Spine Mobility for Grapplers: 20-Min Yoga Class

Back to center. Left hand on the ground. Reach the right arm up and reach for the wall. This is a side bend for the spine.

So not only is it a nice stretch to the side, it's a side bend. So we've moved through flexion and extension of the spine and this is our side bend. Next will be our twist. Center.

One more time each side. Right hand on the ground. Reach the left arm up and opposite wall. One more.

Left arm down. Right arm up and over. Come back to center. Neutral spine.

Place the left hand behind you, the right hand on the opposite knee. Same as we did before. Inhale to lift. Exhale to rotate.

Inhale lift. Exhale rotate. I don't want you to go crazy far or try to look behind you a lot. Just really relax for a gentle twist.

Come to center. Left hand on the opposite knee. Place the right hand behind you for a pose. Inhale to lift.

Exhale gently turn. Inhale lift. Exhale turn. Last one.

Back to center. Find your way on to the hands and knees for tabletop. Moving through cat-cow. Drop the belly.

Lower back, middle back, upper back. Allow everything to drop. Then round to find the opposite. Rounding the lower back, middle back, upper back.

Moving through these two positions. Rounding the spine and arching the spine. Adding breathing. As you arch the spine, as you drop the belly, inhale.

Exhale round. Inhale drop. Exhale round. Stay with the traditional cat-cow.

Moving up and down or go ahead and create big circles with the spine. Three circles. One way. Nice and slow.

As big as you can. And three circles the other way. Always when I move through the circles it reminds me how good this feels and how important it is to take care of the spine before it starts to talk to you through pain and then have to take care of it. Find your neutral spine.

Figure out which one is the right foot and place the right foot to the outside of the right hand. Optional to stay here. Option one. Option two is the left foot, the back foot.

Use the toes to pull the back knee back to intensify the stretch. Option three is tuck the toes, lift the knee. All options are great and whichever one you can do today is also great. The purpose of this is to open up the front of the body, the front of the hips.

We can move into the back body more efficiently. If the back knee is up, bring it to the ground. Find your tabletop. Other side.

Step the left foot to the outside of the left hand. Option one is to stay here if this is enough. Maybe use the back foot, I call it a reverse shrimp. Use the back foot to pull the knee back, reverse shrimp that knee back.

Maybe tuck the toes to lift the right knee, the back knee. It's not about how much you can do or how far you can go into each pose. I always thought that's what it was about but every single body is different, flexibility is different, even the mechanics of the muscle, of the bone structure is different and every day is different. Every day of Jiu Jitsu is different, same way every day of yoga is different.

So it's just about getting on the mat and doing it. Not being attached to the outcomes but becoming attached to the process. If the back knee is up, let it down. Find your tabletop, hands and knees on the ground.

Lowering the upper body to the ground, the torso to the ground for our biggest back bend yet of today. Hands beside the hips, palms down. Lift the heels first, feel that through the legs, the back of the legs. Lift the shoulders second and the hands third.

For three, two and one. Hands under the shoulders, use those hands to push the heels to hips, opening the knees for turtle. It's called turtle in Jiu Jitsu, child's pose in yoga. Feel that release through the lower back.

And find your way back to tabletop. Hands and knees on the ground. Once again, step the right foot to the outside of the right hand. This time reaching the right hand up, reaching the right arm up.

Pretend there's a rope. We're back to the rope. Pretend there's a rope around your middle finger and use that to pull yourself up, creating a strong structure. So the rope is pulling the right hand up and in turn that creates a strong structure through the right, through the left hand, the bottom hand, the left shoulder and turns the torso nicely.

We don't want to fall into that bottom shoulder. Place the right hand on the ground. Find your tabletop, other side, left foot to the outside of the left hand. Reaching the left hand up, again, pretend there's a rope through the middle finger.

Use that to reach up, reach up, reach up. It's pulling you. And place both hands on the ground. Find your tabletop, lowering the entire body to the ground.

For our back bend, hands beside the hips, palms down. Lift the heels first, lifting the shoulders second and the hands third. For three, two and one. Hands under the shoulders, using the hands to push the heels to hips, allowing the back to release.

Hands can be wherever is comfortable in front of you. Rest your forehead on the hands or beside the legs with the forehead on the ground, whatever is comfortable here. Finding your tabletop for our last one. Step the right foot to the outside of the right hand.

With the back foot, back the left foot. Use that back foot to pull the knee back just a little bit. Both poses combined. So stretching the front of the back hip, reach the right arm up, using that rope to pull the arm up.

Either staying here or maybe lift that back leg. If you can't, that's okay. It'll come. But if you can, that's fantastic too.

Both hands on the ground. Find your tabletop. Step the left foot to the outside of the left hand. With the back foot, pull the knee back just a little bit.

With your left hand, reach. Using the rope through the middle finger to pull yourself up and maybe tuck the back toes to lift the back knee. If you can, great. If you can't, that's okay too.

Placing both hands on the ground. Find your tabletop. Lowering the entire body to the ground for our last back bend. Hands beside the hips, palms down.

Lift the heels first, shoulders second, and hands third for three, two, and one. Hands under the shoulders, pushing the hips to heels, knees wide. Move to tabletop to find your way to a sit. To a sit and from your sit all the way onto the back.

On your back, knees above the hips and allow them to drop to the left side. The right arm create a few nice big shoulder circles. Gently allowing the shoulder to release and also allowing us to move into our spinal twist. When you've had enough shoulder circles, about three to five, allow the right arm to fall behind you.

It doesn't matter if both feet are on the ground. It doesn't matter if the knees are touching. It doesn't matter if the right hand is touching the ground behind you. All that matters is that you're in spinal twist and it feels good.

This pose is like the ice cream after dinner, the dessert after dinner. It's always so nice. We'll spend about one more minute here. Let's close in the eyes.

Deep inhale, exhale, and exhale. The pose is like the ice cream after dinner, the dessert after dinner. It's always so nice. We'll spend about one more minute here.

Let's close in the eyes. Deep inhale, exhale, relax into the pose. Inhale, exhale, relax into the pose. Take in your last breath.

Bring the knees to center. Knees above the hips. Bring them to the right side. The left arm shoulder circles.

Allow the left hand to touch the ground behind you. And allow the left hand to drop behind you. And again, it doesn't matter if the knees are touching. It doesn't matter if the left hand is on the ground.

All that matters is that you're in spinal twist and it feels good. So about 40 more seconds. Just closing the eyes, taking those deep breaths. Last, last inhale and exhale.

Bring in the knees to center, feet on the ground. Neutralize the spine. I always find it goes off center. And bring the feet further than the hips, knees together.

Take a second just to recognize how good you feel. Allowing all that hard work to marinate. And if you have extra time, you can stay here. Or if you are working within that 20 minute time frame, roll to your favorite side, use the hands to push yourself up.

And there we have it. So that's the last one. Roll to your favorite side, use the hands to push yourself up. And there we are.

Thank you so much for joining me today everybody. And we will see you next time.