Pelvic Precision

Welcome back, Sharina is my body today as of last week and for the next couple of classes also, and today's class we're gonna do beginning, intermediate mat and we're gonna explore some ideas and some sensations about the pelvis, different from the legs, different from the spine, and then see how we can maybe get more, get more sooner in class out of our movements and out of our cues in our head, our thoughts and get even more health from it. More blood flow, better breathing, more uniform development all those wonderful things that Mr. Pilates developed his work in order to achieve, so it's gonna be a great journey. And the first thing I want us to do, is come standing on the mat or stand on your spot and not necessarily ready to roll down yet but just parallel feet, pretty comfortable. And you're standing erect and your feet are on the ground and then I want you to picture taking the soles of your feet and doming them up off of the surface of whatever you're standing on (clears throat) and then letting them go and doming them up. And you may find you need to curl your toes but today, which is fine, but you might not have to, either your toes could stay kind of long, they might feel like they're contracting a little bit bottom the plantar surface of them against the mat.

And as you do this, yes, no, yes, no thing, you're gonna start to feel, I hope, that your upper inner thighs start to tone. And in addition, your upper hamstrings under your glutes, start to tone, you might even feel a little low belly down right above your pelvic bones start to tone. So notice therefore, that there's an avenue to getting some strength in the pelvis or support for the pelvis in the soles of the feet. So then do lay your arms down by your sides and do a small squat, doesn't have to be big at first and of course take care of yourselves, but you can let your arms come forward as you bend and then exhale return, okay? Do that again, stay small and then purposefully dome your feet, if you haven't been, at the moment before you start up and notice that you get some extra things.

So here you are in footwork, for example, lying down on the mat or single leg stretch and if you have the sole of your foot toned, then you're gonna get low quads and you're gonna get upper hamstrings and outer hips, a little bit, inner thighs and belly, right? And then can you go farther down to Sharina, take your feet a little wider if you would and then inhale press down, that's it girl and exhale, good and one more time. So you can come even farther, be willing, bend your ankles bend your knees, that's it girl and exhale. Some of you will go all the way to the floor and some will go part way, whatever's comfortable, the point today is that the soles tone up and they give you some something you might not have gotten if you had kept your foot soft or if you kept your calf in rest, thank you so much. If you kept your calf too tight, because you pointed your foot too hard, something like that.

So we're gonna be exploring how the sole of the foot coming up through gives us some muscles that are gonna tone up through the pelvis and support us in exercises like the a hundred where it's hard. So now, take one foot over the other and see if even with one foot up and that's to give you more range of motion to actually make it to the mat and you try and keep your back heel down as long as you can if not the whole time, see if you can dome both soles a little bit here now, so both arms come forward to give you balance and as you bend ankles, knees and hips, the soles of your feet are on humping up to support you as you roll back down, and we're gonna go into the hundred, actually. So your arms come down by your side and your legs extend and you start pumping your arms. And as you pump and breath, your five counts up and exhale out your five counts and of course the hundred is named for 100 pumps, but if you get tired, if your neck gets tired, if your low back gets tired, just stop a moment and then pick it up again, if you wish. All right, so now if Sharina contracts the soles of her feet against the floor, she's gonna start ideally to feel those same feelings, upper inner thigh, upper hamstring, low tush, a little bit low belly, which will give her more strength to hold her legs up.

And then when her pelvis is stronger, then she can pump more briskly and vigorously, yep. (laughs) Nice. And we have, I think, two more breaths. So last time we pulled the spine out by reaching the heels away, which lengthened the low back in particular and then I pushed her legs back into her hips with that lengthy spine. Now that she has her soles contracted and comes up her inner thighs and her hamstrings, she gets more, bend your knees and rest.

Good. So hopefully you feel some of that already beginning curl up into sitting and if you have a strap or leg weights to put on your ankles, we'll do the rolling up. So your legs are together, feet are flexed. So let's play for a moment, arms just down for briefly, no, no it's okay, you can hold it. With the sole of your foot, so a moment ago, standing up we domed it and released it, domed it.

Now you're in a flexed foot, so could it tone in some way, not just press your heels forward and your toes back but could you get the sole of the foot to tone in its stretch? Well, of course the answer is yes and some of this press the ball of the foot forward when we flex our toes back, see if all of us can pick the ball of the foot up away from the heel over the tips of the toes, towards your navel. So non you could understand the sensation of the sole of the foot and ideally you get almost the same links coming up through the body, coming up the inner thigh to the pelvic floor, up the back of the leg under the tush, and then take your arms up and over. So whether you have the black strap or not feel the soles of the feet like astonished, if they had eyeballs, they would be surprised face. So your arms come up, inhaling, you curl forward and you keep the soles wide open.

So at any moment when you feel that's my toughest moment see if you can go to the soles of your foot and re-establish their width, their length between the ball of the foot and the heel, beautiful, that's it Sharina. And the pelvis rolls back on those strong soles, gorgeous. And as she rises up and down, she's yeah, not only pulling apart the heel to the ball of the foot, but of course you have 10 metatarsal on two feet. So each line of toe offers you and you can feel this coming up, your hamstring, a different territory of your hamstrings coming up to your sits bones. So we'll do one more, play with say your fourth toe, pick the ball of your fourth toe up over, gorgeous control and feel it again at the toughest moment on the way down when you want more rolling, beautiful exhale fully and nice and bend your arms and bring your foot down, good.

So hopefully you start to feel how even asking something as I know a cane and specific is the fourth big toe line you actually can play with coming up her hams, a line of the hamstring that maybe is more elusive, maybe has scar tissue from a tear years ago, all kinds of things like that. Each part of the sole of the foot, and probably much more refined than that, well can give you access. So now tummy and bend one knee to your shoulder, and pull it to you, and then stretch it up gently, straight as possible, take your hands behind your thigh or behind your calf and pull your leg towards your shoulder or maybe lift it up a little bit. So if your palms could pick your hamstring calf up-ish as they pull it towards you, feel how that tones your right tush or your lifted leg tush. Now we're gonna do climb the tree first, no, I think not, let's do circles.

So arms come down your side and that lifted tone tush picks up and crosses the body, down, around exhale your breath and bring it center for more so you inhale down around. Now here's tricky, this is a very complicated exercise, if you make use of it full body, you get the foot under your strap, through standing leg, last time comes flexing up all of the foot up over your tips of your toes left foot to your shin, to your navel, even to your nose. And then the other foot's pointed, toned up, domed as if on the floor and it lets your back rest, nicely done and lets your tummy pull in, gorgeous. Now stay where you are everyone, curl chin to chest and walk up your leg inhaling. And you've chosen a Pilates V or a parallel leg and walked down exhaling.

So now whatever you chose do something different, so turn your leg in if you turned it out and notice not only do you feel different belly or you have different access and then choose a third position, more turned out more turned in and see not only what your tummy does but also how you feel now, stay up here and breath two, three breaths, but also how you feel in your hips. And as you get warmer and shed tension, pick your pelvis, those of you who are sitting back to the top of your sacrum, pick it up off of the mat, just a hair as you lift your leg up with your palms, nicely done and that's gonna be your open leg rocker eventually too. And then tummy and as you climb down, laying long away keep the lines from sole of the foot to bend the knee to your chest and hug it in, nice. Slide that foot down to meet the other foot, hook it under your strap if you have one and then tummy and folds the other knee, the second knee to your chest and you draw it to you. Even here, if you gently press your shin up into your palm and vice versa, pull your palms down on your shin, you should tone your upper hamstring and tush.

So now you're supporting your pelvis on this side with your low quads because that's what toned to press your shin. In addition, if you take your straight leg foot and you picture what you did by pulling the ball of the foot away from the heel, you're gonna come right up your inner thigh, upper hamstring it like opens the pelvic floor. And then gently straighten your leg into the air, and you're gonna pull it to you two, three, four times, take hold with your hands and then try picking it up just a teensy bit, up and over your head rather than down towards you and you be toning that part of your glutes there too. So both legs are toned slightly differently but let's say equally and then bring your arms down by your sides and circle across your body inhaling down around an exhale center, nice. You breathe in for the first half you breathe out for the second half.

Picture what it felt to turn in and out your other leg in tree and play around a little ahead of the game with those positions here, reversing it. So some people will find more full body, more support, no clunks at the bottom line, nice by turning out others by turning in, good. So you've finished all 10, now you're gonna climb the tree, so you curl the head, the shoulders, you roll the vertebrae one by one and you climb up taking your hand higher sooner and now stay here for two, three breaths, shed tension wherever you like to put it, gently pick up your pelvis a teensy bit more, if you can, and then stay here and turn your leg in and out up here, so that's different than the first leg. So you can just play around with a little bit of what do I already do well? What would I like to do more of?

How could I get more choices to move and to have it be good for me? And so find one you like, and then walk down and then we'll walk up and down two more times. So enjoy it, change your leg position if you want, focus on your standing leg which would love to cave, would love to have your quad would love to pick your thigh up on that standing leg. So keep the sole of the foot at the toughest moment whatever that is, beautiful, Sharina, climb as high as you can lifting all your pelvis, even at the last moment and then climbing back down exhaling, gorgeous and bend your knee and tag to you. And not only tag it to you, notice that it comes closer, which is so cool and notice too that of your shin up and palms down in that little tug of war feeling, you tone your tush and that tone is in rolling like a ball.

So she's gonna rock up into sitting, let go of the strap and bring her sits bones to her heels as close as possible. And then even here, when you have your hands on your shins if you press your shins forward-ish, not that they're gonna move, they're just gonna turn on. You, press your shins forward and you pull back with your hands, you should feel that upper hamstring tone in your tush and then you curl your tail a little extra, let gravity gently pull you down inhaling and exhale forward, beautiful, big breaths. Fill it up like a up mattress you get lots of breathe around your spine. Make it as smooth, go just a little faster now Sharina if you would, inhale exhale like push yourself tempo-wise but not effort-wise that it girl.

If you can find soles of the feet doming up here, you should be able to find the same exact responses, one more time, up your body that you found standing, all right. Gently put your toes down and put your hands behind your hips, now notice this important moment. When you pick your hips up off the mat they tone and then you bring them back you plop them down and they untone, so keep on toned, (laughs) and roll back and bring one knee to your chest. So the cool thing is you've been in all this position already and you have a pelvis now that is supported from below especially, so we change sides, inhale 1 cent, twice, exhale. So you can use your hands in any way you like and we'll talk about that on the fourth class that I do, hands and feet and you can dome your soles and make sure that you...

It's like you're going choosing a hiking trail and then walking on it, don't get distracted by other things, one more set. And then both knees and exhaling and here you are in running like a ball, so you press your shins and you pull your palms and you feel, and then elbows to ears, inhale, stretch and circle, exhale, good. See if as you move the doming feet from the first standing exercise can support you to not overuse your hip flexors and to find more inner thigh, more so as more hamstring. Do one more, beautiful and exhale home. Now, roll your head and neck down, your neck and head and stay here just a minute.

Now we're gonna do another little exploration, so you're going keep your feet toes and heel bones touching, or trying to touch and even your knees, though they might turn out a teensy bit in this moment, but not much at all. So now keeping your feet the same, try and turn your femur bones out in your hips and in in your hips and out and in. And what you should feel of course, is your deep six rotators working big pelvic muscles and a belt of strength across hip crest to hip crest in your low belly among other things. So then, can you feel it that way? Good, so see how much you can keep that, get the domed arch in your sole, which could be pointed, some of you like bird on a perch could be that too and rise up to scissors upon that hiking trail.

So you stretch both legs up, you take hold of one ankle, and lower the other leg and both legs, pause and then you come up once, go even farther and once and farther, good. And as you move, use your hands to pick your leg up a little bit out of your tush, use your sole to give you inner thigh, upper hamstring, low butt, and then use the turning and turning out muscles of your outer hip to give you a strength straight through the pelvis like you've got an axle running through it. Nice, one more set, beautiful, once even farther, both legs up hands behind the head. So shoulders are knit, pick you up a little bit and now you've got tree single leg circle feelings of standing, so you have your soles and you double leg lower inhale, exhale. So the moment of ups should be no different than all the down, it's not like you need more tush at that moment, you already are owning it, same thing with hamstrings, gorgeous, same thing with inner thigh and it should tone all the way through to your diaphragm.

So you should be able to feel through your torso, this gorgeous unity of in the cylinder of you. One more time, if you have it in you, both sides of the tush, both sides of the hamstrings and then elbow to knee. This is the most complicated one, but as you twist, see if the soles the turnout turn in parallel business, the turn out the hip but not the foot business, any number of all the different cues you've been playing around with, can give you more control so that you're moving your legs lightly from your tummy. Excellent, one more set and bend your knees to your chest and rest, beautiful. All righty, so then we're set up totally for spine stretch, we curl up into sitting our heels come to the boxes, our arms rise up.

Now, stay here and breathe three breaths and take your sitting bones and pierce down away from your fingertips and then take that piercing and press it forward, tip it forward, and then take the piercing and tip backwards so forward and backwards a little bit. You may change your low back, it may be also just a tone on tone, so don't worry too much about how much mostly the moment you start to feel it as sufficient. Then rest a second, bring your arms down, (deeply exhales) lift them back up and then take your sits bones and pull them together-ish and push them apart or pull them apart, pull them together and apart. So notice you can actually do this (laughs) and it's a very small, small movement and it tones your pelvic floor differently, but equally. And if not today, soon, so don't worry if it's hardly recognizable.

So then she's lifted on her inhale and she curls forward, choose your sits bones wide or narrow forward or back any number of those things and start at your sits bones and roll your spine up. Nice inhaling and exhale curl over, beautiful, and if you get to the bottom and you want a little bit more, take your pelvis a little bit more forward and then push your sits again, inhale up and we'll go a little faster, exhale over. If you have any brain cells left, open the soles of your feet, nice and wide and astonished sensation which reinforces notice you're already doing open leg rocker. You have so much connection, not necessarily fiercely, like a volume of effort, everybody's talking everybody's connected, good, so now we're gonna do open like rocker, rising up circle your arms out and try and keep the tush that you sat back from rolling like a ball from, including a favorite sits wider, narrow or forward or back, so you bend your knees and you pull your legs up. And if you can, pick your legs up, even if they're not knee straight, pick them up so you tone your tush, feel the soles, inhale, curl tail, roll, back, exhale forth.

And as you continue, don't try to make what you did a second ago better, play around with different, so take your sits wide one time and sit on wide sits, gorgeous. Pick your shins up more with your palms, turn your legs in when you like to turn out any number of those things you can bring, when you come up this time bring your legs together and do a couple if you wish. Those of you like to hold your feet, you're welcome to do that. Feel that whatever you have done improves or enriches, I wanna say enriches your experience. Notice it because you feel pink, you feel hot, notice it because your breath might exhale more richly, last time, up stay up beautiful place your hands by your hips and roll down for corkscrew.

So take a moment, once again, for corkscrew, you can look at from your toes to say mid shin, you're not gonna move. Turn your hips out, turn your femurs out and turn them in and turn them out, not too much, just enough to feel that feeling of yes, no or different. Okay, and then let's use that to start out on the mat in your corkscrew one, we call it mild and then if you wanna go up, go up but go up with these new thoughts. So you inhale around one direction, exhaling you bring yourself home and you reverse it. And as you continue play around, do something different each time.

How often does your teacher ask you to do that? Feel your wide sits, your narrow sits, your sits farther down towards the mat or up to the ceiling, feel your femurs turned out, but not your shins turned out. Feel the doming of the solely your foot, if you want to go up Sharina, would you go on up to shoulder and then do it there too one set. So allow yourself to use what you have just been using, even if you screw up a little, don't worry too much today, safety is our bottom line, of course but beyond that, we're exploring. So I reach her soles, even on the way down she's gonna ride go forward into saw.

So as she comes down through her spine and her soles are arching, stay around my hand, nicely done. She not only does she get more control and she keeps coming. Yep, and she opens her legs to saw and so you haven't lost it. Arms out to the side the soles of your feet are astonished your hip flexors are lengthy 'cause your sits bones are doing something interesting, you inhale and twist and you exhale and reach sits bones first, perhaps today so that you acknowledge your pelvis even in the spinal movement. So when you think of sits bones, starting your rise you're gonna keep your hip down more on the opposite side, you're gonna twist your spine more but you're also gonna tone your pelvis and all the muscles that come up to it, beautiful, last one, nice (mumbles), inhale and rest, beautiful everyone.

Okay, so sweep your legs around behind you for swan. Now we're gonna do another little experiment, so your forehead is down, your palms are under your shoulders, elbows bent back by your waist, this is your familiar starting place. And one of the things that causes people difficulty in Swan is that they can't discern how to support their pelvis sufficiently to be able to free up their back to bend more. Often, what we end up doing is squeezing our glutes or taking our sits bones down through our femurs to the mat, for example which actually ends up forwarding us. So let's play around for a minute flex your feet against your mat, so bring the balls of your feet forward and then gently straighten your legs.

So as you're here in this position, breathing normally what you've just done is arched the sole of your foot, like in roll up and that has straightened your knees, so you've lifted your low quads a place where most of us are weaker than we wanna be, you've picked up your femur bone up under your tush a little bit because as the foot rose, the whole leg limb rose up, and because of that, you feel your low belly. So here you have in an exaggerated form, what you would like for swan and dive, especially. You want soles toned, you want good straight knees, you want your legs up into your hips and extending and then you want your tummy toned because of it. So here you have a pelvis that's beautifully supported and always and then therefore, so is the sacrum in general. So see how much of this you can keep upper hamstring, low belly as you point your feet down.

And those of you who want to keep your feet flexed for an experiment you're welcome to do so, you won't go as high, all right. So then against that feeling, she she rolls her marble with her nose, she inhales and lifts, presses her palms forward shoulder blades down and she exhales back down beautiful Sharina. So as you continue, picture the soles of the feet toning up and when they tone, let your right above your knee tone up. And when that tones let your leg poke up under your tush, into your hip and when that happens, feel it in your low tummy and that's your feeling for swan dive. Okay, stay up here for two breaths, breathe, strengthen your tummy, your rib cage, your diaphragm, your arms, and feel that you're picking your femurs up-ish under your tush.

Okay, go back down and come back up once and then we'll do a diving. You can pick arms out... You can pick your arm choice where you like them, feel your legs almost more than anything and then exhale, dive down, inhale, that girl, good. So as she moves, yeah one more, beautiful and rest. As we move our...

What wanna I say, our challenge is to keep that in this huge, big movement. But if we lost it, we regain it now, so even though we're not flexing the foot and some of you do modifications where you flex and point on the two kicks, and that would be one of the reasons why. So I'm gonna suggest today that we think almost more of bringing the foot down every time then up, all right? So if you can tense your soul up, tone it up and feel your knee a little bit rise because your hamstring is pulled into your tush and your low tummy reacts, then bend one knee and kick twice two and change and inhale for two legs and exhale for two legs, and as you continue to put your shin all the way down on the mat. You won't want to, it'll feel extraneous or something and in truth, that might have been extraneous except now we need it, beautiful, don't let yourself be budged around by your kicks but own the power in your pelvis of the hamstring changes.

Nice, one more set knees towards each other shin down each time and rest, beautiful tummy in and sit you back on your heels (exhales) and then curl up and bring your legs forward for neck pull. One of the hardest things about neck pull is whatever feet are hip width apart under your strap or under your ankle weights and lay back down, exhale your breath. And we usually it with our hands behind her head and we'll get there and just a moment. But today, I'm gonna ask you to put your palms on the side of your thighs and you're gonna kind of spider walk your fingertips which we'll invite you to curl under the low ceiling. So there's of course, I'm trying to find a way to get us through whatever our tough moments are.

So start out by today, soles of the feet wide up pull the ball of the foot over your toe tips towards your nose, and then feel it come up your inner thigh, up your hamstring to your tush and then maybe keep your feet toes facing the ceiling or facing you ball of the foot to the ceiling but turn your femur bone out in your hip a touch. And then start your fingers climbing, inhaling, curl the head, the chest climb and invite yourself forward exhale, round over and then sits bones start you up inhaling and you can put your hands behind your head here. And now what are you gonna do with your sits bones and pick one and try it out, so you tip back upon them. This mat kind of rises up to meet you, exhaling your breath and then circle your arms around to your thighs and do it one more time like that. Inhale, climb your fingers way in front of you sort of like a tree except less exaggerated and then sits bones down by now you'll start to feel left and right are different.

And then tip back, head in hands and feel your sits bones position your outer hip, your inner thigh, therefore and then keep your hands here and start up again. The same tools you've been building are gonna help you every moment, now that we had the challenge with your hands up here inhale up and exhale back down, beautiful, keep the soles wide and one more time, inhale, curl, exhale. Push the air from you sits bones, down, wrecks the spine inhaling tip back, exhaling, gorgeous and roll down. Nice, all righty. Now we'll go shoulder bridge.

So now you have these gorgeous pelvis from the last couple exercises, were several and now you're gonna make use of it and challenge yourself even farther. So you bend your knees, your feet are hip width and so are your knees, they're close to your sits bones, but not too close that inhibits you and everybody has a different knee range, so I'll let you choose that. And then your arms are down by your side, you curl your tail up and we'd worked last week on the difference between tail and sits bones moving. And then roll back down top of the spine through the middle, through the low back, through the sacrum and into the sits bones, and then curl your tail let your sits rise after, feel like you're presenting this pelvis up there like a tray full of champagne glasses and then come back down, exhale, beautiful. So we know the kicks are coming up, we're gonna do four of them on each leg and you can change your foot if you wish but play with some of the thoughts we've worked with so far.

So you slide one leg down, yes, thanks Sharina. So you can bring your arms up under if you are more advanced and you want that extra extension. So you slide your leg down which will give you more hamstring here by the way and inhale rise up and exhale down. So as you go, feel the turnout of your hip just a teeny bit and we can talk about that later, those of you who are interested against the parallelness of your foot. And then bend that knee, plant the foot and bring it up, stand upon it, lift your pelvis and slide your left.

Beautiful, inhale up, exhale down, nice. Feel how the sole toned, tones up some muscles you need in kicks. The last one, bend the knee, plant the foot and then roll the spine. Lay the arms down by your side If you wish and let's do some sidekicks, so you're laying on your side. So notice how shoulder bridge preps you so beautifully for sidekicks.

So you have your hand behind your head, the other arm is down and we're gonna do an exercise first that to prep ourselves here for kicks front back. So gently point your top foot and lifted a few inches, hip heights, keep it like this long stick and dome the arch. And notice even inside position, if you can feel your inner thigh, upper hamstring and then turn your leg out in your hip and in okay? Turn it out, your knee, face to ceiling, turning it in your knee face the floor turning it out keep your pelvis from rolling backwards. So it's just your leg it's not a big movement at all, you should feel lots of those deep hip muscles and you should feel your tummy on the top side especially if you don't feel very much resist turning in so that you control it more and turn out and resist turning in.

So now you've prepped every muscle that you wanna use and now you use them to kick front, inhale front and farther exhale back and farther inhale front, front. Try not to bounce, go one place, stop, go farther place. Stop further, nice. So notice we talked about it last time pelvis and shoulder girdle stay perpendicular and pretty still spine can change from extension deflection slightly because of the kicks. And then feel like your leg still is in your hip, one more time, beautiful.

Bring your legs together and stop moment. Now we're gonna do another little prep for the sidekicks, so you lift up hip heights, always just hip and now you're gonna flex your foot and turn your leg in and you can do this turned out too but I'm just doing it here today, I think it gives you maybe a little more sensation make tiny little, two inch diameter circles with your heel, Inhale for several exhale for several. You should feel that same business, the upper quarter arch of your tush and then reverse it and the same side of your tummy. Okay, and then keep your leg in the ceiling and turn out what you just toned. Nice, point your foot gently and kick up and exhale down point up and hold it there, top, and exhale down point up, hold it flex and exhale down one more and then we'll reverse the foot.

So if you have a hard time getting out of your hip flexors here, which does not help your pelvis, then consider bringing your working heel behind your standing leg so that's a modification. What it should do for you is give you upper hamstrings, outer glutes, deep six rotators in your hip and so once you find them, you can start to challenge yourself again by bringing your working heel further forward. Finish off your last one, and then bend that top knee and plant your foot on the floor in front of your thigh turn your foot out and therefore turn your femur out. You're gonna put your hand on your foot if you want to yeah, just rest down, and you wanna take this bent knee as far backwards as you can, like a gate opening where you will feel the stop and rightly so is in your deep hip. So then as you inhale, lift your bottom leg and exhale lower (chuckles) and inhale, a trick really is to keep this knee back.

The bottom leg can come up and down more easily, this leg staying back is the hard part. Notice the strength in your tush and that could replace grasshopper which we will let it do today and rest, beautiful Sharina turn around the other side. (laughs) All right. So we'll bring this box down for you, (box scrapping) just because... So you point your top, you get nice and square elbow to sits against the back edge of your mat, feet forward onto the...

Why we have moon boxes and then lift up hip heights and we're gonna do little circles. I'm sorry, we're gonna turn in and turn out, thank you. (chuckles) All right. Maybe resist turning out your lower leg, if you're feeling like, well I can do this so easy resist, let it drag a little behind your upper hip, so that you feel I'm really working the back of my hip, between my greater trochanter and my sacrum somewhere in there. And if you don't feel your tummy very much, especially on the turning in part, then resist turning it a little.

Offer yourself a little opposition in other words so that you get more out of what you want. This turned up position is what we do sidekicks in most of us, unless it doesn't serve. And so now we know exactly the voices we're using last time turned out, and then here we go, inhale front, go farther, exhale back, go farther, inhale. Good, you're welcome to add your foot if you want to changing, which can help, but don't let it distract you, let it be a support for what you're after which is a stronger core from your inner thighs. So as up your low back and a stronger pelvis so that your pelvis does not tuck under to the front or extend too much to the back, your spine can, but not your pelvis.

So maybe widen your sits or narrow your sits or sits them back last time, beautiful, bring your legs together and stop and then lift your leg up, flex your foot but turn the whole thing down to the floor today and make tiny little circles. Inhale for several exhale for several and then we'll reverse it and feel that same place, you're just using it differently, texturizing it. And that's where you wanna find the kicks up to the ceiling, up to the side and then turn out, turn out with those muscles point your foot and kick up and flex down, thank you. Point up and hold it there, flex your foot and down, good now stay nice and long, even if it restricts your movement. And again, if you feel like, I can't get out of this place here, my favorite then come up the back which will feel weaker undoubtedly and less gratifying but that's okay(chuckles) because we know it intellectually, we know we want it.

(chuckles) Good. And last time down and rest, I think that was even. Okay nice, so now you have a pelvis for teaser. Oh, yes, sorry thank you Sharina. Good, good thing I have you, for all kinds of reasons.

Okay, so your toes of your bent leg are gonna face your bottom foot and therefore your knee is gonna be back like a swinging gate on the saloon or something (chuckles) don't know what the gates those are. And then you lift your bottom leg up and exhale it down, let the inhale invite it up, and the exhale downs that is gorgeous. But really work to keep you, yes, exactly, nice to keep your knee wide open backwards, beautiful. All right, so good. Yeah, all right bring your legs together and come forward and sit up for teaser, nicely done.

Ooh, yeah. Not that I'm a proponent of soreness, but we might be a little sore on our tush tomorrow. So you're gonna long legs out in front of you sits bones, wide sits bones. Right now these days I'm feeling many people because of sitting so long this last year sitting more this last year for all of us we have a pelvis that's weaker than it was the year before (laughs) and coming up to it, more imbalanced from sitting. So when we do all this stuff, those muscle are elusive and weak, so don't feel too bad if you can't find them, they are available, they're just napping and the stronger they get, the more live you'll feel and graceful and easy about moving.

All right. So from here, you've got this pelvis that is rooted into the mat, you lift your legs and your arms and your roll down to your blade tips and you roll back up, inhale up and exhale down. And as you move feel your tush be like your best gin of strengths, so your sits are down and wide perhaps. Nice, third time, sorry. (chuckles) And then lift your elbows up to help pick you up out of your pelvis and lower your legs and lift your legs and picture if you want your sits to change, 'cause it doesn't have to.

Third time, I know it's four, but go ahead and lay down and then up and down once to twice, you guys can do three if you want, we'll do two. Good, so you're here, so now the soles of the feet are toned such that they pull the legs into the body which means the pelvis can rise up even better, that is so beautiful. And then you're gonna do can-can, so you lift your shins, knee bending and you put those toe tips to the mat and your forearms come to the mat, if you like to do it in that direction. And now keep your toes and knees absolutely side-by-side which means one foot will gently leave the floor and you sway right and left and right, elongate your legs and bend them, good. So bring this knee up to this one and then vice versa.

So now feel that your sacrum, it rolls but it doesn't travel, roll around it in fact, roll your pelvis around your sacrum, maybe more than your sacrum holds. Not that that's the truth of the matter but if you can think of it that way and feel turning in your lower leg today but turning out your outer hip, now highs one more set. See if the soles can give you something, look for swan legs, beautiful and enough and rest, good. And then sit up tall, sweep your legs all the way rebound behind you for swing, so long arms long legs. And let's go back to that flexed foot position one more time and make use of it again.

So feel how the sole opening up tones you up your inner thighs, up your hamstrings up your low belly, but then not only the foot position itself makes you straighten your knee better so your low quads, pick your patella up a little and bring your shin down, even though it can't go down. And then upper hamstrings tone because your femur bone is up under your tush and then tummy so as is toned because your upper hamstrings are talking. So then let's leave our femurs up off the mat as you point your feet in the air for swimming lift your eyes and your arms and your legs and paddle inhale for several and exhale for several and picture that your femurs are coming up higher and your pelvis up higher to the ceiling, then your calves or feet. Nice, and feel that by doing so, you don't go into your low back, but actually you feel more tummy, ideally, that's what you want and then gently lower to the mat nice, tummy in and brings your feet in front of you for seal. So you take your heel ankle with your palm and you are resting and you can determine what part of my pelvis and my resting on?

What serves me? What makes me tone? Not just balance, but what makes me tone better? As you clap three times and you roll backwards and you clap there, if you're in Pilates V and you don't have to clap if you're doing the archival one, which Sharina is with the prayer feet. So as you move picture holding your pelvis like the way you would hold a baby creature in your hands, you're holding them, safeguarding them and supporting them. So even up in the air, your muscles are toned don't let them go, We say all kinds of words, like, bring your heel to your tush or vice versa, squeeze those thighs against your elbows to tone it.

All of those things help maybe widen your sits if you haven't been, beautiful, that's it girl. And for those of you with scoliosis, rest, you can think about maybe widening one sits against the other and that's a big topic, but I'll just toss it out there as a possibility. So then what if... So we're gonna go back to doing a couple more seals so that we can stand up and so actually, yes. (chuckles) So think, think, prepare, use your exercise to prepare you to stand up and all the things we've worked on should do that.

So each of these reps gives you the power where you need it to cross your ankles reach your arms and step down onto your feet. So you cross, you step. (laughs) Well okay, so I Sharina does puts her hands down (laughs) then it's okay for you today too. And I think partly because you were so close to the... Yeah, we'll blame that for feeling a little, hard to go out again, but let's do it one more time, do you mind?

No its okay. Okay. So you have to come back right on your mat. So, think that, remember how you came down take a moment right now, since this is one of those classes where you started up here and how we had already done the doming of the soles. So that gave you a trampoline support all the way on your way down and it's gonna do that for you all the way on your way up, okay?

Even if you screw up and fall over, try for it. (laughs) That's okay, thank you, thank you, she's exploring. (laughs) That's all right really. So, that will tell us for one thing if we can't do it, we know that we need more of what we've been working on because those places are not our go-to and they're weaker, they're more elusive to be asked for and so we need more of them. And then as you get more of them and of course just practicing, it helps.

But as you get more of those imbalanced areas to join the party, then you have more control over every moment of rising up there, and actually the rising up then becomes an exercise that employ a more advanced exercise that employs those muscles specifically. All right, so let's finish with the push up. So we're gonna try and do today the one on relevate, if you're willing. And so think about this now, you're, doming up your sole, in fact, rest a minute, lift 10 toes, then dome up your sole and let it go and dome it up and let it go and dome it up. So this was you before swimming and before swan feeling the sole of the foot provide support coming up all the way up the legs into the pelvis.

Okay, so obviously you can put your toes back down but don't go on them too much as you lift your arms and your heels and curl over with the dome soles, giving you low quads upper inner thighs, upper hamstrings, exhale and walk out into the pushup position and play with sits bones high and wide today. Not changing your whole pelvis just toning for high and wide as you bend, inhaling and exhale up. What I hope you feel is that your whole self is more of a unified plank on these beautiful astonished soles. And then you curl in and you feel your sits high and wide here too, which invites your sole as to be more involved and as you roll up, if you keep that kind of pelvis you won't tuck under that's okay, thank you. And you will feel that it's comes up supporting you and open an exhale and roll down.

Can you do one more will you mind? Okay, so let your heels press, yes dome your arches and then curl over and exhale walk and then keep your turned out thighs but you're turned in lower leg. Even though the position might not change, you just tone your muscles for it, or your sits high and wide. And then curling in sits high and wide, stay up on your toes if you can, and feel that they tone you for your soles or your feet. Sorry, I got in your way and exhale open.

Fabulous, all right. So that was our Pelvic Empowerment Mechanics class today here at the Pilates Center on "Pilates Anytime," I really hope you got a lot out of it things to explore later on for yourselves, things to teach and see what they do on other people's bodies, all kinds of... Even when you're sitting in a cafe and watching people walk around in their masks still hopefully you'll be looking at the pelvis a little differently, a little newly and you'll be able to see some things just as exciting to see new possibilities and ways of accessing our bodies like that. So thank you so much for joining me.