Strong Mat Flow

Hi there, I'm Maria Leoni, and we're going to begin our mat workout for today. So come onto your hands and knees, place your hands right under your shoulders, your knees directly under your hips, and start with a nice neutral position. Spin the biceps forward and push the shin bones into the mat. Take a breath in here. On an exhale, pull your body into cat position, spinning the biceps forward.

Inhale, open the chest, pulling the breast bone forward, the shoulders pull out of the ears. And again, exhale, round the back, stay here for a moment, really push the shin bones down and spin those biceps forward. Inhale, open the chest, keep the neck nice and long. And again, exhale, rounding the back, feeling that stretch into the lower spine. And inhale, open the chest, bring yourself to a neutral position, make sure the front of the ribcage is closed.

From here, inhale, reach one arm up to the sky, and bring that hand down. And the other hand reaches, push down through the bottom hand. And lower down, keep pushing the shin bones down as you twist, both shin bones down. And lower, and lift, ideally with an inhale. And lower, one more.

Inhale, really spinning the ribcage. And back to all fours, last time there. Spin the ribs, and come back center. Find your neutral position again. From here, slide one leg straight back behind you, the heel is at the height of the pelvis, the opposite arm goes up over the head and pause.

From here, that back leg does tiny little circles, the shoulders are pulling down, the pelvis is absolutely still, and the action is right in the hip socket. No vacillating of the spine or the head. Come back to all fours, let's change sides. The other leg extends out, the belly button is pulled in, shoulders are down, the opposite hand comes up over the head, pause. Back leg begins to circle, you choose the direction, right at the hip socket.

It might be fairly large, it might be fairly small. The pelvis must be still. And back to all fours, open the knees, come into a gentle rest position. Take a deep breath in here, into the back of the ribcage, and exhale slowly out through the mouth. Come onto your back, we're going to begin with more traditional mat, all the way to your back.

Legs together, hands to the ceiling, take a breath in, exhale lift to your hundred position. Stay here and pause, squeeze the legs tight together. Have a sense that the pubic bone is pointed to the ceiling. Slowly lower down without overextending the back. Inhale here, and exhale, lift to your hundred position.

Stay there, set the position, scoop the abdominals, feel the shoulder blades lengthening down on the spine. Begin your breath, in for five, out two, three, four, five. In two, three, four, five. Out two, three, four, five. Adding locking legs.

That's walking legs, not locking legs. In for five, out two, three, four, five. In two, three, four, five. Let's add something to this. Slowly extend the arms up over the head.

The body is nice and still, the shoulder blades are driving down. The walk is vigorous, you continue with your breath, and slowly, everything lowers to the mat. Into a roll-up. Inhale, the hands come forward. Exhale, peel all the way up.

The first one is always a little stiff. Stay here, make sure your hip points are pulling back away from the thigh bones. Tuck and roll back just halfway, we're going to add something here. From here, rotate, one side. Come back center, reestablish that C-shape.

Rotate to the other side, keep the length through the crown of the head. Come back center, reestablish the C-shape. Rotate, chest is lifted. Come back to your C-shape. And rotate, back to that nice deep C, and a beautiful articulation all the way down to the mat, hands over the head.

Repeat. Inhale, exhale. A beautiful peel up, pulling those hip points back, stretching out through the crown of the head. Pause. Roll yourself back halfway.

Make sure you're not slouching here, keep the length through the crown of the head. Rotate, open the chest. Come back center, notice my feet don't change at all. Rotate. Reestablish that C.

And rotate, legs are glued together for me, please. Come back center into the C. And rotate. Back into that C-shape. Tuck and peel down.

Last time, inhale hands forward. Exhale, a beautiful articulation up and over the top, make sure you're not hinging at the hips. Hip points are pulling back, shoulders are dropped. Tuck and peel back, pause, chest is lifted, and rotate. Come back center.

Rotate, really feeling the rotation, at the ribs, not the hips. And rotate. Come back center. And last time, come back center. Peel all the way down, hands by the sides.

From here if you can do it, ribs tied to the mat, double leg lifts, straight up. And we're going to do a little variation on leg circles. Staying with one leg, one leg opens and circles around and up. Same leg, open, around, and up, pelvis is still. Try taking the hands off.

Open, around, and up. Last time, ribcage tight to the mat, and up. Hands by the sides, the other leg opens, the pelvis does not move, that's your goal, so make sure the circle, the size of the circle, matches the stability of your trunk and your spine. One more like this. Inhale, exhale, hug knees into your chest.

And now rock yourself up, preparing for rolling like a ball. Find that C-shape, draw the tail under, relax the shoulders, with effortless effort, we roll back, and back to balance. And again, roll, right back to that very still place. Again, rolling, no kicking legs, so the heels to the sit bones stay tight. One more like that, roll, back to your balance, pause.

Opposite to knee, outside hand to ankle, control the lowering back to the mat, head and shoulders are up. Single leg stretch, you know this one. Inhale, for two. Let's exhale for one, two. And I'm focusing on pulling the knee in today.

I change up how I do this, but today, today I'm doing this. One, two, and one, two, and one, two, knees in, lower down. Release the head gently turning it from side to side. We're going to build up a leg stretch now, so hands start on the knees, curl the head and shoulders up, we're gonna just address the upper body. Inhale, the arms go up, pause.

Exhale, deepen the contraction as you circle around. One more here. Inhale, drop those shoulders. Exhale, circle around, watch your head and shoulders, take the hands back, make sure that you did not lower one inch. Pull in, lower down.

Release the head. We're gonna address the legs now. Hands come behind the head, pull the abdominals in and up, and lift the chest off the mat. Legs to tabletop. Inhale, go to your lowest position.

Exhale, pull in. Inhale, take it out, your legs might work here. Exhale, pull in. One more time, make sure the pelvis doesn't rock. Exhale pull in and lower down.

And release the head. So, we're gonna put that all together, and now we're in a traditional, double-leg stretch. So, hands are on the knees, curl the head and shoulders up off the mat, really hollowing out here, make sure you're already engaged from here. Inhale, stretch, hold it. Exhale, recoil in.

Inhale, stretch, hold it. Exhale, recoil in. Really initiating here for that pull-in. Again, inhale, squeeze the legs. Exhale, pull in, lower down.

And release the head. Okay, we're gonna add a variation to this, something very different, don't freak out. From here, roll over onto your side. Stack your shoulders, stack your hips. From here, pull the belly button in, and pull back into that ball shape.

Inhale, stretch out. Pull the belly in, lift the bottom side of your waistline. Exhale, pull in, and stretch out. Yes, it's a little precarious up here like this. Exhale, pull in tight.

Inhale, stretch. Exhale, pull in tight. One more each way. Inhale, stretch. The faster you go, the harder it is, pull in.

And last time, stretch out. Pull all the way back in, and lower down. So now we're gonna move into traditional criss cross. The hands come behind the head, lift your chest up off the mat. From here, one leg lengthens out, and your rotate across.

Change your breath and twist across. And taking a breath in, and a breath out, really feeling this rotation from the ribcage, not the elbows, not the legs. The pelvis is absolutely still. Let's do some quicker now. And change two, three, and four, and five, from the center of the body, eight, two more.

And lower down. Okay, we're gonna put a little spin on that. I call this Double Criss Cross, so hands behind the head, lift the chest, one leg in, the opposite leg out, and pause. Now, everything is still except your hip. From here, on an exhale, twist that hip off the mat, put it back down.

Exhale, move just that hip, and lower down. That's gonna be small and deep. Exhale, twist, the other leg is not moving. The extended leg, you feel like you go around it, come back center, drop those shoulders. Exhale, and lower.

Last time, little twist and lower down. So, you'll know if you find this, it takes a second, but once it's there, you'll really feel it deeply. Hands behind the head, curl the head and shoulders up. Twist the opposite direction and pause, elbows wide. From here, the hip twists across and lower.

Exhale, twist from the hip, not the knee. And over, everything else is nice and still, exhale. And lower, opposite leg is reaching. Twist, like you're wringing out a dish towel. Again, twist.

Back center. Two more here. Twist, keep dropping the shoulders, continue to twist the upper body, last one, and lower all the way down everybody. Okay, hands behind the head. Curl the head and shoulders up off the mat, shoulder blades wide, moving into bicycle with the legs.

Really big, really luscious, as if you're dragging the floor right across the ground. The pelvis is still. Three more here. And three, two, one, knees in, lower down. We're gonna reverse it, and it's always more challenging to reverse, and really good to your brain.

So, bring your hands behind your head, curl your head and shoulders up, reversing that bicycle, stretching out and in. I'm also paying attention here to how I'm tracking my legs, so your kneecaps are gonna stay pointed in the same direction throughout. The chest is continuing to lift, the ribs, the lower ribs tight to the mat. Two knees in, and lower down. Sit yourselves up, we're going to go to traditional spine stretch.

Feet the distance of the mat, no problem at all with bending your knees, cause we're stretching your spine, not your hamstrings, right now. Arms forward. Inhale for nothing, exhale, nod the chin and fold yourself forward. Here again, the hip points are pulling back. Find that stretch into the lower body.

Peel all the way up. Inhale here, exhale, like you're diving over a giant ball. Drop the shoulders, look for the stretch to be here in the lower spine. Peel all the way up, beautifully tall, inhale here, and exhale here, dive forward. Feel the back of your sit bones on the mat.

Pull those hip points back. Come all the way up and open the arms. Twist to me. From here, we're going into what I call an open saw. You're gonna saw off your big toe.

Stay here, create a brace, and now lift your chest and open. Keep opening, use this hand against your foot to create some leverage. Both sit bones anchor to the mat, keep lengthening the upper body. From here, reach that arm all the way up over your head. Twist the armpit to the ceiling, we're gonna use this position a little bit later as well.

Come all the way up and come center. Other direction, twist, now you're going away from that leg to the back leg, saw off your big toe, create a brace, open the chest, feel both sit bones really anchored into the mat, the upper back is very long, both waistlines are long as well. Keep breathing, keep reaching through the crown of the head. Do not be passive. Take that upper arm up and over your head.

Spin your armpit to the ceiling, and come all the way up, and come center, moving into traditional saw. Twist, this time you're sawing over your pinkie toe. Create that brace again, open the chest and reach the arm back. Both sit bones are still anchored. Come all the way up and center and rotate to the other side.

Make sure your hip bones have not shifted. Saw forward, towards the pinkie toe. Open that chest, create a brace with that bottom hand. Keep the back long. Come all the way up and center.

Moving into a piece of open leg rocker. Bend your knees, grab your ankles, establish your balance. From here, extend the legs up, use your arms here to lift your back. Hold it. Bring the legs together, and hold, breathing nice and easy.

Open the legs again, get a little taller. Bend the knees, the feet don't touch, ideally. Let's do that again. Extend up, use those arms to lift. Pull the legs together.

Open the legs up. And bend the knees, last time here, please. Extend the legs out, again, using the arms to lift your back, pull your legs together. Open the legs up, pause. Now, without anything changing, the hands come off, you slowly sit yourself up.

From here, take both legs and open them as wide as you can without shifting, and pause. From here, we're gonna hinge at the hip socket, straight forward. So, different what we've done earlier, I now am asking you to truly hinge from your hip. Keep the back very, very, very straight. From here, the arms are gonna go up over your head.

The knees point up, and again, it's length that I'm looking for right now through the upper back. Take the arms down, hinge forward one more inch. Your inner thighs should be working a lot, hamstrings working a lot. Take the arms up over the head, get longer, longer, longer. Keep the belly button pulled in, and the bottom ribs are pulled close, so don't let the ribcage splay open like that.

Ribs are tight, come straight up. From here, we're gonna side bend, up and over one direction. Both waistbands are long, and that opposite hip is really anchored to the mat. Pull yourself up and get taller. Other direction, up and over.

Feel the opposing hip glued to the mat, and come all the way up. And again, side bend up and over. Do not compress this side, keep this waistband very long for me. Almost like this bottom arm is longer than the top. And lift, and the ribs are tight, you're not seated here, ribcage is tight.

Other side, up and over. Opposite hip stays glued down. All the way up, lower the arms. My legs are getting very tired, take a little rest, and let's move on. The arms come up, turn towards your leg, this is a little different.

Your hands come down, they're gonna straddle either side of your thigh bone. Come into your cat shape, so pulling back into the hip points. From here, push down through the hands, lift the hips up, just hold that. And lower down. And again, initiating from here, lift yourself up, and lower down, one more time.

And lift yourself up, push very vigorously through the arms, weight is equal on both hands. Lower down, take the arms up, rotate to the other side. Both hips are still anchored, bring the arms down. Thumbs and fingers point in the same direction. Come into your cat position, pulling the hip points back.

Push down through the hands, lift yourself up, and lower. And again, curl and lift, like your pubic bone is pointed up to you. And lower. One more time, and lift, both hips in the same plane. Drive down through the hands, shoulders out of the ears, and lower.

Come back center, two legs together, roll onto your belly. We're gonna move into a swan prep called flight. Go ahead and take your forehead to the mat, lengthen the arms behind you. Set your start position, so legs either glued together, slightly open, or slight turn out, belly button is up. On an inhale, open the chest and float the top of your head towards the wall in front of you.

Lower back down. And, again. Inhale, grow long and then lift, the collarbones are open. Notice it is not a very big movement at all. And lower back down.

And again, really looking for length here, pause here. Without changing anything, the arms go East and West, and they really spread like wings out from your back. The shoulder blades pull down and the arms reach up over your head. Challenge yourself, trying not to change the height of your back. Pull the arms all the way back behind you, and lower down.

Now, let's move that a little quicker. So, lift yourself up, reach the arms side, up over the head, notice my feet are down, arms back behind you, and lower. And again, lift the upper back, reach wide to the side, arms up over the head, this should be all mid and upper back work. Reach the arms back, and lower down. Hands under the shoulders now.

Moving to a more traditional swan, we start by moving through that same flight position. Now, use your arms to lift a little higher. The pubic bone stays on the mat, the arms are probably going to be a little bent. And lower down. One more there, lift up to your swan position, and now we add a little rock.

So, remove your hands, the body dives and then catch. Dive and catch. Dive, really be active with your legs. Dive and catch. Bend your knees, we're going into an unusual stretch.

Cross your ankles, grab behind your thighs, round your back, and press your lower back to the ceiling. So, that's crab stretch. And back to your belly. All the way down. Arms up over your head, thumbs up for me please.

Extend the entire shape up off the mat now. Arms and legs, look for length, and lower down. One more here. Lengthen out and up and into your swimming, breathing in for four, five, out for four, five. This is vigorous.

The spine is still, the legs are straight, it's a long shape, and this cross trains your hundred. And lower down, let's go back to that crab stretch. Cross the ankles, round the back, grab the back of the thighs, press the lower back to the ceiling. I have very little to no weight on my head. And back to your belly.

So, you can repeat that modified swan dive, or go for the full swan dive with the arms up over the head. Set your start position, which is here, and then from here come into your dive. And back to crab stretch. Grab the back of the legs. And lift the lower back to the ceiling.

Come on up and let's move to side kick series. Onto the side of your body, line yourself up with the back edge of your mat. Bring your two feet forward to the front edge of your mat, hips are stacked, knees are stacked. And I'd like you to come up onto the tip of your elbow. So, some of you may not have done this, but what's really important for me here is that you're not here with this funky side bend.

The bottom waistline is lifted, this other hand comes behind the head, shoulders are down. Lift the leg up. From here, we kick the leg forward, one, two, point back, one, two. Forward for two, and back for two. The hips are nice and still.

This waistband is very long, so do not hike that hip to get your leg up high, and then push from the back of the leg. Two legs together, stay here. Circle that top leg, and circle, two, three, four, hips are nice and still, and lower the leg down. Moving into a Tai Kwon Do side kick, which none of you have done. Pull the knee into your chest, take that leg straight side and up, pushing through your heel.

Pull the knee into your chest, keep the foot flexed, drive through the heel, and into the chest, push out, drive through the heel. Two more here. And press out, open the chest. Last time. Hips are still, and now we're gonna add quick kicks to this, so the leg goes low, high, low, high.

Now, make it nice and loose. And the stabilization here is what I'm looking for. Two more, shoulders down, and lower. Bring your legs up, around, and to your other side. Line yourself up at the back edge of your mat, then the two feet fold forward, the hips stay where they were, come up to the point of your elbow, really engage that bottom waistline, other hand behind your head, and flex both feet.

Lift the leg, here we go. Kicking forward two and back two. And forward, and back. Kick and then length. This waistband is really staying very long for me.

Inhale, and exhale. And inhale, and exhale. Two legs together, and circling the legs. Circle two, keep lifting that bottom waist up, keep the shoulders down. And lower the leg down.

Into the Tai Kwon Do side kick. Heel into your chest, push the leg up and straight side from your hip socket, and in, tuck the tail even here. Then go back neutral and drive the heel out, pull in, and press and take it out. And pull in, and take it out, shoulders are down. And in, and out, last one.

In, and press it out, low and high kicks, slow to begin. Low and high, side and side, hips are still. Now quicken, two, two, three, and four, be still, lengthen the neck, two more, and lower down. Come up onto your knees for me now. We're gonna take some of this series to the knee position, which is a lot more challenging.

Take one leg out, flex the foot, arms East and West. From here, cartwheel over, put the hand right under the shoulder, other hand goes behind the head. Lengthen that leg out and up, ideally to the height of the hip, point your toe, and now circle that leg. Eight, seven, body is still- six, shoulders are down, five, and four, and three, and two, into the side kick. Kicking low to high, two, three, use the bottom waist.

Two more, and come all the way up, let's set for the other side, the other leg goes out. Flex the foot, knee and toes are pointed forward. Cartwheel over, make sure you have good distance between your hand and your knee. The hand comes behind the head. Use the bottom waist, lift that leg up, point your toe, and circling for eight, seven, six, trunk is nice and still, three, two, one, and low and high.

Low to high, shoulders are down. Fight to be still, two more. And come on down, and we're gonna go to rowing back, which is normally performed on the reformer. Sit up nice and tall, bring the hands up in front of your chest. From here, starting from the base of the spine, curl the tailbone under, roll yourself back.

Open the arms East and West, pull those hip points back, dive forward, turn the palms, big circle here up and over the top. Go ahead and take a moment to grab the soles of the feet. Take a little extra stretch, come all the way back to your start position. Tuck and peel back without sinking. Open the arms, reach really far East and West, lift one leg up, pull the tail under, lower that down.

The shape is absolutely still, the other leg lifts. And lower down. Pull the hop points back, crown of the head towards the feet, big circle up and over the top. Then, continue, grab the feet, take a little stretch. Peel all the way up, let's repeat that just like that.

Tuck and roll back, energy through the crown of the head, arms open. One leg lifts, do not sink. Lower the leg down, and the other leg lifts. Lower down. Deepen your contraction, big circle up and over the top, take that little stretch.

Back to your start. Moving on, tuck and roll back. Open the arms. From here, without changing the lower spine, tuck and float the two legs up off the mat, be absolutely still. Without changing the back at all, slowly lower the legs, dive forward, and up and over the top, take that little stretch, and back to the start.

We're adding one more element, and this becomes very boomerang-ish. Sit nice and tall, tuck and roll back without sinking. Open the arms. From the lower belly lift both legs straight up. From here, pull the belly button in to roll back, and up to your balance.

And again, roll back, and up to the balance. One more time, roll back, up to your balance, stay there, back is still as the legs reach out and lower. Dive forward, big circle up, all the way over the top, and take your head towards your feet. And we are finished with that, into leg pull front series. Come onto your hands and knees, the hands go right under the shoulders, extend one leg back behind you, extend the opposite arm up, body is still.

From here, kick that back leg up, one, two, and tap. Again, one, two, notice my leg doesn't go very high, cause my objective is to be still. You shouldn't see this little seesaw, actually I just felt it. The hips should be still. Last one, back to all fours.

The other leg reaches out, make sure you haven't dropped the ribcage, ribs are closed, opposite hand comes out. From here, kick up, one, two. Again, one, two. Shoulders are down. Keep lengthening this top arm.

Two more here, last one, to all fours. Stepping into plank, so step into the ball of the foot, the other foot, reach through the heels, open the chest, front of the ribcage is closed. Spin the biceps forward, that'll put your shoulder blades where I want them to be. Drive one knee in and up into your chest, so much that your tail pulls under, but the head doesn't drop. The head and shoulders stay where they were.

Take that foot back, the other knee drives in. Tuck the tailbone under. Take that leg back, come to your knees, open the knees, rest position. One deep breath in through the nose, slow exhale out through the mouth. Moving on to a forearm plank, place the elbows right under the shoulders, step one foot back, and the other foot back, find that beautiful plank position, legs are glued, shoulders are down, front of the ribs are tight.

From here, we add the tick-tock leg, and our legs are going to alternate. One leg will open, and then press it down. And open, fight to be still with your trunk. Keep pulling the shoulders out of the ears. The front of the ribcage is tight.

The feet stay on one level. Last one, and lower down. Lift your hips up high. This is a feeling of downward dog, or big elephant, you might say. Spin the biceps forward, the arms drive your weight back onto your feet.

From here, twist and grab your opposite leg. Rotate your spine through. Take that armpit, spin it to the ceiling, using your arms for leverage. Both hips are vigorously reaching to the back wall. Remember this position.

Come back to two hands. The trunk twists, going the opposite direction. Grab ahold of the leg, use your arms for leverage. Spin the armpit up, let the head just hang for me, please. Keep pulling the abdominals in, keep wringing out your spine, your two hips lengthen to the back wall behind you.

And come down to your plank. So you know where we're going with this, I know. Take one hand, place it in front of your nose, and then pivot onto your feet into side plank. Really important you use your bottom waist here, the other hand is straight up. From here, rotate through, step onto your front foot, and reach all the way back behind you.

It's the same sensation you just had. Keep spinning, come all the way back to your side position. That hand goes up over your head and now lift that bottom waist, really make sure this shoulder, the bottom shoulder, stays away from your ear. Hold it here, come back to side plank, back to plank. Okay, other side.

Hand goes in front of the nose, pivot on the feet, it's really important you're grounded onto the feet. Pull your shoulder blades down, spin through, rotate the upper body, step onto the front foot, armpit to the sky, keep lifting that bottom arm up into your trunk. Come back to your side plank, take the hand up over your head, and lift the bottom waist, pulling the shoulder out of the ear, the neck is long, should feel kind of good. Come back to your side plank position. Come back to pushup position, and back to your knees, and back to rest position.

Take a deep breath in through the nose, and exhale out through the mouth. We're moving into hip twists. Flip yourself over and come onto your forearms. With the elbows right underneath your shoulders, pull the tailbone up, bring your two legs to tabletop to begin with. So make sure you're not slouching here, really push through the forearms to lift the chest.

From here, rotate to one side, feeling the opposite forearm pushing into the mat. Exhale, the spine pulls you back center. Twist the hips. And pull back center, now repeat that with the legs straight. And twist the hip, make sure both leg lengths are the same, push through both forearms.

Use your exhale to come back center. And other side, the opposite forearm needs to push into the mat. And exhale, pull center. Now adding the circling action. Onto one hip, circle the legs from the pelvis.

Twist the hips, pull yourself back center, pull the ground away, push the ground away. Other side, twist the hips. And back center. And twist, circle from the pelvis, not the hip socket. And up, last one.

Keep pushing the ground away, all the way around, back center. Cross the legs, sit yourself up, and stretch forward. Come on up, we're gonna add something to this, but you can also just repeat what we just did from your forearms. I'm gonna turn to you so you can see the hand placement. Draw the tailbone under, and this time, take your fingertips as far away from you as you can.

Pull the shoulder blades down, and let's start with the legs up straight. Same action here, twisting. Keeping the legs the same length, exhale, pull back center. And then twist, really lift that hip, pull the shoulders down, and back center. Let's add the circle.

Go to one hip, now circle the legs around to the other hip. Pull back center, and twist the hips, and spin around, keep the length through the upper back. One more each way. Twist, use your exhale. And back center.

Last one. Come back center. Cross your legs, and stretch forward. Come on up and we're going to move into our last series, which is pushup. Stand yourself up, allow your head to be very heavy, the weight towards the front of your foot, the knees are soft, cross your arms, and just allow your body to hang for a moment off the trunk.

We're gonna take three steps out to pushup, so walk yourself out, one, two, and then find your pushup position. We're gonna work with the arms wide. From here, inhale, come to the bottom of the pushup and pause. Exhale, come up. Inhale, lower, elbows go wide, pause.

And exhale, up. Spine is absolutely neutral. Take it down and pause. And exhale up. Three steps back to your feet.

One, two, and you're there. Make sure the knees are soft. Make sure you haven't hinged back onto the heels, the weight should be forward over the feet. We're gonna walk ourselves out again in three steps. One, two, and you're there.

Hands wider than shoulder distance. We're adding on. Lower your body down, pull yourself up, pull that knee back to the chest, tuck the tail. Lower down, pause. Press up, pull the opposite knee in, tuck the tail.

Lower it down, pause. Pull in. Take it back, lower, shoulder blades wide. And pull in. Last time, pause.

Lower yourself all the way to the mat. Release the toes, hands under the shoulders. We're moving back to swan. Inhale, take a deep breath in. And exhale, out.

Really try to enjoy the stretch. Inhale, lift, look for a stretch in the abdominals, please. Shoulders are out of the ears. And lower down. And last time, inhale out and up.

And lower down. Back into rest position. And let's take one deep breath in together, try to take that breath into the back of the ribcage. And now a nice, long, slow breath out through your mouth. And we are finished.