Session 3 Transcript

Okay, good morning everybody.

I think we’re gonna go ahead and start.

We’re we’re missing a few people, but um we’re just gonna go ahead and start initially.

what we can do.

We have a few things planned here that we’re hoping will lead into a productive practice session this morning.

But maybe while we’re waiting Tis we’re gonna give people maybe another five minutes to come.

If you have any

Any questions?

Let’s use this opportunity first to have them.

I might stop everybody as soon as everybody arrives just so we can hit the ground practicing.

But if you have any practical questions that you wanted to put out right now, why don’t we start with that?

Okay, Mimi.

I have a question after reading the description of the ignition concerning the breathing.

And I was wondering, because in addition the breathing is just belly relaxed, and I was wondering if it’s the same

during the forms.

Should I like put the shoulder down, etc.

and then

to concentrate on having free breathing.

Yep, that’s exactly one of the things we wanted to talk about today, just to clarify it, because the breathing at any point in the practice should be very relaxed.

It’s kind of quite different from what you would experience in other physical practices where the breathing is used as a guide to

To help you calibrate the intensity at which you’d approach the practice, or with the deeper breathing, you could use that as a tool

To be able to overcome physical challenge is often emphasized in physical fitness, in yoga, uh in in um

in certain aspects of martial arts as well that we’ll focus on the breeding like that.

Not as much in Kung Fu, but in karate, during karate ka and some

Other Japanese martial arts, they they do emphasize on breathing very deeply.

In Baseworks, you should be able to carry on a conversation like this at any point through the practice.

The um the emphasis is not so much on and this is not in relation to ignition so much because the ignition practices are breathing practices we implement specifically

to help somebody to understand what the capacity is of their lungs, how much they can actually access

for the full whatever how many liters is it?

Four and a half for men and three and a half for women.

Four and a half for men, three and a half for for women in terms of the capacity of the expansion.

So we do these exercises at the beginning to help people understand

Where they’re at in terms of what they can access.

And conversely to that, the breathing practices themselves are also

Good indicators for one to analyze how they feel at the start of a practice.

So

During the practice the the belly is just relaxed, the breath is totally calm, and the breath should never become deep.

So at the point where one would feel a challenge in any of the forms, the default mechanism when transferring it from another practice would be

Breathe more deeply and challenge yourself through it.

We say if it becomes challenging, back off the physical intensity, reduce the range of motion

reduce any kind of stretch that you’re feeling, any kind of um overactivity in the muscles, so that you can return to just uh having a conversation with the person next to you.

So that yeah and

In addition to everything that Patrick said, I also would like to clarify that if the abdominal muscles are contracted, it doesn’t mean that your breathing is not natural because

For example, if I lean back, it’s impossible to lean back with the muscles not contracted.

They will contract to support me in this position.

But I can still speak normally, right?

I don’t have to hyperventilate to support myself in this position and I can maintain natural breathing as I do that.

But we don’t want to go

Because then I cannot speak.

Right?

So what Patrick is saying that we should be able to speak naturally.

That is the criterion, even though we don’t speak during practice.

And that what Ashram was just saying right now about the actual transference of of um of uh not not only uh not only breathing but energy.

So like there’s

One could argue that uh when we build up a kind of physical resilience, w one aspect of the building of that resilience is is based on

how one would approach breathing and how you would affect the central nervous system with the breathing.

So you can get a reserve of endocrines.

um uh energy that that comes from the sympathetic nervous system, which will make you feel very good in the practice if you breathe more deeply.

We’re trying to avoid that altogether.

So in a lot of the movements that we do, when we explain, for example, as Asha just explained, when you lean back and the abdominal wall is active, we’re not forcefully gripping the abdominal wall.

drawing the navel to the spine, adding core strength that would be often instructed across many physical practices.

We’re trying to get people to understand that through the micro movements and through the movements and the positions of gravity that muscles just inherently become active and the blood flow.

Okay, so

to the muscles without any excessive breathing is what actually creates another storehouse of energy which keeps you more neutral, not in sympathetic mode.

Not necessarily in parasympathetic mode either, but more neutral in how one you would be able to regulate your energy and understand the regulation of energy.

Do you have anything to add?

No

Okay.

Hi Sarah, how are you doing?

So one more one more person is showing up.

We’re still waiting for a couple with a couple Any other questions?

Yes.

I know that I already asked you if we could have a like some

tricks for day-to-day movement but for example now that we’re sitting down here like us some some somehow like this uh is there any kind of just one or two

to cue that you could add to make us kind like uh conscious of uh the maybe a little pressure of our feet on the ground or

It’s very important for me to understand the day-to-day practice of your approach.

The day-to-day application.

It’s interesting you say that.

So

Any of the movement patterns that we introduce can be applied anywhere.

So if you’re on the metro, you can draw the shoulders down.

Uh if you’re on the metro and you’re standing yeah, and if if you’re standing on the metro and you’re holding on to the the if you can’t sit down and hold on to the rail

You can pull the feet away from each other.

You can grip the heels in toward each other.

When you’re walking, you can draw the shoulders down.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Uh we actually had one student who said that after doing Baseworks they were able to transition from always holding on something.

to just staying within the train and it was a big change for them because they commute a lot.

So without having learned anything

Yeah.

Yes, because it’s not like we teach you how not to hold the thing in the train, right?

But it transfers to that

Well when you hold a bag like this the we we used to do that.

So it’s very

more comfortable when you draw conscious of that.

Yes.

one one day we we met a very nice physiotherapist.

She’s doing some very interesting work right now that we’ll share with you later because she’s starting a program.

She’s from Quebec.

And she’s doing a supposed a combination of physiotherapy and visualizations, not can not because these are visualizations in relation to I don’t remember.

We’ll share that information with you.

I’m sorry, we can’t remember exactly, but we’ll talk

Not focused so much.

There was something about the work that she did.

It’s a pedagogy that comes from a group of practitioners in British Columbia and she’s studied with them.

But it crosses over from other work as well too.

I even think there was something that was spilled over from uh

f uh Feldenkrais or something.

I I forget what it was.

But we talked to her about this shoulder movement when she got

she was she was like, oh I don’t I I’m not sure if I would ever like to do that.

You know, like draw the shoulders down.

Oh my god, that would be so stressful.

And um it’s interesting how different people perceive good morning Sandra

How are you?

It’s different it’s different how people different people would perceive these movements.

But uh hi, good morning.

How we now go.

But um

We also ask that as we’ll as we’ll recommend to everybody today too that if you’re introducing these patterns like in like the normal quotidien sort of situation in life that

You know, it’s the idea too would be like the moderation for the amount that you would add those things, like grip the heels together or pull the legs apart if you’re standing on the train.

And you’re like, oh I think I’ll grip the legs apart and you go like looking at the person next to you.

Everything should be within everything should be within some sort of like a very malleable

activity and and the and as you’re doing right there with the micro movements it’s the same thing too at any point in time the micro movements can be introduced as a kind of a calibration tool so uh yeah

Let’s uh let’s maybe have one more question.

We’re almost everybody’s almost with us.

Anyone have one last we will have questions at the end as well.

I just want to mention you said something

I don’t know if it’s written somewhere, but it sounded really nice.

Using micro movement as recalibration tools.

Very specifically.

This is very, you know, it’s it’s very interesting that

To tell you the truth, um everything in Baseworks can be used as recalibration tools.

So um uh

Uh the what that calibration means for each individual person is very different.

And um as I explained in the beginning, the way we approach teaching this is dogmatic, right?

But it it’s not like I’m standing there with a whip going, you you know, you shouldn’t be doing things in that way.

It’s more about there’s a certain structure.

Within the structure, it’s dogmatic

But how you approach the actual movements is has we have no we don’t have any idea how you’re actually feeling.

So the moderation

key is very important.

If something doesn’t feel comfortable, uh reduce the intensity.

And when we do that, those become calibration tools.

Because it helps you to calibrate other stuff that we have no idea what’s going on.

So we don’t

in in these uh in these sessions you you fill out the you fill out the participation questionnaire and on the participation questionnaire

Unless there’s something very specific about physical condition or psychological state or something like that, we don’t really have any way of interpreting what’s going on with people individually.

And it’s not that it’s none of our business at the same time.

Even though we’re we’re interested, it’s none of our business.

So you are the best judges of your own experience in life and um how you would use these things.

as a kind of another tool in your toolbox to be able to address those things.

That’ll become more obvious the more you practice with us.

And then you’ll see how it’s transferable.

So for a lot of people they see how it becomes transferable for about a later point in time.

And just to add just

from the perspective of muscle physiology.

This is mentioned in the video about the macro and micro movements.

When we do the micro movements, it helps to reduce tension, maybe unconscious tension, residual tension.

We often use it after we’ve used the muscles a lot.

We did something and then after that we kind of move our neck and then that help help helps to uh remove the residual tension.

But also, for example, when we are doing something like this

And we are doing the micro movements.

It helps us to actually maybe find that straight line that we don’t feel very much.

If we just freeze,

In a weird position, we don’t know what’s going on.

But by continuing to do the micro movements, we just continue searching the lines that we are imagining.

Okay, so before we get started, we’re gonna go through one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen forms, if you can.

Now.

Okay.

Before we get started, I’d like to throw something in there again about moderation and um and and the adjustment of of the intensity which you you’d approach it.

So uh I’m just gonna give some examples just so people don’t overdo it.

We don’t want anybody if possible to go home feeling super sore from it.

And as I said in the very very beginning too uh before we started working together.

Um at any point in time, if it really doesn’t seem uh easy for you to understand how to moderate

At any point in time you could just stop and just look around the room and watch everybody.

And then what um what Ash and I will hopefully try to do a little bit throughout is say, if you’re if you’re feeling this way.

pull back to this position or so on and so forth.

So just some quick examples of of of how we would moderate

Like say for example in the squat, I’m sorry, Asha, in the squat when we move back, the moderation in the squat would be to not to bend the knees more than this.

Do you understand what I mean?

So that you’re bending the knees like this, it’s not gonna make the quadr oops, it’s not gonna make the my hanky.

It’s not gonna make the quadriceps too active, but you can move with the position of the arms and here’s your squat for today.

Does that make sense?

So this is the squat, the arms don’t go up too high.

Uh in any oh look at that, my fucking battery’s gonna die

Fucker.

Fuck that iPad piece of shit.

Just a piece of shit, Apple.

You know, like, you know, and they and they tell me that they want me to pay uh fifth six six hundred dollars for a new battery.

Christ

So when we pull the feet away from each other in in any of the forms too, just a little bit of a pull.

Don’t pull to the point where you feel so tired.

And then if it if you feel tired, relax.

Another indicator would be in any of so we’re today we’re going to be doing um uh a kind of a forward

bend in the star.

And when we go forward, if you go forward and you feel a point where there’s a too much of a stretch in the hamstrings

you would come further up, you would focus more on the flexion of the spine as opposed to the depth into the actual form itself.

Don’t burn the stretch.

It’s not what we want you to do at this point in time.

Flexibility, as when Asha explained in the three stages.

uh of intent in the in this past uh assignment.

Uh flexibility comes from not only the uh uh

Not only the um the understanding of of how to moderate, but

the activity through distributed activation in a lesser of an angle of any of the movements

And that over time, the bypartit of that will be that mobility will increase, flexibility will get better

You might feel stronger, okay?

But we’re not trying to move towards those goals.

We don’t want you to leave feeling uh an extreme burn or or or or tiredness.

So when we get to these forms, we will um

Give some examples of what to do.

On the floor, for example, if we’re in uh the easy cross

and we’re trying to move forward and challenge the uh the the the the mobility of the spine in this.

Don’t think so much about pressing so hard forward

or flexing the spine with as much exaggeration as we do.

Just micro flexion, micro extension works.

The feet, just a very light pressure to the ground, will make you feel around your hips, become active

All these movements can be done in a very soft way.

Okay?

So we really want to encourage you, even though you might see Asha demonstrate

a more agile, flexible version of it, that’s only because she’s been practicing for years.

And it’s not because she’s better than you, it’s just because she’s gotten to the point where her body needed to adapt.

To be able to go further, if that makes sense.

And the adaptation was more mobility, more flexibility, more strength.

She was very tight and and very clumsy when she first started.

Now she’s quite proficient.

But me, for example

I have many issues.

You know, I’m the founder and I should be able to just show the fuck off to everybody, do handstands and do all sorts of things, all these things I used to do.

But the reality is I have osteoarthritis, right?

So osteoarthritis is a condition that I’ve had my entire life and it gets better and it gets worse and these fucking Montreal winters are terrible for my arthritis.

I have joint pain, so I always moderate.

When you see me teaching, I’m moderating.

Also I mentioned the beginning I’m I’ve got more weight than I normally have because I just came out of having a weird sinus infection for over a month and a half.

and the sinus infection also caused joint pain.

I also wanted to eat more during the infection.

I didn’t think about what I was eating.

I mean I I ate well but I didn’t think about the amount that I was eating.

So I’ve gained more weight than I normally should have.

And that that gain of weight for me right now too is not that it’s a bad thing.

I don’t mind it, but it does uh decrease

the ability which I can go into the depth of anything, but I don’t care.

I’m getting exactly the same thing out of the practice that

Asha might be getting with her level of mobility or flexibility or strength at this point, or that Matthew would be getting with more mobility, strength, and flexibility.

So please take into consideration your personal condition at any point in time throughout what we do today.

You can always stop and just watch and observe for a bit because I’m going to do several uh

Rounds of each form and I’m gonna we’re gonna be instructing so it’s gonna be a little bit tedious.

Shoulders draw down, spread the fingers, and I change the order of the instructions too.

Sometimes I’ll I’ll start with

feet pull away, shoulders draw down, spread the fingers, pull away the feet, spread the fingers, draw the shoulders down.

I’m saying things like this over and over and over again to give different sort of

sensory cues for you to work with as we go through.

And it’s tiring, so don’t think I have to hold the fucking thing until he’s finished talking.

Don’t do it if you don’t want to stop and just watch.

Okay?

And then you join back in whenever you’d like.

Does that sound good?

I could give you more examples of each of the forms, but I think we’re just going to start with the practice.

Shall we get going?

Can I just ask a question a little bit?

You sure you can, yes.

Okay, so like it’s pretty

I have to stop a lot and it’s pretty easy if you’re like doing star form you to put your arms down.

But if you’re like in some weird position, like in one of the videos, it’s like never just kind of collapse out of

uh form like you’re supposed to like hump back in the wave whatever and like by that point I’m exhausted and I’m like and then just kind of fall down so should I just like what should I be prioritizing

Like just stopping because it’s too much?

Step back.

Like for example, I don’t know, if we’re doing reclining transition, if that um requires a lot of effort, you just bring the feet down.

If this that’s too much for

Then you bring the chest down.

So then uh try to remember how we came in because for example.

Yeah, so for example, let’s say if we do this, then we start actually like from here of from here.

So just

think about step back, step back, step back, recalibrate and then return.

Uh uh Clementine, if if you want at any point to say ever like this, you want at any point in time you feel really super fucking tired, right?

Just try to very slowly

Lie down.

And maybe do like this and just watch what we’re doing, if you can.

And then you can go to the side and come back up.

Just

If you can try to remember how we came in coming out the same way, if you can’t, don’t just let it go and flop, but try to sort of in a very gentle way

Find a way where there’s no more load on the body and you can just lie down and relax.

So yeah, it’s it’s a bad practice to just allow yourself to

Just go floppy inside the form just whenever you feel like it’s too much.

Because then it blurs the distinction between practice and not practice.

So it’s really like either one step back or just stop entirely.

Okay, let’s stand up.

Okay, I’ll I’ll I’ll watch you when you practice.

Patrick, and let’s be mindful of time and let’s try to keep the pace.

Wow, it’s really cold today.

So um yeah.

So for example.

See Clementine standing here.

You don’t have to stand in the circle, you can stand wherever you want.

You can stand here, you can stand there, you can stand wherever you want in the room.

You can always turn to face us.

There’s no sort of uniform way to follow along.

Just need to be able to see us.

If you’re confident at any point in time that you can do it and you don’t need to look at us, then don’t look at us

Right?

If that does that make sense?

Yeah?

So you don’t even have to watch at some point.

Alright, so let’s start with

The feet a little bit wider than hips width apart, and the toes pointing slightly away from each other.

Relax the arms.

Move through the neck a little bit first, just check in to see if we’re starting from a point where we feel relaxed.

The legs are relaxed here.

Now we’re not uh we’re not pulling the legs away from each other

And we’re going to micro-bend the knees and sit back to that bar stool, if you can remember.

Sitting back to the bar stool, sort of like a bit of the edge, so the quadriceps are slightly active.

Relax the belly.

You can see my belly’s just hanging here.

I’m relaxed.

And then from there, remember the marionette arms.

It’s like somebody lifts the arms up, your marionette.

The wrists are limp first initially.

The arms come up to this position here.

And then torsion the wrists forward.

So you’re turning them in and trying to press the palms forward without bending the elbows

So arms come up, torsion.

At any point in time you can drop the arms if it’s too much.

I’m also feeling my shoulders not very good today, so I might drop them myself at some point.

Squeeze the physio balls, like I’m saying physioballs, because the foam ball, right?

If you’ve ever had a foam physio ball, squeeze that.

There’s a little exercise here to to strengthen the wrist.

Just feel that.

But again, my movements are exaggerated.

They don’t have to be so much, just a little squeeze.

You feel the wrists become tense.

and the shoulders are relaxed.

You’re not drawing the shoulders down here.

And the pelvis is not

Tuck tucking back and up like this.

It’s neutral.

You don’t tuck it down either.

It’s just neutral.

Let the belly hang over the top of the pelvic girdle.

And again, torsion the wrists forward like this.

And again, you can move through the neck occasionally too to make sure that everything’s kind of relaxed.

Make sure that the breath is relaxed

So if you feel yourself uh another thing I didn’t mention is the temperature of your body.

If you feel yourself getting a bit hot or the heart rate increases, that would be a good time just to take a break, let the arms go down and come back and calibrate to

something which feels comfortable.

So note the body temperature as well.

Note the increase in heart rate.

That would usually be the breath starts to increase too.

Try to keep the breath totally calm as you can see I’m just talking to you throughout.

I’m not um I’m not out of breath in any way, nor am I trying to catch my breath.

It’s just very relaxing for me to stand here like this.

Continuing to torsion the hands forward.

Now these light movements with the torsioning of the wrists forward, what that does is it also provides blood flow into the forearms.

And this is a kind of what we’re doing again, drawing on a little bit of a storehouse of energy from what the blood can do as it circulates through the body.

We’re also bringing blood from our heart to the fingers by torsioning the wrists.

This is a kind of the pumping mechanism of the circulatory system.

Right?

So we’re trying to use this also as a kind of a way to circulate blood through the body.

And because we’re bending the knees slightly,

And the quadriceps are slightly active, that also makes blood move.

Keeping the breath totally calm.

Relaxing the breath

Wait the weight are on the heel or the feet?

Exactly.

Yeah.

Weight goes distributed over the top of the heels.

Okay.

So we’re gonna synchronize the movement of the knees going straight with the arms slowly falling

And as the knees go straight and the arms drop, relax everything you want.

You can close your eyes, or you can just keep the eyes slightly open and stare at a point.

down at the floor in front of you and try not to look around the room so much just try to keep your focus in one spot and

You would have to just now try to understand from that simple thing we did in the beginning how tired you felt.

Or if you felt energetic.

And this is as we alluded to just before, a kind of a calibration tool to help us.

Uh enter the practice in the most productive way.

Okay, you’re gonna bring the feet now hips width apart.

Outside edges of the feet are parallel to each other.

The feet are no wider than the hips width apart.

Let’s just start by drawing the shoulders down.

And again, remember nothing has to be too active.

Grip the heels slightly in toward each other.

The toes should not be pointing away because it’s harder to do the heel movement.

The outside edges of the feet should be parallel.

Draw the shoulders down, spread through the fingers, the heels slightly gripping toward each other.

As you draw the shoulders down, you’re opposing that movement with the extension of the neck.

It’s just a really just a very little bit that the neck moves up away from that.

And again, you can use this analogy that the the floor becomes kind of springy so that uh the weight

into the heels feels like it’s springing you upward as you oppose that movement down with the shoulders drawing down.

So again all my movements are exaggerated

So it doesn’t have to be to the extent of what I’m doing here.

They’re just to guide you as cues, extend through the back of the neck, heels grip slightly in towards each other.

And now you can move a little bit through the neck too, as the shoulders continue to draw down, as the fingers continue to spread.

And as I mentioned to just before, this this whole idea with moving the blood is what takes place in a lot of cases

uh of the breath being deep to move the blood.

So we’re actually using um

uh the pump, the heart to move the blood through the body as opposed to the breath to pump the heart that move

makes sense.

So as we spread the fingers, as we draw the shoulders down, as we grip the heels toward each other, we’re we’re stimulating blood flow.

It’s a very, very subtle process of that stimulation of blood flow, but it also brings a lot of sensitivity into your condition.

So it should allow for you to moderate

Where you see it’s too much or too little.

So there’s two mechanisms that are being introduced there.

Okay, so relax the heels now for a second.

We’re gonna pivot back, same thing.

You can use the arms to offset weight over center gravity.

The arms can go forward first as you pivot back.

So the legs are straight initially.

And then you’re going to decide where you want to go with your squat.

Weight stays centered over the heels.

Don’t allow for the knees to come over the top of the toes.

Keep the knees stacked over the um

Ankles, spread through the fingers, draw the shoulders back down towards the hips.

You don’t have to worry so much here about gripping the heels toward each other, but if you’d like to add that, you can grip the heels in toward each other as well.

Spread through the fingers, shoulders draw down, shoulders draw down, spread through the fingers, extend through the neck.

And then release the arms down as you reverse the movement on the way up and come up to standing.

So, one that we haven’t done as of yet, we’re going to take the feet a little bit wider than hips width apart this time.

And we’re just going to go into it rather than explain the entire thing at this point in time because there was a

a um practice lab of it.

We would it

Eventually have the feet parallel, but you have to judge how that feels in your knees.

So you might keep the feet pointing away from each other a little bit more.

I’m gonna option for that today myself.

But if you want, you can have the feet parallel.

The feet too wide apart may be counterproductive because we’re going to be squatting in a second.

Too close together won’t allow for the sensation that we’re looking for.

in the wider squat, so it should be a little bit wider than your own hips width apart.

Move the arms forward, hinge into the hips

And then you have to decide at one point how far down you’re going to go.

If you’re tired, you’re going to take your arms down.

Asha will go into the full version, and you’ll put the hands to the inside of the legs here like this.

If you’re gonna go a little bit further, you’ll do what Asha’s doing, go ahead.

Now once you connect the elbows or the arms to the insides of the leg, you’re going to oppose the movement.

Push the arms into the legs.

and pull the legs into the arms and draw your shoulders down towards the hips and extend through the back of the neck.

So arm movement opposes leg movement inward, shoulders draw down, the neck extends and moves away from the shoulders, forward, the spine is straight.

At any point in time you can come out if it’s too much.

You can join back in whenever.

So opposing arms and legs, shoulders draw down, extend the back of the neck

And then come out

So we’re gonna take either leave the feet here or take them a little bit wider.

It depends on what feels good for you at this point in time.

Now the feet are going to go parallel again to each other.

Stand more upright, this one.

Again, the pelvis doesn’t overtly tuck down, but nor does it hike.

Alright, so we’re trying to get neutral pelvis, activate the legs away from each other, again, moderate how much the activity is, and then reach the arms up to the side.

Once you get the arms up, shoulders height, spread through the fingers, turn the palms forward, draw the shoulders down towards the hips.

Continue to activate the legs away from each other.

Continue to extend through the back of the neck, crown of the head moves upwards, spread through the fingers.

Activate the legs away from each other, spread through the fingers, extend through the back of the neck, oppose that movement with the shoulders drawing down.

Feel the weight of the heels, feel the springing into the feet as you draw the shoulders down and extend through the back of the neck.

Should feel a bit bouncy, at the same time kind of grounded through the feet

Spread through the fingers continually.

Draw the shoulders down, extend through the back of the neck.

At any point in time, take a break if you need to, that’s no problem.

Activate the legs away from each other, spread through the fingers, draw the shoulders down, extend through the back of the neck.

No movement needs to be too intense.

Shoulders draw down, activate the legs away from each other, extend through the neck, spread through the fingers.

Releasing the arms down, relaxing the legs.

Relaxing the neck.

And when you relax the legs, there’s a tendency for some to flare the chest and stick the butt up, like this.

When we relax the legs, still try to keep the pelvis neutral.

You know, you can just sort of like really gently just rock like this and find the point where

The pelvis is neutral over top of the legs.

The lower part of the spine still has this natural S curve.

But your butt is not sticking out and your ribcage is not flaring.

Okay, now we’re gonna turn, well let’s do one foot at a time.

We’re gonna turn the left foot out, drop the right heel back.

Now remember that the upper torso just moves automatically when we move the feet.

Now raise the arms up so that they’re in the same line as the chest in the upper torso.

Spread through the fingers, activate through the legs.

And as you draw the left hip back, allow for your upper torso to fall a little bit.

Don’t lead with the arm, but rather just allow for the upper torso to drop as you draw the left hip back.

Continually activate the feet away from each other, spread through the fingers, extend through the back of the neck.

Activate the feet away from each other, extend through the back of the neck, spread through the fingers, move the neck.

Spread through the fingers, activate the legs away from each other, draw the shoulders down, opposing that movement to the feet upward, spread through the fingers, draw the shoulders down, move through the neck.

Activate the legs away from each other as you lift upright.

And the lifting upright again is initiated by the movement of the hip.

So you can see now my right hip goes back to lift up.

See that the left hip draws in to go down.

The right hip moves back to lift up.

We’re gonna turn the left foot in.

We’re gonna turn the right foot out, drop the left heel back.

And the upper torso is that same position.

You can place the hands onto the waist if you want for a second.

So the if the hands are onto the waist, they’re the same line as the arms, if that makes sense.

Hands on the waist, same line as the arms.

So you can always just put them down to the waist as we go into these movements too.

Draw the right hip down.

Back I should say as we move forward.

Draw the shoulders down.

You can spread through the fingers.

Keep the hands on the waist if you’d like to

Shoulders draw down, spread the fingers, activate the legs away from each other, move through the neck.

Continually activate the legs away from each other.

You see the position of my spine here is not crooked.

I’ve got those four points lined up on my chest.

Spread through the fingers, draw the shoulders down, activate the legs away from each other, extend through the back of the neck.

Extend through the back of the neck.

Move the neck, draw the shoulders down through that movement

Spread through the fingers.

Activate the shoulders down.

Place the hands to the waist.

We’ll come out of it in a different way.

So the left hip moves back as you bring the feet back up to center.

Maybe we just hold the questions to the very end.

We’re just gonna go through the entire practice first.

Sorry about that.

We’re just gonna get through this practice once and then we’ll just open the floor up to questions.

So we’re going to be doing a forward bending movement here.

With the feet in the same position.

So activate the legs away from each other here.

Ashwalber doing the flexion ascension flexion.

Yes.

Yeah, and the hands down the hips.

Right.

Huh?

This this version with the hands and the hips.

Activate the legs away from each other here and as you start to move forward the butt is going back in a similar way that it did when you’re in the squat.

So as we activate the legs away from each other here, you’re gonna find a point where the hamstring stretch becomes obvious.

Come on up for a second.

So when you start to feel the hamstring stretch, even though it is not challenging, pull back 20%

So come out of the hamstring stretch.

Or bend the knees.

Bend the knees.

Or bend the knees.

Exactly.

So if you’re going forward and you find the hamstring stretch to be too much, you can do what Asha does and bend the knees

Alright, let’s try it again.

Or you can just stop at this position.

So go ahead, activate the legs away from each other, draw the shoulders down, the hands stay to the waist

Actually, bending the knees will come in more handy when we start to flex the spine.

So with the legs away from each other here, watch that the back of the knees don’t feel uh hyperflexed.

If they do, you can micro-bend the knees or bend the knees a little bit more.

I’m gonna bend to just to demonstrate.

As you activate the legs away from each other here, we’re gonna be flexing the upper spine.

And you can almost think as if it’s like somebody’s pressing the sternum as you flex.

Continue to activate the legs away from each other as you flex the upper spine.

Only go as far forward as it feels controllable without overdoing the hamstring stretch

And the neck is relaxed.

And the neck is relaxed here.

The neck is not opposing that movement.

Of course, it’s difficult to look at me.

You can turn your head up to look at me occasionally, then relax the neck down again.

Continue to flex the upper spine, continue to activate the legs away from each other, continue to draw the shoulders back away from the head.

And see if you can flex a little bit more.

At any point in time, roll up and stand up to relax if you’re getting tired.

Now from here we’re going to go from our spinal flexion to spinal extension.

Now on the spinal extension we may lift higher to extend the spine and draw the shoulders back.

So flexion to extension is a smooth motion.

When we flex, we extend to the point where it feels easy to unpack the movement.

And again, depending on the level of flexibility, Ash is demonstrating a higher level of flexibility here, but that’s not the goal.

Continue to draw the shoulders down.

Let’s try that one more time.

Flex the upper spine.

As you flex the upper spine, the inner part of the body here feels hollow.

It’s almost as if you’re trying to put your head into your belly.

Continue to activate the legs away from each other as you draw the shoulders down.

Back of the neck is relaxed here at this point.

And now go to extension again.

So continue to activate the legs away from each other as you draw the shoulders down and back, the spine extends.

It’s even just this a slight feeling that the spine is being elongated through some sort of imaginary force

Now flex the upper spine again and roll up to standing.

And when you roll up to standing here, make sure the head is the very last thing to come up.

As you get to a certain point, the legs are also straight.

Spine unravels, comes up to this point, relax the arms down for a second, find that neutral pelvis, and just let everything drop and relax.

Now bring the feet hips width apart.

Front lunch torsion.

Yes, and torsion, yeah.

Not a lot of detail.

What?

Okay.

Okay, so feet heap width apart.

Weight is on the heels, shoulders down, spread the fingers without moving the ribcage, arms diagonally forward and up.

Once again, shoulders down, spread the fingers.

Hinge bend the knees.

Shift the weight onto the left foot and the right foot goes back onto the tiptoe.

Heel high up.

Don’t drop it really high.

The knee is above the heel.

Lean forward, find the straight line, shoulders down, spread the fingers, pull the legs away

Wiggle the ribcage from side to side here as you continue to draw the shoulders down.

Pull the legs away without changing the position of the legs as you wiggle, lift the ribcage

Only to the point where you don’t feel compression in the lower back.

The back knee is extended.

Don’t relax it.

Back heel high up, shoulders down, spread the fingers.

Lean forward, find the straight line again, shift the weight onto the front foot, the right foot returns, he puts the part, weight center, arms down slowly on hinge.

back okay so the back heel stays high enough.

So relax for a moment.

Let’s do the other side.

Shoulders down spread the fingers without changing the position of the rib cage, arms diagonally forward

So shoulders down, hinge in the hips, bend the knees, shift the weight onto the right foot, the neck is in line with the spine, the left foot goes back onto the tiptoe, high up.

Pull the legs away, create a strong foundation, the back knee is extended, shoulders down, spread the fingers.

Lean a bit forward, find the straight line between the leg and the upper torso.

Wiggle the spines.

Try to keep it.

And as you continue wiggling the ribcage and drawing the shoulders down, try to lift the ribcage.

But only to the point where you don’t feel compression in the lower buttons.

Keep pulling the legs away.

The back heel is high up and pull away for stability.

Yeah.

Shoulders down and then once again lean forward, find the straight line.

Shift the weight onto the right

Leg the harms with control return the left foot back to hip width apart.

Exactly.

Arms down, extend the spine.

arms down.

Okay.

And then we do the movement with the twist.

So one more time.

Shoulders down, spread the fingers, weight on the heels.

Don’t move the ribcage, arms diagonally forward.

Hinge in the hips and bend the knees.

The weight is on the heels.

Shift the weight to the left.

Right foot goes back high on the tiptoe.

Right knee straight, left knee above the heel.

Lean forward, find the straight line, and bring the arms to the shoulder height

Spread the fingers, draw the shoulders down, fix this arm line.

And as you continue to pull the legs away without moving the pelvis, from the center of the chest, we will lightly twist to the left, towards your bent leg.

Without changing the position of the arms or the pelvis, keep drawing the shoulders down, spreading the fingers.

Legs active and then return to center with your upper torso.

Arms diagonally forward.

Actively shift the weight onto the left foot

With control, bring the right foot to hip width apart, weight to center, arms down, extend the spine.

Squid note.

Feet hips width apart creates more stability.

The closer the feet are together, the more difficult it is to balance.

The more easy it is to balance, yes.

Okay, so let’s do the the last movement in the sequence

So shoulders down, spread the fingers without changing the position of the rib cage, arms diagonally forward.

Shoulders drawn down

Hinge in the hips, bend the knees, weight onto the right foot, the left foot back, extend the knee, tiptoe.

Front knee above the heel, pull the legs away, create very strong foundation.

Lean forward, find a straight line.

Torso, back leg, straight line

Pull the legs away from for stability.

Arms shoulder height.

Create this arm line very active arm.

Spread the fingers, draw the shoulders down

And then from the center of the chest, as you continue to pull the legs away, you will twist to the right without breaking the line of the arms.

And without moving your pelvis.

Keep pulling the legs away for stability, back heel high up.

And then return to center

Arms forward, shift the weight onto the right foot with control, left foot hip widths apart, weight center, arms down, extend the spine.

Yes.

Reclined transition.

Okay.

Okay, so um now let’s sit on the floor.

Yeah, so we will try the reclining transition ones.

We’ll first bring the forearms under the shoulders.

You know what’s the better orientation for me here.

Try to bring the elbows under the shoulders, not too close to the hips, but really under the shoulders.

Feet are on the floor.

Draw the shoulders down with the hands.

Grip forward.

As you grip, it adds more strength here.

And then try to extend your legs diagonally forward.

If at any point you feel tired, please just feel free to lower the legs.

But if you can, ankles extended, push the balls of the feet.

Shoulders down, gripping forward with the forearms.

It helps your abdominal strength.

Don’t collapse in the chest.

Push the balls of the feet, extend the ankles, and then slowly lower the legs.

Great.

Okay.

Right hand, right knee.

Left hand, left knee.

Come up for a moment like this.

So your feet are on the floor, keep them here, and then just lean back until your elbow is extended.

So from here, slightly shift the weight back, feet come off the floor, we balance here.

Extend the ankles, push the balls of the feet.

Release the hands.

Draw the shoulders down and press forward.

As you do this, feel how here becomes active

So active legs, draw the shoulders down.

Either you stay here.

Or you come back.

Or you come back.

Or if you feel like a little bit more energy in you, without moving the knees, try to straighten the legs only to the point where you can.

Only to the point where you can.

Keep pushing forward, draw the shoulders down, and then slowly lower the legs, feet on the floor, hands on the knees, come up.

Okay.

And uh then we just do all the the flexion extension flexion.

Yeah, okay.

So now we need to do the pickle.

Okay.

So from here let’s

Come onto the hands and knees.

We’re going to do the peak hold.

Or ultimately anybody can grab a chair and do it against the wall.

And I really recommend this, particularly if you have weak shoulders.

You could be careful.

If you have weak shoulders, you would

Do this.

You can grab a chair and go to the wall like this if you have weak shoulders.

Otherwise it becomes tiring.

Nobody’s gonna do it?

Yeah, maybe not.

I don’t know what but no complaints.

No complaints in the forum, please.

Okay

Uh uh Lucida was not with us uh last m basically we’re gonna come into here with a straight line if you feel like it’s too much for your sh

But if the shoulders feel tight, because look, it’s not about just pain or being exhausted, if you feel tightness in your shoulders.

You will bring the arms out, yes, or knee or knees down.

Yes, or knees down, yes, or use a chair.

So anyway.

So first we come approximately to this kneeling position with the where the knee is above the hip.

And this is essentially how you should find your stance.

For most people, this is what it is.

Hand under the shoulder, knee under the hip.

Bring the feet onto the tiptoes.

And so from here you lift the seat bones and then you push your seat bones back, bend the knees as much as you need, and keep the heels high up.

If you feel like you are too tall for this and it feels like it’s too narrow for you, you can walk your feet slightly more back.

So Yvonne for you heels high up and walk just a little bit back

Push the chest back, arms pressing forward.

The goal is to have a completely straight line from the sit bones to the head.

The knees are bent and the heels are high up.

So you’re gripping back with the toes and you’re gripping forward with your hands.

And you want to have this pick shape as if you could hold something in the crease of your side.

And relax the neck.

Shoulders down, but the neck is just relaxed.

The head is hanging.

Okay?

And then slowly bring the knees down.

Bend the knees up.

Knees down and just sit on the floor.

Great.

Relax the knees down for a second.

Okay.

Now once again we’re going to sit like this with the legs in front of us.

And we will do a cup we will work on this flexion inflection dynamic.

Okay.

So one more time.

Forearms onto the floor.

When you do this, try not to let the forearms open like this to the sides, okay?

So the elbows are under the shoulder.

Don’t really lift your chest.

Try to have it straight here.

So

Bring the legs up, extend the ankles, push the balls of the feet, bend the knees.

We will cross the shins in the middle.

And then ankles 90 degrees and knees 90 degrees

Okay, so let’s see you’re a bit too much like this knees 90, yeah, ankles ninety.

So this shape the right shin is over, okay

Change your legs so that the right chin is over.

We’ll do the other side next time.

And then this shape slowly lower it on the floor.

See the same time as you lower it to the floor, see if you can take the arms up.

And we will come up here.

Yep.

So look at your legs for a moment.

You want the knees to be 90 degrees and ankles 90 degrees.

Okay, so the leg has this shape.

It’s it’s it’s like this but it’s on the floor.

You might have to walk like for example for you you’re uh like this walk your feet closer together.

It’s like a box.

The heel and the knee are at the same position.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay, so I’m just gonna move around like this so that everybody can see my legs.

Okay, so from here we’ll bring the hands forward.

We draw the shoulders down and then we lean back like this.

This will atom automatically activate the belly.

And the feet are pressing forward.

Okay?

So we want to press.

See how as I press it pushes me back.

And we want to

Keep doing this so shoulders down bring the chin in as if somebody is pressing on your head you begin to roll forward

continuing to press with your legs.

Shoulders down, neck relaxed, hands just gently on the floor.

And we wiggle the ribcage from side to side here as we continue to press the legs into the floor.

Now we’ll will go from flexion to extension.

Focus on your lower back.

Begin to extend your spine from the lower back and up.

and you will find an a completely straight line.

Now everybody’s angle is different.

If you’re leaning too much back, use your hands to support your pelvis.

If you can come more than ninety degrees, then hands just gently touching the floor.

And again, we wiggle the ribcage, draw the shoulders down.

The shoulders are away from each other, as if somebody is pulling on your arms.

So you want to find completely flat upper body.

Shoulders down.

Edges of the feet gripping and wiggling the ribcage.

You’re trying to extend the spine as much as possible here.

But you’re kind of trying to lean forward at the same time.

And the neck is you’re not lifting your head, not dropping, neck is in line with the rest of the spine

Let’s come out of it.

Chin in, so head down, around the upper spine one more time, and then start leaning back as if somebody is pushing you in the stomach

Arms come forward and as we continue to lean back, legs come off the floor, rebalance here.

Suspend

And bring the forearms down and extend the legs.

Come to reclining transition.

Push the balls of the feet, extend the ankles

Cross the legs the opposite way, left shin over, left leg on top, ankles 90 degrees.

Cross, bring the legs down.

Come up

Both arms forward.

Just make sure that your legs are in more or less the position where the shins are parallel.

So Matthew, for you bring the legs more together.

If your ankles are together, bring like push your legs like this.

Heels and knees should be closer to each other.

Almost good.

Yeah.

Okay.

So arms forward

Yes, Sarah, for you also.

Look, you’re like this, push it in more.

Yeah.

Arms forward, lean back, automatic activation here.

Shoulders down, chin in.

Roll forward, spiral in, really really rounded upper spine, shoulders down, and as you continue to press forward with the edges of your feet, just wiggle the spine from side to side.

Feel activity between your shoulder blades.

And as you do the micro movements, try to release the tension in your back, drawing the shoulders down and moving the rib cage from side to side.

And then focus on the lower back and begin to extend the spine from the lower back and up.

Now depending on the hip mobility here, maybe you will be much lower, maybe you will be much higher, maybe your knees are like this, doesn’t matter.

You keep pull pushing forward with the edges of the feet.

Open the chest

Trying to find this flat upper body, hand moving forward, forward, forward, forward, shoulders down, neck

In line with the spine.

So the upper body is completely, completely flat, like a hard book.

You’re opening a hardcover book.

That’s good.

Okay, so from here one more time, chin in, roll in with the upper spine, lean back

Lean back, lean back, lean back, arms come forward, legs become light, balance

And extend the legs, forearms down, push suppose of the feet recline in transition.

Seat wide folds?

Yeah, this one.

You want to do this?

Okay.

Everybody knees down for a moment.

Yeah, everybody come up for a second, just cross the legs or do this.

Just for a second, whatever your feels more comfortable, just take a bit of a rest.

That’s pretty fucking weird, huh?

Adjusting a lot of people.

This uh angle flexion

with with the knees bent and trying to get the square shape in the front of the body is very counterintuitive.

It’s very not very natural.

So I adjusted a lot of people on the basis of your your hip mobility.

So you would adjust according one leg may come out a bit further or the ankles tend to go soft and drop like this.

Try to keep them flexed

all the time.

We’ll continue to work on it, but follow along with the study labs as well.

The study lab goes deep into that explanation.

So let’s move on to the next one.

Reclining transition.

Reclining transition.

Okay, so into balance.

And ship back.

And again, you’re finding your balance here.

Then lower the forearms down to the floor.

Press the balls of the feet forward at the chest.

Now wide, right Asha?

Wide?

Wide yes.

Open the legs about a little wider than hips with apart, lower the legs down to the ground like this

Without falling over, obviously.

You see my ankles are extended here.

They’re not flexed.

They’re extended.

Like standing on the tiptoes.

Like you’re standing on the tiptoes, like this.

So you flex the ankles at the same time you pull the toes back away from

You pull the toes toward you.

So the balls of the feet extend, the toes pull back, bring one hand forward, the other hand forward.

Flex the upper spine here.

Flex the upper spine and come up.

See the upper spine is already flexed?

Legs are a bit too wide, Yvonne.

A little bit narrower, flex the upper spine.

Find the point now.

You feel like the hamstrings are inflexible here, then you would stop.

If your hamstrings are more flexible, you’d come up to this position, continue to flex.

So you’re either going to be here or you’re going to be here.

Okay, so don’t overdo the stretch, whatever you do.

Continue to activate the legs.

Rotate the ankles in toward each other like this so that the feet don’t fall away from each other.

They rotate inward.

At the same time you rotate them inward, don’t allow the feet to collapse inward like this.

You want to feel like the feet are opening outward.

So flex the upper spine as the feet open outward.

You can think that the thighs slightly roll in too.

And from there you can either put the hands to the ground or keep them somewhere around there.

We’re going to go to spinal extension.

Continue to draw the shoulders down, extend through the back of the neck

Now we’re gonna go in again because I didn’t bring all the shoulder depression stuff into it at this point.

We’re gonna do that again.

We’re gonna flex again as we flex shoulders draw down towards the hips

The neck is relaxed.

The legs are actively pressing forward as if you’re tiptoeing on the floor.

You can imagine that the balls of the feet are pressing against the surface

As you flex the upper spine, the shoulders draw down, the upper spine flexes as you continue to go forward.

Now from our flexion we go to extension

And as we extend, we just unpack the movement, shoulders continue to draw down, the arms may come away from the body like this slightly.

The neck is also just moving um as a byproduct of the movement of the chest and spine.

It’s not moving on its own

Let’s go one more time.

Flex as the shoulders draw down.

Continually activate the legs forward.

Rotate the thighs slightly in towards each other.

Don’t let the feet fall out to the side.

Keep them moving away like you’re trying to open them from the side.

If there’s too much of a hamstring stretch, reach back, hang back a little bit like this, flex the upper spine.

And then go from spinal flexion to spinal extension.

As you extend the spine, draw the shoulders down away from the movement of the extension.

And the neck just automatically moves up.

For you it’s gonna be a good thing.

As you draw the shoulders down.

Continue to activate through the legs.

Use your hands to help yourself.

Now flex the upper spine again.

As you flex the upper spine, you’re gonna go back to this position here.

We’re gonna bend the knees up.

We’re gonna suspend and we’re going to lower the forearms down, press the balls of the feet forward, lift the chest.

Lift the chest up.

Bend the knees.

One hand comes to the right knee, the other hand comes to the left knee.

Hang back once.

Tilt back, suspend, arms come away, forearms come down, balls of the feet press forward, open the feet.

Don’t collapse them.

Open them.

Lower the feet down.

The toes are touching together, but the heels are away.

See that?

The toes touch, but the heels are apart.

The feet are opening outward like that.

So the legs are rotating inward.

Place the right hand forward, the left hand forward.

Flex the upper spine, don’t let the legs collapse.

Figure out where there’s going to be a hamstring stretch and stop

Flex the upper spine, draw the shoulders down.

Continue to open the feet.

Continue to press the backs of the legs down as the upper spine flexes and goes forward.

Now continue to draw the shoulders down as you move from spinal flexion to extension.

So for me this is feeling good today at this point.

Some people may be further forward.

You don’t want to let the lower part of the back become round.

As you can see for me, my hamstrings are tight right now.

So if I go further forward, my lower back will start to round.

So I stay back here so the lower back is straight.

Now flex again from that position.

Of course the lower back looks like it rounds here when you flex, but that’s not the lower back, it’s this thoracic spine flexing

And with that flexion, try to go a little bit further forward, continue to open the feet, continue to activate through the legs, continue to extend the ankles, continue to draw the shoulders down, continue to relax the neck as you move it from side to side.

You can now even move the ribcage from side to side here in this motion.

So you can undulate the ribcage forward, backward, side to side.

Now flexion to extension.

Press the balls of the feet forward, shoulders draw down, flexion to extension.

Flex the upper spine

Slowly with the flex spine come down to the ground.

Bring the legs away from each other.

Bring the arms away from the body like this.

You put the arms down on the floor away from the body.

You can move a little bit.

Again, the hips sway from side to side initially, just relaxing the hips

And then you can move the legs a little bit too.

Try to get yourself as flat to the ground as possible first.

You can move through the shoulders a little bit too here.

Now draw the chin in towards the chest.

The feet should be a little bit wider than hips width apart.

The chin draws into the chest.

Lift the head up and look at me.

So the head is up off the ground here.

With both arms extending forward, it’s almost like you’re trying to reach and grab for something in front of you.

What we’re doing here is we’re trying to traction the spine

The lower spine becomes longer the more we do this.

The legs extend away from the hips as we do this.

So your legs are currently active

So the legs are extending away from the hips, the upper spine is flexing flexing, the chin is toward the chest, and once the lower back feels quite flat

Keep the chin towards the chest and allow for the back of the head to come down to the ground.

The chin stays close to the chest.

Back of the head touches the ground.

Now once the back of the head’s on the ground, you can take either hand around to the back of the head and aid the neck into

Traction.

So you’d slightly pull the back of the head so that the chin comes in towards the chest.

Nothing painful.

Just make sure that the neck feels like it’s getting a little lengthening in the back.

Now, once it’s lengthened, allow the arms just to drop to both sides of the body wherever they want to

And let go of all activity in the body.

Now there may be micro adjustment here with the head or something like that, but as much as possible, once we’ve set this up, we try not to move.

If there’s something which feels uncomfortable, move a little bit so it doesn’t feel uncomfortable.

But if everything feels okay, try not to move.

Now we’re gonna f sense the weight of the body now again.

So we sense the weight to the back of the heels, the back of the calves, mean back of the legs and back of the calves.

Feel the weight of the pelvis.

Feel the weight of the arms, the elbows, the backs of the shoulders.

And feel the weight of the back of the head.

Now all these points are being pulled by gravity into the surface below you.

Just as a kind of a visualization, you can imagine that all these points are dissolving into the surface below you.

The weight is it should feel very comfortable.

With this weight.

Let the entire body relax and make sure that the breath is really relaxed here.

Now the eyes can just stay completely open.

It’s totally up to you.

Or if you’d like to close them for a second, you can, but don’t fall asleep.

Just stay completely aware of the comfort of that weight and try to see how

The surface below you almost disappears.

So the weight, the feeling of the weight, almost becomes weightless at one point.

But if you’re feeling the weight more at this point in time, then just stay focused on that.

How much time you got, Asha?

Twenty five minutes.

Five?

No.

I have twenty seven minutes.

Okay, so we’re gonna roll flat over onto our stomach.

Find the most comfortable way to do that.

It doesn’t matter how you get there, just lay flat over onto the stomach, forehead down or cheek down.

It doesn’t really matter what you do.

And again, quickly, it’s the same idea here too.

We’re allowing for the weight of the body to fall downward.

Okay.

All right.

Make your way up.

So Asha, where are you?

Sure.

Uh so what is the actual time we gotta get out?

So if we get we have twenty f six minutes

26?

Yes.

Oh, awesome.

Okay.

Great.

So we’re going to go through a couple of things here.

Thanks very much, by the way.

You guys did great.

Find a very comfortable way to sit.

It doesn’t really matter what how you sit.

You can even sit in a chair if you’d like.

Doesn’t really matter

So before we go into QA, because we have enough time for that today, we’re just going to go over a few points.

To elaborate a bit on what I talked about at the beginning.

Um yeah.

About the assignments

Everybody’s doing a great job.

Thank you very much for following through the best that you possibly can.

It’s important to note that

The next assignment is the longest.

But we also have now a week between

A week between now and the next session to to go through that in a way which is hopefully going to be more comfortable.

Some recommendations on the assignments that, you know

I said that a lot on the on the platform too.

And but this is something also put out there.

We did say that the practice labs, if this is gonna help people, we say that the practice labs are the one thing that you have to

actually practice along with right so what I would really recommend for the next assignment is just get through the assignments just watch it all

Does that make sense?

You don’t worry about practicing with the practice lab.

First thing, just get through the entire assignment as opposed to leaving it leaving the assignment unfinished.

Please finish the segment reflection at the end of the assignment too.

It’s important if there’s a reflection there.

Finish that.

It helps us prepare for the subsequent session.

If you get through the entire assignment and then you have time to go back and do the practice labs, do them as many times as you possibly can.

That will help.

Better to get through the assignment at least, and then we can go through the practical stuff in person, that might help people.

Also just

I know everybody’s busy and the way that it works for the way that we found that works for people best in the past is if they just go through bit by bit.

So like wake up in the morning, watch something for five minutes

If you can take a break at lunch, watch something for another five minutes and then in the evening for another five minutes.

It makes it a little bit easier to manage.

We do have 80-something minutes of assignments to do between now and and next week.

So pace yourself

uh it’ll seem less daunting that way.

Um the uh

Uh uh about the primer course.

We’re only doing the first five segments in this course.

So the you don’t have to complete the entire primer course.

And I think everybody understands that, but I just want to clarify that again.

There’s ten segments.

We’re only doing the first five to be applied to this course here.

Then the rest of it after that you have still the rest of the three-month duration.

from the time that you booked to to finish the course.

So I did want to clarify that so that people don’t feel freaked out by the oh my god I have to complete the entire thing

And that stuff, the the subsequent part of the completion, we’re probably gonna have some virtual sessions that connect with that.

And we’re debating right now whether we’re going to continue on with sessions for people that have already completed this study group.

There will be another study group

The same format.

People are more than welcome to join that again, but we’re debating right now whether we can make sessions available for people to continue to practice.

So we’ll let you know, and that’s if that’s the case.

Otherwise, the assignments can be finished as you please.

And

An important thing to clarify here is that all of the forms that we practice and the

Groups of forms in you could say sequences that are available are part of our practice platform.

Okay, so that’s a separate from the course and that’s extensive.

Hundreds of hours of practice.

material there all based on the years of of our stuff.

So if it doesn’t work out you can come in in person again.

You can always do that.

And I just want to mention that here because people will think how are we going to continue to practice?

There always is a way to continue to practice even with busy schedules.

Everything about moderation, everybody understood what I meant in the beginning, right?

I’m not sure whether that was effectively applied to the session today or not, but

Moderation is very important and that also applies for when you’re at home doing the practice labs too.

Try to be as mindful as possible about how you feel and just go through it in the most appropriate way possible.

What constitutes appropriate

is really up to you, right?

That that that has to be you we can’t help with that.

But if you have questions you can always send us questions.

about that.

I’m finding it difficult to do this, put it on the forum.

If you feel uncomfortable putting it on the forum, send us a direct email.

Although we encourage you to use the forum because the forum helps everybody learn

And also you see how long our responses can be on the forum.

We really go into detail.

We want we want to provide as much detail as possible outside the work that we do here.

So it’s really our passion to be able to help people.

as much as possible in between sessions.

Moderation.

Oh yeah, about anything that’s misunderstood, for example, like something in the session.

Asha did it the first time.

In between, if somebody posts something on the forum or poses a question and it’s it seems like there needs to be some sort of demonstration.

We’ll try to record a video and upload it to the forum like we did before.

So then there’ll be an extra video for you to sort of see.

It’s easier for us to do that.

So if there’s something which needs a little video explanation, we’ll upload it.

We talked about the breathing, that’s great.

So other than that, now we’d like to open the floor to the last.

questions for today’s session or you can carry through stuff from previous sessions as well.

So all right, so she put her hand up first.

Oh you did okay.

Sorry.

Okay Lucita there you go.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Uh first question for the primary

section um it said that it’s a it expires on March 29th so what happens after that is I like I don’t have access anymore even though I paid

then if I want to go back later on it’s not going to be available anymore.

Yeah so in the terms and conditions if you finish within three months it extends to a year automatically

And the the reason why we do that

So it’s an in it’s an initial thing sensitive to complete, but also three months is the ideal pace to actually get some benefit because if you just stretch it over one year it just won’t work.

Unless you’re practicing with us or so three months is a really good yeah and and with the initiative is that we want if you finish within three months then you get it for a year.

Okay, and another question regarding this group session, I understood that

we were like basically the first cohort here in Montreal.

No, no.

The second cohort in Montreal.

Sorry?

The second.

Ah okay.

In Montreal.

Okay.

Second.

We we weren’t doing stuff and I mean as I I um ex to explain anyway, I’ll pick another time to explain our situation.

Our situation is unique.

We were in Japan, I was in Japan for 30 years

We met in Japan.

We left Japan at the start of COVID, family related.

So we came to Canada and um in short, my mother had dementia and we put everything

And and at the same time subsequently our in-person studio in Japan was shut down by the Japanese government.

So COVID shut down our 20-year studio.

I’m sorry.

Yeah, it’s okay and it was a great transition.

And I I wouldn’t trade blessings in disguise.

I wouldn’t trade um I wouldn’t tr I I wouldn’t have come to Canada had it not been for my mother going into a nursing home lockdown.

But she did.

So we basically took an extended break from teaching.

Our partner, our collaboration partner, Settico, went to do a doctorate in physiotherapy and live in Boston with her husband.

And the hundred certified teachers around the world are just doing whatever they’re doing.

So we were moved away from the certification model.

Now we’re just doing these specialized programs for people on a practical application level.

So this study group cohort in Montreal is the second one in Montreal because we haven’t been teaching exclusively in Montreal.

We’re doing stuff in other parts of the world.

But because we’re actually physically living here now, we’re wanting to do these more often.

So this cohort with you guys of this type is the second.

But as I mentioned just before, I’m we may do some continuity for the people in this cohort.

uh additional sessions that will happen here or somewhere at Mai or somewhere in Montreal that that you guys can continue to practice with us.

But the subsequent cohorts too are welcome to any of the previous cohort people and you’ll always get subsidies to support

To jump into those.

But the primer course extends for a year, but there’s the platform which sits behind the primer course.

This is extensive

We filmed our entire syllabus.

All those videos see they’re just little excerpts from hundreds of hours of filming, multicamera angles.

So all that content is there when you get through to a certain point.

uh doing that whole practice the the repository comes open on a subscription in a very very like reasonably priced subscription but we’re hoping to do more in-person stuff as well so

Hopefully that answers the question.

Yeah.

My mother passed away last year.

So that we’ve only just started teaching again, but uh we were taking care of her since 2020.

So you’re not moving back.

We’re not gonna go back to Japan.

We probably move on to Europe at some point because I’m Spanish and um we have a company in Europe too, uh part of our administrative bodies in our European company.

But uh Japan uh we won’t go back.

Thank you for sharing.

Thank you.

I thought it might provide context, yeah.

Any other questions?

Yes, it’s about this farm.

Yes.

Yes.

I have a question.

Yes, I I did that.

Yes.

And you say doing that?

Yeah, exactly.

So when I’m doing that, uh my chest is round.

Yeah, and you need to do this.

This is go there.

So um like this, it’s okay.

No, you but you’re not actually like that’s what I have thought.

Yeah you’re not actually like that

Um you’re just more straight because before Yeah.

Put your feet down first, like what you were doing originally.

So you see how the this part of the uh don’t bend, just put your feet straight.

Yeah

See see this part of the back comes up here?

So what she’s doing here is downward dog in yoga, right?

So the peak hold for us is not down dog.

The peak hold is bend the knees.

Sit bones go up and the rib cage and thighs converge, right?

So you missed the session last week where we talked about converge.

You want these two things to come together

Yeah, so as as if you could as if you could hold that, right?

So the purpose here is not uh not how much we can stretch the hamstrings and place the feet on the ground.

That’s only for people that have the flexibility.

to be able to do that and then that looks more like a down dog in yoga but the down dog in yoga has a completely different uh structural purpose than what we’re doing here.

Our purpose here is converge

Rib cage and thighs come together.

So but that didn’t flare.

Your chest didn’t flare.

Tailbone, um it’s rather than think about the tailbone, just think about bringing the the the thighs and the ribcage together.

Forget about the tailbone.

The peak is the the sit bones, you could think, but rather than think about the sit bones need to be the peak, just think about converge.

Bend the knees, don’t stretch the hamstrings, keep the heels off the ground.

It’s it’s even more comfortable for me like this, even though I can go with my feet flat.

Also the shoulders are a big thing here to people that have problems with the shoulders.

Again, I I really recommend using a chair against the wall, or so.

But what I would also add is that in your case, you have

high mobility here so you go like this and you can hang.

This is why your chest is open.

So before you go into the movement think about drawing the shoulders down

and having your chest a little bit closed like this.

We sometimes uh dis uh describe it as bringing the armpits in, kind of this sensation

This creates stability in the alker bike.

So for one, uh I I and I and I don’t wanna and I don’t wanna discourage you from something that you did today to make yourself feel better.

No no don’t we we don’t recommend um

Super good in English.

Oh, when I’m not looking at you, maybe I will not understand anything.

So this type of foamy mat is not good for what we do

Uh just in just in generally speaking.

So it’s great for traction.

Okay, if you need something for traction, we recommend um

Does Sarah have traction socks?

See saw Sarah’s socks?

They have traction.

We recommend everything in Baseworks on the on a hard surface floor.

Nothing with a spongy thing.

This dampens the sensory feedback that we’re looking for eventually.

Does that make sense?

But you can try it on the mat now for let’s do it right now.

So lift the lift the knees up off the ground.

Yeah.

Go ahead and get up it get up into it, yeah.

And press the chest back.

Shoulders.

Bend the knees.

Bend the knees.

Yeah.

And then now draw the shoulders down to the hips.

Yeah, draw the shoulders down to the hips, yeah.

And then try to converge here.

See that’s a little bit thinner, right?

Spread the fingers.

And you can even grip the toe.

Do you see the difference here?

Yeah.

When you draw the shoulders back?

Yeah.

Very different, right?

Yeah.

So okay.

Come on down, Annie, for a second.

Yeah.

I like it.

And

I was like a moment.

Just taking a moment a little bit.

So um maybe one thing that was we didn’t emphasize enough there during the session today was the shoulders drawing down, right?

When you draw the shoulders down, this scapula, everything becomes active, right?

And then that also prevents the shoulders from hyperflexing.

That makes sense, right?

So you actually control you’re controlling the

uh converge aspect of the the folding of the hip a little bit better.

Yeah.

I didn’t mean to discourage you about the mat, it’s just that we don’t recommend yoga mats.

Traction socks.

Okay?

Yeah, it’s traction socks.

Yeah, then bring a cushion.

Then bring a cushion or something like that.

When you s when you start to have a yoga mat like this too, you start to think of the space of the mat being the place of the colour.

Additional visual feedback which reduces the uh the learning from proprioception.

We explain a little bit more about that later.

So any other questions?

That was a very good question, Annie.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Magali?

relax on the floor and you said try to get your back flat my back is a PLC not flat but should I try to force it down with like a big hole so I try to I do move my bows or something

Um don’t I yeah, I’m I’m sorry I didn’t mention don’t try and force it down.

But the the idea would be that

Even my back doesn’t go completely flat.

But when I’m up like this, the the top of the spine, the thoracic spine, becomes flexed.

And then the lower part of the back

becomes a little bit longer.

But when you’re laying flat on the floor, if there’s a little bit of our arch there, it doesn’t really matter.

But you know this is what we’re doing is tractioning the spine.

So what they something that they do in osteopathy too, yeah.

Somebody will cradle relax the head, somebody will cradle the head, and they’ll do this type of thing, you know, like or osteopaths will also do this type of thing.

They’ll bring your hand up and they’ll do this type of thing and extend the spine.

We’re trying to do that type of thing.

Yeah, we’re trying to do that.

But what we’re also trying to do with this is yet another

A position where the body is within gravity that mimics everything else that we’re doing.

Does that make sense?

So we’re giving you the opportunity for the body to be flat on the ground, activating this stacked position flat, right?

Does that make sense?

So then it’s a different gravitational load.

And yet new sensory information going in.

And then people think, wow, what’s he fucking talking about?

That sensory information.

What’s all that sensory information about?

What happens is that

Inherently that information does transfer to some level of awareness that comes in phases.

Okay?

And what the level of awareness means to each person is going to be very, very different.

So each person will have a different experience with that.

And just one thing to add, in order to bring the lower back on the floor, most people will have to bend the knees, otherwise it just won’t go flat.

This is just the structure of our skeleton.

So for example from here now it’s completely flat.

I can extend my legs about this much while keeping the lower back flat if I extend more.

It will have to come up.

But some people might be able to completely flatten the lower back while the pelvis is extended

It really depends on the structure of your joint, but for most people when they are lying on the floor, we’re trying to make it like less space here, but not completely remove it, because usually it won’t help you

Yes sir.

On that same form when you try to relax, you say to feel the back of your heels and the back of your tabs on the floor.

But when I relax, I open my

my legs go to the side.

Should I be trying to keep them straight?

I should just let them go.

And also basically my focus is to paint and my

Tailbone that’s hitting the four.

Trying to get a towel under that.

Yeah.

Tailbone hurts even when you’re lying down like that.

Well, it just because it’s the bony thing that we write

Yeah.

So any bony stuff like that happening, if we can bring um a little towel to put it there.

And get it like that.

That’s what the towel is for in the instruction.

Yeah.

And the last thing with that when we’re supposed to open our

neck up to to do the this.

I have some neck issues so that’s it creates a lot of tension.

Is there a workaround for me for that?

Uh when you’re standing up?

No, when I’m lying.

No button too.

But stand up.

Yeah.

W when you’re standing up?

Yeah.

Allow allow your head just to drop like this and then move it around.

Yeah.

Just to try to get used to this position with the head in a different position of gravity like that.

Uh the problem with the neck

Means that you will have to moderate.

You’re not going to be able to do the same thing with the neck other people are doing.

So you can do this when you’re standing.

The other thing you can do, if you just watch me for a second, is rather than

Lift the head up like this.

You can think of lift the the chest slightly up so the head can be like this and then move with the arms more like this or even if you have to leave the head back

You can move the arms like this a little bit so that the upper part of the back goes flat to the floor more.

And even if there’s some discomfort in the neck, try not to overdo it so you feel uncomfortable.

Then at the end, let the head come down.

Importantly, once you’re down, if you can manage without any discomfort in the neck, to guide the chin toward the chest at the end.

If it doesn’t, if it’s not uncomfortable for your neck, do that.

The last sheet that I have is do you have a towel?

Yeah.

Okay, can you bring it over here?

Sorry.

The last cheat I would have is that you would fold up your towel if you’re really having this problem, right?

And then put it maybe under your head like this so that it raises your head up off the floor.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, I can type my like I can

But even it’s just the lifting of the neck.

So even even because the lifting of the neck is you may just fold the towel like this, just so that it

you don’t have to make the effort to pull it at all.

And then that suspends the head up off the ground and it lengthens the neck.

And this is a similar thing that they’ll do like an osteopathy or like a chiropractic or something.

You’ve been to chiropractic before yeah?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Uh so those are the things that I would try.

Okay.

How are we doing for time?

We have five more minutes.

All right.

Another questions?

Yes.

I was never able to to

Stand up, lying down, with my arms like pulling forward, without like screeching a little bit my like it’s there’s something that doesn’t bend in my butt

So I was wondering what would be the trick.

Should I do this?

Like maybe a little bit while I’m um if you want I can show you.

Yeah, should be, yeah.

But I remember I was doing a pillat test 20 years ago and it was the same.

I cannot succeed to stand up like this.

Yeah there’s no way I don’t know what’s blocking, but so I need to do

Something like this.

So if it’s okay, yeah.

Yeah.

So if you need to do that, do that.

Okay.

If you need to get do something like that.

But what I can say is that

How we practice the the forms and the different dynamics of the forms in different positions of gravity in the same way, even this particular form when we go forward like this, flexion to extension, those all aid.

in eventually being able to do that.

So we have many students that came and practiced with us over the years that weren’t able to do that.

And after about four months of practice with us, they were able to get up like that.

So it’s not just about abdominal strength, it’s also about mobility.

Yeah, it’s about the spinal mobility.

I’ll just show you like a biomechanical demonstration.

So from here

Uh we sometimes do it, I don’t remember if it’s in the curriculum, but if I like look when I lift my head, it shortens my upper body.

So I bring my arms forward, it adds weight.

So for me

There is a tipping point at some point where I just come up like this.

It’s really not so much about abdominal strengths, it is part of it, but it’s more about the weight of my legs

and how much I can shorten my body.

Like for example, if I were to bring my arms here, the tipping point just doesn’t happen because it’s just it’s

It’s simple mechanics, right?

But I need to be able to round the spine enough.

So when we’re working back on this, when we’re working on this, this will eventually help you to be able to come up.

Good.

So perfect.

So like this I know that I can select the question.

about that.

Okay, we have maybe one more question.

Reach the arms forward.

Is it okay if I lift your legs up?

Yep.

Yeah.

Extend the ankles.

Can you draw the shoulders down, push draw the shoulders down, flex the upper spine, and then see

Almost you know we need someone to this uh the shifting point that doesn’t come.

But it’s not it’s not that it

It’s not that it won’t come, it’s just not coming yet.

Yeah.

But you can see that you can understand the dynamic with that when I helped you.

Exactly.

But I don’t want to help you

All the other forms that we do, all the other forms we do will contribute to that.

Okay?

So even if you’re not laying down

All the forms where we’re standing, the pulling the legs away, the shoulders drawing down, the flexion, extension, flexion, all of that will aid in that.

So then, over time.

Thank you.

And at that point you can roll to the side like then come out.

Yeah, exactly.

I always need to roll on the side of the side.

Yes.

When I am doing it

I I want to know if my lower back have to be more like this or straight or straight like this.

Because of my injury because maybe I will not be able to do the the

right right thing so but rather than think about the lower back at this point in time think about the chest

So put your put your feet down for a second.

It’s more comfortable.

Put your feet down.

And then just go back to this position here.

Let’s just can where we can control it.

Now just manipulate the movement of the chest.

more than anything else.

See the chests come up like this?

Like this.

So don’t think about the lower back.

Just think about the chest.

Yeah.

And it doesn’t have to come straight.

That’s just over time it will become

You will be able to lift it more, but think less about here, think more about here.

Okay.

So a reclining transition is ideally straight.

But like for example if we were to come here, let’s say I bring my hands forward, I need to lower my pelvis and see now it becomes rounded.

So like for example this movement, it’s rounded

Yeah, but if I were from here to come into reclining transition, I would lift my chest to extend the spine.

Basically, you just need to be aware what’s straight and what’s rounded.

Um do we have another five minutes or or how much time do we have?

I mean we kind of have to stop right now.

Do we have till three eleven thirty?

We have to be out in ten minutes.

Ten minutes, okay.

Technically speaking it’s kinda over now, but if anybody has nothing to do with the question, another question to when we put the link

Yes.

Then we relax and like I feel that it’s more intense each side that it’s normal because we are extending it enough.

Which in which uh form?

Whatever the form.

Every time we just

uh stretch the neck or yeah so that’s a good question so we can think that the neck only moves as the byproduct of the movement of the spine

If we drop the neck down and lift the head up, that’s a different thing.

But say for example, I flex the upper spine.

The neck is not being forced down and if I extend the upper spine, the neck is not lifting up.

Think about trying to separate the neck from the movement of the spine for one.

I think that’s how we talk about like because you get if you lower your shoulders and extend the neck.

Uh yeah, so when when I say extend the neck, I exaggerate with my chin down a little bit like this.

You don’t necessarily have to exaggerate with the chin down.

I do that just so you get the sensation that the back of the neck is elongating and lifting up.

When you draw the shoulders away from that movement.

Okay, you want to add something?

Yeah, so ideally, like let’s say for example, like I I just stand somehow.

When we extend the rip um stag the rib cage and pelvis and extend the neck.

the entire spine straightens and in this case the straight neck is the extension of the straight spine.

Of course if you stay like this

and you just try to straighten your neck, that feels very unnatural.

That would feel uncomfortable.

Yeah, that would feel very uncomfortable.

And that would require

Bringing the shoulder slightly back and lifting the ribcage slightly and readjusting the weight.

So if it feels like

You’re following all the instructions, you’re really trying, but it it’s really uncomfortable.

This is where micro movements, you just try to kind of do micro movements and loosen and try to

extend as much as possible and maybe oh maybe just move your shoulders a little bit and just try to find the straightest possible line where the tension disappears.

That’s a good point to address those things.

The shoulder draw down and the back of the neck extends.

We’re trying not to make this this movement stressful in any way.

So I’ll add one more thing to what Asha said.

If it does feel stressful and you still feel tension into the neck, fucking forget the neck.

Forget the fucking forget the now.

Don’t worry about this movement that I’m don’t don’t listen to me.

Don’t say this movement for now.

Forget that for now

Just only think draw the shoulders down and keep the neck relaxed for now and then later it should automatically happen where you where you feel less tension.

So my so don’t do what I say.

In that situation.

Okay, I think that’s it for today.

Everybody, thank you very much.

And remember, remember.

Rather than having to practice all the practice labs, just try to go through the content.

Watch it where you can.

And yeah.

We’ll see you next week.

See you next weekend.

Bye bye.

Thank you