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The Roll-Up
Prep
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Lie flat on your back
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Feel that your spine is supported and neutral against the floor
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Legs together and flat against the mat
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Reach your arms above your head, no wider than shoulder width apart, palms facing up
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Create space between your shoulders and your ears
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Relax your shoulders
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Initiate your powerhouse — abdominals and buttocks — by sinking your navel in toward your spine
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Feel long through your waist
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Roll Up
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While breathing in, raise your arms toward the ceiling
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As you reach for the ceiling, use the powerhouse to bring your chin toward your chest
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Keep reaching through your fingertips. Make certain not to jut your ribs forward
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Breathing out, continue reaching with your arms, curling over, reaching toward your toes
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Do not straighten your spine. Instead, create a "C" curve in your lower back by pulling your navel toward the spine
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Continue the exhalation until you reach your toes
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Roll Down
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Breathing in, as you roll down
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Keep reaching with your arms, keeping them at shoulder level.
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Pull your powerhouse into your lower back and draw your pelvis underneath you
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Maintain the "C" curve in your lower back, slowly lower your back onto the mat. Your lower four vertebrae will make contact with the mat first
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Hold your breath at this point, as you continue to curl down with control, like a cobra
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Reach with your arms to help control your roll down
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Now exhale as you complete the roll down
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Repeat 6-8 times.
As demonstrated on The Oprah Winfrey Show,
January 27, 2000.
From the book, The Pilates Powerhouse by Mari Winsor.
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