Hanging Around

I don't personally like it with my head forward as much I like because it's bringing me into a more the rassic extension position. I like my head to be a little bit more floating is probably the word I'll use here, but certainly you can explore what feels good to you. So again, what I feel here as I sit here longer, um, is just so much released through my underarms and my side body. So I feel even more in my side body when I explore my pelvis. So I'm talking with my pelvis a little bit and maybe arching my back a little bit and then also perhaps swaying just a little bit side to side. And that's where I've swayed to the left with my body.

And I'm getting a wonderful stretch on my right under arm in, through my lat and my pack. I'm getting it everywhere. So what I've done here is I've taken my face and put it on my arms so I can kind of relax my head there a little. And then I'm going to shift to the other side. And again, I'm, I'm using this, the fluffy or the fuzzy to have my arm brace, my left arm now braced, taking my pelvis and my weight just a little bit over. And then allowing my head to kind of rest on my arm. And then here I'm going to use my legs a little bit to come up out of it for just a moment.

Give my fingers a little wiggle break and also change which arm I'm holding. I'm not sure if it makes a huge difference, but to me it sort of feels as though it does. Now I also invite you to explore the idea of holding in a different place. I find that if I hold my arms a little bit further and like at my elbow that it feels quite different. It's a much deeper stretch there. Or you can simply hold your hands. So really it's up to you explore.

So I've taken a a closer hold here, which gives me a better stretch and I really enjoy that. So from here you can start to bring the stretch into a more severe place where you come forward a little bit. So I'm using my abdominals to support, I'm keeping my gaze kind of forward and I'm getting the most wonderful stretch through my whole front body. And then I'll come out of that. So here I also would recommend, um, the idea of changing which hand you're holding from time to time or each time if you want, it's really up to you because it will feel different depending on how you go about this. So certainly just stay in this more moderate range of motion if that's where you need to be. This feels really nice here, pulling back, but for me, I really enjoy finding the extreme range of motion and I think some of you will as well. So here I'm going to continue forward really supporting with my abs and pull myself into this wonderful kind of upward dog type position or swan dive position.

So I'm letting the strap support my arms there, pulling my shoulders up, supporting my low back with my abs and I'm getting this really wonderful stretch through my whole front body. I'm exploring just a little bit with my pelvis. And then getting out of this, you want to really make sure that you, you use your arms a little to support, use your legs and you use your abs. So I wouldn't recommend staying there for too long the first time. Come back to this shapes which, which hand you're holding and then we'll go forward one more time. Make sure you go through that nice thoracic extension position because even though I like to go to the more extreme position where I'm in full hyper extension, this just feels so wonderful in my shoulders as I bring my pelvis through.

It brings the stretch through my whole front body. And then here let's add on a little toe tuck here and you'll push into those legs and add that extra bit of stretch. And then we press those thighs down. You can keep the toes tucked or not, and pull yourself out of that. Moving back into that flexed position. So I'm gonna bring my knees forward just a little bit so that I can allow my back to round and my head to hang and feel this real easy rounding stretched position to release any compression that may have shown up. But I think honestly, as long as you're aware of your abdominals and you're aware of where your body is, anyone can move into that some range of motion, but just make sure you feel comfortable and safe.

Chapter 5

Now if for some reason this doesn't work for you, I I have developed an option for one of my clients who just can't sit in that position. Oops, I moved to this too soon. That's okay. We'll take it back. So, um, and that is to just stand on the side of the Cadillac and hook her one arm in so she can kind of mimic this same type of movement we're going to do from here. So if that's you, I invite you to work with this for the camera angle. We're going to move this out of the way and I'm going to get in with just one arm and returned to right back to where I was. Okay. So I've got this leg about perpendicular or straight out to the side here about 90 degrees at the hip and that's going to give me a nice little hip sensation here and the other leg is just kind of relaxed back there holding onto my wrist. I first want you to just kind of release forward. And again, I like to let my head just sort of rest on my arm here and hang out long enough to see what I feel. So for me, if really ground down through my leg and I'm moving my legs back a little bit because I'm wanting a little more sensation.

If I really ground down weight down through my leg and specifically through my pelvis, I get even more sensation as I reached forward here. So I'm getting this wonderful side body stretch. I'm getting a really wonderful release in my shoulder. I can feel it in so many places. Again, I really invite you to linger here a little longer than you think you should, which is why I'm doing this in real time. Focus on breathing and letting go.

So when you feel compelled to move a little bit, let the movements really be small, be curious about what you're feeling and see if you can move just a little bit to feel a little more. So what I'm doing is rotating around a little bit, looking behind me. Maybe I'll see a dolphin. That'd be fun. And then I'm going to rotate just a little bit, kind of bringing my spine into a little bit of flection and then look forward again. My head is still resting and I'm very heavy here. Relax, letting go. And then again, I'm going to start to make a slightly more extreme movement, slightly bigger range of motion. As I rotate around toward the ocean over here, I'm pressing forward a little bit with my legs and I get this really beautiful stretch across my leg. I used to only feel this in my upper body and my waist, but now I'm really feeling the chain reaction all the way down to my leg. And then I'm going to rotate around here. Just make sure you're hanging on well enough so you don't roll off the Cadillac.

Flex your spine just a little bit. So I'm actually talking my pelvis and now I'm like letting myself lean here and I'm getting a wonderful stretch through my whole back body. Notice I've let my legs react, not holding them to anything really. And then rotating around again, grounding down through the one leg I'm pressing through with my heart tier and enjoying that sensation of almost like a mermaid stretch here. But I really can find so much more because I'm, I'm so relaxed and enjoying sensation.

So here again I'm going to round or flex my spine. That means I'm tucking my pelvis a little bit and I'm rolling over my glute. That feels really nice. It's almost like being on the foam roll. I'm opening my top leg cause that gives me a little bit more room to release back here and I'm letting my back body stretch. That feels really nice. Hmm.

And certainly if your body is a little longer, a little smaller, you might need to adjust accordingly. So for instance, if I lift my body up a little bit and press forward, I'm going to give myself a much more extreme stretch here. My arm is now more behind me and I've chosen to do that because it feels like a great idea today. And then rounding back and through [inaudible] to hear on the opposite. If you are feeling like it's too much sensation, you move your body back a little bit, explore, see what works for you. It's important that you pay attention, your body and how you feel.

And so now it's time to try the second side and Hook your arm gently. And here I'm going to move this fluffy back to the center over here so that I can do my second side. And again, I invite you to start with both arms. And if you need to, as you set yourself up, especially the smaller people, it's a little harder to get your pelvis down, but you also get more pull, more stretch just really depends, requires you to be a little to modify as needed. So let your head rest on your arm. Again, I'm holding my, my elbow bent with my other arm and I'm just letting go. So my feet are grounded, my pelvis is grounded, whatever's down is down, and I use that, um, to allow me to, to reach forward a little more with my body, right? So I'm not moving much. I'm really releasing, letting go and then start to explore just a little bit for, so look a little behind you and then you'll start to look just a little bit in the other direction.

And so we are rotating the spine, but also there is this component of extension inflection here. So as I reach around underneath my underarm and attempt for a little bit more range, I am in extension engaged in the abdominals, but also looking for this feeling of release through the front body, stretching, opening. And then as I come around to the more extreme motion on the back, I let my legs react. So I take my other leg up, right? You can see that happening. I flex my spine a little bit here and let my shoulder relax.

It's spreading through the scapula. Feel this all the way down into my low back. It feels wonderful. And then again coming through and the Q I gave on the first side, which I'll, I'll reiterate here is this idea of really pressing down through your pelvis and your leg to get also that potential hip stretch here. So I'm sort of pressing through my leg to push my body forward a little bit and give myself a little more sensation as I rotate. And then as I come out of it, the same feeling where I'm rolling over onto my pelvis, that keeping my, my bottom like grounded. The top leg lifts up just to give me a little bit of space.

And then there's this real like letting go here. [inaudible] make sure you're breathing. Let's come through one more time. So this time I'm going to Shimmy my body forward a little bit just so that I get a little bit more stretch. And this is the kind of the middle range for me where I've not gone totally into rotation, although I'm still a little rotated.

I just pushed my body forward a little and now I'm getting more sensation across my hip. I bought him hip. Feels really nice and you know, I don't think it's important for you to pay attention so much to, or let me say that differently. I don't think you will necessarily feel the same thing I feel. I think what's important is that you pay attention to what you feel and really just enjoy the sensation and try to find something new, something different, something that feels like a good idea. Letting go, hanging around. Yeah. It feels like I should come around and say hi to you over here. Okay.

Uh, we have to have a little bit of fun with this domain. [inaudible] I think so. So this will be the last time through again, I'm pressing with my feet to get myself a little more sensation. MMM. Feels good. And then as we come out of it, just make sure you give yourself the space you need, whatever it is to get the arm on hooked and let the blood flow. And hopefully you find that to be as lovely as I do cause it feels so fantastic. I feel like my shoulders are lighter and my head is lighter. Thanks for playing.

Chapter 6

Now if you're feeling pretty comfortable here, you can take your arm up and you can hold your, your wrist or your forearm or whatever feels good here and allow that stretch to get a little bit bigger because I'm no longer supporting myself with my arm at all. I invite you to explore where your head wants to be. I F I tend to in these positions like to sort of rest my head on one of my arms so that it becomes very much of a at this point a shoulder release rather than it being a neck release. But certainly if that's something that feels good to you, you could, you could explore that as well. Now I'm just swinging a little bit. Swinging is not really the right word, but exploring a little bit side to side. And I'm where I want, I invite you to play a little bit here is this idea of rounding your back a little bit and feeling that that opening here through the shoulder. And then, um, just releasing forward now if this feels like a good idea and you'd like a little more, the next step here would be to work with a straighter leg.

I'm going to recommend putting your hand down and kind of stack your legs and straighten them. So here I've stacked my legs, I'm squeezing my inner thighs a little bit, so I get this really nice side body stretch. And then once again, I'll come up here and hold. So if that feels like a good idea, sit with this for a little bit. And if you're still seeking more, there's more to come. And this feels nice to me to kind of just explore a little bit forward and back. Really letting go. Now I'm d I'm getting a really nice side body opening being in this position, but we can take this into a more extreme position, which I'll take my top leg and bring it down to the floor, bringing myself into both a shoulder stretch, a hip flexor stretch, and a back. Really, it's not a back stretch, it's a front body stretch, but the back is an extension and this feels just delightful. I've been enjoying moving for a, from position to position here.

So here I'll use my abs, push down with my straight leg and pull myself back to this side. Undo it. Head is relaxing. Find the floor with my foot. I've tucked my toe under to push myself into a more extreme stretch. It feels good to me. Oh, delightful. Hip flexor. Stretch.

Push down through the straight leg to unwind. So you know, if this feels great to you, wonderful do it. If it doesn't stay with the the slightly less extreme version. But this feels really like such a wonderful full body opener for me last time around here. Then we'll switch sides. So once again, I want you to make sure that you feel comfortable because the two sites might be a little different. So I'll hook my one arm in, start with my knees bend, and just kind of use my other hand as a kickstand, a little bit waving in the wind. We'll come back to that cue here. I'm trying to let my scapula open so much like when we were using the pole to reach out or to lean out.

You want to feel the scapula widening here and also feel the collarbones opening here. Be Curious about what you feel and explore a little bit. Now if you feel comfortable, you'll bring your arm up. Now once I bring my arm up, I sort of want to use my arm to rest my head. That feels like a better choice for me. And again, I'm just exploring the movement right now.

If you feel quite comfortable here and then want to move on a little bit. We can do just like we did on the first side and that is that we put the hand down, create the kickstand straight in your two legs and feel that nice side body stretch. Then if you're comfortable there you can hold again. This does require a little bit of um, I don't know, getting used to, I find that my, my arm just needs to kind of get used to being here and I'm not really holding with the muscles of my arm too much, really letting my body hang from that fuzzy there. So again, I've explored the range of motion just a little bit and now we can explore a little more. And so here you roll your body forward, lift your top leg up and come around. And this side is so different to me it's just such a neat opportunity in my opinion to feel the difference between the two sides takes a lot longer for me to figure out how to be comfortable here. But I certainly can get comfortable here, has to do with my left hip hit.

Not wanting to go into extension as much, but I really find that I want to linger here a little longer usually. So certainly if that's you you should linger. So press into your straight leg, your back leg and use that to help you lift up. Of course there is some abdominal work here and then around and through. So you could just do that once and sit with it. You could skip it all together.

I'm going to walk my body forward a little bit so I can get a little bit more of an extreme stretch that feels good. And then for me, what I really have to think about specifically on this side is letting my thigh be heavy on the mat so that the stretch travels all the way down to my, my flexors, my hip flexors. Otherwise it gets stuck a little bit. So for me it's really letting go. Imagine that, letting go. Hmm. But this has been about, isn't it? So here again, I'm going to press down through my top leg and kind of roll myself back and playfully find it and I think we did three on the other side. So I'll do one more here. Certainly if you would like to stick with one that would be okay or do three or four.

And also if you found yourself not comfortable rolling back, you know, you could always remove your arm right here and then bring yourself into a nice little release or stretch in some way, shape or form. So that's something to pay attention to when you visited this the second time. If it's not comfortable for you to roll back, just disengage. Thanks again for playing.

Chapter 7

I don't know. I think they've all been playful, but this one we're going to begin with our elbows hooked again and stand up so that your legs are straight and you know, you can explore forward or back. If I take my legs further back, I get a little more sensation. If I take my legs more underneath me, it's a little less sensation. So it really depends on you. And of course your height will, will factor in here. So just explore and find what works. So what I've done here is I've held onto one of my arms and just make sure that whichever one you hold onto you choose at some point to change. But boy, this just gives me such a wonderful release through my neck and my head.

My shoulders are quite comfortable here. Um, and, and, and now we're going to explore a little bit. So here I'll start by just leaning forward just a little and that brings a little more stretch in my shoulders and my front body. You just want to go cautiously and make sure you feel comfortable. And then I'm going to lean back here, back to this place where my head is heavy and I'm getting some really nice traction and my neck feels wonderful. And then again, we're going to go forward and just kind of check this out. So for many of you, this is going to be plenty and that's, that's great. You can build up to doing more or you can just play with this and that's enough.

So just for the sake of changing it up here, I'm going to switch which arm I'm holding and again that that makes it feel different to me. I feel more sensation on one arm than the other depending on what, which one I'm holding. And now I invite you to maybe come all the way forward to like a plank position here. And so I've got my abdominals engaged, my, my shoulders are are being pulled back here, which feels wonderful through my front body. And then I'll just pull back to where I came from. So as long as you move cautiously and slowly and you listen to your body, you should be able to really find something interesting here.

And that's what I'm looking for. Explore. Now you can take this even another layer deeper. If it suits you here, I'm an invite you to bend your knees and pull back and let my head relax. So as I go forward, I lift my head a little bit. That feels nice. But as I bend my knees, I want to let my head relax.

It's a little hard for me to remember to do that while I'm talking, but I'm gonna work on it. And then there's a final piece to this. So again, you're going to really stay wherever it suits you. But here if you're comfortable with the knees bent and the head hanging, you can actually continue to bend the knees and put them down on the mat and that's going to take you into a really nice big stretch. Now, if it felt scary putting your knees down, I don't recommend doing it. Or if you feel like, oh gosh, I'm hearing how do I get back up? Um, you might have to find a creative way to get out, but what I'm going to suggest is that you can press into your feet and really engage your abdominals and lift up using your legs, your abs, just your arms, and come back to that first shape. And just so that we have the experience on both sides. Again, I'm going to change which hand I was holding and I'm going to go through those pieces again.

So here I'll just start shifting forward and come to like a plank type position, right? Trust is open, the head gaze changes and then I'm going to bend the knees, let the head hang, be relaxed here and then I'm gonna decide do I feel comfortable here putting my knees down? I do. And then you can actually hear, even push forward a little bit that makes the stretch change and pull back a little bit. Okay. So it's really up to you. I like having the toes talked as mine are right now. So the pads on my toes are down. Um, you're welcome to put your feet flat, but this is also a really nice foot stretch. And anybody who who knows me knows I never miss an opportunity for a good foot stretch. And that's actually where we're headed next. So here if you, you can re recover here. You can either stand back up if that's best for you, or you can let go of your hands and simply come back and then sit on your feet. And now you're in a nice little foot stretch in a kneeling position. Now again, like I showed you, um, hopefully you've watched all of these or are protected in all of these, but I'm in the very first one. I showed this one where we, we, uh, had the feet flat and one of my clients had had come up with this, this version where she could get into a kneeling position.

I want to take that a step further. So I'm hoping your knees are comfortable here. Um, we're going to take one foot forward and the other foot forward and first come to a sitting position and just really relax through the shoulders. Now this is a nice reverse from what we just did. Ah, letting go. I feel so good. So I've, I've grounded down through my feet and I'm letting my whole back be inflection and I'm just kinda swinging a little bit forward and back. Like, honestly, I'm, I'm wanting to be a little playful and, and feel my legs and feel my body and I feel such a nice release through my back. Now for me, anything, inflection has always been difficult. Doing roll-ups or even chest lifts sometimes. So this has really helped me to create more range and I don't know, maybe a path to being able to hold on or, or, or find this position when I'm doing other exercises.

So you could stay here or you could walk your feet back a little bit and this is where we're going to take it into a different place. So I've also really enjoyed working with the deep squat and I think a lot of times, um, people that I work with have a hard time being in this position. So this is a way where you could stop anywhere and use your arms a little bit to help you find the, the range of motion you might need to get into this deep squat position. Now my feet are a little bit out in front of me and I'd like them to be more underneath me. So I've decided to pull them back. And so now here I'm in a more grounded deep squat position, letting my head hang and my arms are being pulled up and I'm swaying a little bit side to side so I can feel different sensation.

And what's interesting to me is when I sway, um, over to the right, I feel a lot of sensation on my left side, but I don't feel that same sensation when I go the other way. So I'm a little tighter on one side. So I invite you to explore and see what you feel. Feel free to stay here or move away from this or if you want to continue on and explore your flexibility through your legs and your feet. We can use our arms a little bit to support here and come up and over to the knees, press forward through the heart.

The feet are still stretching and then we come back through to the feet and I'm really almost like woo. That was a little too, I'm moving my feet back cause I didn't feel like I was in the right spot there. So a little further back with my feet. And now I feel I can go up and over and bring my heart forward and I can control the movement as I come back and through without it being a leap of faith to put my feet back down. That's perfect. So again, I'm in the squat position. I'm going up and over my two feet, putting my knees down, pressing forward through my heart. And You can also bring yourself upright and feel that real extreme foot stretch right here. Come forward.

Use the abdominals around, back in through flat feats. And one final piece here that feels really divine for me. Forward, I'm gonna untuck my feet and then release to my hands for the first time and enjoy a really wonderful stretch through my quadriceps. And I'm exploring a little bit side to side because that feels good. Now certainly if you don't want to go this far back, you could keep your elbows here and you could just lean back a little bit and that would feel nice. But I know for me, I really want to be in a nice big stretch here and that feels good. Opening maybe through the chest.

Cool. Wasn't in planning to do this, but now I see another whole series coming. Yeah. Here we go. [inaudible] Ah, and then you can use your arms to come up from there. And I thank you all so very much for hanging around with me.