Root and Recover

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Vital Restoration. My name is Jason Williams from Baltimore, Maryland. Thank you Pilates Anytime for having me. I'm excited to be with you guys, not only for today's class, but for the next eight weeks as we cover Pilates with a mix of meditation and Reiki.

So each class we'll start with a little bit of meditation or breath work, right? Dealing with the six principles of Pilates and then we'll flow or move a little bit and then we'll end with a Reiki meditation practice. All right, so that's kind of how the flow is gonna roll and I'm excited to be with you guys. So go ahead. Let's come on down to your mat in a nice seated position.

We're gonna start with a butterfly meditation here, so you're gonna bring the soles of your feet together, knees out wide. Now, if this is uncomfortable for your hips, you can go ahead and fold the legs and cross the legs in, but otherwise this is gonna give you a nice opening through the hips and then allow your belly to breathe during this meditation, okay? So go ahead and get nice and set up. You want your spine to be nice and tall and straight here. Good.

And once you find that nice, comfortable seat you can wiggle kind of side to side, just to kind of settle in. And again, make sure you're comfortable. So, the key with meditation is making sure that your body is comfortable so that your mind can be present, right? So your hands to be out to the sides or your lap and, begin to close the eyes for me. And as we give it a little bit of breath work, and breath is, you know, one of the principles of Pilates, and most modalities and practices as the breath is key.

So, take a nice, easy inhale through your nose. Easy exhale at the mouth. Easy inhale through your nose. Easy exhale out the mouth. And, as you inhale, exhale, taking these deep breaths, allow your belly to fill up.

So, release restriction of the abdominal area. Exhale. Again, you're allowing your hips to relax. Allowing your hips to open. And, today's class is root, to restore, dealing with our root chakra to the hips.

Which leads it to your lower back. So, hopefully you'll feel nice and restore it through that area at the end of class. Continue to breathe, inhale. And exhale. Inhale.

And exhale. Breathing in, and out. And again, if at any points you need to fold the legs, if this is uncomfortable, feel free to do so. But allow and give your hips space to open. And again, it all, a lot of issues starting with the lower back come from the hips.

So, that's why we really want to focus on allowing our hips to relax. And get ready to move. Allow your breath to make you centered and focused. Again, using our principles of Pilates. Principles of meditation.

(exhaling) And again, this is your practice today. So, do what you can do. You know your limits. And feel free to move around if you need to. Again, when meditate there's no right or wrong.

So, three more deep breaths, really allowing your hips to relax. Inhale. And exhale. Inhale. And exhale.

One more time. Inhale. And exhale. And you'll slowly, softly, gently blink the eyes open. Good, and then slowly bring those knees together.

Go ahead and fold the legs in. And, let's do some nice, easy twists side to side. So take your left hand, bring it to the right knee. And go ahead and twisting to the right, I started to begin to open up the spine and the thoracic area or mid area your back. And then you will rotate back to the opposite side.

You can even pull that right hand to the left knee to get a little more help or resistance. And then again, going nice and easy side to side, breathing in and out. Again, we're just getting things moving here. And again, this should feel really good along the spine, the back. Nice, easy flow.

Very good. Yeah, and we're just getting things, getting the kinks out, right? One more time to the right, one more time to the left. And we're going to kind of continue that movement. Bring your right leg behind you.

So, you're in your mermaid position here. So now, taking your right hand, my left knee is forward, bringing that right hand to the left knee. Now pull and rotate. We're going to focus on this left side, right? So again, we're opening through the hips, right?

Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. And really for that nice with, through the spine here. And then slowly coming back to center, switching legs. Right foot comes around, left foot comes back.

All right? And then the left hand comes to the right knee. And you're going to pull and twist to that right side. Again, opened up through the hips, twisting to the right side of the spine and back. And feel that nice stretch, not even to the mid back, but also into that lumbar spine.

Good, take a nice, easy breath. Exhale. Good, and then coming back to the center, extending those arms out, we'll move into our mermaid flow, bringing the right form down, left-hand comes overhead. So, inhale here. Exhale, take it back across.

Big stretch to that rib cage and hips here on that right side. So again, take your time here. Really feel the stretch. Inhale. Exhale, move at your pace.

All right? And, this is the one of my favorite stretches to really open up the hips and the rib cage. Get things moving. Side to side nice and easy. Inhale.

Exhale through the mouth. We'll do one more to the right, one more to the left. Looks good. And then we'll switch legs. Very good.

Left leg comes back around, right leg back. Left forearm comes down to your mat, right hand over head. Nice and easy inhale. And then nice, easy exhale over top. Inhale.

So, just flowing through. Again, opening things up through this hips, right, that root chakra. A root chakra is our grounding stability chakra. So, hopefully at the end of this class you feel nice and grounded, stable and rooted down, right? Inhale.

And then exhale. Last one to the left. One more to the right. And then slowly come back to the center, moving to saw. So, straighten the legs out here.

Bring your feet about hip width on your mat. Maybe, a little bit wider. Hands will come out to that T shape here. So, sitting up nice and tall, through the sitz bones, you're gonna pivot. So, my left hand is gonna pivot outside of my right foot.

So, you'd inhale and exhale forward. Draw that belly in. Then inhale back up, switch it to the opposite side and across. So, you can either go to your foot or to the shin. Whatever your flexibility is.

So, there's, nice, easy flow. Inhale, exhale. And, this feels great across that lower back. Again, the wider your legs get to those hips and your hamstrings, right? Nice, easy flow.

Again, you can come to the shin if that's your flexibility, right? So do you, okay? No need to push it or over exert, right? Just feel the nice stretch. Maybe look behind you.

I just started to open up a little bit more through the back and even into your neck. Exhale and again from here, right? You're doing a nice, easy across the body stretch. And my legs are a little bit wider than my hips, right? They don't have to be too, too close together or too wide apart.

Find that comfortability for you. Good, nice and tall. Let's do one more to your right side. And, then one more to your left side. Good.

And then coming back to center, bring those hands and feet together. Go ahead, bend the knees here. So, nice, easy bend in the knees. My hands are going to come just below the knees here. Tuck your chin down to your chest.

Slowly round through your spine and get that nice back stretch here. So, you're inhaling here. Exhale, pull it up nice and tall, stacking the vertebrae. Inhale, round through the spine. Exhale, pull in, nice and tall here, all right?

So, stacking that vertebrae. Inhale, set it back. Good, get in a nice round back stretch here. Exhale, pull it forward. Stacking the head, round on the top of the shoulders.

Rounding down and nice stretch here to the back. Feels good. Inhale, draw that belly in here, maybe. Right, that scoop? Exhale, pull it up nice and tall.

Very good. So, let's add a little bit extra to this. So, Inhale it back. Exhale, pull it up. Extend those arms out.

Now, a round through the spine. We're getting a little more abdominals here. Right? Tuck the chin here to the chest. Exhale.

Nice and tall here, keeping the hands right in front of the chest. Inhale, round the back Again, do you, right? So, go your range of motion back again, it doesn't have to be too far. If this is it, this is it, right? And then come back up, right?

So, protect your back always, right? Round through the spine. Exhale, pull it up. I'll give you two more. Inhale, round it down.

Tuck the chin. Nice, easy stretch. Exhale back up, nice and tall. One more. Very good.

And then slowly straighten out those legs. And then around all the way down slowly, slowly, vertebrae at a time. Slowly, back starting to hit, upper back hands here. Bring those hands down to the mat, bending the knees. And let's do a nice, easy bridge.

So, tuck in your pelvis. Rolling those hips up to the sky. Nice bridge. So, now we're stretching to the front of those hip flexors. Slowly peel it back down.

So, pressing through your heels to innovate the glutes, hamstrings, those upper hammies, and then slowly roll it back down. Your tailbone and butt's gonna hit last. Good, tuck the pelvis. Roll it up. Nice stretch here.

Feel it as hammy, glutes. Roll it back down. Vertebrae at the time. Good. Inhale, exhale.

So, continue to breathe. Exhale it back down. Good, inhale it back up. Extend. One more.

Good, and then slowly roll it back down. Let's do one more for, for good luck. Roll it up, nice and tall. Pull those shoulder blades back. And, then slowly roll it back down.

Very good. So, now bringing right foot, left foot up to tabletop. So, we'll do some toe touches. Right foots gonna reach down, tap your mat with your big toe, pull it back up. Left foot, you're gonna alternate.

And, then come back up. So, inhale, lengthen, tap. Exhale, back up, all right? Inhale, lengthen, tap. Exhale, back up.

Okay, keeping your shoulders back, draw that belly in. Good. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Looks good.

Way to keep those shoulders down and back. Drawing in through the belly. Keeping that neutral spine, looks good. Inhale. And then exhale.

Inhale, and then exhale. Good, so one more, right foot. One more, left foot. Looks good. Nice, and then slowly bringing those feet down to the ground.

Take your time. Readjust if you need. So, now moving to a figure four stretch, right over left, here. And then hands are flat. So, you know, go up to a bridge in this position.

So now feel the right hip, right? And then left glute here. And, as you take it back down, you get another little stretch on a way down, right? So this is one of my favorite stretches for the hips. Especially if you're working one individual side.

So, the right hip here at the top, right? Left glute on a bridge side. Again, just your foot, if you need to move it back towards you a little bit more, that's okay. Again, you're getting a nice stretch through the front of this hip. Try to keep that knee down level if you can.

No worries, if not, that means it's a little extra tight, it'll loosen up. Looks great. One more. Bridge it up, there we go. And, then slowly take it back down.

Hold here, now pull in for a little reclined figure four. And then feel that right hip stretch here, right? So again, all these exercises working and dealing with the hips, right? Feeling grounded, stable. Good.

And, then we'll switch sides, right? Left over right. Okay. Try to flatten and square off the hips here, hands flat. Roll it up, press through that right heel.

Good. And, then slowly take it back down. Good, roll back up, so you're in that figure four position. Feel that left hip stretch here. Feel right glute engaged on the way up.

Looks good. Again, try to flatten that knee or the hip here. Keep it aligned with that knee as much as you can. Again, no worries if you can't. 'Cause, it'll automatically start to loosen up as you keep doing more repetitions.

Good. So, slowly inhale. And then exhale. Inhale, and then exhale. Okay, two more.

Looks good. Nice, one more. Take it up. Very good and then slowly bring it back down. Pull that knee in, nice reclined figure four stretch here.

And, then feel that hip, maybe move side to side. Really feeling that glute stretch on that left side. Now, we're keeping that foot up here at top. We'll give a little more push in towards that hip. Good.

And then bringing both feet down. So, squaring off the hips here, hands flat, right legs, and then come up for leg circles. So, single leg, you're gonna inhale, circle out. Good, exhale, take it back in. So inhale, so I'm keeping my left knee bent to keep my hips square here, okay?

Now, if it's in your practice to straighten out that left leg, feel free to do so. Right? So, but again, you can keep it here or again, if you want to take it up a notch and really challenge the circle, maybe here. The key is to keep that neutral spine and less rotation, right, of the hips. So, you might have to make a smaller circle here.

Especially if you have this left leg long. Right? So, it's not about how wide you go, but more about loosening up and getting that mobility in the hips here. Good, inhale. And, then exhale.

Again, option to always the bend the knee here. Right? One more time around, then we'll reverse. And, then come back the opposite way. Good.

Down and around. So, now reversing it a little more inner thigh here as I come out and around. Squaring the hips. Good. Really feeling that hip start to open up a little bit here.

Good, exhale it back in. Looks good. Two more times. Good, one more. Very good.

And, then pull that knee in and get a little stretch. Very good. Bringing that foot down. Left leg up, switching to the other side. Squaring it off, gonna start with that knee bent, circle out, inhale.

And, then exhale it back in. Inhale, lengthen. Again, keeping that neutral spine. Right? And then get it's in your practice, maybe straighten out.

All right? So again, do you. Inhale. And, then exhale. Again, sometimes one side might be a little bit different.

It's okay to bend the knee on one side versus the other, right? So yeah, you know your body, you know your machine right? There you go. Breathe, inhale, out. Exhale it back in, it looks great.

One more, then we'll reverse in that opposite direction. Good. And then reverse, take it down and out. Again, it's not about how wide your leg circle is, it's about keeping that neutral spine. Again, maybe we need to bend the knee.

Even on this one, which is fine. Okay? Good, hands are flat, shoulders back, inhale. And then exhale back in. Looks good.

We got two more. Good, one more. And, then pull that knee into the chest. Nice, easy stretch. And then maybe pull in both knees in and get a little lower back stretch, a little rock side to side.

Now moving to scissor kicks, right? So, bringing the right leg up. So, grabbing behind the knee. Or excuse me, the calf or the thigh, depending on flexibility. See curve with the head kicking the other leg out.

You inhale, exhale. Inhale and exhale. Looks good. Nice. So again, getting a nice hamstring stretch here.

Good, you got four. Three. Two. Last one. And, we'll move right to that single leg stretch pulling that knee in and out.

Good. So again, get a nice stretch here, through that hip flexor as we lengthen. Still in the C curve. If your neck does get tired or strange, drop the head down, it's okay, all right? Three, two, keep your knees within the midline, right?

Nice. So, let's do one more right, one more left. And then relax it down, very good. Perfect. So, I'm bringing both hands behind the head here.

Good. And then again, coming up to that C curve here. Bring the foot up to tabletop, extending out Pilates via first position. We're gonna do frogs here, okay? So, pulling the knees in, keeping the heels together, press it out to about 45 degree angle.

So, you're gonna exhale and then inhale. So, squeezing glutes, inner thighs, right? So they got four. Good, three. Nice, two.

Good, one more again. Protect your lower back. So, single leg, frogs, herky stag, depending on your price, what you call them. My right leg is gonna kick out. I'm bending my left knee.

'Cause, I'm gonna show you from this position. You're here, right? And then bring it together. And then you're here, right? So, keep the head down here, extended or keeping both hands behind the head, right?

So, pull in here, extend it out. Exhale. Inhale, right? As you lengthen with that outside leg. Good.

Nice hip stretch, looks good. You got three. Good, two. Nice, one more. And, then relax, pull those knees in.

Nice job. Awesome. Okay, windmills, all right? So, bring your hands out a little bit wider for stability, feet straight up to the sky. Right leg's gonna go down.

And you're just gonna replace or circle out with that leg, with the right. Okay? So, my right leg is gonna circle, it's like you're drawing a half circle here, right? Or half moon, and then back around. And then replace it here, right?

Again, really opening up through the hips, might get a little crack, work out the kinks, right? So again, if I'm here, I'm just replacing, boom and then boom, and then back, and then reverse. Good. Two more times around, looks great. Really feeling those abs, maybe.

Two, a little bit here, one more. Awesome. And then pull those knees in, relax, stretch. Nice, a little rock side to side, feeling good. And, then let's roll to your right side here.

Hands behind the head, pulling the knees up, okay? And then the top knee's gonna open up for a little clam here. All right? And, then back down and then back up. So, keeping your back flat here, drawn through the belly.

Looks great. Again, just open up through those hips until that glute medius, that's at the top here. You got two more, one more. Nice. And, then come back down, straighten out the legs.

Bring that top leg, is my left leg, here for a little inner thigh. So, lift up through that bottom leg and then back down. And little pulses here, right? So, getting a nice stretch, you can grab at the knee or the ankle here. Again, whichever is more comfortable.

Again, my bottom foot's not touching the ground. You got four, three, two, and one, relax and switch sides. Very good. So, coming to the opposite side, hands behind the head, pulling the knees up, okay? Top knee is gonna lift up, keeping my feet down, and back.

So again, nice hip opening stretch, single leg. Keep that back flat, so make your adjustments. Looks great. How we doing? Awesome job.

Good, breathe. Exhale, we got three. Nice, two. Good, one more. And then straighten it out.

Taking that top leg and putting here, grab it the ankle or the knee. Bottom leg lifts up and down. Awesome. You're gonna flex that heel to get a little more inner thigh engagement. Good, four, three, two, and one, relax.

Very good. So, coming up to a kneeling position here. So, left foot forward. Right leg back. And then just do a nice, easy hip flexor stretch here.

So again, opening up through the hips. Good. So, keep your spine nice and tall here. You don't want to lean too far forward. Just get a nice, easy hip flexor stretch here.

Take a deep breath. Exhale. And, then coming back to the center, still my right foot down, and left leg out, right? Kneeling, coming forward here, and then feeling that inner thigh here, nice, easy stretch, you can rock front to back. My toes tucked in the back, it doesn't have to be, right?

Nice, easy front the back stretch, opening up the hips here. Good. And again, you can tuck that toe or untuck it, right? You could always also come to forearms, If you need a little bit more to really feel that hip open up. Take your time, exhale it.

And, then coming all the way back up, hands out to the side, a little side to side, bringing my right hand down, left hand over top. So, nice, easy flow here. Taking it overreach, side to side, right? And back. Reach side to side, right?

So, opening the hips, opening the side body. Good, awesome, looks great. Keep that moving. Very good. Nice, easy flow.

Now, let's hold it here, my left hand's over top, right hand down. Bring that hand to the hip. Go ahead and float that left leg. Give me a little hamstring curl here. Flex the heel, point the toe.

Flex the heel, point the toe. Looks good. So, my knees align with my hip here. Again, if it's not, quite okay. Maybe drop it down, that's all right, right?

Do you, right? It'll get better. Nice, shoulders back. Good, one more. Looks great.

And then come on down. We'll turn and face the opposite way. Right leg forward, left leg back. Nice, easy hip flexor stretch. Ah.

Looks great. Take a deep breath. All right? So again, working opposite leg, now that we're doing the opposite hip flexor that we stretched before. So, my right leg's forward.

Nice, easy stretch, sit up nice and tall. Good. Exhale it. Awesome. And, then pivoting, turning around, straighten out that right leg, right?

Coming forward to the hands. And then heat up, front to back rock, okay? So again, feeling the inner thigh here, the hips. Toes tucked or untucked in the back here, right? Good.

You got options for the forearms, here. Right? Again, if you find a spot that's as tighter or it feels good, maybe you stay there. Okay? That's okay.

So again, we're just moving through those hips. Take another deep breath. Exhale it. Good. And then coming back to the center, nice, easy flow, left hand down, right hand, overhead.

Nice stretch to that side body, inhale. And then exhale, take it back over top. Reach, side stretch. Awesome. Ready for that rib cage and hip open up.

Take it back down, reach. It looks great, inhale. And then exhale. Good, inhale. And then exhale.

So, one more to the left, one more to the right. And then we'll get in, we'll float that right leg up. Looks great. And then you'll lift it up. And then up, down kick.

Good. So again, line up that knee, hip, ankle, right? Hand, keep you on the hip here. And then let's do a little hamstring curl, all right? I know we did a little extra this side, but it's quite okay, right?

So, flex the heel, point the toe. There we go. The hips should be feeling really good, drawn through the belly here. Awesome. Two more.

Good, one more. And relax it down. Good, come on up. Nice, good, roll out the shoulders. Come over for a little cat, cow.

Let's do a little roundup through the spine. Inhale it, exhale, drop the chest, look up, Get a nice stretch through the back. Inhale, round it up. Then exhale, drop the chest. One more.

And relaxed now, we'll do one final thing before we get to our Reiki meditation. You're gonna lie to your back feet straight out. So, this is a great exercise. We should do this in deep relaxation. So, palms can be up or down.

So what you're gonna do is you're gonna squeeze your glutes together. You're gonna hold that for five seconds. Notice my hips will lift up. So, as I squeeze my glutes here and hold for five, four, three, two, one, and then relax it down. And as each time you could track and hold, your lower back is going to get flatter against the mat.

So, squeeze your glutes, feel my hips, or your hips lift up, five, four, three, two one release the glutes, feel the lower backs flatten. Two more times. Squeeze the glutes, lift it up. Five, four, three, two, one. Relax the glutes.

One last time. Squeeze the glutes, lift it up. Five, four, three, two, one. And relax. Now, notice how flat your lower back is against the mat here.

Good. And then slowly set up for me. And you can fold the legs, we'll get to a Reiki grounding practice here. So, I'm going to start getting legs crossed. And you're gonna bring your hands together.

You're gonna keep a little space in between your hands here, right? So, that space is where you'll feel a little bit of energy, a little bit of heat. Go ahead and close your eyes. And again, feel, maybe start to feel a little bit of energy as you bring your awareness or focus to that space. So, take a few deep breaths, inhale.

And exhale. Inhale. And exhale. Inhale, and exhale. So, you start maybe feeling a little bit of energy or may feel like static electricity.

You can kind of move your hands in and out just to kind of feel that heat, maybe a little spiral with the palms. Okay, my palms aren't touching here. I'm just feeling that energy that heat. And again, don't worry if you do not feel this, trust me, it's there. It's your energy.

It's your Reiki. And you can access this at any point. So for me, I feel a lot of heat now in between my palms. Okay, you can bring it out in a round. All right?

Bring your hands in and out. That's okay if you open your eyes and look, it's fine. Just to see what I'm doing. All right? And then you're gonna take your hands and place them right into your hips.

So, that root chakra, so now bring your awareness to the base of the spine. Maybe feeling that heat, that energy at the hip area. You know that's your Reiki, that's your energy. Your ability to heal, to recover, to root down. Take a nice, easy inhale.

And easy exhale. Allow your body to now relax. And keeping the awareness to the base of the spine, to the hips, to your root chakra, which is your grounding chakra, your stability. And again, the root shock is associated with red, the color red. So, maybe even picture that color in your mind.

Again, my hands are just resting to my hips. And us feeling the benefits of moving, opening up the hips. Feeling grounded, feeling at peace. Allowing your belly to relax. Letting go of things from the week.

Letting go what you have to do later on today or tomorrow. just being here, being present. Now, bringing hands to the heart center, And tucking your chin down to your chest. And as I count down from 10, you'll slowly open the eyes. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two.

There we go. Thank you for joining me. I appreciate you. Be sure to check out all the wonderful instructors. Our other classes of the next eight weeks.

I'm excited to be here with you all. And we will see you next time.