Initiation

Good morning, everyone. Well, it's morning for me and the sun is shining and welcome to the second day of the Pilates anytime rise and recharge challenge with me, Danica Kalemdaroglu. Today we're gonna be focusing on another one of my fundamental principles, initiation. Not just where do you start movement from but how does the joint, how does the musculature actually begin to make the movement happen? So we're gonna start standing today.

I'm gonna turn side on so you can see, yesterday if you joined, we were talking about opposition and we started with a rolling down. However, today, what I want you to do is think more of sun salutation and a flat back, let your knees bend and place your hands into the front of your hips right underneath your A S I S really onto your hip flexor in your quad. And instead of rounding from the top of the spine, I really want you to think of roll in pivot and think of your sitz bones reaching to the back of the room behind you let your hands crease into the fold of your hips. Try to get to a flat back 90 degrees. And again, your knees are bent.

Then here on an X-HAIL, let your head lead and let your head carry you down around into a curve. Let your arms fall down because yes they will get in your way. And now leading, not with your mid-back, not with your hips but with the crown of your head, reach across to the other side of the room, let your fingertips dangle, bring yourself into your flat back and then let your head become heavy again. Let the upper abs come over and now starting from the hips, curl the tail rolling up one bone at a time, lifting up tall. And this time, keep your arms down by your side.

As you take an easy bend to the knees fold forward from the hips and just let the arms dangle out. But remember what that creasing feeling felt like in your hips. And when you hit the end of either your hamstrings or you hit the end of where your flat back can be let your head lead and take you over. Don't just drop your chest and fall down lead with the head curve around and two and then not lifting with the back not lifting with the shoulders, but lifting with the head reaching across the room, pulling each vertebra back to that flat back, exhale contract, head dives down again, again, don't just drop your chest. And then roll yourself back up just saying hello to the muscles in your back.

And we're gonna do that one more time. Easy bend in the knees and fold over. Let your fingertips drop heavy. Let your head come around and let yourself curve over. Head leads.

Reach out sitz bones, reaching back. Find yourself, reach through space, exhale, contract dive back over, and then roll yourself back up one bone at a time, one bone at a time, all the way back to the top. Keep standing. I'm just gonna turn to face you leading from the top of the head to find your side body let the head fall heavy over to one side. Let that arm reach to the floor, you end up in a little side, lateral flection.

And then push from the floor, push yourself back up head arrives last. Heading leads over to the other side. Takes your shoulders. Takes your ribs. Takes your waist.

Feels you take you into your curve and just let that bottom arm dangle and then push yourself back up. Notice I said, push yourself. Come from the bottom to come back up. Head leads heavy over to the other side. Feet, try to stay nice and planted.

And then instead of just, Oh yank myself back up, feel the floor, press it down away and push your side spine back up and over to the other side one more time. And then you're gonna push yourself back up. Just let yourself feel up tall. And now we're gonna take this what I like to call around the world. Go over to the right, now let your head start to fall forward, let it bring your chin to your chest Let it bend your knees and let it curve you down into center.

And then roll up through center, stack it up, stack it up, stack it up, stack it up stack it up and then go over to the other side, take it over. Reach, reach. How far away can your head go from your feet? And then let the knees fold. Let the head fall forward, close the ribs.

Let it just bring your upper body around and then roll yourself up. One more time. Over to one side. Let the knees bend and soften bringing you down. Can you really crease into the hips and knees and even your ankles.

Roll yourself up one more. You're really getting a full body movement and it really brings any tightness in your low back, out around and around your back. And then hang in center here, hanging center down there. I'm gonna turn back because we're gonna bring this down into your quad position. Go ahead and place your hands down.

Put one foot down and then the other. And go ahead, sit heels back and do what a child would do. Let yourself collapse and sit down on your heels and just had a rest your belly on your legs for a second. Now notice how that might make you feel like you've already strained yourself a little bit because you're just kinda collapsing down onto your joints. For me, it makes my torso feel very tight.

All right, so I want you to start with feeling your feet, shins and knees, press into the mat. Let it wake up your hips a little bit. Give them a little bit of lift. Start to feel that push you up into your cat. Arriving weight forward onto the hands.

Keep weight even between hands and legs then shift back, push back, but don't drop. Everyone should have a different position. No one should make the same shape here press from the bottom and push up through up through the spine to get to the hands. Keep that nice round back and come back. Now, it's your choice, if you want to have your legs parallel and apart I choose a little bit more of a Pilates V like I'm sitting on a mini frog and push from the bottom up through the hips through the low back, weight into the hands, waking it up letting it find a little bit of opening the idea of up stretch or up dog or down stretch really head comes back in pull back down to those heels.

One more of those feel the weight shifting play with that. As you initiate from the bottom and weight shifts up through your waist, into your upper back into your arms. At some point, your shape will have to stretch out to accommodate that go where you feel good. Start with the head. Don't start by pushing with your arms, pull the head around bring it back through your spine and back into an adult pose where you are lifted and engaged versus collapsed and siting.

Bring your cat back up, push from the bottom get leveled between the hands and legs. Let your feet come apart now if they were together, be more in a parallel. Get ready for the idea of lifting one leg up, so maybe you need to bring your knees in adjust your hands. 'Cause you don't wanna completely fall over when you move one leg. But we're gonna start by just finding that nice, easy flat back taken engagement of those abs on an exhale, slide one leg back, get on the ball of the foot.

Now, don't think drop back in my heel. Think press down in the floor and let that initiation push up into the back of your pelvis. Rolling that femur up into your hip. Pull that leg back in other leg and notice a difference. Do you twist your lumbar?

Do you throw over just to initiate one leg, reaching back press it into the floor. Feel the idea that it launches you forward through space and then bring it back in. One more other leg, press it back, stand out, find the opposite arm now, reach that forward reach it. And now the initiation to lift your back leg comes from the back of your hip, lift and stretch and try and feel the whole string of your upper back really in a diagonal from fingers to toes, bend the knees at the arm, back down. Other leg, back to the ball of the foot, press into the floor, right now you don't wanna hang back onto it.

Don't draw back into your heel. 'Cause then it's gonna be very hard to get anything else to move, press into the floor. Reach diagonally across your back to the other arm lift. Now would be don't start in your knee. Don't start even in the idea of picking up your heel because you should pick up from foot work glute handy hold.

Yes, the shaking in my voice is real because the shaking in my body is real. Pull it back down. Give your wrists a little chillax time back into your adult. Propose creep your arms forward if you need to we're gonna do one more little fun set up there. Really too, here we go back forward right.

Now we're going to take a little bit of thoracic rotation. Pull your hands in a little bit closer because if they're too wide the minute you pick up an arm, you're gonna fall. Bring them in a little bit. Now I could just lift my arm up and try and twist. But instead, what I want us to think about is initiating from the hand that you're gonna keep on the floor.

And I'm good that for me today is my right arm, right now. I'm gonna push this dorm down into the ground so much it twist the thoracic, opens the collarbone and allows the arm to stretch up and out. Now if you've got full rotation and thoracic congratulations, most of us probably don't. So don't wing your arm to try to cheat it. Just let it go where it goes.

And then the comeback in feel your fingertips reach, dive into the floor, plant that arm. Now you could just pick up your other arm which would initiate from that other shoulder, but push into the floor, feel that spiral up through your chest and feel it open up and spiral and be true to where your chest and your thoracic actually rotate. Pull those fingertips back in, back to the mat. Notice if one side rotates more than the other, mine sure does. I'm gonna push into the mat with my right arm.

I'm gonna to spiral open the chest and I am thinking press that arm back to help me rotate more but it is where it is and then it comes back down. And now I alternate that I'm gonna press my left arm down, come up through the chest out and then pull the fingertips back in and back down now, same concepts, but lower body. If I pick up one leg, keeping the knee bent it is a huge challenge not to move from my lumbar first. Hear about the, feel that challenge to try to pick up one leg with the knee bent without it initiating from your lumbar initiate from the hip. You're gonna now initiate that outer hip keeping the glute engaged, pull it around to the side.

Like you're gonna pull it up towards your elbow. Notice that your low back wants to twist pull it back around to the back let it rotate back to its parallel and then back in. So if you don't let your back move if you don't let your back spiral you're gonna really find out how much external to internal rotation your thigh bone actually has. Other leg you pick it up in a parallel with a bent knee does not matter how high it goes, but don't pick it up by dropping. Actually use your hip.

Find the outer hip, keep the lift of your knee and foot. So your leg does turn out it does rotate. It's gonna come back, into it's parallel to come back and back down. Yeah, it's like, Oh my God, these are my sidekick muscles. Exactly they are other leg come up.

So you're gonna feel it deep in that post steer your hip, find the rotation, bring it now, if you want to keep bringing it all the way into a parallel up underneath, if you good stuff but your back will move. And then back in at a certain point your back gets involved. Other leg know where that point is. If you wanna keep going and bringing it all the way around to the front of you, you'll back, we'll move. And then lift, come back to that flat back if you did, and then back around, let the knees open back into your adult posts because that should have been a little good morning, good afternoon and good evening back into your hips.

Take a little reach over to one side. Let yourself kind of sit out into it just so that they don't get snappy at you. And then you're gonna bring yourself up around to sitting, in your sitting, if you can place the soles of your feet together we're gonna work back into our a 100, but I'm just not ready for a 100 yet. I feel like I need just a little bit more. Press the soles of your feet together.

You can hold under your knees, your knees for support here. And what I wanna talk about is initiating actual flection of the spine. I stand firm in my belief that articulating the spine and moving the spine should initiate from one end of the spine or the other, the head or the tail. I actually don't cue pull back from your center. I want you to pull rotate from your head.

So finding your tail underneath of you instead of just initiating abs they're gonna initiate other, they're gonna work, I promise. Feel hips rotate out from underneath if you curl the tail pull your pubic bone back, feel that rolling action. Find contraction of the abs follow. And it brings the curve and weight of you'll back around. You don't have to go back all the way, but hollow and scoop.

Now don't lead with your ribs. Don't lead with your pelvis. That would start to send you into a little Archie Swan. It's a thing, but not right now. Top of the head now feel the crown of your head pull out over your toes.

And eventually that brings the rest of you back forward. Stand on those sits bones, stack yourself back up like coming up out of your spine, stretch forward. Now this is really getting you in your hips. Just come on up and in a little bit you know you do you, but don't just drop back. Don't just pull the they'll just deep and curl the tail.

Find the hips roll. Find the socket roll. Go back a little bit deeper. Maybe you put your low back down all the come back up lead with the head and go and dive over generously over the legs and then stack yourself back up. One more of those curl with the tail.

You'll immediately feel the scoop. If you're trying to keep lifted up and oppose gravity but instead of initiating with ribs, initiate with the top of the head diving over, diving over, diving over go really far over getting good luscious movement through your hips stack back up. This time when you roll back, bringing these with you give yourself a hug you deserve it. Curls from the tail. Roll the socket on the ball back through your back.

Just bring your knees with you. Staying on your Mac, you have a little wiggle side to side. Say to yourself self I'm about to do the a 100 because you're about to do the 100. Elbows, nice and wide pelvis nice and grounded. Now, do not initiate with the ribs.

Simply pressing down because again we're gonna move the spine into some forward thoracic flection. I wanna lead from the top of my spine. And as I curl and look down and lift the top of the head, then those ribs will react. Draw together down in deep. And now I'm gonna roll back down and I don't roll down by dropping my shoulders.

No, I have to put down that last the rest of vertebra that left the mat. Then shoulders open the chest and head. You're gonna stay up on this one, inhale on an exhale. As you lift the head, let the exhale push all the air out. Good stuff.

And then you're gonna bring arms down by your side and start the pumping in your 100. Keep your knees pulled in towards your forehead. Keep even pulled into your forehead. Three, full inhale, maybe you can get to five. Maybe you don't.

Maybe you breathe for three, but full inhale, full exhale send one leg out to straight. The angle you choose should be able to maintain your spine pulling back up and around, and then pull that leg back in. Find the other leg don't push from the knee. Push from the hip, push out into an imaginary foot bar. Reach out into the mat, push into the wall.

There you go and then pull it back in one more each leg, reach it out. Find that hip press and then find therefore what you pull back with and then bring it in and then push from the hip with that other leg and then pull it in. Hold back onto the knees open the chest. Roll down one bone at a time. Keep one knee pull to you.

Send one foot down to the floor. Now as you start to slide that foot on the floor straight let it level square you and bring you into one nice long line. Be true to the, any tightness in your quad. Be true to any tightness in your hip. And I therefore I'm not gonna straighten my leg anymore.

Wrap hands now behind your thigh. We're coming into a roll up pressing the leg into the hands. Pick your head up first, close the ribs, let the leg reaching out help pull you over. Take the hands, change them over to the other five. Back up underneath the knee.

Now don't start with your ribs and pull back. Don't start by pulling with your arms. Curl your tail, roll back, let it draw all that off other leg in with you, all the way down. Leading with the head, pick up feel each bone moves sequentially with the region action of the leg out away. Help bring you up and over.

It's a nice, easy peasy roll-up right, hand switch over, back up under the other leg. Don't fall back. Start in the head, curl under reach out through that leg on the floor. Let that opposition of the leg and the hands allow you to deepen the abs to find which bone moves when to roll back down to the mat and you're gonna curve up one more time lead with the head and then over when you get over just shift your hands to the opposite leg. Pull that knee in.

Roll back with you, and down coming back up you're gonna stay up and sitting and reach your arms out over toast. Keep a nice lift and scoop. Now here's where it really counts. Both legs, nice and strong all the way down all the way up for a roll up, curl the tail. Keep abs contract it arms pressing back for a challenge.

One bone down at a time. Arms can reach back by the ears but then bring them to the ceiling. Lift your head up out over, push out for the legs. Now keep thinking crown of the head reaches out over your toes. Don't fall down to your knees and shin pull abs back.

Now here's the farther for you go. The more attempted you are to pull with your back to come back, initiate with your hips still curl them out from underneath of you all the way down all the way down. One more for good measure all the way up and all the way down. And if you've moved back on your mat take a little slide forward. 'Cause I sure did.

And then you're gonna roll back initiating with those hips. Keep that pressing back in those arms to challenge your abs. It's all about challenge and then all the way down, bend both knees. Give a little rock side to side get yourself nice and tall back up here. Okay, we're gonna go into a little of stomach series but you're gonna keep your head down because I'm a nice person.

Head stays down, work your upper back, reaching your arms. So stomach series, your single leg stretch and your double leg stretch. Working initiation when you fold one knee to your chest do not disturb your lumbar, but that leg back down. Cause that's already a single leg something, that's a needful, that's a single thumping. Don't initiate lumbar, in order to move inside your hip socket stabilize just move inside your hip socket.

Just do the thing. Just move the thing, set it down. But in order to do the thing and move the thing you discover Oh wow I really do teeter-totter places to try and leverage instead of stabilize and lift knee fold one leg and now hold it there, hold it there from right where that is. Just think about that leg on the floor. Where can it go?

How high, how low, where it does not disturb your lumbar spine for me right now, that's high up here. If I go lower, I'm gonna have a conversation. Put that leg back down. And then other leg comes back to the floor, pulled me to chest other knee to chest, hold that knee to chest. Discover that other leg on the floor.

And when it goes to lift it shouldn't drop it. Shouldn't drop you. So you're really gonna have to find some quad initiations to lift a straighten the knee keep pulling back through, set it down, set it down. Yeah, that was kinda hard, wasn't it? It was sneaky.

So know what that height was because since your head is down it's not gonna go as low. That's just the whole, the way the weight and body works. Go ahead and bring one knee to your chest than the other. Both knees are up. Now the single leg stretch, stretch one leg out to that height, push from the hip pull with core spine to bring it back in and the other leg push from the hip now what's pulling the other leg in pull it in and bring it back.

Here we go take some tempo one and two now breathe. So you want to breathe in right and left, breathe out right. Breathe in, and breathe out. One more set and breathe out. Keep pushing with those arms.

Pull both legs and go into that double leg stretch. Double means two, here we go. Inhale reach and exhale and inhale reach out and exhale bend in. Now hold for a second, reverse your breathing. Inhale for nothing, exhale and press out.

That's a very different challenge. Inhale, pull in exhale. One more pull in and exhale. Pull both legs and give yourself a hug and little wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle and then bring yourself up. And we're gonna go through that same idea again.

Yep, seated. So you can actually see your initiation. So if you allow yourself to come back onto your forearms. And don't let them get too wide out from, you know. Try to have them just inside your shoulders, press down.

You can make fist, you can do palms whatever makes you happy and have a sense of pushing them towards the wall, towards your toes. And that will help you scoop your abs back right now watching your initiation. You can see down your body with like your own two eyes. When you bend the knee to pull it towards you. No tipping, no dropping, just bend and pull.

If it wants to come off the floor, great. If it wants to stay on the floor also fine. Now think about lifting that other leg, get straight leg, Ooh, that's your single leg. Set it down, set it down, reach it out. Try not to be hanging it, try not to hang out, keep it together.

Other leg pulls in. I can already feel myself wanna shift. I wanna shift in my mid back. Where do you want to shift? Don't worry, you don't have to say it out loud and then pull it towards you if you can.

What else can you do? Can you pick up that other leg, Ooh, set it down, set it down. Reach it out one more time, pull it in. Watch the initiation, you don't need to hike. You can crease in fold in the hip socket.

You proved it standing up. When we started, we reach it out, last one other side. Oh, I forgot the leg lift, Oh it's okay. Oh right lift if you want a challenge, lift the leg straight leg two, good, set it down. Oh, isn't that hard.

Curve it back forward. Give it a good stretch out and let your shoulder stretch out. Now, before we start getting into big rotation and corkscrew in such things I wanna once you bring you into my favorite exercise, the magic X. So I want you to lie down let your legs open about the width of your mat. If you want to go wider, I mean, okay.

And then your arms are actually gonna stretch up over your head. Now, if you relax in this position, lube and your back is gonna arch out of the floor you're gonna be lower Dodick. You're gonna have a split in your ribs, but it's kind of feel good. Just let that be, breathe in and exhale breathe out. Don't even try to hold onto your legs.

Just let them relax for a second. Which sounds odd that in the middle of class I'd asked you to relax, don't worry. You're going to turn stuff on it in a second. Now on an exhale. I want you to give a little jog your sternum and your belly button together.

You'll notice it might pop your knees into a little bit of bend. You find a little bit of gathering. You'll come closer to the floor with your back but not necessarily all the way, breathe there. And then exhale, let it go, let it go, let it go. let it go, let it go. So I'm asking you to exhale as initiation to engage your abs, to take this X that is reaching out.

And as you exhale and contract through your center it pulls you in towards your midline. You feel it pull on your arms. You feel it pull on your legs. And then as you read again, let that relax, let it relax. And you feel, Oh, gravity just place me down.

And then you're gonna pull it together. Initiating from your abs, not your shoulders not your knees, but your exhale and therefore your abs and pull together just enough that you're like the that's some work. Now you're gonna locate your right hand and you're gonna pick up your right fingers, not your elbow, not your shoulder but you're going to pick it up and you're going to reach it up over to the other side. And if you keep leading with that arm it will eventually pull one side of your back out of the floor and let you roll and stretch and find the diagonal toes. Two fingers I'm only wiggling them so you see them.

But if you want to circle them, it does feel juicy. Now initiate not from my shoulder but from my foot getting pulled through the hip down to the floor and it brings each piece of the spiral back across the floor, back into that magic X try not to hang too much. B U V be a little bit ready. You're gonna find that other arm which for me is my left arm. And I'm gonna reach it up high to where the other fingers are and that pulling reach and initiate each of their bone to start moving.

Whoo, getting a little tongue tied and I find this diagonal again. If you wanna wiggle the hand and wiggle the foot to really feel the ends go forward it feels good. Now don't just drop your ribs back to the floor, pull with the leg through the ankle, through the foot, reach let it spiral and pull you back around onto your four. It should feel good. Now we're gonna start with your legs.

Start first by bending a knee and lifting the weight of the leg up to the ceiling and then let that knee find an overreach to the other side but it stretch out and let it bring your waist from the bottom this time instead of the top. And now, Oh, pull back through that arm and don't fall off your mat. If you're on a raised mat, good luck don't fall off and then bring it back over. So you could just pick up the leg and move the foot over. That's a little bit more work, but bend the knee let the knee start to dress and let it bring the way to the leg thigh hip and let it region find the diagonal wiggly arm and leg if you wanna come back in and reach.

Now you've gotten this feeling of how far away your extremities can really be away from each other, but you're still connected in. And we're gonna work back into this connection of center now and pull your extremities on an exhale deepen so much that it pulls arms and legs and brings your head up. We'll even curl your tail up. Hug tight into a little ball and don't drop your head. Think of your center, pushing out through your arms and legs, push out away and then stretch.

It's your choice if you wanna go to a little bit of hyperextension in your back, if you do, you have more to correct inhale on an exhale, pushing their out feeling your center contract, feeling it draw arms, legs, head and tail, all six points of the body into center. And then you're gonna push head and tail away at the same time, head and tail push that causes your extremities to reach out. Let it go where it goes. Last one, pull it up, pull it up and in take a deep breath, take a deep breath. And you're actually gonna sit this up real fast into a rolling, like a ball.

So you're gonna feel yourself need to push your legs, lift it, find your rolling like a ball balance and sneak in this end 'cause why not? All you have to do is shift the weight in your abdominals and shift the weight in your core like you did to pull in inhale shift and lift the mat roll back, exhale, come home, pick it back up. Don't initiate by dropping, initiate by saying I'm going to pull together. And that brings my hips over. And then back home, five more inhale rock back and exhale, home and rock back.

I hadn't planned on doing rolling like a ball here but you know, if the rolling hit yet you do it one or two more back and home. Whenever a teacher says that they really mean three but we'll finish here last one, holding that word together, stretch your legs out in front of you. Stretch your arms up. Feel yourself, stretch up out of that shape. You're back into your X again, set your vertical.

And then on an exhale curve back hug real tight back into your rolling, like a ball. Get parallel in your legs if you can, and then not drop my legs down, push through the hips, push up through the top of the head stretch out, but it reach arms and legs out. Take a flex of the hands and feet take a circling of the hands and feet one way, circling in the hands and feet the other way, exhale don't drop, curl the tail contract pull back and pull back and pull back in one more that they give your tail, pushing down. Just stretch you up for your back. Do you wanna take a little hyperextension?

There's no rule stopping you, you can. And then bring yourself back down to your mat. Shake that out, and now we're gonna do a little tick tock action of what we were doing in our corkscrew yesterday reached the legs up. Now, you can not initiate with the legs sliding over and you see how my feet come apart. The initiation needs to be in your spine and really helps from your hips.

So if I think right-sided my spine deep ends with my obliques, my hips will push the legs over. As I pull back through the opposite side of the waist it will bring the hips. My hips should help push back through center by deep and into one side of my obliques and spine. The hips should carry over and then come back through center. Hips should push back and I do mean hips, not legs.

One unit spine court deep ends into one side of those obliques. Upper body stays strong. Exhale, take it back and then talk it over. Tick tock ticket and tuck it and talk it back. One more ticket over, Ooh tuck it back.

And then last one ticket over and then tuck it back. Whew, that is a lot of work. I know it should be sit on up. Now we're going to take a little spine stretch forward into soul. I just personally think those two exercises feel really good with each other.

So I do them next to each other in a class a lot 'cause they feel good. Let's take your arms out in front of you up nice and tall. If you want to be nice to your hamstrings point your feet you want a little bit of challenge for the whole leg. Flex your feet. Do you curve forward on an exhale?

Now, as you stack up with the arms to the ears stack up bone by bone, bring your arms out to the side and then go right into a set of saw and over 'cause you spine stretch forward in your rotation. Stick up and on twist to the other side and over, and lift and come up. Bring the arms back into center. Deep breath in, exhale going over. Lift your arms up by your ears.

Feel that lift up in space, stack up bone by bone. Now here at this moment, do you pick up your head before you pick up your shoulders? Because if you do, you'll look like this when you're sitting up straight. So makes sure those shoulders move before your head out to the side and into your soul and so up and over. And up one more fun set, deep breath in exhale.

As you go over, push all the air out and lead with the head now to come up don't lead with the back. Yes, you lift your arms, but push down through the tail go up one bone at a time to the arms, to the side, spiral your twist arms move spawn lead with the head hits ground stack up to the right lead with your head when you go over, not just drop forward through your chest stack up and on twist it. And all right, here we go. Take it on to your sides for some sidekicks. Here we go, are you ready?

I'm ready. So on your side, we're actually gonna start in a little bit of clam with knees forward. You, my feet are in line with my sitz bones, very top arm I prefer a fist press down right in front of my ribs, head down. Now, if you really wanna check your alignment and you have a wall behind you push yourself up against the wall you should have the same points of your back on the mat against the wall in your sidekicks goals. But reach yourself out long.

Now, be honest, more curvature to your pelvis. The more lift you're gonna need to have to keep the lining your spine from collapsing and gravity. As much as we'd love to be. We're not hanging out at the beach right now. We're doing clams, lift, right clam.

Doesn't actually start in your knee. Even though a lot of times you'll hear even I will say, pick up your knee. It's not your knee. Fine, deepen that hip socket. Think of a turning like a door knob and that turning that external rotation lifts and then the inner thigh not drop my knee down.

Your inner thigh meets to counter that turn press Intuit and deep, deep, and your deep sitz rotators. And that involves the outer quad as well. And then inner thigh rotates to pull back in. If you just think me up me down the up knee down you might get more movement in your lumbar. Skip this conversation.

Couple more and this is what I just call clam, just clam. And last one. And now if you start to inwardly rotate, don't just pick up your foot because that is me rotating at the knee joint. That's not where I want to internally rotate from my hip. So inner thigh gets a hold to rotate, entered in and if you've got tightness in t-vans and if you've got tightness in outer hips, well you just screamed at me.

It's okay. For more inner thigh really turned from the midline in and back. And I know I keep moving this arm but use it for stability, rotate inward. And then back home one more and back home last one and back home. Now that you know where your hip is lifted in a parallel reach your top leg out reach it long, reach it long, reach it long, reach it long.

Find that opposition back and bring the leg forward and bring it back as far as you can. If you start to arch, know that it happened pull it back together forward and bring it back and bring it forward and breathe the back two more inhale and exhale. And last one inhale and exhale. Bring it center right underneath your shoulder right underneath of you and a little pulse up, up, up, up. Yup I know, I feel it too, yes, I get it.

And a little circle, circle, circle, circle, and reverse. We're almost done with this leg and down and roll up through your side, swing it around down and let's go to your other side. And in your other side, you're stretched out nice and long. You know, I always have to like look at this side whenever my left side's on top. It's like, I got to look at it, right side I'm good.

But I'm like, where are you? Check it out and take a second to yourself and say this doesn't feel like the other side at all. If it does, I am jealous of you. If you have that much symmetry that laying on your sides is love field's level, you rock. Keep your waste tall.

Be true to your body shape, to find where your midline is. And you have external rotation lifting the knee. Yes, from a turning deep in the hip and back down. Now here's a little side. You're only gonna be able to rotate so much, externally, if the bottom leg is maintaining the same degree of rotation, which in this case, it's just parallel neutral.

So I can't really get to necessarily my full turnout because my bottom leg isn't rotating hips really like to work together and lift, lift, lift, set it down, down, down one more lift, lift, lift set it down, down, down, inwardly, rotate, rotate in and set it down and rotate in and set it down. Rotate in, set it down two more in and down last one in and down. All right, lift it, stretch it out. And it's going to the front and it's going to the back and it's going to the front and it's going to the back. Keep going my voice gets calm and quiet because the burn starts to happen.

Two more front and back last one front and back and bring it right underneath your shoulder right there and up and up and up go to your happy place, go to your happy place Hmm, Hmm and up and up. And then a set of circle up around, up around, up around, up around. Yes and then back around, back around, back around. Yes, there you go. And then set it down.

Whew, burning back there. Take a second for yourself come into your child's pose. Come into a little pigeon, come into a force stretch. Something that makes you get at those outer hips. I also like to take a little rolling of my hips after sidekicks.

Or any kind of hip sideline work. 'Cause you don't wanna get this feeling that your muscles just like tensed up on you just because you were working that like you know that happened. But now we're gonna do some teaser. And if these guys don't move with you how are you gonna get up? So settle out of your stretch, whatever you like to do out of your sidekicks, 'cause everybody does something.

Pull your knees into your chest. Reach your arms back by your ears. Up into it easy teaser, curve it up, reach it out. Toes reaching, lower one leg, set it on the floor, lower the other legs set it on the floor. But keep your torso the same.

Roll back down, bend and lighten the knees and bring them back with you. Reach the arms back. Okay that was fun let's do it again. Let's do it again, let's do again. And you curve up.

Let the legs reach and come up now keep your scoop. If you just drop the leg you're gonna fall in your spine. Find the back of the leg, pull it down scoop back away from it. And the other like pull it down. Yes and then as you roll back pull your knees into your chest.

Now press your arms down. Let your legs reach towards your forehead. Let me give you a little curl. Roll back down. The idea of maybe jackknife would happen.

Well, maybe, and then backs to your teaser. Arms reach up, curve up forward through them reach to your toes, press from the hip to pull one leg down, pull the other leg down. Wow that is hard. Rolling back press the arms into the floor. Knees to your chest can you take a little stretch a little lift press with those arms.

Pull it back down arms, lift back up. Let's take a little bit of tempo with that. So you can kinda just feel it flow through curve up. Reach settle it down, roll back, press the arms chest little reach. Control it back down.

And two more, inhale up. Reach out to that. Set it down, set it down, feel the scoop lift roll back. Knees float in, reach through and roll back down. Last one.

Think about what's gonna bring those hips over head leads. Reach out hit poles, hip poles, both hips roll. Bring in the knees, press the arms. Hips reach through the legs. And roll back down, down, down.

Yay, back onto your side, but onto your forearm. We're gonna do a little bit of easy, fun pull up mermaid. Yes, I just made that up. Easy, fun. pull up mermaid. So under your shoulder right now under your shoulder top arm, right?

And eyeball it try to be in line and then collapsed. Just collapsed for a second. Now in that collapse, feel collapse. (chuckles) I want you to initiate from the hips, particularly the top hip, pushing, reaching, draw your waist up making you wanna press down on that arm, lift the top arm find it level with your collarbone. And then as you lift your waist and press up let your knees shift.

So you have room to come up lift that arm back up, press back out let it pull your knees back up onto each other. Come back out onto that forearm. And then pull yourself up. Not push you're already pushing enough. You can't push yourself up out of the floor anymore.

You gotta pull. And as you pull, let your hips get out of the way. Let them get out of the way. So you feel this whole working line do the work and then back out over be ready to catch yourself. And one last one you're pushed enough.

You gotta pull through your waist. Go ahead, take a feeling of over nice sidemen. Let your head lead look back towards the back of the room and take a stretch around and then super fancy fan kick over to the other side, put all the flare on that you want put your elbow underneath you get it lined up top arm out. And it's like, eyeball it here we are, good stuff. And for a second collapsed, now we're at the beach again.

God, I wanna go to the beach, but initiate from that top hip lengthening back out your top waist feel it pull you up. Now for some of you that feel it might feel really juicy in this shoulder. Just that action of letting slide happen but know that it happens or it doesn't. Now you want a nice solid shoulder underneath you. Top arm is going to reach up and you're really looking for where you have this interaction through your chest.

And you're already pushing all as much as you can. And at the same time, your hips feel like you're in the way. So as the waist lifts let the hips shift, let it carry movement. Just like you did in the magic X. At a certain point, your weight tipping back over should bring this top of waist back together with you.

And then you won't fall heavy onto your arm. And as your waist pulls up let the top leg reach, let your hip shift let joints get involved when it's their turn. So don't just lead and drop into your ribs. No, no, no push from the hips, reach out over. Keep that strength in your top side.

And then it's like, Hey, look at me I'm back on my elbow. No big deal. And last one right up and on this one, you go over. Now if you were magic enough to be able to keep your knees together you're gonna feel so much more in that top hip. I like to open it a little bit and then eyes look back underneath that arm, twist and rotate and get a little pull, pull, pull, pull.

Good and then out onto your stomach for a little bit of Swan and then maybe a little plank. Little swan, little plank, little plank, little swan. So here you are on your stomach, let's go for it easy swan. First palms up palms underneath your shoulders. If you want, if that is too much challenge if you're a little kyphotic or really have a tight in your pecs, go ahead and go forearms.

Okay. that'll give you a little bit more space a little bit more room, but wherever you are don't rest into the floor. But that is entire poloties no resting. Be ready to pull the floor up and then peek guys forward to the edge of the mat and lift your eyes up the other side of the room. Press as you come back down, get farther, get farther get farther apart in your pelvis. Come back down now what's your initiation.

Please do not initiate. Simply from pushing your arms. Try to use your eyeballs. Yeah, your eyeballs. Peek your eyeballs forward, see the edge of your mat.

Get your neck out of the way. By manipulating your shoulders into your mid back. Keep your eyes climbing the wall and your spine and coming with them. And now as you come back down, look farther out, out, out, over, and then back down one last one, lift reach, see up the wall. You're not trying to pack in and see the back of you.

You're trying to see up over the horizon come back down and out, now to push yourself up. Your goal in life would be to just tuck your toes and then magically push yourself up and be in a plank. Yeah, I felt that like not today at all. So I'm gonna plant my feet down and I'm gonna think of my hips lifting and pushing back. So that helps pick the weight of the front of me up and pull me back towards child's pose.

But I'm not gonna sit because I'm gonna come right back out to that place. I'm gonna come forward and we might call this a pushup. I would like to call it a light bending of your elbows to bring you back down to the floor. Now again if you try to push with just your arms are gonna start doing some hyper extending into your lumbar, press down with the legs, press down with your feet, but pick up your hips and then let your arms assist you to get back. Come back forward one more time.

Your triceps should be on fire. (chuckles) But don't start by it with arms. Don't start with even your low back, press down find your hips and then push back up through and out onto, now come forward in that quad position feet together. Arms underneath your shoulders. And we're like when we started and you put one leg back and you pressed into the floor, really press press, press, press, press, press, press, press.

When you take that other leg up and you arrive in what some people might call a plank. Yeah, press down into the floor pushing the floor up into you. Breathe exhale and one last one. Now when you put one knee down keep energy forward out for the top of your head pull a knee underneath of you pull any underneath of you. Now, if you watch and that's very different than dropping any dropping any see how I actually moved back when that happened.

What you wanna maintain is that opposition through space. So set one foot back and again don't drop on that heel. That's gonna be a falling stand and push yourself through to the crown of your head. Feel that other hip initiate and reach. Now the initiation to bring one leg back down has to come through center at a polio like down and pull the other leg down.

That's really hard to do while talking and look cool while you do it. So, hang with me, here we go one more time. Reach out, press because it's a lot of work and reach. And I'm not one for believing that you need to hold a plank for an extended amount of time to prove tat you're awesome. But you do need to breathe.

You do have to be able to move air. You have to be able to breathe. Hold like forward, pull a leg forward and then reach back. Keep the abs lifted. Find yourself in that adult pose one more time.

All right, lift up be able to tuck your toes. We're gonna come up to standing. You're gonna press the hips up and then walk your feet forward to your feet are flat on the floor and we use as bent as you need to be. Head hanging down, abs engaged, press from your feet up through your knees. Straighten if you can, maybe it's just an inch.

Okay and then think of not drop my knees forward. Curl tail down, let that push the knees back into there bend one more push from the feet to stand up. Curve your spine over engaged abs. Now not just bend my knees forward, curl your tail. Feel it, pull your back around and bring you into that vent.

Now one knee straightens, one knee straightens and it pushes up one side of the hip. Let it push up that side of the chest. Let it push the arm up. And both feet are still flat on the floor and then full those fingertips back in, bend both knees. Don't try to touch your toes, have your hands out.

Have them wide, have a good place where I'm now. Start to straighten one leg, pushing into the floor pushing all the way up the hip pushing one side of the pelvis up. Let that open up your chest. That spirally you take your tall look up to those fingers. Fold them back in, bring yourself back down.

Now if you're starting to find them, you're flexible and you're starting to find both legs stay straight that's okay. But you're gonna find pushing into the Florida. Let one knee bend to let one leg stay straight. That straight leg, hip stays high region spiral and then come back down and through leveling both legs whether there've been or straight but then one bins more than the other. And it should be a whole lumbar, outer hip extravaganza and then back down.

And now you're gonna roll up one bone at a time rolling up through pickup up front of that pelvis. Don't let it hang right. Adjust your clothes 'cause you know they got all crazy back over, back up. I mean and now going over in that flat back that we started with pitch from the hips and then curve over let your arms dangle lead from the head, reach up and out. And maybe you can get to straight legs this time.

Abs contract, pulling your head back over bend your knees and roll up, up, up. Now, add your arms in for this last one. Reach the arms up to the ceiling big reach. Now, as you flat back over pitch from the hips decide if your knees need to bend it's okay. And now as you come down to the ground don't just drop your chest.

Head comes down, abs engage, bend if you like, straighten if you like, head leads reaches out pull your front buddy with you, dive back over. Then the knees, roll yourself up tall. I'm gonna face you for this last little thing. Standing in a little bit of a Pilates V, heels together toes like a stitch apart for you dancers. I don't mean anything near first position.

That ship sailed a long time ago. The Pilates V is not about turnout. It's actually about wrap up under into center. And keeping everything lifted hands come up behind your head. So if I'm going to lift my heels, keep them together.

I don't wanna lead by pressing and dropping forward. This is where I'm gonna turn back onto the side. 'Cause of you'll see it better. I don't wanna lift heels by dropping weight forward because then my hips have to catch up right head to the top. I'm gonna find the weight shift from heels through arches onto the balls of the feet.

And the entirety of my midline rises a top my metatarsal ball of the foot, heels lower push down. Find that opposition to stay up but it is the initiation do not initiate by going forward and trying to make yourself up. That is cool though. Really start from the floor in your heels like lifting your heels and tendon stretch on reformer up through the arches, into the ball of the foot. And it is a press down.

I can not levitate up off the floor no matter how much I wish and try. Stand on the floor to go up, reach back down and one more lift and press challenge your balance. Can you let your arms come down by your side and just be there. Can you turn your head to the right and center? Keep that initiation down into the ground all the way up through so you can find the freedom to turn your head.

Oh, that is so hard and back center and come down, shake out your legs. Give yourself a high five and I will see you guys tomorrow. Have a great morning, afternoon, evening.