Class #1496

Matwork Leading to the Bow

60 min - Class
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Elizabeth Larkam teaches a class she calls "Sequencing for Success - Matwork Leading to the Bow and Swan Dive Rocking." Explore a series of progressions of prone exercises, along with Shoulder Bridge variations and Oscillations. We hope that you perfect your Swan Dive with this creative and effective workout!
What You'll Need: Mat

About This Video

Mar 10, 2014
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Welcome to Polonious anytime. I'm Elizabeth Larkin and I'm so happy to be back with you in this gorgeous studio. I'm here to teach you one of my newest classes, sequencing for success. Matt, work leading to the bow and swan dive rocking. I'm here with my colleagues. Rhonda Pressner is the owner of fit wise philosophies and wellness in El Sorito, California. Norris Tomlinson is from Chicago, Illinois. Where is the owner of [inaudible]? [inaudible] just yesterday, Nora shot two new classes, so be sure to find his classes on [inaudible] anytime and Daniel Holder is from Salt Lake City. She is with pinnacle performance in Salt Lake.

Here we go. In sideline on the Mat, come to line your side with both knees bent. Support your head with your arm resting as you are comfortable here. We're going to start with preparation for the shoulder and rotation of the thoracic spine. Bending your elbow, put your hand at your shoulder. Now Roll your shoulder up and forward. Down and back. Inhale up in forward.

Exhale, reverse back forward up and back gliding your shoulder blade around your rib wall. Now Circle your elbow. Oh, forward, up, around and back. [inaudible] inhaling, gliding your shoulder blade, reverse around your rib wall. Elbow aims down, back up, around, and forward. Down, back up, around and forward. Yeah, rotating your thoracic spine. Now as you exhale, rotate, turn towards the ground, the light from your chest bone towards the floor. As you inhale, your elbow moves towards the ceiling and you roll in the direction of your back. Exhale to roll forward. Broadening between your shoulder blades.

Inhale to roll to the back. And we have twice more of these. Two more of these keeping your knee one knee on top of the other so that the pelvis stays fairly steady and the rotation is focused in the thoracic area. The reason we have the elbow bent is show that you so that you have a short lever of your arm and him can focus on proximal rotation. Now puts your bent elbow hand on the ground, push up and turn to the other side.

So here you are on your new side, supporting your head with your arm, bending your elbow with your hand at your shoulder. Slide your shoulder up forward and slide your shoulder blade down and back. Inhaling, making the focus of this movement, your shoulder blade reverse direction forward and up, around and back so it's a shoulder blade. Makes a circle now reverse direction and add your elbow, your bent elbow circle. Also elbow and shoulder blade. Glide back closer to your spine, elbow and shoulder blade. Glide forward further from your spine. Reverse forward up and around exposing your chest bone forward, forward, up and around.

Now you'll add thoracic rotation. As you exhale, your elbow comes forward, turning your left lung, your lung in front of you to the mat, and then turning your lung behind you towards the ceiling. Usually exhale, which is coming now. Exhale will facilitate spine fluxion or rotation in the direction of flection and inhalation will facilitate rotation in the direction of extension. Twice more here, keeping your ceiling knee on top of your floor, knee, keeping your knees steady, encouraging the rotation in your thoracic spine. Exhale to turn and inhale to rotate.

Aim your elbow a long way from your torso. Now push up from here and come onto all fours with your head at the opposite side. Here you are on all fours. Rotating your thoracic spine to the left, sliding your right hand to the left. Exhale, bending your right elbow, left elbow and turn so your right ear can listen to the ground. Puts your right fingers on your right shoulder and turn your right elbow towards the ceiling. Again, rural. Rotate towards the left. Slide your right arm underneath a long distance from shoulder blade to spine, and then bending your elbow as you turn.

We're using twice more rotation as the preparation for extension. Sitting bones. Aim up the wall behind you. Push into the palm of your hand. Inhale to turn. Exhaling rotation in the direction of flection and inhale rotation in the direction that extension plant the palm of your right hand and turning to your right. As you exhale, bending your right elbow, left ear listens to the ground, sliding your supporting shoulder blade down, fingers towards your shoulder, turning towards your elbow, towards the ceiling. Sliding your shoulder blade down as if the bottom of your right scapula could come towards your left hip pocket. Your left psis.

Press into the ground, making a clear connection from the little fingers side of your hand on the Rod side to your pelvis on the left side. Once more, exhale to rotate and inhale to come up. Now come on to your front and here you are with your right hand on top of your left hand. Tuck your toes under Dorsey flection with your heels in line with the sitting bones. Place the center of your forehead along the back of your right hand, pushing with the sole of your left toes. As you inhale, slide your head to the right.

Elongating the right side of your neck as if your right ear could listen past your right elbow. Exhale, center pressing with the sole of your right toes. Inhaling, sliding your forehead along the back of your forearm. Ear, left ear listens, passed your left elbow. Once again, each side, push down with the sole of your left hose. Plant your points, your right foot, the right ankle in Dorsi flection. That's planted collection. I'm so sorry. It's one of those two. Anyway, points your foot. Flex your foot here so you create a ground force with your right foot and your left leg reaches long through planter flection.

Come back to the center. Inhale to slide to the right. Right ear listens past your right elbow. Hover your right elbow off the ground. Exhale to come back to center. Planting your right elbow and your right foot. Inhaling, hovering your left elbow, left ear listens past your left elbow.

Come to center once again. That expression on each side, left toes tuck under right foot points. Long right ear listens past your right elbow, right toes tucked under, creating a ground force reached long to listen past your left elbow. Herc come back to the center. Come to lie on your back now for a bridge. Bending both knees, heels in line with your sitting bones.

Arms reach along your torso towards your heels. Fingertips reaching in the direction of your heels. It's a neutral bridge. Now as you inhale, lift your hip joints, your pelvis up to the ceiling. Gently lower your front ribs slightly away from the ceiling. Now lift your right heel and put it down and lift your left heel and put it down. Continue this action.

Lifting your right heel and down, steadying your ribs away from the ceiling. Lift both heels, lift them up and and down. Turn your arms, palms up. Lift both heels up and down. Nod your nose downward just a little bit as you lift your pelvis higher. Steering your ankles right over your second toes. Lifting your heels, both of them lifting your pelvis higher.

Two more Ruffie's in a neutral bridge. Land your heels. Land your pelvis and turn to lie on your side facing me, lying on your side, facing me. We'll have um, your both arms forward now and as you exhale, slide your hand forward. As you inhale, turn towards the ceiling as if your nose could follow your thumb. Steer your top knee forward and turn seeing your thumb behind you and then sweep your thumb to the ceiling and land once again.

As you exhale, slide your palm along the ground. Broadening between the shoulder blades, using a longer lever. Now to encourage more rotation following your thumb, collecting your lower front ribs, turning to see behind you and sweep up to the ceiling, starting the circles around you. Now exhale to slide forward. Keeping your palm in contact with the ground for as long as is reasonable. As you take your arm above their head, there will come a time when it fanning open your ceiling ribs.

You can turn your arm over so your palm facing the ceiling and continue rotating. Seeing into the space behind you and keeping the back of your hand the best you can in contact with the ground. Circling all the way around until your arm comes to rest on your thigh. Reverse the direction. Now exhale to circle back, rotating thoracic spine to the back. Keeping your ceiling knee on top of your floor.

Knee circle around aiming your knee of ceiling knee a long way from the fingers of your circling hand. Come all the way around there preparing your shoulders for bow and swan dive rocking change to the new side, so relocate. Now push up and your head will come onto the new side. I'm at a little bit of a disadvantage on this raised mat here because then my hand is open chain. My colleagues have a much richer experience proprioceptively richer experience because their hand can be close chain with the floor, no to you at home and in the studio.

Feel free to use head cushions or towels, pillows, et Cetera, to put your neck in a comfortable position with support so there's not quite so much lateral flection of your cervical spine. As you exhale, slide your hand forward using the contact with the floor to give feedback to the width of your shoulders from your spine. As you inhale, keep your nose and your gaze aiming towards your thumb and broadening the space from your chest bone out through your palm, out through your middle fingers. Rotate seeing your hand behind you and then follow your hand to the ceiling and come all the way down. We'll do that again. Exhale to go forward and following your thumb with your gaze. Following your thumb with your nose. Keep the rotation.

Focus proximal here so that you always illuminate your thumb with your nose. Sure it would be possible to take the arm further back without proximal rotation, but you might regret that later when it came time for rocking in bows. So be honest here. Now rotate as sliding your hand on the ground. Exhale to come forward, and then keeping your hand in contact with the ground.

I'm imagining the ground for us here. Keeping your palm in contact with the floor as you can above your head fan. Open your ribs, making room for your ceiling lung, and then turn your arm over, rotating in the shoulder socket and turn to see your arm behind you sliding the back of your hand along the ground until your hand comes to rest. Caressing. There we go. The side of your thigh. Reverse the direction. Now exhale to rotate. Turning your ribs, your lungs, your chest bone, your head, neck and eyes. Seeing your hands sweep the floor behind you.

Reaching long from your sitting bone through the little fingers side of your hand, reaching all the way around until you come to land. One Palm on the other. Push up now and come to all fours with your head towards this side of the ocean. Here you are on all fours. As you exhale, slide your right leg back behind you. Collecting your lower front ribs reach. Hover your right leg off the ground.

Stand your ground on your right hand and your left knee Shin and reach around to hold onto some aspect of your right foot, ankle, or Shin holding on to something that belongs to you. As you inhale, lift your knee up. As you exhale, press down with the palm of your hand and lift your chest phone a little bit higher. Inhale to lift your knee up. As you exhale, kick back into your hand. Lift your chest bone more than your chin. Yes, I know that's physically impossible, but it's worth trying because we're aiming. Continue this action for thoracic extension here.

Not so much cervical hyperextension easy. Now let go of that and bring your leg down. Give yourself a wide base with the palm of your left hand Dorsi. Flex your left foot as you exhale. Slide your left toes back behind you.

Creating a long distance from the left ear lobe through your left heel and then reach long through your left toes. Hover your left leg off the ground. Create a diagonal to stand on, but from your left hand to your right knee and prepare yourself to take a hold of something that belongs to you. Foot, ankle, Shin. As you inhale, kick your foot back into your hand. Lift your toes up. As you exhale, press down with your left palm. Lifting your chest bone more than your chin. Inhaling, kick your foot up. Exhale.

Stand into the ground to lift your chest bone twice more. Exhale, kickin lift. Inhale to live. Exhale, depress. Further easy. Now come down from this. Come onto your front with your left hand on top of your right hand.

Now elbows wide to the side, heels about sitting bone with the part left hand on top of your right hand. Now with the center of your forehead in contact with the back of your hands. Keep your forehead in contact there. As you inhale, move only your eyes to look up underneath your eyebrows. As you exhale, points your feet and hover your arm. It's your hands, your upper chest up off the ground. Look higher up underneath your eyebrows.

Lift a little more and then land your hands. Tuck your toes. Sender. Inhale to fill up y to the back and sides of your lungs. As you exhale, press your toes long into Plantar flection. Look up underneath your eyebrows while you're up here.

Glide only your eyes to look at the top of your right ear and side bend to the right. Glide your eyes to look at the top of your left ear and side bend to the left. Come to the center. Look up behind your eyebrows. Come a little higher and Tuck your toes. Center land. [inaudible]. Inhale to prepare for flooding the sides and the back of your lungs and ribs.

As you exhale, points your feet long. Look up underneath your eyebrows. Hover now. Move Your eyes to see your right elbow. Rotate to the right. Exhale to come. Center. Look up underneath your eyebrows. Glide your eyes to see your left elbow. Hover, extension and rotation. We'll do that once more each side.

Inhale, extension and rotation. Exhale, center. Inhale, extension and rotation. Come to the center and land. Come to lie on your back. Now for bridge [inaudible] you hear you are on your back and we're moving in the direction of shoulder bridge now. So bend both knees, fingertips reaching for your heels. Lift your pelvis, plant your feet and lift your pelvis straight up and keeping your hips lifted. Position yourself so that you can have the heels of your hands underneath your pelvis to support your pelvis. Lift Your Chin just a little bit so that your cervical spine is not too flat supported here. Lift your right heel up, lower your right heel and slightly lower your front. Lower Front ribs.

Lift your left heel alternate. Now steering your ankle directly forward over your third toe. Now lift both heels. Lower your um, xiphoid process just a little bit. Alternate heels come up and heels come down and heels up and down, aiming your knees inward towards the midline, up and down and up and down. Easy. Now let go with your hands and return your neutral spine towards the Mat.

Slide your left leg out, long slide your right leg out long, keeping your inner ankle bones and big toes very close together. Perhaps touching bend your knees just a little bit. And also late oscillate here to remind your structure that that particular exercise is over. Continue the oscillation through with pressing a a ground force at the back of your heels. Keep your left leg going and bring your right knee into your torso. Continue this oscillation, this rhythm, and then plant the back of your right heel and continue that.

Also elation as you bring your left knee into your torso, both legs out, stretch and rest. But the rest is over. Now come to lie on your side facing me and we'll take the a side leg kick with them. Side like uh, bicycles. So coming onto your side, my preference for side leg kick would be so hover on your greater trow Kantar palms together. Fingers interlaced, pressing your floor, hand up in the direction of the ceiling. Dorsey, flex your feet and create a little bit of a ground force with the little toe side of your foot pushing into the ground. Lifting up your ribs and lifting up your waist. This hand, the floor hand presses up. Inhale to go forward. Bend your knee and reach back.

Sweep forward with your heel points, your foot. Bring your toe to your knee and reach your toes back behind you. Twice more. Inhale forward. Exhale to sweep back. Inhale forward. Exhale to sweep back. Reverse the direction. Bend your knee.

Aim your top sitting bone towards your bottom ankle, so the top way stays long and the bottom waist stays short. Twice more. Articulating your ankle, articulating your toes, your foot. Once again, forward. Reach back, reaching long across the front of your hip, joint out through your toes. Change now to the new side. [inaudible] turn around. Here we are on the new side. If the hallways, the new side, your floor hand, it's pressing up into your ceiling hand.

Create a little bit of a kickstand with the little toe side of your foot on the ground. National your shoulder blades into your rib wall. This straight leg comes forward. Inhale forward and now bend your knee. Lift up your ribs and waist and reach your toes back behind you. Flex your foot, the sole of your foot sweeps forward points your foot.

Embrace space with the sole of your foot. Well, I'm about to butcher some metaphors now. I just talked about embracing space with the sole of your foot. One more here, but I also wanted to bring to your attention that your foot is acting like a tongue sweeping through space. There's one reverse direction forward. And now here's the tongue of your foot. Reach it through space, coming back.

Lift up your ribs and lift up your waist broad across your chest bone. Lots of strength with the palms of your hands pressing into each other forward. And meanwhile, the ceilings sitting bone is aiming towards the floor, ankle as you exhale and reach into space behind. Glide your ribs towards your pelvis. Come onto all fours now with your head the other direction.

Here you are on all fours. Previously you had your hand to the opposite foot. Now it will be hand to the same side, foot stand your ground and we will shift, uh, towards your left first. So as you inhale, shift to your left, the light from your chest bone goes in the direction of your left thumb. The light from the center of your pubic bone goes in the direction of your left knee, so you've shifted your central access from the center to load the left lateral line. Tuck your toes, your right toes under, and slide your right leg back.

Hover your right leg off the ground. Stand your ground on your left side and reach around to hold on to something that belongs to you. As you inhale, lift your toes up. Exhale, press down into your left hand and lift your chest bone. Continue this action doing your best to keep your right Asi s towards your inner left knee. Press your pads of your fingers and thumbs strongly to create a ground force through your hand. Lift your chest bone a little bit higher. Nod your nose downward a little bit more and come down to the ground.

Not a moment too soon. Now Inhale, spreading your fingers wide on your right hand shift to the side. Now you have a new central axis over your right side. Tuck your left toes under, drive your left heel back, and as your left heel goes back, all the abdominals, lift up towards the spine, hover your left leg off the ground, and then reach around to hold on to something that belongs to you. As you inhale, your knee lifts. As you exhale, press down to the palm of your hand, lifting your chest bone more than your chin.

Continue this action aiming your left Asi bias towards your inner right knee, giving your right shoulder blade a good floor at the side of your ribs, lifting your chest bone a little bit higher. Easy. Now come down from that. Now come on to your front for single leg kick. You could have your forearms, um, on the ground with your palms down where it's on the ground. You could have your palms towards you or you could interlace your fingers if your fingers are interlaced, that could create a little bit more stability.

But as you prefer now he also say sitting bone with the part and with your tops of your feet on the ground, drive into a posterior pelvic tilt. So you hover the front of your thighs up off the ground, bending your right knee, bring your right heel towards your sitting bone. Heal to your hip once or twice. Now more of a posterior pelvic tilt precedes and accompanies hovering. You're hovering your right knee off the ground, points your foot and then descend to the ground.

Other side left heel towards your sitting bone once, twice. Keeping your left knee bent. Plant the sole of your left foot towards the ceiling. Point your foot lifted higher and extend your knee. We have alternating right heel once, twice.

Footprint up point. Reach left heel once, twice lifted up. Point reach heel to your sitting bone footprint. UPP point, reach and heel to your sitting bone lifted up. Point last to driving a posterior pelvic tilt with your gaze. Looking at your cross thumbs last time. Once, twice lift up and down.

There is a bad version of the single leg kick come to lie on your back. That's one of the better ways in the mat work too that I know of to get to length across the front of your hip joints. Here we are ready for shoulder bridge with the bicycle. So position your heels in line with your sitting bones and your fingers reaching towards your heels. This will be a neutral bridge. Exhale to lift, sending your knees away from your hip joints.

Now place your hands underneath your pelvis. So adjust your shoulder blades down your rib wall to make room for your heels of your hands to support your sacrum. A reminder that the lowest front ribs exhale slightly away from the ceiling and you lift your Chin just a little bit to assure that you don't have a flattened cervical spine. Now stand with the sole of your left foot firmly planted. Push off the ground with your right foot.

Extend your right foot in the direction of the ceiling and here it is. Footlike tongue. Reach your heel a long way from your right lung. Reach across the room and puts your foot down. Stand your ground on your right foot. Push off with your left foot, unfurl your left foot towards the ceiling, aiming your left sitting bone towards your right ankle.

Reach across the room the longest distance from the bottom of your left lung to your left big toe. Exhale, push up shooting. Inhale, flex your foot, reaching across the room, lifting your pelvis as you like. Reaches once more. Stand with your right foot firmly planted. Push off the floor, unfurl your left leg, your pelvis lifts as if it could. Send your left foot along way into space.

Reach out now. Stand both feet firmly easy. Let go with your hands and come to lie on your back. It's also colation time again. Slide your feet out. Long inner ankle bones and big joints towards each other. Bending your elbows. Stand the palms of your hands into the floor, onto the floor, onto the mat on either side of your ears.

Separates your feet just a little bit and bend your knees slightly. Now there will be a movement conversation between the ground force of the palms of your hands and the backs of your heels. So feel free to look in my direction if you can see there to get the rhythm of this oscillation. Your knees stay in their chosen degree of flection, and there's a little bit of Plantar endorsee flection at your ankles. So you're oscillating here and by now you're so fascinated with the oscillation.

I hope that you sort of forgotten the stress and strain of the shoulder bridge. Okay? Keep this going and bring your right leg to arch your torso. So there is a ground force conversation tossing from this palm, from the souls of your hands to the back of your left heel. Keep that rhythm going. Plant the back of your right heel and also late and see if you are a container of water and you know you are a container of fluid, a container of liquids, and it's jostling back and forth there.

Put your left foot down on the ground. Bend both knees. So now you have a shorter levers here. Both knees bent, both elbows bent. Keep your left foot on the ground and your right hand on the ground. There's a diagonal. And take your left hand on your right foot off, keeping this rhythm going, oscillating all of your fluids being rocked, rocking between your hand on your foot forces. Keep that rhythm going. Plant your right hand, your right foot, your left hand, and take the other limbs off, a new diag and all to stand on and oscillate from easy. Now let that go.

Come up to high kneeling side leg kick. Come up facing me now and you will have your knees close together. We'll go towards your right first towards my left side. Um, side bending your right ear listens towards the ground, right fingers slide down. And then timber. Your pelvis moves over the head of your femurs to land your hand. Those of you, uh, working at home or in the studio, feel free to use a small box or platform underneath your hand so the floor is not such a long way away.

Now reach your ceiling arm up and your ceiling hand over your ear so that you cover your floor ear. I can't hear you. You could alternately put your palm on the top of your head. If the floor ear is such a long distance away, and I just have to make sure that I stay dressed during this exercise. Now with your knees bent and make a circle, inhale circle to the ceiling. Exhale, turn to see your supporting hand flexing your foot. Inhale in the direction of the ceiling. Exhale to come down.

One more in this direction of circle. Nestling your supporting shoulder blade into your rib wall. Reverse seeing your some down below you seeing the ceiling above you. Twice more point your foot, your ankle as it goes behind. Flex your foot as it comes up. Once more, exhale back in. Hail to come up.

Reach for the ceiling. Push up a small cartwheel to the other side, sideband ear, neck, shoulder, and ribs to the floors. A long way away. Sweep to the ceiling. Reach long and then you can place your palm on the top of your head or over the side of your head, towards your ear. Look down at your thumb. Inhale forward. Exhale, up and around to the back. Inhale from exhale front ribs slide to your pelvis.

Inhaling, exhale, reverse back and up. Ma'Am. Using the weight of your leg to challenge the lengthening of your hip flexors, the area of the deep front line that sometimes gets in the way of bow and swan dive rocking. Push off the ground. Come all the way up now and have a seat. You are well prepared now to continue with prone extension leading up to swan dive and rocking, uh, leaving up to swan dive rocking in Bo, come onto your front now and this time you'll press the pads of your fingers and thumbs together as if you were going to make a hat for the top of your head. This has been a affectionately named Sombreros terracycle by my students in Madrid and in Barcelona.

So here you are on your front with your elbows wide to the side, Dorsey, flex your ankles, Tuck your toes under and position your thumbs about two inches or so from the top of your head. Now this position of your, of your arms, if your humorous bones, um, targets the thoracic extensors, the scapular depressors, and the thoracic extensors in the area of the lower trapezius. As you inhale, hover your hands up off the mat, keeping your elbows in contact with the mat. As you exhale, hover your elbows off the mat. Now look up with your eyes. Don't move your nose, but move your eyes up underneath your eyebrows. Point both feet plantar flex and hover your chest bone.

Lift your hands higher. Lift your elbows higher. Lift your chest bone higher and lift your hands higher. Lift your elbows, lift your chest bone. Keep aiming your eyes up underneath your eyebrows. Look down behind the cheekbones of your face and you will come plummeting to earth. Tuck your toes under.

We'll start the whole project again. Nose down on the mat. As you inhale, hover your hands as you exhale. Hover your elbows. As you inhale, look up underneath your eyebrows, plantar. Flex your feet and here you are hovering. Hands up, elbows up. Chest bone lifts, hands, higher elbows, wider chest bone lifts, hands up, elbows, chest, bone lifts. Look down behind the cheekbones, off your face. Boom. Come plummeting to earth.

The double leg kick. Now turn your head and neck and eyes to the left so your right ear is towards the ground. And hold on to your hands. The fingers of your right hand wrap around your left hand. Bending your knees, pointing your feet, heels to your hips once, twice reached long. Slide your hands towards your heels. Lift your chest bone.

Look up underneath your eyebrows and that will bring you d. Rotate onto look straight ahead. That's right. As you turn your head to the right, bring your left ear towards the ground. Bending your elbows, bending both knees once, twice, straightening both legs de rose. Take now have your eyes be the advanced team of the spine.

Eyes look up underneath your eyebrows and turn to the new side. Heels to your hips once, twice. Inhale, lift. And the once, twice in lift. Collarbones why? Twice more once, twice and Elongate, um, once or twice and he long gate hover there.

Place your hands on the Mat, Tuck your toes under and start to oscillate here oscillating on your front. Hover your navel up off the ground, creating a ground force from the soles of your feet to the palms of your hands. Keep this oscillation going and reach your right foot long so you have a movement conversation from the sole of your left toes. Your left metatarsal is to the heels of your hands change. So your right foot tuck sunder and your left foot reaches long.

Continue this oscillation puts your left foot down. However, your uh, your right leg is up. Hover your left hand up as well, oscillating here and then change to the new diagonal. Left hand, right foot are on the ground, right hand and left foot are off the ground. You see now come down from this. Push up and aim your sitting bones back over your heels, elongating there so that you have more space, more lengths over the tissues that connect your lowest ribs to your pelvis.

[inaudible] inhale to fill up y to the sides of your lungs and deep to your back. Yeah, come on to your front again. Now bending your right knee, take a hold of your right ankle or shin or your foot. Uh, Tuck your left toes under. Plant your left foot down as you inhale, point your right toes towards the ceiling and hover your right thigh. As you exhale, kick your foot back into your hand and use that force to support the rassic extension. Lifting your chest bone up a little bit.

Exhale to land. As you inhale, aim hovering your right leg off the ground, toes up to the ceiling. As you exhale, kick back, lifting your chest bone, lifting your gaze, lifting your chest bone more than your chin. Come down from here. Change now to the new side. Plant your right under your right foot on the ground, right hand on the ground and reach back and take a hold of something that belongs to you. Inhale to lift your thigh, your foot. Exhale, kick back, lifting your chest bone, your gaze. Inhale to a little higher. Exhale to come up.

And Lynn down. Once again. Inhaling hip extension. Exhale, kick back, lifting your chest bone. Lifting your gaze kick back further and come on down from here. Keep a hold of your left foot and take a hold of your right ankle, Shin foot as well.

Yeah. As you inhale Tosa and then kick your feet back into your hands and lift your chest bone up. Make a movement conversation. A little bit of rocking, a little bit of Oscillation. Tosa, chest bone, toes up, chest fung. Okay. Lifting your chest phone more than your chin.

Whoa easy. Now let go of your feet. Plant your palms and aim your sitting bones back over your heels, spreading wide between your shoulder blades, dropping your heavy sitting bones in the direction of your heels. Inhaling fully to give lots of space between your low ribs and your pelvis. Broaden between your shoulder blades. Return to your front. Now with the palms of your hands in line with your shoulders, the fingernails in line with your shoulders.

Inhaling shrugging your shoulders up to your ears. As you exhale, slide your shoulder stout, aiming your bent elbows towards your heels. Reached long with your toes. Look up underneath your eyebrows and lift your chest boner into a small swan. Plant the heels of your hands and continue pushing all the way up into elbow extension.

Drawing strongly from your pubic bone up underneath your chest bone to broaden across your collar bones. Keep that with lower the front of your thighs, keeping your shoulders wide. Bring yourself all the way down. Inhale, Tuck your toes under. Plant your weight through the heat from the heels of your hands to the heels of your feet. Shrug your shoulders up. Exhale, Dee shrug. Reach your feet long. Lead with your eyes up underneath your eyebrows.

Lifting your chest bone, pressing the heels of your hands down and press up again. Now continue with your gaze forward and you will rock once bending your elbows, but keeping your hands on the ground. Here we go. Rock forward. Come up and continue that action. Oh, okay. Do keep your gaze forward.

Don't turn this into a dental exercise twice more. Whoa. And land yourself carefully, all the way down. Tuck your toes under oscillate a little bit, a movement conversation from the heels of your hands to the souls of your toes. Sending the heels of your feet a long way from your sitting bones.

We'll return to that swan dive rocking. But this time, instead of your palm staying in contact with the ground, your hands will hover just barely off the ground. Reach long with your toes. Now inhale to shrug your shoulders up towards your ears. As you exhale, Dee shrug bent elbows towards your sitting bones.

Look up with your eyes. There's the advanced team telling you it's time to go to. It's extension. Push all the way up. And when you rock, hover your hands off the ground. Here we go. And catch yourself. Oh for more shoulder blades wide from your spine and lower yourself down. Tuck your toes under. Isolate a little bit.

Keep your left hand and your left foot on the ground. Hover your right arm and your right leg off variations on a theme of Oscillating and then change. So your right hand and right toes are in contact with the ground. Your left side is open chain. Your right side is doing the movement conversation of tossing from left foot, right hand to right foot and back again.

Plant your palms on the ground. Now when we go to swan dive, I'm rocking this time. When you, uh, when you leave the ground, your hands, arms will shoot forward in front of you. Inhale, tucking your toes on the shoulders shrug up. As you exhale, Di Shrug your shoulders, elbows towards your heels, points your feet long and push up this time as you rock, reach your arms forward and out on the diagonal. Here we go. Well, and catch twice more land yourself.

Rhonda gets an extra oscillate on all limbs. Hold your hands behind you as for double leg kick so that only your toes and ankles are doing the work for the oscillating. Put your palms on the ground. Hover your toes off the ground so that now there's a ground force from your hands to your pubic bone. Okay. Some variations are more pleasing than others, not this one. Let's leave that alone. That goes under the heading. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. All right, there are other headings, you know, since you can, you might as well.

Now it's time for swan dive rocking. Um, the full expression come up to kneeling for just a moment and a face a face me. So externally rotate your arms and reach your arms out and up on a diagonal with your thumbs aiming behind you. Now when your thumbs are in behind you, right it well could be a religious moment, but what we mean to be here is the external rotation of the arms will facilitate um, thoracic extension. In contrast, the internal rotation of the arms think the butterfly. A swim stroke is paired with thoracic extension affliction. So we have a little bit of external rotation is paired with the racich extension and internal rotation is paired with or facilitates thoracic flection. Rest your arms now. So yes, of course swan dive is all about extension and more extension, but there's a little bit of just a smidge of flection as you go forward so you can wind up for extension to go back. Come onto your front now.

Here you are on your front with the palms of your hands firmly planted the souls of your toes tucked under, sliding your shoulders up to hide your ears. As you exhale, slide your shoulders down, aiming your bent elbows to your heels. Reach long with your toes. Look up underneath your eyebrows and push up towards the edge of the diving board. And from here you will sweep your arms forward. And then I'll call it out. Here we go. Thumbs down, thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs up. Wow.

Four more coming up. Wow. And rest. Push up and your sitting bones back towards your heels. Slide your hands forward, spread wide between your shoulder blades, lots of room to expand wide to the sides of your ribs and deep to the back of your lungs.

[inaudible] make your way onto your back. Now come to line your back. Press the soles of your feet against each other. Resting your arms by your sides. Palms up. [inaudible] now pressing the sides of your feet into the ground and the soles of your feet towards each other. Create a strong ground force with the bottoms of your feet and the sides of your feet. And lift your pelvis straight up.

So there'll be a, it's a neutral pelvis bridge here with an unusual foot position. But this foot position creates forces such that there's a lot of support around your sacrum and a lot of congruence of the tissues of your pelvis, the joints of your pelvis, and a lot of support from the musculature there. The lower front ribs are away from the ceiling and land your sacred mcgain [inaudible]. Inhale while you rest here. As you exhale, plant the souls of your feet, pushing into each other.

Press the sides of your feet into the ground and lift up. Now lengthening the back of your neck as you come to stand on the back of your upper shoulders and the sides of your feet. Land your pelvis. Inhale to prepare. Once again, press the soles of your feet, the sides of your feet, especially your heels pushing into each other. Lift your pelvis, lengthening the back of your neck, your lungs rest away from the ceiling. Your lungs can rest into your rib basket and then land your sacrum. Land your pelvis, bend your knees, plant the souls of your feet, heels in line with your sitting bones.

Interlace your fingers with straight elbows. Reach your hands through in the direction of your inner thighs. Nodding your nose downward. See behind the cheekbone, stuff your face and roll a small roll up, not a big one. Roll your head, neck and shoulders up, sliding your arms through your thoughts. Returning your lowest front ribs in the direction of your pelvis.

Broadening between your shoulder plates and lengthening the distance from the base of your skull to your tailbone. Letting the back of your lungs harassed in your rib basket. Roll down your spine now so that your longs making your ribs. Make an imprint onto the ground. Let go of your hands. Rest your arms by your sides, palms up.

Slide your legs out long a comfortable distance apart. Close Your eyes now letting your eyes rest into the recesses of your eyes. Sockets. Continue your arrest as long as you like you continue resting. Awesome.

I'll get back to resting in just a moment. Just wanted to thank you so much for joining us on this. A very demanding program rests. Now I'll see you next time on Palazzos anytime.

Comments

9 people like this.
How does she always maintain that ethereal tone that is so calming while throwing out profound connections as if it were nothing and leading you up to that single leg kick that burns so lovely? And sense of humor too? Elizabeth you were an angel in my apartment today. Thank you :)
3 people like this.
Brilliant as always. Thank you!
Couldn't say it any better than you Kailey. 100% agree.
3 people like this.
Kailey not cracking up throughout the shoot is the real challenge...heheheh
1 person likes this.
This class is fantastic!! I loved the smooth rhythm of the cues and the ingenius way the progression flowed. Thank you so much Elizabeth!
1 person likes this.
Brilliant. I love Elizabeth's classes! I love the oscillation but don't quite understand the purpose of it.. ...can someone explain why its done, feels great and how do we explain it to our clients??
3 people like this.
Maureen, I usually tell my clients that we can detect a break in the energy chain if the oscillation gets "stuck" somewhere in the body. Keeping the rock going, but only from one foot at a time, or any of the variations Elizabeth does, shows if there is a hold in an ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, neck, or even muscles like the quads or abdominals. The oscillation very often corrects those breaks without any need to talk about it. Important information if you're working up to swan rocking that requires energy to be fluid from one end of the body to the other without gripping.
There is also a benefit of calming the neuromuscular system, but that is another way of saying "working from a place of release."
Hope that helps a little.
2 people like this.
Hi Kailey, Thank you so much for that wonderful explanation! Can't wait to try this out with my clients. I love this holistic approach, so much of this is missing in exercise but I think Pilates and Yoga bridges that gap somewhat. x
Maureen, thanks so much for your enthusiasm and curiosity. And Kailey, many thanks for your kindness and clarity. My answer is too long for one post so will come in two posts. In the 1970s I first experienced oscillations (supine heel rocking) during modern dance classes that were influenced by somatics. Later in the 1990s during a Feldenkrais Guild Certified training program I learned that Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais used oscillations in his Functional Integration lessons and Awareness Through Movement lessons. My entire approach to Pilates is strongly influenced by Feldenkrais studies and experience. During mat classes I use oscillations to provide an 'intermission' between strenuous Pilates exercises. The rhythmic motion functions as a 'reset button' for the body and the mind.
This mat class, 'Sequence for Success, Swan Dive' is very demanding for the spine extensors and Superficial Back Line Myofascial Meridian. I do not want to use spine flexion to relieve the spine extensors since it is important to sustain momentum toward spine extension for Rocking in Bow and Swan Dive. Oscillations provide a beneficial opportunity to practice movement continuity through all the joints. The advanced Pilates mat exercises for spine extension activate the Posterior Oblique Sling System together with the support of the Anterior Oblique Sling System. Ideally both diagonals of these Sling System will be balanced. If not, the Bow and Swan Dive will be asymmetrical, making it difficult to rock on a central axis. I include oscillations in different orientations (supine, prone) with varying ground forces ( back of heels, shoulder blades, soles of feet, palms of hands) in order to balance the Myofascial Slings and prepare for the advanced Pilates mat exercises in extension.
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