okay gang welcome to class So today um we're going to work more this month that idea of femur rotation because um when we zero in on it um glutes work hamstrings work abs work we really become rear wheel drive And the other thing is is we get better at the femur rotating and pushing the torso forward So in anything like walking running hiking um we get better efficiency less chances of us using our backs or things like that So I'm gonna use the chair as a way to kind of give me a gauge of the angle of my torso and so that you can visually see when my femur is rotating versus when I'm um which is kind of a combo between a squat and a hinge if we want to use those parameters but it's not a hinge because it's not about the torso going up and down and it's not a squat either So okay So I'm going to take a dowel behind my back not because I want all of my pieces touching it but so that I give myself a tail so that you can really clearly start to see that when I topple the femur Um and I'm going for toppling it and getting the same angle with my torso as the back of the chair So my tail touches it So now I'm going to work at my tail basically um moving in the same plane as the chair but up and down So you can see that then becomes a movement of my thigh back and rotating this end of it back forward which is different than if I say did a hinge which now see how I'm not moving on the same incline of the chair This is a different movement Or if I was to say be wanting to focus on a squat Again it's not it's it's that's a combo of my legs and my torso So I'm wanting to just us to work on isolating this rotation at the femur So I get my little tail Okay And now I'm going to work the rotation of the just the femur And so my torso isn't changing position And pretty quickly here you you like I can feel my glutes are being loaded But it has to do with this pitch of the torso and then this pitch of the thigh Okay let that let that go So that's it's those relationships that we're going to kind of focus on today And just the a folding chair this angle helps to kind of cement that and see that So that was on two legs So now I'm going to work it a little bit here And this we're just getting warmed up in this movement pattern So now I'm going to work it a little bit here I'm still going to use this as a reference point for the pitch of my torso but I'm going to go to a single leg Now because my chair back uh is so high and I want to use this incline as a way to gauge my torso I'm going to use a couple of yoga blocks so that my standing leg is high enough that this works for me to get the ball of my foot up there You can use the wall for balance as well This guy a little bit further away You'll know once you get up and you get the ball of this foot on But so now this automatically starts to put my torso pitch in the right kind of angle that I want That's the same as that chair back And then I'm just going to work this top of the thigh Top of the thigh I'm staying in the range of motion that I can do that without having my torso hinge and unhinge So I'm keeping the same pitch in my torso because it's this femur rotation that pushes this torso forward And you will feel your glute here your side hip stuff your glute stuff Just pitch that thigh back Pitch that thigh forward Pitch that thigh back So now there's a weight shift that happens in the foot I also think a little bit to come back up I kick the power pad of this foot into the chair back That's what rotates that thigh Okay we're going to scooch this over to the other side there Automatically my torso starts to get into the same angle as that chair That the incline really helps to then zero in Now this is my compressed leg or my down leg So my topple back ends up being more and I've got more range of that femur rotation on this side Okay What I don't want to do is I don't want to pitch my shin back I don't want to pitch my shin back I want to topple and let my femur rotate See the line the torso travels in with the femur rotation It's different The weight shift will be heel heel heel And then you want to get to that back side of the MTP joint So there's a weight shift that happens in the feet Toes should not be grabbing at all When the femur rotation hits right the foot will set up It helps set the foot up Okay that's enough So the it's not that I'm communicate telling my foot to do certain things It's that I'm taking care of the torso angle focusing on the thigh rotation checking in with the foot and making sure that I'm getting weight shift happening in the foot from the rear foot or heel to the foot side of those MTP joints And then the toes just behave If I go past the foot side of the MTP joint you'll get toes grabbing pulling in trying to wink or crease because the tips of them are pushing down into whatever you're standing on Okay So I'm going to come back to one more time both both legs I'm use my dowel because it just it is so easy for me to come out of rotating that femur The tail just kind of helps me have a visual I could actually let's do that Let's offset the feet a little bit Hinge forward and then top of that thigh Top of that thigh Work the kick of the power pads I lost it Feel the weight shift in the feet And then switch Okay I'm going to rotate this front one Let it rotate Rotate Rotate Okay we're going to change the orientation of my M a little bit We're going to use our chair and onto it You're going to fold a leg up Other leg just to start with is just out to the out to the side So the foot and knee aren't facing forward but it's out to the side Okay and just kind of play with where your torso is and what you feel in both of the the legs Then we're going to heel toe this leg back So now the thigh kind of topples forward We're sort of in an elevated 9090 using this chair Okay Okay So we're just going to work our torso towards turning towards that back leg and then turning to angle over that front leg And we're just going to kind of work between these two You can use your hands on the chair to push and pull to kind of find some lines of direction tension pull that feel useful and usable for you Okay When you find something useful and usable you'll just take a couple of breaths there Okay Okay Then we're going to take that leg out to the side like so And I'm going to use my leg that's the arm of the leg that's extended and reach over onto the chair back Okay Now I'm going to let myself So my rib cage kind of gets cradled by this arm and I let myself fold away from the chair back I could push this hand a little bit or just let it rest there You could also reach this hand up draw some circles at the elbow You could reach that arm overhead You could clasp the underside of the head And you could play with where you look down forward up towards that bicep They're all going to give kind of different lines of pull or input And again find a place where it feels like some interesting useful usable lines of direction tension sensation in your body Take a couple of breaths there Then to come out we're going to let oursel roll forward into that arm and all the way around to come up Okay we're going to come up and use the chair in this way You're going to I need two blocks Okay just because the chair seat is a bit lower than what I want So I'm going to bring my shin onto those blocks So then where my thigh is is where my thigh is And I'm going to get a little pitch forward of my torso similar to what the angle of this chair back is Okay And then I'm gonna work that pitching the knee down as I just kind of rock from my back foot up onto the toes back My back knee bends Straighten that back leg It's kind of a rocking elevated pigeon here So the next time I come up I'm going to find a place that I can work into that power pad of the back leg Okay i can work into the power pads on that chair and get a sense of those points of contact lifting me Even this that's on the blocks I'm kind of kicking into the power pad of that foot so that I lift up into this pigeon pose Maybe I take a hand off reach up reach behind the head Okay And then I'm going to swing that shin around Step that foot forward And we're gonna those blocks down So then let's take the chair over to the other side and we're going to come up onto that chair seat with our leg and take our other leg out Just play with it And then from here toppling that knee forward Don't be afraid to take the foot back towards that back edge of the mat So you've got a more externally rotated leg more internally rotated leg And then use the chair to help facilitate a pull and a push with the hands to turn yourself more over that front leg andor more over that back leg And we're just going to kind of move the front leg and the back leg and stay for a few breaths Anywhere that you find some useful and usable sensations here Okay And then we're going to slide that leg out Okay And kind of get wedged into the parad of that foot Then we're going to take the arm of that leg that's extended I'm going to reach it across There's lots of places on the chair back that you can hook on And then you're going to drape your rib cage over that upper arm Okay you could use that other arm to create a bit of a push to add weight to add support And then play with just turning the laser on your breast bone kind of down towards the front of the room towards the ceiling And again find the angle of that laser that provides useful usable sensation for you And you're going to roll that laser down towards the ground and back up to the seated position Okay we're going to unhook the leg This is where you're going to grab a couple of yoga blocks Place them on that seat Could also be a bolster I'm going to come with my shin onto those yoga blocks So your foot might be out to the side here It might be back closer underneath you And then again I can start to use the angle of this chair back to get this angle with my torso And then I'm going to work rolling through that back leg and onto the ball of the foot This front thigh hip pitching down pitching up pitching down pitching up I kind of kick into the power pads of both these feet Pitch up pitching down pitching up So my torso is mirroring the angle of the back of the chair as I pitch the hip end of this thigh down And then I pitch it up Or I could think of pitching this end of the thigh up and then pitching it down Up and then pitching it down Okay Um find that power pad of both of the feet of the hands Now let's lift up So now my spine isn't and torso isn't mirroring the chair back And it might be too that I reach an arm up and back Working into the power pads of the feet and the hands to find this lift out of this elevated pigeon Okay And then we're going to come off of that Okay We're going to use the wall and the chair and our yoga blocks So we're going to face the wall with our chair And I'm going to get close enough to the wall that I get the pads of my feet on the wall And then I'm going to place the yoga blocks down and under the back side behind my lower shins here Okay So you might have to get a little further There we go So I've kind of got them wedged You want definitely contact with the lower shin and the ability to have the balls of the feet on the wall Okay So now from here I'm just going to work kicking the balls of the feet up the wall to start to find a forward fold for myself Kick the balls of the feet up the wall Kick the balls of the feet up the wall Kick the balls of the feet up the wall This next time when I kick the Oh I would love make a little little change here I would love to have the back legs this chair a little bit elevated Otherwise I'm kind of smooshing my hamstrings on the front edge of my chair So not a huge amount of height but just a little bit so that the chair seat slopes in the direction that I want my pelvis to go Okay So balls of the feet get on the wall I'm working kicking those power pads Yeah into the wall Those yoga blocks are behind my lower shins So although I'm kicking the power pads there's also a sense of pushing my shins into the yoga blocks And then I start to feel So if you watch this Lululemon tag what we want to start to feel is not that I round through my back but that this tag starts to come towards my pubic bone This tag starts to come towards the pubic bone Okay Belly comes onto the thighs Hands could I could fold my forearms rest them on my knees Take a few breaths here You could reach the hands behind the chair and somewhere Take a few breaths You could bring the hands down and onto the wall Kind of find the power pads on the wall And then walk the hands back up Hands are going to come down the back of the chair Legs maybe the seat of the chair the fingers roll under and just kind of find where it feels like you can kind of start to roll the elbows the arms the shoulders And again this like like we did with pigeon but there's like this sense of lift So also don't be afraid Everybody's kind of torso length and things are different that you might need to come up or you might want to come up onto some yoga blocks and again play with So for some of us like this is going to be too low of a hinge point and we're going to be better on the seat of the chair Okay some of us might just want to move the our bum towards the front of the seat And now again I get into a different place where now I can kind of work those vertebra around the chair back and just take some breaths there Maybe I scoot my bum forward a little bit more Change the grip of my hands and arms And again I get into a different point on that chair back Maybe I bring the balls of the feet back to the wall kick up through the power pads of the feet and just kind of work some different areas along that spine that aren't just your kind of go-to hinge point Okay spend a bit of time take a few breaths there move to the next spot Um we could also use the chair this way and that we now come down into uh tall kneeling So now I'm in tall kneeling Get my feet underneath Yeah I'm in tall kneeling And then I can work my hands this way down the chair arms onto the chair seat back again to kind of find where that line of like wrapping the arms where I can get into a different action with my vertebra than maybe that vertebra likes to do I'm tipping the onto the front two legs or the legs closest to me a little bit Then I tip it back down Maybe I work out a little bit Walk out a little bit Walk out a little bit Again tip the chair back just so we start to get into some different areas Take a couple of breaths here kick through the power pads of the feet So you can start to work into putting some direction into the spine um where maybe it doesn't get that much extension And now we'll work flexion a little bit Okay But I do love just a nice rounded folding chair back because I can get into lots of the little niggles and nooks and crannies of those vertebra And remember what we do with the hands the power pads of the hands and even this um sense of uh rotation with the fingers in what we're grasping puts a direction into those vertebra Okay So I'm going to work flexion again here using the uh chair back Actually I'm going to fold this guy Let's grab a blanket I'm going to grab a pad Grab a blanket and work it this way So I'm going to take that felt pad and work it right up into my hip crease and at my pubic bone So as I fold over it like leaves me some space in the front of the the hip And then find the chair legs Maybe you want to use a chair block just so the head is able to rest on something So that blanket or felt pad at the hip crease helps me to get less flexion with these lumbar vertebrae and move that up my back a little bit Good cross the wrists And again just kind of play with how you wrap the fingers on that chair and feel for what you do with the fingers and the wrists to what puts in a bit more sense of flexion or rounding into that spine And don't forget to have weight more in the midfoot foot side of the MTP joint but I'm still working the heel underneath I'm not pinching the skin of the heel bone the heel with the heel bone but I'm able to kind of nod and roll that heelbone to get me nice and connected through the backs of the legs Okay let's soften those knees and then kick through the power pads of the feet Rolling ourself up to a standing position Okay we're going to come on down to the ground You can scoot the chair out of the way Bring your two yoga blocks with you We're going to work kind of a couple of things here One is um working the angle of the yoga block to just Actually I'm turn my yoga mat because the prop of the blocks is going to facilitate needing a yoga mat I don't want to use them Oh boy Vacuum my floor Okay my pants pick up all the dust bunnies Okay so take those yoga blocks and you're going to place them underneath on an angle the the shin part of your thigh or sorry shin part of your leg not your thigh So I'm on the shin part below my knee joint and I've tipped those blocks on an angle And just kind of notice the sense of support containment uh maybe connection that that offers you Um and then play with shifting that block down closer to the ankle and play with you know if my block is more this way that puts in a different direction than if my block is more this way So you might need different the blocks might need to be slightly different left to right Okay but we want to find a position those blocks that again it feels like there's some containment some connection some ability then it's like oh I can bring the hands back kind of lift up and out of the pelvis with the the torso and the chest and that there's just a an ease with which the the breath moves in and out here Okay Then we're going to take those yoga blocks and instead of being more shin focused we're going to come up and support more the thigh So for some of us especially if we've got like super bendy floppy ankles the shin and closer to the foot support of the block is going to feel better than having a block the block up and at the thigh Okay Again the angle of this block So if I tip it more this way this is different than if the block is this way Okay so play with the angle of the block Maybe my brain's kind of going we actually might want it to be So kind of play with it again Find where it gives you this sense of connection ease in the hips The breath in and the breath out just kind of happens And then you can play with maybe you cat cow the spine Maybe you just sit tall maybe you play with finding a bit of that forward fold which again having the thighs get out of the way is going to be easier than when we were propped here and then the thighs are kind of in the way a little bit But actually that feels really good too So just play a little bit with how you um Sometimes we think when we prop the legs it's all about support and really it it puts a direction into the bones of the shin and the thigh and how that um can impact us Hold on a sec What's up Flo he's so cute Um probably not I'm teaching right now Like to the school you mean Uh yeah I can drop something off before I head out We have bread Good bread here No I'm not driving somewhere to get you a bag Love you Bye Love you Bye Okay So you might end up moving your blocks here in a second but what we're going to do actually take them out for a second You're going to come down onto our backs So again on your back Place those blocks either under the thigh or under the shin Okay And we're just going to hang here for a couple of minutes This feels really good You're going to take one block out and straighten that leg Keep the other block in But you might find that you have to adjust it because yeah there needs to be something different that a different kind of direction that comes in now that we've taken a leg straight Couple of breaths there Maybe you come up now that we've got two two blocks Cannot There we go One under the shin one under the thigh Interlace the fingers Point your bring your pointer fingers together thumbs together kind of like Charlie's angels And just reach those arms overhead Ah can't get them straight I'm too close to the wall like I wanted to do that Or maybe you just come into goalpost or cactus arms on the floor Okay I'm going to place the props under the other side Come back into like bakanasa be the best way to do this And then straighten out that right leg And then we're going to take those yoga blocks We're going to stand both of our legs up and we're going to take the the yoga blocks and bring the edge of the yoga block right into her butt crease So I'm going to kick into the pads of the feet to lift up a little bit so I can really get that edge in where the flesh of the butt and the thigh meet And then those legs out And then you might have to adjust the blocks a little bit to get the right um angle of the block based on how your legs roll out Pretty good Okay Just let your attention relax soften widen refuse For the next several minutes practice being that observer of your attention You are not your attention that flips maybe like a pollinator from place to place Practicing dropping back and being observer of our attention aware of the room sounds that room and then bring your attention just to the blocks Just slide those off enough that you can quickly and quietly with the least amount of disruption possible slide the bricks out of the way and just lengthen out the legs long Next exhale you'll start with the count of nh And you're just going to count your way back to zero And then once you reach zero you're just going to start to gently wiggle the fingers and toes Start to bring movement back to the body Maybe stretching out arms overhead legs out long like a big yawn Or maybe curling up the knees into the chest curling up like a ball But you'll make your way from your back onto your side Whatever way feels good for you today Chilly floor And then take a few breaths on your side before you use your arm and your hand to press up to a seated position and then pressing yourself up to find comfortable seat Maybe notice how things feel as you come cross-legged centered in the pelvis Bringing the palms together just to the left of the breast bone injudra Reaching the fingertips away from one another Breathing in with ease and out with a sense of okayess Peace