Overball Stability Play

Okay, today we're gonna play with this OverBall. The OverBall, it's the small blue ball. OverBall. Here we go. So I want you to stand with your feet parallel to one another.

Look down, make sure they are truly parallel to one another. Hold the ball. Cup the ball lightly in the palms of the hands, and then what I want you to do is just gently press into the ball and start to pull the elbows out. So you could feel almost as though your hands are trying to come away from the ball but not quite because you have to hold on to it, right? And then do a little gentle inward press from the back of the body as you push the ball down, grow the spine taller.

Inhale. As you exhale, take the top of the heard towards the ball. Imagine the ball's heavy now. So it's pulling you down towards the floor and what you're attempting to do is to lift so that the heavy ball's pulling you down but you're not quite letting it. So there's a controlled release or a controlled dissent.

Once my ball gets onto the floor I wanna bend my elbows. That makes me feel like I'm getting more of a stretch, which I want and then lift through the center of the body. Let the arms straighten. Press lightly into the ball with the heels of the hands. Roll yourself up.

So then let's again, bend the elbows. So I imagine my hands like static, right? So they're holding the ball but they're not really squeezing into it. What's happening energetically instead is that the elbows are reaching out so you feel the stretch across the shoulders. Straighten the arms.

Inhale. And round the spine, dropping the chin into the chest. Lift, decelerate that forward motion. Let the ball be heavy, let it pull your spine down. Let your spine be light and supple.

Pause at the bottom, allow the elbows to bend if you want to go a little further. Inhale. Exhale, roll the spine up. This time as we come up to standing, we're gonna take the ball in front of us. Inhale, let the ball come up.

Now, if you're shoulders are tight and you need to bend your elbows to bring the arms up near your ears, you should. I don't want you to feel that your shoulders are sticky or uncomfortable at all and then bring the ball down. So as the arms are coming up, press the ball first away from you. Pull back with your abdominals. Lift the ball up overhead, hold here.

I want you to stretch, let's go to the right. Now the leave the ball on the right hand and let the ball pull down towards the floor. Remember that ball's heavy now so it's gonna pull you down. And now push it back up and now it's light. And come back up.

And then reach over to the other side, inhale. Take the ball in the left hand, exhale. Left the heaviness, that imaginary heaviness of the ball pull you deeper into that stretch. Keep that right arm reaching, it's gonna take the ball, the light ball, as we come back up and find center. So now, let's go over again.

The right arm's gonna reach down, this time I want you to turn so that the left arm's reaching out. Heavy ball on the bottom. Nice reach through the top arm. Unwind, make it light. Light ball coming back into the hands and lift.

Last time to the other side, inhale. Create space in the body. Take that ball down, heavy. Reach out like you're reaching for a target with your top arm. Keep allowing that ball to pull down towards the floor.

Then unwind, lighten up in your body a little bit. Bring the ball back up. Come back up all the way and then bring the ball down the front of the body. Good. Just a little standing work to wake us up.

Okay, so we're gonna sit down. Bend the knees. Organize again your feet, so that they're facing straight ahead of you. Take the ball again in the heels of the hands. So what I want you to do here, is I want you to press the ball into your shins and use that pressure to pull the back up straighter.

And then keep the arms where they are but start to curl the pelvis backwards. So don't curl the shoulders forward but just move the lower spine. So the shoulders will stay right over the hips and then press into the shins with the ball, lift the spine up, inhale. And exhale, start with the tailbone curl under, reaching back into the spine with the abdominals. Back, back, and then press.

We'll do that one more time. Lift up, inhale. And exhale to round. And then reach back up again. So now I want us to take the ball backwards and I don't want it right against your body.

I want it a little further away so maybe a hand span distance. We're all gonna have to decide where it wants to be for ourselves. So what I want you to do is be able, as you roll back into it, I want you to be able to clear the pelvis. And then just organize so your ball feels comfortable underneath your lower back. So feel what it feels like to just rest on the ball.

Now feel what it feels like to not rest on the ball but just to stay engaged with the center of the body. Arms just outside the legs, we're gonna lift the right arm up. And press that same arm down. I said right but I did left but that's okay. Lift the opposite arm up.

And down. So what I want you to feel is that you're not resting into the ball but you're trying to round into the ball. One arm up. And one arm down. And one arm up.

Deepening and same arm down. One more time to each side. One arm up. (horn blows) Wave to the train and down. Other arm up.

I think we still have time to wave to the train. And down, now hold it here. Little lifts forward so you're lightening on the ball but you're not losing it and back. And forward. And back.

And forward. And back, just two more. Forward, pulling the heels back towards the seat. Forward, and then back. And then again, you can rest for a moment.

Gather yourself, find your round shape. Take the arm closest to me out to the side. Don't let your ball move underneath you. And bring it back. And reach to the opposite side.

And bring it back. Open the arm in the front, is reaching out in front of you. And then back. And inhale, so what we can do here is we do this sometimes without anything to rest on, right? And it's really hard but use the stability of the ball to help find that challenge.

To help you find the strength to be able to do it without the ball. Last time. Inhale, open. Exhale, back. Inhale, rotate both arms towards me and little lifts.

Five, sinking into the ball. Deepening. And three. And two. And one.

Open the arms back out, go away from me with the arms and lift, five. Sink deep, four. Three. Two. One.

Unwind. Lift off the ball, that might be the hardest thing to do. Take the ball with you, open the knees out to the side, and just take this stretch forward. Take a stretch forward. And then come back up.

So now we're gonna organize the ball in a different part of body so where I want it to be, let's say... And everyone's back is a little bit different but right about the center of your back. Right about the center of your back. So if I were to just rest on it, I could essentially without my head being in line with it, I'm essentially in like a neutral spine position. Okay, so we're gonna go hands behind the head here and take the head back so it's in line with the rest of your spine.

And now from there, we're gonna take the upper body over the ball. Oh, I'm just waiting for my sternum to crack, it's not going to but it wants to. And then press the ribs into the ball. Almost like you're just rebounding back to that neutral position. Inhale as you go over the back.

Feel free to reorganize if you don't get it right, like if you don't feel the position is in the right place the first time, change it. And up. And reach back. And engage left, heavy head, long spine, last two. Inhale back.

And exhale to lift. Last time, inhale back. Exhale to lift. Hold your lift position. So again, imagine you're on the floor.

You're lying on the floor right now. You're going to lift a little, curl up and over like chest lift with rotation. The ball might feel as though it's gonna roll but it doesn't much. Center. Up and across.

Slide the rib that you're turning towards, towards the center of the spine, inhale. Center. Exhale. Up and across. Inhale, center.

Exhale. Up and across. Let's do two more, find center. Up and across. And when I say two, I mean two more to both sides, right?

These girls know what I mean. And then up and across. Ooh, I just caught my pelvis moving. Naughty girl. Last time.

Up and across. And then from there, take the arms forward. Now, this time keep the upper body still and round the spine. So you'll feel like you get a little heavier into the ball underneath you and then let the tailbone go back. And exhale, round the spine.

So can you use the ball, let the upper back be pushed into the ball so that we're opening out through the lower back. And then release, two more times. Exhale, curl. If you can get your lower back to flatten on the mat. That will be different for everyone but it's an interesting journey or attempt.

Two. Push the feet away from you. And back. Last time. Exhale, curl.

Inhale, release. Lift off the ball. Ooh, grab it, put it in your legs. Reach forward and roll yourself down. So I'm going to move my feet a little closer.

Actually, I'm going to move a little forward on my mat. I want us to keep the feet wide enough so that the feet aren't narrower than the ball but narrow enough so that we have to squeeze the ball to find parallel. Right, so the ball has to be more oblong to get the legs in alignment. Arms down on the inhale. As the exhale happens, we're gonna articulate the spine.

And so press the feet down, lift the hips up. Hold to inhale, reach the arms overhead. And then as you exhale, drop the chest, reach the arms even further away from you. (clears throat) Excuse me, and think about what you were just doing when you were sitting up really trying to drop in or articulate through that lower spinal area. Bring the arms down.

Press the arms down, flatten the lower back. Lift up. Hold at the top. Take the arms up and back. Lift the hips a little higher but without overextending through the ribcage and then slowly roll down.

Feel the reach through the arms. Feel the press into the ball. And arms down, press into the mat. Inhale one more time. Exhale, articulate up, reach left.

Hold as you inhale, arms reach back. And now exhale two. Roll down. Arms come down. Leave your arms down, inhale.

Hinge the pelvis up. So press up, we're gonna go a little quicker here, and down. Press up, squeeze the ball, and down. Feel that you're squeezing the ball equally with both legs and don't let the arms get lazy. So the arms press down and reach away from you.

One more. Hold at the top, take the left leg out straight. Lower the pelvis. Lift up, five. Lower, try to hold the leg so that the ball stays straight.

So that means that my straight leg has to stay lifted a little. Last two. Last time. Place that left leg down. Lift the right leg up, legs are level, lower down.

Lift up, five. Down. Lift up, four. Down. Lift up, three.

Down. Lift up, two. Last time, come up, leg comes back down. Level out the pelvis. Reach the arms up over the shoulders.

Take the arms back. Roll yourself down reaching your arms away from you as your pelvis comes down, let the legs get really light. Bring the arms around to the side and float the knees. So we're gonna take the legs into a spine stretch or spine twist. We're gonna come towards me on the inhale.

Think of pressing into the ball with the bottom leg as you bring yourself back to center. Inhale as we reach away from me. Exhale, press the bottom leg into the top leg to come back to center. So as you know, should know, hopefully know, it's not just about the legs. It's about using the inner thighs to create depth in the abdominals.

Reach over, inhale. Press back, exhale. Last one, reach over, inhale. Press back, exhale. Last one to the other side.

Reach over, inhale. Press back, exhale. Reach down, place the feet down. Gonna let the ball come out of your legs. Don't let it roll away too far.

We're gonna reach out with the legs. So we're gonna send the feet over the top of the ball. Bring your arms back to your sides. Keep the arms down at your sides. Keep the left leg on the ball.

Bring the right knee into the chest and then stretch the right leg to the ceiling. Flex that right foot, we're going to keep the left leg still as that right leg makes a circle around and up. Down, around, and up. So with that ball there you can see how much that leg wants to move around. So let's inhale for a circle.

Exhale for a circle. We'll do one more cycle through, just taking your time to really find your stability. Last time. Pause at the top, go the other way. Go out, down, across the body, and back.

Out, down, across the body, and up. Inhale. And exhale. Keeping that ball still underneath you. Inhale.

And exhale. Last time, inhale. And exhale. Point that foot, take that leg back down onto the ball. You might have to reorganize a little bit so do that and then bend the left knee or the opposite leg.

Stretch that leg up. Flex that foot, bring it into the center of the body. Down, around, and up. And exhale, we'll do three repetitions of each. Inhale, keeping that ball pressed still.

Exhale, check in with your shoulders. Inhale. And exhale. Pause, take the leg out. Down, around, and use the center of the body to pull it back and exhale, swing around and lift catch.

Inhale. And exhale. Last time, inhale. And exhale. As that leg goes back down to the ball, I want you to lift your arms over your shoulders, over your chest.

Reorganize your legs so that you feel like you're centered on the ball with both feet and then reach your arms behind you. Then lift the head and chest up. Inhale. As you exhale start curling the ball toward you. We're going to roll the ball in.

We're gonna roll the ball in. Reaching out past the ball. So your feet might end on the ball. So you're like rolling like a ball. And then you push the ball away from you.

Press down onto the ball and reach the arms back. And inhale, head, chest, arms. Sink into the mat. Curl, bend. Round the spine as you reach that ball in nice and then push the ball away from you.

Coming down. Stretching the body long and reaching back. And inhale, head, chest, arms. And exhale, curl. Another nice thing to think about is to stay light on the ball.

So I did cue push down on it but now I'm going to cue stay light on it. Just see where the differences is and you can definitely choose which one you prefer. I feel like I'm rolling my ball off the table. Last two. Head and chest up.

Curl watching on the alignment of the pelvis. Making sure that stays nice and aligned. Push away, reach back. And down. It's a nice place to practice.

I feel like the articulation necessary for the teaser. Good. So now from there take that ball, pick it up, put it in between the calves in the back of the legs. Squeeze into it as you pick your feet up off the floor, legs together, rolling like a ball. We're going to rock.

And balance. Press the legs together, it helps to press into the ball. Inhale. Balance, three more. Inhale.

And balance. Two more. Inhale. Oh, I almost didn't make it Mandi. Last one.

Roll back. And up. So let's put the feet down on the mat. Take the ball out from behind your leg. Straighten your legs.

So always optional to bend the knees. Take the ball out in front of you. Bend the arms into the chest. So as you pull the ball into your chest, feel as though the body lightly reaches up into it, and then take the arms out straight. We're going to rotate towards me.

We're going to do that same thing in rotation. Pull the ball into the chest. Light arms pressed forward and center. In center, inhale. Pull the abdominals away from the ball, exhale.

Inhale, rotate. Exhale, ball. Inhale, ball. Exhale, center. Inhale, ball.

Exhale, push away. Inhale, rotate. Exhale, in. Inhale, out. Exhale, back.

As a suggestion or just breathe, pull in. Shoulders back, arms reach forward. Rotate. Stay lifted, bend in. Push away.

Come back and pause there. We're going to take the ball underneath the feet again. Getting organized. I wonder if we could do back support here. Do you think?

Let's try. Yeah, I mean I don't see why not. So this is a experiment on camera. Here we go. So we're gonna lift the back.

That's the most important thing, right? And then we know that to get into the back support, we have to push down with the legs. Oh Mandi, it's totally doable. Totally doable. It's a little squirrely.

And then sit back down. It's nice. Yeah, so press into the arms, lean into the arms, and use the legs. You can allow the ball to move a little. It might roll.

And then sit back. And then down. And let's just do one more. So go up. And reach up.

And sit back. Woo, and then reach over towards the legs. Thanks, Mandi. And then we're gonna roll ourself down. Okay, so just to the shoulder blades this time ladies.

From there, we're going to float the right leg up. Now, the right leg is gonna stay where it is. We're gonna bend the left knee, curl the body forward. Push the ball away. This is the one. Erin, that I'm like I can't do it on one side.

Then pull up. And push away. So if you need to use your hands to help stabilize in your trunk, you should, I am. We'll do one more. And push away.

And then this time roll up lifting the leg that you're rolling towards. Take that leg in your hands. Lift the spine. And then take that leg down on to the ball. Reorganize so that you're straight.

The ball I think is very interesting. We're gonna go down to the shoulder blades first. And then the opposite leg lifts. So now, that leg stays where it is and we just curl in, bending the bottom leg. And on this side I feel just like a champion.

I feel like there's no problem. So what it was helping me there Mandi was, I always like to take my like if you feel pelvic stuff or pelvic rotation, just have your hands there to help you and then let go, get past it, uh-huh. Same thing was happening to me and then go and like once you start to feel like that's going to be challenging, you use your hands just a little bit so you can work through it. It's a nice, nice place to, this is our last one. Unless I did five, does anyone remember?

Okay, awesome. Thank You, Erin. It's a nice place to practice the positioning for the boomerang I feel like. So come all the way up. Oh no, we lift the leg.

The other leg can go out straight. So pulling the leg up. And then let the leg come down. Then we'll just take the legs apart from the ball. And separate.

Hands on the ball. Right just in front of the pelvis. Press down onto the ball to lift the spine up and then we're gonna roll the ball forward. Now, the ball is gonna roll where it rolls on your arms, let it. Just let it roll right out.

And then you're gonna lift your spine up. So rolling the hands back towards the ball but bring the body up on the diagonal. And then lift up. I wonder if we started with our fingertips, that would be better. So start fingertips on the ball.

No, because I like the push down to lift. So we're just gonna leave that. Then reach, push the ball away from you, roll down. Let the ball roll up the arms. And then let the ball roll back down towards the hands as you reach out on the diagonal.

Little down, press into the ball to pull the back out. So it helps you there and then all the way back up. Three more times, press down, lift. Push the ball away. So as you push the ball away, you're concentrating on pulling back through your center on supporting the spine.

Pause to inhale. Start to roll back up. Press. Lift. One more.

Reaching forwards. And then I have a surprise for you. We're going to roll back, find that long line. So now both hands are on the ball, I want you to take the arm closest to me so you can see and then reach out and let that ball roll out on that bottom forearm. And then come back so you're long.

Both hands down on the ball. Take the arm away from me and press the ball away from you and reach out, reaching back at the same time. Come back up. Hand on the ball. And reach out, let's inhale.

And exhale. And inhale, taking the ball out. You can take it across a little as well, which feels nice. And exhale. Let's do one more to each side.

And reach out. And exhale. And last time, reach out. And exhale. And then just press the ball away and roll all the way back up, So we're gonna do a little side work here and what I want you to do is just turn so that you're facing me.

Starting with the ball right underneath the ribs. So we'll keep the bottom leg bent and let's just see what it feels like to rest in the ball. So that's where we don't want to be. See what it feels like to go away from there, pressing the forearm in so you feel that the ball's underneath you but it's just touching you right underneath the ribs and I want you to hold that position. Let's take the other hand behind the head or straight out to the side if that feels better to you.

Take that top leg up, keep lifted off the ball, and swing the leg forward. And back. Forward. And back. So the head can stay pressing into the hand.

Back and forward. And just notice if you start to get a little heavier on that ball and if you do, push away with that bottom arm. We're going to do one more time. Forward. Back.

We're gonna stay back, bend that knee. Bring the knee of the body. Stretch out, pull back, keep the shoulder stability. Bend, bring the leg forward, stretch out. Pull back.

Bend, bring it forward, stretch out, pull back. Two more, so as the leg goes behind you there is a little bit of a shift forward but minimize it, minimize it. Try to keep the ball still. We're going the other way. Forward, bend.

Take that whole piece back and then stretch. And forward, bend. Keep thinking about the shoulders reach. And three. Bend.

That knee goes behind the hips, nice. And reach, last two. Bring it back, stretch it out, and for one more. Bend. Back.

Out. And center. Take that leg, bend it so that the ankles are now crossed. We're gonna to do a little bit of side work. So a side plank work.

You're gonna take this arm up. Now, as you press into your feet, you're going to lift off the ball. Reach down for the ball. Lift the ball up. Inhale.

Bend the knees, place the ball back underneath the ribs, and as you bend try not to rest on it. Nice and we'll just keep the hand there. That's a smart idea Mandi. Gonna reach out, bring the ball up, find your long line, nice. And bend.

That ball just helps you really feel the orientation of the ribs, three more. Press out and up. Reach the ball up. And bend. And two more.

Press, lift. And bend, light on that ball. Last time, press, lift. This time lift your hips, pull the ball way underneath you, take that rotation. Come back and come all the way down.

Swing legs around to the other side. I like it too. So setting up on that bottom shoulder. Rest. Not rest.

So the not resting comes from the orientation of the arm pushing down, the ribs pulling back. So we concentrate on the serratus anterior muscle, if you want a name. We're gonna come back behind the head with that hand. Press the head back into the hands, lift up off the ball, here we go, swing. And reach.

Swing, using the front of the body to bring the leg forward. Using the back of the body to bring the leg back. Last two. Press back. Last one, press back, bend.

Bring the leg forward, kick. Take it back. Bend. Bring the leg forward, stretch, and take it back. Bend, bring it forward, stretch, take it back.

That's four. Nice, I love having counters then I don't have to count all the time and we go forward and bend. Stretch back, reach away. Try not to get soft. Try not to get soft, what?

Heavy on the ball, heavy is a better word. Stretching out and two. Bend, reach back. And forward, bend. Reach back and then bring the leg around and just cross that ankle over the bottom ankle.

So we set this up differently on the other side but we'll set it up this way on this side. So what you want to do is make sure you're not resting on that ball in that place that you're coming down from. The not resting on the ball is what's important. Here we go, we reach out and up. The ball comes up, hold.

And then we put the ball back and we bend but don't get heavy on it. And then reach out,. Hold. Two, three. Nice and light.

And reach out. Hold. Strong legs, lifting, press that arm away. And down soft. Last two, press out, reach.

Hold, two, three. And soft. Last one, press out, reach. Here we go, we go under picking the pelvis up, getting a nice rotation. Coming back and coming all the way down.

So now turn so that you're on the mat, on your stomach, and where I like the ball to be is not right underneath the chest because that's gonna keep you up too high. I want it actually to be if you can manage it, kind of right under the notch of the collar bones. Okay, so we're gonna take the body on to the ball. Let the chest fall into the ball and actually let the shoulders fall around the ball, which might feel like a little bit of a nice stretch after what we just did. And then pull the shoulder blades down but don't do a lot of heavy lifting there, heavy engagement.

Then gently slide the upper arms, the lower arms and the upper arms backwards. So as you slide your arm backward, I want you to try to the ball three inches out in front of you. You're not lifting off it, I want you to stay on the ball. And then as you come back down, it's more of just like a rest. So I don't know if there's reality in the ball actually moving or not but it feels like it's moving.

Sliding the upper arms and the forearms back. Lifting the abdominals and then just pressing the breastbone out. And then coming back. We'll just do that about three more times. Slide the shoulder blades down the back.

Head reaching forward. Now you can push into your arms and lighten up on the ball if that's something that might feel good to you. And then okay, take it back down. And two more times. It's one of my favorite things to do.

I really like it, it's nice if you have a really squishy ball. These are a little bit harder. That is great, perfect for this but that's alright it works. And down. And then last one.

Reaching out. And then lowering down but just enough so that you can take the ball out from underneath you and then just take it out in front of you. You guys might have to wiggle back a little bit. Okay, so taking the ball out in front of you. So both hands are on the ball.

Now, what I want you to do again is just find about that amount of lift. So the head and chest up. I'm still resting on the ribs. Now, I want you to bend your elbows and roll the ball toward you. Not a lot, just as much as it's comfortable for your hands and use that to let you lift.

And then press the ball away to lower. So a light downward pressure into the ball. More of a backward pull of the shoulders to find your initial lift and then pull the ball back and lift the chest. Take the elbows towards the ground or towards each other. And then let the elbows go out and press away.

Let's do that two more times, I like the elbows. So elbows wide as the ball pulls in. Hold that position, bring the elbows in like you're scooping something, like shuffling something towards the midline of your body with both arms. Back. And away.

Last time. Lift up, bend the arms. Scoop. Lift the chest. Reach back out.

Lower all the way down. And then we're gonna take the ball, just let it be where it is or let it roll away from you. I feel that we're done with it. Place your forearms underneath you, push up. Come up onto your hands and knees.

I'm just gonna reorganize my clothing. So here we go on the hands and knees. Hands under shoulders, knees under hips, we're gonna inhale here. As we exhale we're gonna press the shins into the mat and I want you to ripple through you're spine so bring your pelvis underneath you. Reach down so that you're looking down in between your legs.

So you're rounding to your maximum here today. And then keep the upper spine round and keep looking down as you start to lift your tailbone. And then allow the spine just to start going in the opposite direction. As your chest comes forward, your head has to come up. And then inhale there.

And then exhale, chin into the chest. Rolling under, tucking the tailbone. Pushing the mat away. And then lifting the tailbone up. Sliding the upper arms back.

Reaching out through the top of the head, one more time, inhale. Exhale, round. Holding that, hold that, hold that. Just push into the tops of the feet and deepen into the abdominals to lift the knee. So just getting a little bit more of a stretch, getting a little bit more ab work, a little bit of shoulder work, and down.

And inhale, grand finale, here it is. Pulling it up, it's the same thing. I'm just calling it the grand finale, Erin. Lift. And down.

And last one. Gather yourself, tuck under, feel the abdominals. Lift. And then as the knees come down, let's sit back towards the feet, reach the arms away from us. Reach back and find that stretch.

And then roll yourself up all the way. So just sitting up on your feet, everyone okay on their feet? Yep, good. So take the left arm into the body or just into the floor. Take the right arm, you're going to come down onto the palm of the left hand.

So reaching over. Let the left arm bend and rotate towards that hand. And then come back. And bring that arm down. The right arm coming into the body, the left arm lifts up.

Bend the right arm, lean into that side body. Reach around the right arm so you look down at it. Unwind. Come back. Both arms forward and up, inhale.

And then just really nice and light and expansive as the arms reach down. Down, let the spine float through the arms. One more like that. Reach up. And open and lift the back.

And down. And thank you to Erin and Mandi for coming to play with me today. And thank you to you for taking class.