Boost Your Endorphins

Join me in this class to improve our circulation, open up our neural pathways, and cleanse ourselves from within like Mr. Pilates talks about when he says about the internal shower. And let's flow with a focus on celebrating what we can do rather than not. All right, so let's stand tall, (inhaling) take a moment just to take a few breaths, right? Breathe it in and lengthen, exhaling, and connecting through the feet. We start with some chest expansion standing.

So bring your arms forward, and just inhale it in (inhaling). Look to the right, look to the left, look to the center and bring the arms forward as we exhale. And again inhale in (inhaling), and let's look, and look, and center, and exhale it out. Inhale (inhaling), one more time. And center, and a strong, long exhalation.

Bring your arms forward. Let's lift up onto our toes, press the heels together. See if we can balance here for five squats. Here we go, press those heels, connecting to the back body, as we lower and we lift, and we lower, and lengthen up, (inhaling) and up, two, and last one. Reach the heels down, arms down by your sides.

And let's turn to the top of the mat. Fold the arms like a genie, and cross one leg behind the other, and let's lower ourselves down with control. Use your hands if you need to. Lower down to the mat, and then gently lower ourselves onto our backs. Take a moment just to settle into the mat.

Feel where your body is within space, and let's reach the legs out long. Stretch the arms up, take an inhale (inhaling). Take the wrist with the opposite hand and take that same leg, cross it over the ankle. And let's stretch to the side. It's like a banana stretch here, half banana, just stretch and breathe, and open up the side body, inhaling (inhales), exhaling (exhales).

Feel the side body release. Let's come back through the center and stretch the other sides to change the legs, change the wrist. Stretch to the side, you feel a stretch all the way through the side of the leg, through the hip, through the ribs, breathe in to wherever it needs. Wherever you feel that tension is just breathe into it, and with the exhale release the tension. Okay, come back to the center.

Then bring your knees into your body, give them a hug. Take your hands to the tops of the knees, and let's just stir them around. Like we're stirring the femur in the hip joint, like a giant spoon, just move it around, and let's reverse. Just oiling up the hip joint. One more.

All right, I think we're nice, loose, and ready for our workouts. So stretch the legs long, press the heels together. Arms come up to the sky. Let's take an inhale, reach the arms up above the head, exhale by the side of the body. We're ready for our Hundred take an inhale up (inhaling), and bring the head with the arms this time.

Chin to chest reach the legs away. Focus here was on vigorous pumps with the arms. Here we go, in, and exhale, scooping the abs, reaching the arms, breathing in and out, in and reach, and in, and scoop those abs, bring the breath into the body, full breath out, halfway there, exhale it out. Keep pumping those arms vigorously. Last set, and exhale everything out, the lungs, lower the legs, lower the head, ready for the roll-ups, so keep the toes pointed.

Bring the arms up, ears between the arms, and exhale as we roll up, reach beyond the toes, scoop the abs as we lower back vertebra by vertebra. Reaching, stretching, but scooping back in our position, lowering with control. Abs deep, reaching the legs and the body long. Every opportunity connecting every muscle. Last one, big exhale, reach beyond the toes, but scoop those abs back, look to the legs as we lower back with control.

Arms come by the side for rollover. Bring our legs up. Press those heels together. So stay connected, zipping up through the center line. Lower the legs away, up, over, separate, and then come down, scooping those abs, lower the legs, keep the seat switched on.

Ready to reverse, out, over, together. And then drag the knees across the face as we come back down, and out and around, up and over together. Scoop your abs, push your palms, push your shoulders into the mat as well. The last one. And let's lower the left leg, and point the right toe.

Bring the hands behind the back of the thigh. So one leg circle. Let's make sure that we're going for full range of movement, but keeping it controlled and safe. Take the leg across. How far can you go?

You can lift this hip, take it over without losing control. Bring it back, let's go to the other side. Take it out to the side. How far can you go without that opposite hip lift? That's our range of movement.

That's what we're working within. Here we go. Across, down around and up, and again. Abs bringing the leg back up, two more, last one, reverse, out, down, across and up, out, down, across and up, that's it. Two more.

Keep the shoulders anchored, last one. And let's change legs. Switch them in there. Give the other leg a little pull. Stretch it in.

And then let's test the body, let's see how far we can go. Stretch the leg across, lift the hip, that's about me, that's about my control point. Let's take it to the other side. Opposite hips there and anchored down. All right, here we go within that range of movement, across, down, around and up.

Abs bringing the leg back up, keep everything pinned. Two more. Last one, reverse, and up scooping that leg to bring it up, two more, last one, and then lower the leg down. Let's come up to sit for roll like a ball. Bring your seat to your feet.

Now for the first two, stay open, stay round. Let's get a little bit of nourishment into the spine. So don't compress down, we still gonna lift up and over, the hands just behind the thighs, and just enjoy the playfulness of the roll. Giving the spine a nice massage. Now we had a couple of nourishing ones.

Let's tightening up take the ankles, scoop deep, inhale back, exhale up, and again. One more time. All right, we're ready for our abs series now. So lift your seat to the middle of the mat, stretch one leg out long, and bring the other knee in nice and tight, okay? So the focus with this abs series, once again it's just to keep moving, keep flowing, and stretch as much as we can out from the center.

So lower yourself with control to the mat. So I'm reaching long, I'm hugging in tight, and get as much range of movement as I can, and let's go, give it two pulls, pull, pull, hug it in, reach the other leg long. Abs are deep. Just keep working, keep breathing, keep stretching, keep those abs scooping. Last one, and in.

Both legs in for double leg stretch now. So let's go for full range of motion movement here as well. So as we reach out, let's take that back arch and stretch and then hug it in. And again, inhale up, reach and stretch, hug it in. And reach, arch and back, really opened double leg stretch, and back.

One more to do. Scoop deep seat is on, hug it in, nice work. Both legs to the sky, take hold of the ankle, and pull, pull, pull, pull, keep moving. Strong legs, deep abs. Focus on pulling the leg into you rather than dropping the leg away, reach the leg away, pull in, reach, reach.

Last ones. Lower lifts. Hands behind the back of the head. Here we go. Five of these, lower, lower, lower, and scoop, and reach away, and lift, and reach and up, and two, up, one more.

Now with the legs up reach the fingers to the toes five times, one, two, three, up, last one, nice work, criss-cross. Here we go, reach up and over stretch, and reach don't rush through it. You got to keep the quality of the work now. Almost at the end of the abs series. One more each side.

And come up to seat for spine stretch forward. Well done, everyone, great work. So place your hands down in front of you, and bring the breath into the body. Take a nice inhale (inhaling), lengthen the spine, exhale, breathe it all out. Inhale up.

This is a great exercise for cleansing the lungs. All that good air in, all the tension out. Let's do two more. Stack it up, get a chance for some rest bite with the breath. Last one (inhaling), and exhale it all out the lungs.

Inhale, so let's bring our seat forward for open leg rocker. Now, reach your hands in front. This is still, it's like spine stretch, but in motion. So that's what we're gonna work at. Staying connected here.

Magic hands, just give your fingers just a little bit of a magical move and watch as the leg reaches up, (chuckling) lower it down. Let's do the same on the other side. There they are, see. Let's take the right foot to the left hand now. There we go, left foot, right hand.

See it's all just magic, the magic of the powerhouse. And now let's see if we can lift both legs at the same time using the powerhouse. We got to keep those legs straight. We can use a little bit of momentum, but always with control. So moving from the powerhouse rather than just relying on the back, scoop the abs deep, and lift the legs up, and let's roll, rocking back, lifting toe.

Scoop to roll back. We can see the similarities between this. It's like a move in spine stretch. Look, there's our spine stretch forward, returning sit tall. Let's do two more.

Last one. Bring your legs together at the top and lower gently onto our back for corkscrew. Keep pressing into the center line, zip up through the body. Same as the one leg circle. Let's go for as bigger range as we possibly can, maintaining control, here we go.

And lift, and resist. To the left down around. Up through the center, resisting the abs, and again, pressing those heels together to get that center line connection, keeping the back chain of the body working as well. Let's do one more each way. The last one.

And resist all the way down. Teaser up, legs wide, ready for sore. Now we're opening up the body. So let's open the heart. This is kind of Joe Pilates style really here, it's bringing the heart forward and taking the arms back behind us.

So bringing the blood flow into the front of the body, take an inhale, twist and ring out the lungs. Inhale up, bring the heart forward, (inhaling) exhale, ring it all out, and again (inhaling and exhaling), nourish the heart (inhaling), and twist. (inhaling) One more each way. Last one, big stretch, ring the lungs out, stack the spine tall, bring the feet together and we're up and over for this one. So let's begin by focusing on length now.

Just grow longer, lengthen and through the head, pushing the feet away, pushing them down, press the heels together, get that seat switched on, and then begin our Swan. Push our nose to the top of the mat, lift the head, the chest, the shoulders, a little pressure for the palms, lengthen to lower down. Let's add a neck roll in. So push the head, the chest, the shoulders lift. Let's look to the right, chin to the chest around and center, reverse it, and center and lower, lengthening into lower.

Now an invite, if you can continue that, or if you want let's rock and catch. So lengthen up, and this time shoot the arms out and let's see if you can catch your rock and swan. Here we go. And catch the top and again, and once more, and then take your seat back to your heels for rest position. Scoop the abs.

Take a moment just to breathe, bring the breath in, feel up the back of the ribs, and then roll up to kneel for our thigh stretch. So, nice and tall through the spine. Start to lean forward a little and the first thing you're gonna feel is your seat switch onto catch you. And that's perfect with that connection, hinging back, scooping your abs, lengthening the spine, lift as we inhale (inhaling), keep those inner thighs connected as well, zip-up through the center line, and lift, one more time (inhales and exhales). Inhale (inhaling), up to return.

Let's turn over onto our seat for Neck Pull. Now, before you groan, we're not gonna do the full Neck Pull. We're just gonna open up all those neural pathways on the back of the spine. So take your hand over head behind the back of the head. Sit tall with your feet about hip distance apart and just lift as tall as you can.

We're bringing breath into our body, lengthen and stretch in our spine up, now scoop the abs, and just encourage with the hands, don't pull too hard. Just bringing the head towards the knees. Scoop the abs (inhaling), stack the spine up. We're just doing that top half. That's the best bit of the Neck Pull anyway.

(inhaling) Up and over, round and over, stack the spine up to lengthening up, pinching the pouch to lift your seat higher. Let's do two more. Stacks to return, last one now. Up and over, and then stack the spine up nice and tall. And then lower onto our backs for Shoulder Bridge.

So lower with control, press the feet, press the thighs together, zip-up through the center line, and stay connected through your seat. Push your palms into the mat. And the first thing you're gonna notice as you push your palms down, is that your shoulders push down too. Palms and forearms, shoulders connect, seat bones to the backs of the knees, and bring your right leg up to the sky. Let's reach it up, we're gonna reach it out and up five times.

Here we go, out and up, out, up, three, two more, last one. Now reach it out. Let's change those legs over. Bring the other leg up keeping the hips lifted as we go for five, and four, and three, and two, up, last one, and reach it out. Now lower down through your spine vertebra by vertebra.

Nice work, stretch the legs out, roll up to sit ready for spine twist. Arms out to the side, sit tall (inhaling), and twist let's pulse, pulse, inhale (inhales), exhale to pulse, pulse, pulse, inhale (inhales), stay grounded through the seat, and long it's all through the spine, and pulse, pulse lengthen and up (exhales), inhale, one more each way. In and last time, and center. On to our side for side kick series. Reaching out, lengthen through the upper body and bring our feet to the front corner of the mat.

Leg kick front and back, here we go. So lengthening this leg away, abs deep, body long, upper body as quiet as we can be. Here we go, we kick, kick, back, back, kick strong, reach long, and again, back, two more, back that last one, kick, kick, back, back. Let's go up and down. Open the hip a little, lift it, and reach, lift, and then reach it away, three, two more, and away, and one.

Let's make small circles here. Five small circles around, and reverse. Now bicycle. So for this one, I want you to allow your upper body to move if you feel it needs it. We're gonna just connect with what our body wants so use your intuition here.

Kicking forward bend the knee, reach back and you can stretch if you want, and kick, and bend, and reach. Allow that upper body to express the movement whatever range you have. It's not about how big it goes, it's about how it feels, and reach, let's reverse it. Take the leg back, and bend, and in, and stretch, and reach, and bend, in then kick forward, last one now. Reach it back, bend the knees, take your hands to the foot and stretch and just open that front body up.

Pull the hip forward. Try not to roll over onto your back here. All right, let's bring that leg in and change sides. It feels good, right? So rest the head on the hands, what we doing one side, we do on the other.

Leg kick front and back, here we go. Kick, kick, back, back, kick strong, reach long, kick, kick, back, back, kick strong, reached long, one more, and back, back, let's go up and down. Open that hip and let's lift, and reach to low, and lift and return, and stretch it away. Two more, last one, small circles around, reverse them, and then into the fun bit, the bicycle. So let's kick forward, bend.

Let the upper body move now if you want, and kick, and bend, you can even reach out with the arm if that feels good, and forward, bend, reach, open the body, and back. Let's reverse it, take it back, bend, bring the knee through, kick forward, length from back, bend the knee, bring it through, last time, kick forward, reach it back, bend the knee, and take your hand to the foot. And this is where we get that stretch. Reach the arm out, whatever it takes. It's not once again how far you stretch, is how it feels, that should just feel good through the body.

If not now, definitely after. All right, bring the foot down, okay? From here it's teaser time. So let's turn onto our backs, and reach our legs long, press your heels together strong, reach your arms up, take an inhale. So we wanna make sure we got all that back chain support in this movement (inhaling).

And we reach for the knees, for the toes, we lift, and then lower resist all the way down and again, reach for the knees, reach for the toes, lift the arms and lower. Let's do one more. Reach for the knees, for the toes, lift. Now let's see if we can lower the legs and lift, and two more, and up, last one, and then lower with control all way to the mat, and roll over onto our tummies for swimming. Reach our arms long.

Let's lift everything up and just move. Just swim. Just feel the exercise, move in abs away from the mat. And let's lift a little higher. Swim a little faster, and hold, and lower with control.

Ready for our leg pull front. Still find that length through the body, lift the thighs, press the heels, and push up into our leg pull front support position. Okay, we're gonna lift the leg as high as we can now. Here we go, as we lift for one, change legs, one, number two, two, and two, one more on each side, and lift and kick the last leg, and then let's turn to our side for side bend. Okay.

Place your hand on the mat. Feel that connection through the shoulder, lengthen long through the spine as we reach and stretch, take an inhale here. Find that length in the body, and again, lifting up, reach and stretch it out. Reaching away, pushing the floor away as well. Let's do two more.

Last one, up and over reach, and then lower your seat, swing your feet to the other side, and let's do the same on the other side. Strong shoulder girdle connection, spine is long, let's bring the breath into the movement and open up the side body. Whilst we strengthen the body as well, stretch, and strength, and control. Two more. And then lower seat down, and bring our legs to the front for the seal.

Dive the hands through, take the ankles, and let's draw the feet in with the powerhouse still nicely connected. Press your elbows into your thighs, and your thighs back into your elbows so that we create this circle of energy, this powerful center as we clap our feet together. Now I don't wanna us to clap for my ankles, make sure we're opening the hips up. It's all part of this journey. Let's open up and release in these neural pathways.

Here we go. One, two, three, one, two, three. Keep connected, keep working. You can feel the hips opening, yeah? Abs deep, breathe as you roll, and have fun, I mean, if you can't have fun during the seal, what exercise can you smile at, right?

Okay, last one. And from here, we're gonna sit at the top, cross the legs, and just jump off step your legs back. So bring your hands forward and then you can step back, or if you wish, just lift your seat and jump back and then lower onto our tummy for a stretch from rocking. So lengthen your body long, this is all about length, it's not how much we come into extension it's how long we can make ourselves. Take each foot in the hands and see if you can pressure thighs together as you pull your heels towards your seat already feeling a nice stretch down.

I'm pushing my hips down, lengthening, and breathing, couple more breaths here, and then separate the knees. Separate the feet. Start to push the feet into the hands, draw the shoulders down the back. And I want you to remember your Swan here as we draw our shoulders down the back, and we lengthen before we lift, push the feet into the hands, coming up a little higher, a little higher, and then lower with control. And let's rock back into rest position.

Take your seat to your heels and just stretch it out. Bring the breath into the back body now. Let's walk the hands over to the left side and stretch back through the right side of the body. Now breathe in into that right side (inhaling), open up the rib cage, expanding the lungs, come back through the center. Let's go to the other side now.

So we're reaching to the right, but you'll feel the stretch down the left side of your thoracic cage. Just breathe into it. And then back to the center, curl the toes under. Lift the knees and take the hips towards the sky, heels together. Let's walk the hands back, and roll up all the way up to stand.

We're ready for our push-ups now. So inhale, reaching up (inhaling), rounding down, diving up and over, walk the hands out. One, two, three. Now three beautiful push-ups. You can come to your knees if that feels more available.

It doesn't matter on the progression, it's the quality of the push-up. So stay connected, here we go. Inhale down, exhale to push up strong, and again, elbows in (exhaling), last one (exhaling). Walking the hands back towards the feet. Rolling up, rolling up, reaching tall, hands onto the hips, ready for our splits and lunges.

So take a step forward with the right foot. Make it nice and wide, and square the hips up. Bring your hands behind the back of your head. Lift the heart. And let's bend the front knee, and straighten, deep lunge, strong lunge, one more time.

Arms up by the ears, bend the knee, hands frame the foot. Straighten and bend the front leg now, here we go. Straighten as best you can, and bend, and straighten, and bend. Once more, and bend. Now lift the back heel.

Bring that back knee to the mat, and bring the hands to the front, and top of the thigh. Now we're gonna pulse the hips forward three times. Three, now bring both the arms out in front, look to the fingertips as we reach up, we reach higher. Keep bringing this hip forwards to get that full benefit of the stretch, and bring the hands down, frame the foot. Let's step that front foot back, and step the back foot to the front.

Turn the back foot out now, come all the way up to stand, hands behind the back of the head again. Here we go. We bend deep lunge and straighten. Two more. Last one.

Arms up to the sky, bend the knee, frame the foot with the hands, and straighten and bend the front leg, here we go. So we straighten and bend. And scoop deep, look to the knee. One more time. Now lift the back here, lower the knee to the mat, hands to the top of the knee.

Three pulses and lunges forward, here we go. One pulse, two pulse, three, pushing the upper body back, bring the arms forward, follow them with the eyes now, follow the fingertips as we lift forward, and upwards, and backwards, enjoy that stretch. Bring the hands down to frame the foot. Let's step the front foot back, and we're in our plank position, heels pressed together. Walk the hands back towards the feet.

Scooping the abs up here, bend the knees if you need to, but we're pressing the heels down. Rolling up, rolling up to stand (inhaling), arms by the side, we're standing tall. Now to finish, to give that little bit of an endorphin boost, let's press heels together, arms out to the side and stand as tall as you can. Your head is going through the clouds, your feet down through the earth, perfectly rooted, let's bring our right knee up to our right elbow. Here we go, lift it up, and down, up and down, repeat, up, and up, and up, and up.

Let's go double time, here we go. Up, down, up, up, up, one more each side, up. Bring your arms in front of you. Press the heels together as we lift up onto the toes, separate the heels, lower them down, roll the shoulders back, stand tall, take a couple of breaths just to recenter, reconnect. We should feel beautifully opened, breathing, and ready to start the rest of our day, well done.