Nurture Pelvic Stability

Hi, everyone. Welcome back. This class will be focused on the back of our pelvis in and around our s I joints, which, are around here bordering the sacrum and attaching the pelvis into the sacrum. And you'll need a couple props for this class. You can grab a strap and a block. And with your strap, just so you don't have to finish with it.

Later on in the practice, you can make a loop that's about hip distance apart and maybe pause the video and then you can come back in with that strap beside you. This class is also going to be really lovely when you really want to nurture sure yourself. So that's the kind of energy we're going to open with, and we'll lie down on our backs, and we're gonna be on our backs for give or take ten or fifteen minutes. So just a heads up to get yourself comfortable there. Having your strap and block within arms reach.

So you can roll on down into this posture. We like to call constructive rest, feet underneath your knees. Shoulder blades flush to your back of your ribs and you could close your eyes and land and locate into your back into your pelvis. You might ask yourself what are the ways that you can embrace yourself? Couple of breaths.

And then if it helps you to put your hands on your pelvis, you could do that. And then feel that you can press your left hip away from your left armpit and hike your right hip towards your right armpit. It's like an upslip down slip of your pelvis, and then switch so that your left hip jacks up to your left armpit and your right hip moves away. Your sacrum or back of your pelvis stays flat on the floor as you tip your pelvis side to side, upslip, downslip. And just see how it feels.

Sometimes when I have a cranky si joint, it really affects my mood. And you don't have to do every movement to a %. You could scale it back to 60 or 70% as you need. Now as you do this, could you do this by engaging your whole side body to hike your hip up? And then kinda relaxing that side and engaging one side, crunching one side a bit, and then releasing it.

And you can try it on the other side, work that movement from contracting your side body muscles and see how it feels different. Okay. Relax that. And in between these, you could lift your pelvis a couple inches off the floor and then let it plop down. Sort of satisfying. Just lift up and plop.

Okay. Next one is a sort of a walking in place, and I have my teacher, Megan McCarthy, to really sink for a lot of these somatic movements where she's taught me to stretch one thigh bone away And that hip will kind of come off of the floor and then switch sides. So you're sort of rocking from one side of the pelvis to the other just like you do in walking. And there's a bit of internal rotation happening through your leg. Explore that. It's kind of like a mini windshield wiper, but with less external rotation in one leg.

You might close your eyes and really traction that top thigh away, decompressing your hip and your pelvis. Then come into the middle and again, you can plop. Letting go your thigh muscles and your seat muscles. Okay. And then this next one, I'll start with my left tip is to circle like your left outer hip is a wheel, and you're circling it.

So it goes up into the hip hike, and then it comes a little off the floor, up, and then it goes down and away from you, and then back to the floor and into the hip hike. So Imagine that side is like a wheel. Just turning. And again, could be a micro movement. Could be moving towards a macro movement. If you want it to be bigger, You can do a really low bridge, hips a little lifted, and then you might get a little more movement in the hip circles.

I'm focusing on my left side here. My right side is sort of following, but I'm really articulating and encouraging the left hip wheel to be mobilized and describe a circle there. And then you can release it and try the other side. So you might start with your right side on the floor. Left side is on the floor.

So I'm now really focusing on the wheel happening through my right side. And I'm getting the information that the right side of my side joint is a bit more stuck than the left. So just whatever you're picking up there, notice it. And you could lift up a little bit more, and you could Really work with the right hip circle. Mindfully slowly, especially if you're cranky in there. You can be nurturing back. And then you can come into the middle. Okay.

Now this shape is called the shimmy, and you can, do a heel rock. It's kind of like your pressing your heel into the floor and letting your pelvis rock a little bit. This is not happening from your low back. It's happening from your feet. So you might do that a little bit and then stop and take a breath. Okay.

We're gonna try all of those movements with a strap around our upper legs. So we're gonna roll up as you're ready. Take the strap. And take it around your upper legs. Make sure the buckle's not bothering you.

And you can roll down into constructive rest. And I'm gonna tighten mine a little bit because I wanna be able to press out into the strap without my knees going too wide and away from each other. So now I'm pressing out into the strap, and you might feel there that it's kind of hugging the back of your sacrum compressing it just gently. So just do it a little bit. And right here, see how it feels.

Now you can try the hip hikes, the upslip downslip of your pelvis with a little light pressure out into the strap and see if that feels different, better. More interesting. And is it more aggravating for the one side? You can try it. If it is, you can release the outward pressure. Then you could try the walking in place with the pressure out and reach that top side bone away.

Right? And sometimes too much movement is just too much. So you get to choose how much movement you wanna get in there. Yeah. And you can always rest. Right? And then you might try the hip circles. One side.

Maybe even with your eyes closed now that you know a little more what's going on and then the other with your breath. What is becoming clearer? And you can relax that. You can do a couple of the plops if you like. Maybe even draw your knees in towards your chest.

And you might need to roll up to take this strap off or maybe you could play it with taking it off from being on your back and then we'll grab our block when you're ready. So you can put that to the side. And grab a hold of your block and place it in between your upper legs. Now here you could do it on the, shorter level or if you feel like your hip hips are a little wider set. You can do it on its medium level. Find the one that works for you that you can squeeze the block.

Now as you squeeze the block in between your inner legs, you might feel a bit of a widening or decompressing around the back of your pelvis. Around the region of your si joints. So with that little bit of a squeeze, see how it feels, and then you can do the up, slip, down, slip of your pelvis. And if you're arching your spine in this one, try keep your spine neutral and your spinal muscles out of it. It's a little more of the sides that are working.

Try that. Can you maintain a little bit of a squeeze on the block? And then what about the walking in place? It's a little hard with the block. The movement might be a little bit smaller. And you might be scrubbing your block a little bit, but could be micro movements.

I'm just gonna reset my block there. And then what about the circles? One hip, maybe even floating it. One side and then the other. You can plop One or two or three times.

And then you might even draw your knees in squeezing the block a little bit and wobble side to side. My teacher Megan reminds me that healing is not something you do. It's who you are. Okay. Let's take the block out. You can draw your knees in, give yourself a hug.

Maybe you roll to one side, maybe you roll right up. And we'll face the front of our mat in a tabletop position. You can circle through your wrists a couple of times. One way and then the other. Now, you might come up onto your knees or sit on your heels and take your hands together out front and then circle your wrists.

So your heels of your hands stay together and the backs of your wrists stay together. One way and then switch directions. And then here, you can take your, knuckles together. And then press your knuckles towards each other and try to straighten your arms, but keep a pressure rolling in from knuckle to knuckle and take a breath. Shake it out downward facing dog.

Find a couple breaths, puddle out your feet. Land and locate into the back of your pelvis here. How does it feel? Let's take our right leg high. Bend your knee like you're kicking yourself towards your seat.

Lift your knee a little higher. And then find a hip circle one way and then the other. At the top of your hip circle, you can open your hip and rotate through your ankle. Bring your knee towards your nose, shoulders over your wrists, and take that foot forwards into the shape of a lunge. Come up onto your fingertips, squeeze your inner legs, and come all the way up to a high lunge.

Your arms could be reaching high or you could hold on to forearms or elbows here. Settle into it. And then this time imagine your whole pelvis is like a wheel. So instead of differentiating the two halves, feel your whole pelvis is like a wheel, and you can bend your knees a bit to make the whole wheel turn. Back? Up, forwards, and down.

Maybe switch direction, see how your brain is integrating this movement. Try something new. Take a breath and get a little higher and taller. And then hands can come to the floor. Take your back knee down, untuck your backs at a toes.

And come back up. So if your knee is tender, you might blanket your knee there. Your arms could be up and open. They could be framing your face. And this time, can you make a little bit more of your right hip rotate. Go slowly and mindfully and notice which muscles need to really engage.

So your pelvis might be doing a little bit more of this. Maybe switch directions. I'm working a lot of muscles around my hips to make this happen. Trying to keep my low back long. One more breath and high, low lunge, hands to the floor.

Tuck your back set of toes, lift your back knee, and we'll walk around all the way to the left into a wide legged forward fold. I'm gonna turn so you can see me. And in that wide legged forward fold, walk your hands way forwards, like a downward dog with really wide feet and let your head, neck, and chest, hammock to the ground. Take a couple breaths. Can you think about either squeezing the block in between your inner legs or pressing out into the strap and what feels better?

What feels more supportive. Here you can come back with your hands here a bit more upright and walk all the way around to one of your feet with a bit of a side stretch. And then all the way over to the other side with a bit of a side stretch. Walk all the way around to your front foot so that you're in the shape of a lunge. From that lunge, take your hands to the floor.

Take your right knee towards your right wrist and point your right set of toes. Your left knee can come to the floor so you're in a high pigeon. I want to show you this variation. So if your block's not too far away, you can grab it and you might put your block underneath your pubic bone angled slightly towards your right sit bone. This feels comfortable.

And then you can untuck your back set of toes and walk down to take your forearms to the floor. If that's not comfortable for you, you could lower your block and put it more on its low level underneath your right hip. Both of them are great. Forms to the floor and take a few breaths pointing your right, toes might take a little bit of that pull out of your right knee and also elevating your hips, feel free to take the block out. Let's take a couple breaths here.

Some of you might explore coming up a little bit higher. Coming a little bit lower. Maybe even walking yourself into a bit of a side bend towards one side. And then towards the other. Can let your head hang wherever you are.

Take one more breath. And we'll walk back up. If your block is there, you can take it out and step yourself back towards a downward facing dog. From down dog, let's come to a plank. You can take your knees down or not here.

Wide collarbones and shoulders slowly lower onto your belly. And come down untuck your toes. And you can take your forehead to the floor under stacked hands, and we'll rise up into some locusts. Before you do that, think about widening and relaxing around the back of your pelvis, but using your glutes and hamstrings and your upper back to lift your legs. Lift your chest and maybe for some, you take your arms out to the sides or back behind you.

Can you stay a little and widen and relax through your SI joints through that whole region of the back of your pelvis and activate below and above, upper back, glutes, hamstrings, and then come back down. Wobble through your hips, gently roll your legs. And take that magic moment to notice what's going on. You could come back up. Widening through the back of your pelvis, using the base of your glutes, your hamstrings, your upper hamstrings, your upper back, your neck follows.

Maybe you interlock your hands and reach. Opening through your shoulders. Take a breath. And come on back down. Wabble your hips.

Jelly roll your legs. One more. Come on up. Upper back, hamstrings, inner legs. Arms may be interlock.

Reach back. Maybe for some of you bend your knees. Let go of your interlock and reach one hand and then the other into a bow. You could stay there. You could even try flipping your grip to the insides of your ankles and finding a bow like that, shoulders forwards shins back.

Can you widen around the back of your pelvis? Use your hamstrings and your upper back and come on down. Wobble your hips. Dilly roll your legs. And come up and back to your downward facing dog.

Take a breath. Landing your pelvis. Left leg high, three legged dog, bend your knee like you're kicking yourself in your seat. Lift your knee a little higher and then describe a big circle through that hip one way and then the other. And then at the top of it, let your hip open, top hip open, maybe circle your ankle, stretch through your low back, and take your knee to nose shoulders over your wrist to place your foot towards the front of the back.

Squeeze your inner legs. Come all the way up into your high crescent. So you choose your arm position here and then your whole pelvis is a wheel. Whole pelvis integrated into this circling movement through your hips. Have fun with it? Maybe it's something new. You can switch directions.

Okay. Rise up to the top of your shape. Come on down. Finger tips to the floor. Take your right knee down, untuck your toes. Feel free to blanket your knee.

And come back up. Now with your left hip a little more, can you describe the wheel? And your pelvis is now sort of differentiating side to side. And you can switch directions and it could be a really small movement, right, with a long low back. Find the top of your shape. Fingertips find the floor.

Tuck your back set of toes, come up with your back knee, walk all the way around to the right long edge of your mat. Walk your hands forwards a lot hammock. Let your upper back melt. What about squeezing in through your inner legs? We're pressing out.

What feels more interesting? What feels better? Side bend to one side. Side bend to the other. Okay. Walk all the way around to your front foot, shape of a lunge, then take your left knee towards your left wrist. This might be a low pigeon without a block you might be playing with, pigeon variation, of having it on its medium level, angled a little more towards the front left hip.

Underneath your pubic bone, pointed left toe, knee out on a 45 degree. Crawling forwards. You can always lower the block and put it under your left hip up to you. And you might stack your hands and come right down. There could be a side to side movement.

There could be a lifted movement here. Let's take a couple more breaths wherever you land. Okay. Let's walk on to our hands. You can take your prop out. And step back to your downward facing dog.

Roll the plank. You can take your knees down lower slowly five four three two, and one. Stock your hands. Wiggle your legs one size longer. And then gently widen and soften through your si joints.

And then lift your hamstrings, lift the base of your glutes. Upper back engages, and then find your belly backbend. Couple breaths. And then come on down. Lobble. Let's do it again.

So lift up. See where you're initiating the movement from? Where can you open up space? You might interlock and reach? Can you get a little longer and come down? And wobble. Last one.

Okay. You can come up. You can interlock. You can reach back. Maybe it might be interesting to take one leg into your interlock hands. And then the other.

And hold on to your ankles or however you get there. Open up into a bow. Rock into it. And let go. You can wobble your hips, gently roll your legs, come up and back to a child's form. And we're gonna come on up and flip onto our back to close our clasp with our strap around our upper legs.

So you can come on down. Take your strap around your upper legs and come into that constructive rest. Close your eyes. Notice any differences. Catch that magic moment.

And then a little pressure outwards into the strap. And play with some of those movements. Up, slip, down, slip the hip hike. Can you feel any differences in your low back? You might even close your eyes through this.

Little walking in place, decompressing one leg bone, and then the other. And then Really gentle, 70% or less maybe hip circles. Maybe with a floating pelvis. One side. And then the other.

And if the strap doesn't feel good, you can always take it right off. Lower and you can plop your pelvis. You can also draw your knees in towards your chest. And let's switch. So see how it feels. You could do this without the block if you're figuring out that One is better for you for your body. You get to be in charge, or it might feel appropriate to grab your block place it in between your inner legs and work with the up slip, down Lydia.

One hip goes down and away and the other one draws up and work with the little walking in place with the block in between your inner legs. This one's a really small movement, but you can still get a bit of play in there. And then the hip circles. Maybe with a float with a little squeeze into the block. Play with it. And then whenever you're ready, you can draw your knees in towards your chest and feel free to keep the block there, take it out.

Okay. So last thing, if you have a block, which likely you do in this class, you can take it underneath your hips. And the the middle of the or the edge of the block, can you place it more towards the middle of the back of your pelvis. And then you might hold onto it to bring your legs up. Okay. So now you're getting a little bit of a pressure likely with your block into the center of the sacrum, and you can go side to side here. It's a little side to side movement.

For me, this feels extra good. And maybe you lean over to the side a little bit and kind of find the center of your glute on one side. And then the other. So any places that the corner, the top corner of your blog can root into. Any places that feel like they might enjoy some pressure.

Take your time with it. You can your legs can move around too. Create space, different sensations. And then when you're ready, you can come on down. I could certainly do that for a little longer. You can roll on down off your block.

And then again, let's come back to that heel rock. So the heel rock pulsing the heels into the ground pulse and release, pulse and release. And you can let your pelvis get get rocked, really. Let your low back follow. Maybe it goes all the way into your neck and head.

Five, four, three, two. One. Okay. So if there's any other movements that you're craving, you can go for those movements. You can keep your feet planted. Maybe you release your legs all the way out.

To find your final relaxation. Take your time. And you're invited to come back to your breathing. And let your breath move through your body. And if you need to clear out anything, emotions, thoughts, clear out your blood, clear out your nerves.

In any debris that you don't need, let it fall out of your back body and into the earth. You're welcome to take five long breaths. Five counts in. Five counts out in silence. Okay, my friends. If you feel really happy where you are, stay a little.

You might wanna come up to a seat. And if you'd like to, you can give yourself a stretch. And dry your knees in towards your chest. Roll to one side. Use your hands to press you up to a seat.

Place your hands. Somewhere that's comfortable for you. And take a moment to acknowledge that healing is who you are. Peace. Shawnee.