Welcome to Pilates in Prayer.
Let's start with a prayer.
God,
We ask for your presence and your peace upon our minds and our bodies today.
Amen.
For today's class,
You are always welcome to add some ankle weights.
This is a full body class with special focus on your lower body.
Let's begin.
Beginning with a simple cat-cow stretch.
Pushing back to a child's pose and then as you come back up to all fours,
Extend your left leg back,
Pulsing twice and flowing through this.
Extending your left leg back and coming into a tricep press.
By hinging forward as your left leg lifts up.
And then coming back up to quadruped with your left leg extended and flowing through this.
And now coming into a rainbow with your left leg,
Tapping your toes to one side of your mat and then the other.
Aiming to stay stable.
As you just move your left leg.
Now extending your left leg back and bringing your knee down to the mat,
Shifting your weight and then elongating your leg back out.
You And now coming onto your right knee,
Extend your left leg out,
Lift your left arm up,
And then crunch your left knee and left elbow in together,
Feeling this in your obliques.
And coming up to high kneeling.
And coming into a kneeling squat,
Bringing your hands to prayer position as you squat.
And now coming onto your left knee,
Extend your right leg long,
Right arm overhead.
And then bringing your right elbow to your right knee as you come into this little side crunch.
And come back to all fours to do those same exercises on the other side.
Come back into child's pose,
And then as you come up to all fours,
Extend your right leg back,
Pulse,
Pulse,
And back to child's pose.
And coming into this tricep press as you hinge forward,
Keeping your right leg extended back.
Moving into a rainbow with your right leg,
Tapping your right toes to either side of your mat and aiming to keep the rest of your body stable.
And extending your right leg back and then bringing your right knee down and shifting your weight as you move between extending back,
Bringing your knee down,
Using your core and your abdominals as you shift your weight.
And moving back into a relaxing cat-cow stretch.
And coming into child's pose at the end.
Coming back up,
Cat cow,
And moving slowly,
Mindfully back into child's pose,
Flowing through this.
And now staying in child's pose,
Allowing yourself to completely relax.
Melt away any tension.
As you enjoy these final moments of class as a time to be still.
You might stretch your arms over to one side and then the other,
Breathing into your side body.
And allowing yourself to relax.
Empty,
Empty your body of tension,
Empty your mind of stress.
As you are ready,
Make your way to seated.
And we'll just come into a forward fold over each leg,
Getting a stretch in your hamstring.
And taking this time to be present.
What does it feel like to empty stress from your mind?
And to simply be present in this moment with your body,
With your breath.
And with the presence of God.
Right here,
Right now.
In this ordinary moment.
See how you can be still and know.
Stretching your arms if you feel to.
And breathing into each stretch.
And now coming into a forward fold over your legs.
Breathing into your hips.
And notice how it feels to find stillness.
In your body,
In your mind,
In your heart.
And even if there's noise around you,
Noise in your mind,
Noise in your body,
What is the stillness beneath that?
Switching sides,
Bring your other leg in front and fold forward.
And as you're ready,
Begin to come up,
Coming to a comfortable position for a closing prayer.
God,
We thank you.
For the time to pause.
To find greater stillness and greater ease,
Openness,
Flexibility,
And strength in our bodies.
Amen.
Thank you for your presence and for joining me today.
I look forward to moving with you soon.
