Unwind: A Gentle Pilates Mat

A slow, guided Pilates Mat to help you unwind and settle your mind. With gentle stretching, alignment, and controlled movement, this session releases tension in the body and supports a calm, steady focus. Think less “workout,” more quiet conversation with your body, ideal before rest or sleep.

Transcript

With control, Sit down onto your mat. Keep the knees bent. And bring your hands under the thigh. With control, Slowly roll all the way back down. This is a class which is a bit more of a quiet practice to release, To realign and to refocus. So let's start with the breathing first. Bring both hands left and right on the side of your chest. Take a deep breath in through your nose. And then exhale all the air out. Take a deep breath in through the nose. Try to breathe into your hands, Into your chest. And then exhale nice and easy. All the air out. One more time. Deep breath in. And exhale all the air. Nice. Take your towel and hold it at the end, Somewhere that your hands are roughly above the shoulders, So roughly shoulder-width apart. Bring the arms up to the ceiling. And let's find an activation for the upper back without actually moving. So you hold the towel and then try to pull the towel apart and relax. Every time you pull the towel apart, You should feel activation in the upper back. Then find the same activation again. Pull the towel apart and then reach with your arms overhead as far as you can without lifting the chest, Without lifting the spine. And then bring the arms back up to the ceiling. Again, You can inhale as you reach with the arms back. And exhale as you lift the arms. Up to the ceiling let's go for a few more Reach back overhead as far as your shoulders allow you. And come up. Find your own rhythm. Move your arms with your breath. Inhale to reach back. And exhale to lift up. One last time. Then for the next one, Bring the towel behind your thighs. Or better to say, In front of your buttocks. First, The same thing again. Try to pull the towel apart and from a feeling, Try to open the collarbones. Try to open the chest and the shoulders gently. So it's more of activation and awareness. Pull the towel apart and try to feel that little opening in the front and the connection to the back. You can also gently press the triceps into the mat. That usually helps with that activation. Then Still, Even though it's more of a quiet practice, You're still going to do the 100 to get the blood circulation going. Bring both knees into the chest, Lift your head, Your shoulders, Stretch the legs up to the ceiling, Lift the arms and start pumping with your arms. Dig a deep breath in for five counts. And exhale all the air out. We only do five sets. Imagine long arms, Long legs, Deep breath. Here is file. Strong arms to pump the blood through the body. Through that movement. One more deep breath. Deep breath in through the nose. Exhale all the air out and then bend the knees and lie down. Rock up into sitting position. Keep the towel under the knees and rock up into sitting position. For the half roll down, Bring the towel behind your lower back. So onto the mat behind you. Keep the knees bent. We want to mobilize the lower back and still activate your center. Roll back until you feel the towel and then lift the body back up. Round the spine, Roll back. Imagine you really want to press the lower back into the towel to roll all the way You go for two more like that. You can use your hands. But try to work mainly from the center. The last one with the same control roll all the way down but this time all the way down onto the mat Nice. Then take the towel again out. Next one is we want to stretch the legs and the hips. So for the next sequence, Put the towel on top of your right foot and find a position where you can keep the hips squared off. Long spine and the right leg straight. Now three times, Bend and extend the leg. Nice and easy. Just pay attention that you can keep the hips squared off. With the next few repetitions, Try to bring the upper leg closer and closer to your chest. Without forcing anything. Without gripping in the hips it should feel really nice and easy. Then for the next one, Bend the knee, The right knee as far as you can tell it's the right shoulder to open the hip a little bit and then extend the leg up again. Two more. You bend the knee as close as possible towards the shoulder and bring it up again. Last one. And. . . Up keep your arms straight and now this time Extend the left leg forward without moving anything else. So that deepens the stretch. And we repeat three times. Bend and extend the right knee. Pay attention so that the left side is not moving. The left heel is pushing down into the mat to find the stability through the left side. And we stretch the right. The right back of the leg. Then hold the towel, Both ends with your left hand. And now try to bring the right heel towards your left shoulder. So you want to bring the Leg across your center line. And as you can see, I'm having a hard time to anchor my right hip. So you can always hold with your hand a little bit. And if with the left leg straight it's too hard, Bend the left knee and try to find a nice stretch. Then hold the towel both ends with your right hand, Anchor the left hip and open the right leg to the side as far as you can keep the left hip down. You might see it. I have my left hand on my left hip just to check if nothing is moving and then press the leg into the towel to bring the leg back to center. So here's actually the active part, Bringing the leg back. Open the leg can really help a lot with your arm holding with the towel But to lift the leg back up, Imagine you want to really push the leg into the towel. To bring it back up. Keep the left side anchored. Make sure that you're not compensating with the left foot. And then Bring the leg back down and we change to the other side. So bring the towel on top of your left foot. Keep the right knee bent and we start with the left knee. Bend and extend the left leg. Like before, Make sure that the hips are squared off. Anchor your right foot in the mat. To have more stability. And with each repetition, Bring the left knee closer and closer to the chest. Then extend the right leg forward. And bend and extend. The left knee again. If this is too much, You can always bend the right knee. No problem at all. Think more and stability in your hips and flexibility in your legs. So these are the two main things. Now bend the knee as close as possible towards your left shoulder. I changed the order here a little bit. I'm sorry for that. Hope you're not confused. Just follow my voice. So bring the knee as close as possible to the shoulder and then stretch the leg back up. And for me, I hold the towel, Both ends with your right hand. And then cross the left. Heel to the right shoulder so cross your left leg to the right shoulder and here directly i bend my right knee because this specific movement is very hard for me I'm giving it here a go with the right leg straight, But it's not as enjoyable. So you decide for yourself today if you want to. Um, Push yourself a little bit or if you want to just enjoy the movement then swap hands take the towel with your left hand and then open the leg to the side as far as you feel comfortable and especially as long as you can keep the right hip anchored so if you see here on my right side the leg the hip the foot the heel the right side is not moving and only the left leg is opening. Then for the next one, It's one of my favorite stretches and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Place the towel again on top of your right foot, But this time keep it a bit wider. Now imagine you pull with your right side, With your right hand, The towel down. That you pull the outer edge of your foot towards the shin and then you pull with the left hand as much as you can, That you pull the inner side of your foot closer to the ankle. The leg, Your hip, Nothing is moving. It's really just from the foot, From the ankle. A few times, Pull with the right hand, The outside down, And then pull with your left hand, The other side. And especially when I pull in, I feel a beautiful stretch. Then bring both hands behind your leg and flex and point your foot a few times. Full range of motion. And then three big, Big circles. With the left foot in each direction. Full range of motion. I know you can't hear it but there my ankle is cracking a lot. I know it's always my right side. Then pull the knee into the chest and change to the other side. And then I realized I should actually give you this view because it's way much easier. See what's happening. So bring the towel on top of your left foot. This is what I meant. This is my absolute favorite stretch for my foot. So I pull with my left hand and then pull with my right hand. I pull with my left hand and you can immediately see which side is easier for me. So go for a few repetitions and. . . Enjoy that stretch. I have quite a good range of motion here, So don't expect that your foot goes here all the way as far as mine just try to find a stretch at the outer edge and maybe even all the way up next to the shin in your shin area you might find a stretch as well Then hold with both hands behind your leg and flex and point your foot. Next one is big circles from your ankle. Big, Big circles, Full range of motion and change direction. And then lower the knee back down and we get ready for the next one. Bring both knees into the chest and rock up into sitting position for rolling like a ball. Keep your hands under the knees and really take care of your spine. The goal is to give your lower back a little massage. So press your hands into the legs and the legs are pressing into the hands and a few times try to gently rock back and up. And try to make the spine as round as possible. Try to get a nice massage and make sure you only do these rolling exercises on a thick mat. Then from here roll all the way back down onto the mat. We stick still to the classical order and after rolling like a ball comes single leg stretch, But we use it as a stretch exercise. Pull the right knee into the chest as far as you can and then gently slide your left leg forward and out as far as your hips allow. Then slide the left leg back in. And change sides. It's a deep stretch. Try to anchor the hips, Pull the left knee into the chest and then reach with the right leg forward as far as you can. Slide the right leg back in and change side again. We're gonna do a few more. Like that. So the idea is that you want to stabilize one part of the body. Stretch and lengthen another part of the body. In this case, We keep the hips heavy, The chest heavy. Alright, You're going to move on. Double leg stretch. Pull both knees into the chest and then pull the forehead to the shin. So the goal is bringing the forehead as close as possible towards the knee. Keep the hips heavy and down. And use your hands to pull the legs really to the chest. Now only with the knees. You can keep the heels together, The knees apart and pull the knees to the shoulders as far as you can. And as long as you are not lifting the tailbone. Then for the next one, We want to have one twist in the spine, So one rotation. Open your arms to the side and keep the knees bent from here. Bring both knees to the right and turn your head to the left. Try to keep the heels together and the knees together. And from your center, Bring the knees back, Turn the head to the other side and bring the knees to the left. Bring the knees only as far. To the side as long as it's quite easy for you to keep both shoulders down and that you don't feel any pull in the lower back. This should feel really nice. That's a gentle mobilization for the mid-back, Especially when you sit. All day in front of a computer this could be a very, Very nice little mobilization for the mid-back. Then bring both knees into the chest and rock up into sitting position. Open your legs more than met-width apart. Sit really tall and straight and with your hands in front of you. As you exhale, Walk with your fingertips forward as far as you can. Then we'll back up. Nice and tall. Take a deep breath in. And with your next exhale. Round forward again. So the spine stretch forward actually asks us to round the spine forward. Imagine the sit bones are heavy and the lower back is almost not moving. If your hamstrings are very tight, You can always bend the knees. No problem at all. And roll. The next one try to go as deep as you can but as long as you can keep the sit bones really actively down in the mat And again, Chin to the chest, Slide your hands forwards as far as you can. Maybe you can even touch with the top of your head the floor. And then slowly roll all the way up. So in order to touch with the top of your head on the mat, You really want to have a lifted C-curve in the spine. So imagine you want to lift up and over, So you round the spine forward. With the next one, A little rotation. So twist the body over your left leg and then move around the spine forward exactly the same way. But keep the right sit bone, The right hip anchored. And then come back all the way. So this should feel nice. Don't force anything. Try to keep both sit bones anchored. And reach over the leg with both hands. Again, Other side. And sit up nice and tall. Again, Over the right. And come back. So this prepares us for the exercise to sew, Which is a classic exercise. So start over again with the same thing, But this time take the right hand on the outside of your left foot. And imagine you want to touch with your right ear, The left knee. You sit up nice and tall and you change. The back arm is pretty much behind your back in the center. Reach over the right leg and sit up nice and tall. Again over your right left leg sorry And this time if you want, You could lift your left arm back. But keep the center line so the back arm reaches long back. So imagine you want to open the shoulders. Rounding the spine, Anchor the hips and stretch the back arm, Back the thumb is facing down. Come all the way back to center. Close your heels and then slowly roll all the way back onto the mat. When you turn around, It's lying down on your stomach, We're going to do a mini swan. So start with your hands under the forehead. Whenever we talk about the swan in Pilates, Start thinking of your hips. So keep the hips heavy in the mat. And now make your legs so long. Reach with your legs so long back that you can quite easily lift both feet off the ground and lower them back down. If you can, Try to keep the heels together. If this is too much pressure in the lower back, Then open the legs hip width apart. And for the next one, Single leg kick. Bend your left knee and bring the left heel to the glutes and then reach long backwards again. Other side. So here you should get a little stretch in your thigh. But important is to get that stretch to keep the hips really heavy and stable and squared off on the mat. Each side one more time. And then we need the towel again. So stretch back for a second. Grab the towel and come back onto your stomach. So this is a loose variation of double leg stretch to open the shoulders. Bring the towel behind your back and with the thumbs facing each other. Hold the towel on your side first. Relax the shoulders and then reach with the arms back and up. And lower the arms back down. I just realized I have quite a really good range of motion here. Don't expect that your shoulders might want to lift the arms that high. I hardly feel a stretch. So if you feel a stretch way much earlier, Go only as far as it feels comfortable for you. Then switch the grip of your hands. Thumbs are facing out. And the same thing again. Keep the forehead down on the mat. And try to open the shoulders and open the chest. One more time. And then from here hold the towel a little bit closer together if you can even with the thumbs together now lift the hands as high as you can and drop the elbows turn your head to the left from here first stretch the arms back and up lift your head turn your head to the other side and then bend the elbows lower the elbows back down relax the shoulders again stretch the arms back lift your head turn your head to the left and then bend the elbows and lower the elbows to the mat. One more set. Stretch the arms back as far as you can. Turn your head to the right and lie the chest down. Again, Stretch the arms back. Turn your head. And lie down and then stretch back for a counter stretch. So bring the hips back towards your heels and decompress the lower back. Now variation of shoulder bridge so first turn around lie down and bring again the towel in front of your hips on the mat hold the towel with both hands and again gently pull the towel apart so your upper back and your arms are activated and that you can open the chest and the shoulders a little bit Then from here. Try to lift only the sacrum and roll the sacrum back down. So a mini shoulder bridge. It's almost more like the pelvic lift on the reformer. So curl the hip up. And then slowly roll down. Do this a few times and with each repetition try to lift the hips higher and higher until you find a diagonal line from the shoulders, The hips and the knees without arching your back. And again with control, Curl the hips up. Try to find that diagonal line. Try to keep the ribs together and down and more the hips are lifting, Not the chest. One last time. Try to keep the ribs down and in and slowly articulate the spine back down. Then pull both knees into the chest and just make little circles with the knees just to give the hip a little extra love here. Can go in both directions. And then from here, We move on to the side kicks, Which we only use more as a stretching and mobilizing of the hips. And we're going to do the bicycle first. So align the back at the back end of the mat and then bring both legs to the front. From here lift your top leg first. And then bend the knee towards the chest. Try not to collapse in the hips. Then from here pull it through with your hand towards the chest. Give it a nice stretch. Then from here try to bring the heel to the glutes and the knee. Backwards. So really reach with the knee back. You can gently pull with your hands and then. . . Let go with your hands, Stretch the leg and move the leg long and straight forward. Then bend the knee again, Catch it with your hand, Pull the knee back, The heel to the glutes. And then stretch the leg back. Bring it forward and bend the knee. It's called bicycle because you make the bicycle movement. But use your hand to give yourself a little extra stretch. And where I place my hand, This is where I feel the biggest stretch. And then we go reverse. So reach with your leg back. Bend the knee. Catch your ankle. With your hands. And then try to deepen the stretch. Bring the knee to the chest. And stretch the legs. Forward. Reach all the way back as far as you can. Bend the knee. Try to catch with your hands your ankle. And the lower the knee, The more stretch you get. But this is already my maximum. Bend the knee into the chest, Stretch it forward. And reach back. So if you see here, I need to lift my knee in order to catch it. And then I'm having a hard time to keep the knee hip high because the stretch is just too much for me. So just try to find the right stretch for you for the next one lift the leg all the way up to the ceiling and then lower the leg back down you're gonna do three just to mobilize the hip only as high as it feels really nice and easy and comfortable for you and lower the leg bend the knee open the knee as wide as you can up towards the ceiling catch your ankle and then stretch the leg up to the ceiling and you can pull it even with your hand a little bit lower the leg down slide your toes open the knee open the hip And then reach up. And lower it back. Down. Try to find with each repetition a deeper stretch or maybe a little different stretch. So depending on how much you turn the knee upwards to the ceiling, The more you get opening in the hips. All right. Everything on the other side. And This side usually is even tighter in my body. So let's see how I'm doing here. So the first one is bicycle. You bring the leg forward. And then bend the knee into the chest. Pull the knee as close as possible. And then pull the heel to the glutes. And pull the right knee back. Stretch it out and bring it again to the front. Bend the knee. Pull the heel till it's the glutes. Bring the knee back. And roll these, Make it long. Yeah, I'm actually not doing that bad. Pretty happy so far. And my face also looks fairly relaxed. Okay. And then we change directions. Reach back with your leg. Bend the knee. Catch it. Okay. Now my knee is very high. Okay. And my face is changing. So this is the specific movement where I really have to work on that. But that's okay. So try to find a stretch. With each repetition somewhere in the leg. So it should be somewhere here, Especially in the front area of the hip, Maybe your thigh. Never feel any pull or pinch in your knee or in your lower back. Then you're compensating too much. Lower and lift the leg. Three times just to see how this side feels and in opening the leg and then with the next one slide the toes along your leg try to catch your ankle open the knee and then reach with your leg up and lower it down. So, Whenever we help with our hands in deepening the stretch. Whenever we have a passive stretch, We can explore. But only as far as it really feels good in the body. Don't force anything. Everything here should feel rather light and just moving all the parts of the body. Then pull both knees into the chest. And for our final. Come onto your hands and onto your knees. And we're going to mobilize the wrists a little bit. First, Stretch back the heels towards the glutes, Arms reaching forward. And then from here, Just shift the body weight in a circular motion above your wrist. So imagine you go in these circles above the wrist. Each direction three. So the fingers are facing forward and you can really bring the shoulders in front of the wrist. And then bring your hands a little bit closer to the knees and move the body weight back. Forward. So especially leaning forward puts pressure on the wrist, But try to get to. . . Range of motion that is comfortable then let the fingertips facing your knees and then leaning back will stretch the forearms and the wrists also here this should feel really just nice and easy don't force anything And turn your hands again. Tuck the toes under, Lift the hips up towards the ceiling, Extending the legs. First the heels down and then lift one heel and push the other heel into the mat, Alternating left and right a few times. Just one more time, Stretching the legs, Lower both heels back down, Walk with your hands towards your toes. Bend your knees a little bit. Keep the body weight right forward and then slowly roll up the spine. Thanks so much for joining me. I hope you feel relaxed yet focused.

Reviews

Thank you for this really lovely stretch and Pilates. This worked the right areas for my body.

A good all around stretch on a mat while laying down.

Beautifully led class.
Very gentle and well paced.
Thank you!

Thanks for sharing this little gem, Pia. I used it to start my Sunday and it has me feeling relaxed to move into the day.

My takeaway: A nice gentle set of movements. I especially needed the wide legged forward bend and I'm right there with you with the side bicycle knee maneuver . I had knee surgery 2 months ago and this set did not strain anything thanks. Yay videos on IT, this is exactly how to bring movement in when audio is not clear enough. 🦜 Thanks [KEY: 5=Insightful, 4=Interesting, 3=Okay, 2=Not For Me, 1=Irritating]