Day 9: Precision

Welcome to day nine. It's unbelievable how far we've come. Well not really unbelievable. It's totally believable because here we are on day nine together and that makes me feel so happy. So, I hope you're happy.

I'm excited that we're together. Yahoo. So I've got a ball and the reason why I chose the ball when we're focusing today, on speaking of precision, is I feel like there's nothing like something unstable to highlight your asymmetries. And we all have them. Oh yeah, if you don't have asymmetries, please let me know.

I would love to meet you. I want to, I mean it. So, I just thought that we always speak of precision in Pilates. You can't do Pilates well without precision ever. But today, we're gonna use the ball to highlight that.

So here we go. So turn and stand on your mat facing the front. Take the ball, just rest it against your body. It will just land where it does with it in your arms when your arms are straight. I want you to press the ball gently against your pelvis.

I want you to lift your sternum. So don't go backwards, go up and forwards. It's a little bit of back extension right away. And then just come away from that. So let's do that on an inhale.

Fill up the lungs, fill up the spine. Big breath in and let that go. And two more big breaths in, reach up and forward so it's not a lot of visual movement. I don't think. I can't see myself, but it doesn't feel like it would be like a lot of visual movement.

But it feels like a lot. It feels like a very strong sense of energizing the spine. And now just come towards neutral and drop your chin into your chest. Roll down so that you can put your hands, not the hands, no not the hands, the ball. The ball is gonna go into the mat.

So reorganize your hands so they're just at the top of the ball. We're gonna take the body out long. We reach out, lift the tail up. We get that nice, open spine stretch. And exhale.

Now if you're like me and you've been doing these classes pretty consistently, you might feel a little soreness. I'm gonna go ahead and admit that I do. So reach out, reach out. It's not a bad thing. I just know that I've worked my body in different ways.

And round, so feel that as you're coming up, you're still pushing the ball away. Not by lifting the scapula, but just with your energy. Just with your energy. And then can we bring awareness to the balance? Are we balanced on both legs?

Reach out, reach out, reach out. Now hold here, bend your knees. Get a little longer in your spine. And now stretch the legs. Inhale, do you notice the ball wobbling from side to side?

That's a sure tell that you're wobbling on your feet. So can we keep the ball absolutely still? And inhale back, good. Oops, I just shifted to the right. And exhale stretch.

And inhale bend. And last one, exhale stretch. Inhale, exhale, roll the ball up. Readjust your hands so you can pick it up. We're gonna roll up all the way.

I want you to take the ball up over your head and just let the weight of the ball rest in your hands. And we're gonna let the weight of the ball, rest in the underneath hand as we reach over to one side, nice open spine stretch, excellent. So lift up. Inhale, reach up to go over heavy ball in the bottom hand. And then push with the bottom hand to lift up.

Let's do that one more time. Get taller, inhale. It's a very exciting day here at Pilates anytime we've got sharks in the water. And all the way back up. And then bring your arms down.

I'm not afraid of sharks and I don't go in the ocean. And we're just gonna come onto the ball. So put it on the floor. Don't fall off it. And then sit on the top.

Put it more toward the back of the mat than the front of the mat. And what I want us to do is just start to walk the feet forward until you arrive around the lower back. Basically I want you to be able to be pretty comfortable here. Like you're not having to do a ton of work just to stay on the ball here. Then we're gonna take the arms overhead, inhale.

We're gonna reach back with the body. So here's another place, can we feel that the ball is shifting? Or that the feet are shifting, probably. And we have to do our very best to just control. And you roll up, reach forward.

And roll back. And reach back, opening up the front of the body. That feels amazing. And reach out, and forward. And one more.

And reach out, and forward. So from here, feel that the lower spine is supported. We're gonna take the hands behind the head. So come into a place where you're in a long line from your pelvis to your head. We're gonna feel the abdominals engage as we reach back.

Inhale and then exhale, lift up, go long. So I'm not curling forward. I'm trying to create a straight body. And then we go through extension. And lift up and create a straight line.

So let's use an inhale breath. To go back, and exhale breath to lift up. And you wanna try, you're gonna feel this a lot around your ribs, in that area. But let's try to feel some contractions, some sensation drawing the two hip joints together or the sides of the pelvis together to create some feedback or some sensation in the lower part of the abdominals. I'm gonna do two more.

Lifting as you exhale and inhaling to go back. Last time, lifting as you exhale. Hold and pause. And now we are gonna go for it, so curl, and back. Curl and back.

So pulling in to the ball with the abdominals and we'll do four, and three, oops, is your ball moving around? Mine just did a little. Two, I gotta organize so it doesn't. One, and then I wanna just walk back. We can keep the hands behind the head.

So see if you can bring your legs all the way together. That's gonna create some stability challenge just as is. So if you need to, just take your feet apart. It's totally fine. It's up to you.

So those are our two options. We breathe in. Draw in through the abdominals. Such a nice place to twist in this sitting upright position when you're not having to, center, work out the tightness or... Tightness is really what I want to say, tightness in the legs, tightness in the hips, tightness in the back.

It's a lot more freeing to be able to be up here in upright place. It's also nice to do standing twisting. And that center. Abdominals in, lift, head back into the hands, twist. And center.

And twist. And center. One more time to each side, exhale. And unwind with control, with contractions. So we have to think about what we're doing all the time.

Being precise, come through our back so that you're walking back down. Feet back down on the mat, reorganizing so that the low backs back against the ball. Reach back inhale. Exhale, come up and over to the left. Can the ball stay still?

Inhale center, and down. Exhale, up and over to the right. And center and back. Lifting through center, cross over. Come back and down, lifting through center, cross over.

Come back and down. Let's do two more to each side. So I'm in a little bit of flection. I'm coming through neutral and do a little bit of flection through neutral and back. Through neutral, do a little bit of flection, through neutral, and back.

(exhale) Now come to the center, lengthen out to that flat back and twist, center, oh yeah. It's not easy. Twist, center, so that the pelvis is still. Knees are still. Twist, center, we're going two more times to each side.

Here's one, and one. And, oop, two. That's me catching myself needing to stay left, two. And center, take the arms forward. Just come down.

So I've walked my pelvis. I'm actually away from the ball with my hips. I'm quite low in like a squat shape. And I go into a full extension of the spine. So I'm gonna press from the back legs.

I want you to think about the backs of your legs, your hip extensors. Take the arms back. The spine back. Take the arms around forward, and bend. And again reach back.

Reach over the top. Go around to the side and bend, enjoy. That's a suggestion, or not. It's up to you. I like it.

Such a nice, how often do we ever go into like that full back extension in a really supportive, kind of easy, yummy place. Not very is the answer in my world. And bend. So to get off the ball, we're just gonna walk back. And stand up.

And we're gonna come down onto the mat. So I want us to take the ball and put it just in front of the knees. Lift the spine tall, inhale. We're gonna exhale, roll the ball over the tops of the knees. Oh yeah, we're doing some more abdominal work.

I'm sorry. Reach down, sorry not sorry. Inhale, exhale, roll up. Roll the ball down the shins. And lift the spine, inhale.

Exhale, roll down. It's almost, I don't know, for me it almost feels kinda easier to have that weight of the ball go down. And sometimes having something to push surprisingly makes the movement easier, not harder. I don't know if that's true for everyone. But it's true for some.

And we go back. And we go up. And then just think about nice, easy movements. Just lift the back, inhale, pulling back on the ball. Round the spine again.

So you have two options here. One is to leave the ball in your thighs and second is to pick the ball up and you'll get some shoulder work that way. And we're gonna twist. The lower back is connected to the mat. Twist, center, twist.

And if the balls on your legs you just roll it, center. Roll it, center. Roll it, center. Roll it, center, last time. Roll it, center, oh and that's enough, rest.

So let's, I'm not on my mat. So I'm gonna move onto my mat. Head comes down. I'm gonna bring the feet onto the ball. So, there'll be some instability.

That's probable. There definitely will be in my, in my experience. So maybe there won't be in yours, but prepare for it. So we're gonna press the heels down. We're gonna curl the tail up.

You will feel your hamstrings. I promise. Lift all the way up so that you're in that bridge position. Try to hold the ball still, inhale. And exhale, roll down.

So in my imagination, my body probably does some of that side to side shifting when my feet are on the ground. I just can't feel it quite as much. I mean I'm sure it's not to the same degree 'cause there's nothing moving underneath me. But can we use the ball to really highlight that sense of standing equally on each foot. Being really balanced with our stance.

Inhale and exhale. While at the same time your hamstrings are screaming at you. Don't tell me they are not. I know they are. I can feel mine.

Last two, roll up, woa. I'm starting over. That was really bad. Roll up, and really off-center. So guess what we're gonna do now, so fun?

We're gonna take the legs out and back. And take the legs out, and pull in. Oh yes, and take the legs out. And pull it in. And two more, feeling the stretch, the length of the leg.

Then the contraction. One more time out. And back. And now bring it down. Oh yeah, that's tough.

And guess what I told you two more then I did that. I wasn't lying, we're gonna do it again. Sorry, or yay. Roll up, stretch out, bend in. Stretch up, lift the hips.

And bend, stretch out, lift the hips. And bend, last two. Bend, bend. One more time out. One more time in.

And down all the way. Alright so let's rest the shins, the calves on the ball. I'm not right up against my thighs. I'm just a little bit apart. Bring the arms out to the sides.

And then inhale into the spine twist. You can go quite a lot further with the ball underneath your feet. It feels pretty good. And exhale, come back. And inhale, other side.

Reach it over, over, over. And exhale come back. And inhale, reach it over, over, over. Enjoy, that was a suggestion. And pull back.

And then what do you need in your body? That's all suggestions for me but you have every opportunity to look for what you need and to find it, hopefully. And back. Just gonna go one more time. So you reach out.

And we come back. Then I want you to just take the ball into your feet. Just hold it with your feet, pick it up and put it in your hands. Take your legs out in front of you. Ball is just over the chest.

Gonna bring the head and chest up. We're gonna roll up. Oh yes we are. We're gonna put the ball down on the shins, roll it out over the feet. Once it gets out over the toes, push it down.

It's a nice stretch for the front of the ankles. Roll back. Reach back. Lift up. Roll up.

Reach forward. Stretch, maybe lengthen the back. Then round the back and roll down. And back one more time. Lift up.

Roll up. Reach forward, maybe lengthen the back. Round the back, we're not gonna go all the way down. Sit up. Take the ball, pull it on to the top of your head.

Elbows wide, spine lifted, another twist. So now we feel the difference between sitting and how easy that twist was and then being, having to work around the mobility or lack of mobility in our hips. Alright, do one more to the other side. What we're gonna do when we get there, we're gonna push the ball up and we're gonna lift. Bend, center, rotate, push the ball up, lift.

And bend, center, point your feet, reach the ball forward, push it forward and stretch. Okay, so now what I want us to do is come up onto our knees. Maybe you need to pull your pants up like me. Put the ball like up against your thigh. Get it real close in, wedge it.

And then lean on it. And then the bottom leg is gonna shift out slightly. Or just make it feel comfortable so that you can be on your side without too much trouble. We're gonna take that upper arm out and take the body over and up. Inhale and lift.

So you can use the leg on the floor to create an anchor. As you just side bend, and lift. Just two more, inhale. And up, exhale. One more, inhale.

Is the ball rolling around? And exhale, come down, arms on the ball, lift the leg up, flex the foot, kick forward. Can you keep the ball still? It's practically impossible for me. Forward, forward, back, back.

Forward, forward, back and up. Two more, back and up. One more, I still feel my hips from the last time we did this. It's true, and bring the knee down. Twist so that you're sitting towards the hip you just worked.

Push the ball away to sit down. Come up all the way. Take the top arm on top of the ball. Reach the arm out, other arm out. We're gonna reach over, inhale.

It's a little bit more user friendly, this exercise. And lift. And inhale, reach out. Easy on the bottom arm. The ball just rolls with you.

There's no really pushing of the ball. It just moves because the spine moves. We're gonna rotate now, come back. And lift up. And inhale over, and rotate.

And open, and up, and inhale over. And rotate, and up. And then bring the ball around to the other side. And get on it. So we have that leg as an anchor.

The ball is being supported by the trunk. We go over and up. Inhale, the abdominals pulling back toward the spine all the time. Precision, stability, breath. (exhale) One more and then we're gonna go down.

Hands on the ball, lifting the top leg up, letting the body rest on that ball, kick forward, forward, reach back. Kick forward, forward, reach back. Inhale and back. Last two holding the ball still. That's the biggest challenge maybe.

Forward, forward, back, back. Bend, push off, sit back. And then come up, take the hand onto the ball. Reach over, inhale. And lift.

And reach over, inhale. And exhale, one more adding rotation. Inhale and exhale, rotate, reach that top arm around. Inhale, unwind. Exhale to the left.

And inhale, the spinal rotation is probably like one of my top five best feeling things. So I hope you enjoy it. I love it. Reach and then no class on the ball would be complete without a little bit of stability work prone. So what we do is we take the ball backwards.

We're gonna get on it. And we're gonna walk out to where the ball's just about underneath the knees. Oh, don't fall. And so, if you want it to be harder still, you could go out to your ankles. If you want it to be easier you can come closer to your knees.

We're gonna curl the body in. We're gonna round the spine and pull the ball underneath us. And as I do that I'm not thinking of resting on the ball. I'm thinking of almost trying to lift off it. Curl and lift.

And back. And curl and lift and back. Who likes push-ups? I like push-ups. Let's do three.

And press one. Bend, press two. Bend, press three. Keep the right leg on the ball, take the left leg off, touch. Come back on top.

Reach, touch, come back on top. Reach, touch, come back on top. And two, come` back on top. Balance your weight through your arms, one, hold. Oh, who likes push-ups?

If you don't like push-ups don't do any. I'm gonna do three. One, two, three. Right leg goes off, touch, and comes back on. And touch, and comes back on.

And lift through your abs and on. Last two, oh, one more. I have to confess, I don't want to do anymore push-ups. So we're gonna pike. We're gonna curl, knees underneath the body.

And reach out. And exhale, knees underneath the body, pull in, in, deep, deep, deep, and reach back. Do one more, pull in lifting off the ball. Energetically lifting off the ball, dropping the head, reaching the knees under, reach back out and walk back. (exhale) Whoa, that was hard for me.

Was that hard for you? So let's just lie on the ball now. So you can just drape your body over the top of the ball. So just allow the body to wrap over the ball. This should feel good.

I can't tell you really exactly where you need to be for yourself. But I can tell you that if you move so that you get closer to the feet, the stretch will be more towards the lower back. And if you move so you get more towards the upper body or the chest, the stretch will move in that direction. And maybe that's different for you. I'm just explaining the sensation that I feel.

So what I want you to do, so I want you to just find where it feels good to you and I'll do the same. And maybe you wanna be in that spot for a minute and be in a slightly different place. And then we'll come all the way back down. And then what we're gonna do next is another one of my favorite things to do. So I want us to rest the body, the trunk and torso, on the ball.

You can have your toes untucked. I like to tuck my toes under. I'm trying to convince my feet to go that way. As I get older, they're getting less flexible so I like to challenge that when I can. Then just wrap around the ball like you're gonna hug it.

And then take the arms out. Let the body just press into the ball, arms reach out. So I've just lifted to like, straight. And then rotate the palms, press the arms back, lift the chest up, up, up, up, up. Reach back out, find your straight body and reach around it, yep.

I hope you like this. So out feeling supported abdominals in. That'd be nice. Let the pelvis reach forward, towards the ball as you reach and find your extension. Come back to straight and round over the top.

And then do three more. So open the arms. Try what it feels like to close your eyes and just feel into your movement. Feel into your movement. And then come back and reach over.

And two more so just light and easy. Some things with the ball are so, so, so, so hard and some are just so nice. That's real. And just one more time, reaching out, opening the back, take the arms all the way down to the sides. Take the arms all the way up overhead, reaching backwards and then round forward.

And just reposition yourself over the top of the ball for one more stretch. Maybe this stretch will be slightly in a different place. You'll wanna put yourself in a slightly different place here. And then we'll come down. And we'll come up.

Can you believe that there is only one more day of this challenge? I almost can't. Feels a little bittersweet if I'm honest. But, show up. I will.

We're gonna talk about harmony.