Class #4241

Physioball Equanimity

55 min - Class
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Description

Cathleen Murakami concludes her series Funtastically Fit with Cathleen with this Mat class incorporating the Fitness Ball to help strengthen your mental equanimity. You will utilize the breath to move with the ball, using it to aid you in certain exercises and add extra challenge for your core in others. Hand Weights are used briefly, but they are not necessary in order to do the class.
What You'll Need: Mat, Wall, Fitness Ball

About This Video

Oct 16, 2020
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Transcript

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It's time, hello, hello. It's Cathleen Murakami. Welcome back. It's Funtastically Fabulous Friday, and I'm excited to be here. This is my final Friday event (clapping), so I have a lot planned for you, and hang in there.

It's gonna be really, really challenging, I hope, and still feel really good. Have your physio ball ready, your mat. May or may not use weights, not quite sure. Strategically, you may need to be near a wall for one of the things I have planned. This is my makeshift wall (laughing), the Pilates boxes, because this backdrop is not solid, just so you know.

Let's see, what else? If you haven't put in the chat box where you're dialing in and watching from, we always love to see that. It's super exciting to know that I'm connecting with so many of you from all over. And as you know, today is 9/11. So I just thought, in tribute to that, we are going to do things in sets of nine, 11 or 20, since today's 2020.

And so that'll help us keep our brains intact. You know, we get so routine with four, eight, you know, our normal groups of sets, the numbering the sets, so I just thought for a little brain challenge, why not? Right, all righty. So to begin, let's stand up, grab the ball. I know it's gonna be a little bit out of the frame, but you know what's happening, I think, yeah?

So soften through those knees. We're lifting the ball up, side bending to your right, curling forward, exhale, over to your left, inhale as you come up. Let's just keep going in that circle. (exhales) So what we're doing here is side bending, flexing, side bending and slight extension. Press your hips forward, exhale (exhales), and inhale (inhales), And I know because of these pods you can really hear me breathing, grunting, groaning, panting (laughs). Go the other way, inhale and exhale.

Extra credit for those of you if you have a ball with the little sand inside, you know, so it stays stable, adds a little bit of a weight. I know, I've used those before. And (exhales) there we go. I'm turning to stand at the end of the mat. I have my fingertips on the ball, flex through the spine gently.

Breathe in (inhaling). As you exhale, roll the ball with your hands or your fingers, and then curl down. Now the palms are on the ball, the forearms, and I'm coming forward into an easy plank. You can have the hands on the ball or float them off. I like this forearm position.

Avoid sagging (laughs). Inhale here (inhaling), and then soften the knees so it's easier to flex your spine. (exhales) Roll, grab that ball. Bend your elbows. Come up, a little back bend, bow the head. Let's do that a couple more times. (exhales) Fingertips, breathe in, figure out where they need to be for you and your length of torso.

Walk it out (exhaling), soften the knees. Get on there. Organize your plank, distribute your work. Feel yourself pressed away from the ball. Inhale there (inhaling), soften the knees.

Curl, flex in the spine, pull yourself back (exhaling). Pick that ball up (inhaling), little back bend, firm your butt, yes. Head over, one more time (laughing). Inhale here (inhaling), exhale (exhaling), and walk it out, or sorry, roll it out, right? Pause there.

Nice, lightly put your knees down. Let us put the ball underneath our bellies, and tent the fingers and stand on the toes. Press down, feel your alignment, feel your alignment. And just the opposite arm and leg. Start with either side, breathe into float, exhale, tap down.

breathe into float, exhale, tap down. And three and touch and four and touch. Make sure the inner thighs are engaged. Sometimes just because of asymmetry, the leg tends to kind of (squeaks) fly over there to the side. That's six, I need everybody to keep track for me (laughs), my plan, seven.

Now, what are we gonna do for number nine, both hands, both legs? Nah, let's just do both legs. Reach a little forward, and I'm bending my elbows, but you can flatten your palms or straighten your arms, whatever you'd like to do. This is number nine. Open and close, press out, press in.

Two (exhales), three (exhales), four. Lengthen through the crown of your head. Five (exhales), six, shoulder blades intact, seven, eight, and number nine, Let's go to 11, 10 and 11 (exhales). Very good. Soften the knees, bring the toes down.

Roll back, take the ball from underneath you. You're kneeling (inhaling). Exhale, bow your head, walk it out (exhales). This is sort of like a knee stretch series on the reformer. Stay in flexion.

Roll the ball a little bit away from the screen. Look under that arm. Breathe in, peekaboo, exhale. Other side, inhale and exhale (exhales), and inhale and exhale and inhale, this is four (exhales). This is five, and this is six.

You're breathing in on the roll. And seven (exhales) and eight. Pick it up, roll up, inhale, this is nine (inhaling). You can stay here or create a little bit of a camel like arc (exhaling). Whoo, and come back down.

Place the ball on your mat. Please lie on your back. And gonna pull my leggings up just a little bit so I have a little more skin on the ball, and check it out. Roll the ball away from you so that when your legs are fully straight, your heels are still remaining on the ball. That's super important.

I find if the foot's in the air, it's not as stable. So that's my suggestion for you. And then roll, keep your feet, like, check it out, right? And then don't move them, and roll the ball back. Here we go.

Your legs are together. Your feet are together. You're in your neutral, press down and feel those hamstrings. Feel them, feel your inner legs. Float your pelvis up.

That's your inhale, exhale, stretch the legs out. That's your exhale, right? Float the arms off of the floor. That's your inhale. Press your thighs together.

Exhale, you can stay there, or if your arms can stay down, or you float them up. Now reach in both directions through the arms and the legs. Pause here, inhale, keep your arms off of the floor. Melt your chest to roll down (exhales). Soften, use your abdominals.

Avoid over gripping in the glutes (exhaling). Very good, bring your arms to the ceiling, inhale. Exhale, bring your arms down, bend your knees. Take the ball on the outside with your inner ankle. If you can, avoid hooking your foot, yeah.

Firmly pressing from the top of the leg, pick the ball up. Inhale, stretch those hamstrings a little bit. Exhale, inhale, bend the knees. Exhale, put the ball back down. Whoo, that's one whole rep, okay?

Let's see if we can remember that (laughing). All right, we won't be doing that nine times. There'll be little variations in between, but we will keep doing the pelvic articulation or spinal articulation. So we press in, lift up, roll it away (exhaling). Hover the arms, bring them up any amount, or not at all.

It's really up to you. You have to really hug your energy to the midline, okay? Now, if your arms are overhead just bring the right arm down toward the hip off the floor, and back up, and toward the floor, and back up. Keep the hips lifted. Just this little arm movement, can you feel how you have to dig in to your center, and really work in a very intense, but subtle way?

Yeah, this is six. This is seven. This is eight, both arms. This is nine. And go ahead and put them down.

Breathe in, melt the chest (exhaling). I'm rolling down. I have to soften my knees here a little bit, and hug the ball. Or sorry, roll the ball back in. Grab it again.

Bring the legs in the air. Okay, hold it firmly, all right? Stretch the hamstrings a little bit, and then lower the ball a little bit. One, hold it there. Lower a little bit two, lower a little bit three, four, five, any amount or just hold it right?

Six, seven, eight, nine (exhaling). Bend your knees. That was a repetition there. Put your feet back on the top. Again, press the hips up in the air, inhale.

Roll the ball away, exhale. Hold your line. Press down firmly with one of the legs. Float the other one up, one, and lower. Two, and lower.

Three, slow and controlled. Four and five and six and seven and stretch the energy through the leg when it's on the ball. Eight, I think that was eight, wasn't it? All right, bend the elbows, press down. Lift the hips up, and pulse, pulse, eight-and-a-half (laughs).

And the other side, pulse, pulse. My (laughing), breathe in. Melt the chest (exhaling). Roll down, pull the ball hands flat. Take a hold of your ball again.

This is a skill in itself, please, really, all right? Press down. Now you can either stretch your legs all the way up if that really works for your hamstrings so you're not gripping in your quads. Otherwise, you can bend the knees, yes, okay. From here, stretch the hammies again (inhaling), and then exhale, curl forward (exhaling).

Bend your knees, inhale. Touch, exhale, legs come up, okay? Bend the knees, inhale. Look forward, between the thighs. Come up, and a number three, how's it going?

Yeah, you're hoping this one's not 20 (laughing). It won't be, four, stay curled forward, keep reaching strongly, five, and six. And anytime if you need to, you know, your arms can go down, your head can go down. I lost count. Oh, boy, I need flashcards.

Let's make this one nine (exhaling). Coming up, bend, roll down (exhaling), good job. Put your feet on top. That was our third one. Press into your heels.

This is our fourth thing we'll do here. Push your booty up here. I'm gonna roll the ball just a little bit away. Hinge at the pelvis and touch. So I'm barely touching the skin of my leggings.

Two, three. So what I like to think about here is not just I'm gripping in my butt and pushing it up. But my exhale is reaching the energy through the legs. That's what gives me the long live dancer Gladys legs, and give them to you, too. Was that fun?

Six (laughing), seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. Pull it in, keep going, touch. So this is our 20 rep, two. We have to do 10 more here, three, four. I like to keep the heels flexed versus putting the sole of the foot on the ball.

A little more hamstring connection (exhales). Keep breathing, we're almost there (exhales). One more, wiggle (laughs). Roll all the way down. Grab the ball.

Okay, bring it up. Tip toward the screen, inhale, come to center, exhale, tip away. You all know that if you wanna have your arms out to the side, that's gonna create a little more stability for you (exhales). The legs are going because the pelvis is moving (exhales). Inhale the tip, this is pendulum, exhale to center.

I know this is number six. I know this is number seven, and this is number eight. And then lower, lower any amount, hold firmly. Curl forward, oh, the hundred. Inhale (laughing), two, three four, five, out two, three, four, five.

Three, four, five, two (exhaling). So this was your ninth thing, right? And we're gonna just do nine these. Go back to the nineties (laughing). Keep breathing, use those inner thighs.

Three more full breaths, guys. Inhale and exhale (exhaling), firm your upper arms, and exhale (exhaling), last one. Exhale, good (laughing). Lie down, bend your knees (exhaling). Touch the ball down.

Bring your feet on the top. All righty, now, take a big breath. Stretch the legs all the way out. Position the ball so it's under that Achilles, snuggled right in there, okay? Press your pelvis up, up, up.

Reach your legs long. Take one leg in the air. Hold your position. Move that top leg a little to the side, come up. And down, that's one.

A little to the side. You'll feel how your pelvis wants to rock. So it's a very, very tiny, tiny movement, yeah. Connect your whole body as a unit. Now that's the beauty of this work 'cause there is this great mental focus and awareness skill that you develop, right?

It's like meditation, it's one-pointed, really getting to know your body for today. This is always different, every day (laughing) is a different day, thankfully. All right, this is seven. Keep the hips up, this is eight. What shall we do for nine?

Let's challenge here, in the robot arm position. Ooh, bring it up, out, in, lower. Can you feel yourself pressing down on your triceps a little bit more? Up, out, in, and lower. Take a breath (inhaling).

Hands down, roll down, very nice. Roll the ball in, take a hold, and roll yourself up. Scoot back just a little bit. And here's your hamstring stretch and low spine release. Exhale (exhaling), mm-hmm.

Very nice, very nice. Roll yourself up, do that one more time 'cause it felt so good. Flex strongly. Don't knock the wall over, Cath (laughing). Okay, reposition yourself back down again, oh, good.

Yes, so I'm going to snuggle the ball a little bit closer, and if you wanna use weights, mine are conveniently located right here. You can, but you don't have to. And mine are just two counts each. Hug your knees, hover your butt. Just hover it a little bit.

So you're staying in the tabletop-like position. Avoid tucking, and reach those arms to the ceiling. Alternate, inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale. Soften your face, but focus your eyes. Inhale, exhale, press the thighs together.

Hug your energy to the midline. This is eight. This is nine, both arms, open to the side. Yes, your booty's still in the air please, if possible. And pull inward and out, inward and out.

Are your toes freaking out? Check (laughing), three and four and five and six, and squeeze at the top, seven and eight, and of course, nine, but let's go to 11 this time. And 10, and hold it out on 11. Bring your arms forward. Yes, your booty's still in the air.

If you need a little break like that, go ahead, and then lift it back up. Biceps, one, so I'm just coming to 90 degrees, two, versus letting the arm fall in, you'll feel it. You won't keep tension on your bicep. Three and four and five and six. You're breathing, breathing, and seven.

Check what are you doing with your chin, uh huh huh. And (laughing) nine, double chin, not a good look. 10, one more, 11. Okay, bring your arms down, lower. You can roll there.

Whoo hammies, right, yes. Hold the ball, so that was, I think, our sixth thing. We will count the arm things as a few more, too. Let's just do one more exercise in this particular position, all right? So let us bring the arms forward, okay?

And then we will inhale. We're gonna curl up (inhaling). As you exhale, roll your chin down. Roll forward, reach your arms toward the boxes. You can lower the legs a little bit if you want to, okay?

Open the arms to the side, inhale, exhale, close. Maybe lower a little bit, inhale, exhale, bring it up, and open, and in, and lower. And lift and open. Now if you're doing this, and you're really getting low, please send me that screenshot, okay? Open (laughing), and in, lower.

But use your arms to really help you stay forward (exhales). Yeah, that's eight. Now, let's do it at the same time. Open, one, two and three and four. How many, 20, five (laughing).

Six and seven. I didn't hear what you said (laughing). And nine, 10, one more. 11 (exhaling), hands down, head down, ball down. Whoo hoo, let's put those weights aside.

I'm coming up. And one hand on the ball. I have my right hand on the ball. I have the toes curled. You can keep your feet flat, if you'd like.

And then reach under, and roll the ball on that diagonal. Open your ribs, ah, and roll yourself up. Other side, roll it away, little bit on the diagonal (exhaling). Mm, feels really good. Just see your own ribs, like an accordion, opening on the side you're turning towards, and little closing on the side you're turning away from, and rolling up.

And second side (exhaling). Oh yes, rolling up, mm. Since we're here, back up, okay, back up. Fingertips on the ball, all right? You are going to launch forward into an elbow plank, okay?

I have my legs apart, so be sure you're already standing on your toes. So you see that shape in your mind, all right? And using the strength of your legs, you will inhale (inhaling), exhale and stay (exhaling), inhale and stay (inhaling), exhale and return, okay? So you're not rolling the ball away. You're launching yourself forward.

You kind of have to feel a little bit fearless about this. And I have to be sure I don't pierce my wall with my head (laughing), all right, you ready? And inhale and exhale and inhale. Soften the knees and exhale. Here's a little hint.

Press down in the ball with your forearm. Bring your legs a little closer together, please. And inhale, and now, press your heels back, exhale. And press your heels forward, inhale. Bend the knees, come back (exhaling).

And inhale, and press your ankles together and forward, and come back. One more, out, heels back, heels front, and return. Bring yourself to standing. So my floor is a little tilted, so I do have to hang onto the ball. But if you can manage, oh, maybe it's gonna cooperate today, manage to keep the ball in front of you and not have it roll away, do that.

We are going to be in a squat position. Little bit, come on, stay in the frame there, girl. And launch forward the same way, right? So you may have to figure out where the ball needs to be so that you get firmly on your forearms. And if you do have to finger tap it, that's fine, which I probably am gonna do now.

Oh, it's cooperating, okay, hurry, hurry, hurry. Inhale (laughing), are you guys ready? Exhale (exhaling), firm those legs. Hold and breathe. Now, when we go back, it's very tempting to wanna stick your booty in the air.

So avoid that, and flex a little bit to return. Organize a neutral standing. Oh, this is working. Thank you, ball (inhaling). And (exhaling) firm those legs, press those heels back.

Press your heels forward. Take a breath. Remember the little flexion, little flection creates the roll back, okay? Bring your feet a little closer together. Press the thighs together.

This is just like chair pose, nice, diagonal neutral, and inhale, take it out. Exhale, press the heels back. Inhale, press your heels forward. Exhale, return. I lost count, and back.

Let's count those first ones on the knees, yeah? So we are probably, Julia, Nicole, did you guys count? At least 10, right? So this is 11, okay? Then organize here, point your right foot.

Pulse it nine times, one, two, three, four, five. You're out of your shoulders. Seven, eight, nine, changing sides. And one, two, three, strong standing leg. Five, six, seven, eight, nine.

Put it down, curl (exhaling), and stay here in your squat and flex your spine. Roll the ball a little bit one way, and then a little bit the other way, back and forth just to open your lower back. How is that feeling (exhaling)? Yeah, all righty. So for the next gym that I have for you, you will be much safer if you are positioning yourself on your ball, and there is nothing really around you, just in case the floor comes quickly to you, quicker than you thought (laughing), all righty?

So just be aware of your surroundings. This is pretty interesting. What I'm gonna do, I'll show you the way I personally like to get on the ball. We are going to be supine in a reverse tabletop position. The sacrum and low back will be on the ball, and your hands are on the floor.

So I do hope you have the appropriate-sized ball here 'cause if it's too big and you feel like your arms are not quite reaching, it doesn't always work so great. What you can do, if you happen to have this, is a half roller on the floor, so that you're bringing the floor to your hands, yeah, if that made sense. So if what I do is I roll forward, I'm doing this on the diagonal, so you can see. And then I bring my hands to the floor, okay? So I like, again, to be tented 'cause I feel like I can engage my arms a little bit better than tire arm.

But if you're comfortable with your hands flat, you can do that. You do have to pull your head, neck, and shoulders forward so that you're engaged in your center, right? And then you're going to bring one leg up. So figure out your balance, look forward. I know you can hear me.

So turn on your audio, your audio cuing, yes, so you don't have to turn your head too much. You're looking forward between your feet. So this is already pretty challenging enough. You can stay here and work on that and then come out of it when you need to, or you just do a kind of a toe tap toward the floor and up, and inhale down, this is two, up. This is three, and up.

This is four, and up. This is five, and up. This is six, are you smiling? (laughing) You're like, "What, no, my arms are too short. "The floor's too far away." Both legs is nine, and up. Put your feet down.

If you have the room, right, you can roll forward, release your neck, hold your head if you need to. I'm kind of walking, not too far, so I'm staying on the screen (exhaling). All right, breathe into the front of your body, your throat, okay? (exhaling) And then lift your head with your hands. Reposition again. You can opt to do the same version.

You can, of course, opt to supervise the rest of us, or you have the legs straight. One leg stays up, lower, and lift. Now here's a good cue for you, I hope. You really need to stay focused with your eyes looking forward, okay? And up, this is four and up.

This is five, and up. Keep the leg that's not moving very engaged. Six, seven, eight, nine. I spaced out, 10 (laughing). So let's do both legs, 11.

Oh (squealing), like the sound effects? Bend your knees, feet down. Same thing, ooh, support your neck. Ah (exhaling), yes, breathe. Really let the bones be heavy on the ball (exhaling).

Yes, yes, yes (exhaling), come up. By the way, this little exercise, you could do this on a chair. Remember my chair class? You could do this on a chair, as well. Okay, it's obviously a little less challenging, because you don't have to stabilize yourself as much.

Single-leg stretch, everybody inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale, inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale. Remember, you're also firming the hamstrings. Exhale, exhale, inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale, inhale, gazing through the toes, exhale. Nine sets, everyone, inhale, inhale, exhale. Here's your last set, and exhale, exhale.

Whoo, one foot down, the other down. Roll, and release there. Wiggle a little bit, too. That feels always kind of good (inhaling), mm. Yes (exhaling), yes, yes (inhaling).

And then one more, all right, just one more, I promise. Pull your body up. Walk those hands back. Organize where you need to be. Bring your legs up.

And of course, we have to split, okay? Here's the challenge. Flex the top foot, point the bottom foot, and the bottom leg, you see how my bottom leg is bent a little bit? That's what I want, so I can really open through the front line of the hip. All right, and change.

Inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale. Inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale, looking forward. And I know this is the third set. Believe me, I'm counting this one. Inhale (laughing), inhale, exhale, exhale.

This is five (inhaling), breathe it out (exhaling). This is six, you can do it (inhaling) (exhaling). This is seven (exhaling). This is eight, oh, those legs are getting longer. This is, make it count, nine (exhaling).

Beautiful, everybody, feet, right? Roll, I'm actually, this time, if you have the mobility, your head may or may not be on the ball. If you roll a little more forward, your head should be there, okay? And then you can do, oh, your own free-form release here. You wanna roll back in four.

Do as you please, stretch your arms overhead, get a little creative on your own (exhaling). Yes, yes, yes, yes. And then I'm just going to roll forward gracefully, and stay on the set (laughing). I hope you remember that. You know, these classes are designed to give you some creative juice. (train whistling)

As teachers, we teach, teach, teach, my train. We teach, teach, teach, and then we're empty, empty, empty. And so actually, this time has been so awesome, because I've been also to take other people's classes and go, "Oh, I forgot about that one," or "Oh, I can see how that would work," and "if I could add this or take away that," and that kind of a thing. So I'm hoping that it motivates you, and you find some really great inspiration for your own creativity, yeah. All right, so we're sitting here in kind of a 90-degree angle, all right?

And all I'm gonna have you do, now, if you want more stability, you can keep your feet flat, like mine are, like this. Or if you want a little more challenge, so I'm gonna, not too much challenge, have the legs straight on your sticky mat (laughing). All righty, and the arms are out here to the side. I'm gonna just flex my back hand 'cause I'm right by my wall. And let's just go into an inhale lift and spine stretch, head over, exhale (exhaling), curling, flexing.

Leaving the low back behind, dive toward your knees or shins or ankles (exhaling), and then move the body forward any amount that works for you. Again, if you feel unstable with just the heels, you can bend the knees and flatten your feet (inhaling). Inhale, now give yourself a little stretch. Now, when I say a little stretch, essentially just kind of yanking your lower back back, gently pull, and feels like you're going up and over. And the shoulders are staying down, of course (exhaling).

And then roll yourself all the way up, okay? We're doing three of these (inhaling). Head over (exhaling), shoulders are down. Curling, curling, curling. Swamp monster, here we go, breathe in (inhaling).

Exhale, a little further (exhaling). If your legs are straight, here's a little option. Externally rotate, wow! Feel that, yes. Come back to parallel. Give yourself a little pull gently (inhaling), and then roll all the way up.

One more time, lift the sides of your torso with your arms. Head over, soften, soften, soften, soften. Curling, curling, curling (inhaling). Maybe a little further (exhaling). Maybe that little pull contrasting, shoulder blades down, and then rolling all the way up, arms to the side.

That's three, right, three sets here. Double pulse spine stretch, inhale (inhaling). So I know this is different from classic, but I do like to inhale to feel that lift of the spine. And (inhaling) (exhaling) one more set (inhales) (exhales). So that's three, three sets of the saw.

Turn toward the screen, and reach, rotation, flexion. Come up, and come center. Rotate away, and remember your back arm. The thumb turns down, like you're pouring something out of your hand, easier on your shoulder. Breathe in, exhale (exhaling), inhale up, exhale center (inhaling) (exhaling).

Last set (exhaling). As you go over, remember it's like you're pulling the arms apart in opposition. That's what creates that rotation, opening up that lower back, and it feels so good, right? Okay, good, good, good. Now, this is my wall.

So you want to go position yourself by your wall, okay? And these are Pilates boxes, as you can see. So it's not completely stable. So I will be holding on a little bit. This is super challenging.

It's super challenging for me, but it's really kind of fun. So I'm gonna bring my ponytail situation down. When you lie down, you're pretty near the wall, okay? You're pretty near the wall. And what is going to happen is you are going to hold the ball like that, okay?

So you have to engage your core, of course, and the hip flexors. And if you don't, that is what's gonna happen (laughing). You'll get a big surprise, right in your face. So try that first, carefully. I have the ball really on the metatarsal heads and my toes.

That's what works for me. Avoid overworking your foot, though, okay? It's really about feeling the pressure of holding the ball from your center. So just kind of feel how that works. All righty, and if I put my hands up like this, it's 'cause I want to stabilize, I don't need the ball and the boxes that have dumbbells inside, all them still falling on me (laughing).

So you're trying one, like, try your other leg, just check it out, because it'll be different, right? Just check it out, okay? Okay, very good. So let's keep whatever leg you have on the ball there, all right? Stretch your arms forward like you're in the 100, and then the foot that's on the floor, your foot that's on the floor, hover that leg up into tabletop.

You can just hang out there, or hinge at the hip, tap. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale. We're gonna do 10, inhale, exhale. Four (inhales) (exhales), five (exhales), six (exhales), seven (exhales), eight, good, good, good, nine and 10, okay? Now, can you put your second foot on the ball?

I gotta hold it. I was gonna say, you get a prize if you can change without touching the ball. But for safety, let's hold it. Bring the other leg to tabletop. Reach the arms forward, pay attention.

This is the 20-rep one, so that's why we're doing 10 on the leg. One and two, inhale, down, exhale up. Inhale down, exhale up. Inhale down, exhale up, that's three. Inhale down, exhale up, that's four.

Inhale (laughing), five, six, seven, eight, nine. Of course, you don't have to hover your arms the whole time. You could touch them down if you need to. 10, how'd it go? Grab the ball for a second.

Ooh, give yourself a little break. Like, foot was a little cramping on that one. Go back to the first side, organize, yes. Make sure if you can't, you know, this asks a lot of your hamstrings, guys, I know. So if you need to bend your knee, of course you can.

All right, okay. We're staying there, okay. We've got it, yes, we do. Okie dokie, let's take a breath (inhaling). We are going to exhale, ooh, and curl up.

So curl up toward that leg for us, that ball, hover the knee, stretch it out. One back, two back. Breathe how you want to. Three back, four and back. We've got it, five and six.

Relax your face. Seven and eight and nine, bend. Hold the ball. Change your leg, tabletop. If you have to lie down and give your neck a break, that's fine.

And one and two and, stay curled forward. Three, and you got to look forward. You must look forward, not at the ball. Was that five and six? Seven (laughing) and eight and nine.

Beautiful, grab the ball, foot down, head and neck down. Ooh, bring the ball down for a second. Place it on your knees. Have your hands hold it, just easy, turn your head side to side. Breathe, breathe, breathe (exhaling).

How'd that go? Did any of you (laughing), do you look different now, because the ball fell on you? I'm not being mean, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. It's happened to me, but you know, I'm up here live. I can't, I just can't let the ball fall on me (laughing).

All right, okay. Let's try one more thing here. Scoot it away from the wall there. Both feet on, both feet on, okay. You can have your arms down.

I actually, I'm gonna hold the box. One foot off, inhale, lower it (exhaling). Exhale and come up. Do you see my leg wavering? (laughing) Inhale, lower it (inhaling), exhale, and come up. And I can feel the ball slipped a little bit, so I'm gonna push it up.

And inhale, lower shoulder blades down, exhale, and return. Ribs under control, this is four, and this is five. And this is six, and this is seven. Use your breath (exhaling). I'm breathing in as I lower my leg.

This is eight, whoo! Both legs, no, are you kidding me? This is nine. Hold it, hold it, hold it, come up. And this is nine (laughing). Hold it, hold it, hold it, and come up.

Now, take the ball. Let it just come into your hands. All right, you have it. And you're gonna rock yourself up. Place the ball in front of you (laughing).

Put your arm that's further away from the screen on the ball, turn sideways. Ooh, take your top leg a little bit back behind you, sort of like this mermaid position, and then bring the ball a little closer, oh, and take ahold of your top arm. So bottom hand takes ahold of your wrist. Open up that hip flexor. So abs, your abdominals, you see how I'm rolling a little bit on the ball, like this?

Oh, it feels good after that little ordeal (laughing). Oh my goodness (exhaling). And rotate, beautiful (inhaling). If you want to and it's available, you can take ahold of your leg back there. I'm actually gonna just let the ball rest there.

And take a hold. Mm, I think it's better if I come down on my elbow and pull around. Okay, how about the other side, huh? So we started with that little lounge and lean. Really take the leg back, as far as it's comfortable for you.

Do allow your pelvis, okay, your pelvis, to extend there a little bit with the leg. If you bend your knee a little bit more, you'll feel more in your quad (exhaling). Take a hold of that wrist (inhaling). How's that feeling, oh my goodness, so good. Yeah, there's so many cool ball exercises.

I honestly wish I had another class to do this, but maybe someday, when we get back to the studio, I can offer one of those, you know? And come down to your elbow, open up. I like to arc a lot here. Roll that shoulder and chest open (inhaling). Mm-hmm, delicious (exhaling), nice.

Well, my friends, this is going to conclude the physio ball class for today. Thank you so much for coming. Remember that I'm all over on social media, too. I have a little handful of my own classes going. So join me any time, and please feel free to contact me about anything, as well.

You know, you wanna take me on a trip, or you wanna take me out to dinner, or you're coming down to San Diego (laughing). You're coming to Rancho La Puerta, what have you. So thank you, thank you, everyone. Have a lovely day, lovely evening. And many blessings to all of you, bye bye.

Funtastically Fit with Cathleen: with Cathleen Murakami

Comments

1 person likes this.
Hello Cathie! Dina McDermott here in Seattle WA! Looking forward to this! Always love your classes!
2 people like this.
Great challenging class! Thank you Cathleen xx
1 person likes this.
This made my Sunday Funday pilate time so perfect!!  What a fun and CHALLENGING class!  Your cues and laughter helped (and I only got bopped in the face once LOL!). If you are ever able to do a session with more wall moves I would love that! Thank you!
DINA M, I LOVE teaching with the physioball.....lmk how you do and if you had things to creatively morph! xo
Melissa G, right?! I know some of the things can get quote precarious! Hope it was fun, too! xo
Cindy K, haha! Yes, getting bopped in the face is part of the process!  I happen to have more wall moves, so hopefully...next time when I have a REAL wall! 
Hugs! Cathleen
1 person likes this.
 I loved your class 'Delicious spine' It has disappeared. Please tell me how to access. I thought it was great. Jill
1 person likes this.
Very create and fun class Cathleen. I will be using some of the bridging work as Parakeet variations for my clients on the tower this week.
Jill T, unfortunately - due to licensing agreements, that class had to be taken down.  You can participate live with me via my personal website if you are inclined. Thanks!
Amy P, awesome! Let me know how it goes and many thanks for your generous comment!
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