Online Tutorials: Core Sequence

Core Sequence

With Tatjana Mesar, lead teacher in Dynamic Mindfulness School

1st movement: SEATED CAT/COW

INHALE: Dive forward and down, pressing down into the earth and wave up long through your spine, lifting the front of your heart away from the pubic bone. Stabilize the lumbar spine by activating the front of your body, do not go into a full curve. You can let the chin lift a bit.
EXHALE: Scoop your tailbone first, keep the lumbar spine long and let the curve come from the upper chest and shoulder blades spreading apart.
You can stop and hold here, take a breath or two, high up into the chest.

After a couple of waves…
INHALE, start to lift the arms. Your pelvis and spine are lifting the arms up. Breathe into it.
EXHALE, keep sit bones and pubic bone descending. Start lifting the legs from the spine, not from the hips. You can stop and hold there, doing seaweed waves in the legs to feel into it.
You start igniting the deep core line, but only if you do not distort it with anything else. Practice being mindful of the scope of movement.

2nd movement: SEATED PLANK

Press the big toes together and down into the floor to activate the inner tights OR lift the legs up while the sit-bones and pubic bone draw down.
As you hold your knees, on the EXHALE press the femur bones on both legs down toward the hip joints to ground. This is the seed of the pose. Pulse in this pose all the way up to fully extend the legs on the INHALE.

3rd movement: DYNAMIC STABILITY ON THE BALL

Lay down on the ground with feet in standing position.

Place a soft pilates ball under the sacrum and lift your legs up. Sustain this position for 20-30 breaths. You can play with lovering the legs for higher intensity.

Allow the body to regulate the stability on its own. Allow trembling and/or shakes to occure.

This is a cumulative practice. Rest with knees to shoulders.

Second repetion is dynamic.

4th movement: DYNAMIC BRIDGE

Place the soft ball between the thighs and hold it lightly, maintain the bridge pose like that for 10-20 breaths. Allow the body to regulate this situation on it’s own. It might start to gently tremble and shake, do not try to control this.

On the inhale, raise your arms above the head and start reaching with one arm and then with other arm behind you, as if you pulling a rope for 7-10 repetitions.

Vertebra by vertebra slowly come down and remove the soft ball. Stay in stillness for some time, feeling into the effects of the practice.

5th movement: HIP RELEASE

Allow your left leg to gently lean to the left and then slide down. Let this happen with minimal muscular activation. Repeat on the other side and keep releasing hips like that untill you’re ready to settle into more stillness.