Sebastian Brosche · 10 min · 1,247 words
Previously titled: 10 for 30 Cooldown Video 6 - Spine Back
Hey everyone, welcome back to week two. This is day one of week two and we'll stretch the spine again. These stretches should feel good the second time round. I'll add some variations as well.
Hope you guys enjoy. So to begin with, just sit your weight back. So go from all fours, sit your weight back on your heels. Again, if when you put your knees in like this, if it's uncomfortable, just open your knees out and walk your hands forwards here.
Good. And just feel a nice stretch in your back. And as you inhale, imagine your spine is getting longer. As you stretch your hands away a little more, just kind of feel that spine stretching away.
And just really slow your breath down now. Almost feel your belly fill up as you take a deep inhale as well. Feel your lower back open out a bit. And exhale, feel that deflate.
Let's do two more, but come up to your fingertips on your hands here and almost try and pull the mat towards you. Just feel your spine get a little longer. Just have the intention of when you get up after this class, you're about half a foot taller. And you can rest your forehead and the mat if you need to.
One more inhale here. And push yourself back up now. And then we'll lay on our front again. Let's all go for that Sphinx pose.
Just start off with your hands away and then just drag your elbows under your shoulders. Keep your bum tensed here, but suck your belly in and just feel that stretch down the front. And then shoulders back, chest forwards, nice and proud chest. That's why I always try and think in these stretches.
And then just look diagonally in front of you, so between your thumbs. And focus on your breath. And from here, just start to transfer your weight slightly onto your left hip and then just look over to your right foot. So you're looking over your right shoulder and just feel your left hip stretch a little more here.
Again, nothing too intense. This is where we're cooling down. Next exhale, come back to centre. And then we'll come back down to the front.
Come back to centre. Take an inhale here. Start leaning over to that right hip and then exhale. Look over to the left foot.
If you can't look all the way, that's fine. Just look over to your left side. Keep lifting that belly off the ground. Next exhale, come back to centre.
And just two more breaths here. Probably settling a bit more into the pose. And just keep that going. Good.
Activate your core now. And just lift your hips up off the mat. And come to all fours. And we'll go back to that lizard that we did last time.
So left foot, left little finger. And then creeping that right knee away. And chest forward, shoulders back. Feel your hips dropping down as well.
And from here almost try and imagine you're tucking your tail a little bit. Or if you look down and you're trying to look at your belt buckle, it's a similar stretch. And just feel that hip open a little more as you bring that stretch on. So we're not just sagging down, letting the hip drop today.
We're just bringing that belt buckle towards us. And you should feel as you do that, your right knee is kind of pulling on the mat towards you a bit. Sort of towards your hands, which is good. Just make sure it's comfortable with you while putting that stretch on.
Now if you want to drop down to your elbows, drop down to your elbows. And see if you can just bring that kind of pull of you turning to look at your belt buckle on. And then undo that, so come up to your hands. Undo that light activation you've got.
Push that left foot into the mat and bring it back. So let's go right side now. Same thing. Drag the left knee back if you need to.
Find a pose. And then look at your belt buckle or tuck your tail between your legs. Whatever works for you to imagine and get that same feeling. And then you can drop down to your elbows if you've settled a little more here.
In and out. One more breath. Push your right foot down and come to your knees. And now just lay yourself down on your back.
So last week when we got to here, we were on our knees, but we're gonna do the same thing just upside down now. Okay, so grab the fronts of your knees and just hug them in here towards your chest. Tuck your chin, so if your chin's up to the ceiling, just tuck it under and just breathe. And as you inhale, try and bring your belly up to the tops of your legs.
And as you exhale, that drops down. And again, taking an inhale, you fill up your belly. You also feel your lower back open out as well. And exhale.
Almost like on that inhale, you're breathing into the mat. And exhale. I know your lungs aren't in your lower back, but as you take those deep breaths of air, you'll feel everything fill up, everything stretch out. And then exhale, all deflates.
So just a few more breaths here. Work on getting that full breath and then sign it out. Okay, one more deep inhale. And out.
Good, come back up to all fours now. Walk your hands out in front of you and drop your weight down. Remember that ski ramp that we're making with our body here, so you're jumping off the end of the hips. And if you're a little more comfortable here today, come to your fingertips, look between your thumbs and just feel your chest and everything drop down.
Remember, keep your belly in here as well. Feel that whole front body stretch out. And just focus on what your spine's doing here, what your body's doing here. Find some tension.
Think about that and inhale. Exhale, imagine you're releasing that tension as you release that breath. Two more. Last inhale.
Exhale, palms down to the mat now. And then just creep your hands back, come back to all fours, and then sit your weight down on your heels. Stretch your hands either in front of you or one on top of the other and just rest your forehead on the mat here. And just take a few breaths, not moving, not stretching.
Just think about your breath and the areas you've stretched. And now that we're on week two, just appreciate that you've taken that time to work on your body, whether you've done Sarah's class in the morning or you're just using these to cool down in the evening. Just appreciate that. Think about how you're improving your jujitsu and how this stretching is impacting your everyday life.
And a couple more breaths. And then your own time, just sit yourself up. Don't stand up too quickly or you'll probably get a bit of a head rush. And that is it for day one of week two.
I really hope you guys enjoyed. Hope you're enjoying all the classes so far and I'll see you in the next video.
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