This workout is based on the philosophies of Miyagi-Do.

As long as you commit and promise to learn you shall.

Our honorary Miyagi-Do instructor embodies the quiet strength

needed to be the true master of the body and mind.

Namaste, Sensei LaRusso. Hello students.

Let me guide you on this journey to unlock your Miyagi-Do champion within.

I'm Sensei Cassey Ho, and let's begin by setting our intention.

Welcome to Miyagi-Lates an intersection between Miyagi karate and Blogilates.

I'm Sensei Cassey and today we're going to find

your inner peace, your focus and your balance.

By first focusing on your breath, I want you to inhale through your nose,

big exhale through your mouth, haa.

Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth.

As you keep practicing that breath,

I want you to create that mind and body connection.

Know that your mind is even more powerful than your muscle.

Breathe in through your nose, exhale through your mouth.

One more time. Inhale, exhale.

Now let's begin Miyagi-Lates.

Now that you have your breath, we learn the movement.

The foundational movement of Miyagi-Lates is wax on, wax off.

Now let's practice this movement before we bring on other elements of the movement.

Go ahead and bring your arm in a circular motion outside the body wax on.

Now, wax off with the other hand, let's bring in that plie squat.

I want you to come down, keep that chest up.

Belly button in, tailbone tucked upright

with that chest standing confident and tall.

Shoulders rolling back, now wax on, wax off.

Can you get a little lower? Wax on, wax off.

Strong shoulders, little lower wax on, wax off.

And go ahead and bring motion to this.

Coming to the right, coming to the left, strengthening our legs.

The foundation of our body,

squeezing the core where all of your energy emanates from.

You must unlearn your misconceptions

about what constitutes training. Everything.

So connecting that mind to the body

and having your body move with your soul as one.

Now let's go ahead and head into those curtsy lunges.

I want you to wax on, wax off.

Wax on, wax off, finding that fluid movement in your body,

warming up your heart, warming up the legs,

warming up the entire core where all of your energy emanates from.

Now two more, perfect.

Now I want you to stand up.

I want you to bring the arms up, walk the hands down the body,

walking it out into a solid plank.

Hands, hips, chest square to the earth.

I want you to wax on, wax off, hips up, hips pressing down.

Again, we wax on, wax off, bring it up, bring it down.

We need to find balance in our movement here.

One hand goes up, but our hands and our hips and our chest are still square

to the grass, to the mat,

to the earth, bring it up and down.

Wax on, wax off strong shoulders, strong core, strong body. Strong mind.

Once more, hold it here,

inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth,

drop the knees and press back into your child's pose.

Now take a deep breath in through your nose,

exhale through your mouth and slowly roll up with control,

rolling your shoulders back.

Now, the next portion of this Miyagi-Lates workout is to focus on your core.

Like I said, your core is where all of your energy emanates from.

You're going to allow your core to give you the strength in your arms,

the strength in your legs and strength in your entire body.

So we must work most important part of our body your core.

Go ahead and bring your arms forward, legs forward,

 and slowly roll down with control vertebrae by vertebrae,

bringing that right knee into your chest,

lifting your head, neck and shoulders up into Pilates stance.

I want your head resting on your shoulders.

There should be no pain in the neck, it's floating.

You're gonna lift up the leg right here.

As you head into single straight leg stretch, you're going to exhale shoo, shoo.

As you pull twice shoo, shoo. Switching the legs shoo, shoo.

Abs in shoo, shoo.

Lower back pressing into the earth, giving you the foundation of your core,

giving you the strength as you lift your chest off.

As you squeeze your abs, as you lengthen the legs,

keep pointing the toes, stretching the hamstrings.

Beautiful.

Shoo, shoo.

Shoo, shoo.

Now you'll notice that your muscles may be feeling sore.

You may be feeling tired.

You may be getting exhausted,

but when negative feelings overwhelm you, look for the good within yourself.

Find your strength to keep going because with every pulse and every rep,

you are going to get stronger

and hold.

I want you to let go on the count of three.

Are you ready? In one, two, three.

You're now in your cheerleader L, keep that leg straight.

Squeezing from the quad, squeezing your hamstrings.

Abs nice and tight, arms reaching forward.

Head, neck and shoulders lifted in that Pilate stance.

Can you hold this?

Can you find your stillness and your balance in this movement?

Maybe you're shaking a little bit, but that's okay.

The longer you hold the stronger you're going to get.

Now switch, hold.

Belly button in, shoulders lifted off the mat.

Hands forward.

How do your abs feel? Are they shaking? That's okay.

That is weakness leaving your body.

Reach.

Beautiful, inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth.

Now bring the knees into the chest.

Relax the head and neck.

Breath in through your nose, exhaling through your mouth.

Now reach up again. We're going to head into the Eagle crunch.

The Eagle crunch is one of the most difficult core exercises.

It really forces you to concentrate on how you're going to connect

that mind to the body and the body to the mind.

Go ahead and cross the knees, cross the ankles.

Same with the arms, cross the elbows, clasp the hands together.

You're in a tight, tight ball. I want you to squeeze your abs.

And now I want you to inhale.

On the exhale, press the elbows to the knees, knees to the elbow, hold and release.

That is your Eagle crunch, exhale lift, and lower, exhale lift and lower.

Miyagi-Lates is not about speed. It is about precision.

It is about purpose with every single movement.

I want you to exhale up, inhale down, exhale up, inhale down.

In fact, the slower you go, the more difficult the movement becomes.

You don't want to speed through this.

You want to make every movement full of purpose and precision.

Now can you hold?

Exhale hold, elbows to the knees, knees to the elbow.

They're on fire aren't they? Very good.

Elbows in, chest up, shoulders up five, four, three, two, one.

Bring the knees in, relax the head, neck and shoulders onto the mat.

Lift the leg up, extend the other.

Lift yourself into that Pilates stance.

Now we head into our scissors.

Strong legs, strong abs.

Here we go. Exhale, shoo, shoo.

Sharp, precise movements.

Every movement with a purpose to get stronger,

define your balance to find your inner peace.

Just focus. Good.

Shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, give me four, three, two, one, and hold.

Draw the knees into the chest.

Cross the ankles, lift up into plank, bringing the legs back right here.

Hands underneath the shoulders, belly button in, legs hip width apart,

making sure the chest, the hips and the abs are square to the earth.

Now right here, we're going to hold your plank.

A simple movement but incredibly difficult.

There is a lot of movement within the stillness of this pose.

I want you to engage your abs.

Imagine if Cobra Kai were to come and punch you in the stomach, what do you do?

You tense those abs. You get ready.

You hold, you hold your strength.

You hold your confidence right here in the pose.

As you press your arms, press your toes against the earth.

Now tuck in your tailbone.

That slightest bit, you may be right here, tuck it in.

In that moment, you will find that your core will begin shaking,

creating your own earthquake, your own movement in the stillness of this pose.

I want you to drop one elbow, drop the other elbow,

keeping those hips square to the earth.

Keeping that chest square to the earth.

Now concentrate on your breath as we twist the hips from side to side,

bring the toes together, inhale through the nose,

exhale through the mouth and we tap, we tap, we tap

working your waist, working your core.

Every angle of your core, breathing in through the nose,

exhaling through the mouth, strengthening the shoulders.

Keep moving. You won't give up.

You'll finish this workout.

Miyagi-Lates is not for the weak.

It's for those who want to continue getting stronger, more skilled.

And for those who want to do it with purpose and with kindness.

Give me eight seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, and hold.

Abs in tight, drop the knees, press the hips back into child's pose.

Now slowly, bring yourself up and prepare

for the arms and upper body section of Miyagi-Lates.

Now we need to talk about something.

Miyagi-Lates is not about the fist, Karate is for defense only.

So even though I'm going to show you how to strengthen your arms,

you need to make sure that you use your karate,

use your Miyagi-Lates for goodness only.

So I want you to sit how you feel most confident.

Shoulders, rolling back, chest out, belly button in,

neck long, strong as you gaze forward.

Bring your arms out, we're going to begin with crane arms,

go ahead and bring one arm up one arm down.

Just one right here as we work the shoulder.

Fluid movements with the arm, fluid movements with the wrist,

all the way to the tips of your fingers, letting all the energy emanate from your core,

the foundation of your strength, you're going to lift and lower,

lift and lower while keeping that other arm balanced and out.

You may be feeling some soreness.

Maybe you feel a little bit of pain, but remember,

do not let those negative feelings deter you from the goal.

The goal is to get stronger.

You're going to lift up and down and up and down.

You're going to give me a few more right here.

How are you doing? You're doing great.

Now on to the other side, to find your balance,

lifting that wrist up fluid fingers, fluid arm, strong shoulders.

Now, why am I teaching you crane arms? It's simple.

Didn't you see Sensei LaRusso kick Johnny Lawrence in the face

with his crane kick at the 1984 All Valley tournament? Huh?

That move is legendary.

So today through Miyagi-Lates,

I'm going to show you how to perfect your very own crane kick.

Lift that arm up and down and up and down

and now bring both crane arms up and down.

Beautiful, strong, effortless.

Again, focusing on that breath.

Anytime those negative feelings come in, you breathe in through the nose,

out through the mouth shoo, strong arms, strong core, focus, balance.

Finding that inner peace. Now bring the hands together.

Elbows in touching. I'm going to challenge you.

Come into prayer pose right here.

As you lift your elbows up and down, keeping the elbows together,

lift and lower strengthening the shoulders,

improving your posture so that you stand tall.

You stand confident against whoever is facing you.

Be it the enemy, be it Cobra Kai, it doesn't matter.

You stand there in peace against the opposition.