Bonus Stretch and Release

Welcome back to Pilates anytime. I have a real treat for you. We are going to use a foam roller and just move our bodies stretch and release and restore whenever you ring down, this is going to be a good session to come back and find and feel your body. So grab your roller. Join me. We're gonna start in this upright position with your roller at an angle and both your hands placed on top of the roller.

Just take a moment, feel your body, set your intention, and allow your body to stretch and go a little bit deeper. We're going to bend the knees in hell, reach your arms forward, elongate your spine, keep the length. Allow your shoulders to lift into your ears. That's okay. Then draw your shoulders down, tuck your pelvis, articulate your spine, and come back up. Let's repeat that.

In helping. Reach the arms forward, shoulders can glide up, exhale shoulders down, deep, flexion in that spine, and left up. Great. In hell down, you guys. Excel, abdominals, and shoulders.

Call and roll and just move freely through your spine. 3 more inhale. And exhale, call up, and left. And inhale being glide the shoulders, stretch a little bit further, exhale, articulate, and extend one more. Inhale to bend.

Hold it here, you guys. We're going to extend the spine this time, get those back extenses to kick in and exhale down, inhale to lift up, and exhale down. Inhale, inhale, inhale, exhale down 2 more. Inhale to life. And exhale down.

Keep the pelvis still 1 more inhale and exhale lower back down. Bring your left hand behind your head, rotate your body up to the left side and back to the center, and for more inhale moving through your waist and back to the center, the straight on that's on the roller keeps pressing down. And inhale inhale 1 more and inhale lift and extend and exhale back down, right hand behind your head. Rotate and lift. I get to look at the view, guys.

How beautiful. Inhale. And exhale. Inhale. Remember, you are here for you. So feel your body within the movement Always checking in with what your body needs most. 1 more inhale, inhale, inhale, exhale down, Both hands on the roller.

Take a debrief, elongate that spine, a maul, and then tuck and roll your body back up. All the way. Great stuff. You guys were going on to the knees. You're gonna place your roller out ahead of you. We're still gonna continue with the arch and cold movement because it feels so good on your knees, adductors, drawing in and together, and we roll down, breathing in.

Excel. You lower your chin. You reach your hands out. Give the flick in the roller, but reach with your breastbone down towards your floor and then lift yourself up here. Draw those scabs back inhale and in exhale to tuck and roll back up all the way. Lifting up, breathing in. Excel, lower the head, flick the roller forward, getting the full range of the length in that spine from your flexion into your extension and exhale cool back up and left inhale again.

Excel, roll down, roll a flex forward. Move keeping your hips above your knees extend and hold, and then draw into your abdominals, align the spine to move back into your upright position, 2 more inhale, exhale lower the chin, cool, and roll forward. Reaching the arms out, lengthening the spine, lift that brace burn, hold it here. Breathe in you guys. And then exhale, call back up, and roll, and arrive. So we're gonna move from side to side now moving our spine in all the ranges that it has been designed to move, placing your hands on the knees.

You can bring your roller on your left side, everyone. And we're gonna lift the right arm up as we inhale rotate, exhale scoop, and reach the arm down, moving the roller away from your body. Again, 3 more. Inhale and inhale and inhale, and exhale reach down. Oh, that feels good. Two more inhale and inhale and exhale reach down one more. Inhale to lift and extend and exhale. Reach down all the way. Lower your ear towards the floor.

Take your left hand, grab your right wrist, and then round your back as you push the roller forward even more. To get a deeper stretch over that upper back. Great. Come up and move your roller to the other side. First place your hands firmly on the floor.

Inhale lift your left. I'm up to the side. It's my tight side. And Excel reach through and roll and inhale to lift. And it's always good to recognize the differences between the two sides of your body, guys.

Remember, we are teaching movement to learn about our bodies, fill our bodies, and improve what can be improved. One more. In hell. Inhale and exhale down, lowering the ear towards the floor. Take your right hand, round your back, press the roller away, breathe in and out, and one more. And then bring yourself back up onto your mat. This time, you can move your pelvis forward. We're gonna bring the roller behind your body, behind your shoulder blades, Everyone's favorite. The reason why you own a foam roller in your house or in your studio is probably because of this exercise.

Intillate your hands behind your head. Your hands are here to support your neck. So we're going to inhale elongate and lengthen and stretch your upper body over the roller. Remember, if you feel any sharp or shooting pains, then this is not for you. Take a breath.

I want you to relax here. Exhale. Just let your body ease in towards the floor. One more breath inhale. From here, breathing, Add your exhale, draw your head forward and just move and call or flex your chest forward towards your size. Inhale to lower back down.

I'm not pulling on my head with my hands. I'm allowing my abdominals to draw my chin and my chest forward in the motion, inhale back, and back and exhale. And every time you extend back, You see how much further you can go because of the extension and the mobility that you're creating within those facet joints of your spine. 2 more. Inhale back and reach and exhale, call and call 1 more.

Inhale and inhale, and exhale, colon, curl up, lean only halfway back, lift your hips up off the floor, and move and roll your upper part of your spine up and down the roller. So it's kinda like a bit of free time here to do what works best for your body because you can feel what your body needs more than what I'm instructing you to do right now. Yeah. Your hamstrings might also feel a bit of the work, and that's okay. Why don't you rotate and move the weight over onto the left side of the spine, feel that lift scapula easing out, and then come over to the right side to balance it out. Keep your body nice and relaxed.

No tension in your body. This is a feel good moment. Come back to the center, lower your hips, and lean back all the way. I feel I'm taller because I'm further off my mat here. And so should you and my head is almost touching the floor, breathe in, exhale, cool, and roll up all the way into your seated position, readjust yourself if you need to.

And then we're gonna add that rotation. So you're gonna lie sideways with your load just below your armpits. Your knees are together. The hands are gonna interlace behind your head, and you're gonna fold your body and close your body in here. Left your top elbow up, inhale, rotate, look towards the back.

Don't worry too much about the knees, saying together now because we are releasing the joints, then come back forward. And in and lift up inhale and exhale. Again, make a point of how far you can go back and then you can compare it with the other side. And you'll see which side of your body needs a little bit more attention and love. One more time, inhale app. And exhale back, stretch and hold, pause, breathing, and it sale. Your hands are supporting your head, guys.

One more. And, Excel, come only halfway back. This is a little bit awkward. You're gonna press your feet down into the floor. I lift your hips up.

Your underneath elbows off the floor, and then you wanna move and roll over that scapula, not holding on to any tension in your body. Take your time. Ease into your body. Breathe in and out. And inhale. And you can wiggle around and move around to where you feel you need to work deeper. If you're pulling a face right now, then this is not good for your body. Okay? Then it's too much.

Be kind. Be kind. Be gentle. One more. And come down. Great. Let's move over to the other side. Knees on top of each other.

Roller. Just below your armpit. Hands interlace behind your head and restart forward in this flex position. Left your top elbow up, open and rotate back, Is this your more flexible side, or do you feel tucked on this side and inhale? Left and stretch back and exhale forward and in and inhale. Rotate.

You should not feel any discomfort in your body while you're performing these movements. It should feel nice and open and free and good and positive. All the good things and forward one more time. Inhale lift and exhale holding a tab, breathe, Relax the shoulders, exhale, hand supporting the head. One more.

Bring your body halfway back. Press your 2 feet into the floor. Left your hips up. And roll out that shoulder blade up and down. Breathe in and out.

And breathe in and out and enjoy this because coming up next is the ITP release. If you're a runner, You need this. I'm not a runner. So my body can actually cope with that. Alright, you guys. So from here, move the roller underneath your hip.

I'm gonna give you 2 options. Option 1, is to bring your top leg onto the floor. To take a bit of the pressure off this thigh, if it's too much for you. Alright? Option 2, two legs up. I'm gonna keep my legs here.

The roller is just below the greater trochanter, so just below the hip joint. Yeah. Hands are diagonally pointing towards the side, and you are going to breathe in Exhale, draw yourself up into straight arms as the roller moves towards the knees and then lower back down. And we go again and lift up and lift up and lift up. Don't hang in your body. Be active in your body.

And roll back and down and roll up. And remember, you need to roll your femur forward side and back so you get that whole lateral line released on the roller. Let's do 3 more and breathing in and in and exhale down 2 more. Email and inhale. And one more. And inhale and inhale and exhale down reach reach transitioning onto the quits, onto the thighs, same principle on the forearms, The legs are gonna be a little bit more relaxed this time, but you're gonna draw your scaps down, keep your abdominals engaged, We're gonna breathe in, and you're gonna pull and roll the roller forward towards the knees as you come up.

And then lower back down. So not too much of glutes activation and roll forward. And down. I'm gonna get you to draw your heels towards each other, getting that medial part of the quad inner side towards the inner side and down, and the arms are working. At the same time, now point your toes in and heels out more towards the lateral part of the quads, you guys. And 2 more lift and lift and down.

One more. Lift and lift and down all the way. Let's roll over to the other side. Set yourself up. Roller just below the hip there, we line align this legs together or remember top leg in front of the bottom leg. To alleviate a bit of the pressure if it's too much for you breathing in.

XL to lift yourself up, up, up, and then inhale lower back down. And exhale front of the thigh. And down, moving towards the middle of the thigh and lifting and lifting and lower back down and towards the back of the thigh, lifting up, lifting up, And let's do one more, please. And up, up, Anna? And lower down all the way.

Great, you guys. From here, you're gonna just bring the roller to the front. You're gonna bring it between the heels and the glutes, and then you're gonna bring yourself into a supine position. First, lie down. This is the safe way to get into the roller, bringing the pelvis into a hinge then place the roller just underneath your hips on the sacrum holding on to the side and bringing your two knees up off the floor. Moving into the glutes, rocking the knees from side to side, inhale and exhale back.

And breathe in and exhale back and inhale over to the side. And exhale back and breathing and in and excel 4 more. If you hit that tender spot, you guys, you can hang out there for a little bit. Give it some love. And just ease out and back 2 more.

My hands are relaxed. This is not a tense moment in your life. And one more over and over and exhale back. Stretch your right leg to the floor. Bend your left knee to your chest, hold onto the knee, and enjoy this delicious stretch over your hip joint, breathing in.

Having a pause moment for some of us that's rare in our lives, but hold it yet 2 more. 1 more. First bring the straight leg in, then swap around, holding a chair, breathe in, and out. 2 more bricks. Inhale. And one more.

Great. Bring both knees into your chest. Hold it here. One more. Place your feet down one at a time, lift your hips up, press the roller towards your heels, and then exhale articulate your spine coming back down all the way. Alright, you guys.

So I'm gonna give you an option. Don't say I've never given you options yet on Pilates anytime. That was the feel good movements of a lot of stretching and releasing, we are going to do a very short dynamic stretch series, which is optional to you if you feel your body needs more. Okay? It is a little bit more dynamic. It's gonna require some balance, some focus, concentration, all the things that you teach your clients, or, expect your people to do. So we are going to be here. Alright.

Are you with me? I think you should just do it. Come on. Let's do it. Because we better together, guys. K? Breathing in. You wanna exhale lower your head, roll your body forward, reach your hands to hold onto the roller.

You're gonna step your right leg out into your plank. Hold it. Stability is key. So keep that roller still by engaging your shoulders and bring your second leg back onto your mat. Hold it here. Point your right toe off the floor.

We're gonna breathe in. You're gonna lift your hips up, extend your leg up behind you. Hold it. Breathing and breathe out. Breathing.

On your next exhale, you lunge forward, bring your foot onto your roller. Hold it. Yeah. You wanna stay here. Your next option is to bring your hands either onto your side. The next option is to bring your arms up towards your ceiling and hold it, breathe in, and out.

Breathe in. Reach your hands forward. Go into a hamstring stretch. Extend your back and hold the chair. Breathing in.

And breathing out. Breathing round your spine flicks in all the way. Rise onto your back toe, bend your knee and come into your glute stretch with your shin on top of your roller. Hold it here. If this is enough for you, this is where you stay. If you need more, bring your body down towards the floor.

We're not hanging out here for too long. And then bring your body back up inhale this time, bend your back heel and pull your heel towards your glute. Great stuff. Bring your hands back underneath your shoulders. Press into your hands, lift your back knee off the floor.

Already hear your body's nice and stable and ready to breathe in. And stretch the right leg out. Hold it here. Point your left toe off the floor. Breathe in.

Excel lift your hips, extend and reach up. Pause you for a breath inhale. And exhale. Next breath inhale and lunge forward exhale. Hold it here.

No collapse in the pelvis. You either stay here or you come up onto your knee. Hold it here. Reach your arms up if that's your position. Hold it.

Own it. Enjoy it. And come down into your hamstring stretch. Good, guys. Breathing in and breathing out. Lower the body down.

Enjoy that extra hamstring stretch here. Coming back, pain the knee, flip the leg in, lower the knee, and find your position. Those who wanna go deeper, lean towards the floor. Fold your body. Left your self up, draw that back heel into your glute.

Keep your body nice and safe. Really set foot. Bring your hands underneath your shoulders. Left out of your body. Left your knee. Inhale.

And press back into your plank, into your upstretch here, and we're gonna walk your heel to toe forward, towards your roller, stretching those calves, or calves, and hang down. Take your breath. Bend your knees, exhale. Roll yourself up. Bring yourself up into your upright standing position.

Let's do two roll downs. Inhale. And exhale and roll forward up and over. Inhale here and exhale to roll up and lift and grow tall and feel awesome. 1 more inhale and exhale lower the chin. And roll all the way. Breathing in.

An exhale, rolling up, aligning your spine, Organizing your joints to have the most epic day. Well done, everyone.