Flexion and Extension Flow

Alright, we're going to do about a 30 minute workout on the chair. See what we can get done trying to work the whole body in 30 minutes. And without further ado, let's get started. Standing just in front of the chair of one spring on, um, when light spring. Inhaling, prepare, reaching the arms down the sides of the legs, lifting up tall through the top of the head. That's breathing in for nothing.

An exhale and just supporting through the center of the body, connecting the mind to the body. And Inhale, I'm just a standing roll down to begin rolling through this spine, allowing the head to reach forward into the chest, lifting up through the center of the abdominals or through the center of the body to support this by reaching down into the chair. Inhale and lifting up. Exhale, taking the arms out to the side, reaching up, allowing the arms to just reach down the front of the body. One more time like that. Exhaling to bend through the spine. So we've been inwards, inwards in the further the spine goes down, the more the abdominals lift up the hips stay. Just over the heels. We inhale at the bottom and exhaling to come up.

Uh, taking the rooms. Once again, not feel the entire spine lengthen as [inaudible] reach into the air. I'm going to step just a little bit forward and kneeling again and this time as we exhale, reaching the arms down into the chair. Diving towards the chair, placing the hands on the paddle breathing is the how to press us towards the floor, folding inwards onto yourself and exhale, come halfway up, working deep through the lumbar spine, ling for a deep curvature. Inhale as we reached down. Nice supported shoulders here during the paddle. Slightly backwards energetically to keep the muscles and the upper back working and any how we take the paddle down and exhale as you go in through that flection, you feel the movement start from the base of the spine, from the pelvis and inhale down. That's warming up the spine. Exhale into lift, coming to the top of the springs, continuing up onto the stage, into a standing position. [inaudible] bringing the arms out to the side and not adding on a little teeny back extension. Reaching forward. For the chair, allowing the head to just [inaudible] dive inwards. In hilltop, press the paddle down. This time as we exhale, we float onto the toes.

We try. Okay, here we go again. Float up onto the toes. Any other heels come down. Exhale, we take the paddle halfway or any other paddle reaches into the ground like you're being pulled up from the center of the body. We float onto the toes reaching heavily downwards towards the floor. Any other heels come down. Exhale, halfway. Last one here. Standing Pike, reaching the heels down, lifting the abdominals up, rolling all the way, or allowing the hands to leave the chair and coming all the way to standing.

And from there we just coming onto the mat. Sitting relatively close to the chair was setting up for a pelvic curl. So once you get down onto your back, bring the heels of the feet onto the chair. Just forward right on the very edge of the chair. Arms down at our sides. We press down onto the paddle and then just here assess that you're in a, in a position where you're comfortable for a pelvic crawl. And we take your breath into hold.

Keeping the paddle still flexing through the lower spine. We rise up off the floor, the arms press down into the ground in healing at the top, and exhale, allowing the chest to be the first thing to move. As the chest reaches through the arms, we feel the upper arms pressing down the whole arm. Reaching forward into the chair, drop all the way down into a neutral position of the pelvis without moving the chair and Xcel to left, pushing down into the legs as the pelvis just rise as lightly up into the air and here and Raul Rolling back down this, mobilizing the spine, releasing the pelvis down, neutral pelvis, flexing the spine, peeling the spine up, pressing the pelvis up and actively work the arms into the ground. Start right away to turn this into a full body experience.

Reaching the arms energetically into the chair, releasing the paddle down. The last one here. Exhale, we peel the pelvis up. There is no movement in that paddle. Inhaling to pause at the top. Press just a little higher with the legs and Xcel to round down [inaudible]. And once you arrive at the bottom, allow the pelvis, uh, the paddle to come up with control. He got the legs, bring them into a tabletop position, send the arms out into a t shape.

As we inhale, we'll go over to the right first, drawing the abdominals back towards the left arm. And exhale. We deepen that contraction to move through center. Inhale as we tilt towards the other side and exhale to center. So the spine twists. We keep the knees lined up with one another, indicating to ourselves that our pelvis is stable. [inaudible] and in alignment, excelling to come back in heel, reaching across [inaudible] sailing to come back.

Last one for today in your reaching across. Excellent to come back, placing the feedback down onto the chair. In fact, not just on the puddle, but underneath the pedal, on the frame of the chair. Take the arms first forward towards the ceiling and then overhead for a roll up, a mini roll-up or a half roll up. Inhale to lift the head and chest. Pressing down into the feet. We exhale rolling towards the paddle. Find the paddle with the arms. Bend the elbows wide, pulling the back flat and up. Inhale as the arms let go.

Round the spine backwards. Keep the arms reaching for the chair, rolling down bit by bit, one vertebra at a time. As the shoulders start to come down, we start to elevate the arms. Reach the arms and the head down. Inhale as we lift the head and chest, pressing down into the feet and curling the spine into the chair. Finding a rounded position with the shoulders over the hips at the top and then inhale, lift the spine tall, bringing the paddle down towards the shins, taking the arms back forward, peeling away. Feel an active pressure downward through the hamstrings.

That'll help to stabilize the pelvis, taking the arms, just hovering off the ground. Inhale, picking up the head and chest. Exhale, we peel the spine, finding a rounded sea curvature at the top in heel. We lift the spine, bringing the elbows down and why? Take the arms back forward. Peel the spine down. We're going to one more time here reaching, reaching and the arms. And the head reached out and we lift and curl and straighten out the back and stretch out through the arms and come all the way down onto our backs.

Again. Bring the hands back behind the head, lift the feet off the inside of the chair and put them onto the puddle on the heels. Press the paddle halfway down. Hold it there. Breathing. As you exhale, come up into a chest lift position, keeping the pole this neutral, but also keeping that paddle breast into that halfway point position and inhale to come down and exhale to come up. Lifting the head and chest, curling from just underneath the ribcage, keeping the head pressed into the hand and in Hilti. Calm down. Try as you exhale to lift up to feel that the pelvis is Super Sto, that the leg sees Super Sta and release and exhaling to come up. [inaudible] and holding here.

Press the paddle down just a little bit more without effecting the pelvis and release the spine back to the ground and exhale to lift. Yeah, and holding here. We inhale and we go into the chest lift with rotation. It's exhale as you reach up and across and inhale to center, keeping the paddle still and Xcel to reach up and across and inhale to come center and exhale to lift. Enter and finding center and lift in turn and finding center. So we feel that that rotation happens in and around the rib cage.

The pelvis is still the head and neck or Sta and center and across and center and across. And one more looking for depths, challenging yourself to the greatest of your abilities and center last one and center and taking the body down, letting the feet come up, placing the feet down off the chair and just rolling to your side to help yourself up. Okay. Okay. So sitting on the chair for footwork, I'm using one top spring and one second spring. So number four and number three. Um, use the ring to work my arms whilst I work my legs.

So we're going to start with the arms straight out. Just checking with your alignment. Seeing that both sit bones are evenly placed, the arms are reached out. We've got a slight bend in the elbows, just a little one. And inhale as we exhale, pressing down through the legs and giving that ring. Just a little bit of a gentle squeeze and any other ring releases in the knees. Come up. Exhale, we press and squeeze and inhale to release. So remind yourself that this is not just about the fronts of the legs, it's about the backs of the legs, the insides of the legs, that trunk and the upper back. So again, we turn this into a full body movement.

Okay, exhale. As you press feel, the pressure that you're putting on the ring also occur within your center. So if you look at the cylindrical shape of the ring, keep in mind that your center, your core, your powerhouse is all still cylindrically shaped. And let's mimic the movement of the ring in the center last two times here. Exhaling there and release and exhaling and release and placing the toes on the chair. Lifting the heels up. I'm going to bend the elbows into the body here and we create that same pressure. Exhale. As the legs go down, we squeeze into the ring and inhale, lift the knees from the powerhouse and XL to press.

Feeling proper alignment on your feet, meaning don't roll out to the Pinky toe and don't put all of your pressure on the big toes or feel unequal pressure throughout the foot. Exhaling an exhaling. Feel that as you press into the ring, the pressure is coming just as much from the upper back as from the chest and as the legs press down, the spine lifts into the air. It gets longer and taller each and every time and we'll do four more. Less checking that I'm saying straight and three and to and one. Yeah. From here, lifting the knees, bringing the heels together, keeping the toes.

Why? We're going to send the arms overhead this time and then bend them so that the ring comes just above the forehead, like a halo. Squeezing the heels together, connecting into the upper back. Inhale and pressing and pressing so the legs press and the arms press and the abdominal suppress into the spine and up and exhale. Keeping the head in line with the spine here, looking straight out in front of you along the horizon, deep Li Co concentrating on the abdominal energy and squeezing from the glutes and squeezing the heels together to access through the inner thighs. And we'll do that four more times. Exhaling as we move. I'm only taking the paddle as low as I can to the floor without changing the alignment of my spine last two times and last one time.

[inaudible] and then lifting the feet, bringing the heels to the outer edges of the paddle, lifting the spine and take the arms up again. This time holding the arms right overhead, gentle bend in the arms. Inhaling and pressing down and in healing to lift and pressing. Just catching myself leaning forward. So let's remind everyone, remind yourselves not to lean into the press to lean up or stretch upwards into the ring and feel the inner thigh bones pulling energetically towards one another. As the legs press down. And uh, keeping the head in line with the spine and press and uh, [inaudible]. Using the full extent of the exhale to help yourself find the depth that you want to find in your waist. Last two times [inaudible] and last one time and allowing the arms to release forward.

I'm going to put the ring just over the tops of my ribs. Wrap the arms around the front like you're holding on. I don't know, it Kinda reminds me of like a steering wheel on a bus, putting the feet on the toes, finding that long spine and in here and pressing into the ring as you press down with the legs and release. So as the ring presses towards the body, let the abdominals respond by pulling back. Feel that the pressure on the ring is not coming from the hands, but instead coming from the upper back where you're endeavoring to pull the ring back into the body and feel the control necessary generating through the center of the body size. I need that nice strong upper back component for lifting up and in through the center of the body. Twice more.

Okay. And last one. And then releasing the legs up and stepping down off the chair. Finished with the ring seven a place it to the side, coming back to the chair, turning around to face it, place one foot onto the chair and then place the knee on [inaudible] the chair just underneath the Patella. So there's a little divid underneath the patella where the knee rests on to the chair.

We press the opposite leg down into the floor and back lengthening the spine. I just have my fingertips gently touching the outside of the chair. I'm going to push down with that foot and pull. Excellent. As I take my foot into plant, our flection and inhaling as I pull all the way back, looking for a stretch. Now as you reach to the foot, make it not just about the cab, but think about the entire backside of that working leg working for you and press and release. Um, press and release.

Press c about letting the lightness of the hands or the hands be very light on the chair, pressing actively through that back leg and keeping it as straight as possible. Last time, taking the knee off, letting the paddle come up and exchanging sides. Okay. Pushing down through the bottom leg, finding a nice long straight spine, very little pressure on the hands. And here we go. Reaching. It's a good idea to check that the pelvis is level. If you have a mirror, it's a great place. It's a good place to check if you need to.

Just put your hands on your pelvis and feel for alignment. That's [inaudible]. But I often do reaching down and pulling all the way up. So we oftentimes get the pressure, but then we forget to pull back for this stretch. So let's get the full range of motion happening in the foot. Continue to focus on strong center, continue to focus on the elbow alignment and the length in the spine.

And we'll do three and ah, two and a one and up. Yeah, gently letting the paddle come up and stepping down onto the ground. So far as single leg work today, rather than just doing the regular single leg work on the chair, we'll do the full lunge. So I'm stepping down onto the chair. Um, I'm going to start with my right leg on the chair and my left foot on the paddle have the same springs on that I was using for footwork. I haven't changed them yet. I'm going to place my hands on my pelvis here just for alignment purposes so I can feel that I'm centered and aligned.

Pushing into the heel of the foot, reaching up, feel the pressure through the hit. Try to lift up the leg that's going to be lifting off the chair. We're pulling that side of the pelvis up from the obliques on that side. Continue pressing backwards through the leg that you just lifted up and as you bend the leg that's on the chair, keep that back leg active and strong, trying to keep the pelvis as squared as possible. Find the paddle, lean back into it and reach all the way back to your starting position. Exhale as we lift up, keep that back leg active as we reach off the chair and reaching back, placing the foot down, leaning back.

So we're trying to say as upright as possible and keeping the back leg Straw. Reaching off the chair. [inaudible] last one. I know Tom very many. It's four but four is a lot for me and counting all the way down. Finding your way down to the ground. Placing the hands down onto the chair.

Exchanging legs. Yeah, it's on the pelvis for alignment. You could also take your arms out to your sides or behind your head. Lots of arm choices here we present to the back of the leg. We feel the alignment of the pelvis as we rise up off the chair, keeping the back legs strong and active. The abdominals drawn in, bending the front knee, looking for that chair, looking for the paddle and then leaning back into the paddle.

Keeping the hip extensors on that bottom, like working in strong and reaching up, holding the pelvis level as you lift off the chair. Also in this exercise we try to keep the knee from going back and forth, so we want to try to keep the nature stover the ankle to the best of our ability, not out of it, not in of it, just right over the top. The hard part is to find the paddle on the way down for me. [inaudible] I don't know all the way over because number one, reaching out and off and down. Taking that top line off the chair, placing it onto the paddle with the bottom lang, bringing the hands to the front of the chair, heading into the pikes.

So we're going to the full pike anyway, so we're gonna draw the head down into the chest, shoulders directly over the hands. From here, setup is everything. So we want to draw the abdominals in working already here, right in the middle of the exercise before we even start lifting up and from there. Excellent. As we pull up through the center of the body, dropping the head between the arms, keeping the arm still and in healing to come down and exhale, deepening the flection through the body. The eyes look down between the knees and inhale to reach down. Try to work on the way down as well as on the way up. Often times we forget that we want to work in both directions.

So I challenge you to do your best to keep the rounded shape, maybe even challenging the rounded shape as you come down. Here's number one. I'm going to add a little something at the top, so we're going to hold the top of the springs. I'm going to take the right leg out, exhale to bring the right knee into the nose and back and into the nose and back. Keep the head down. Keep the paddle sta. Place the right leg down. Come halfway down. Feel the equal weight on both arms, the lifting to the top of the springs, lifting the left leg back and we bring it into the chest and up in back as it goes up behind you.

Try to do your very best to keep this spine rounded forward into that pike shape and in and out and the foot comes down to the chair and we reach all the way down. I dropped the heels down, stretching back, holding onto the front of the chair, and then just carefully being aware of this weight of the springs. Let's let the paddle come up and step down. [inaudible] no change the spring. Just using one one spring on three for the side stretch. So sitting on the chair, reaching the opposite leg out straight.

I'm sitting on the side of my hip rather than sitting straight up and down. My hand is going to find the paddle looking for a long line here. Opposite arm reaches straight out to my side when reaching my foot away from me. Anyhow, I pushed the paddle down and take my opposite arm over. Ah, I don't know. I don't want to come up. It feels so good. Reach the arm up, connecting to the old Blake's and reach out to come up and in how we reach into the stretch and exhale, allowing the arm to come up in, reaching out through the spine.

Continue to keep both shoulders nice and active, meaning in good alignment. So the challenge primarily is that bottom shoulder, can we keep it pulled back? Pulled down. So we pressed down on the paddle looking for a little bigger stretch each time and up and then keeping that arm out to the side. I'm going to inhale halfway down. Exhale to rotate the spine. I'm bringing my bottom arm up and that shoulder up and back as I reached that free arm around towards the chair.

Inhale to unwind from that position and XL to find the straight line until we take it down. First. XO rotated deep rotation working through the spine, working through the ribs in you as we open and exhale as we come on, trying to keep the head in line with the spine throughout the rotation happens at the waist, at the waist. Look for depth there. Come back and lifting all the way up. We just lift up off the chair, sliding that arm down, reaching that pressing arm up overhead. I don't know. I'm coming all the way back up. Turning around to the other side.

I've hooked my front here on the just the front edge of the chair. I'm going to sit on the side of my hip for good alignment through that shoulder. As we inhale, the arm reaches overhead. The leg that's on the ground pulls away from us. Energetically. Arm comes up. We connect into the lat, connect into the obliques and reach into a long straight body and inhale to go down an aisle and XL to reach out and and in. Yeah, and uh, and here comes the rotation.

We go halfway down first and then exhale, we curl around into the chair working from the spine. Inhale as we reach up and exhale to come into the straight line and inhale down and exhale. My left arm is on the chair and I'm drying up and back with my left shoulder trying to rotate so that my shoulders are square to the paddle and then reaching out and lifting. And one more here, reaching down, flexing deeply through the spine. Think about your abdominals here though. They'll do a lot for you in terms of stabilization and also helping you to increase your stretch. We lift up, just allow that arm to float up off the chair, reach it up into the air side, the opposite arm down the lay down the leg. I'm coming all the way at coming up off the chair.

We're going to turn towards the chair and come down onto the front of it. Hands on the panel. I'm positioning myself. So my hip joints, my ssis are about an inch away from the front of the chair. Legs strong in straight Armstrong and straight abdominals, very active. So I don't want you to lift your legs, but I don't want to get a hanger.

Like I want you to just feel that their level with the chair and in control. And then we'd start to lift the head and we go through a reverse articulation of the spine, reaching out through the chest, go forward energetically reaching up, reaching up, reaching up to my legs, didn't lower as my spine lifted and let that be a place for you to think about. So don't lift so high that you have to adjust the legs downwards. Jobs left as much as you can through your spine. Keeping the hip extensors involved, reaching, reaching, reaching up and [inaudible] and do that one more time here.

And then we're gonna change it a little. So we let the cervical spine extend. The thoracic spine, extends the legs are strong and straight. The shoulders are drawing down in back and I now I'm going to lower the paddle down. We're going to take it into a swan dive type action. So we start again through the upper spine, reaching, reaching, reaching. And now the paddle comes down.

I'm starting to engage my hip extensors even more. My legs are starting to lift. Once I get down with my paddle, I'm going to bend my elbows, lifting my legs up into the air, working the back, working the back, and then the legs start to go down. As they hit neutral, my arms straightening and he's a rise through the spine, reaching out and up. And then the spine goes down. The legs start to elevate hip extensors, strong. The elbows bend, the spine lowers into the ground. And Dan and last one [inaudible] inhaling like you're gonna lift off the chair.

Exhaling, allowing the legs to start to float, bending the elbows, controlling, controlling, controlling, and letting the legs come down and letting the spine rest, dropping the legs, sliding back towards the floor. But that'll come up with control. Helping yourself up to standing. We're going to finish with a little reverse pike standing just behind the chair, taking the hands up and diving forward into the chair. This is all happening as we exhale. Now allowing the hands to find the chair. Take the spine out and for lifting the tailbone up and reaching the chest into the chair.

Look for a nice straight back abdominals drawn and an exhale. Curl the spine. Look for depth, depth, and inhale as you reach out, spreading out through the hips. Strong, strong abdominals and x, or we lift flexing some similar movement to what we started with. And last one reaching. Okay.

And excellent to come on. And we just let the arms float off the chair and reach them up into the air as we stack the spine over the hips and take the arms down. Thank you.