. Flex and point. Flex and point.

Nod your chin, and just walk your hands forward. Allow the trunk to be heavy. And right now in this moment, I don't want you to get caught up in telling yourself oh, I'm so tight, I'm so tight. Just relax the upper body. Put your attention to your breath.

And then remembering that stretching is neurological. So what do I mean by that? Can't muscle through a stretch. You can force yourself down, but that flexibility is not flexibility you have access to, okay, so it's not functional. Breathe and allow your body to melt into the stretch.

The mind's giving now. Takes a minute. So you gotta really override that protection mechanism in the body. Deep breath in here. The head is getting heavier and heavier and heavier.

And again, you're not really doing anything but focusing on your breath and allowing the stretch. Allow the stretch. Surrender to the stretch Peel yourself slowly up. Shake your legs out for me, and let's sit cross-legged, and either palms down or palms up, and you might want to sit on something if that makes you more comfortable. Shut down the eyes.

Just take a moment to be still. Try not to fudge it and move around. And again, we're accessing your nervous system to calm the body, but more importantly, to create that feeling of calmness, steadiness. Bring your attention to your feet. Allow them to be relaxed.

The ankles, relaxed. Bring your attention to your knees. See them in your mind. Relax your knees. Relax the hips.

Excess tension just going away. Hips are heavy. Lower back, excess tension melts. Bring your attention to your upper back. Let your hands be heavy, the wrists, heavy, elbows, heavy, shoulders, heavy, and the head, light.

Focus on your breath for me. So this is why we come to our mat. This is why we return to our practice, whatever that might be for you, is to feel this unity of mind, and body, create ease of movement, grace in our posture, and wellness. Take a deep breath in through your nose, filling the lungs from the bottom to the top. Hold the breath.

Take a long, slow exhale out through your mouth, and when you're ready, go ahead and open your eyes slowly. Oh, I hope you guys feel recharged. I do. I feel good for the rest of my day. I really appreciate you guys being here with me.

Have a great day. I'll be here tomorrow, same time, same place. Tomorrow, we're in a chair only, the whole time, the whole time. No mat, no sticky socks, just a chair. See you tomorrow, everybody.