Meri's Christmas Celebration

Hi. Merry Christmas. I'm so excited to be here with you all this is favorite tradition of all time and I'm so happy to have my sweet little elves with me to help us all celebrate Christmas. So we are gonna do some Pilates with the band. Get a band. And we're gonna start standing.

So I'm just gonna face in, and you guys can be as you are. So when you stand on the band, you wanna organize your feet just like you would for our regular old roll down with your heels, just, organized underneath your sitting bones. You can give yourself a little tension or a lot of tension as you wish. I, like, a a good amount of resistance personally. And we are standing tall, everybody, lifting the heart, and take the arms behind. Press back.

Come forward. As you press back, lift your sternum towards up. Go with the north pole. Christie had a good suggestion. Sternum goes to the north pole, the north star. We go one more time.

Pull back. Come forward. Hold there. Take your head down. Roll down through your spine.

So initially, the band will pull you. And then when it doesn't anymore, just allow it to relax around your feet, pausing to inhale when you arrive, And then as you exhale begin pushing down into your legs, basically right as you catch the tension on the band, we can really get the rotation of the pelvis Hopefully, that'll give my beautiful friends a nice back stretch, and we take the arms back and forward. Pushing down and back, opening the chest, like a present, last two And one more, arms to the sides, chin to the chest, soft knees, soft eyes, rolling down, creating some energy, checking in, rolling up. I'm trying very hard not to lose my hat. You're rotating the pelvis under only one more time, everyone. Pull back.

And forward. And Vaxley's excused the giggles. It's very, difficult to say serious. Sorry. Merry Christmas. Last 2.

And one. And last time, ladies, head down. Take advantage of the band, particularly on the way back up as you use the resistance or the tension of the band to get deeper, better, more exciting lumbar flexion. And stand up tall. Stand onto your right foot.

Don't know. Keep both feet in the bed. Just put the majority of the weight of your body onto your right foot lift the left leg just off the ground. You won't be able to lift very high because we're gonna try and stay straight in the rest of our body. Take the leg slightly back and out. And in. If you lose your balance, you'll just try again.

And at and back and 2 and back. And here's this Christmas surprise. When your left leg goes back, your right knee bends, like dancing else and stand, and Bend Reach. Little bit back, little bit side. And Bend Reach.

Focusing in front of you. It helps to have something to bring your eyes to. To I'm counting down. So I am actually counting correctly. 1 for a change and up. They're helping me count because nobody trust me. Stand on both feet.

Shift your weight over to your left. Like now, remember, we're trying not to tip the pelvis or lean. We're taking the leg just a little bit to the back. That's what frees it up and then just slowly reaches out into that band. Little glute work, merry Christmas, and 4.

And 3. This office is a little tippy today. 2. 2. And 1. Now there is not an earthquake in here.

We go. Bend push. Stand up. Bend push. I remember it helps to have something to look forward to when you come up.

Ben Push. What are you looking for? Last two, Ben Push and stand up. Ben Push. Last one. Stand all the way back up. Both feet on the ground.

We are going to let the band and the arm on the right hand side of the body slide. And what you can do is you can push your left side pelvis into your arm on that side and really reach out into a stretch and stand up. And then we go over the other way. So take the spine and then let the pelvis push a little. I know. A little bit too and stand up.

I am a side stretch fan. It helps to push into the foot that you're leaning away from as you come up for me. And then go. So stay connected to the foot you're leaning away from and then push with it. And brewing that whole side body up.

This is fun. Go again to the other way. So the first way. Now what you're gonna do is you're gonna take the hand that's on top around the front. The other armor wraps around the back. It feels like the butterfly.

Come back around. Side stretch. Stand up and lean and, band wraps around comes back around side stretch and up one more time through go inhale. Ex, I'll take your rotation, use the band for assistance, come back around, and up, and over and take your rotation and come back around and feels good, and stand up. Okay. I have a Christmas gift for you.

We're gonna do some roll ups. Yay. So if you need some support behind your lumbar spine to make this feel like a gift and not a curse, please feel free. We're gonna take the band around the feet. So if your band, hands get tired of holding the band.

Strategies are wrap around, make fist. I sometimes just pinch with my thumb and hands. So just all options. I'm gonna wrap here today. So we're lifted up tall. We're gonna begin to roll back, push out into the band with your feet, rotate the pelvis under, and come all the way down. I gave myself too much assistance and then lift the head and chest.

Roll that. Amazing. A Christmas miracle. And now pull out with your arms and lift your spine up to straight. That works better if you pinch.

I know it's kind of difficult to find just the right amount, but I'll get you so where you know what you're doing, and then you can decide about your band. We bring the head and chest up. Taking advantage of the support on the band to move and flex through the lower spine, everyone looks amazing, and then pull the body towards up as the arms reach out to the side. We'll do only 3 more. You're welcome.

Roll down. My elves, every one of them, loves the roll up. All of them do. Especially, Amy. Lift up.

Flex your spine. Straight in your spine. Use your shoulders and reach forward. Just one more. How about roll back. Head down at the end, head up first, roll up through your spine, Last time to sit up tall reaching the arms out and bend your knees.

So we are gonna be doing some pretty specific lumbar flexion. So give yourself enough support. Squeeze your knees together, flex your feet. Roll back to your shoulder blades. Not a not a ton.

Push down with your legs, pull back through your heels, and curl. Let's say 6. Does that sound manageable? Yes. Work the work the down, feel your abdominals pulling the band, and then resist the band. And then work the down pull.

Create space between your pelvis and your ribs as you take your body down. This one's 3. And back, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, and, too, Don't forget about your legs. They could squeeze together. They could push down 1 more to go.

We go forward and then also back down everyone. So when you go down, I would like for you to bend your arms, lift your feet, and put your head down. We're gonna stretch the legs towards straight and bend the knees, inhale. Exel stretch the legs towards straight pressing the arms in and down. The shoulder blades wide 3 more times bend.

And stretch. Maybe you'll get a little closer to your body every time and bend and stretch. And bend and stretch. Here's what we're doing. Bend your knees. Straighten your arms. Lift your head.

Can you keep that shape in your legs and also stay in control as take your feet back down. If you need to bend more, you will. Just like that. Land, roll up, lean back like a sitting teaser, and pull wide. 5. Kinda quick. 4 small break. 3, 2, One go forward.

Roll back. So we're gonna take rotation. Now we'll do another repetition of 6. Let's come towards me and go up that side, keeping that, arm that you're rotating towards hugging in, that helps, and go to legs, abdominals. And three, and down.

And 4. Everybody happy with 6, or do we wanna stop at 5? 6 is good. I hear. So that means one more, we're going back down into the center, knees in, knees in, oh, you get a break. You're welcome. Legs go up. Now what we're gonna do here with our legs straight, sorry, my head is in the way.

We're gonna do a little reverse curl. Little reverse curl. Roll back down. 3 times. Bend. Straighten. Take your reverse curl.

Use your abdominals as much as you can, but allow your arms to help you pull back on your arms as you lower your pelvis down only one more time bend, and stretch, and reverse curl. And down, straighten your arms, lift your head, bend your knees. Take your hip hinge. Soon, we will rest our hands. Roll up, lean back, and pull.

5 4, 3, lot of chest opening, 2, and one arms forward roll back. Rotate in the opposite direction. We pretend that you're happy and left and, keeping both sides of the pelvis heavy and up and down, use your hamstrings pull against the mat and up And down, it helps to use your hamstrings, I think. This is for I'm back only 2 more. 5. Counting out loud.

So you trust me. 6. Go down. No one's happy. Come center. Bend your knees the end. Stretch your legs towards up. Reverse curl.

Give yourself a stretch as you go down and bend. And stir at to pull your abdominals in towards the ground and reverse curl and down. And one more time and stretch. My gift for you this Christmas is grip strength. Take your knees to bend. Lift your head.

Take your feet down. Roll it, straighten your legs, and sit tall. Grip strength. Okay, everyone. Sitting tall, we're gonna add some rotation.

So I want everyone pleased to turn towards me turning the palm of the bent arm towards up and reaching the other arm forward center. Use the resistance in the band to help mac umize your rotation and center and pull. Lifting and center. Little arm work and center and 2 more to each direction, please pull lift and center, and pull lift, and center last one. We'll reach that other arm right out in front of you.

And the last one come to center. Take the band off your feet. We're gonna roll down and stay down. Roll down rolling down and staying down. Saw that look of panic in your eyes.

Here's where I like to just pinch with my thumb because we're not using our hands right now so much. So just let them have a break. When you're down, I want us to take our rooms overhead and bend our knees. So if you need to organize on your mat to have space for that, please do. We are going to do this.

Arms are overhead. We're gonna stand on our feet, articulate up through the spine, pelvic curl, gonna take the band, wrap it around your thighs, pull down and press into it simultaneously, then lift your arms so you don't have to pull the band. Roll down. And as you roll down, take your arms over your head. We're gonna do that three times. As we exhale, lift up, send the arms towards the thighs, take the band around the thighs, pull, and press.

Lift the arms. Roll the body down. My hamstring is cramping for your information. One more time in here and lifting up. Rep, hip extensors, pull down, feel your arms working, and inhale, and lift and roll down.

Deep and deep and deep and deep and through the spine as it comes down. We're gonna do 2 more. I know I said 3, but there's a change. Go up. Feel the inner thighs, actively pulling towards one another, take the band. Now we're doing pulses, so we pull down press.

And pull down press and feel the heels pushing down to help you get more work in your hips one more. I think that was 4 actually, actually one more. And lift the band and roll the body down. We're doing one more set. Inhaling at the bottom and exhaling as you lift up. Band ramps, push and pull 5, 4, 3, 2.

And one best push reach overhead and roll down. Take please the left leg straight out lift your head and put your right foot into the band. Elbus tuck in close. We're gonna do 2 variations of a circle here. So the first is everything stays stable except for the leg down, around and center.

Cross down around and center 5 times. Use the leg on the mat to support too. 1, stop center and reverse. Feel the buoyancy, the swing and catch. 2, and giving ourselves some mobility.

2. 1, hold at the top. Here's the change. Lift your pelvis like a spine twist. Keep the opposite elbow anchored.

The leg goes down. The pelvis lands. We come around. 3. We go up, flip the pelvis, take the stretch, go down, around and center lift the pelvis lean into that stretch, go down around in center 3. We're reversing for 3. Go out.

Down cross spine twist. And place the pelvis. Go out down in a cross spine twist, and place the pelvis. And support through the center of the body all the time, center the body, hold a little higher on the band, bend your knee, pull down with your arms and give yourself a stretch for 3 and bend. Every time we get a little bit more stretched too, and bend.

And one, my Santa is reminding me on my socks that we better slay ladies. So let's change legs. Okay, my friends, we are going five times cross the body go across down, around fine center and cross down around fine center. Store the hip. 3. Counting out loud, 2 so I can be trusted.

And 1, pause and center reverse please out. Cross the body and pause, outs, cross the body and hold, ah, so my hands are slippery, cross the body and hold. Is that 3? Yep. Thank you, Amy too. And 1.

Everybody we're reversing. We're lifting the pelvis, taking the leg, placing the pelvis in around, spine twist, down, around one more. Go across, down, around, and hold. Go out, down across fine center and out down and across and center one more time. Down and across, hold centered underneath. You're in charge of, the amount of tension you wanna give to your band for your hamstring stretch. So as you wish, pull down and stretch.

You're welcome. And, Ben, Sarah's happy and pulled down and stretch up anchoring the pelvis is a good idea to think about and bend and pull down and stretch ladies, we're gonna bling we're gonna bling bring both feet into the band. Bling bling. Take the legs down. Lift your head.

We will be rolling towards our legs. What's helpful is either rock or try pulling up with your arms. Lifting, lifting, lifting, lifting, we're just doing it to come up. So come all the way up and sit. Okay, everyone.

Let's get all the way onto the mat. We're gonna do one more rotational exercise keeping the leg together, sit all the way up tall. Let's come towards me first so the arm closest to me pulled up the arm furthest away pulls down and center and pull up and also down and center. This might be a nice winter wrap for. Yes. It sure is. I recommend because we're all nice and strong in our upper bodies.

Nice. It does feel nice. So the arms are pulling away from each other. Pulling away, pulling away, pulling away, and center. Amy's Amy's shoulder's retired from too much presence. And center.

Let's do two more. Both sides, that means for Christie? And rotate, take advantage of the resistance, use it, use it, use it, use it, use it, and center. Thank you, Christy. Just one more to each side and center and twist.

And center. I have something you might like. So I'm not gonna make you roll down with one foot in your band, so let's just turn Just turn and face me. Have a little hand brake. Twinkle twinkle little star. I don't mind.

What what's gonna happen is we're gonna take the top leg into the band. Have you ever done this before? It's fun. Whatever we're doing here. It's a side lying leg circle, and it's kinda nice because there's a little, work and a little stretch. So what you do is you just line your body up like you would do to do a sideline leg, circle.

This might be a wrapping one too. Okay. So straight line. And then we're gonna go forward. So what has to happen as we move our leg forward is we have to just let the arm change.

And then the leg goes up. The arm has to come with. We press towards back. You're welcome, Merry Christmas and down. 5.

Forward, you decide how far you want your range to go, particularly towards the front But what I want you to what I invite you to consider as important is the alignment of the spine. So we get that work. We get the opening in the hip. We'll do 2 more. Forward and up.

I sometimes think about letting my shoulder externally rotate there too. That feels nice. And one more and up, push through the heel, take the leg away. And center, we're gonna go into the reverse. My favorite thing to do here in the back is push my pelvis into my forearms. So, like, to get opposition, and then continue.

So my favorite things don't have to be your favorite things. I am only just sharing pushback. Circle through and front and push back and mobility and center and 2, and around. Number 1. Bring the leg all the way back. Bend your knee.

Let's just take the foot out of the band. Rest the band where you can easily reach it, push up, scoot your needs in or your feet in? I'm an elf on the shelf Christy says. We're gonna do, Christmas, mermaid. Side bend, Sarah.

Sarah side bend. You don't have to be, like, super tucked in with your legs. If it if it makes more sense, do you have to have your legs a little bit more apart? Sure can, and you just stretch. And it looks like your body making a stretch. Go to the side.

And Oh, I see. I see. I see. I see. Sarah's confused. For a change. Imagine. Like, am I doing it right? How many people's favorite question from their students is, am I doing this right?

Yes, Sarah. You're doing it right. Let's change. Okay. So we're gonna be on our side. The top leg is the leg that's in the band. I'm really enjoying that.

The the relief that wrapping my hands is providing in this moment. So if you'd like to join me with that am I doing it right? Yes, sir. Yes. Like this, Sarah. Like that. Okay. Here we go. We go forward first.

We go up. Let the arm just accommodate the movement and down. And forwards. And up. I don't know about you, but wrapping presents sitting on the floor for hours and hours sure makes my hips feel cranky.

2 more. Around and back and forwards and up. Around an center. We are taking the reverse. Go back.

Find the front oppositionally pull with the pelvis towards back and pull back. So it's just the leg moving, the spine is nice and quiet, like a mouse. Last two. At Christmas now. That's that's right.

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even the Christmas mouse. Come all the way forward, and that was 5. As far as I'm concerned or no, we just let the foot come out. So here's what we do, Sarah. We bend the knees, scoot in, lift the arm, and stretch.

Whatever your, like, however your legs are bent, wherever your legs are happy and bent is fine. And then we come up. And we go. Ben over. You can use your arm to pull. What? I said I just needed to navigate them. Oh, perfect. Last last one.

Last one. Naughty Elf. Okay, my friends. I have one final Christmas surprise. Please come onto your knees. Loosing my clothing. Sorry. K. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take the band.

I'm I'm gonna wrap, but you wanna have lots of room because we're gonna do a side bending. So don't get hold too tight in my best advice. Let me go up overhead. Now consider pressing forward into your front legs with your back leg. So you're stabilizing or helping to stabilize your low spine.

Let's all go towards the So you go in one direction. Oh, sorry, Christy. That wasn't very, clear. Hold the top arm still. Pull the bottom arm down, maximizing that stretch, bring the arm up, come up to kneeling. Reach up and over into the opposite direction.

Upper arm stays where it is. We pull and lean and left. And I wanna say stand, but this is not standing. This is me standing. We can say stand. Go over.

Pull down, making a change, lift the bottom arm, take the top arm around so your arms trade places kind of, which make parallel lines come around. That wasn't great queuing, but you got the gist, I think. Go over. Sarah's having a cramp. Everything's fine. Christmas cramp pulled down.

Lift up? Are you taking my advice literally with your hamstrings? Reach her around? That's a good student right there, listening to the teacher's advice, and stand all the way up. Bring your arms down. I'm gonna unwrap my hands.

I recommend for this next one, just a loose grip. I like to just pinch with my thumbs, and then just a little light contract of the hamstrings to help to stabilize the lower spine, bend your arms. So here we're taking the hands a little lower than the elbows, And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna rotate. So externally rotate the shoulders that elbows go towards the loose part of the band. Here's where the fun begins. You're gonna reach your arms over your head.

Now feel that it's not pulling. You're not trying to muscle the band. It's like the band is lightly opening as it needs do as you slide your shoulders down as you take your thoracic extension, bend your arms back towards the loosened of the band, and simply return. Thanks. Yeah. You're welcome. Rotate first.

This is the gift at the end, the piece of gold in the stocking. Reach up and back. So just give the band a little bit of pull as you need, but it's not really a It's not so much of a muscley arm thing, this one. It's more of, like, for me, Let's do it again. It feels almost like shoulder blades gliding, arms responding, and then I just let the band open as I just like it's kind of like an exploration, hard to describe. So I could just imagine that you can create your own exploration in your body, bend your arms or return back.

I think we should do 2 more. Rotate. And reach back. And what I usually find is that even though we're not focusing on, like, the full extension of the spine as a spine go. It gets warmer and warmer and warmer.

We do get more and more and more back extension at a neurote. Okay. Last time. Before everybody gets a Christmas cramp. Everybody hold here bend and return. Let go of the band and put it away. Take your arms in front of you.

Take your arms up over your head. Take your arms out to the side. You can find that same extension, except for more freedom. And then what I want us to do is reach forward. Big, open hug, sitting back towards the heels.

So it's like a, a kneeling knee stretch shape. And then we'll press the pelvis forward. Let the body flow. Bring the arms up or out and open. So as they come from out to forward, will come across the front, will come up and bring the arms as an extension of the rest of the body will open.

Open your heart. And one more reach forwards. And, and just allow the arms to open. And as they continue to come down, this is it. Let them soften soften soften soften.

So you're ready to go and pick up your presence. Mary Christmas, everyone Merry Christmas. From our house to your house. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.