Magic Circle & Wunda Chair

Hi, I'm Kira Lamb. Welcome to my Magic Circle in Wunda Chair Mashup. Because during Wonder Chair workouts, either your hands or your feet are on the moving pedal, which means your arms and your legs are the gateway to your powerhouse. So we're gonna use a non-moving apparatus, the Magic Circle, to explore how our arms and legs get their stability, mobility, strength, and control from our powerhouse, and vice versa. And then we'll challenge those connections on the Wunda Chair.

Let's start by grounding and centering ourself first. So go to the base of your mat, bring your feet parallel and together, and then pivot into your Pilates stance. Root down to the three corners of your feet, the ball of your big toe, small toe, and the center of your heel. Place one hand on your lower back, one hand right at the base of your skull, and just gently lift your head up. Take a big inhale, breathing all the way down into your low hand.

Exhale, pull your lower abdominals into your low hand and lift them up to the base of your skull. Inhale, breathe into your low hand. Exhale, pull your lower abdominals back and slide them up feeling that internal lift. One more. Inhale, breathe into your low hand.

Exhale, pull your lower abdominals in deeply and feel your tailbone drop as you lift your spine taller. Let's do a traditional descend to the mat. Reach your arms forward and then stack your forearms one on top of the other. You also have the option to just meet me on the mat. Find that internal lift before you move.

As you bend your knee, try to sit on your tailbone. Chin, elbows, and chest go forward. Lift your waist and take a seat on the mat with control. And then scoop back. Grab your Magic Circle and then lie down on your back.

Bend your knees, feet flat. And then hold on to the circle in the palms of your hand. Press your triceps into the mat and widen your collarbone. So I'm pressing my upper arm bones down, widen my collarbone so I start to feel the muscles between my shoulder blades, my upper back. Take a big inhale here.

As you exhale, empty your lungs and just gently press into the circle, feeling your ribs, cloth, and your shoulders gently pulling together. And then release. You have two more. Empty your lungs as you squeeze your shoulder blades, your hands, and your ribs. And then release.

One more. Exhale, squeeze your shoulder blade, your ribs, and your hands. Hold this connection. Stay connected to your upper back as you start to extend your elbows and reach up towards the ceiling. And then bend your elbows back down.

Gently press into the circle and pull your shoulder blades together gently as your arms go up so you feel your upper back connection. Bend your elbows. You have one more. Gently pressed into the circle. Widen your collarbone.

Your arms go up. Pause here. Protract your shoulders. Reach your arms up as high as you can. I'm initiating the movement from the bottom tips of my shoulder blades.

And when I do that, my front ribs sink into my back. And then pull your shoulder blades together and lower them back. And, again, feel your front ribs sink deeper into the mat. Reach up a little bit higher and then pull your shoulder blades back down with the muscles between your shoulder blades. One more.

Protract, reach up as high as you can. And then pull your shoulder blades back down, adding on ribcage arms. Protract your shoulders again. Try to keep your shoulder blades off the mat. Before we move, gently feel like you're pulling your heels towards your sit bones.

Notice how that lengthened my spine. Inhale, pull your lower abdominal to the back edge of the mat as your arms float back. Exhale. Can you pull your lower abdominals back more? Find that internal lift as your arms go forward.

Two more. Reach up. Scrape your fingers on the ceiling. Reach back. Now, exhale, start with your powerhouse.

Pull your abdominals back as you reach your arms forward. You have one more before we add on. Reach up, arms go back, and then exhale. Pull your lower abdominals back to reach forward. We're gonna add on.

So reach your arms up and back. As your arms go up, start to curl your chin downwards. And then lift your head and shoulder blades off the mat. Hold here, same ribcage arms. Inhale.

Your arms go up by your ears. Exhale, reach forward. Two more. Inhale, arms go up by your ears. Press your triceps towards your thigh.

One more, arms go up. Exhale, press your triceps towards your thighs. Lower all the way down. I'm gonna do one more set. Reach back.

And as your arms go up, your spine moves your arms. So I curl my spine forward. As a result, my arms move. Now, inhale. My spine stays stable, my arms move.

Two more. Inhale. Find your internal lift as you move and then scoop even deeper. One more. Find your internal lift, the scoop of your powerhouse.

Reach your arms forward. And then your spine moves your arms. Rest your shoulder blades down into the mat. So now, gently engage the circle. You don't have to squeeze them.

But just press into it and spin your triceps to face your thighs. And then release. Engage the circle. Spin your triceps to face your thighs. You'll start to feel that arm back connection right here at the base of your armpits.

Do that one more time. Spin your triceps to face your thighs. Find that arm back connection on both sides. Keep the connection. Slightly bend and lift your elbows out to the side.

We'll squeeze the circle. Take a big inhale into your lower back. Exhale as you squeeze the circle. Feel like you're squeezing from the base of your armpits to the heels of your hands. And then release.

And again, exhale. Squeeze from the base of your armpits to the heels of your hands. Notice how my shoulder blades don't come off the mat. Two more. Exhale, squeeze, and then release.

Final one. Exhale, squeeze from the base of your armpits to the heels of your hands, and then release. Slide your legs and feet together. Rotate the circle and place one of the pads on your thighs. Your hands go on top of the circle with long fingers.

Engage the circle once again and spin your triceps towards your thighs. Find your arm back connection. Keep that connection. Soften your elbows a little bit and lift them out to the side. Take a big inhale into your lower back.

As you exhale, find that internal lift. And from the base of your armpits, press the circle forward, and then release. So I'm not pushing with my hands and elevating my shoulders. It's like I'm sliding my armpits down towards my waist and shooting my spine off the back edge of the mat. And then release.

Two more. Empty your lungs as you press your shoulders away from your ears. Find that internal lift. I'm sliding my lower abdominals off the back edge of the mat and release. One more and we add on.

Press your shoulders away from your ears. Feel the muscles on the sides of your body. And then release. We're gonna add a chest curl. To start the chest curl, protract your shoulders to a cervical nod and curl up.

You're gonna squeeze the circle by bending your spine. Take an inhale. Exhale, fold at your ribs in order to squeeze the circle. And again, fold at your ribs to squeeze the circle, fold at your ribs, and then rest everything all the way down. We'll do one more.

Remember, your spine moves the circle, not your hands. So I'll start to protract. My shoulders come off the mat. I curl my chin down and curl up. Now, I stay here, find the arm back connection.

Actually, I try to push my waist down and curl up higher. I push my waist down, curl up higher, and then curl up a little bit higher, and lower everything all the way down. We're gonna transition the circle to our legs. Separate your feet. Place the Magic Circle right above your knee joint.

So not between the bones. My feet are the same distance as my sitting bones. So once you are here, take your fingers and find those sitting bones. All right. You're gonna initiate the squeeze of the circle from here.

So make sure you're pulling your heels gently towards your hips so you're not in a pelvic tilt. Take an inhale into your lower back. Now, before you squeeze the circle, feel like you're squeezing your sit bones together. I call it like you're underbutt. That's what you wanna fire.

And then keep squeezing your sit bones together, your upper inner thighs-ing your knees. Once you're here, stand on the three corners of your feet, the ball of your big toe, small toe. Yikes, I am shaking. And then release. We'll go again.

Start with your sitting bones. Squeeze your sitting bones together. Press your knees together. And then stand on your feet, and then release. The goal is to feel your glutes, your inner thighs, and your deep abdominals.

Take an inhale. Exhale, scoop your powerhouse. Squeeze your underbutt, your seat, and your inner thighs. Stand on your feet, the three corners. And then release.

Final one. Empty your lung. Squeeze from your underbooty. And then press your feet into the mat and then release. So now, we're gonna work on a unilateral exercise.

Take a big inhale. Exhale, squeeze your sit bones, your upper inner thighs and your knees. Stand on your feet. Keep this connection. You don't have to keep holding onto your butt.

You can place your hands by your side. Now, open just your right knee. Both sit bones are pulling together and then close. Inhale. Stand on your left foot, open your right knee.

I'm still working the underbutt on both sides. And close. You have one more. Inhale, open. Exhale and close.

Other side. Stand on your right foot. Open. Are you still working the underbutt on both sides? And then exhale.

Two more. Inhale, my inner thigh, glutes, lower abs are working. Exhale. One more. Inhale and open.

Exhale, squeeze. Stand on your feet and then release your inner thigh. Breathe for one second. We're gonna transition this into Pilates stance. So bring your heels together.

You might have to readjust the circle. In this position, press your inner heels together already and start to pull your sit bones together. Take an inhale now as you squeeze your heels and your sit bones. Close your inner thigh towards one another. Stand on your feet and then release.

We'll do two more here. Exhale, start from here. My sitting bones squeeze together. My inner thighs pull together. And I find that internal lift and release.

Final one. Exhale, squeeze. I'm pressing my heels and sit bones together and my inner thighs are approaching. And then release. Take the circle out for a second.

Whoo! All right. So now, we're gonna go into the hundred. We're gonna do a few of the ma exercises using the Magic Circle, and then we'll progress from there. Bend your knees into your chest. Place the Magic Circle right above your ankle joints.

Hold on to the tops of your knees. I'm using my hands to press my thigh bones deep inside their sockets, so I feel the weight of my pelvis. Press into the circle so I'm engaging it. And then press your knees open as wide as your shoulders. You feel your underbutt, your inner thighs, right?

And then go back into parallel. Two more. Press in, press your knees open, and then release. Last one. Press in.

Press your knees open. Hold here. We're only gonna do 50. Reach your arms up. Protract your shoulders.

As you curl up, send your legs up towards the ceiling of 45 degrees. What I care about is that you're squeezing from your underbutt to your ankles. Now, pump. Inhale, two, three, four, five. And exhale, two, three, four, five.

Squeeze your sit bones together all the way to your ankles. Two, three, four, five. Inhale, two, three, four, five. Drop your tailbone, and press your head up towards the ceiling. Two, three, four, five.

I think we have two more sets. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Inhale, two, three, four, five. And exhale, two, three, four, five. Bend your knees.

Grab the circle. Rock up to seated for the half rollback. Plant your feet. Reach your arms in front of you. Find that internal lift.

Rotate your triceps to face your thighs so you can feel this connection right at the base of your armpits. And then microbend your elbows and add a little lift. Take an inhale. As you exhale, pull your lower abdominals back. Round back.

You can roll back and stop with the circle over your knees. Stay here for an inhale. Exhale from the base of your armpits to the heels of your hand. Squeeze. And then release.

And again, exhale. Pull your front ribs away from the circle as you squeeze and release. You're trying to hollow out your front body. Squeeze and release. And now, round forward into a sea curve.

Roll all the way up and exhale. We're gonna do three rollups. So slide back a little bit and straighten your legs. Place the Magic Circle between the arches of your feet. Your ankles are active, which keeps the circle parallel to the floor.

Place your hands next to your hips and find your internal lift. Squeeze your sitting bones or your underbutt and your inner ankles towards one another, and then let it relax. And notice the difference. Squeeze your underbutt all the way down to your inner ankles. Keep flexing your feet round forward.

And I'll roll down. I'm squeezing my feet and pulling my lower abdominals back. Keep squeezing your legs together from your sit bones all the way to your inner ankles. Reach up and back. Reach your arms up.

Curl up, squeeze, and then roll up round forward, emptying your lungs. Squeeze your underbutt and then roll back. Keep sending your sit bones under the circle. Roll all the way down. And again, arms go up, squeeze the circle, roll all the way up.

Exhale. Round forward. Squeeze your seat all the way down to your inner ankles. Roll all the way down. I'm gonna roll all the way up.

One last time. Squeeze the circle. Roll all the way up. Round forward. Grab the circle.

Sit up tall. Now, we're gonna go into the spine stretch. Separate your legs a little wider than your hips. And rotate the circle so it's on its side. This is similar to what we did on our backs.

So you reach your arms forward, find that squeeze of your underbutt. And then spin your triceps down to fill your arm back connection. Slightly bend your elbows. Now, take an inhale. As you exhale, just grow so tall that your upper arm bones press down into the circle and you get even taller.

And then release. Two more. Exhale, lift. Find your internal lift and then press From the base of your armpits. Press your head through the ceiling and then return.

One more. Do you still feel the squeeze of your seat? Press down to grow taller and release. So now, we're gonna add a C-curve. Bending your spine is what presses the circle.

So take an inhale chin into your chest. Exhale, I push my front ribs into my back. That's what pushes the circle. You should still feel the connection below your armpits. And then inhale, roll all the way up.

And again, exhale. Pull your front ribs into your back ribs. That pushes the circle down. And then lift your lower abdominal to come all the way up. One more.

Exhale, pull your front ribs back. Keep pressing your upper arm bones down, and then lift all the way up, and exhale. Let's flip onto our stomachs for a swan. So you reach your legs back. Now, depending on the mobility of your shoulders, your hands can either go on top of the circle or a little bit wider than the circle.

I'm gonna do it from here. The most important thing is that you first stabilize the bottom half of your body. So reach your sit bones back towards your heels and pull them together like you're squeezing the Magic Circle. And then slide your shoulder blades down your back, pull your lower abdominals forward as your sit bones go back, and just lift your chest up, like you're lifting your chest above your arms. And then curl your chin downwards, and then lower.

You have two more. Start with the bottom half. Squeeze your sit bones and send them back. Pull your lower abdominals forward. Feel like you're pulling the circle into your powerhouse.

Powerhouse over the circle. And then lower your chin. Exhale all the way down. You're standing on your legs. So reach them through the wall behind you.

Pull your lower abdominals forward. Feel like you're pulling the Magic Circle into your powerhouse. Try to lift your chest above your arms and then lower all the way down. Release the circle and then sit back on your heels before we come up to standing. Use your powerhouse to roll all the way up to seated.

And then we're gonna stand up for some standing arms. Once again, standing your Pilates stance. And then press down to the three corners of your feet. Find your internal lift first. Pull your lower abdominals away from your pants.

Slide them up the backs of your ribs. Reach your arms in front of you. They start off straight. And then engage the circle without squeezing it too hard. Rotate your triceps to face the floor.

Keep your arm back connection, bend and slightly lift your elbows. Take an inhale. Breathe into your lower back. Exhale, squeeze from the base of your armpits to the heels of your hands. Can you find that internal lift and grow taller?

And then release. Three more. Exhale. Lift your powerhouse as you press from the base of your armpit to the heels of your hands. And then release.

Two more. Exhale. Don't forget the internal lift. Keep pulling your lower abdominals above the height of the circle. And then release.

One more. Exhale and press in. Keep that lift and release. Take the Magic Circle. Place it on your left hip.

My arm is straight. Other hand is on your hip. Make sure your shoulders are even, the top of your box is square. I'm reaching my fingertips to the floor, so already I feel my arm back connection. Take an inhale into your lower back.

As you exhale, slightly bend your elbow to press into the circle. Should feel a lot of activity right here on the side of your body. And then release. And again, find your internal lift and press into the circle. Keep growing taller and then release.

Shoulders are square. So as you press, make sure your shoulder doesn't elevate. I'm sliding my armpit down the side of my body. And then release. One more.

Find your internal lift. Keep growing as you press into the circle. Release. Same thing on the other side. Say my arm is straight, shoulders are square, other hand is on my hip.

Outer spiral your arm. So I'm rotating my tricep back just so I get that arm back connection again. And then microbend your elbow. Take an inhale into your lower back. Exhale, pull your abs in and up as you press into the circle with your hand.

And then release. Three more. Find your internal lift. Exhale, press into the circle. Can you pull your lower abdominals up even more?

And then release. Last two, exhale, press making sure your shoulders are even and release. This is the harder side for me. Last one, exhale, press into the circle. Keep lifting your powerhouse.

Press your head through the ceiling and then release. Chest expansion. I'll turn sideways, but hold onto the circle with all 10 fingers pointing down. Notice how my shoulders are rolled forward. I want you to do the opposite.

Spin your triceps to face the wall behind you. Notice how that opens my chest. And then let it relax. And again, spin your triceps back and hold. Press your triceps back as you inhale.

Pull your lower abdominal through the circle. Hold your breath. Look right, look left, look center. Exhale, lower. Now, spin your triceps back and reach back.

Hold your breath. Look left, look right, look center. We're gonna change it up. Spin your triceps back. Find your internal lift.

Now, press your arms up and back. Lift your triceps up in order to bend your elbows. Slide your shoulder blades down your back to press the circle towards your heels. Reach down and then pull your lower abdominals in and up to reach back. Lift your triceps up, but not your shoulders to bend your elbows, and then lower it down.

One more. Reach down for your heels. Now, find your internal lift as your triceps go up. And then lift your triceps up more to bend your elbows. And then reach the circle all the way down towards your heels.

Find that internal lift. And we're ready to start the Wunda Chair part. So we just explored how to connect our arms and our legs into our powerhouse. Now, the challenge is to maintain those connections when we move onto the Wunda Chair and the pedal is constantly moving. So I want you to keep a mental checklist in your mind.

First, you wanna find your stability. Then that internal lift or the scooping your powerhouse, and then you move. Let's start off with the footwork series. So I'm on one top and one bottom spring, I'm on a grots. If you have other apparatus, just have one heavy and one light.

Sit close to the front edge of your chair. And then with one foot, push the pedal all the way down to the floor and find your Pilates stance. All 10 toes are on the pedal. I'm close to the front edge of the chair. Now, imagine you're squeezing the Magic Circle between your knees like we did.

Remember, it starts from your underbutt. So squeeze your sitting bone, squeeze your heels, and feel like you're pressing into a Magic Circle. Place one hand on your lower back. Take an inhale into your lower back. And then exhale.

Pull your lower abdominals in to find your internal lift. Place your hands on the sides of the chair, press in, and rotate your triceps back. Keep that internal lift and then see how much you can lift your knees up without changing your shape. And then find your internal lift to press the pedal down. We're gonna pump eight times.

Ready, exhale, lift eight, seven. Keep lifting up, six and five. Head presses through the ceiling. Do you still feel your underbutt? And three, and two, and one.

Push the pedal all the way down to the floor. Transition one foot at a time onto your arches. Once again, feel the Magic Circle. I'm squeezing from my sit bones all the way to my knees and inner ankles. Find your internal lift, stack your forearms one on top of the other.

And now, lift your inner thighs up into your powerhouse. We're gonna pump eight times. And exhale, lift. And seven. Try to keep your spine still by pulling your lower abdominals up to the back of your neck.

Two and one. Grow taller as you press the pedal down to the floor. Transition onto your heels and flex your feet. This time, you have the option to keep your hands here, or stack palm over palm at the back of your head. Gently press your head back.

Settle your shoulders into your back and find your internal lift. I'm pulling my lower abdominals up into my hands. Now, how high can you lift your inner thighs? Feel like you're pressing your hamstrings down towards the chair. And then exhale, lifter eight and seven.

Every time I lift my inner thigh up, I also lift my lower abdominals up into my hand. Three and two and one. Grow six inches taller. Press the pedal down and then reach your arms back. Make fists at the back of the chair, just like we did with the Magic Circle when we did long back stretch arms.

My triceps go back, chest goes forward. I'm squeezing my seat and extend your left leg forward parallel to the floor. Keep squeezing your sit bones and pump six times. Six and five. Press your inner heel.

Four, and three, and two, and one. Push the pedal all the way down. Left heel joins it. Squeeze your seat. That means your underbutt.

Pull your lower abdominals in. Extend your right leg parallel to the floor. And then lift, six. Triceps are reaching back. Chest is going forward.

Three more. Three, and two, and one. Push the pedal all the way down. Both feet on the pedal. Lift it up and then step off the front edge of the chair.

We're gonna move onto the push down, which means you change a spring. So pull the pedal up. Take one spring completely off. And then take the other spring and move it into the middle position. Stand behind your chair.

Your feet against the wooden frame. Measure one foot length behind it, and then go into your Pilates stance. First, grounds to the three corners of your feet. Find your internal lift. So pull your lower abdominals in and up and reach your arms up.

Now, imagine you're squeezing the Magic Circle between your ankles like we did for the hundred. So that squeeze comes from my sitting bones all the way down to my inner ankles. Lower your chin. And then round forward until your palms connect with the pedal and pause. Now, keep finding that internal lift.

My tailbone points to my heels. Press your head towards the pedal. And that's what lowers it to the floor. Keep reaching your arms and your inner heels into the floor. And then can you puff up your back body even more?

Lift your way so much that the pedal just happens to leave the floor. Feel like you're pushing your hips towards the chair a little bit. Your tailbone reach is down. Exhale, push the pedal down. And again, push your hips slightly towards the chair.

I'm still reaching into the pedal, but lifting my ribs to move the pedal. And then lower. One more. Tailbone reaches down, my lowest rib lifts up> And then I exhale. Lower it down.

Three pumps. I'm gonna lift my ribs to bend my elbows out to the side. I lift my ribs even more to push. Lift your front ribs. Exhale, pump up your back body more.

One more. Are you still squeezing your underbutt all the way down to your inner heels? Press your inner heels down. Press your hips towards the chair and then roll up. I'm pulling my ribs away from the pedal.

I'm gonna come all the way up. Find that internal lift. Let's do it with a little bit more flow. Find your stability, your internal lift, and then round forward. And push the pedal immediately to the floor.

And then find your stability. And then lift your powerhouse to round up. Exhale. Lift your powerhouse. That's what moves the pedal in.

Inhale, roll up. Exhale, push the pedal down. Your tailbone reaches for your heels. Waist lifts up to the ceiling, and then lower. Pump three times.

Exhale, pop up your back body. Exhale, tailbone points to your heels. One more. Push the pedal down. Keep the pedal on the floor as long as you can.

Start to curl your table and under. Pull your waist back, hips forward. Roll all the way up. Come up to standing. Let's make it a little bit more challenging.

Take a half a step forward. Ground your feet. Now, find your internal lift. Grow taller. Lower your chin.

And now, your spine moves the pedal, not your arms. Your spine moves the pedal. And now, lift your spine to roll up. Exhale. Lift your spine to push down.

Tailbone reaches for your inner heels. Inner heels are pressing into the floor. One more. Round up. Round forward.

Pump three times. Exhale. Every time you push the pedal down, you puff your ribs up even more. Now, push your hips towards the pedal gently. Pull your waist down back and then roll all the way up.

Keep finding that internal lift. And then circle your arms out to the side. Swan, come to the back of your chair. You're gonna place your hands on the chair. And then one foot can go on the pedal and lie all the way down with your shoulders right over your wrist.

Find the stability in your legs first. So I'm standing on the wall behind me. Think of squeezing a Magic Circle between your ankles. So you're working your underbutt. And then pull your lower abdominals forward.

Now, in this, it's important that you don't let your ribs drop below the pedal. So remember, the first exercise we did with the Magic Circle, find the connection between your ribs and your shoulder blades. Pull your lower abdominals forward. Pump the pedal three times. I pull my elbows back.

Exhale, I lift my front ribs into my back ribs. Elbows back. Exhale, reach. One more, bend. Exhale, reach.

Hold here. Find the oppositional length. Sit bones back. Pull your lower abdominals so far forward, the pedal reluctantly comes up off the floor. Curl your chin downwards.

Press the pedal down. Three pumps. Lift your front ribs and pump. Exhale, and exhale, and exhale. Now, keep reaching the pedal down.

Pull your lower abdominal forward and up. I'm still reaching down with my arms forward and up with my chest. Chin down. Exhale. One more set.

And pump three times. Three. Keep lifting your front ribs up two and one. Reconnect to your sitting bones. Pull your lower abdominals forward.

Reach the pedal down to pull your chest up and then lengthen. Lower all the way down. One hand stays on the pedal. Step off to the back. Come up to standing.

Turn around for teaser. Take a seat. And then bend your knees into your chest. Find that pelvic tilt. Start by squeezing your legs together, just like we did for the hundred.

Press your heels together. Peel your knees apart. So already you feel your glutes, inner thighs, and lower abdominals. And then pull your lower abdominals back. Reach your arms forward so you're ready for your teaser.

Squeeze your seat and your heels. Reach your arms forward, or your legs forward. And now, lift your lower abdominals. Reach back for the pedal. Now, just like the half roll back, you move from your lowest abdominals.

Your lower abdominals press the pedal down to the floor. I'm trying to get the backs of my hips on the chair. Now, my upper body rounds forward to come back up. And again, curl your table. And under. I'm pushing the pedal with my lowest abdominals.

I'm trying to reach my hands into the chair. The pedal wants to stay there. My spine wants to come up. One more. Pull your lower abdominals back, round back.

Now, keep reaching into the pedal. Pull your lower abdominals in. Come all the way up. Option two, curl your tailbone under. Reach your legs forward.

Feel like you're pressing your legs down into a floor. Reach your arms down. Find that length. Now, push the pedal down, but roll your spine up. Try to close the springs.

Pull your lower abdominals back. My sitting bones are reaching for my heels. My hands are reaching into the pedal. Keep reaching down. And then pull your ribs towards the pedal and lift up.

One more. Pull your lower abdominals towards the pedal, round back. And now, exhale. Keep reaching down. Come all the way up into a seated position.

Circle your arms. Step off to the side. Seated mermaid. So take a seat. Let's do the first repetition all the way back.

So your knees are folded against the chair. Pull your heels into the wooden frame. Reach your arm up towards the ceiling and relax this shoulder. Ultimately, you can have your arm close to your ear, but I elevate my shoulder. So I'm gonna reach up with the heel of my hand.

Reach this arm down. Lift, find your internal lift and pitch yourself forward a little bit. Lift your ribs up towards the ceiling so much that your spine presses the pedal. Keep pulling your heels into the chair. Now, sit heavily on the hip away from the chair and lift straight up towards the ceiling to return.

One more. Pull your heels into the chair. Lift up and then lift your waist up. Try to slide your ribs on the ceiling so much and maybe reach the pedal a little bit further. And now, sit on your left hip.

Keep reaching into the pedal and come all the way up. You can do it like that one more time, or scoot forward into the middle of the chair. Extend your legs in front of you and feel like you're squeezing a Magic Circle in your ankles. Reach your arms up. Pin your legs together.

Find your internal lift. Pitch your weight slightly forward. Now, lift your waist. Try to slide your ribs on the ceiling. I'm trying to push the heel of my hand all the way towards the opposite wall.

My hand wants to stay here. Sit on your hip. Come all the way up and then come off. We'll do the same thing on the other side. So once again, you can start with your knee, fold it over the edge of the chair.

Pull your heels into the chair. Reach your arm up, shoulder down. Pitch your weight slightly forward and reach your opposite hand towards the pedal. Now, lift your ribs up towards the ceiling. My energy is going up.

And as a result, I press down on the pedal. Sit on this hip, and reach the hand into the pedal, and come all the way up to a seated position. And again, grow taller. First, find your internal lift and then lift up to curve over. Keep that internal lift.

Push the wall away with the heel of your hand. Keep reaching into the pedal. Sit on your right hip. Come all the way up. To advance it, remember, you can scoot forward.

So you're halfway in the middle of the chair. Reach your legs forward. Arm goes up. And now, find that internal lift. Think of reaching up towards the ceiling.

Scrape the ceiling with your ribs and curve over. Keep reaching your legs for lower abdominals back. And now, pull your lower abdominals in and up. And then bend your knees. Come up to standing.

We're gonna move onto backward arms. So I'm just gonna slide my chair back a little bit. Take a seat in front of the pedal. But once you take a seat, turn sideways to the chair. Your inside hand will push the pedal to the floor and then turn with your legs extended.

The heels of my hands are on the chair and on the pedal. My fingers are pointing towards my legs. First, feel like you're squeezing a Magic Circle from your sitting bones all the way to your inner ankles. Your legs reach forward. Find your internal lift.

Elbows go back, chest forward. And now, lift the pedal up by growing taller through your spine. Now, find that internal lift that presses the pedal. And again, lengthen. Now, feel like you're pressing the pedal to the backs of your hips.

Can you grow even taller? Keep lifting. Now, lift your ribs away from your hips as you bend. And then exhale, grow even taller. We're gonna do three more like that with a little bit more flow.

Squeeze your sitting bones and your inner ankles. Find your internal lift. And exhale, lift. Find your internal lift. That's what presses the pedal.

Final one, hold here. Keep pressing down on the pedal. Pull your lower abdominals in and grow taller. Now, start to lift your elbows up. Curl your chin into your chest.

Round forward forehead to your knees. Reach your arms towards the back of the chair. Pull your ribs towards the chair. Circle your arms forward. And then roll all the way up one bone at a time.

We lie down our stomachs, four flying eagle. So lie down, flat. Reach your arms forward on top of the pedal. Your head is down. Now, find your stability.

So feel like you're squeezing a Magic Circle just like we did with swan. Your sitting bones reach back towards your heels, pull your lower abdominals forward. Keep pulling your lower abdominals forward. And pull the pedal into your powerhouse in order to lift up. I'm pressing my triceps down and pulling my powerhouse over to pedal.

Chin goes into your chest. Reach forward to lower all the way down. You have two more. Find the stability first, internal lift. I'm pulling my shoulder blades down my back, and I'm pulling my lower abdominals over the pedal, pulling the pedal into my powerhouse.

Now, keep lifting your lower abdominals and then chin into your chest. Roll all the way down. One more. slide your shoulder blades down your back. Reach your sitting bones towards your heels.

Now, pull your lower abdominals over the pedal. Reach your sitting bones back. Press your tricep down. Lift your chest up. Curl your chin down.

Reach forward and down. And then take your hands off the pedal. Sit back in a child's pose just for a beat. And we'll set up for the spine stretch. So straddle the chair and flex your feet.

We already did this with the Magic Circle. So place your hands next to your hips. Now, feel like you are pulling your sitting bones and your inner ankles together so you feel the lift on your underbutt. Reach your arms forward. You want your palms on the pedal.

Spin your triceps to face your thighs to find your arm back connection and then to soften them a little bit. We're just gonna grow tall. Take an inhale. As you exhale, find your internal lift in order to press the pedal down as far as you can lift up, and then return. Two more.

Pull your lower abdominals up. Press your head through the ceiling. Maybe you can go a little bit further and then release. Final one. Find your internal lift in the squeeze of your seat to lift and then lower.

Now, we're gonna do a lifted C-curve. You move the pedal with your ribs right here. So I'm gonna take an inhale. As I exhale, I fold it my ribs, and that's what moves my arms. It's not a big movement.

And then I'm gonna inhale, roll all the way up. Taking a big exhale helps. Take an inhale. Deflate your lungs. You move the pedal with your spine.

Try to press your arms down. Feel like you're curving up and over the pedal. And then roll all the way up. One more. Take an inhale.

Exhale. Lift your waist curve forward and over the pedal. Keep relaxing the tops of your shoulders. Roll all the way up, and then you exhale. We're gonna take that same lifted C-curve into horseback.

So come up to a standing position. And then once you are up, you'll straddle the chair. Take a seat. Now, the chair is a wider Magic Circle. So squeeze the Magic Circle or the chair from your underbutt.

So I'm pulling my sitting bones together. Bend at your elbows. Now, find that lifted C-curve. And reach your arms forward and down towards the pedal. And just hold here.

Now, remember that protracting with the shoulders. Can you reach further forward so you can lift your ribs up? and again, squeeze from your sit bones. Reach further forward, lift your ribs up even more. And now, flex your feet.

Bend your elbows and return. Let's do one more like that. It starts from here, from your ribs. So squeeze. Now, lift your ribs up and reach down and forward.

Hold here. Keep squeezing. Can you lift more? Protract more, lift more, protract more, lift more. Flex your feet.

Now, let's move the pedal. All right. So hug your midline. I'm squeezing my sitting bones. And then I find my lift and reach forward and down.

Hold here. Can you protract and lift more? Lift these front ribs. Flip your palms. Try to keep your legs parallel to the floor.

Now, lift your ribs up and back as the pedal goes forward and down. And now, pull your lowest rib back in order to move the pedal. And again, I'm lifting my lower abdominals, lifting my ribs up, and pushing my pedal forward and down. Now, lift your ribs up and back to come up. One more.

Are you still squeezing your underbutt? Reach your legs forward. Almost like you're lifting them up towards the ceiling. The pedal wants to live here, but you lift your front ribs into your back to roll all the way up. Close the springs.

Reach your arms forward and down. And then flex your feet. Bend your elbows and take a seat. All right, time to change it up. Step off to the side.

We're gonna set up for balance control front, which means you'll change the springs. One top and one bottom, or one heavy and one light. Come to the back of your chair with your feet parallel and together. Place your hands on the sides of the chair. And then take your right foot and press the pedal all the way down to the floor.

Make sure you feel all five toes on the pedal. Step your left foot up to the front end of the chair and pause. Keep reaching your right foot down. Squeeze your sit bones together. Stack your hands on your left knee.

Push down through the three corners of your left foot. And then squeeze your sit bones. Pull your lower abdominals back and roll all the way up to a standing position. Right now, you should feel your underbutt on both sides. Reach your arms forward and up.

Relax your shoulders. Now, find your internal lift and squeeze your seat and go up. Pull the pedal up into your powerhouse. Now, keep lifting your lower abdominals above your fingers. And reach the pedal down to the floor.

And again, squeeze your sitting bones and pull the pedal up. Keep lifting from your powerhouse. Now, lift your powerhouse as you reach the pedal behind you and down. One more. Pull your lower abdominals in and up and go up.

Now, once you're up, can you find that internal lift? And then reach your spine up. Lower the pedal all the way down. Round forward. Hands go on the sides of the chair.

Step your left foot down. all five toes on the pedal. Lift your powerhouse to step your right foot to the front edge of the chair. And then push down to the three corners of your feet. Squeeze your sitting bones and stack your hands on your knee.

Push down on your knee and then pull your lower abdominals back. Roll all the way up. Should feel your underbutt on both sides. And then pull your lower abdominals in and up and reach your arms forward. Shoulders relax.

Find your internal lift. You lift up so much that your lift pulls the pedal up off the floor. Find the three corners of your feet, and then pull your lower abdominals in and up, and lower with control. And again, keep squeezing your sitting bones. Find your internal lift.

Now, feel like you're growing taller even as your left foot reaches for the floor. One more. Pull your lower abdominals in and up. Keep reaching your foot into the pedal. Now, lift and lower all the way down.

Round forward. Step your right foot down. Then pull up. Go into your Pilates stance. Heels together, toes apart.

Transition your hands to the front edge of the chair. Shift your shoulders over your hips and find that same lifting your powerhouse that you did for the push down. Also, squeeze your sitting bones in your heels. Keep pushing down with your hands to lift your ribs up. Now, keep pushing down so much that the pedal just happens to float up.

Then adjust my feet a little bit. Now, keep lifting up. Try to close the springs. Now, push down with your hands, up with your ribs and lower halfway. Two more.

I push my hands down. I lift my lowest rib up into my back. Now, lead with your tailbone. Reach your tailbone towards your heels and lower. One more.

Push down with your hands up with your ribs. And then reach your tailbone down lower all the way down. And then you'll step off the chair. One foot stays on the pedal, lift the pedal up, and then come up to standing. All right.

Let's go on to balance control side. You place your hands on the side of the chair. Right foot pushes the pedal all the way down, both feet on the pedal. Pivot so that your right foot is on the pedal, left foot is on the wooden frame. You want your second toe to be on the pedal.

And I kind of hook my heel around the pedal, too. Hands going your hips. Stand up tall. Lift your left foot into the front corner. Now, I want you to remember what it felt like to squeeze Magic Circle in Pilates stance.

So I drop this hip, squeeze my sitting bones together, and just hold this shape. Keep dragging your sitting bones together. Push down in this foot. Once you do that, can you find your internal lift? And then let it relax.

And again, feel like you're squeezing the Magic Circle from your sitting bones. Push down and find your internal lift. Now, reach your arms out to the side. Now, you have to squeeze that circle for dear life. Keep dragging your inner thigh together and try to go up.

Pull the pedal into your powerhouse. And then as you lower, keep squeezing your sitting bones together. Two more. I feel like I'm dragging this heel towards my right leg. Keep lifting and then lower with control.

One more. Find your internal lift. Squeeze your sitting bones together, and then lower all the way down with control. Then turn. And then place both feet on the pedal.

You're gonna step your right foot onto the wood, and your left foot is on the edge. Make sure you look down. You feel your second toe on the edge, and I'm kind of hooking my heel bone on the outside edge of the pedal. Hold onto your hips, find your internal lift. Step your right foot up into the corner.

Drop this hip down. Feel like you're squeezing the Magic Circle in your Pilates stance. So I'm squeezing both sitting bones and finding my internal lift. And then let it go. One more.

Squeeze and find your internal lift, and then let it go. Reach your arms out to the side. Now, you can lean into it a little bit, especially if you're short like me. And now, squeeze your sitting bones. And then go straight up.

Find your internal lift. Lift the pedal up, and then lower with control. And again, pull your right heel to your left inner thigh. Now, go up even as you lower, I stay connected to my underbutt. And again, pull your lower abdominals in and up.

Keep squeezing your sitting bones. Press your head up to lower all the way down with control. And then place your hands on the pedal on the chair. And then take a step down with one foot. Guide the pedal up.

Come up to standing. Let's do table. turn and sit on the front edge of your chair. Push the pedal all the way down to the floor. Find your Pilates stance.

Squeeze that imaginary Magic Circle between your heels. Reach back. Now, lift your knees up as high as you can. Make sure there's integrity here and between your shoulder blades. Reach your hands into the floor.

Squeeze that Magic Circle between your knees. Now, push your hands down, hips up and hold. Gaze is up. Now, can you press your pubic bone up and lift your heels up higher? Lift your pubic bone up, heels up even higher.

One more, pubic bone up, heels up higher. Now, pull your ribs through your arms. Take a seat. We're gonna do it again. We're gonna add the pumps.

So make sure you are squeezing your heels together. Lean back so you have weight on the heels of your hands. And then pull your lower abdominals up. Find your internal lift,. My knees and my tailbone reach forward as my hips go up.

Now, push down with your hands and lift your heels up. Push down with your hands, lift up. Now, do five pumps. Ready, pull your hips up. Hips go up.

And three, and four, and five. Hold it up. Pull your ribs through your arms. Take a seat. Sit up tall.

We'll do one more. Feel that Magic Circle between your knees. So you squeeze your underbutt, squeeze your heels. And now, curl your hips up. Try to lift the pedal up.

Five pumps. Lift it up. Pubic bone goes up. And three, and four, and five. Pull your ribs back.

Take a seat with control. Guide the pedal up and then step off to the front. We have one more set of pullups to finish. Place your hands on the side of the chair. One foot presses the pedal down.

Find your Pilates stance. Hands go to the front edge of the chair. Wrap your fingers around the front. Now, lift your ribs, shift your weight forward. Shoulders are over your wrist.

Push down with your hands. Lift your ribs up and pull your tailbone down towards your heels. Now, keep reaching down with your hands so much that the pedal goes up. Keep lifting up. Try to close the springs and hold it here for five, four, three, two, one.

Now, lift your ribs lower halfway down. And again, push down with your hands. Reach your tailbone towards your heels. Lift up and hold here for five, four, three, two, one. Lift your ribs, push down with your hands.

Final one. Pull your lower abdominals in and up. Keep reaching your tailbone down, ribs up. Now, push down with your tailbone. Lower all the way down, one foot onto the floor.

Slide your hands back to guide the pedal up. Find your Pilates stance. Come all the way up to standing. Ground your feet. And now, find your internal lift.

Pull your lower abdominals into your lower back. Lift them to the base of your skull and grow taller. Open your arms into your peripheral vision. And you are done. Thank you for joining me.

I hope you're able to find some great connections between the Magic Circle and the Wunda Chair.