Renew on the Mat

Hi, Courtney Miller here, and I am bringing you one of my favorite class formats and my Pilates with Heart series. The class is called Renew and it's a Pilates-Yoga fusion. It's a lot of movement. It is a challenging class, but it's gonna be so worth it. I'm using the ball for this class.

I suggest you grab one too. I usually teach this class on my reformers. I'm bringing it to you on the mat today. It's gonna work your body, head to toe, and we'll focus on a lot of spinal mobility as well. So join me.

I'm starting the class, standing in front of my mat, feet hips-width. I'm gonna pull my frontal hip bones up towards my ribs, drop my tailbone down, take my hands into prayer, route down through my feet, reach up through the back of my neck, and take five deep breaths. And because this is a Pilates-Yoga fusion class, you might choose to breathe into the belly. You might choose to breathe in and out through your nose, or maybe a more traditional Pilates breath pattern, into the back and sides, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Big breath in.

(Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales) I want you guys to keep going. As I breathe in Tadasana, I think about a wave of energy coming up the front of my body, and with it, there's a sensation of lift. And then that wave of energy travels up the front of my body down the back of my body, pulling with it my shoulder blades and my sacrum. And then finally my heels rooting down into the ground. Take one more big breath in (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales) Nice.

Hands can come onto the hips. Stand on one leg and take one leg into a tabletop position. We're gonna do five leg circles here, guys. So circle that leg open and around, working balance, working some hip mobility. Hips can move a little bit, but focus on most of the movement coming from the thigh, the femur in the hip socket.

Try reversing the direction of those circles up and around. Use anything around to help you with balance. Maybe even taking your arms out helps you to feel a little bit more stable. Awesome. One more circle, and into the other leg.

So two things are happening. One is my stabilizing leg working hard to keep me here. And then two, that yummy circumduction, that circling movement in my hip. Not a lot of things in life that give you this kind of movement. So whenever we get a chance to do it, really savor it.

Up and around. (Courtney deeply exhales) Awesome. Five circles in each direction. Lets find the first position. So I'm just kind of widening my base of support. Lift your heels, connect your heels, squeeze your inner thighs, and take your arms right up to your sides.

Feel your shoulder blades root down. So what I'm asking you to do is activate through your lats. Those latissimus dorsi muscles, close your ribs and circle the arms. We'll do 10 circles in each direction. I kind of think of this as the Hundred standing up.

So there's a lot of challenge to stabilize my shape, coordinate breath with movement. Up and around. There's also some rhythm. Reverse. Up and around.

I'm still thinking about all that Tadasana or mountain pose sensation of lift through the front of my body. Nice. From here, guys, we're gonna take Eagle arms. I'm gonna show it to you from the front. Crossing one arm over higher than the other.

Taking my elbow into my elbow crease on my opposite hand, and taking the palms to touch. I'm gonna turn to the side so you can see what's happening for this one. Shoulders down the back, one leg comes up. Keeping the shape of my spine, I'm gonna hinge from my hip, kick back, and find this letter T position. Really stretch that leg long.

And then come back up to a balance. See if you can do eight on one side. So kick back, getting an awesome shoulder stretch and working all those small muscles around my knee, ankle and hip to stabilize. Not to mention the foot, right? (Courtney exhales deeply) Nice.

Three more, kicking it back. Rising up. I kind of love it when I get wobbly, because that to me tells me that I'm pushing my edge a bit. One more, kicking it back, and coming through. Cool.

So let's do the opposite arm. So there I am in a T, cross it over, find that crease, wrap it around. Okay. One side might feel a little tighter than the other. It does for me. Find your balance.

Standing position, opposite leg is up, and then you're hinging into that T, rising to one leg. So hinging back. We did about eight on the other side. I'm not a very good counter. So you might want to count repetitions.

Kick it back, and rise, four more. I'm pretty sure about that. Four more. Kick it back. And rise. Definitely feeling how my abdominals have to work, how they assist me in this standing balance challenge.

(Courtney exhales deeply) One more. (Courtney exhales deeply) Nice. Rise to come up. It's so important to warm up our glutes before our class. We're gonna grab the ball.

If you don't have a ball, you don't have to use anything at all. Or you can make use of a yoga block. Anything that's gonna keep your hands just a little bit narrower than shoulder width so we can help to find those lats. Feet are gonna be together, bringing the ball in towards your chest, squeezing your elbows in towards your body and pulling your elbows towards the ground. The balls goes forward as the hips go back.

So there's this oppositional energy, which helps me to sit a little deeper into my chair, and then exhale, rise. As I pull the ball in, I also draw my navel back. So let's keep going. Reach. Rise.

Reach. Rise. And a bit of shoulder movement here is okay. You're gonna feel the shoulders elevate and protract a little bit. And then you'll probably feel them depress and retract a little bit here.

So there is some movement happening in the shoulders and we're warming up the shoulders for the work to come. (Courtney exhales deeply) Three more. (Courtney deeply exhales) Two. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) And one. (Courtney exhales deeply) Nice.

Now I find for this next exercise, If I squeeze the ball a lot, I feel more stable. There's like this energy going through my hands, shoulders down the back. One legs gonna come up into that same position we were just in. This time though, as I stepped back, I'm gonna drop the knee, finding a lunge, squeeze the ball and rotate towards the knee that's bent, come back through center and then rise to come up. It's easier when you go a little bit quicker.

So step, twist, center, rise. Step. Twist. Center. Down, hold that, rotate, and up.

Three more. About eight per side. Rotating from that mid spine. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) And rise. (Courtney exhales deeply) Holding that lunge. And let's see how we do on the other side.

So find that ball connection, squeeze, shoulders down the back, opposite leg comes up, step back, rotate, center, up. So whenever I do a combination movement, this is a combo, I kind of break it down in my head and I say the words, "Down, twist." I really try to simplify it before I pick up the tempo (Courtney exhales deeply) And rise. Lunge. (Courtney exhales deeply) See if you can find a complete emptying of your breath during that twist. (Courtney exhales deeply) There it is.

Three more. (Courtney exhales deeply) Two. (Courtney exhales deeply) Good. And one. (Courtney exhales deeply) Rise all the way up.

Awesome. Bring the ball with you, meet me on your mat. This is a very squishy mat. It's got a lot of foam. So if you want to fold your yoga mat in half or use something so your knees and wrists feel supported during the flow. We're gonna sit down on the ball, I'm gonna squeeze the ball between my ankles.

There's a number of reasons why I love this position. Let me tell you why. When you sit down on the ball, it takes away tension from your knees. It's a really comfortable position to be in. It also gives you awareness of where the pelvis is and how the pelvis can move.

In this exercise we'll tilt forward. We'll think about sending our sit bones up and back, and our sit bones wide. This position of up and back and wide really allows me to access my deepest abdominals. Okay. See if you can feel that. The spine is long, find these 90 degree bends in your elbows, reach forward and then pull your elbows back.

As you do, close the ribs. Reach, pull. Reach, squeeze. Now, just as if I was on the reformer, I'm imagining pulling against the ropes. Yeah. Reach, squeeze.

Inhale to find length, exhale to contract. We're gonna add on in two, (Courtney exhales deeply) and one. (Courtney exhales deeply) Reach forward. Squeeze that ball between the ankles, rise up, finding a letter T. Reach forward, find the length, tap those sit bones down and bend.

So I reach, rise. Come into that long line. So you can see I'm barely sitting down onto that ball, focusing more on finding the length in my spine and bend. Reach, rise. Reach, pull.

Three more. Reach, rise. Reach, pull. Two more. Reach, rise.

Long neck. Last time. (Courtney deeply exhales) (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) Nice. Keep that ball squeezed between your ankles. Plant your hands.

Finding that tabletop position, knees right underneath the hips. All right guys, we're gonna hover. So curl your toes, lift up, hold here, shoulders down, shoulders back. We're gonna do protraction and retraction of the shoulder blades. Push chest up, squeeze the shoulder blades down and back.

Push, squeeze. Try to keep the head moving with the sternum. Push, squeeze, up. The up is like the top of a pushup. Four.

(Courtney deeply exhales) Three. (Courtney deeply exhales) Two. (Courtney exhales deeply) One. (Courtney exhales deeply) Nice. And just to be clear, that movement is in your shoulder blades.

So if you're bending your elbows like you're doing push-ups, try it again with straighter arms and just focus on those shoulder blades moving. Coming back into it. Option one, keep the knees down as we walk down to the elbows, up to the hands, down to the elbows, up to the hands. Option two, hover as you walk down, down, up, up. Down, down, up, up.

If I start dropping on the right, then I start lifting on the right. If I start dropping on the left, then I lift on the left. One more each side. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney deeply exhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) And take it down. It's a lot of work, a lot of great upper body.

All right, we're gonna change that ball now. So it's between the thighs. Give it a good squeeze so it's an oval and no longer a circle. Rise up for thigh stretch. In this exercise, those hipbones that we talked about earlier in Tadasana, are pulling up again.

There is a heaviness in the tailbone. We're feeling an openness through the front of the thighs. Reach forward as you hinge back, (Courtney inhales) and push back as you rise, like you're doing chest expansion on the reformer, Reach forward. (Courtney inhales) And pull. (Courtney exhales deeply) As you lean back, think about your left and right side abdominal wall coming in towards each other.

So this exercise is absolutely a whole body movement. Four more. Reach. (Courtney inhales) And pull. (Courtney exhales deeply) Three. Reach.

(Courtney inhales) And pull. Two. Reach and pull. One more. Everything goes back.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Up you go. Now, stay connected in the body as we go into another hover sequence. Balls between the thighs, knees come off. You're squeezing in. (Courtney exhales deeply) Keep the chest bone pressing up.

Every time you squeeze that ball, try to get a little bit more into the deeper, lower abdominals drawing up. Five, four, three, two, one. Tap it down. Good work guys. Adding onto that. So curl your toes, hover.

Press back to a version of downward facing dog. Now I say a version because it's a little short, your hands will be a little closer towards your feet than a more traditional dog. Bend your knees and see if you can come into that four point kneeling. Hover, press back. Hover.

Press the hips up, chest towards the thighs and hover. Lots of good movement in the ankle here. And hover. Push. (Courtney deeply exhales) Hover.

Three more. (Courtney exhales deeply) Two. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney deeply exhales) One. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney deeply exhales) Bring it down. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a lot of inner thighs.

Yeah, a lot. Okay. One more exercise to do here. Coming back into that downward dog, slightly modified, slightly shorter. So your hands are a little closer towards your feet, press up and back. This time, lengthen into a plank.

(Courtney deeply exhales) Remember protraction, pushing the chest up, press back into your dog, and reach one hand to opposite ankle, looks like that, come back up into your plank. (Courtney deeply exhales) Plank. (Courtney exhales deeply) Reach. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) Reach. (Courtney deeply exhales) keep squeezing that ball.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Four more. (Courtney deeply exhales) (Courtney inhales) (Courtney deeply exhales) Two more. (Courtney deeply exhales) And take a break. I need to take a break from that ball. But you probably do as well.

All right guys, we're gonna go into some modified plank exercises. I want to really find a really solid pike with you. So take the elbows and forearms down. Come down on to your pelvis. Take your elbows right underneath your shoulders.

Legs could be zipped up and together or wide. And then from here, all I want you to do is press down into the forearms, draw your abdominals up, stretch around your spine and look towards your belly button and then inhale, lengthen all the way out. This rounding, scooping and pulling up from the mid spine is how we initiate a pike. We do it all the time on the reformers. So lets really learn it here.

Elbows down, pull up, and lengthen. Let me show you what I'm not doing. And this happens in a, in a pike all the time. Hips. Okay. So focus on finding that thoracic flexion and that complete breath.

Four more. (Courtney inhales) And lengthen. Three. (Courtney inhales) You see me shaking? You are too. Two.

(Courtney inhales) And lengthen. And one. (Courtney inhales) And lengthen. Nice. So now that we did those preparatory movements, let's do the big one. Draw your legs together.

I like to have my legs together when I'm up in a plank, I find the inner thigh connection. It makes me feel really strong. Finding that plank. So what we're not gonna do is send the hips up. What we are gonna do is shift forward a bit, same as before, find that scoop, (Courtney exhales deeply) and then lengthen into our plank.

Find that scoop and lengthen. Start from your head, round your upper spine, push down as your forearms, find that scoop and lengthen. Four more. (Courtney deeply exhales) (Courtney inhales) (Courtney deeply exhales) Two more. (Courtney deeply exhales) One more.

(Courtney deeply exhales) Take it down. And I hope what you feel, more abdominals. Yeah? Than when you just lead with your hips. See if you can translate that onto your reformer next time you got those pikes. All right, guys, let's come onto our hands and knees, send one leg back, really pressed through the heel, reach to the crown of the head, and then send the other arm long.

We're gonna lift the shape of the arm and leg up, and then take it down. Up. And down. Up. And down.

(Courtney exhales deeply) When I lift up, I'm trying my best not to drop in the middle. (Courtney exhales deeply) We're gonna add an open close. So up. Open, like a T. Close.

Down. Oh, that's hard. Up. (Courtney deeply exhales) Open. Close.

Down. Two more up. Up. Try to stay as connected. Open. Close. Down. One more.

(Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) And keep the leg up. Nice. If being up on the hands is starting to bother you in any way you want to go down to your forearms, now would be a good time to make that adjustment. We're gonna bend back knee and crossing it behind. This kind of reminds me of the eagle arms we did. Crossing, kicking.

Crossing, kicking. So right now I'm focusing on keeping my hip bones pretty level. My pelvis, pretty stable. (Courtney exhales deeply) Let's add a kick to the side. (Courtney deeply exhales) As soon as I kicked to the side, there's gonna be a little rotation and that's okay.

(Courtney deeply exhales) Five. (Courtney exhales deeply) Four. I just had to remind myself to keep my chest up. Three. (Courtney inhales) Two. (Courtney deeply exhales) And one.

Now cross and press back to sit. And then you get a nice glute stretch, right? Can feel it, especially if you took heat and then power and maybe tone right before this. It's five classes and you want to take them all. Okay. So nice glute stretch.

I like to push down, lift up, get that lift in my chest even though my hips are heavy. Then I'll walk or circle my hands forward, forehead to the knee, breathe. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) Now you can either keep the legs like this or changed them, but we're gonna come up into a tripod position, which is a lot of low, deep core work. So I pushed down, come down to my knees, top of the head comes down to the mat, hands right underneath the elbows. So finding that 90.

Then this is the way I do it. I start to shift more weight onto the top of my head, press into my hands. I get my hips up kind of as high as I think I can. And then with a little bit of faith and a teeny bit of momentum, I lift up into that tripod. There it is.

Okay. So once I'm here, I'll either hold those Eagle legs or another fun thing I like to do is tap elbows down like I'm gonna do Crow pose and then come back up. So tap. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney deeply exhales) One more. (Courtney exhales deeply) Take it down. Nice.

Let's do it again on the other side. Yeah? Did it ruin my hair? No, we're good. Okay. So up onto the hands, spread the fingers wide, opposite leg long, pull up, arm long, (Courtney inhales) lift and lower. (Courtney exhales deeply) So kind of play with my ankle.

See that back foot that's lifting? When I flex my foot, it really reminds me to keep my hips square, push through my heel, lift through my hamstring. (Courtney deeply exhales) (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) Open, close, like a T. (Courtney deeply exhales) Down, up. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) Down, up.

Down. (Courtney exhales deeply) All about finding that mobility in the shoulder and hip, but stability in the torso. Keep the leg up. This is your option to take it down if that's more preferable to you. We're gonna cross behind, kickback.

(Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) If you are up on your hands, spread your fingers. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) Adding that kick to the side, (Courtney exhales deeply) probably some movement in the hip. (Courtney exhales deeply) Five. (Courtney deeply exhales) Four. (Courtney exhales deeply) Three.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Two. (Courtney exhales deeply) One. (Courtney deeply exhales) Sit it back. You should be on the other leg. Nice big stretch for this side.

So hands back, chest lifted. Good time to reconnect with that breath. Walk or circle the hands forward, forehead to the knee. Relax. (Courtney deeply exhales) Nice.

Keep the legs or change them. Give that tripod a try, forehead down. Second time trying it. Maybe there's a little more confidence. Hands right underneath those elbows, lifting up, finding the lift.

So the trick is to get the hips right up over the shoulders. If you're having problems getting up, you practice that little hop, and then maybe you're adding something with the legs, knees tucking down. Maybe you were going straight up. (Courtney exhales deeply) So there's lots of opportunities to play. The inversion is so good for you.

And it's kind of fun to do something different. Okay. Take it down. See I felt better that side, that time. Let's grab the ball again and let's do some bridging.

So coming into the middle of your mat, squeeze the bulb between your inner thighs and lift up. So in our Pilates bridge, we have that long line knees, hips, shoulders. We're gonna hold that Pilates bridge, dipping the hips down and up. (Courtney exhales deeply) As I lift my hips, I'm also squeezing the ball in. (Courtney exhales deeply) I'm pressing down through my whole foot on both sides.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Hold the squeeze, hold the lift, reach the arms overhead, (Courtney exhales deeply) and then roll the spine down. And as I do, I'm reaching my fingertips in one direction, and I'm trying to pull my hips closer to my heels in the other direction. So this to me, this is what I would call this, attraction bridge. It's like someone's pulling my arms in one direction, and pulling my hips in the other. It feels really good.

(Courtney deeply exhales) Two more. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) Awesome. And then roll up, (Courtney deeply exhales) circle those arms around. And now you're gonna walk your feet in a little bit narrower. And we're gonna change this Pilates bridge into more of a Yoga bridge.

In neither bridge are we feeling a lot of weight onto our neck, but there is a shift where the hips come higher. I walk my weight onto my shoulders. I like to check that my ankles are close by. Maybe you can grab them. The hips are pressing up. You're squeezing that ball.

The hips are pressing up. The chest is opening. There's more of an arch. There's more of a bow shape here. And that's because in this exercise, we're preparing to come up into a wheel. So if wheel's part of your practice, you can bust it out right now.

So this is a great place to be. You can also interlace your fingers, reach towards your heels, but using the ball stops your knees from opening or flaring out, and it keeps that IT band long and those inner thighs strong. And that's what you need to go into that big back bend. So let's just hold here for five. Four.

Three. Two. And one. Good. And roll it down.

Ball in the hands, give it a good squeeze. Reach overhead. On an exhale, arms come up, you come up. (Courtney deeply exhales) Reach the ball towards the toes, roll back, and take it down. Few more here. Exhale, up.

(Courtney deeply exhales) And down. (Courtney deeply exhales) Exhale, up. (Courtney exhales deeply) And down. (Courtney exhales deeply) Exhale over, trying to peel through that tighter part of the spine. This time we'll stay up and put the ball between the ankles.

We're gonna roll back down again in preparation for an inversion, another inversion. So arms are strong, chest is wide. You can bend the knees in or just hover the legs. You're finding this idea and the sensation of the sides of the body coming in and down. And then exhale.

(Courtney exhales deeply) You take it overhead. And your legs are parallel-ish to the ground. Or if you're going for more of a stretch, maybe tap those toes and then slowly roll the spine down, keeping that squeeze and find that traction again. So try to pull your sit bones away from your shoulders. Exhale, up.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Squeeze. And then take it down right through the center of your spine. And then one more like this. Exhale, up. (Courtney deeply exhales) And roll down.

And then the only difference is flexed feet. Give it a try. Exhale, up. (Courtney deeply exhales) And down. Bent knees is fine. Exhale, up.

(Courtney deeply exhales) And down. And then last time. Exhale, up. (Courtney exhales deeply) And down. Nice.

Let's roll out. (Courtney exhales deeply) Bend your knees and place the ball behind you. Where the ball goes is important, because the closer the ball is to your lower back, the more bending you're gonna experience. So if you want to feel more support, you want the ball higher or maybe even higher still. So you'll just have to play with it and find what works for you.

Cool? So let's try it here. So on an inhale, my arms will lift up and my biceps will be real close to my ears. Then I'll drop my whole shape down. Oh, that feels good.

Circle the arms around, tuck your chin into your chest and come back into that C Scoop. My goal in the C Scoop is to lift almost off the ball so you can see the shape is more like a circle. Then arms up. Roll back. Taking the shape of the ball, circle it around.

Remembering to nod your chin before you lift your head. This exercise is teaching you how to come up from an inversion like wheel pose. I'm gonna get a little bit more of a bend in my spine. So I'm moving the ball closer to my tailbone. Arms up, roll back.

(Courtney deeply exhales) Nod the chin. Come up. Two more. Arms up, roll back, circle around, One more. Arms up. (Courtney exhales deeply) And come all the way up. All right, let's hold the C Scoop.

So hold this position, and then lift the arms up, up, up. Hold. One leg is gonna come up. I'm still working stability. As if I'm doing double leg stretch, the leg will go long, the arms will circle around.

I want to change the shape, come off that ball a little bit and then lengthen it out. (Courtney exhales deeply) Send it long, (Courtney deeply exhales) pull it in. Be careful of this hip hiking up towards your shoulder, stretch it long and pull it in. Five. (Courtney exhales deeply) Four.

(Courtney deeply exhales) Three. (Courtney deeply exhales) Two. (Courtney deeply exhales) One. (Courtney exhales deeply) Switching sides. So send those arms back, opposite leg up.

So that hollow body lever, that double leg stretch both finding out big shape and then bringing it in. (Courtney exhales deeply) Complete emptying right back into it, pulling it in. Out. (Courtney exhales deeply) Stretch. (Courtney exhales deeply) Stretch.

(Courtney deeply exhales) Five. (Courtney deeply exhales) Four. (Courtney deeply exhales) Three. (Courtney deeply exhales) Two. (Courtney exhales deeply) One.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Why not stretch one more time. All right guys, we've got some big moves to do. Tuck your chin up, help yourself come up, let's put the ball off to one side, and do some Vinyasa flows. Come onto your hands and knees to start. Spread the fingers wide, curl the toes, and we're gonna come into our downward facing dog.

Pressing your chest towards your thighs, your hips up towards the ceiling. Lots of space between your head, neck, and shoulders for movement. And if possible, dropping the heels of the feet down to the mat. Right leg is gonna lift up. There's your three-legged dog.

We're gonna bring the knee through the chest. Finding that same sort of scoop that we were just in on the ball. Kick it back. In. (Courtney exhales deeply) Kick it back.

(Courtney exhales deeply) In. Shoulders over wrists. Try not to drop here. Find that scoop. Kick it back. Four. (Courtney exhales deeply) Three.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Two. (Courtney exhales deeply) One. (Courtney exhales deeply) Step it through. Might take a few times to step it through so just get that foot forward. Trying to get your knee right in line with that ankle.

When you feel good about this Crescent lunge set up, rise. Bringing your hands behind your head, press your hands into your head. Fire up that back body. Drop your back knee, maybe it touches the mat. Lift. Front knee is gonna stay bent the whole time.

10 knee taps. (Courtney deeply exhales) Close those ribs, down and up. (Courtney exhales deeply) Big stretch through the hip on that back leg. Five. (Courtney exhales deeply) Four.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Three. (Courtney deeply exhales) Two. (Courtney exhales deeply) One. (Courtney exhales deeply) Hands down. Step it back.

Take a second here guys. Find a breath. Downward facing dog is our recovery post. (Courtney deeply exhales) (Courtney inhales) (Courtney deeply exhales) Into the other leg. Left leg up. Bring the knee in towards the chest but pull the hips up.

Finding out pike position we worked on earlier. Kick it up. Three-legged dog. (Courtney deeply exhales) (Courtney inhales) (Courtney deeply exhales) Five more. (Courtney exhales deeply) Two more. (Courtney deeply exhales) One.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Take a second. Set it up. Try to fire into that back foot. Reach that heel. Walk it up. (Courtney deeply exhales) Square it off.

Hands behind the head. Drop the back knee. Stay here for a second. So the back knee doesn't have to touch the mat, but what we're going for is a big stretch through the front of the hip. Hips will be forward, front knee will stay bent. All right guys, tap it down and up.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Five more. Five. (Courtney inhales) Four. (Courtney exhales deeply) Three. Two.

One. Into that recovery pose. Spread your fingers nice and wide. Well done guys. All right. Flow with me.

Take a moment. (Courtney deeply exhales) Exhale. Let it all go. (Courtney inhales) Inhale as you lengthen, high plank position, take the knees down to modify, lower through Chaturanga. Pull the chest forward. Roll to the tops of the feet if that works for you.

Wide collarbones, downward dog. Breathe it out. (Courtney exhales deeply) Do it again. Heels come up. There's that pike again (Courtney exhales deeply) as we lengthen through.

Take it low, pull it forward. Roll it back, drop the heels. Two more. The lifting of the heels is what starts the movement in the spine. The heels come up, you scoop, lengthen it through.

Down. Up. Roll to the top of the feet. (Courtney exhales deeply) Send it back. Enjoy the inversion.

Last time. Heels up. Lengthen. Lower. Up.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Stretch guys. Heels down, chest to thighs, breathe it out. Knees come down. Let's finish with Swan. So taking your legs wider than your hips.

See about ball will stay. Pressing the hips and pelvis into the mat. Bringing the elbows down underneath the shoulders, rolling the shoulders down and back. Lifting the head until it's in line with the spine. Pressing up.

(Courtney exhales deeply) Finding not just lift but length. Take the elbows down. (Courtney exhales deeply) Do it again. Wide collarbones, lift it up. (Courtney deeply exhales) (Courtney inhales) And bring it down. (Courtney deeply exhales) Two more. Lift it up.

(Courtney inhales) Bring it down. (Courtney deeply exhales) One more. Up. And down. Bringing the hands underneath the shoulders, narrow elbows for a bigger range of motion.

Roll the shoulders down and back, pull your chest forward, lift up. (Courtney deeply exhales) (Courtney inhales) And then there's a forward movement, like the nose is reaching to the front edge of the mat to lengthen down. Do it again. Reach up. (Courtney inhales) Pull the chest through the arms to take it down. Two more. Reach up.

(Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) One more time, reach. (Courtney exhales deeply) And lengthen. All right guys, we've come full circle. So we're gonna finish class how we started, in a standing position. So help yourself, come on up and join me.

Standing beside your mat, nice, wide stance. Take the hands behind the head. Open the collar bones, drop the chin towards the chest. Roll yourself down. (Courtney exhales deeply) Once you get there. There's this heaviness.

Bend your knees, lift, lengthen, rebuilt. Do it again, round. So I'm closing the ribs. (Courtney exhales deeply) Lift, lengthen, rebuild. One more this direction (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) And up you go, other direction.

I lean, weight into my heels, lean back. And I feel like this is it, this is my max. Round the spine. (Courtney exhales deeply) Rebuilt to come up. Lead with the chest.

(Courtney exhales deeply) One more time. Lead with the chest, round to come up. (Courtney exhales deeply) And no better place to finish than that Tadasana where we started. So hip bones up, tailbone down, close the ribs. Five breaths guys, big breath in, big breath out.

We worked our back, our arms, our booty. Even got our heart rate up a little bit. (Courtney inhales) (Courtney exhales deeply) Nice job. Remember, this is a class in a series of five. The idea is I will meet you back here on the mat for the other four.

Nice work. I'll see you guys again soon. Bye.