Pilates for When You Feel Tired: A Gentle Wake-Up

When the body feels tired or tight, starting to move can feel difficult. This gentle Pilates practice is a slow and supportive way to wake up the body and reconnect with ease. We move softly, without pressure, one step at a time.

Transcript

Hi everyone and welcome back to another Pilates practice. We all know these moments when we feel kind of tired but also at the same time have a longing to move the body. It's that feeling of a little bit of stiffness and tightness and it's kind of a little bit of achy everywhere and we know that a little movement can actually help us and sometimes it's a bit difficult to get started but together it's always easier. So let's do this together. To start with let's wake up the hips and the lower back. So from here come onto the knees and your hands. Knees under the hips, Hands under the shoulders. To begin with simply shift the hips backwards and bring then the shoulders back above your hands. A couple of times and if you want you could shift your shoulders in a little bit in front of your hands to give your wrists a little stretch. This is very optional depending on what you need today. One more time and come back. Then bring your right foot between your hands. If you have just a thin mat maybe you want to place a pillow or a towel under your left knee. I have a very soft Pilates mat so for me it's totally fine but feel free to adjust here a little bit. We want to warm up the hips so try to keep the hips squared off as good as possible. From here sit back towards your left heel and you can lift your right toes and then shift the weight forward as far as you can. So there are a couple of things happening when you reach back. You might feel a stretch in the strings maybe even in the lower back and when you come forward you might feel a stretch in the left side front of your hip. A couple of times. Sometimes it can feel a little bit hard on the knee so whenever you feel too much pressure on the left knee just make the movement very soft. It's totally fine. You're still moving the hips and gently you get the blood circulation going. So go your own pace and listen to your own body. I'll go for one more deeper one. Back to center and the other side. So you still assist with your hands. Oh there was a crack in my knee. Not sure if you could hear that but there's just a tendon going back into its place and last one and back. Change side again because now we add a little movement for the spine. As you sit back try to round your spine. So maybe you make the movement a little bit smaller but you want to round the spine as you shift your body weight forward. Open the chest. Sit back slightly round the spine. This is difficult for me and shift the weight forward. Open the chest. Two more. Back to center and change side. So try to find a balance between left and right side. The deeper we go into stretches I allow myself to make little adjustments in my hips but only in a way that actually feels nice and supports my body. So when I reach back I think my left hip is gently pulling back and to the front. Open the chest. Nice. Then from here please lie down onto the mat. Either lie down over the side or join me to roll down with control. Knees bent, Hands under the knees. Slowly articulate the spine back down. You can always assist with your hands at the side. Let's connect with the breath and at the same time try to find a super nice stretch for the entire body. So first find your center line. Lift the arms up to the ceiling. I always like to make fists but you can also keep the fingers long. It's more a feeling of really lengthening and reaching with the arms. So whatever works better for you. Keep first your toes point. Take a deep breath in and as you exhale reach with the arms back and the toes reaching forwards. Inhale to come back and exhale reach back and the toes forwards. Let's go for two more. Try not to move the hips and also not the chest. Keep your center stable but yet open up the body. So it's a very strong theme in Pilates to have a very strong center and still have that openness. Then let's change the breathing rhythm. From here exhale inhale to reach back and exhale to reach up. I found already a lengthening because with this repetition I was actually touching the frame behind me. That's a good sign because it shows that with each repetition I found a tiny little lengthening step by step. One more time. Take a deep breath in exhale to warm up the spine. Both knees into the chest and rock up into sitting position. Half roll down. From here hands under the knees. Basically what we did before but now we roll down and up a couple of times. Keep your hands under your thighs. Take a deep breath in. Roll back halfway maybe until your arms are straight and as you exhale lift up. Again inhale to roll halfway back and exhale to lift up. Let's go for a couple of more. We always look for connection but also each exercise is an invitation to find a stretch, To find an opening, To find an elongating. I personally feel a stretch in the upper back when I do this. Maybe you feel more stretch in the mid back or maybe even in the lower back and come back to center. Now let's try to roll all the way back down with the same control. Let's go. Hands sliding along your thighs down so we can roll back all the way. Bring both knees into the chest. Hold with your hands really tight on your legs. The elbows are wide. The shoulders are down. Lift your head and with control try to rock up into sitting position. You're going to do this a couple of times. It's a nice way to wake up the spine. You roll down with control all the way down. Then you hug your knees into the chest. Try to keep the heels together. The knees are shoulder width apart. Keep your hands on the knees. This is really a moment of connecting. I connect my entire body. I engage my glutes. I engage my hamstrings, My arms. Everything is engaged and then I try to rock up and we repeat. Here when you're on top, Knees together. If you feel very strong and comfortable, You can do the same rolling down with your arms forward. Then both knees into the chest. Heels together. The knees shoulder width apart. Activate the entire body. Chin to the chest and rock up. Last one. All the way down. Knees into the chest and rock up. Now roll down all the way and stay on the mat. Center yourself first. The feet this time hip width apart. From here try to only lift your tailbone and roll down the tailbone again. A couple of times. Lift the tailbone and roll down. One more. Then with the next repetition, Lift the hips a little higher but keep the chest down and then roll down the spine again. Hands on your chest. It's always a nice tactile cue to keep the chest down and lifting the hips and the lower back. One last time. And slowly roll down. Let's stretch the legs and keep the connection to the center. From here try to square off the hips. Pull the right knee into tabletop. Hold with both hands behind your thigh wherever you can hold and then from here bend and extend your right leg three times. The third one. Keep your legs straight and maybe you can climb with your hands a little higher without twisting the hips so the tailbone cannot come off. Only climb up as high as you can keep the spine tall and the entire hips, The tailbone down. From here take one deep breath. And then bend the knee. I'm going to change to the other side. So first, Square off the hips. Bring the knee into tabletop. Hands behind your thigh. Three times. Bend and extend the knee. Third one stays up. Square off the hips. Connect the entire spine into the mat and then walk your hands up as far as you can. The side is a little bit tighter. Even shaking a little bit. And then climb with your hands down. Bend the knee. Good. From here we start the series of five and I will offer some versions which is really okay for the neck for most bodies. So from here both knees into the chest. We start with our head still down on the mat. Both hands on your right knee and from here extend your left leg 45 degrees or higher up to the ceiling and then change side. The goal is to keep the hips stable, To keep the spine stable. The shoulders are not moving, Your head is not moving. It's really just your legs bending and extending. If this feels totally fine for you and everything is great, Then you can start lifting your head and your shoulders, The arms wide. And we go for four repetitions. If your neck gets tired, You can always lie down your head. Last one and then both knees into the chest and lie down. Double leg stretch. Same thing but this time we start with directly both arms and both legs moving. So for the start also here, Head down. From here long spine, Hips down. Inhale, Reach with your arms and your legs up to the ceiling. The heels are together, The toes apart and then bend the knees back in. Again, Inhale, Reach with your arms and your legs up to the ceiling and bend the knees in. We're going to do in total another five repetitions and if your neck is fine, You can start lifting your head. Try to keep your head up as you move through the exercise and whenever your neck gets tired, You just bring the head back down. Last one and down. Good, Scissors. Same thing, Spine is on the mat, Hips quite off and heavy. Let's start with both legs together. Both legs up to the ceiling and your hands first behind your thighs. See if this is possible for you. If this is too heavy on the hamstrings, Bend your knees. Important is that your tailbone is down for now. If you can, Keep the legs straight. Now bring both hands on your right leg and gently pull it towards the chest. Bring it back to center and the other side. Again, If your hamstrings are too tired or too tight, You can bend the knees a little bit. Here, Also the option, If you can, Lift your head and your shoulders and hold a little bit higher. Maybe even all the way up to the ankle. Last set and lie down. Good. Low and lift. We have two more exercises from the series of five and then we already start finishing up. Low and lift. Make with your hands this diamond shape. Put your hands under the sacrum. In this position, When you bring the knees into the chest, You should have the fingertips slightly out of your hips. From here, First again head down, Both legs up to the ceiling. Very small movement, Lower and lift your legs. When you lower the legs, Make sure that you're not arching or lifting the chest. Nothing is moving from the shoulders to hips. Only the legs go down and up. Here as well, If the hamstrings are too tight, You can bend the knees. The goal would be to have the legs straight. Also here the option to lift your head. Go for three more. And that's enough for crisscross. Both hands behind your head. Try to find with your legs an almost tabletop position. Maybe the knees a little bit closer to you in order to keep the spine better down. From here, Hands behind your head, Lift your chest and I imagine you want to twist the left elbow to the right knee and back to center. Right elbow to the left knee, Back to center. Each side, Two more. Back to center, Hug the knees into the chest. Both hands under the knees and rock up into sitting position. Next one is called spine stretch forward. We want to stretch the spine. Open the legs more than mat width apart, So the heels are off the mat. If you can, Sit with your legs straight and your spine really tall and straight. If this is difficult for you, You can always bend the knees or sit on a pillow. Start with your arms to the front and now take a deep breath in and as you exhale, Chin to the chest and reach with the fingertips forwards. Inhale, Come back to center. Exhale to reach forward. Let's go for three more. In this exercise, We want to stretch the spine forward and kind of keeping the lower back really in its position so it's not a folding forward or a folding forward. It's really more a rounding the spine forward and come back to center. Last one and center. Now introducing a little side flexion. Let's start with the legs again in the same position, This time with your hands behind your head. The same thing, You really reach with the top of your head up to the ceiling, Elbows slightly in front of the shoulders. Now start twisting your body to the right side but now reach with your left elbow down to the left knee. Come back to center and other side. Go only as far as it's possible for you. If this is how far you can get without lifting the hip, That's totally fine and back to center. The goal is to keep both sit bones really heavy, To reach with the upper elbow to the ceiling and center. Again, Twisting to the right and center. Each side one more time. Very nice. Then from here close your heels and to finish, Come one more time onto the knees. So usually in Pilates we finish standing up because Jo believes that after a Pilates class you should feel energized and ready for the day or ready for whatever you're gonna do next. So there's a one more time really lengthening and grounding, That grounding into the floor but also the lengthening and opening up to whatever comes next in your day. So that's why we usually finish in standing position. One way to do this is come on your hands and on your knees, Tuck the toes under and then lift the hips up to the ceiling. Try to lower the heels first, Lift the heels again, Lower the heels again, Grounding the spine. So lower, Lift the heels a couple of times and keep the heels down. You can bend the knees a little bit if you need and try to walk with your hands back to the toes. Bring the weight, Really the hips above the heels as good as possible and then soften the knees and slowly articulate the spine back up. From here stand really tall, Feeling one more time sending that energy through your legs down into the floor, Feel that grounding at the same time, Top of your head reaching up to the ceiling, Feeling that lengthening in the body, Opening the shoulders, Open the chest, Strong in the center but yet very open and light. Take a deep breath in through your nose, Exhale try to reach with the fingertips down and the top of your head reaching up to the ceiling. Another deep breath in, Exhale find an extra lengthening in your entire body. Last deep breath, Inhale and exhale all the air out. Thanks for joining me and I hope you feel now ready for whatever comes next in your day.

Reviews

I thought I would need to break a sweat to feel the benefits of movement (even with a history of yoga and pilates practice ) but much of the struggle is to take action when unmotivated. I do feel more energized on a rough morning thank you. 🦜 Thanks [KEY: 5=Insightful, immersive, engaging experience and quality audio (or can overlook noise) 4=Interesting, may have noise, 3=Okay, but somewhat superficial 2=Not For Me, 1=Irritating]

A really nice gentle practice. And I loved the little bits of trivia about Joe Pilates too.

Lovely and stimulating.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.