Welcome to Pilates in Prayer.
Let's start with a prayer.
God,
We ask for your light and your peace upon our minds and our bodies as we move and breathe in your presence.
Amen.
If you have a booty band for today's class,
Go ahead and grab it and bring it just above your knees.
You can also do this class with no equipment,
So either way it's perfectly fine.
This will naturally be a more lower body focus class.
It will also be relaxing.
You get to lay down a good amount as well as strengthening and toning and regulating for your nervous system.
Let's begin.
We'll start with some slow bridging,
Peeling your spine up off the mat,
Lifting your hips and then relaxing down bone by bone.
As you come up at the top,
Bring your knees slightly out,
Feeling the resistance on that booty band,
And then bring your legs back to parallel and peel down.
Now bringing your hips straight up,
So not peeling,
Just up and down and opening your knees at both the top and the bottom to feel resistance on that band.
And if you don't have a band,
Simply keeping tension and feeling the engagement of your legs as you open and close.
Now keeping your feet on the ground,
Mirroring me,
Bring your left leg slightly out to the side.
And back in.
Focusing on keeping your body and your pelvis stable and neutral as you just engage this subtle movement,
This does take more strength than it may look like.
And now switching sides,
Mirroring me,
Bringing your right knee slightly out to the side.
Relax your upper body,
Keeping stability with this gentle movement.
Doing some single leg work,
Coming up to your bridge,
Mirroring me,
Bring your left leg up to tabletop and then tap your foot down,
Lift up into your bridge as you lift your left leg back into tabletop.
And down.
And now switching to your right side,
Lifting up into your bridge,
Right leg into tabletop,
And then tap your foot down as you lower your hips,
Lift your right leg back to tabletop as you lift your hips.
And stretch your legs long,
Preparing for roll up.
Reach your arms overhead deep breath in and on your exhale start to peel up with your upper body and up and over your legs coming to a straight spine on your inhale and curling your spine back down onto the mat.
And lifting your arms up overhead and repeating.
If you need to modify,
You can bend your knees with your feet on the floor and you can always reach for the back of your legs if you need help getting up.
And we're going to do another round of roll-ups.
Or you may like to call it roll down,
Either way.
Come up to all fours.
And moving into a nice cat-cow stretch.
Let this be like a massage for your spine.
Mirroring me,
Stretch your left leg straight back and lifting and lowering your left leg.
Up and then pull in towards your chest.
So like you're stomping on the ceiling and then curling and curving your spine.
You And taking a little break,
Just alternating between child's pose and quadruped.
Coming up to tall kneeling.
And doing some nailing squats,
Bringing your hands to prayer position as you squat.
Switching sides,
Coming onto all fours.
Mirroring me,
Extend your right leg back and lifting and lowering your right leg.
Now bending your right knee,
Lifting your leg up and then pulling your knee in towards your chest.
Come back into a plank position and then downward facing dog alternating between these.
And bring your knees down.
You can sit back into a child's pose and completely relax.
Breathing here,
Allowing your body to soften and melt into your mat.
Stretching your arms to one side and then the other,
Breathing into your side body.
Letting this be a time to relax and find stillness.
Resting into a deeper silence.
And relaxation.
You can come up to seated and take that band off if you were using it.
Bringing one leg in front of the other,
Breathing in,
Lifting your arms up,
And then stretching over and relaxing down as much as feels comfortable.
Getting a nice stretch in your hip,
Breathing and softening.
And gently coming up to switch sides,
Bringing the opposite leg in front of the other.
Breathing in and folding over.
Pilates can be a beautiful time to regulate your nervous system.
Come into deeper stillness.
And bring your full presence to this moment.
When we bring our presence to our bodies,
We are here.
And God is in the present.
Let's take a few more moments to pray,
So seating however you'd like.
God,
We thank you for this time and bringing us together in this way.
To move and to breathe.
To be present.
And aware of the blessings in our lives.
We ask that your peace continues to touch our minds and our hearts.
Amen.
Thank you for practicing with me.
It is a joy to move with you.
Sending you so much love.
I look forward to moving with you again soon.
Many blessings.
