Hi, my name is Jade and I am your Instructor Live trainer. Welcome to session five of your back
care program. So I am inviting you to actually start standing today but we are still going to
be using the chair as a prop, OK. So what we're going to do is we're going to start facing the
back of your chair, so I'm going to place both hands onto the chair and then we're going to
step as far away from the chair as you need to. Feet, hip distance apart, knees slightly bent
and we're going to fold forward so that your body is going to try to come parallel to the ground.
Please be careful and make sure your chair is sturdy enough, that it's not going to fall.
From here, knees are slightly bent, tailbone is lifted, so think about your coccyx,
tilt your coccyx up towards the ceiling so you're really opening up through the back of the legs.
You're letting the chest fall down towards the ground as the shoulder blades creep towards each
other. Take a slow breath here as you pause trying to open up through the back chain of the body.
Now we've done seated cat and cowl before. I'm going to invite you to do this standing.
So bend your knees a little bit more generously, you're going to round the back,
drop the chin to the chest as you curve through the spine,
making that c-shape and then you go the other way, the belly drops down
towards the ground as the eye-line looks forward and you tilt the pelvis even more.
Let's do that again, so chin comes to the chest, you round the back, try and make a c curve through
the spine for your cat stretch and then drop the belly down to the ground. Tilt the pelvis,
eye-line looks through and arch, the back. Let's curve the spine, chin to the chest,
slowly walk your feet all the way in towards the chair and slowly bring yourself to standing feet.
Quite close to the chair now, hands on the prop, soften the knees, roll the shoulders down the
back and lift the chest and assisted baby back bend here, as you're arching through the back,
opening through the chest, try not to throw the head back. Let's find a neutral spine.
Now we're going to release the chair for a moment. Step back,
so that you're not going to hit the chair on your way down. OK, so we did a seated roll down,
I'm going to invite you to do a standing roll down. Feet, hip distance apart.
Now we start with the chin coming to the chest, we roll the shoulders forwards and let the arms fall
heavy. Bend the knees as generously as you need to as you roll your body down towards the ground.
Please do not think about touching the floor it doesn't matter. Let the arms dangle,
let the head dangle, lift your tailbone high, knees are bent and then as you come up remember
I mentioned about re-stacking the spine like lego, keep the chin on the chest, rebuild your posture
vertebrae by vertebrae, the shoulders roll down the back and the head comes up last.
Let's do this one more time, so the chin comes to the chest first, the shoulders curve forwards,
the arms, fall heavy, you round through the body so looking down at the belly, then to the pelvis,
then looking through the legs as you bend the knees. Make sure your weight is in your toes,
not in your heels. Let the body dangle here maybe at the bottom, take a gentle sway side to side.
Remember you do not have to be anywhere near the ground just as low as your body will allow
and then keep the chin on the chest,
very important, rebuilding your posture, re-slacking that gorgeous spine.
Slowly rolling yourself up, shoulders come down and head stacks on top last.
Now we're going to invite you to come back to the chair, so we're going to pop both
hands on top of your chair once again. We're going to take an assisted triangle
so we leave the right foot where it is and we step the left foot back. Don't go too wide here
because I'd like you to keep both legs straight, OK. Both feet are flat on the floor, both feet are
facing towards the chair, heels down, toes down, now make sure you're not locking out the knee. So,
yes your legs are straight but try to soften the knee slightly, as well,
don't put pressure through the joints and then from there I invite you to fold your body over
that pelvis tilt. We've done before, you're trying to tilt the pelvis, fold the body over, you've
got this chair as a prop and then we're going to hold here as you take a few slow steady breaths.
Now you're probably going to find your hamstrings, those muscles down the back of the thighs,
are quite tight here, maybe, feels a little bit intense or maybe into the calves.
Think about squaring off the hips, the left hip is coming forwards, right hip is coming back
and also if you're not feeling it enough, take your feet wider,
take a wider stance so that you can actually get the benefits of this really good stretch.
If you're feeling a little wobbly, a little off-balance,
take your feet wider apart. Imagine you're on train tracks, take the feet wider apart.
You might be able to bring the body down a little bit lower,
try not to collapse and curve into the back. Really try and lengthen and make space through the
spine. Lets gently bend those knees, roll yourself up and step that left foot in to meet the right.
We'll do the same on the other side, have a little fidget if you need to, we'll step the right
leg back now, again, explore see how far you can go but keeping your alignment, OK.
Both feet flat, heels down, toes facing the chair. Don't lock the knees out and then we're hinging
forwards from the hip, so that fold from the hips, the tailbone is lifting towards the ceiling.
You're still switching on through the abdominals, so drawing the belly towards the spine, there's
no pressure in the upper body, you're not gripping onto the chair for dear life, you're just relaxing
here through the top half, lengthening through the spine and using that breath.
The breath is going to really help those muscles lengthen. Make space and like I
mentioned previously in the video it's really important to release any tension through the legs,
through the hips, because this could be causing stress on your back, OK. So one last breath,
while we're here and then we'll slowly bend the knees, peel yourself up and step the right foot in
towards the left. I'm going to come around to the other side of the chair now so I'm going to invite
you to come, so you've got the low part of the chair here. If this is too much please keep your
foot on the floor, very important. So I'm going to face the chair, both hands onto the hips.
Now I'll start with the left leg, so I'm going to pop the left foot on top of the chair.
Again make sure your chair is sturdy make sure it's safe and like I say if it's too high,
keep that left foot on the floor. We soften through the right knee so you're not locking
out the right knee and I might even flex the toes on the left foot. Once again we're going
to hinge from the hip, so I fold the body over, lengthening through the spine, drawing the belly
button towards the back, so I'm engaging the core muscles to support the lower back.
Sliding the shoulders down away from the ears and both knees are slightly soft, don't lock them out.
Now this is again quite an intense stretch through the back of that left leg,
so don't go too far. You might find just having the foot on the chair is an achievement,
you don't have to fold over if it's not comfortable for you. Now I'm going to peel
the body back up and soften the left foot. Be careful you might need to hold on to
something or you might need to bring this foot down to change. I'm going to pivot,
so I'm now opening my hips to face forwards. My left leg is still on the chair.
The right foot is now facing forwards, hips are open and again soften through the knees.
Gently, pop your left hand onto your left leg, please don't push down and put any pressure there.
I reach up and out of the hips with the right arm, same as we did seated in the previous video,
we're coming into a side bend, so the right arm comes up and over to the top corner of the room
and you make space through the rib cage, down into the hip, try not to let that right arm come
in front of the face. Maybe take your eye-line up towards the ceiling to ensure your chest is open.
And then I'll slowly come back to center, bring the right hand down. Please be careful as you
softly bring that foot off the chair, we'll do the other side, so we're going to face the chair.
Both hands on the hips, the right foot now comes on top
of the chair. Flexing the foot, so my toes are peeled back, left knee slightly soft and we
hinge forwards from the hips, lengthening through the spine. Using your exhale as you come forwards
so that we really give this leg, the right side, time to open up, time to lengthen out.
So a slow steady breath while you're here, try not to collapse in the back and then we'll soften
that right foot as we ease off, maybe you need to hold on to something to change to the other side.
I'm going to pivot on my left foot now so the left foot is facing forwards and the right foot
is down, right hand rests onto the right leg, left arm reaches up to make space and then we side bend
up and over towards the top corner of the room. Try not to put pressure onto the right leg.
Eye lines lifted up towards the ceiling so that the arm is open and we're going deep into that
side body stretch. Let's slowly bring that arm up please be careful as you bring the leg
off of the chair and then we're going to take a seat for the last little section,
so I'm coming down onto the chair sitting on my bottom, gonna put the feet flat,
have the toes the heels together. I'm gonna bring your hands into a little
a prayer shape so the fingertips come together, the heels of the hands are together.
We're going to take a twist, so bring your right elbow towards your left knee if you can, so I'm
going to fold all the way over and bring the right elbow towards the left knee. Now I physically push
my elbow into that knee, press the palms of the hands together so I can look past the fingertips
and enjoy this lovely, it's called a chair squat twist and obviously we're actually using the chair
here as an assisted prop, so pressing the hands together, twisting out. This is a beautiful pose
for the back. Easing yourself off gently, be careful as you come back through center, we'll
take it the other side. Right elbow comes across the body now, press the elbow into the thigh,
keep the feet and the knees together, that will help keep alignment through the knees.
Press the hands together, don't be afraid to push the elbow into the thigh and push
the hand into the hand so that you can twist a little bit further here.
And then we'll slowly ease yourself off and gently bring yourself back to center one last pose here,
we're going to bring the right leg up, we've hugged the knee into the chest before.
This time we're going to place the right ankle on top of the left thigh.
We're making a figure four shape this is called. You've got a little triangle between the thighs,
so keeping that right ankle rested on top of the thigh and then from here simply, simply hinge
forward slightly and see if you can feel this around the glutes the big muscles in the bottom,
the hips, all across the inner thigh, the hamstring the groin. Figure four is a
really powerful pose to come into if you're struggling with your lower back, with your
sciatic nerve and with the hips. So slow breath here, be careful as you ease yourself off,
realign, we'll bring the left leg in when you're ready, we hugged that knee in before
and if it's accessible popping the left ankle on top of the right thigh, left knee is opening out,
hands are just gently rested down and we hinge from the hip, so we're not collapsing the body,
we're hinging forwards, lengthening the spine and trying to really open up
into the left hip now. So gently opening through that left knee. A slow breath,
try and visualize space through the hips, the pelvis and gently easing yourself up, bring that
leg off and we will finish this practice, inhale sweep the arms up and exhale, bring the arms down.
That was your session five. I hope you found it OK. I'll see you for our final session six.