Day 7: I am Nurturing

Welcome to day seven of the challenge. The theme is, I am nurturing, and that's exactly what I want you to do today. Honor the needs of your body. There's some exercises that maybe you wanna challenge or push yourself a little, and then other exercises where you just wanna surrender and show yourself a little grace. That's okay.

Also during the class, I'm going to reference your Pilates box as an alignment tool. And as a reminder, that's the space from shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip. Meet me at the base of the mat. Stand with your feet in Pilates stance. Ground down to the ball of your big toe, small toe, and the center of your heel.

Lengthen your spine and let your shoulders drop. Inhale, reach your arms up towards the ceiling, as your tailbone reaches to your heels. Exhale, lift your hip points into your navel to lower. Two more, inhale, reach your tailbone down. Exhale, lift your hip points up, keep growing.

Inhale, reach your arms up, tailbone down. Exhale, arms wide to the side. Reverse. Inhale, reach your tailbone down in opposition. Exhale, lift your powerhouse up.

Inhale, reach your arms up. Exhale, scoop your powerhouse to lower. One more, inhale fully. Exhale all the air out to reach your arms in front of you. Stack your forearms, press them together, and lift your collarbone above your arms.

Grow taller as you bend your knees, and with control, lower yourself to the mat, knowing that you can always just meet me down here. I'm gonna place my hands down, take a seat, and then scoot to the middle of the mat and roll down. Just bend your knees into your chest one at a time, and give your legs a hug. Allow your tailbone to lift up and stretch your lower back a little bit. The hundred.

Start by feeling the weight of your entire Pilates box on the mat, and then scoop your powerhouse. Curl the top of your Pilates box up. Legs go up, arms reach forward, and then just begin. You already know this exercise, so just focus on connecting even deeper to your powerhouse. Focus on inhaling and exhaling fully.

And the vigorous pumping of your arms. One more set here, and now it's choose your own adventure. Either keep your legs here, or maybe lower them to your desired level for today. Four more sets. Keep pulling your powerhouse back, reaching your arms forward.

I think we have two more sets. I could be wrong. Let's do one more. After your last one, scoop your powerhouse, hug your knees in, then roll up. I'm gonna rock up and slide my feet underneath the strap.

When you lie down on your back, reach your arms back. Make sure the middle of your box is still grounded on the mat. Arms go up towards the ceiling. Just lift the top of your Pilates box off the mat and then exhale, press the middle of your box down. Try to curl up higher, lower all the way down.

Arms reach back. Arms go up towards the ceiling. Lift your head and shoulder blades up. Can you press your waist down? Curl up a little bit higher, lower all the way down, arms go back.

One more, arms go up. Curl the top of your box up. Try to dive the top of your box further forward. Lower all the way down, let's do three roll-ups. Arms go up, inhale, pull your waist back, dive your head forward, round.

Inhale, roll to the back of your hips, behind the middle of your box, top of your box, and head. Arms go up. Inhale, dive your head through your arms, exhale round forward. Inhale, roll to the back of your box. The middle of your box.

Top of your box. Reach back, final one. Arms up. Pull your lower abdominals back as you dive your head and shoulders forward. Inhale, roll to the backs of your hips.

The middle of your box. Top of your box. Arms go up and back. Reach your arms up. Bend your knees and place your feet flat.

From here, scoop your powerhouse, bring your knees into your chest to set up for the rollover. Reach your legs up towards the ceiling. Press the backs of your upper inner thighs together. Let's just start off with the pelvic tilt. Just as a reminder that your spine moves your legs.

And then roll down. You might wanna just do six of those, or you can do the full rollover. You do your pelvic tilt, press the middle of your box down to lift up and over. Open up the top of your box by pressing your triceps into the floor. Open your legs.

Keep reaching your legs back. Pull your waist forward. Keep the top of your box open and then reach your legs forward together and up. Pelvic tilt. The bottom of your box moves your legs.

Press your waist down, lift up and over. Open the top of your box. Open. Pull your waist forward. Roll all the way down.

One more that direction. Your spine moves your leg. Press down to go up. Keep pressing your triceps and all 10 fingers into the mat. And then we'll reverse.

Open your legs. Pelvic tilt, press your waist and arms down and lift up. Press your legs together. Roll down, one bone at a time. Two more, open, pelvic tilt.

Feel each vertebra press into the mat before it leaves the mat. And then roll down to the middle of your box. Feel the weight of the bottom of your box. Last one, roll up and over, pressing your triceps down, and then roll all the way down, one bone at a time. Start with your legs up, bend your knees into your chest.

Single leg circle. This is a unilateral exercise, so your Pilates box is gonna wanna twist or side bend. So to set up, interlace your fingers behind your right thigh. Pull your knee in. Send your left leg forward.

Already I've side bent it. So to correct that, push your right thigh into the strength of your arms until it's in tabletop. I'm pressing all the way from my sit bone. Like my sit bone is reaching for my left inner ankle. Stretch and bend your leg three times.

Stretch. Every time I stretch, I press my left thigh into the floor. Keep your legs straight. Three circles of your ankle in each direction. I'm still reaching my right sit bone towards my left inner ankle, ready for single leg circle.

Turn your leg out. Feel the weight of your thighbone sink into your pelvis to stabilize your box. Press your arms and your left leg down. Itty-bitty circles. Inhale, cross over to your left, exhale.

Scoop your powerhouse, so your powerhouse controls your leg movement. Cross. Try to keep all the grippiness out of the hip socket, and instead use your powerhouse to control your leg movement. Two more. Are you pressing your arms and your left leg down into the mat?

After this one, reverse. You have the option to make big circles. Open, pull your navel away from the forward reach of your leg. Pull your navel back. Good, keep anchoring your arms and your left thigh into the floor.

Is your box twisting, are you side bending? Check in with your Pilates box. Hug your knee into your chest. Place that foot down. Interlace your fingers behind your left thigh.

Pull your knee back. Slide your right leg forward, like it's sliding off the front edge of your mat. Press your left leg forward into the resistance of your arms. Keep reaching your left sit bone to your right inner ankle. Stretch and bend three times.

Stretch. As I press my leg forward and up, I press my right thigh down. Three circles in each direction. Mobilize your ankle. Reverse the circles.

And then pause. Turn your leg out, feel the weight of your thigh bone in your hip socket. Press your arms down, little circles. Cross over to the right side of your body. Pull your lower abdominals into support the weight of your leg.

Just like you're drawing little circles on the ceiling. Focus on stabilizing your entire Pilates box. Nothing moves. One more. Now see if you can maintain that stability for the optional bigger leg circles.

You open, pull your navel back. Open, pull your navel back. Two more, press your arms and your right leg down. Last one. Hug your knee into your chest.

Grab the backs of both thighs, rock up to seated, your feet will land in Pilates stance. Sit up as tall as you can. Press your hands firmly at the backs of your thighs. The half roll back into rolling like a ball. Lift your spine, curl the bottom of your Pilates box under.

So I'm pulling my hip points back and then creating tension in my arms by pushing my thighs into my hands, hands into my thighs. Lift your lower abdominals to float your feet up and find your balance. Find that balance in the muscles right above your pubic bone. And now we roll. Inhale, lift your tailbone up to roll back and then roll up.

Try to massage the middle of your Pilates box as much as you can. And again, lift your waist to roll back. Push your thighs into your hands, and your hands into your thighs. One more. Lift your powerhouse to roll back, roll up, find your balance, and then place your feet flat.

You can go parallel and together. Reach your arms forward, round your spine. To roll backwards, start with the bottom of your Pilates box. And then the back of your hips touch. And then the middle of your Pilates box, the top of your box, rest your head.

Single leg stretch. Bring your right knee into your chest. Unilateral, so it makes you wanna side bend, right. So as you pull your knee back, reach your right sit bone forward. Scoop your powerhouse and float your left leg up to 45 degrees.

Then scoop to curl up, till you have equal weight on both sides of your ribs. Scoop and switch, and three, and four, and five, and six, and seven, and eight, and nine, we're gonna keep going, you have the option to reach your leg forward. Pull your waist back in opposition. As your knee goes back that same sit bone reaches forward. One more set.

Hug both knees into your chest, rest your head and shoulder blades down, making sure the bottom of your box doesn't roll off the mat. Keep your tailbone heavy. Double leg stretch. Take an inhale, exhale, curl up. And then can you curl the top of your box up higher?

Put more weight in the bottom of your box. Inhale, arms and legs go straight up. That means you should be able to scoop super deep. Open your arms, pull your waist into the mat to bend your knees. Inhale, arms and legs go straight up and then open.

Exhale. You can keep doing that or go big. Inhale, reach, circle. Pull your waist into the mat. Reach.

Keep the top of your box lifted and the bottom of your box grounded. One more. Reach, circle, exhale, rest your head and shoulder blades. Single straight leg. Keep the bottom of your box grounded.

Curl the top of your box up. Can you ground your tailbone more, curl up higher, extend your right leg up, left leg forward. You can hold your ankle, calf, or your hamstring, whatever you need. Pull, pull, scoop to switch. Pull, pull, scoop to switch.

Pull, pull, legs are straight. Pull, pull, scoop, pull, pull. Now if you want, the bottom leg can reach forward to the wall in front of you. And pull pull, scoop. Reach forward with that leg.

Pull pull, and pull pull. One more set. Pull pull. Pull pull. Bend your knees.

Rest your head to scoop your powerhouse. Double straight leg. Interlace your fingers behind your head. Squeeze the bones behind your ears. Traction your neck.

Slide your shoulders away from your ears. Curl your head and shoulder blades up off the mat, and then curl up higher, reach your legs up. Three inches, ready, inhale. Lower your legs for three, just three inches. Now drop your tailbone down as your legs go up.

Inhale, reach your legs forward. As your legs go up, feel like your sit bones are reaching forward so you don't do a pelvic tilt. And again, reach your legs forward. Send your sit bones forward, legs up. Now you can go big if you want.

Inhale, reach two, three. Sit bones forward, legs up. Inhale, reach, two, three. Send your sit bones forward, toes up. One more.

What about the top of your box, is it still lifted? And then bend your knees, rest your head. Last in this series of five is criss-cross. Interlace your fingers, traction your neck, slide your shoulders down your back. Curl your head and shoulder blades up.

Drop your tailbone, curl up higher. Reach your left leg forward. Twist the top of your box towards your right leg, and then lift. Your right shoulder goes to your left knee. And then lift.

Left shoulder goes to your knee. Lift, rotate your shoulders or the top of your box. Not your elbow. Elbows are wide. One more.

Rotate. Hug your knees into your chest. Rest your head. Rock up to seated for the spine stretch. Separate your legs a little wider than your hips.

Ground your sit bones into the mat and your heels. Feel like you're lifting up off the mat. Reach your arms in front of you. Bottom of your box stays stable. Inhale, lower your chin.

Just big old exhale. Empty your lungs. Stretch your lower back by pulling your lower abs in deeper. and then press your thighs down, roll all the way up, and exhale. Inhale, lift up, lower your chin.

Exhale, can you lift your hip points up and round over them, curling the top of your box forward? Inhale, press your thighs down. Roll all the way up, stacking your shoulders over your hips. Inhale, lift, lower your chin. Pull your lower abdominals back.

Slide your lower back up the wall. Inhale, press your thighs down. Stack your waist over your hips, shoulders over your waist. Final one. Inhale, lower your chin.

Exhale all the air out. Feel your heels and your fingertips reach forward. Pull your lower abs back. And then roll all the way up and exhale. Let's get a little stretch.

Reach forward and grab the backs of your ankles. Press your thighs down. Pull your waist up and let your head relax. I'm pulling my shoulders away from my ears and lifting my navel to the top of the wall behind me. This should look familiar, because this is your open leg rocker.

So from here, reach your arms forward like you just did your spine stretch. Roll all the way up to seated. Let's go on to open leg rocker. Bring your legs together. Lift your hips and sit like you're gonna do rolling like a ball.

Reach your arms through your legs, grab the tops of your ankles. Lift your powerhouse and lift your feet up. Let's balance. Pull your lower abdominals in and up, extend your right leg without letting your box twist. Keep your shoulders and hips square.

And then lift your powerhouse and bend. Equal weight on both sit bones. Extend your left leg up. Can you lift your powerhouse to bend your knee? Both legs at the same time.

Pull your lower abdominals in and up, extend, and now we roll five times. Inhale, lift your tailbone up and then press your waist down. Inhale, lift your tailbone up. Excellent, can you press your waist into the mat? Yeah.

Inhale, roll back. Exhale, come back up. Two more. Roll back, lift your hips up. Pull your waist into the mat.

Final one, roll back. Exhale, pull your waist into the mat. Bring your legs together. Bend your knees. Place your feet flat.

From here, place your hands behind you. Slide back. Round forward, press your thighs down. Try to keep the top of your box over your thighs as long as you can, and then pull your waist back. Your spine moves your shoulders.

Roll all the way down, arms go up, and you can lower them down. The corkscrew. Bend your knees. Pull your knees into your chest and extend your legs up towards the ceiling. You have a couple of options here.

Let's start off with just a pelvic tilt. Press your arms down. Curl your tailbone up. Are you pressing your arms down? And then roll back to your tailbone.

Corkscrew to the right. Pull your lower abdominals back, press your arms through the mat, and center. Pelvic tilt. Pull your hip points to the back of your waist and press your triceps through the mat. Roll down.

Hips go to the left, pull your hip points into your navel, and then center. You can add on. Roll up to the base of your ribs or just do a pelvic tilt. Roll down. And then rotate the bottom of your box as you stabilize the top of your box, and center.

You have the option to do a pelvic tilt or roll to the base of your ribs. Press your arms into the mat. Rotate the bottom of your box. Pull your navel way back and center. You can do a full rollover too.

Roll up and over. Rotate your hips to the right. Roll down the right side of your spine. And then circle your legs around, roll up the left side of your spine, and return center. Reverse.

Pull your waist forward. Swing your legs around. Press your arm down to roll up, and then rock yourself all the way up to seated. Open your legs for the saw. Reach your arms out to the side.

Now you're gonna stabilize the bottom of the box and rotate the top of the box, or your shoulder girdle. Twist and look at your back arm. Round forward like the spine stretch. Rotate your ribs for three, rotate for two, rotate for one. Reach back to roll up and center.

Lift to twist. Flip your palm, press it up and round. Keep pulling your lower abs back. Pull your lower abs back. Pull your lower abs back.

Roll all the way up and return. Lift to twist. Round forward. Keep lifting your lower abdominals, but rotate your ribs. Rotate your ribs.

Rotate your ribs. Roll all the way up and center. Ground your sit bones as you twist round forward, lifting your waist. Pull your left ribs back. Pull your left ribs back.

Go a little bit more. Roll up, one more set. Lift to twist, and round forward. Rotate for three, rotate for two, rotate for one. Roll up and center.

Final one, twist round forward. Pull your left ribs back, pull them back, pull them back more. Roll up, return center. Bring your legs together. The neck roll.

Flip onto your stomach. Place your hands underneath your shoulders. Your elbows reach back, your tailbone in your legs reach back. Tip of your nose points to the floor. Press the tops of your feet down.

Pull your lower abdominals forward. Slide your chest up the wall in front of you. Press your hands down and lift up till your arms are straight. Press your feet down. Lift your hip points up to your navel.

Open the top of your box by pulling your triceps back. And then lower all the way back down. Again, slide your elbows back. Reach your legs long. Inhale from your lowest abdominals.

Slide your chest up the wall. Press your hands down. Lift up, adding the neck roll. Look over your right shoulder. Lift your lower abdominals as your chin goes to your chest.

Look to your left and center. Reverse. Look over your left shoulder. Lift your lower abdominals. Look over your right shoulder, center.

Reach your tailbone back. Send your chest forward to lower. One more. Legs are long, head reaches forward. Pull your chest up the wall.

Press your hands down. Lift up, press your feet down. Chest goes up. Look to your right. Chin goes into your throat.

Look to your left and center. Look to your left, chin into your throat, lower abs up, center. Look forward. Send your chest forward. Lower all the way down.

We're gonna modify single leg kicks. Stack your hands one on top of the other. Make your tailbone in your legs six inches longer. Root your pelvis down. Lift your left thigh up.

Feel like you're lifting from your upper inner thigh. And then lower it down, we're gonna add on. Lift it up. Now is your Pilates box stable, or are you sinking to one side? Ground both hip points by pressing your right thigh down.

And then bend your knee and stretch your leg. And again, bend your knee. Press your inner thigh up to reach your leg back. Are you still pressing your right thigh down? Two more.

Pull your navel towards your thumbs, tailbone reaches back. Final one. Lower your leg. Same thing on the other side. Make sure you stabilize the bottom of your Pilates box.

Reach your thighbone up and back. Bend and stretch. Keep pressing your inner thigh up towards the ceiling. Press your left hip point into the mat. Two more.

Reach back. Final one. Lower your leg down. Same thing with both legs. Try to keep your legs as close together as you can.

Reach your legs up and back. Bend your knees. Press your thighs up, pubic bone down, and reach. And again, bend your knees. Press your pubic bone down, thighs up, and reach.

Two more. Or three more. Bend. Press your pubic bone down. Reach your legs through the wall behind you.

Now two more. Press your hips down. Pull your navel towards your hands. Final one. Press your thighs up.

Bend your knees. And then reach your legs back. Lower them down. Sit back, round your spine. Just breathe.

Pull on your heels. Lift your ribs off of your thighs. Forehead to your knees. Feel the stretch in your lower back. And then place your hands in front of your knees and roll up to seated.

Thigh stretch. Come up to a kneeling position, separate your feet so they're as wide as your knees. Feel your kneecaps reach into the floor and lift your hip points, or the bottom of your box, up towards your ribs. Reach your arms forward. As you inhale, first just grow taller, press your head through the ceiling, and then hinge from your knees.

Send your tailbone to the space between your knees, and the top of my head is reaching for the top of the wall behind me. And then I lift back up and return. Inhale, lift the bottom of your box up, and then hinge back, sending your tailbone forward. Feel like you're pulling your inner thighs together and then come all the way up. One more, grow first, press your head through the ceiling.

Hinge from your knees, but reach your head to the top of the wall behind you and then come all the way up. Make sure your hips are over your knees, chest expansion. Inhale, send your chest forward and your fingertips back, but really reach back as much as you can to open up the top of your box. Hold your breath, look right, look left, look center. Exhale, lift your powerhouse, pull your inner thighs together.

Inhale. Expand your chest and reach back with your arms, forward with your chest. Look left, look right, look center, exhale. Lift your powerhouse and reach your arms forward. Two more.

Pull your inner thighs together. Hold your breath, look right, look left, look center. Can you lift your hip points up towards your navel more? One more, inhale, reach back with your arms. Look over your left shoulder, right shoulder, center, exhale, reach your arms forward.

Reach your arms up. We're gonna do a standing roll up. Try to keep the bottom of your box or your hip points facing that wall in front of you as long as you can. So lift up, reach your tailbone to the space between your knees, lower your chin, and as you round forward, think of your chest, not your chest expansion, spine stretch. Lift your hip points up.

Round forward until you feel the palms of your hands on the mat. Shift so your shoulders are over your wrists. Inhale. Pull your triceps back, sits bones back, and then push your feet and hands into the floor, and round, two more. Inhale.

Breathe into the chest opening. Exhale, push your feet and hands down. One more. Inhale. Send your chest forward, sit bones back.

Exhale, push the floor away, stay round. Scoot your left hand next to your right hand. Step your left foot in front of your hip point. Left hand goes on your knee. Curl your tailbone under, try to get the bottom of your box to face the wall in front of you.

Your right hand goes on top. Push your feet down. Can you curl your tailbone under more? And then reach your tailbone down, push your hands into your knee. Roll up.

Keep lifting your hip point up into your navel, press your head through the ceiling. Pull your upper inner thighs together, and then if you feel stable, reach your arms up. Lift your waist even more, and if you feel stable, start to send your thumbs behind you. Lift your chest bone up towards the ceiling and then come all the way up, dive forward, place your hands on the mat. And then scoot your left knee down, right hand goes next to your left.

Lift your waist and place your right foot down. Stack your hands and round your spine. Push your feet into the floor. Look at your navel. Try to square off your hips.

So notice what I did, I pulled my upper inner thighs together. Push down to roll up. Send your tailbone towards the mat. Lift your hip points up into your navel and grow. Keep pressing your head through the ceiling, and then when you feel stable, lift your powerhouse up, feet down, arms go up.

Keep growing, press your thumbs back so much that your chest lifts up as your tailbone reaches down. Get the opening in the front of your left thigh. Lift up, round forward, place your hands on the mat. Scoot your foot back and then sit back on your heels and then roll all the way up. And then spin around, take a seat.

If you don't have a strap, separate your legs as wide as your hips and flex your feet. If you have a strap, slide your feet underneath and then slide your legs apart. We're gonna do round back from the reformer. So first grow tall, grab your ankle, not your ankles, grab your elbows and lower them right in front of you. Can you grow so tall that your ribs lift above your arms instead of collapsing?

Press your thighs down, press your head up. Now keep that lift round forward. Inhale, roll to the backs of your hips and try to get the back of your waist, the middle of your box, into the mat. Press your arms into your lower abs and round forward. Again, inhale, pull your lower abs towards the mat.

Feel the back of your hips and then feel the middle of your box. Your heels are reaching forward. Push your arms down, round forward. Let's go all the way down. Push your arms into your abs.

Pull your waist back. Feel the bottom of your box. The middle of your box. Arms go up. Reach your elbows back in opposition.

Allow yourself to stretch and then pull your shoulders away from your ears. Pull the soles of your feet back. Arms go up. Curl your head and shoulder blades up and press your arms into your abs. Press the middle of your box down.

Lift up and over your arms. One more, send your heels forward and pull your hip points back. When you get to the bottom tips of your shoulder blades, elbows reach up, head goes down, elbows reach back. Reach your elbows up towards the ceiling. Curl the top of your box up.

Press your arms into your abs. Press the middle of your box into the mat and round forward. Come up to seated for tree. So I'm gonna slide back a little bit, take your right foot out. It's a unilateral exercise, so there's a temptation to either lean on one hip or rotate the top of your box.

Interlace your fingers behind your right thigh, press your foot and your left thigh down. Grow taller. Lift your foot up, stretch and bend three times. Stretch, grow taller. Keep pressing the crown of your head up and your left thigh down.

Hold here. Walk your hands up to your ankle. Feel like you're pressing the back of your thigh down in order to grow taller. Actually you're pressing both thighs down, so press that left thigh down too. Flex and point here.

Flex and point. Keep pressing your left thigh into the mat. Keep your foot pointing, now lift your spine, bend your elbows, and round forward. How close can you get your forehead to your ankle? And then press your legs down, but pull your waist back, and it tips you back.

Hold here. Can you lift your spine and try to get your forehead closer to your shin? And then press your right thigh forward and down, it rocks you forward. Again. Press your thighs down, but pull your waist back so much, you round back.

Hold here, lift your powerhouse, try to get your head closer to your hands, and then push your thigh forward and down to round forward. One more. Roll back, hold here. Remember single leg circle. Reach your right sit bone to your left inner ankle.

Now keep this shape. Walk your hand down the back of your thigh. Rest your head, press your left thigh down, right leg up. Curl the top of your box up and hold. Equal weight on both ribs.

And then press the middle of your box down. Keep rolling all the way up. Bring your forehead up towards your hands and then come all the way up to a seated position. Transitioning your hands to bend your knee. And then if you have the strap, slide your foot underneath it.

Left foot goes down. This side might feel totally different from the other side. Ground both sit bones and lift your powerhouse. Interlace your fingers behind your thigh. Lift your leg up.

So I'm actively pressing both legs down. And then lift to stretch and bend. Stretch. Every time I stretch I lift the bones in my lower back and press my head through the ceiling. Flex and point.

Flex and point. Flex and point. One more. Walk your hands up. Now can you lift your chest up towards your toes?

Press both legs down, flex and point here. Flex and point. Keep growing taller. Flex. That growth comes from the bottom of your box up.

Hold here. Press your thighs down. Lift your waist and round forward. Press your thighs down. Pull your waist back to roll back.

Hold here. Press your thighs down. Lift your waist and come closer to your leg. Press your thighs forward in order to rock forward. Again, press your thighs down, round back.

Keep reaching your left sit bone to your right inner ankle, and then press down to come back up. One more, press your thighs down. Pull your waist back. Keep pressing your right thigh down, left leg up, and roll down one bone at a time. Keep reaching your left sit bone to your right inner ankle.

Curl your head and shoulder blades up. Stabilize your ribs so you're not twisting. And then walk up. Lift your forehead up towards your ankle and then sit up nice and tall. Bend your knee and place your foot flat on the mat.

Slide your right foot back, hold onto the backs of your thighs. Press your hands into your thighs and lift your spine. Roll down, starting from the bottom of your box. So I lift, and I pull my hip point away from my thighs and towards the back edge of the mat. Feel the back of your hips on the mat, your waist, the bottom tips of your shoulder blades in your head, arms pressed into the mat.

Slide your ankle underneath your knee joint. Press your arms and your feet down for shoulder bridge. Start off with just a pelvic tilt. Hold here, press your arms down and your feet down. And then keep doing that pelvic tilt.

Feel the middle of your box lift off the mat and come up into your bridge. Make sure your ribs don't go higher than your hips. Your ribs are lower than your hips. Keep pressing your arms down to open up the top of your box, and then roll down, keeping your hips suspended as long as you can. Once your hips are down we'll do two more.

Press your feet and arms down, that includes all 10 fingers and toes. Push into the floor. Feel each vertebra press into the mat and then go forward and up towards your knees. Do you still feel all 10 toes, or are you rolling to the outer edges of your feet? Press the inside arches of your feet down too, and then roll down upper back, middle back, lower back, and tailbone.

Ground your arms and feet. Pelvic tilt. Feel each vertebra press down, and then reach forward and up. Feel the length of your spine from your tailbone to the crown of your head. Can you press your triceps through the floor more and then sink your chest bone between your shoulder blades?

Front ribs into your back ribs. Continue rolling all the way down. Feel the weight of the top of your box and the bottom of your box. Hug your knees into your chest, rock up to seated to do spine twist. Extend your legs.

If you need to elevate yourself, you can sit either on a yoga block or on a moon box for example. But the goal is to have your legs straight and lift the bones in your lower back. And then from here, reach your arms forward and clasp your hands. Feel like you're pulling your upper arm bones apart and lift your chest up. And then twist three times.

Three, twist a little bit more, two, and one, and return center. Lift your lower abdominals, twist to the left, twist a little bit more, twist a little bit more, and center. Feel like you're pulling your upper arm bones apart. You stabilized the bottom of your box, rotate the top of your box. Lift and rotate.

Rotate a little bit more, rotate a little bit more, and center, final one. Are your hips grounded? Are your heels grounded? And then center, final one. Lift your chest above your hands.

Keep pulling your upper arm bones apart. Reach forward. Round your spine like you just did a roll up. The top of your box tries to live over your thighs as much as you can. But pull your lower abdominals back and roll down, back of your hips, waist, shoulder blades, and head.

Bend your knees into your chest. Next is jackknife, we'll do it progressively. So press your arms into the mat. Pull your lower abdominals in as your legs go up. Start off with a pelvic tilt and then roll up to the base of your ribs.

Press your arms down and then lift your tailbone up, that's it. And then roll to the base of your ribs and roll all the way back down. Press the backs of your upper inner thighs together. Pelvic tilt, your spine moves your legs. Press your waist down, arms down, lift up.

Now press your tailbone up as your arms go through the floor, and then roll all the way down. Now if you wanna do a jackknife for the last one, go for it. Start off with your pelvic tilt. Now press your waist down, go to the base of your ribs. Now push your arms down, tailbone up.

Reach up with your legs. And then pull your waist forward and roll all the way down, one bone at a time. Once your tailbone is down, hug your knees into your chest, set up for the side kicks on your right. So line up your whole back body up with the back edge of the mat. Place your right hand behind your head, left hand goes right in front of your waist.

Lean into your hand, open your chest, make your legs longer, lift them up. Reach them away from your head. Keep sending your tailbone to the bottom of the mat, your legs angle forward. Lift your top leg to hip height and reach this hip away from your ear, so that you don't scrunch up the top of the box. Lengthen the box by reaching your hip to the bottom edge of the mat.

Swing your leg to the front and hold it. Can you turn this kneecap up? Watch the difference. If I turn my kneecap down, I shorten my box. I rotate my knee up and it lengthens the box.

Reach your leg for the bottom edge of the mat and hold. Feel like someone's pulling you by your big toe and your head is going that way. Keep that length, pull your abs in, and press your thigh behind you. Swing your leg to the front and hold. Turn your knee out, lean into this hand and open your chest.

Reach your leg for the bottom edge of the mat. Really reach. Now pull your lower abs in and up and press it back. We're gonna do six for flow. Swing it to the front, exhale, pull your navel into your hand that's behind your head.

Swing it to the front, exhale. Three more. Keep reaching your top hip to the bottom edge of the mat, so you don't shorten the top of your box. You have one more. Press it back and hold it back.

Are you twisting your box, are you keeping your shoulder stacked, hips stacked? Stack your legs one on top of the other, transitional heel beats. You already know the exercise, go for maximum length. Here you go. Lift your legs up and beat 10 times.

Lower your legs. Let's do the left side. I'm gonna keep facing you. Line your whole body up with the back edge of your mat. Your right hand goes in front of your waist.

Create length first. Reach your heels long, pull your head back, lift your legs up. Your tailbone keeps reaching for the bottom edge of the mat. Lower your legs. Turn your top leg out.

Remember the top of your box, or not the top of your box, the side of your box. Keep it long by reaching your hip down to the bottom edge of the mat. Lift your leg to hip height, lift your powerhouse and extend your leg forward. Rotate your knee up towards the ceiling. Now reach your leg past the bottom edge of your mat and pull your head that way and scoop your powerhouse, press your leg behind you.

Lift your powerhouse, swing your leg to the front. Kneecap tries to rotate to the ceiling. Lift your powerhouse, press your leg behind you, you flow. Swing it to the front, exhale back. Keep your box completely stable, anchoring your bottom leg into the mat and scooping your powerhouse.

I think we have one more. Hold it back. Lift your powerhouse, stack your legs one on top of the other. Flip onto your stomach, sit back on your heels, just for a beat. We're gonna play around with teaser for a second.

So take a seat at the base of your mat. Bring your legs parallel and together. Hands go at the backs of your thighs. Lift your spine, press your head through the ceiling. Start with a pelvic tilt.

Curl the bottom of your box underneath you, but keep pressing your head up towards the ceiling. Lift your powerhouse, reach your arms forward and up, so they are parallel to your thighs. Keep reaching forward and up with your arms and then roll to the bottom of your box. The more I roll back, the more my arms reach forward. Try to keep the bottom of your box facing the ceiling, but reach the base of your armpits forward and up.

Come back to your start position. And again, lift your powerhouse and then roll to the bottom of your box, but keep reaching your arms forward and up. Can you get your sit bones to point forward, hip points to face up? Keep them there as long as you can, to roll all the way up. One more.

Lift your spine, curl your tailbone under. My arms are still going forward and up, my waist goes down and back. Keep pulling your waist down and back, but reach up so much it brings you into teaser. Grab your thighs, sit up nice and tall. One leg, unilateral.

So it means you might wanna twist. So press your upper inner thighs together. Lift your spine. Do you have equal weight on both sit bones? Do your pelvic tilt.

Keep lifting your powerhouse, press your legs together, arms forward and up. Keep lifting your powerhouse and roll to the bottom of your Pilates box. Try to get your tailbone to go forward, waist to go back. Now, try to keep the bottom of your box where it is, reach the base of your armpits forward. Again, lift your spine, pull your waist back.

Try to keep your arms parallel to your thigh. Pull your lower abdominals back as you reach up. Final one, lift your powerhouse, roll to the bottom of your Pilates box, and then press your inner thighs together. Roll up, place your foot down, sit up tall. Other side.

Lift, do your pelvic tilt. Extend your leg, turn it out and press your legs together. Arms parallel to your thighs. Lift up and pull the bottom of your Pilates box back. Keep pressing your upper inner thighs together and then pull your lower abdominals back and reach forward and up.

Lift up, curl the bottom of your Pilates box under. Try to keep the bottom of your box facing up. But the top of the box reaches forward so much, you come up into your teaser. One more. Curl your tailbone under, roll back, roll back.

And then from here, press down to go up. Hold here. Extend your other leg up. From here, let's go into seal. Bend your knees, arms go through your legs, grab your feet.

We're not gonna clap, just focus on rolling and hugging your midline. Lift your powerhouse, lift your tailbone, rollback, exhale, come up. Just think of it as a massage. Massage your whole spine. Three more.

Lift your tailbone up, dive the top of your box forward. Lift the bottom of your box to roll back, dive the top of your box forward. One more. Lift to roll back, top of your box forward. Come all the way up to standing.

Let's turn around and face the other direction to finish with curling. Ground your feet in your Pilates stance. Lift your spine. Turn your palms to face the wall in front of you. And then make fists and start to curl your fists forward and feel the top of your wrist reach down to the floor.

Bend your elbows, pull your fist to your shoulders, and then send your elbows up the wall in front of you and as high as you can keep your shoulders down. And then pull your elbows behind your body, open up your chest, extend your arms back, extend your wrists. Curl your wrists in. Bend your elbows, pull your fist towards your armpits and then send your elbows forward and up as high as you can keep your shoulders down. Pull your elbows behind you, elbows back, chest forward.

Extend your arms, extend your wrists, curl your wrists in, bend your elbows. Send your elbows forward and up, lift your powerhouse with your elbows, and then pull your elbows behind you. Elbows back, chest forward. Find your chest expansion here, but also the forearm stretch. Extend, curl your fists in, bend your elbows, slide your elbows up the wall in front of you.

Keep lifting your elbows up, circle them behind you, lower them all the way down, and relax the tops of your shoulders as you lift your spine up. Thank you so much for joining me for day seven of the challenge, I am nurturing. The mantra that I want you to think about today is I am attuned to the needs of my body. I know when to push myself and when to rest. I show my body gratitude by giving it whatever it needs in order to thrive.

So today's journaling prompt is I am proud of my body because. I am proud of my body because. Thank you.