Light and Buoyant Flow

Hi, I'm Meredith. And today we're gonna work on the spine corrector. I really hope you enjoy. It's one of my very favorite pieces of equipment. So here we go.

We're gonna start this movement practice sitting in the chair, the lip, the seat. And what I want us to do is just take your hands, I'm just fussing trying to get centered. So I imagine if I have to fuss to get centered maybe someone else does as well. I'm gonna leave my hands behind me for this moment. And I'm just gonna use a little bit of backward press with my arms, and I'm gonna lift my spine up and we're gonna take the arms out in front.

We're gonna take the arms overhead. So this is just our grounding practice. As the arms are reaching up the sitting bones get a little heavier. We take the arms up, we take the arms out, opening the chest. We're just gonna do this three times.

Reaching the arms forward soft. As you're moving your arms you can start to bring awareness to where your feet are and if they're not lined up in parallel, facing straight ahead, make that adjustment And reaching forwards. Last one. Abdominals drawing back. Spine lightening, lifting lifting, lifting, arms reaching out to the side and reaching forward. We're moving here, my friends. We're gonna go back.

About when the ribs hit the spine corrector we're gonna take the arms back, take the spine back, take the arms around, lift the head and draw in through the abdominals and sit all the way up tall. Inhale. Sometimes that's a little bit tricky or stiff Tight the first time, but it always feels easier the second time for me anyway. Reach back, take the arms around, take the arms forwards. Keep your gaze out in front of you as you lift your spine tall so the head stays in alignment with the spine. Inhale and exhale, go down, reach back, send the spine over the top.

Reach around, roll back up to sitting. Now from sitting we're gonna take the arms up again, bring the arms out to the side. We're gonna take the right arm down towards the ground, the left arm's reaching up overhead. If you can't quite reach the ground just push into the spine corrector instead, so leaning. Leaning if you need to bend your right arm to find a stretch you will.

And then float back up. Feel like a sense of buoyancy. And then the left arm comes down, the right sitting bone anchors and we bend the spine over to the left. And then we lift up soft and we do it again. Going over to one side just notice as you go to the one lateral flexion side or as the one side's finding a stretch just keep that opposite sitting bone down and lift soft. I use my arm, the one that's going onto the floor a little bit as I initiate coming back up.

I almost think of letting it propel me. You might notice you're going a little further each time. Usually that happens as the spine starts to open and stretch. We're making a change going over. You'll be breathing I hope.

We'll take the spine forward there. So rotation, back to lateral flexion, back to up. I like to inhale as I go over taking that opposite arm up overhead and reaching and stretching. Exhale as I take the rotation. So it's not the only way to breathe. It's just a suggestion.

Inhale, come back. And exhale to come up. Do that one more time to either side. Inhale, reach up and over noticing that the knees are still facing straight ahead. Exhale, pull the abdominals back as you take your rotation. Come back to the side. Come up and over landing softly.

Taking the rotation, coming back out of rotation and coming up, so we're making another change. Here we go. We're gonna go over to the first side. Allow that lateral flexion stretch to happen. Now, roll down that side, take your spine down on that side and then extend through center. You won't be completely centered or I'm not anyway.

And then we take it back. We roll back up into that lateral flexion and then we come up. And then we go over to the other side. The hand lands, the arm reaches overhead. We go back on that side, taking the arm back, it's like a one side body extension.

Feels amazing in my opinion. Go back around, side bend and up. Fun fact, I started just barely touching my hands to the floor as we started this side bending and now I'm right down on the palm of my hand. I hope you are too. Go back on this side, find extension, come back around, and up and over and rounds taking extension.

Coming back around and lifting up. And from up we'll take the arms forwards. And from there we go back again. Now notice how different the spine feels as it goes back after we did all that spine mending. So much more supple, so much more available, for me anyway.

Arms out to the side, head comes up, arms reach forward. We roll back up. Take the hands behind the head. Roll down through your spine. Take your body all the way over the top.

Pull back and down on your skull with your hands and then lift up, coming just to a straight line. Yes, it's a really difficult thing to do. You're welcome. And go back, inhale. And lift up. So finding a straight line. Feeling the back of the pelvis equal on both sides and back, inhale and exhale.

And inhale, feeling the feet on the floor. I always like to bring my awareness into my feet. It helps me find awareness in the center of my body somehow. Let's do three more. Back and lift, one. Deepening, squeezing the two sides of the pelvis towards one another and back.

And lift. (Meredith exhales deeply) Two, and back. And lift, three. Now from there, we're going forward and back. And from a straight line towards flexion and back. And in towards flexion and back.

And towards flexion and back. We're gonna do four more here. Forward, hollowing out through the center of the body and back. And three and back. Two and back. And one, take the arms forward.

Take the body all the way, arms reach back overhead. They come around to the sides. They reach forwards. We're gonna come up and we're just gonna reposition ourself over the top. So we'll bring the knees and feet together. You could do this sitting down on the barrel, I do it quite frequently.

But there's just a little bit more freedom to be had up on the top. Feel the back of the calves or the back of the legs against the, I have my calves touching the barrel. We're gonna rotate. So pull, pull, and center. And pull, pull and center. As we rotate, we lift up and around and center.

And up and around and center. And up and around. Taking a little break from that really difficult abdominal work. When I say we're taking a little break you know there's more to come, that's exciting. Get excited or I'll be excited for everyone. We'll do two more. Boom, boom, center.

Boom, boom, center. When I say two, I meant two to each side. So this is our last time. And pull, pull center. Now go over to the first side. Take your spine round. So I'm reaching towards the outside of the barrel on the same side, and sit back up and return to the middle and rotate.

And the elbow reaches down towards the corner of that barrel, taking flexion, coming back up. And coming to center. And inhale, twist. And exhale up and over, dive. The head just comes along with the movement of the spine and we find center and rotate, and up and over, dive. And back and center.

One more time over, up and over, dive. Back and center and over and around. And come up and return to center and take yourself back down. Repositioning the hands behind the head. Rolling back all the way.

Coming into the neutral alignment with your spine. Pause right there. Take rotation and center, take rotation and center. And go back and lift up and take rotation and center. Bringing the head along with the spine and center and back, inhale and exhale.

And turn and center and turn and deepen. Two more to each side. Back and up. And turn and center, and turn and center. Last one. There's a surprise at the end. So I'll tell you when it's gonna happen.

We'll do it together. Come up, take your rotation. Now take flexion and back. Five, four, opposite hip anchored, three, shoulders down away from the ears. Soft head heavy in the hands. Number one right here, go down into the middle, across to the other side and four and back.

And two and back. And three, deep, deep, deep, deep. And pulling the abdominals back towards that barrel, four, and five and back and into the middle and reach forwards. And now for the last time we go all the way over the back, all the way around with the arms, the head comes up and then we come all the way up and forward sitting tall. Hmm. We're gonna go over the back now. So the way to do that or the way I like to do it is to take a hold of the barrel.

Start using your legs to slide up onto the top with your pelvis and then bring your legs with you. So I'm holding onto the handles of the spine corrector. And I like this position, 'cause I can see if my pelvis is aligned. And what we're gonna do here is just bring the heels together. So sitting nice and steady, nice and centered in the hips.

We're gonna press up, point the feet. Open the legs wide, wide, wide, squeeze the legs back together, flex the feet and bend, push up and point. Imagine you're pulling against a heavy spring. Open wide, wide, wide, squeeze back together. And flex your feet and bend your knees three more times.

Pull the abdominals back, press up and point. Open, squeeze, bend and press up and point. Two. And open watching the pelvis, making sure that as the legs are moving through space they're moving symmetrically. That can be challenging. And also that the pelvis stays still. Flex and bend.

One more. Push up, point. I'm in turnout or I'm in the external rotation. Squeeze back in. And abdominals pull in as the knees bend. Now stretch up. We're changing the movement. Pointing the feet, scissors. Top leg goes back.

Bottom leg goes down. We go pull, pull and center. As we change legs, the body, we're thinking about being the center of the scissors. So the bottom leg is working a lot to stabilize the pelvis. As the top leg comes up, the bottom leg goes down.

We find center. Top leg comes in, bottom leg goes down. We find center. We'll do two more. And center. And two and center. Creating our rhythm and center, and one and center. You can use your arms in a fairly vigorous manner to get some back work, to get some arm work.

We go back into the scissor. I've got right leg up left leg down, helicopter the legs. Full rotation, full reach in every direction. Come back to the center. Reverse. Go around, around, around, around, around.

And land in center and reverse. And full rotation. Finding that nice fluid movement. Full rotational action in the hips and reverse. And all the way around reaching out in space as your legs travel through that helicopter shape and center and change and circle. Keeping the pelvis stationary, stable.

And change and circle. Using that bottom glute helps support the front of the hip. One more in each direction, please my friends, reach around. Keeping the tailbone anchored onto that barrel and center and reverse and reach around and finding center. From here we'll take it into parallel alignment.

We'll take the legs forward. Keep the back stable. Keep the back stable. We'll bring them back up. Keeping them mid back against the barrel, tip over so the legs find parallel to the floor. Open the legs, take them down a little lower and then roll down. Feeling the pelvis come against the barrel, pointing the feet take the legs down, touch together, lift up and over.

And flex and open. And maybe they go down a little further. And then we roll. Point down together. Touch and up and over and open and down. And roll down. Point down together and up, last time.

Over, fluid movement through the body. One thing becoming the next, like a dance. The feet point, the legs come down together. We're gonna bend the knees. We're gonna take the hands onto the mat, press up, put the feet down, slide yourself back through and sit up.

Another way to do that would just be to stay over there and push the barrel out from underneath you. But it's a little sticky on that mat, so still a little fancy transition. We're gonna turn to our side. Positioning our body towards the front of the barrel hands come behind the head. We're gonna reach out to come up.

So the head is reaching that way. The leg is reaching in the opposite direction. It's not a big movement, but it certainly is a nice one. And lift up and down. And up and down.

One more like that, up. So that's a total of four in case I miscount on the other side, which is likely. I'll try hard but you never know. Now this time we're gonna lift the leg as the body's lifting and take it back down. And lift the leg as the body's lifting.

And so the full side of the body gets some work, the hip, the obliques. Find that line and down. And two and down. And one and done. So once we're down, we're gonna take the bottom arm down.

We're gonna take that top arm and reach it, we take the top arm around the back. Allow the hip to open out to the side, take the arm down towards the thigh, reach the arm forward, bend forward. Take the arm up and back and around. Take the arm forward and bend forward. One more time. Up, reaching actively through the leg is a good way to get more of a stretch here.

Around and back. Once you're back, we're gonna push up and turn sides. Coming all the way down. Hands behind the head, sitting towards the front or positioned towards the front of the barrel. We go up and down.

lifting the body so that the head stays in line with the spine. Lift up, drawing in and back through the waist and down, four to go. So four total two to go. Up and down. And gathering the side of the body. Before we lift we wanna feel what we're lifting from and down.

Now we're going out and we lift the leg up. And down. And lift the leg, two. And down. And lift the leg, three. And down. And lift the leg, four. And down. And once you're down, let the bottom arm go down.

You could always support your head if you wish. You can take that arm overhead, reach energetically through that straight leg and circle to the back, let the pelvis open and reach forward. And reach back. Let the pelvis open. And reach forward, pulling back through the center of the body, try to pull back away from the knee that's in the front. And reach back and arounds.

And then finding center. Taking the arm down and coming up. What we're gonna do now is we're gonna turn towards forward. I'm gonna put the, hmm, it's gonna be different for all of us depending on how tall we are. So where I'm orienting my body is my pelvis is kind of on the backwards slope of the arc.

And I wanna be able to get my forearms and my elbows down. As long as you can get your forearms and your elbows down, that is great. The feet are flexed, I want you to stand in your legs, almost like you're gonna lift yourself off that barrel, like a push-up. You're not, but what if you did, what if you had to? Slide the elbows back, slide the shoulder blades back.

With that backward gliding action in the shoulder blades look towards the front of your mat and then begin lifting the elbows away from the floor. And then as the elbow's been pulled back, like you're trying to pull the mat closer to the barrel and go down. Backward glide shoulder blades, head reaches up and forward. Arms straight in. And bend. And backward glide shoulder blades, arms straight in and bend.

Let's just do one more like that. Backward glide shoulder blades, reach up, take that stretch through the chest, through the spine and bend. And then scoot a little bit more forward on the barrel. So you're more right over the top with your pelvis, reposition the elbow, so there again, just under the shoulder. So they'll have to shift a little forward.

Keep the legs together. We're gonna just keep the feet pointed now. We're gonna do the same exercise. Backward glide, start straightening the arms. You'll feel a little bit more extension through the whole spine or the lower spine albeit more in focus.

As we take the elbows down, we're gonna lift the legs, almost like we're gonna dive forward onto that mat. And then as the legs are going down we start pulling the arms, pulling the arms. When I say pulling the arms, I mean pulling the shoulder blades back, like I'm trying to pull my hands towards the barrel. Not from my hands, but from my back muscles and then bend and rock. Almost like you're gonna tip over off the front of that barrel.

And then back up, up, up, up as the legs go down. We're gonna do two more. Feel like when you go slow, like I like to go slow there's not a lot of time for a ton of reps but they'll be nice, good reps. Fully focus. One more time, legs go up, elbows go down. Find that hip extension, take the feet down, lift the arms up.

And then take the hands back, let the knees come into that barrel. And then maybe a little bit wider through the arms as you start walking towards the outside and then onto the top. We'll shift the knees just behind and we'll sit back. So finding a rest position. And then start rolling. So big, deep round in the spine, rolling up, shifting the weight of the body forward over the arms.

Kinda like down stretch, press the thighs into the barrel and lift your chest. And then start taking the thighs away from the barrel and around and sit back. And around and come forwards. And take the body forwards, lifting up and back. And round. I'm just gonna do one more.

And rolling forwards, lifting up into that extension, pressing the hips forward, lifting the spine up and back and around. And then I'm letting the hands start sliding down the barrel just as is needed, as you start to bring your pelvis over your knees. Coming up into a kneeling position. Taking the arms up. Taking the arms out to the side. And bringing the arms all the way down.

Thank you so much for taking this class with me. I had fun. I hope you did.