Whole Body Tower

Hi, I'm Meredith and I'm very excited to be with you all again. It's been a little while, so I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. Today we're gonna be working on the tower as you can see and what I have ready to go are a couple of top-loaded springs, a couple of bottom-loaded springs. I have some short yellow arm springs with handles attached. I have some long leg springs.

Purple is what I've chosen. You could choose to do yellow if that's your preference. And as we go along, I'll just share with you the springs that I'm choosing to use in that moment specifically. So where we're gonna start is standing up on our feet and walking towards the tower end. Taking a hold of the push through bar.

I don't have it spring-loaded in this moment just because the other springs will get in the way. It is nice to do this with spring if you choose but for me, I'm just gonna go without. So what I want us to do is just, as you know I like to close my eyes, feel yourself becoming present in this moment. Feel the weight of your body on your feet. Feel equality of weight on your feet.

Feel that as you're doing that, you're lifting your spine in opposition to the downward press into the earth with your feet and here we go, inhale. (inhales deeply) As we exhale we'll bring the chin into the chest. We'll begin to articulate the spine down. There's a moment when you can't round anymore without taking the pelvis back so in that moment, we're gonna start to take the spine out. So finding a long spine, reaching the spine out towards that push through bar, pause to inhale. As we exhale will tuck the tail.

We'll push forward with the arms as we're articulating back through the spine, bringing our body all the way back to upright, taking the eyes forward and inhaling. And bringing the chin into the chest drawing in on the center of the body. So we're using our abdominals to support this movement of the spine taking the body down and then long. Reaching the sitting bones away from the top of the head, inhale. And exhale, tuck the tail round through the spine, pressing down and forward with the arms just to create opposition through the center of the body coming up to stand tall.

One more time, inhale. Exhale head goes down first. Abdominals draw in. Shoulders are wide and under control or stable. Reach out, elongate.

Keep the abdominals working to support the spine even as that spine reaches its long shape and then exhale to round back. Round back, keeping the arms active, coming all the way up. Take the left hand across towards the right hand. They don't have to touch. I just want you to move the hand over enough that you feel that you don't have to rotate your torso to do that.

So my hands are still a little bit apart. We're gonna go down. So we're going down, we're looking for that same long shape but as we start to create that long shape, we're gonna turn towards the right. Turning towards the hands and then rounding the spine starting to bring the body back into the center, coming up to standing on our feet again. Inhale.

Exhale, chin to the chest, roll down, center. And then start as you elongate your spine to take that rotation lifting the right ribs turning towards the hands. And then exhale as we start tucking the tail under, we start coming away from that rotation. And then as we stand on our feet, we're back in the center, eyes forward one more time. Exhale to round.

Again, we can think into equality on our feet. We stretch the ribs away from the pelvis as we take that rotation, looking in the direction that we're going. And then we round back in starting to take the eyes back down towards the feet, coming all the way up, and standing tall. Take the hands to the other side. Inhale tall.

Exhale taking the body forward. Once you can't go down in the center anymore you start to elongate. As you elongate, you take that rotation towards the arms, towards the direction of the hands. And then we round bringing the body back through center, keeping the collarbones wide and open, coming all the way up into the center. Standing tall, inhale.

Exhale round. Keeping the pelvis right over the feet, taking the rotation. So here's where we might feel a little differentiation between the weight on the feet. So challenge yourself to stay really grounded, even and round. Coming all the way up.

We'll do one more here on this side, standing tall. Going down. Taking the rotation. And around. Coming up all the way into the center.

In the center let's separate the hand so one is on either side of the bar again. We're going one more time through the center, exhaling to go down. Realigning the spine. Weight of the body over the feet, pelvis over the feet. Take the body out long.

Reach, you might feel like you have a little bit more range or room to move here, I sure do. And then round back in articulating, moving through the spine with ease, with control, and coming all the way back to standing again. So what we're gonna do now, so we're gonna leave that push through bar as it is. We're gonna come around. We're gonna set up for some abdominal work.

So moving on, we're gonna create some spinal articulation. I have the arm spring set at about head level on the tower. So we'll take ahold of those handles and we'll orient ourselves on the mat. It's worthwhile to take a good check, make sure you're right in the center. I'm a little further back from the middle 'cause I want a nice, good, strong spring tension.

We'll start right away just bending the elbows and lifting the spine up into those springs. We'll do that three times, take the arms forward. Exhale, bend the elbows. Pull the abdominals in as you rise up into that spring. So using the spring as an assistance rather than, rather than what?

Using the spine to, using the springs, to help the spine feel like it's getting lifted, getting longer. And take the arms forward, inhale there. As you exhale, bring the springs with you, articulate your spine down. So it's nice to do a little down pressure on the springs that can achieve a couple of things. One is to make sure the shoulder blades are well connected.

The other is to just give you a little bit more sensation in the center of your body, the head comes down last. As we inhale and bring the head up, we're doing that with the front of the body, with the abdominals, not letting the springs find that shape for us. And then we're gonna roll resisting the pull of the springs, finding ourself over the pelvis with the shoulders in a round spine. And then from that round spine, we bend the arms and lift up tall again. Take the arms forward.

Exhale, articulate down. A little downward pressure on the springs. Not necessarily from the hands but more from underneath of the shoulder blades. Feel the feet pressing down or the legs rather pressing down, the legs reaching forwards. We come all the way down.

Inhale deep and into the center of your body. Get the low back to touch. Exhale, curl through the spine. Rounding, rounding, rounding, rounding, rounding. Staying round.

And then bring the back up tall as you bend your arms and then as you round your spine, your arms reach forwards. And then we go again pressing down feeling the backs of the legs, feeling the legs reaching forwards, feeling the arms pressing down. Lots of things to think about all the time, no time for distraction ever. Whenever I feel like I'm starting to get distracted, here we go, lift up. I say to myself, I'm sure there's something you could think about rather than whatever is creating distraction.

What's happening in the legs. What's happening in the center of the body, bend and lift. What's happening in the arms, in the shoulders, whatever. Going through a little mental checklist. This will be the last two going down, going down, going down all the way.

Lifting the head and chest. Going up, going up, going up, resisting the pull of the spring, shoulders over the pelvis. Long round spine, bend the arms and lift the spine. One more time, my friends, reach forward and round. And go back.

Energy reaching through the legs as though you're trying to lay your spine down longer, straighter every time. And then head and chest come up. Collar bones stay open long and round. And bend your arms and lift. And straighten your arms, bend your knees.

Start to take the body back again. Taking the body back, keep the knees squeezing together. Push down with your feet. Pull back with your heels. Coming all the way down into a chest lift position.

So don't rely on your springs here as a suggestion and curl forward, mini roll ups. And go back. And curl forward. Deepening into the center of the body all the time. So we could choose to let the springs do the work, not my favorite choice or we could choose to use the weight of the springs.

Use the assistance from the springs to get deeper into our movement. Let's do three more. And down. And bending inwards, two. And down, checking the collar bones and bending inwards three.

We go down. From down, take rotation, let's go left. So we bring the right ribs across towards that left pelvis. Slide the left ribs towards the spine on that same side and lift up just on that side and down. And forward bending inwards checking in with the legs.

And down, checking in with the collar bones. And forward working in both directions. And down and forward. And down. And four, really pulling back with the heels.

Letting the backs of the legs have a little bit of (grunts) join the party we'll say. A little connection is what I couldn't think about. Finding the words for. One more. In rotation we lift, in rotation we come down on that side.

We come back into the middle. We take rotation into the opposite direction. So it's the spine that's rotating, not the arms. Arms just come along for the ride. And then we go up.

Keeping the knees in the center, Meredith. I just caught my knees trying to drift away towards the other side. Something for all of us to think about I imagine. And down working them both ways and forward, and down. Creating space between the pelvis and the ribs and forward.

And down. We'll do four more. Curving inwards and down. And curving inwards and down. And curling inwards too.

And down. And curling inwards. And down. Bring yourself into the center. Take one leg to straight.

Take the other leg to straight. Press down with your leg, squeeze your legs together. Roll all the way back up. When the shoulders come over the pelvis, bend one more time. Both of the arms flexing your feet as you sit all the way up tall.

Now, point the elbow slightly down and take a little bit of back extension there. And then come to a neutral or a straight back, take the arms forward. Bend the left elbow. As you bend the left elbow, rotate left and pull down with the right arm. And come to center keeping the leg side by side.

Bend the right elbow. As you rotate to the right pull down with the left arm and come back to center. And bend the left arm, pulling the right arm down so we use the springs to maximize that rotation and center. And as we're taking our rotation, we keep the weight centered over the sitting bones. And center.

And bend down, rotate, lift up, lift up, lift up. And center and bend down. Rotate, lift up, lift up, lift up. And center, we'll just do one more to each side, my friends. Go one way.

And center. And the other way. And center. In the center for the last time, bend the elbows. Using the bent arms point the elbow slightly down.

Lift the spine, you can lean back away from the springs but simultaneously bringing the chest up and forward, and then bring the body back upright. Take the arms forward, reach forward and let go of the springs. (metals clinking) We're gonna set up for footwork now. Okay, so we're all set up for footwork. I've got two red springs coming from a bottom-loaded position and we'll just get right to it.

So coming down onto our back, we're gonna slide back. I have to go back as far as I'm able. I actually let my head go just off the edge of the Cadillac. So the occipital ridge of my skull, the base of the skull is resting just on the corner of the mat which actually feels quite nice just 'cause I'm a little bit flexibility-challenged. So we're gonna start with both heels underneath the footbar.

Arms down at our sides and what I want us to feel here before we start moving is just the weight of the springs letting the pelvis get a little bit more grounded and then we'll bend the knees. Press the pelvis down and stretch. And bend the knees. So what I mean by that is instead of pushing from the front of the legs to move the feet into the air, what I want us to think about is softening the pelvis down and allowing the legs to respond to that, and bend. And stretch.

And bend. And stretch. Just do two more here, bend. I'm trying to keep those springs quiet but it's difficult for me. Like I said, a little bit of flexibility challenge happening in this body in this moment.

And stretch, so I'm not bending my knees very much, I'm only bending to the point that I can keep my pelvis grounded. I'm now shifted to my toes. The toes are on the footbar. We're gonna bend the knees. Press the pelvis down all the same cuing and stretch from here, we take the heels through.

So dorsiflexing the feet, plantar flexing the feet, pushing the bar up and also think of pushing forward on the bar and then bend. And straighten. And flex. And point. And bend.

Pelvis heavy, collarbones open. Active through the arms. Back of the ribcage soft on the mat or heavy on the mat, or soft and heavy. Is that possible? I think so. And press.

And flex pulling beyond where the spring tension pulls you and point. And bend. And press. And flex. And point.

Let's do two more here, bend. And pelvis down stretch and flex. And point. And bend. And stretch.

And flex. And point. Swivel the heels together and not just from the feet but right from the very top of the hip thinking about finding the external rotators of the hips and then bend the knees. Pelvis presses down, leg zipped together from the heels right down to the pelvis and bend. And stretch.

And bend, keeping the springs as quiet as we can, that's what I'm telling myself. And stretch. And bend. And stretch. Let's do four more.

I'm laughing 'cause it's hard for me. Here we go, one. Zip the heels together. Pull the abdominals back towards the spine and bend. And press, two.

And bend. And press, three, tailbone dropping, maximizing that stretch through the backs of the legs. Last time, bend. Last time, stretch. Swivel the hips back towards a parallel alignment.

Bend the right knee, lift the left foot, flex the left foot. Push both feet up and change. So one foot's pushing up into the bar as the other foot flexes and we meet in the middle, and we change. So pedaling the feet, prancing, walking, whatever you like to say and change. People tell me I like to go too slow.

I don't know if that's true. I've just realized that I'm going quite slow here. I like slow. It gives me a chance to really think about where my body is in space. So let's do one more slow.

Flexing and flexing and then we'll do four more with a little bit more of a brisk tempo. So we change up, change up. Three up. Three up. Still maximizing that dorsiflexion of the foot, two.

And two. And one. And one. And bend the knees. Take a hold of the bar.

Slip your feet out from under the bar. I'm just gonna take one of these springs away. So I'm just gonna bend over to the side. I'm gonna put it nicely back behind me, hopefully without a lot of excess noise. And then what we're gonna do here is we're gonna slide out on the mat until the arms are straight heading into some tower.

So getting organized. Once you feel that you can be in a place where your arms can be straight above you, we're gonna bring the feet back under the bar. Stretch the legs long, it's a bigger stretch here. We've had to move quite a lot. Actively pressing forward with the arms, lift your feet or point your feet.

Now we're gonna do two things at the same time. The first is to start bending the knees, pushing forward on the bar. As the knee are bending, we're lifting the spine into a rounded spine, so like an upside down C shape in my imagination. And then we're gonna start taking the spine down. And as we take the body down, we allow our legs at the same time to straighten, so it's like a timing thing.

As the knees find straight, the hips drop down. We dorsiflex the feet, pull the toes back towards the knees. Plantar flex your feet, push your toes away from your knees. Push forward on the bar, bend your knees and lift your spine. Breathe in at the top up?

As you breathe out, starting to take the spine down. The legs at the same time are reaching out towards straight, keep the arms active. Feel the arms pressing back into the bars. The shoulder blades pulling down towards the pelvis, the spine lengthening in both directions, flex. And point, push the bar away as you bend your knees and curl.

One of my very favorite exercise is this one, inhale. And exhale as we take the body down, reaching through the arms. Timing the straightening of the legs with the landing of the pelvis, come all the way down. Knees are as straight as we can be flex. We're doing one more.

So pushing forward on the bar, bending the knees. Bending the spine. Think of lifting the back, using the back extensors a little bit too so you're not bending in on yourself, you're bending into a long rounded spine. And then for the very last time we elongate the body, we allow the legs to straighten. We use the movement of the spine to pull the bar back towards our body.

Let's do one last dorsiflexion, my friends because I think we all need it. Oh, can we straighten our knees? And then let's take the bar, slip the feet out, and come up. So we're gonna get rid of the bottom-loaded springs. We're gonna set up the leg springs and get ready to do some hip work.

Okay, so we're gonna move on to some hip work. What I've done here is taken away the safety strap, taken away the bottom loaded springs. I've readjusted the springs so instead of those short yellow springs at forehead level or head level, I now have my long leg springs and I've connected them just underneath of the push through bar. Both on the same connector. That's important to sometimes check in with.

And then when we're ready, we'll just come down onto our back. Checking out that we're in the center of the mat. Taking a hold of those leg springs and stepping in. Taking the hands on the bar. And so what I'm doing here with my arms, I have about a, I'm looking for approximately a 90 degree angle.

My arms are a little bit more open from there but just a bent arm position I think is fine. Check in with your pelvis, make sure it's anchored and dropped. Check in with the back of your ribcage, make sure they're anchored and dropped. And then starting with the knees bent in a frog shape, we'll take the legs forward. And pull the legs in.

And take the legs forward, pulling the abdominals in and back in the opposite direction and pull the legs in. Similarly to what we thought about when we were doing our footwork is we're not pushing so much from the foot but we're finding the back of the legs, almost delaying the legs moving forward until we, in fact yes, delaying the legs moving forward until we find the place where we're pushing from which is from the back of the leg. From the hip, checking with the ribs. Soften them down, two more. This is two.

This is one. Taking the legs just straight. Now take both legs up, just come to where the springs wanna get loose. So I'm not fully towards vertical here. And then take the legs down, out, around and together.

I'm laughing 'cause if you could maybe hear my hips, they both just went crack, crack, crack, crack. Out, up, around, and touch. And three. Out, around, and touch and two. Taking care to move the legs symmetrically.

Out, around, and touch. And one, press down. Out around and touch. We'll reverse from the top. Go out, down, together, and touch.

If the spring don't feel hard enough for you, you could always move yourself out towards straight arms. Personally, I'm quite happy with the weight of these springs. Up, out. Back of the legs, press the springs, heels come together and up. Open symmetrically.

Back of the legs, press the springs together and up. Is that three? I don't know. Maybe I did a one extra but we'll do two more just in case. When we get to the bottom, we're gonna pause. Now, keep that left leg reaching long, take just the right leg up, out, down, and touch.

Just the right leg up, out, down, touch. So a little challenging for the stability in the center of the body. Out, around, and touch. You could think of pulling the bars apart with your arms, that's a nice way to get a little bit of upper back work if you're curious. Last time in this direction.

Come down and touch. Now, reverse that. Take the leg out, up, down the center, one. Keep that left leg still, keep the spine still, keep the pelvis still. Two.

Out, up. Down the center. Three. Helps me to count if I say the numbers out loud. Last two.

Out, together, and down. Now you might be braver than me but I'm not very brave so we're gonna take the legs up, have a tiny break. And then we're gonna go straight back down, the right leg stay still here. We take the left leg up, out, down to touch. And up, out, down, and touch.

This side of my body is like a whole different human. Out, down, and touch. I imagine I'm not the only one in the world who feels that way. This was harder for me on this side. Down and touch.

Last one, up. Open, down, and we reverse. Go out, up, center, and down. Right leg stay still out, up. Feel that right leg, the back of the right leg working hard and down and three.

Up, center, and down. And two up, center, and down. One more time, my friends. Out, up, center. And together.

Take the legs up. Bend the knees and take the feet out of the straps. We'll roll to our side and sit up and then we're gonna readjust the springs again. Okay, so the next thing that I've just set up for is some arm work. It's fairly challenging arm work so you and I, we all will be challenged together.

What I've done is taken the leg springs just off. You can leave yours on. I've just moved them off to the side. And now I have the short yellow arm springs and I've connected them onto the tower at about shoulder level to me if I'm on my knees which is about here, okay? So what we're gonna do is we're gonna be on our knees and the perfect placement for me for this is to be where my toes just hang over the edge a little bit.

So you'll decide where you wanna be I imagine. Taking the arms out to the side. So we're in an upright position and you might feel that you don't have weight on your springs but don't worry about it 'cause we're gonna lean forward, and by leaning forward, we're gonna find some spring tension and then we're gonna take the arms forward. And open, continuing to lean. And forward, pulling the abdominals back.

And open. And forward, keeping the trunk still. So even though it is a little bit forward on the diagonal or in leaning mode we don't move it back and forth, it just stays right as it is. Just gonna do about two more here, pulling forward. And opening.

And pulling forward. And opening. Bring the hands up towards your temples. I have to scoot a little forward for this. We're gonna start with the thumbs, just outside of the temples leaning forward.

Use your hamstrings. Use your abdominals to help support this shape in your spine and then take the arms straight out. Out and forward and bend wide elbows. Controlling the spring, stability in the trunk, two. And bend, trying to make both arms move symmetrically.

And bend and forward. And bend and forward. We'll just do three more here. And bend and one. And bend.

Keeping this torso still. And bend. And one. And bend. Come all the way to upright, take one foot forward.

So position the foot a little bit in front of the knee as you're setting yourself up. Arms come out to the side and then we're gonna lean into that hip flexor stretch. So bringing the knee just over the foot, we're gonna take the arms forward. This is where it's hard, for me anyway, up. Leaning into that hip flexor stretch.

Out and forward. Up. Enjoy that stretch, enjoy that shoulder mobility. Forward. As the arms lift up, we feel the upward rotation of the shoulder blades allowing for room to take the arms back out.

And center. We're gonna take it in reverse. So that was three, out. Over head rotating the shoulder blades. Take the arm straight down.

Go out. Go up. Go straight down. Go out. Go up.

Go straight down. Bend your arms. Come back up. Change legs. Remembering again to as you position the foot to position it just slightly in front of the knee, arms out to the side, squaring the pelvis, and then bringing the knee over the foot.

Finding your balance. That's just a moment for me to find my balance and we go forward, up, leaning into the hip flexor stretch. Out and stomach pulls back as the arms reach forward. Up. Whoa.

That was me almost getting pulled around by the springs. Let's focus in. Forward. Up. Out.

Here's where we reverse. We go out. Up. And push straight down. Rotate the palms in, take the arms out.

As the arms go overhead, the shoulder blades rotate. The arms go straight down. One more, out. Rotation. And down.

Bend the arms, push off that foot. Bring your leg back. Take the arms down. So in this moment we're gonna get rid of the arm springs and move on. Okay.

So now we have the push through bar set up. I'm using a red spring, you could use a blue. Either way you choose. We're gonna come to sitting. I'm gonna take the feet up onto those vertical poles, taking a hold of the push through bar with our hands.

Sit in an upright position with your spine and then hinge forward from the hip joints, letting the bar lift up. You'll lose spring tension there, there, then and there. No big deal, come back to straight. Round your spine. Deeply curving that low spine.

So it feels like the pelvis has to slide forward and under. Push down on the spring and then take the spring forward. In that forward position once again we're gonna elongate coming out into a long spinal shape, I'm doing my best to get as straight as I can. And then we're gonna go back, tucking the tail. Keeping the left hand on the bar.

Take the right arm off, rotate the right palm up and take that arm around so we're doing a side reach. Boom, boom, boom. Go for it, keep both feet on the bar, keep the pelvis level. Take the hand back. Find the bar.

Sit up. Hinge forward. Come back. Round the spine. Push the bar through.

Try to keep the wrist straight. So much as much a reminder for myself as for anyone else. Take the spine long. Go back. Take that left arm off.

Palm faces up. Rotate from the spine keeping that flexion, that deep flex of the lower spine. Take that arm all the way around, both feet are pressing up against the poles. Take the arm back working from the stretch engaging into that stretch. Sit up.

Push forward hinge. I have a surprise or maybe it's not a surprise if you've ever taken class with me but we're going back. It's a gift. It's less of a surprise and more of a gift to you and to me. We're forward now.

We're elongating. We're rounding. Starts the same. Take the right hand off. Don't let the pelvis shift.

Open that arm out to the side. Now, take that right arm up towards your right ear and lean to the left. You're welcome. Coming all the way, any amount, any amount, any amount. Come back out to the side.

Come across the body, lifting the bar up, taking that arm to the opposite pole, holding on, and using that arm to find some extension, spinal extension with rotation. And then come back to the center. And round. The left hand lifts. The left arm opens, the left leg presses, the right hip drops.

The left arm comes towards the left ear and we side bend opening up that left side body, reaching around. Taking the arm back. Now as we're coming up, we're gonna cross the body with that arm, sit up and then rotate. Take a hold of that bar if you can reach it. Use the bar to help you fight rotation, nice long spinal position.

And then come back. And we're gonna round. I forgot one thing last time so we're just gonna put it in here. Sorry, I'm not perfect. Imagine no one is.

All the way forward. Now what we skipped or what I skipped on that last one was this piece, the extension piece. And then we're gonna go back, both hands on the bar. We're gonna sit up. Now rather than pushing the bar up, we're gonna pull down on that bar and we're gonna lift the chest.

And then we're gonna come back. So we're gonna keep that spring as it is and turn onto our stomach. As you're positioning yourself bring the bar with you. Laying down, finding the center. Lining the push through bar about level with the vertical poles.

Further away for tighter shoulders is appropriate. So I have my left hand underneath my forehead. My right hand is holding the bar. We're gonna energize through the legs, we're gonna bend that right elbow. Keep the elbow just lower than the bar.

Now let that arm straighten and let your body go with you. So it's a rotational exercise. It's like prone two is the name of the exercise that I know but with rotation. Single arm prone two with rotation. We'll do three.

Bend the elbow. Take the spine around. You're looking where you're going. You can push with your arm. Now I'm not using my left arm too much but I do feel some support from it.

Bend that elbow and push the spring. It's fine and actually helpful to let the bar slide around in the hand as is necessary to keep the wrist straight, so rotate. Ooh, I just got a little further. Hope you did too. Bend.

Come through. Change hands. Left hand is holding the bar, right hand is just underneath the forehead, the left elbow bends. The spine rotates in the direction of the arm that's on the bar. Find it.

Bend that elbow and take the bar through, three. Bend the elbow, keep the scapula wide by dropping the elbow just the tiniest bit as you start to take the arm overhead. Finding your rotation. Bending and taking that arm through. I still have the red spring which is heavy.

So a blue spring might be a different choice, a better choice for some individuals. You'll of course do what feels best to you I trust. Last time. And bend and take the arm through. Now, we're gonna take both hands onto the bar.

Begin this movement by bending both arms. Don't let the elbows get ahead of the bar. Start stretching the arms overhead and as the arms stretch overhead, begin to lift your spine. Take the head down. Allow this chest to drop through.

Bend your arms and send the arms forward. And bend the arms. Keep the shoulder blades wide as the arms start to travel overhead, that's where I let the bar slide around in my hands specifically. Reach up. Full spinal extension so I'm pushing into the bar and lifting my spine up and back in this moment.

Head drops, chest drops. Arms bend, bar goes back through. Just one more. Bend the arms, allow the arms to start straightening, straightening, stay as low as you can as you're straightening your arms and then only as you need to, lift your spine or only at the very last minute is what I mean. And then the head drops, the spine drops.

The elbows bend, the bar goes through. Be careful here as you're sitting up which is happening so I'm just gonna hold the bar with one of my hands. I'm gonna put the other arm down, gonna let the bar go and then press up with your arms and work to sit right back down onto your feet. It takes me a little while to get there having a little knee thing that I'm working through. Just so you know everybody is human.

And settling down into that stretch and pausing and just having a couple of breaths here. And then we're gonna roll up. To upright. Okay, so we're gonna finish this class pretty similar to the way we started but this time, instead of standing we're gonna be on our knees. We're gonna take a hold of this bar.

Orienting the pelvis just over the knees. I'm gonna come in a little closer. The first thing that we do is we push the spring down. So here's what I was talking about earlier as we did that without springs is we roll down. I'll talk a little bit more about it when it's relevant.

Roll down, pushing the arms away. Coming all the way out until the body creates a straight line. Inhale. Exhale, tuck the tail under, push down through your shins. Here's what I was talking about where you can push forward with your arms to slow down or just to pay attention to the orientation of bringing the pelvis just over the knees, and then the spine comes all the way up, and then we're gonna bend the arms.

Pull the bar apart as you lift the bar up, it's just an energetic cue more than anything. It's a steel bar probably won't get stretched much but it does work to help find upper back connection, go down. Rounding. Taking the spine out long. Inhale.

And tucking under, pushing the bar away, pressing the pelvis forward, bringing the hips right over the knees, and then taking the spine up all the way. Bending the arms, pulling the bar apart as you lift it up. One more time, my friends. Here we go, push down. And go down.

And take yourself out long. And inhale. And tuck under. And up, push the bar forward. Come all the way up and then bend the arms and lift the bar.

We're gonna just turn or I'm gonna turn so you can see. You can stay as you are if you wish. I'm just bringing my arms down. Being present in an upright shape on my knees and then we're just gonna do a kneeling roll down. So we're gonna take the head down.

We're gonna roll down with the body. Just finishing up. Allow the pelvis to drop back slightly as you take your hands down towards that mat and inhale. And then as you exhale, push down with your shins, pull in with your abdominals. Begin stacking yourself up, finding a vertical shape again.

Letting the arms be soft as they come down to the sides of the thighs and inhale. And bring your chin down. And roll down. Just a way to prepare us to go back into our regular non-movement lives. Inhale.

And exhale to just a little awareness practice. Soft in our bodies. And inhale one more. (inhales deeply) And rounding down. And inhale. And lifting up.

And thank you very much for taking class with me today. Please don't feel shy to leave comments or questions. I'll see you soon.