Hi there, my name is Jade and I am your instructor live trainer! So welcome to session four of your
back care program. So for this one I’m inviting you to start seated, so find a comfortable chair,
feet grounded on the floor, feet flat (all 10 toes down) and knees parallel.
Let's take a gorgeous breath in as we sweep the arms all the way up towards the ceiling. A big
full body stretch, exhale through the mouth as you bring them down, and let's do this one more time:
inhale, sweep all the way up, lift up and out of the hips, make space, exhale as you bring
the arms down this time. Inhale, sweep all the way up. We're going to pause here at the top,
now we're going to take hold of your right wrist with your left hand. So I'm holding my right wrist
with my left hand. So, we did a side stretch in session one, we're just going to assist it this
time. So we're going to side bend over, and I'm going to gently pull the right arm across
the body. So I'm with my left hand assisting that right arm over, so I can go a little bit further.
Now if you can turn your eye-line to look up towards the ceiling, so that we really are sure
that this arm is not collapsing in front of the face. So we're making space through the shoulder,
through the rib cage, all the way down to the hip. Make sure the bottom is staying
on the chair, let's slowly realign back to center. Release that hand, take a breath
out as you bring the arms down. We'll go again for the other side: so inhale, sweep the arms up,
now from here we're going to take hold of the left wrist with the right hand. Gently come up and over
into a side bend, so you're pulling that left arm over with the right hand. Eye line turns up
towards the ceiling so we can really make sure that we're opening through the chest, trying not
to flare the rib cage. Think of the abdominal activation we have spoken about previously.
Slowly bring yourself all the way back to center, release the hands
and breathe out through the mouth as you bring the arms down. Now we did easy eagle pose before,
I'm going to take you through full eagle arms now. Great for the upper back. So we're going
to bring the right arm forwards and then we pop the left arm on top, now we're going to try and
keep those elbows together. You're going to bend the arms and as you do the left elbow is hooked
on top of the right. So I bring my forearms together, the backs of the hands together here.
Now once you arrive here, try to take the hands away from the face and lift the elbows
ever so slightly, taking your eye-line up just to look towards the wrists, the hands as well.
Try and drop the shoulders away from the ears and if you're struggling, keeping a straight back.
Then possibly the best thing to do is lean on your chair with your bottom against the
base of the chair as well. I'm gonna take a little cat and cow here with the eagle
arms and throwing it all together. We're gonna inhale as we take the arms a little bit higher,
exhale as you draw the elbows towards the belly. As you drop the shoulders, bring the chin to the
chest and curve the back. Let's do that again. So this is the same as a cat and cow we did before:
we inhale as we take the eye-line up, take the hands with you, lifting the elbows and then
exhale as you bring the elbows down towards the belly. Tuck the tailbone under and drop
the chin to the chest. Pause here for a moment, let's stay here, a great pose for the upper back.
And then we'll realign the spine, keep the arms in eagle, lift the hands away from the face. Pause
there for a moment and then slowly open those arms out, just take the hands behind you slightly,
palms of the hands forwards and open through the chest. Just a nice way to release off
from that eagle pose. Let's do the same on the other side: so I'm going to invite you to bring
the left arm forwards now. The right arm comes on top, we bend the elbows so the right elbow is now
on top of the left ,bringing the backs of the hands together, taking the elbows up slightly.
The hands come away from the face, try and drop the shoulders down away from the ears,
activating through the abdominals and not flaring the ribcage. There's a lot to think about. We're
going to inhale as we lift the arms up and exhale as you bring the elbows down towards the belly.
Drop the shoulders, heavy chin comes down towards the chest again, inhale, sweeping the hands up,
taking the eyeline with you. Don't throw the head back though and exhale as you bring those elbows
down towards the torso, rounding through the back, coming to center. Eagle arms, elbows are lifted
and then we open the arms out, palms of the hands face forwards, drop the shoulders away from the
ears and open through that chest. Take a lovely breath here and now we're going to bring those
arms all the way up towards the ceiling. Take the hands behind your head, I'm interlacing the hands,
hands behind the head, peel the elbows wide, try to really switch on through the abdominals here
because otherwise your back is going to collapse and you might feel a pull in your lower back. So
drawing the navel towards the spine, a little side bend here to work on our strength okay. So we're
working on strength as well as stretching out, bringing the right elbow in the direction of the
right hip, so you're taking a side bend. Keep both elbows really open so the chest doesn't collapse,
come through center and then bring the left elbow towards the left hip, making sure the feet are
grounded here. If you find your knees are knocking in towards each other, it might be a good idea to
put your feet together, keep the knees together or you could put a pillow between your knees. So
a little side bend, we're going side to side here, opening up through the chest, activating through
the obliques which are your muscles through the waist with it. One more time each side:
try not to let the top elbow collapse forwards, keep the elbows back.
Last one here: coming over, not collapsing, taking your time controlling the moose
and then slowly coming back to center. Reach those arms up towards the ceiling and open
the hands. This time, take your right hand and drop it down your back, so my right hand
is coming to touch the top of my back. The right elbow is coming towards the head.
From here you're going to pop your left hand on top of the right elbow,
so this is a gentle tricep stretch. Try to keep the right elbow in line with the head from here.
We're going to side bend at the same time, so you're going to come over towards the left,
keeping that right elbow in line with the head, keeping it back and you should feel a really
beautiful stretch down the ribcage, into the hip, into the shoulder blade and the upper back.
Slow steady breath into the side body and lets come back to center. Release the arm, so reach
up towards the ceiling, drop the left arm down the back. Now keep that elbow in line with the head,
bringing the right hand on top of the elbow, remembering to switch on the
core and then side bending over to the right. Try not to drop the arm forwards,
try and keep the chest open, rounding down through the feet and breathing into the side body.
Just slowly come back through to center, inhale, reach those arms up and exhale. Bring the arms
down a little for your lower body now, so make sure you're grounded on the chair properly. I'm
gonna invite you to take your legs wide, this is called a goddess pose. So what you're going
to do is ground your feet down so your feet are flat, but you see my feet are turned out,
so the toes are pointing onto the diagonal and the knees always follow the same line as the toes.
Heels of the hands come onto the thighs. Now we're going to work with the right shoulder first:
I'm going to press the heel of my hand into the right thigh and actually roll that thigh back and
push that leg gently away as the right shoulder comes down towards the center of the chair. So I'm
pressing the right leg back and the right shoulder is coming forwards. Please be careful with your
chair that it doesn't slide backwards like I mentioned previously. You could have your chair
pressed against a wall so that you've got that support there if you feel a little unsafe or
you could be on a sofa - it could give you a bit more security. So a great way to open the hips,
again really important to work on your hips, to look after the back as well. Then I'm going to
ease off through that right shoulder, I'm going to take you into a seated assisted warrior. This left
leg is going to stay where it is, maybe use the chair to align yourself. We're going to straighten
the right leg, so my right leg now straightens, the foot is flat, the toes are facing forwards,
hands come onto the hips, drop the shoulders down and all I want you to do is just stay here.
So we're opening through the pelvis, activating through the abdominals.
Maybe you might like to find that triangle that we did before, where you're trying to
switch on through the lower tummy. Pull this left knee so it's pointing towards this direction,
so it's in line with the toes and a great way to get a little bit of strength through the
lower tummy, but we've got the chair to give us that little bit of support with the legs.
Let's take one breath here in through the nose and out through the mouth
and then we'll slowly creep that right leg back in. Realign yourself so both feet are flat,
toes are pointing on the diagonal, heels of the hands in. Will drop your left shoulder now so
I’m going to gently press the left leg back. The left shoulder is going to come towards the center,
so I'm pressing that left leg away, grounding down through the feet. All 10 toes are down,
opening up through the hip, breathing into that hip. This is a powerful
posture for the lower back as well. And then we'll ease ourselves off, you can hold the chair
to make sure you're secure. We straighten the left leg, make sure the foot is flat,
toes are facing forwards, peel the hips open. Make sure the shoulders are stacked
on top of the hips and we're pointing that right knee in the direction of the same as the toes,
draw the belly button to the spine so the back is supported and drop the shoulders,
away from the ears. One last breath here: in through the nose and out through the mouth.
This is an assisted warrior two pose and then we'll gently bend the left leg, creep those feet
back together, maybe have a little fidget, a bit of a wriggle through the lower if you would like
to. And then take one last breath in, sweep all the way up and exhale as you bring the arms down.
That was session number four, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you on session number five!