Day 2: I am Centered

Welcome to day two of our challenge. The theme is I am centered. So we'll focus on deepening our connection to our powerhouse and also using our powerhouse to challenge our ability to balance. Let's start at the base of our mat like we did on day one, but we're gonna throw ourselves off center a little bit so you can dig deep into your powerhouse. So standing your Pilates stand, heels together, toes apart, fist distance between your big toe joint, route down to the ball of your big toe, small toe in the center of your heel and then scoop your powerhouse.

Lift your hip points up into your navel, pull your navel up to the base of your skull. It's like my head is pressing through the ceiling, tailbone down. And I'm gonna take the scoop of your powerhouse and shift it forward, so now my hips are over the arches of my feet. You're gonna notice that you're gonna probably wanna grip in your quads or in your toes. Instead, can you root down through your inner heels, lift your hip points up even more and press your head to the ceiling.

Now, let's do our arm circles. Inhale, reach your tailbone and your heels downwards. Exhale, lift your hip points up into your navel. Inhale, reach your tailbone in your heels down. Exhale, lift your hip points even higher.

Inhale, reach your arms up, tailbone down. Exhale and reverse. Inhale, as your arms go up reach your tailbone and your heels down. Exhale, lift your hip points up into your navel. Two more, inhale, exhale, grow taller through your spine.

Final one, inhale, reach up. This time reach your arms forward and pause. Shift your weight back. Stack your forearms one on top of the other. Lift your collarbone above your arms.

If you have any history of knee, hip, or ankle problems, just meet me on the mat. If not, grow taller and bend your knees. I'm still lifting my powerhouse up towards the ceiling. In order to sit, I send my elbows and my chin way forward as a counterbalance to my hips going back. Keep scooping, keep your heels pressed together.

You can place both hands on the mat, lift your powerhouse, take a seat and then lie all the way down. We'll start by connecting our arms and our legs into our center. So bring your legs all the way together, you're in Pilate stance, reach your arms back and just let them fall back into the mat. Take a big inhale, so much that you allow your ribs to lift up off the mat. As you exhale, empty your lungs, your ribs will slide down towards your hip points and float your arms up, they come to a hover.

Inhale, reach your arms back, allow your ribs to inflate. Make your legs reach away from your arms and then exhale, empty your lungs, feel your ribs sink into the mat and your arms come up to a hover. One more, inhale, reach your arms and legs in a position, lift your ribs up. Exhale, keep that oppositional reach between your arms and your legs, float your arms up and keep them here. Now, reach your arms up towards the ceiling, do a chest curl.

So take an inhale, exhale, curl up and meet your fingertips right above the level of your thighs. Pull your hip points and your navel back. From your center, reach your right leg forward and up and then reach your legs forward and down to lower. Other side, pull your hip points back into your navel, lift your leg up and then lower it down. One more each leg, pull your hip point into your navel.

Reach your leg forward, waist back and then lower, final one, scoop your powerhouse to lift, scoop more to lower. Rest your head, arms go up and they reach back, stay connected to your center. We're gonna take it up a notch and go into the 100. Reach your arms up towards the ceiling. As you exhale, pull your waist back.

Reach your fingertips forward. From your center you will lift both legs. If you need to do one leg at a time, go ahead and do that. If not, pull your hip point way back into your navel, float your legs up to a comfortable position, the 100. Inhale, two, three, four, five and exhale, two, three, four, five, key pulling your hip points up into your navel and meet your tailbone for the bottom edge of the mat.

Inhale, two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, that's 30. Inhale, two, three, four, five, big pumps, three, four, five. Inhale, two, three, four, five, halfway there, three, four, five. Pull your lower abdominal in and exhale all the air out. Inhale, two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five.

Pull your lower abs in, pull your navel back. Inhale, two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five. Two more sets. Exhale, two, three, four, five, final one. And then reach your arms and legs forward, scoop your powerhouse, hug your knees into your chest.

If you have a strap, rock up to seated. Slide your feet underneath this wrap. Flex your feet, pull the soles of your feet back, lie all the way down. If you don't have a strap, it's the same thing. Flex your feet, send energy through your heels.

My tailbone reaches for my heels, arms go up and back, the roll up. Arms go up, inhale. Pull your powerhouse back, roll up and round forward. Let's pause here and find our center. So instead of collapsing into your spine, press your thighs down, lift your lower abdominals up.

Send your head forward, arms forward and waist back. Remember this lift, lift your powerhouse and roll down. Send your tailbone forward, pull your waist back, arms go up and back, arms go up. Inhale, dive your head through your arms. I'm pulling my lower abs back.

Lift your lower abdominals and round four, can you go deeper? Press your thighs down. Lift your lower abdominals. Roll back one bone at a time, arms go up and back. Arms go up, inhale.

Pull your hip point back and then round forward, lifting your lower abdominals and then pull your abs back. Roll down one bone at a time. Final one, arms go up, dive your head forward. Pull your hip points up, round forward, hold here. Test that center again, press your thighs down.

Lift your lower abdominals and try to reach further forward. Pull your waist further back and then roll down. Reach your tailbone forward, pull your waist back, arms go up and back. Are your arms still connected to your center? Did you lose that connection?

So now from here, your arms go up, lower them all the way down. If your feet are in the strap, take them out and then hug your knees into your chest. We're gonna practice on the roll over prep and go into a modified rollover. Press your arms into the mat really strongly, legs go up towards the ceiling. Like we did in day one of the challenge, pelvic tilt.

You exhale, pull your hip points to the back of your waist and notice how that carries your legs toward you. Hold here, keep pressing your upper arm bones into the mat and then lower all the way down. Two more, press your upper arm bones down, exhale, curl your tailbone up towards your heels and then lower down. One more, pull your pelvis back into a pelvic tilt. My tailbone is pointing towards my heels.

I'm pressing my upper arm bones through the floor and then return. So now from your center, you're gonna continue rolling up and over. Press your arms down to your pelvic tilt. Now, lift your hips up and roll over, so your thighs are parallel to the floor. You should recognize the shape 'cause you just did it in the roll up.

So feel your hips go up, your arms go down. My legs are reaching back, my navel forward. Keep your legs pressed together and as you roll down, pull your waist forward, toes back, waist forward, toes back, lower your legs back down to 90. Again, start with your pelvic tilt. Rock your pelvis back.

Now, press your arms through the floor, lift your hips up and over, try not to collapse. I'm pressing my arms and shoulders down, lifting my hips up, my legs keep beating back and I'm gonna pull my waist to the bottom edge of the mat. My arms are still anchored into the floor. One more, you pelvic tilt, press your arms and your ribs down into the floor for leverage. Lift your hips up like you're sitting on the ceiling.

Find your center by scooping your powerhouse. Lift your waist up, arms down, reach your legs back, pull your waist past your fingertips all the way down to the bottom edge of the mat. From your center, lower your legs, so you have to really recruit your powerhouse. Press your arms down, pull your hip points back, reach your tailbone forward, hip points back. So moving from here, lower your legs all the way down.

Interlace your fingers behind your right thigh, pull your knee into your chest. Flex your left foot, drive your heel forward, pull your spine back. Press your leg forward into a tabletop, extend your leg and turn it out. We're gonna add a little bit of rotation from our center. So press your arms down, rotate your hips to the left and you notice how it carries your leg with you.

From your center, you recover. Pull your abs into the mat to return. And again, rotate your hips to the left. I'm reaching my leg up to the top of the left wall and then exhale, pull my powerhouse back into the mat. One more, lift your hip, your right hip off the mat to get the rotation.

Exhale, use your powerhouse to recover. That's how we're gonna start the single leg circle. So you inhale, find that rotation and then you recover. Find your center and bring it back. Inhale, rotate.

Exhale, recover, find your center and bring it back. Inhale, rotate. Exhale, around and lift. Inhale, reaching my left leg forward. Scooping my powerhouse back.

Two more, cross. Exhale, are you still using your arms? Press them into the floor and now you reverse. Open as wide as your right shoulder. You circle it around, rotate your hips and then pull the back of your hip back, four more.

Open, swing it around. Exhale, inhale, reach your leg forward, pull your powerhouse back. Open, rotate from center, last two. Keep pressing your arms and all 10 fingers into the mat, hug your knee into your chest. Switch legs, hug your left knee into your chest.

Slide your right leg forward, reach to your right inner heel, press your left leg forward, scoop your powerhouse deeper. Press your arms down. Leg goes up, turn it out. From your center, rotate your hips to the right. My leg is reaching for the top of the right wall.

From my center, I pull my hips back into the mat. Two more, inhale, rotate, still press your upper arm bones down, right leg forward. Exhale, pull your powerhouse back. One more, inhale, rotate from your hips. And then exhale, pull your hips back.

And now we flow, inhale, you rotate, reach your leg forward and pull your powerhouse back. Inhale, rotate from your center and then recover using your powerhouse. Inhale, rotate. Exhale, scoop around and lift. Two more, I may have lost count.

One more, inhale, rotate. Exhale, scoop and now you reverse. You open, reach forward with your leg back with your powerhouse. Open, reach, rotate and recover. Three more, open, scoop and recover.

Open, reach your leg forward past the bottom leg, final one. And then from here, hug your knee into your chest, hug your other knee in, rock yourself up to seated to set up for rolling back, a test of our balance. Lift your hips, curl your tailbone under, keep lifting your powerhouse, grab your ankles and then lift your feet up off the floor. Keep lifting your hip points up into your navel. Inhale, lift to roll back and then exhale.

Lift your powerhouse and try to stick it. Inhale, lift your lower abdominals, round back, lift to come back up. One more and then we add on, lift your lower abdominals to roll back, roll up. Now, we're really gonna challenge our powerhouse and our balance. Lift your powerhouse to roll back, come back up (groans) and then go into a teaser.

And again, rolling like a ball, lift your lower abdominals to roll back. Roll up, lift your powerhouse to extend into your teaser. Bend, one more, lift. Roll back, now without moving your spine, arms and legs go forward and up and then bend everything in, place your feet flat on the mat. Hands go behind you, slide back.

Round forward, find that center. To lift your powerhouse, maybe reach further forward even more. Send your heels forward, waist back, roll all the way down. Once you're done, single leg stretch. Bend your right knee into your chest, right hand goes on your ankle, left-hand below your knee.

As much as you pull this knee back, reach your leg forward. From your center, lift your head and shoulder blades up off the mat. From your deep abdominals, lift your left leg off the mat. Can you reach your leg further forward? Pull your hip points further back and then scoop and switch.

Switch, pull your powerhouse in and reach that straight leg through the wall in front of you and reach and reach, pull and pull. Keep pulling your navel back, tailbone reaches forward. One more set, hug both knees into your chest. Rest your head, reconnect to your abdominals. Scoop your powerhouse, double leg stretch.

Curl your head and shoulder blades up off the mat. Can you drop your tailbone down, curl your head and shoulder blades up higher? Inhale, reach your arms and legs in opposition. Pull your hip points back, reach your legs forward. Surf your arms, scoop to hug in.

Inhale, scoop and reach forward, exhale in. Inhale, reach further forward, circle, exhale. Can you touch the wall in front of you? Let's do three more. Pull your waist back, circle, exhale, Inhale, reach and exhale, final one.

Hug your knees into your chest, rest your head. Rock up for the spine stretch, so roll up, separate your legs a little wider than your hips, grow taller. You can take your hands, place them next to your hips. Use your hands to lift your spine, press your head through the ceiling. Now, lift your lower abdominals and the bones in your lower back.

Reach your arms in front of you. Inhale, lower your chin. Exhale, lift and round forward. Hold here, can you press your thighs down? Lift your lower abdominals.

Feel like they're sliding up the wall behind you. From the lowest abdominals, lift and roll all the way up and exhale. Lift, lower your chin, exhale, round forward. Keep lifting your lower abdominals, can you get your head closer to the mat? Inhale, press your thighs down.

Lift your center up and exhale. Inhale, exhale all the air out. My heels and fingers are reaching forward, lower back is sliding up the wall behind me. I press my thighs down, lift my lowest abdominals up and exhale, one more, lift, lower your chin. Exhale, round forward.

Keep lifting your lower back up the wall behind you. Press your thighs down, roll all the way up, exhale. All right, so we're gonna practice a transition into open leg rocker, extend your (mumbles), turn your legs out. Feel like you're dragging the backs of your upper inner thighs together. You notice how that helped me to lift my seat up off the mat.

Reach your arms forward, start off doing your pelvic tilt, so I'm gonna pull my hip points to the back edge of the mat and reach my tailbone to the front edge of the mat. I'm trying to roll to the backs of my hips. You will lift both legs from here, not from your legs. So I pull my powerhouse back, lift my feet up. I'm still reaching forward, scoop your powerhouse, reach past your toes and take a seat.

Set up again. Pull the backs of your upper inner thighs together, reach forward. The energy of your arms keeps going forward, but you're waist and your hip points pull back. Keep pulling your hip bones back, tailbone forward. Make sure you feel the scooping your lowest abdominals to reach your legs forward, pull your navel back.

Reach your arms past your toes, come all the way up to seated. We're gonna add on, lift up, feel like you're dragging your inner thighs together. Pull your waist back, tailbone forward, is the energy of your arms still going forward? Keep scooping, keep scooping. Now, scoop your powerhouse to lift your legs.

Without changing your spine, can you lift your hip points into your navel? Grab your ankles, lift your hip points up into your navel, extend into your open leg rocker. As you lift your lower abdominals, press your upper arm bones down, head up, cervical nod. Inhale, lift, your lower abdominals. Exhale, lift them to find your balance.

Lift your lower abdominals to roll back and then lift to come back up. Inhale, lift your lower abdominals to roll back, Roll up, two more. Pull your lower abdominals up underneath your ribs. Pull them up more and your legs go forward and up. One more, lift, your legs go forward and up.

Lift your hip points up, bring your legs together. Keep sending your legs forward and up. Pull your waist down and back. Walk your hands down the backs of your thighs, as you roll all the way down, hug your knees into your chest. Similar to what we did in the single leg circles, we're gonna initiate corkscrew with a little tic tac of the hips.

So press your arms down, legs go up towards the ceiling. I'm ceiling the backs of my upper inner thighs. From my hips, I rotate my legs to the right. My legs are reaching up to the top of the right wall. From my center, I pull my legs back.

Other side, press your arms down, lift the back of your right hip up. My energy is going up to the top of the left wall. Exhale, now let's add the corkscrew. I'm gonna lift my legs up to the right. I reached them forward, pulling my powerhouse back around to the left.

I'm on the back of my left hip and then I recover. Other direction, rotate from your hips. Press your arms into the mat, pull your waist back, tailbone forward. And then you roll to the right hip and then center, let's add some flow. You inhale, swing your legs around, exhale and bring them up.

Inhale, rotate from your center, pull your waist back and then bring them up. One more set, inhale, reach your legs forward and pull your powerhouse back and center, one more. Keep using those upper arm bones, press them into the mat and then center, hug your knees into your chest, rock up to saw. Extend your legs a little bit wider than your hips. Once again, find that lifting your spine, support it with the scooping your powerhouse.

Extend your arms out to the side. I will twist to the right as much as I can keeping my hips still. I'll flip my palm up, press it up in order to find my spine, stretch forward. I'm reaching for the midfoot. Now, you're gonna rotate three times from your center.

Pull your right ribs back to your right hand, right ribs go back, right ribs go back. Now, reach back in order to roll up and return center. Stabilize your hips, rotate from your center. Flip your palm, round forward by lifting your powerhouse, bring your forehead to your knee. Reach your left arm back and your left ribs back, left ribs go back, left ribs go back.

Lift all the way up, add some flow, lift to twist and round forward. Can you twist a little bit more? I'm twisting from my center versus pulsing here. Rotate, roll all the way up into a twist and center. Rotate from your center, press your arm up in order to round forward, rotate your ribs to the left, rotate your ribs to the left.

Rotate, roll all the way up. One more set, lift to twist, round forward. Pull your ribs back, pull your ribs back, pull them back, roll all the way up and center, final one. Lift to twist from your center, lift your center, around forward. Rotate your left ribs back, reach them back further, further, roll all the way up.

Return center, the neck roll. Bring your legs together, flip onto your stomach. You'll place your hands underneath your shoulders and find your powerhouse first. So I'm pressing the tops of my feet into the floor with my legs together. My tailbone is reaching past my heels and I'm pulling my navel to the front edge of the mat and then press your head forward, look down at the mat and your shoulder blades back.

As you inhale, you pull your chest forward up as much as you can using your back strength, then you can press your hands into the mat, the goal is to straighten them. I pushed my feet down and lift my hip points up, tailbone towards my knees. I press all 10 fingers into the floor, I drag my chest forward and up and my upper arm bones down and back and then send your chest forward, elbows back to lower all the way down. Adding on, find the length in your spine and the scooping your powerhouse. Lift your chest like it's sliding up the wall in front of you.

Keep sending your chest forward and up. Pull your powerhouse up in order to stretch. Push your feet down, lift your hip points up. Open up your chest. Now keep pushing into your hands and feet.

Look over your right shoulder, lift your lower abdominals, as your chin goes to your throat. Look to your left and then center. Look over your left shoulder. Lift your lower abdominals to rotate. Look over your right shoulder, center.

Pull your elbows back, chest forward, lower all the way down. One more, elbows back, head forward. I scoop my powerhouse, it's almost like I'm lifting from my lowest abdominals. I pull my lower abs off the front edge of the mat. I slide my chest up the wall, press my feet into the floor.

Try to reach your tailbone towards your knees. Lift your chest up through your arms. Look over your right shoulder. Lift your lower abdominals to look down. Look over your left shoulder and center.

Other side, look, lift your lower abdominals. Look over your right shoulder and center. Can you pull your arms down and back, chest forward and up? And then reach your chest forward, lower all the way down. Sit back on your heels, round your spine.

Keep lifting your powerhouse, reach back and grab your heels. Press your knees and feet into the mat. Pull on your heels and lift your waist. How much can you curl your tailbone under and pull your waist off of your thighs and then roll up one bone at a time and we'll set up for the neck pull. So you flip over, if you have a strap, slide your feet underneath the strap.

Either way, you flex your feet, heels are forward, souls of your feet back, lie all the way down on your back. Interlace your fingers behind your head, squeeze the bones behind your ears. Use your hands to help traction your spine, so I'm gonna pull my head back and reach my tailbone forward. Lift your elbows up like an inch inside your shoulder blades down your back. Here we go, inhale.

Lift your powerhouse to roll up and round forward. Press your thighs down, lift your center to come up to seated. Use your hands to pull the back of your neck up. Pull your waist behind your shoulders while you constantly pull your neck up. You roll down against that resistance.

As soon as your head touches, pull your powerhouse back. Roll up round forward, elbows are wide. Push down with your legs, lift up with your waist and then lift your spine, pull your waist back and roll down one bone at a time. Inhale, pull your hip point back as your head goes forward, round forward. Lift your lower abdominals to up to a tall seated position, lift up and then pull your waist back.

My heels and tailbone forward, waist goes back. One more, inhale, reach your tailbone forward. Pull your waist back, press your thighs down to roll all the way up. Lift the back of your neck, pull your waist back. Tailbone forward, heels forward, rest.

From here, arms go by your side, we're ready for shoulder bridge. Bend your knees, you want your ankles underneath your knee joints and your knees and feet the distance of your hip points. Your arms are important in this exercise. So start pressing your arms and all 10 fingers into the mat. Same thing with your feet, ground your feet, start off with the pelvic tilt.

Hold this pelvic tilt, I'm pressing my arms and feet into the floor. Can you deepen that pelvic tilt even more, like you're shortening the distance between your hip points and your ribs. Keep doing that, as you push down with your arms and your feet and roll up into your bridge. Keep pressing down and against that resistance, rotate your tailbone up towards your knees and pull your hip points towards your ribs. Push your left foot and your arms into the floor.

Lift your right leg up like we did in the day one challenge. Now, pull your lower abs under your ribs, reach your legs forward and down. I'm still using this booty cheek and then lift your leg back up. I lift my hips up, press my arms and foot down and then lift, inhale, lift both hip bones up towards the ceiling. Lift your leg, bend your knee and place your foot flat.

Reconnect to your powerhouse by pulling your hip points towards your ribs, tailbone forward and up. As you roll down, reach each vertebra down to the bottom edge of the mat, the crown of your head to the top edge of the mat. We have to do the other leg, press your arms and your feet down, find your pelvic tilt and pause. Use the press your of your arms and your feet to deepen your pelvic tilt. Keep pelvic tilting as you roll up, send your tailbone forward and up, navel down and back.

Keep hugging your midline or pulling your upper inner thighs together. Press your right foot down, left knee up. Now, can you lift your hips up even higher, reach your leg forward and down, this hip still goes up and then lift. Inhale, keep pressing this hip bone up as your leg goes forward and down and then lift, one more. Lift to reach forward, lift your leg up, bend your knee, lower your foot down, reconnect to your powerhouse and then roll forward one bone at a time.

Rest your tailbone down, hug your knees into your chest. Take a deep inhale and exhale. Take a deep inhale, as you exhale, rock up to seated. And then from here, we'll go into spine twist. Extend your legs in front of you.

Keep reaching your heel forward and lift your spine. So once again, you can place your hands next to your hips. Can you lift the bones of your lower back more and then support it by scooping your powerhouse? Keep that same length in your spine and then meet your arms out to the side. If you need to bend your knees in order to lift out of your lower back, bend your knees and press your heels down so you feel the backs of your thighs working.

Press down to grow up. From your lowest abdominal, rotate to the right. From your waist, can you rotate a little bit more? From your shoulders, can you rotate a little bit more and then return center? Hips and heels don't move, lift up first.

From your lowest left abdominals, rotate. And then from your waist, rotate a little bit more. Rotate your shoulders to face the back wall and now he add some flow. You lift to twist for one, twist a little bit deeper, a little bit deeper, grow taller from your center. Lift your center and twist, lift the twist a little bit more, lift the twist a little bit more and then center, one more.

It's like you're wringing out your lungs. Lift, empty your lungs to twist, empty your lungs even more and center, final one, lift to twist. Keep sending your heels forward, spine up and then return center. Reach your arms forward and then roll down one bone at a time. Pull your waist back, heels forward, rest your head, bend your knees into your chest.

Let's work on the jackknife prep. So your arms press into the mat by your side, as your legs go up, pull your lowest abdominals into the mat. I'm pressing the backs of my upper inner thighs together, so I feel like I have one leg. Start off with your pelvic tilt, I'm gonna rock my pelvis back. I'm actively trying to pull my hip points into the back end of the mat.

Now, press your arms and your ribs down and reach your toes to the top of the wall behind you. Can you lift your tailbone up? Keep reaching your legs up, pull your waist to the bottom end of the mat, so you're gonna roll down with control. It's kind of like the beginning of the rollover. And again, find your pelvic tilt.

Now, press your ribs and arms down for stability. And as much as you press down, you lift your tailbone up. Keep pressing down to go up and then roll all the way down. Let's add on, so you do your pelvic tilt. Now exhale, press down to go up.

Now hold it. Can you press your arms down, lift your tailbone up a little bit and then release? Press your tailbone up, arms down and lower, one more. All 10 fingers pressed into the mat. Roll down, scoop your powerhouse, legs up, abs down.

Now, your powerhouse goes back as your legs reach forward and down. My tailbone reaches for the bottom edge of the mat. My navel goes to the top edge of the mat and I lower my legs. Let's go into the sidekicks. So turn onto your right side, line your whole body up at the back edge of the mat.

This top hand goes in front of your waist, find length first. Use your hand to pull, attracting your neck towards that wall, my tailbone reaches towards my heels. And one motion, lift your legs up. Lift your powerhouse to bring your legs forward. Turn your top leg out and lift it up off the map.

Can you reach this hip all the way down to the bottom edge of the mat and your head past the top edge of the mat? Swing your leg to the front and hold. Turn it out a little bit. Now, lift your lower abdominals and press your legs behind you. Double kick to the front, you kick once, kick twice.

Now can you lengthen your spine, so you're not twisting or rotating? Find your center, kick twice to the front, lift your lower abdominals. Now, you have to lift them even more. Pull your thumb, not your thumb, pull your navel up towards your thumb, behind your head. And again, kick, kick, pull your navel up.

And again, kick, kick, pull your navel up. Last one, kick, kick, and then reach, can you feel both legs, six inches longer, pull your hip points up into your navel, navel into your hands? Stack your legs one on top of the other, make this hip reach away from your ear. It gets longer to lift it up without sinking. So keep reaching your hip up.

Now, reach it all the way down. Press your inner thighs together, lift it up. Exhale, make your leg longer to lower, lengthen to lift, reach it forward and down, two more, lengthen to lift. Pull your abdominals in and up, final one, five small circles, make that leg longer than the bottom leg. It circles front, up and back, two and three, and four and five, and then reverse, challenging you to stay balanced.

Reverse, if your leg goes back around and two and three and four and five. Stack your legs, transitional heel beats, flip onto your stomach and find that scooping your powerhouse. Your tailbone reaches past your heels, but pull your hip points towards your ribs and then lift your legs up, beat 10 times. Reach your legs back, lower your legs. Take a seat on your heels for a second.

I'm gonna face you for the second set of the sidekicks. So set yourself up on your left side, create a long spine from the crown of your head to your tailbone. Your top arm is anchored right in front of your waist. Seal the backs of your upper inner thighs. In one motion lift your legs up, lower them down.

Anchor your bottom leg, lift your top. Swing your leg to the front and hold. Lift your powerhouse, can you pull it in closer. Now, reach all the way past the bottom edge of the mat. Lift your powerhouse, depress your leg behind you.

So we kick twice to the front, kick, kick. Reach all the way down towards that wall, pull your navel up into your thumb behind you. Flow, kick, kick, scoop, and press it back. And again, reach your leg long and scoop and press it back. Two more, kick, kick, lifting your powerhouse and stabilizing your shoulders, press it back and hold it back.

Now, are you twisting? Keep stacking your shoulders, stack your hips and lift your powerhouse. One leg on top of the other, turn your top leg out, press the bottom leg into the mat, reach this leg forward to lift it up and then reach your hip away from your ear to lower, lengthen the lift. Exhale, press your inner thighs together. Lift, press your inner thighs together, two more, reach, final one and then small circles, one and two and three and four and five, and then reverse.

Lift powerhouse to circle and three and four and five, stack your legs, turn onto your stomach, sit back on your heels, round your spine, grab your ankles or your heels. Lift your waist, pull your ribs off of your thighs. Roll all the way up. Let's do teaser one, the way Joseph Pilates did it in "Return to life." So extend your legs in front of you. Heels together, toes apart like we did earlier.

Hands go next to your hips. Lift your spine as much as you can, seal the back of your upper inner thighs, so it feels like you have one leg. To roll back and lift your legs up, you pull your hip points to the back edge of the mat and your legs feel like they're scraping the wall in front of you. So I lift my powerhouse, I stand my legs forward and my hip points back, legs forward, hip points back and stop when my legs are at 45 degrees, bottom tips of my shoulder blades off the mat. Reach forward, keep pulling your hip points down and back the base of your armpits, reach up for your pinky toes.

Unlike me, try to keep your legs still and then pull your hip points back, but keep reaching the base of your armpits towards your pinky toes. And again, pull your lower abdominals into the mat. Oh, yes, and then reach up and then lift your powerhouse and curl your tailbone under, one more. Pull your waist back, reach forward and up. Can you lift up even more, pull your elbows into your waist, bend your knees and lower to your forearms?

And we're gonna do cam cam. So you press your elbows right underneath your shoulders. And as much as you press your elbows down, press your pinky fingers down. Do your pelvic tilts, so you feel the backs of your hips on the mat. Like we did earlier, rotate from your hips.

Exhale, back through your hips, pull into the mat, rotate from your hips. Pull your lower abdominals into the mat. Rotate to your right, hold here. Pull your lower abs down, reach your legs to the top of the right wall. Pull your abs down, lower your legs.

Pull your lower abs into the mat to twist, abs go down to twist. Abs go down as your knees go up, hold here and then extend your legs, pull your lower abs down, bend your knees. We add flow, scoop to twist, pull your abs down to twist. Remove your legs from your center. Extend and bend, abs down to twist, abs down to twist, abs down to twist.

Extend and then bring your legs back to center. Flip onto your stomach for swimming. So you lie down, extend your arms in front of you, reach your leg back. To start off today, think of pulling your chest forward and up, as your tailwind reaches past your heels, press your palms into the floor. Can you pull your hip points forward and your tail back even more?

Try to keep your chest where it is and reach your legs up off the mat. Now from here, lift your arms up, go for a swim, inhale two, three, four, five, and exhale. two, three, four, five. Inhale, two, three, four, five, reach your tailbone back chest forward. Inhale, two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five, reach your arms and legs in opposition.

Lower down, sit back, round your spine. Let's go into our forearm plank like we practiced in day one. So go to the top of your mat, place your elbows directly underneath your shoulders. I'm pressing my elbow point and my pinky fingers into the floor and against that what should I do with my shoulders? I pull them away from my ears as my shoulders go back, I press my pinky fingers into the mat more.

Keep that connection to your back or to your center. Extend one leg back into a plank. I push my toes down and pull your lower abdominals forward and tailbone to the wall behind you. Are you still connected to your back? And then press your pinky fingers down.

Extend your other leg back. Look at the map between your arms, press your pinky fingers down, shoulder blades back. Reach your tailbone back, pull your hip points forward, find your balance. Keep meeting your tailbone back, hip points forward, lower one knee at a time and then sit back. We're gonna add on, we're gonna test our balanced by lifting one leg at a time.

Set yourself up the same way, prop yourself up on your forearms. Press your pinky fingers and your elbows down, put side your shoulders back and your head forward. Lift your powerhouse, extend your other leg back. Lift your powerhouse and extend into your plank. Keep pressing your pinky fingers down, shoulders back.

Read your tailbone back, hip points forward. Point your left foot and rest on the top of it. Lift your powerhouse to lift your leg, tap it down. Lift, whatever's on the mat pushes into the mat for stability and then bend your knee, sit back on your heels. One more, other leg.

Prop yourself up on your forearms, press your pinky fingers downside your shoulder blades back. As you extend your leg back, can you scoop your powerhouse, extend your other leg back? Pull your hip points forward, tailbone back, pinky fingers down, shoulders back, point your right foot. Lift your leg up from your upper inner thigh. Lift inside your shoulder blades down your back.

One more, lift, lower, bend your knee and then sit back on your heels. Roll all the way up and let's turn around and practice at boomerang. From here, cross your right leg over your left. Feel like you're sealing your upper inner thighs together and sending your energy forward. Just like we did for teaser, hands go next to your hips.

Grow taller, like the rollover, pull your powerhouse back, roll over, press your arms down, hips up. Open and close and switch and then pull your waist forward, reach your fingertips to the front edge of the mat. Lift your powerhouse, circle your arms to the back. Now, press your arms up and find your spine, stretch forward. From your center, roll all the way up, hands go next to your hips.

So you get into it like we did teaser. Press your inner thighs together, my inner thighs reach forward, my waist pulls back, so I lift, pull my waist back. I roll over, switch my legs, roll up. Pull my waist forward, fingertips forward and circle your arms to the back, press your arms up. Find your spine, stretch round forward.

Lift your lower abdominals, hands go next to your hips. And again, lift, pull your waist back and then switch the cross. Pull your waist up, circle your arms, press them up and back, head goes down and forward. Roll all the way up, one more. Lift up, pull your waist back, switch to your legs.

Roll up, pull your lower abdominals under your ribs. Now, reach your arms up and back, head goes down and forward, so they float down. Roll all the way up to seated, seal. Place the sole of your feet together, reach your arms through your legs and grab the outer edges of your feet. Press your inner thighs into your arms and your arms into your inner thighs, but don't lose your center.

Lift your lower abdominals, clap your feet three times, three, two, one. Lift your lower abdominals, suspend your hips up to clap, two, one, dive your head forward. Clap, two, one. Lift, clap, two, one, roll up. You have two more, on the last one you have the option to come right up to standing.

You'll cross one foot in front of the other and you can place your hands down on the mat, lift your powerhouse and come to stand. All right, to finish. Let's do chest expansion with that same forward-leaning we did in the beginning of class. So ground the three corners of your feet, feel the ball of your big toe, small toe, center of your heel. Lift your powerhouse, reaching your tailbone down and you shift your hips over the center of your foot or your arches.

The more you lean forward, the more your tailbone reaches to your heels and your lower abdominals lift. So now you're using your powerhouse to remain grounded and centered. Pull your lower abs up underneath your ribs as your arms go forward. Inhale, press your upper arm bones back. Lift your powerhouse, hold your breath.

Look to your right, look to your left, look center. Exhale, press your inner heels down, tailbone down. And again, inhale, reach your arms back. Look over your left shoulder, look over your right shoulder, look center, lift your hip points up towards your navel. Two more, inhale, reach your tailbone and heels down, reach your arms down and back, chest forward and up.

Look over your right shoulder, look over your left shoulder, center, tailbone and heels down. Lift your waist, final one. Squeeze your shoulder blades to open your chest more and then look over your left shoulder, look over your right, look center, lift your powerhouse, reach your arms forward. They should feel like that forearm plank, that same connection to your center. Shift your weight back, lift your powerhouse, reach your arms up, lift your waist past your fingertips, open your arms wide to the side, take up space as you grow taller and you're done.

So thank you for joining me for day two of the challenge. The mantra is I am centered. In Pilates I moved from my powerhouse, in life from my inner most truths. I respond to every obstacle by returning to my center because it's from my center that I feel the most balanced in Pilates and in life. So today's journaling prompt is I feel most balanced and at peace when, I feel most balanced and at peace when, and if you're comfortable, I would love to see you share some of your responses in the comment section, thank you.