A gentle, guided mat Pilates flow using a mini ball. Mindfully mobilise tight hips, lower back and shoulders to melt away stress, release tension, and end the session with happier hips, better posture and feeling good!
Meet your Teacher
Cape Town, South Africa
Transcript
Hi, Hello. Today we have a gentle Pilates session using the small ball. We're going to focus on really nourishing, Gentle, Feel-good movements for those hips. So this class is going to be great, Especially if you've been sitting a lot during the day. We're going to start with our warm-up in four-point kneeling. So grab your ball. Cut up to 4 points. And we're gonna take those knees slightly wider than the hips and placing both hands at the top of the ball. Just starting out here with a cat curl. So we're going to open up that chest, Deep breath in, Then rounding it as you exhale. And then that next one, As you open the chest, Take your toes to the side, Then bring your feet in as you curl. And so noticing the change in sensation. Adding on that rotation at the hip. Let's go two more and then we're going to reverse. And one. Good, Now keeping your cold spine, Open your feet, Finding that stretch in the hip, Bring your feet together, Open the chest. And release. And this time we want to feel that deeper stretch in the chest. And middle back. Pressing into the outside edges of your hands, Feel that stretch through the front of your chest. Let's go two more. And one. Open the chest, Keep the heels together and then untuck your toes, Press your hips back. Take a moment to stretch here for lower back and hips. We'll just let's roll it all the way up. We're going to take the ball under the hand that's closest to me. And you're going to be up in this four point position. Taking this same leg of the ball, You're going to take it into hip circle. So we're just starting to find that stability. On the one side. As we open the sip. Now you have the option to come down to your forearm if you're able to keep your stability. You want to feel that stretch through your head, Ease at the shoulders. And let's go one more then reverse. Good, We take the heel up, Knee goes out and comes back in. We're thinking here, We're trying not to make the circle as big as possible, But instead keeping that small lift and activation in the core. Allowing you to find mobility with control. We feel that stability in the bottom leg. Let's go to And one more. Now this time we're going to take that leg up but out to the side. So stretch it down to the mat next to you. Then lift it up and bring it under. And feel that as you take your leg to the side, You're still trying to keep your chest in centre. And finding that connection to your oblique at the bottom. And two more. We're going to hold it over on this next one and then we're going to stretch it out. So we're going to keep that leg down to the mat, Come back up onto your hand if you're on your forearms. You're going to bend this back elbow, Press your ball away, Hold for a moment, Reach your tailbone back. And then lift it up. It's almost like you're taking a hair pinch. Guiding your hips back, Chest comes down. Begin to feel that stretch through your inner thigh. You don't want it to be overly stretchy, You just want to feel a gentle release. And let's go one more. And then we're going to move all the way up. Now taking this ball off the mat, Reach it up to the ceiling as you open through your chest. Give yourself a lovely spiral. Reach the ball back behind you. Up overhead and rotate to the mat. We're going to go up and over. Hand around. You want to start to feel that stretch in your back, Inner thigh and hips. And this lovely spiral in your bottom shoulder. Let's go one more. Hold it for a moment, See if you can spiral open through the chest and shoulders. And then pressing down into your front leg, Feel that hip. Then bring it all the way around. Slide your leg back and back in. We will come to a Z-sits position. I'm going to take the ball underneath this front knee. Your chest is going to face towards that ball and hands behind your head. Now we're going to rotate towards the back leg. Take your elbow down towards your foot. Lift it up and then we're going to rotate to the ball. You're going to start to feel this stretch in your hip and your waist on the side with a ball. And then we want to start to notice the stretch of the glute and inner thigh here at the back. Especially when you go down. Please make sure that you don't collapse down. I want you to think of going tall, Diving up and over to your baby toe. And notice that difference. Let's go to. . . And we have one more. And then we lift it up, We're going to stay towards the side grabbing the ball under your knee, Arm goes out to the side. Into that mermaid, Press the ball away, Keep yourself slightly lifted, Rotate to the ball, Bring your hand to your chest, Open it up. And left. We are all surrounded. In. You want to feel that you're lifting up through your chest, Lengthening the spine. And then pressing your legs into the mat in opposition. So that you find that hip stretch. And let's give it one more. Going up and up and up, Reaching a little bit higher, Twisting a little bit deeper. And all the way in. Lovely. Bring yourself back into four-point kneeling on the other side. Again the ball is going to be in the hand that's closest to me, The other is on the mat, Four point kneeling position. Starting here with those hip circles, A little bit of lift through the core and then taking your knee out to the side and back under. And so as we find our alignment on the side, We feel that the chest stays in center. Option to go down into the forearm. If you're able to keep that. Out of the shoulder. Very important, We don't want to be kind of done here. When I find that support at the call. And then you can think of pressing your hips towards your heels. Finding that lovely glute stretch at the bottom. Let's take it in reverse, We're going up, Around. I want you to feel that it's not about the size, Maybe you can make it a little bit smaller. And notice the difference in sensation. Let's go one more. We can lift it up. And now you're going to reach and stretch it out to the side, Tap the mat. Lift. And bring it under. So we're not really bringing it all the way to the side, You can take it down to the corner of your mat if that feels better for you. Our range is going to be different. To stick within your range. And also taking notice that each side has its own range as well. Let's go one more. Place the foot down to the mat, Coming back up onto your hand. Finding that alignment, Head down to your hips. Lift the ball to the ceiling, First press down into that bottom hand and then reach back behind you. Spiral forward and down. And see if you notice that rotation at your bottom shoulder. Allowing you to open through your chest and hips. And then noticing that stretch in your back inner thigh. And let's go two more. Lovely, And one. And all the way around, Slide that leg back. And N. To ZSAT. Or underneath the front knee. Hips are definitely going to be happy after this session. We're going to take it out to, Sorry, Hands behind your head. Be lifting up. We rotate towards the ball first to find alignment. Rotate away from the bowl. And then we're going down. Lifting up. And center. And see here again, You may notice that one side has a little bit more range. Allow yourself to play and explore the different sensations. Can you feel that as you press down into this back knee, As you go over you're going to find a deeper stretch in the inner thigh. As well as in that hip. Let's go one more hold it there maybe lift up your chest reach your head over and then bring it all the way up. We're going to take that ball out for our mermaid. I'm going to add the tea. Little side stretch, Making sure we don't drop. We want to still keep that lift. Rotate. And as you explore, Can you feel that stretch at the back of your hip? Where those bony landmarks are. We always think of just the hips as being here in the front, But there's this lovely stretch here at the back. Let's go one more. And bring it all the way in. We're going to come over to our back. So swing yourself around and gently make your way down to the mat and then placing your ball underneath your hips. We want to make sure that it's underneath the tailbone, Lower back is open and ribcage. Is done. Pressing down into your feet. We're going to lift one leg up and we're going to take this leg into a circle. Just like we did in full point kneeling. Now we're finding a deeper sense of core connection to our stability. Pressing down into that bottom foot, Feel that ground supporting you. One more and then reverse. Options you place your hands down to the ground next to you nice and wide if you need more stability. Good, Let's go two more. And then we're going to place this foot down to the mat. Bringing up those. Right, So let's give this side a little bit of a breather. We're going to take that leg down, Around and lift. We don't want to just be passively resting on the ball here, You want a small zipping up of the lower abs. Keeping the movement in the hip. Good, Let's go two more. And one. But first This one always feels a little bit more tricky to control. Because we don't want that leg to just drop. We really want to control that hip movement. You may start to notice this lovely stretch and activation of the hip. Let's go to. . . And one. And then place that foot down to the ground, Making sure that the feet are in line with your hips. We're going to roll the hips up. Finding a little bit of a pressure on the ball in this bridge position and then release. Exhale, Curling it up. Inhale, Release. Good, Let's go two more. We're just starting to find that stretch through the back of the body. And then one more, We're gonna hold it up in this bridge position, Light on the ball. Then lifting one leg to tabletop. We're going to thread this foot underneath the opposite knee and then lift the leg up, Reach, Bend and under. We're going to find this small rotation opening up through this side. Option to rest your hips on the ball. And let's go one more, We're gonna add on, We're gonna hold it up. Stretch your leg down. Lift it up. And then go under. So we're adding that lovely hamstring stretch. And feel how the oblique on this side. Finds this activation as you stretch. And one more. And then we're going to lower this foot down. Release the hips and then finding alignment. Rolling up on the other side, We hold, Lift that leg to tabletop, Thread it under, Lift it up. Finding support at your shoulders. Allowing you to stretch from your hip to your heel. And let's add on. We lower that straight leg, Lift and under. We're finding that activation as well here on this side. We don't always just want to stretch the hair, We also want to strengthen it. Let's go one more. And bring it all the way down and release through the hips. Let's give those legs a little bit of a breather. So now we can take the hands onto your hip bones. Feet in line with hips. You're gonna press your one hip down almost like you want to push your knee away and that opposite hip is gonna lift. And then over to the other side. And switch. So now we're finding. . . This stretch on the inside of your hip and the side of your waist. Can we feel that the hips are pushing down into the ball? And it's almost like you want to slide the ball up on the one side and then up on the other. That. We're going to go one more. And then we're going to lift the hips up. Into a small bridge. Rotate your hip down to the ball. Lift it up and then rotate to the other side. Pressing into the opposite foot of your twist. To feel that stretch in the back of your hips. And then gently one more on each side. We're going to keep the lift of the hips and we're going to slide that ball now all the way up. So lift, Lift, Lift, Lift, Lift, And get that ball about the ribcage, Into the ribcage. Then release your tailbone down. Waterfall your spine over the ball. If it feels good and you can bring your glutes all the way down to the ground, You can. Otherwise, Just keep them slightly lifted. Curl your hips towards your chest, Lift your glutes off the ground and then gently waterfall over the ball. You have the option to reach your arms overhead. If that stretch feels good. If you're familiar with. The stretch on the reformer. Then let's all feel familiar. Allowing your hips to melt down to the mat. Maybe open your knees a little bit, See how that changes the sensation. Let's go to. . . And then we're going to go for one more. We're going to lift it up, Slide the ball underneath the tailbone again, Bringing the bottoms of your feet together and open the knees, Allowing everything just to release. And you can rest here or take a side-to-side rocker. One more breath. And then you have the option to stay here or take that ball out. Let your hips first release to the mat. And when you're ready, You can roll up. Thank you for joining me for today's. Gentle Pilates focusing on nourishing movements to help you feel happier in your hips. If this is all for you today, Thank you so much for making time for your movement and joining me here on the mat. I'd love to know how the session went for you and I hope that you have an amazing day and I will see you in our next session.
5.0 (1)
Afshan
October 1, 2026
Lovely hip opener
