Streamlined Mat

Hi everybody, I'm Diane Diefenderfer. Welcome to our streamlined mat class. We're gonna keep it moving, and we're going to go through some traditional exercises with good breath, and inspire and motivate, and get that body awakened and ready for the day. All right, this is Laura joining me, and we are going to start seated in a preparatory position, with our arms reaching forward, shoulders down, palms facing one another, taking a deep breath in through the nose. (Diane inhales deeply) Exhaling, contracting, rolling down vertebra by vertebra, to our mats, palms down.

Take a moment, feel where you are, maybe bring your knees in a little bit. Make sure your spine is nicely elongated on the mat. Pull your knees into your chest, and just give yourself a hug, elbows wide. If you wanna rock your pelvis off your mat to stretch your low back, that's fine. Maybe do a little circle with the knees just to get started.

(Diane exhales deeply) A little stirring movement. (Diane inhales deeply) (Diane exhales deeply) And we'll take our legs to tabletop. Precisely, arms down by the sides, feeling the length of the neck, open throat. And we're gonna go into our hundreds, with five breath pattern. Let's reach the arms back to prepare inhaling.

Exhale curling forward, legs on a diagonal, parallel to start, in five, inhale, three, four, five, exhale, three, four, five, two. (sharp breathing) Three. Four. Reaching long, through the fingertips. Five.

Exhale, all the air, six, turn out a little bit. (sharp breathing) Seven, two, three, four, five. Keep a nice tuck of the chin over the chest. Five out, two, three, four, five, nine, three, four, five. Exhale, four, five, 10, two, three, four, five, out, out, out, out, holding parallel.

Take your legs, lower them slowly to the mat. Check that they're in alignment, reached back long, stretching without arching, shoulders down, we're ready for the roll up. Arms up, one. Gently tucking the chin, two. Rounding, hovering over the legs.

Inhale. Exhale, roll away. Reach through your fingertips, as you lengthen out vertebra by vertebra. Arms, one. And two.

(Diane exhales deeply) Really hollow that belly, inhale across your back, exhale, roll away. Shoulders are rounded, but they're down. Again, strong arms to the ceiling. Feel your pectorals roll. Let's go a little bit further.

A little more stretch, rounded back though. Inhale. Exhale, really deepen that belly. Vertebra by vertebra. Let's flex the feet.

Arms up, one. Rolling, two. Stay rounded, going a little further still. Inhale here. Exhale down, pinch the buns.

We'll do one more time for five. One. And two. (Diane exhales sharply) Breathe into your back here, since you're so deeply contracted. And roll away vertebra by vertebra, by vertebra, by vertebra.

Point the feet, reach the arms back. All right, let's pull our knees into our chest, palms to the mat, and develop the legs smoothly, two. For me it's to the sky, or to your ceiling. Belly deep, we're doing our roll over, initiating from the belly, inhale, exhale, over. Inhale, open, start your descent, and exhale through the spine.

Anchor the sacrum to the mat, legs close, inhale, one. And two. And three, let's make sure we keep the head and neck straight. And one more this way, legs glued together. (Diane exhales sharply) Open, press the palms down, shoulders down, and reverse legs to a V, equidistant.

Over. Close the legs tightly and roll down. Make sure you don't let your knees drop into your face as you're rolling down, and one. (Diane inhales deeply) And two. (Diane exhales sharply) Close, three.

Start the descent, keep the neck long, anchor and lower. We do one more, feet flexed, one. (Diane inhales deeply) And two. (Diane exhales sharply) And close. And rolling down.

Legs long. And let's bring them all the way to the mat. Good, I have room. All right, we're ready for leg circles. Keep that pelvic area stable by using the low transverse abdominals, bend the right leg, stretch it to the ceiling.

Inhale, and crossing around, and up. And circle. And up. And equal circle in all directions. Last time, reverse.

And exhale. Inhale. Two. Make sure your bottom leg is long and strong and stable. That's four, hug the knee, stretch it.

(Diane exhales sharply) And place it down right next to the other one. Inner thighs engaged. Develop the left leg up. And begin cross, down, open up. Cross, down, open up.

Make sure you really draw that circle, and then find your center, last one this way, up reverse. (Diane exhales sharply) Center, two, remember the bottom leg is streamlined, long and stable, and round. Hold. Bend, hug. Bring both knees into your chest, pull them towards you, rock back, and roll up.

Good. So I encourage you to not turn your head as much as possible, keep your neck on a line, and I know you're listening to me. All right, pulling the heels in towards the bottom, hug yourself, you may open your knees, wrap your arms, or do like Laura is doing, both are fine. (Diane exhales sharply) For the ball, and we go. And back.

And forward. As smooth as you can. And remember not to topple at the top of the head, or the back of the head touch your mat, nor do the feet touch the mat. Two more. (Diane exhales sharply) One more.

And hold. Extend your left leg on a diagonal, right leg to your chest, opposite hand on knee. Breathe in, and roll down, staying curled for single leg stretch we go. Switch, and. (Diane exhales sharply) I'm reaching my toes towards my partner here.

Lengthening, stretching, as the name implies. Last set. And in. Double leg stretch. (Diane breathes sharply) Long inhale, open the body, and close.

Open, pull those knees way in. One more, open, and close. Develop the legs up, take the right, lower the left, and we begin straight. And exhale. One, two, change, two, pull the knee to your chest.

Careful where you put the bottom one, that it doesn't drop. And legs up, inhale. Hands to the head, exhale here. (Diane exhales sharply) Deeper crunch, deeper, deeper. Lower, one, and pull them up.

And two, controlling. Use your belly, pull. And three, reaching. One more. And pull them up.

Chris cross, right, and one, two, and switch, switch. Keep your elbows open, and really reach the top of the torso around. Last set. And pull the knees in. Take your legs, crunch a little deeper.

Rock back, and come on up. All right, we should be a little warmer. I know we are here outdoors, it's not that warm today, but getting warmer. All right, from the work. Let's have the legs for spine stretch, just outside of your mat, we'll start with feet pointed.

Hands on the mat, we'll do two versions of this. First having the hands on the mat. Tall back, belly in, sitz bones anchored, growing taller as we inhale. And rounding for spine stretch. Inhale up, sequentially extending the spine.

(Diane exhales sharply) Vertebra by vertebra, by vertebra, by vertebra, by vertebra. Exhale. (Diane exhales sharply) Deep, deep contraction. Inhale. Let's take the arms parallel to the floor, flex the feet.

Deep contraction, rounded. And up. Throw yourself along a wall almost. Pulling the belly to lengthen up and tall. One more time.

(Diane exhales sharply) Rolling up. Let's feel how beautifully tall we can be. All those vertebra stacked one on top of the other. Point the feet, bend the knees. Take the tops, I have to move down a little bit, of the ankles, and take your toes off your mat.

Deep contraction, hollow belly, focus down right between your legs here, to your mat. Open leg rocker part one, open, close, open, bend, easy breath. (Diane exhales sharply) Small V, close, open, bend, open, close, open, bend, open hold. Stay here, exhale, deeper contraction. And part two of the rocker.

We go back, and we come forward, and we roll back like a rocking chair. And back, pull forward. Try not to let your head touch your mat. (Diane breathes deeply) One more. And up, hold.

Go to the teaser, reach your fingers towards your toes. We're going to roll down and bring the legs right to perpendicular. Palms down, open neck, open throat, chest lifted, belly tight, we're ready for corkscrew small, number one. Right, down, left, center, and left, down, right, center, make it precise. (Diane exhales sharply) Corkscrew, two, take it bigger.

Right, down, left, to the top. And around. You do what you can. And be careful, really use the abs as you go low. And up, last time.

(Diane exhales sharply) Hold. Bend the knees, give yourself a hug. Rock back and roll up. And we're up to the saw, keeping it moving. Legs just outside of your mat, flex your feet.

Reach through your heels. Try not to lock the knees, but having elongation, anchored sitz bones, arms out to a T, press down onto imaginary blocks. Pull the body away from the waist, separate there. We go to the right. And over.

(Diane exhales sharply) Inhale, exhale, left, and saw those toes. Center, make sure you can go through center. Turn your back arm and your head. Listen to your ear (laughs), listen to your knee. And right here to the left knee.

A little breeze going on here (laughs). And up. And reach. One more each way. Make sure both sitz bones stay securely anchored to your mat.

We'll finish up. And close, bring the legs together, and we're gonna swivel around and find ourselves on our stomachs, prone position. Forehead down, palms outside, press your feet into your mat. Let's tighten the legs so that we have engagement of the hamstrings and the butts. Pull your belly in away from your mat, even though you can't see it, shoulders down inhale.

We're gonna some movements upward, exhaling, to some spinal gentle hyperextension, holding it, inhale. And pull the belly in as you lower. Prepare, one. And exhale, two. Think of pushing your floor away.

Shoulders down, neck in line with the spine, and lower. Inhale, one. Gently moving into a little more hyperextension. And lift. And lower.

Next time you're welcome to do swan dive, number one. Laura will do it. Exhale, I'm going to hold the position myself here. Inhale high, and go four times. Forward, up, two, up, three, one more, and that's all, and good.

Push yourselves back, sitting back into your rest position as best you can if you're able to with healthy knees, sitting on your heels. All right, we'll move forward, back to our frontal position for single leg kick. Let's bring the legs together, knuckles together, press your shoulders down, engage your pectorals. Pull the belly up and in away from the mat. We'll do right leg, right leg, stretch.

And. And reach, and left, two, you all can bend and kick as best you can. I don't go so far because of some knee things. The idea is to tighten the hamstring, stretch the thigh. One and two, and reach.

Beautiful upper body position, reach and kick, kick. Reach, one more each side, one, two, stretch. And left and give a little more lift to the body. We'll come down, turn the head to the right for double leg kick, hands behind, elbows open, pelvis flat, lengthen the legs, inhaling. Three kicks, three, two, one, extend.

Head the other way, three, two, one. (Diane breathes sharply) We'll do a couple more, change hand grip. One, two, three, squeeze the seat in the shoulder blades. Last time, two, three, squeeze, hands, press. And again, pull the belly in as you sit back on your heels.

This time, take the arms around behind you, palms up to the sky. (Diane exhales sharply) All right, moving right along. We'll turn around and sit up tall to start, legs apart, feet flexed. We're gonna do this neck pull, but we're starting up. So we'll take our hands gently behind our head.

Don't interlace your fingers, Joe Pilates thought that that broke the flow of blood. So just holding the hands correctly, supporting the nape of the neck. We breathe in, this first time we contract. And roll down all the way. And we come up, inhaling.

And over, exhaling. All the way. Sit tall out of the hips. Hinge, one. Inhale here.

Contract, tuck the pelvis, and roll. And up, inhale. All the way over, exhale. Rounded back, hollow belly, sit up tall, and hinge, one. Stay there, hinge, two.

Breathe. And tuck, and roll vertebra, by vertebra, by vertebra. We do one more, inhale. Exhale, over gently, stretching the neck. Sit up straight, tall back.

Hinge, one, elbows wide. Hinge, two. Hinge, three. Contract and roll, deepening that belly. And lengthen out.

We'll draw our knees into our chest again, stretching for a moment. And I'm going to move down on my mat a little bit, placing the feet flat for the shoulder bridge coming up. Make sure your knees are in line with your feet. Your pelvis is in a neutral position to start with. Palms down, pressing appropriately into your mat.

We inhale here. And we scoop the belly, engage the pelvic floor, inner thighs, hamstrings, glutes. And we're up to our bridge. We're going to hold this one first, inhale and exhale, roll down. Really scoop those ribs, close those ribs together.

Waist, and then sacrum, tailbone down. We'll go again. And scoop. Hold the height, tight seat, develop the right leg up. And flex, lower, one, point it up, and reach, out of your heel, and lower, up, and lower.

Hold the up put it down, your hips are level. Develop the left. Lower, one. Four times, dig that right heel into your mat. Hold it up.

Put the foot down, you're back to where you started. Give a little boost of your hips. Tight buns, inhale, exhale, roll vertebra by vertebra, by vertebra. I love that part, by vertebra, by vertebra. All right, hug your knees in again.

Exhale, roll up. Moving right along, extend your legs straight out in front of you. Feet flexed, evenly glued together. We're up to our spine twist. So your legs and feet should not shift.

Reach your arms out long, 180 degrees, beautiful tall posture, breathe in. To the right. Center, and left. Make sure you take your neck with you. So look over your back fingers, center.

Remember the legs aren't moving, you're moving from your waist up. One more time each way. Center, point the feet. Take the arms forward, we're going to do rowing. We inhale, flex the elbows and the feet.

We exhale, half of the air on the way back, and the other half as we curl forward. Sit tall, reach, point the feet. Now contract the belly, row, arms around, grab your fingers, gently pulling, inhale. And circle to stretch, exhale. We'll try to go more fluidly, and one, and two.

Tall, three, and four, and five, and six, and one. Deep contraction, two. Three, reach, present something beautiful. And four. And stretch it, five.

And circle, six. We'll roll up to sitting. And hold. All right, let's go ahead and do our sidekick. So I'm going to turn around, so we'll have our right leg on top, and we're gonna lie at the back of our mat so we're in one streamlined position, lengthened like a pencil.

All right, we're going to do this exercise this way. Flex the feet, press down and away from the mat, so you have a beautiful lift on your side. And press the leg up, and lower, up, and lower. As though you've got that magic circle and your leg's inside of it, and you're working your abductors. And press away, and lower, and press away, and lower, and lift it, and lower, one more lift, lower and hover.

All right, belly tight, hips stable, we do our sidekick. Front, and two, and back, and two, I got my planter there, two, and back, and two, forward, hold your center, and back, and two, kick, two, and back, right hand behind the head. So flexing the hip and the foot, then extending with control, back, back, elbow to the side, nicely open. And let's grab the leg, pull, bend, and reach. And stretching the hamstring, stretching the thigh and hip flexor.

And pull, and reach, one more. And length, and pull the belly in while you're stretching here. Bring the legs together turned out. A little bit like your dance first position, and we do the kick, up, flex, squeeze. Point and squeeze, point and squeeze.

One more, we'll add beats, squeeze, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, point the feet parallel, bend, come up. Let's do a little side stretch. Hold your right front knee, left arm high, and stretch over to the side. Just feels good to get out of the other side for a moment. Little mermaid here.

And good, all right, we'll swing around with the left leg on top now. All right. So legs stacked, belly in, palms down, pressed away from your mat, flexed feet. And we push up, and lower, push away. I'm thinking of my heel reaching, not just up, but out towards Laura.

So I have wonderful length in the muscles. And up, and lower, and reach, and lower, and two more. One more, and then hover at hip height for our regular sidekick. One, and two, and back, and two, forward, and two, and reach, two. Remember, nothing's moving but that leg and the hip.

And back, hand behind the head, two and back, two. (Diane breathes sharply) Last set, and reach it, and pull, bend, stretch, and lengthen, bend, and lengthen some more. Inhale. And exhale. One more, pull and reach.

Close, turnout, belly tight, and up, and squeeze, kick, and squeeze. Two more, and hold. And in two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, second set of eight, five, six, seven, squeeze, parallel bend. Come on up, take your front knee, shin bone area, reach up and over to the side. And center.

So we're gonna go on to our teaser. So let's go ahead and stretch our legs out, and let's roll down nicely using our abdominals onto our backs. Once again, legs are glued together, feet pointed, and arms reaching back behind us with stretch and yet tautness in the right places, low belly, shoulders down, ribs in. We'll take a breath to begin. (Diane inhales deeply) And find the teaser.

(Diane exhales sharply) Arms by the head, and roll down. And one, and two, three, and four, to try to have your top and bottom end at the same time, one. And two, three, and four, one more time. (Diane breathes sharply) Three and four. All right, we're gonna roll over so we're on our prone position once again, we are almost finished.

I'd like to do the flying eagle instead of swimming, 'cause I like it. Palms down. Pelvis pressed into the mat. Shoulders down, the legs can be apart a little bit. We lift the body and the legs up.

We fly like an eagle. Bring the wings forward. And lower. And lift, squeeze the seat, and fly like the eagle. Reach back, see if your hamstrings are tight, and forward.

And lower. And lift. And press, lift the chest. And around with the arms, and lower. One more time.

Grab your legs, lift your chest. Take your arms around and rest. Bring your arms by your shoulders, push yourselves back into a rest pose for a moment. We'll walk the hands forward once again to our plank position for leg pull. Press into your beautiful plank, inner thighs together, shoulders down, squeeze the seat, and right leg reach, and together, and left, and together.

Make sure your inner thighs are tight, even though one leg is reaching out. And left. Together, and right. Really depress the scapular muscles so you don't lock into your elbows. One more each side.

And squeeze. Let's walk our hands back. Hi (laughs). And then a little bit further forward, I'm checking on Laura, and we'll go into a slightly open leg downward dog, just feeling the stretch, pulling the belly up into the spine. And then we'll walk our feet and our hands to meet one another.

Bend the knees slightly, roll up. Careful of your backs, straightening your knees, readjusting clothing here (laughs). I'm gonna turn and face you all. (gasps) Let's take an arm sweep upward. Reaching to the sky, and downward.

And reach. And press. Like we have our big wings once again, two more. One more. Gather the hands in gratitude.

And we bring them to our chest. Thank you.