Welcome to Pilates in Prayer.
Let's start with a prayer.
God.
We ask for your love and your presence upon our minds and our bodies as we move and breathe and strengthen and align.
Let us rest into a deeper sense of trust and feel the gift of your grace.
Amen.
We will get started in all fours and today's class will focus on inner and outer thighs.
Let's begin.
Starting gently by alternating between child's pose and coming back up to quadruped.
And moving into a cat-cow stretch.
Coming up to high kneeling.
And moving into a kneeling squat.
Your palms come together in prayer position as you squat.
Mirroring me,
Come to lay on your right side.
Your legs are towards the front of your mat.
Your left leg lifts and lowers,
Pointing your toes as you lift,
Flexing as you come down.
And now tapping your left toes from the front of your mat to the back.
Working to keep the rest of your body stable.
Now bring your left toes up to your knee and then straighten your leg and flex your foot to come down.
You can lay all the way down on your arm if that's more comfortable at any time.
Bringing your knees stacked in front of you as though sitting in a chair.
And lifting and lowering your left leg.
Now straightening your left leg,
Bending to come in and repeating.
Bending your left knee,
Extend your right leg long.
This should feel nice.
Lifting and lowering your right leg,
Working your inner thigh.
Lay face down,
Your head can rest on your hands.
Lifting your feet and tapping them together.
Pushing up to all fours.
Moving into another round of cat-cow stretch.
Coming up to high kneeling.
And another round of kneeling squats.
You Mirroring me now come to lay on your left side,
Your legs are towards the front of your mat.
Lifting and lowering your right leg,
Pointing up,
Flexing down,
And you can have whichever arm position feels most comfortable for you.
You can prop your head up like I am or lay all the way down.
Now tapping your right toes to the front of your mat and then the back.
The key here is to keep your hips and body stable.
Pull your right toes in towards your left knee,
Extend your leg long,
And then flex your foot down.
And coming to be in that chair position,
Legs together,
Knees together.
Lifting and lowering your right leg.
And now straightening your right leg out,
Bending your knee,
Coming back in and repeating.
Lay all the way down on your left side,
Bend your right knee,
Straighten your left leg.
Lifting and lowering your left leg.
Begin to lay face down,
Another round of toe taps.
And lifting your legs and tapping your heels,
Toes,
Your foot,
Whatever works together.
And pushing up to all fours.
And a nice relaxing round of child's pose and then alternating coming back to all fours.
Mirroring me bring your left leg straight your right arm out and then bending and squeezing in towards each other and elongating back out Switching sides,
Right leg and left arm elongated and then squeezing in and back out straight.
You Well done.
You can relax now,
Maybe sitting back into a child's pose.
Breathing and melting into your mat.
Softening any tension.
You might bring your arms out to one side and then the other.
You allowing yourself to completely relax.
And when you're ready,
You can come up to seated,
Bringing one leg in front of the other,
Reaching your arms up and folding over,
Getting a nice stretch in your hip.
And allowing this time to be a time of stillness.
Switching sides,
Other leg in front,
Reach your arms up and folding over.
We can have so much movement and noise in our daily lives,
So let this time be a time to feel the peace and stillness we cultivated Let's take a few moments to pray.
God,
Thank you for bringing us together in this way.
To move,
To regulate our nervous systems,
To become more aware of the present moment,
And to become more aware of your presence.
Amen.
Thank you for moving with me.
It is such a joy.
I look forward to moving with you again soon.
So much love.
