This month’s Five include Pilates and yoga exercises to strengthen your core, shoulders, and back, improve your balance, and stretch your quads and hip flexors. Especially useful if you sit at a desk most of the day. Want to see these in person? Join an ongoing class or call Anne to schedule a one on one.
King Arthur
- Start in a low lunge with right knee on the ground (pad your knee with a towel or yoga pad if needed).
- Stack left knee over your ankle, and make sure hips are level and facing forward.
- Lift left arm up and over into a slight back bend/ side bend
- Psoas stretch, balance.
Lion Drinking
- From hands and knees.
- Bend your elbows straight back towards your ribs as you move the top of your head forward.
- Straighten arms to come back to cener.
- Core strength, shoudler stabilization, tricep strength.
Thread Needle
- Hands and knees.
- Reach right arm out to the side, then slide right arm under your torso, stretching your mid-back.
- Spine twist, chest stretch, core strength, shoulder stabilization.
Roll up
- From seated, round your back and reach your head towards your knees. Relax your shoudlers.
- Start to roll back onto the ground. Stop before you feel pain or tightness in your back, and roll back up to seated (imagine you have passed out and are lazily dropping back to the floor).
- Eventually you will roll all the way back onto the floor, and back up to seated without tensing your neck or back.
- Core strength, shoudler stabilization, spine flexibility.
Dancer (shown above)
- Stand on your left leg.
- Grab your right foot with your right hand. gently pull your heel towards your bum.
- If you can keep your hips level, and both hips facing forward try drawing your foot back behind your hip.
- Standing balance, quad stretch, shoulder stretch.
These five exercises are meant to remind you of the work we have done together. Please see your medical professional prior to beginning a new exercise program.