The Pilates Teaser and The Seal

• The Teaser Prep:
  
• The Teaser combines strength and power with length and control.
  
• It "Teases" the balance, hence the name.
  
• To prepare, as a beginner, abbreviate the exercise by keeping the feet on the floor or practicing a single-leg teaser. It will feel like a modified roll-up.
  
• Imagine someone pulling you forward by the tips of your fingers until you are sitting tall.
  
• Begin on your back with knees bent and legs pressed together. Inhale and smoothly raise your arms from behind until they are in line with your eyes. Follow the arm motion by raising your head and shoulders and peeling your spine off the mat.
  
• Exhale and continue rolling up, articulating through the spine. Sit upright but stay just behind your sit-bones to feel the work in your abdominals.
  
• Keep the neck and shoulders relaxed. Have space between ears and shoulders. Avoid flaring your ribs or distending your belly. (Ungaro, 106-107)

• Teaser 1: 
  
• This exercise challenges us to balance the work of our hip flexors with the work of our abdominals
  
• At the peak of the exercise, hold the position, "teasing" the balance. 
  
• Begin on your back with your knees drawn in and your arms overhead.  Maintain core coneections, drawing ribs down toward the hip bones
  
• Do not arch your back
  
•  Extend both legs to a 45 degree angle pressing them together. The legs are long and straight but not locked.
  
•  Maintain your scoop and keep the back toward the mat. Inhale to prepare, raise your arms, your head, and your shoulders to sequence, curling the body up off the mat vertebra by vertebra.
  
• The chin is toward the chest and the fingers reach for the toes. Keep sinking the navel deeper. Find a "V" or "U" shape. Keep your legs up as you slowly lower your spine segment at a time. Repeat. (Ungaro, 108-109)

• The Seal: 
  
• The final exercise in the Intermediate program is the Seal. One can imagine a seal clapping its flippers together.
  
• Similar to Rolling Like a Ball, the entire body is in a continuous rolling motion, testing your balance and coordination. 
  
• Draw the feet in toward your center and wrap one hand around the outside of each ankle. Tip back to balance on your tailbone, bringing the feet just above the floor.
  
• Keep the knees within your shoulder frame and draw the abdominals in more deeply.
  
• Roll back smoothly to the shoulder blades and clap the heels  3 times. With control, roll back and clap the heels again.  Never roll onto your head or neck, only the base of the shoulder blades. Keep the shoulders relaxed and the chin toward the chest as you roll.
  
• Energize/animate the hips as you roll back. This will help you massage the spine as your roll. Avoid momentum, move from your center. (Ungaro 110-111)

This concludes the Beginner/Intermediate Matwork!