Yoga-Inspired Reformer

Hi, I'm Courtney Miller, and today on Pilates Anytime I'm taking you through a workout that's yoga-inspired, and this workout is designed to help condition yogis to perform better on their mat. You're gonna see a crossover of a lot of exercises that you do in the other class performed on the Reformer. The idea is that the carriage of the Reformer gives you a moving yoga mat to get you deeper into your postures. Of course I'll be making some modification to traditional yoga exercises, to have some Pilates principles and just a little bit closer to what we know and love in the Pilates world, but whether you are a Pilates enthusiast or instructor or a yoga enthusiast who also loves Pilates, I think you will really enjoy this workout, so have fun with me. I have one spring on, it's a green spring, if you're not using Balance Body just know that that's a single spring, but it is a little bit heavier than the red single spring that we commonly use, so it's a little heavier than maybe one single spring.

I have the bar up in high position, and I'm gonna stand onto the Reformer to begin. Now I have the bar on high position to begin, you'll see me drop it down one notch as I get a little bit more into my flexibility. Heels of the hands are onto the footbar, shoulder-width apart, fingers wrapped. Walk back so that the feet are against the shoulder blocks with the heels lifted, not to your highest releve but instead to the place where you can keep even tension onto your big toe and your baby toe. Draw up through the front of the thighs, draw in through the abdominals.

From a round back position take three breaths, inhale (inhales), and exhale (exhales), drawing up through the belly. Keep the shoulder blades down the back and on your exhales feel the ribs draw in and up. Even though this is a yoga-inspired class we're doing a Pilates breath. On your next inhale lengthen out to a flat back as you press the carriage back, this is our downward facing dog like position. Now from here, I initiate by lifting the sacrum to bring the feet forward, not all the way, so I press back and I lift the tailbone to bring the feet forward so what I'm really trying to do is open up the back of my legs.

Anteriorly tilt the pelvis, bring the carriage forward. This time press out, roll forward, coming into a plank position, shoulders over wrist. Bend the elbows so one shape goes down. Push up, push into the toes, draw in and up through the belly, upward facing dog, and then lead with the hips as you press back, rounding the back, carriage is home, let's repeat. Three breaths here, inhale, breathing into the back and sides (inhales), exhale (exhales).

This is your time to drop the crown of the head down to the carriage, decompress through your neck. On your next inhale lengthen out to a flat back position, press back with the carriage. Now lift the hips and bring the carriage under you, three times. Avoid collapsing in the ribs (exhales), and just take this nice and easy, we're just starting to wake up the back body (exhales). Press out, roll to come forward, now you see how I'm pressing into my feet, I'm also starting to wake up my feet.

One shape down, lift the chest to come up. And then lead with the hips as you press back one more time, three breaths (exhales). As if your spine was in mountain you want the peak of your mountain to be your middle back, so draw out through the center till you get that lift through the back. Notice how your breath helps to mobilize your spine? Lengthen out, press back with the legs and don't just pull the feet forward, find this position first and then see if you can keep it as the carriage comes forward.

Press, lift, lengthen and pull. One more time, press, lift the hips, pull, press out, roll to come into your plank position, push into the feet, one shape down, one shape up. And then lead with the hips, as you press back to breathe into the back and sides. Now, just starting to wake up the hips a little bit more, one leg comes up, I'm now coming to my highest position, I want to keep my hips square, I'm just starting to squeeze into my glutes. Press out as the leg comes through, long spine.

Scoop, carriage comes in as the leg comes up, square the shoulders. Just using this as your warmup, press, and lift one more time here. Press, and lift, hold the lift, maybe lift a little bit higher, allowing the hips to rotate, and then placing the foot down, let's see how we do on the other side. Sweep the leg up, so try to come to a place where the hips are square, just squeeze the glutes. As you press out, the knee comes forward, use the abdominals to pull the leg forward.

As you press back, the carriage comes in. So forward, and up, one more time. Forward, and up, maybe lift a little bit more, and bring it down to flat feet. Now make sure the carriage is in and the footbar is secure to lean back, decompress the wrists a little bit, sit low, and lengthen to come up. Moving into our next flow we'll take the footbar down one notch, so now we can get a little bit deeper into that down dog.

Walking the feet back, let's go into flat feet to start. This time I'm able to press down through my chest a little bit more, wrap the fingers for safety, inhale, press back with the legs, chest low, hips high. Exhale, just as we did before, pull, three (exhales), two (exhales), and one (exhales). Press out, except this time from a down dog position begin to bend your elbows. Scoop through to come up as we did before, and then lift the hips high to press back, flat feet.

Let's do it again, chest is low, inhale, press, exhale, hips high, one, chest low (exhales), two (exhales), three. Press to your down dog, bend your elbows here, come through and up, and press back. Last time, so maybe you're feeling more of an opening in the chest and the pecs here, inhale, exhale (exhales). The carriage doesn't come all the way home (exhales), last time (exhales). From your down dog, bend, scoop through, come up, and press back, very good.

Lifting the heels up high, sweeping left foot forward onto the platform. Shin against the platform, back heel lifted. Now you should have the movement to do this, see how I can push the carriage away with my toes, I'm gonna need to do that in a second. Once you have your balance, maybe hands to thighs first, rise up, arms overheard. Breathe, bending the back knee, topping the carriage and stretching up five times (exhales), tailbone heavy (exhales), ribs closed.

On the next one push the carriage away like I showed you earlier, pivot turn so the outer part of the foot is against the blocks, tailbone heavy, breathe. Once you've stayed here for a few breaths, reach over the footbar, hand can come down onto the platform or hand can come down onto the footbar, open the chest and breathe. Windmill up, take the back hand onto the thigh, lift the chest, and windmill both hands down, pivot turn to come back to your lunge position. From lunges we go into a second set of our crescent work, five times (exhales). Starting to feel warmth in the low body, and all the way up (exhales).

Now bring the carriage in and before you go onto the other side, step the feet together. Get low, and even lean off the footbar a little bit so more weight is into your heels than to your toes. Fan your toes and top the carriage. Circle your arms out to the sides and lift them up. Hold your chair position, lean your weight back into your heels and breathe.

Press up with the legs and down with the arms, and split the legs for the other side. Right foot forward now, right knee bends. Find your center, rise on up, tailbone heavy, abdominals engaged. Arms overhead, keep the carriage steady as you go down and up five times (exhales), three, and four (exhales), and five. Pivot turn and open, so you see how I push the carriage away with my back foot, drop the tailbone heavy, find the long line, and just stay and breathe, maybe you can deepen.

Reach towards the footbar, taking the hand either down onto the footbar or onto the platform as you reach overhead. Push to the outer edge of your back foot, finding length. Lengthen all the way back up, lift and look. Placing both hands down, pivot turn for your second set of lunges, you should be feeling warm in the hips. Arms up, bend, and push, five (exhales), four, three, two, one, take it down, bringing the carriage in and stepping both feet forward again.

Squeeze your inner thighs together, bend your knees, get low. Use the footbar and lean back, so that's what we want to feel, weight into the heels. Press down through the big toe and then through the rest of the toes. Top the carriage, squeeze the shoulder blades behind you, circle the arms up, maybe you can get a little bit deeper, shift your weight back. Press all the way up and come to straight legs, nicely done.

Now that we're all warmed up, let's continue to flow. I'll be reducing my spring tension from the one green spring that I had for the last two series to one blue. It's a pretty light spring and I'll be doing some upper body work. I'll begin kneeling, facing towards the footbar, and I'm sitting my hips right onto my heels. If this is uncomfortable for you, you can find an alternative position.

Grabbing a hold of the loops. Now with the loops in my hand, I flex forward, dropping my forehead down towards my knees in a child's pose position, hips are heavy. When I'm ready I'll bend my elbows into a bicep curl as I start to lengthen up, simultaneously reaching my arms forward on a diagonal. From here I let the straps pull me into thoracic extension, circle the arms around, and come back through to my child's pose. Inhaling, exhaling (exhales), inhaling, and exhaling (exhales).

Bicep curl, lift, press, reach, let it give you a little bit of a pull, and then circle around, it reminds me of doing your breaststroke on the long box. Now continue there or progress with me, coming up to a kneeling position. Just as before I start seated low except I'm not in a child's pose to begin. Bend the elbows, press, reach forward as I come up. Now as my arms go up I come into a posterior pelvis, I let the straps pull me as I go back.

Circle the arms around, and sit back down (exhales). Bend the elbows as I rise up, pushing forward. Chest lifts, tailbone drops as I go up and over. Hands come down, and I sit down. So I'm coming into a camel position, one more time, don't forget to stay strong into your glutes.

Bend as you lift up, push forward. Lift to extend, circle, and sit. Well done, hook up your straps for now. Keep the spring tension on and rotate so you're side facing. So knees are underneath the hips, now you'll have to move forward or back a little bit once you get into the posture.

So let's just take our time first, arms to the side, lift and rotate, heel of the hand onto the bar, start to push the carriage away. Simultaneously sit, and reach, so I'm getting this oppositional stretch. Hips come forward as I come up, carriage comes in, and I repeat. Lift to go over, press the carriage away, sit and stretch (exhales). Push, chest open, and lengthen to come up.

We're gonna add a balance factor here, so the outside leg will be long, foot resting onto the headrest to begin. Taking the arms out to the side, lift up, laterally flex, and begin to press the carriage out as the leg comes up. Now there's a lot of stabilization happening on your lower leg. Draw the knee and elbow in towards each other, reach them long, and take your time, control to come in and up. One more, lift, hand to bar, push out as the leg comes up.

Knee to elbow, send it long, and take your time, rise all the way up, nicely done. Take a seat into your mermaid legs with your front shin facing forward. Grab a hold of the strap that's in front of you, not the one that's behind you, and we'll continue to open up the side body, taking the arms out to the sides and then overhead. Interlace the fingers over your head, keep the collarbones wide, let the straps pull you to the side, and exhale (exhales), cinch to come over. We'll do five reps, get that great stretch, and then pull from that elongated muscle which is quite challenging.

So you go from here (exhales), over, two more. Keep the head directly between the arms, your hands are a little halo framing your head. One more time (exhales), and come up. Take the same loop in the other hand, rotate and place the hand onto the headrest for tricep presses. So not only am I getting great work through my upper body, this whole time I'm getting a nice stretch through the pec, and also through the side of my body.

Last two (exhales), and one, and come all the way in. Now before we switch to the other side, let's turn to face back. Extend the legs through the shoulder blocks. Grab a hold of the opposite strap that you were holding onto, so it's not this one anymore, it's that one, and I'm gonna put it around the forearm of the opposite hand, so you see it's going on a diagonal. Sit very tall, even bending your knees to modify, drawing in and up through the abdominals.

Taking both arms forward and just practicing open (exhales), and close. Do your best to sit tall with your shoulders over your hips, keep a 90 degree bend in your elbow (exhales). Two more like this (exhales), and last one (exhales). I thread the hand that doesn't have the strap through and under, coming to our eagle arm position. From here I lift my arms, lift the chest and arch back, and exhale (exhales) to come up.

My elbows lift as my chest lifts, and arch back, and exhale (exhales), one more time. Elbows and chest rise up, control, and elbows come down, and release, awesome, it's a great shoulder stretch and strengthener. One more thing before we turn around, this time you'll want to choke up on the ropes quite a lot and you'll see why in a second. Now one thing I want to note is the spring that I have on is loaded off to the side, it's not in the center, so this exercise is a little bit like semicircle, in that you will touch the springs, but it'll be okay, just make sure your hair is contained. So choke up on the ropes quite a lot so that you have room to extend your spine back behind you.

Inhale as you lengthen up, collarbones open, exhale as you roll back coming towards your hundred position, front of the hips are opening, abdominals are engaged. Now you can stay here, work your core, or you can continue to extend back, dropping your head down into the well and allowing the thoracic spine to extend. Nodding your chin towards your chest, exhale, flex to come up, try not to use the upper body, come all the way over into a stretch, and then inhale as you rebuild, let's do that again. Inhale, exhale, tuck your tail, roll (exhales). Once you get to your hundred position open your collarbones a little bit wider, then keep that width through the body as you go back.

Dropping the head down, nodding the chin towards the chest and rolling through (exhales), coming all the way up and over. Now you're gonna want to play with your positioning, so if you move forward more, then less of your spine will hang off, if you move back more, more of your spine will hang off, and you'll get sort of that lift and extension in a different spot, so feel free to adjust, we have one more to do. Inhale (inhales), exhale, flex, scoop and roll (exhales), stay heavy in your feet, chest is open, head drops back. Collarbones are open, nod the chin without using the arms, exhale, use the core muscles (exhales) to come all the way over, slide the carriage home. While you're in your stretch, hook up your straps, and let's go into our mermaid facing the other way, awesome.

So we started in a kneeling position, remembering that we do have to adjust for our body length and proportions. Take the arms out to a letter T, inhale, one arm comes up, the other arm goes down, I press out, as I sit my hips to the heels and I stretch, reaching away from my side, inhale, come back to the side position, pushing my hips forward, exhale to lengthen to come back up. Inhale, windmill the arms, press out, hips forward, exhale, sit as you stretch. Push the hips forward again, and come all the way up. Now you can stay there or if you're progressing to the balance challenge, your outside foot reaches long, resting the foot onto the headrest, heel of the hand on.

Inhale, as you press the carriage out the leg comes up, a lot of balance to stay here in your stabilizing leg. Knee to elbow, open, stretch (exhales), and control the carriage home, coming back up. Lift up, as you press out the leg comes up. Knee to elbow, open, reach, and resist as the carriage comes in and you come up, perfect. Coming in to your seated mermaid legs, grab a hold of the strap that's in front of you, taking the arms overhead, interlacing the fingers.

So shoulders are down, neck is long, let it pull you into a stretch to the side, then exhale, work against the tension to cinch towards the springs. Inhale, lift up and over (exhales), exhale, laterally flex, three more. Inhale, arms framing the face, and cinch as you exhale. Initiate this movement from the torso and not from the upper body (exhales). Last time, stretch (exhales), cinch.

Come on up, open the arms, and switch so the opposite hand has the loop. Hand onto the headrest, exhale, press up, inhale, bend, you're getting that awesome stretch to your side body as you strengthen and tone your triceps. Five, elbows straight up overhead, four, opening through the pecs, three (exhales), two (exhales), and one (exhales), and take it all the way down. Pivot turn so you're facing towards the back of the equipment, legs through. Now this is the one where you had to grab the opposite strap to arm, there it is.

Now I'm moving both arms the same way as if I had two straps. Exhale, open, so creating strength and heat in my posterior delts (exhales), rhomboids (exhales), my strong posterior shoulder muscles, so that when I go into my eagle arms and stretch them, they're a little more pliable. One more (exhales), the hand without the strap goes through, squeezing the elbows together. Elbows are low when you're sitting tall. Lift the elbows, lift the chest, lean back (exhales), lower the elbows, come back up to vertical.

Lift the elbows, lift the chest, lean back, lower the elbows and come back up to vertical, two more times. Up, and lean, up, and squeeze, last time, and lean, and squeeze to come up, nice. Hook up the straps. If you'd like to go into a second set of extending over the carriage, now would be a good time to do it. We're gonna take the footbar down to low position for the next series.

Now to come on I'm gonna be standing on the gray platform. I still have my light spring, I have one blue spring. I want to come back into my downward facing dog, this is a rejuvenating posture, and after all of that moving of my spine, this is how I'm gonna find center again. The heels of my hands are gonna be onto the front edge of the carriage, the carriage will press out as the hips lift up. Feet are hip distance apart, chest is low, hips are high.

Now this time I get to get really low in my chest, I can even, if I want to intensify, take my feet flat onto the gray platform versus the footbar. Breathe, push, lift the hips high, and return to come in. Now for the next one we're gonna take the dog for a walk, lifting and lowering opposite heel. Heels of the hands on, lift the hips up high, press the carriage out, come onto the toes. Find your down dog, bend into one knee, chest low, hips high, and switch (exhales), and switch (exhales), and switch (exhales), and switch (exhales).

Both feet flat, press down with the chest, up with the hips, maybe you can deepen just a little bit more, and control to come all the way in. Now, let's come into a plank, this will strengthen our core, so knees are down onto the carriage. Taking the elbows down, wrap the fingers, squeeze, take one foot onto the footbar, press out, now it's nice and light. Take the other foot back, squeeze the heels together, and practice lifting the hips up and bringing the carriage home to the stopper. Inhale, out, exhale, hips up (exhales), and inhale, out, we'll do one more like this (exhales).

Hips up, and inhale to press out, carefully lower one knee down, and then the other. Now if that feels good for you and you want to continue, then stay there, otherwise we'll keep the spring tension the same and we'll put the bar up to high bar position. We'll be doing the exact same movement, but now the hips will be coming up over the shoulders, preparing us for exercises like headstands. Coming back into the position, now instead of having my fingers wrapped, I'll interlace my fingers so my pinkies tuck in. Placing my elbows and forearms down onto the carriage, with my elbows shoulder-width apart.

Now I first press out with the platform, and I can even look behind me to help find the footbar, then I step the feet up onto the footbar. So consider this position number one, abs in. Position two I tuck my chin, place the crown of my head onto the carriage, now all my weight's in my arms, none of it's in my head, so my shoulders are really working. I lift my hips up, bringing the carriage in, and my goal is to get my body weight over my upper body, so my feet are light. Then I press out (exhales), and the head can come back up.

Tuck the chin, place the head down, lift the hips high, trying to bring the carriage home, shifting the weight forward over the upper body, and pressing out (exhales). One more time, tuck, lift the hips high, and lengthen all the way out. Bring one knee down carefully, and then the other knee can come to meet it. Now if that's working for you, keep going there. If you want to build even more, we're gonna do that next.

We'll add a single leg lift, remember to listen to your body. So coming down onto your elbows and forearms, pressing down onto your elbows, taking one foot back. You can look if you need to, find the footbar, and step both feet onto it. Tuck, place the head, lift the hips (exhales). Shifting your weight back over your upper body, lift one leg up, hips are open, leg is straight.

Place the foot back down. Other leg, one leg up, hips are open, leg is straight, and place it down, let's press out, lift the head, one more set (exhales). Scoop, press into the elbows, lift. Place the foot down, press into the elbows, lift. Place the foot down, head up, one knee comes down, and then the other, let's take a child's pose to relax the shoulders.

From your child's pose position, lift up and turn around, we're gonna do some work facing the front again. So we'll need to move the footbar down one notch, I prefer this series in mid bar. I'm gonna go back to my original spring tension which is one spring, remember I had a green. I could also do this on a red, the lighter the tension, the heavier, excuse me, the harder it's gonna be, the heavier, the more supportive so, for me today, it's just right. Taking the hands onto the footbar and coming up to a standing position.

Now I'll be splitting the legs, one leg back, heel high, and one leg forward. I'll begin by pressing with my arms, coming into a front split or a scissor lunge. You may be able to walk your hands onto the wooden rails, maybe you can stretch just a little bit deeper. Now when you're ready we're gonna take this lunge into more of a dynamic movement. When the carriage comes in, the front knee's gonna lift, knee to nose, and when the carriage comes out, we go back to our stretch (exhales), and out.

Now I want you to really try to find a strong round back position (exhales). This is one of my favorite flows, and I actually just taught a workshop for Pilates Anytime that has this movement and a lot of really fun cardio plank series, so make sure you check that out. Two more here (exhales), and one (exhales), going back into your stretch, breathe it out, maybe you can walk your hands down, maybe press a little bit more, deepen the stretch. Walk yourself up, let's see how we do on the other leg, so take your time, placing the foot down, splitting the legs. Just start to test the water, so we sort of just settle into it, then if I think it's appropriate I take the hands down, maybe you can go a little bit more.

Breathe and hold, pressing into your back foot, coming up, and lifting up. Now this is the one where we go back to a mid range position, lift. Now what you're trying to do is get your knee right up to your nose or your forehead (exhales), via the power of your abdominals (exhales). Four more (exhales), three (exhales), two (exhales), and one (exhales). Press back out, and take it for a stretch.

Walk yourself up, pivot turn, coming to a side facing position. Heel of the hand is in line with your shoulder, flex the feet and take them back onto the shoulder blocks. Take your top arm up, inhale, reach overhead as you press the carriage out, exhale, hand by thigh. Now this is just a prep so take your time, and exhale, pull (exhales). One more, inhale, reach, and exhale (exhales).

Now in yoga we do something called tree pose, we walk the foot up, hips are square, knees open. We reach our arms up to the sky like branches and press through our feet to find roots. Now that's what I want you to think of here, four, three, two, and one. Now the second set is taking that foot to your hip crease, flexing the foot, opening the knee, square the hips, take the arm over, hold and breathe. Just like you're standing on the floor, three, two, and one, take the hand down, pivot turn, and get low.

Now bend both of your knees, this is just gonna get our heart rate up a little bit, it's gonna start to create heat and we're gonna use that heat to stretch our hips. Lean back, bend deep into the front knee, stay lifted high onto the front heel, three (exhales), two (exhales), and one (exhales), lengthen up. Pivot turn, and you're ready for the same flow on the other side, so heel of the hand in a strong position, squeeze through the fingertips, open up. Now as the carriage presses out, you reach overhead and you create a long line, exhale (exhales), arm down, inhale, and exhale (exhales). One more time, inhale, and exhale.

Take the front foot, place it onto your inner thigh, open up the hips, reach overhead, and breathe, reach through your branches, those are your fingers, press through your feet, that's your earth. To intensify, the foot can come forward over the hip crease, the knee can open, deepen, stretch, breathe and hold. The foot comes down as you pivot turn, carriage comes in, get low and press it out, find that center again (exhales). Abs are in, shoulders down the back, final four, three (exhales), two (exhales), and one (exhales), come in, come up, and come off. Now before we finish, we need to get into our inner thighs, and I'd like to open up the chest a little bit more too.

So I'll reduce this tension yet again, back to the same tension I was doing when I had my hands in the straps, my elbow in the straps, so I'm back to a blue. So far in this class I've only used two springs, one heavy, one light, this is the light. Take the footbar down, carefully stand on, always standing onto the platform before standing onto the carriage. Now if you know you're more flexible, go ahead and begin with the feet a little bit wider. If you know that your hips are not quite as flexible, then narrow the stance.

So I'm gonna start with them kind of medium placed, toes point forward. Take your arms out like the letter T, roll your shoulders open, and press the carriage out. Now press into the outer edges of your feet and start to hinge forward with a very flat back. When you can't hinge any more around your back, then either take your hands onto the platform in front of you, or if you'd like a deeper stretch, reach the platform, the wooden rail behind you. Give your chest a pull, press into the feet, lift the hips high, shift a little more weight to your toes.

Walking the hands forward, taking them back out to a letter T, and lifting to come all the way back up. The next one we're gonna do a little different stretch in the upper body, so find your foot position, arms out to the sides, press out. This time interlace the fingers behind you, look up, lift the chest. Hinge forward like you did before, but this time as you hinge take your arms overhead, getting a great shoulder stretch. Shake the head, release any tension, take the hands onto the hips, lift up, and bring the carriage all the way in.

Before we switch to the other side, come back into your chair position, we've been here before, knees over toes, weight into the heels. Can you get low enough to touch the carriage? Shift your weight back, lift your arms up, sit a little deeper, press out, resist in, stay low in your chair, four more presses (exhales), closing the ribs, last two (exhales), and one (exhales). Sit low, and rise all the way up. To come off, step off, first with your carriage leg, second with your platform leg, walk around, and let's see how we do on the other side.

Remembering that the wider the stance is in the beginning, the bigger the stretch will be so listen to your body. Arms out, press out. So scoop the belly under, hinge forward, flat back. When you can't hinge any more that's your chance to round, place the hands either onto the rail in front of you or if you want to use the upper body to help you stretch, reach back, pull. Narrow the elbows, shift weight to your toes.

Lift the hips high, draw the abs in, try to find length through the spine. Taking the hands forward, and lengthening up, and in. Shoulder stretch, interlace the hands behind you. Press out, now while you're out here lift up through your chest, reach down through your knuckles. Hinge, flat back, until you can't any more, and take the arms overhead.

Shift your weight towards your toes, draw your belly in and up, no tension in your neck at all. To come up from here, hands to the hips, flat back, and pull yourself all the way in. Chair pose, so keeping the carriage in, sit low, knees tracking right over the mid feet, seat strong, see if you can get low enough to touch the carriage, squeeze your shoulder blades together, lift your arms up high, press through the outer edge of the foot, elbows long, you can even look up. We have four more (exhales), two (exhales), and one (exhales), carriage is in, rise all the way up, and take the arms down. Now we've got one more thing to do, and we don't have to come off, we're gonna pivot and turn.

Come onto your knees, and our last downward facing dog is facing this way. Walking the knees forward, feet together, curl the toes under, and then taking the hands onto the wooden rails. Wrapping the fingers or keeping the fingers long, you'll find what feels best for you. The first thing you'll do is lift up into a plank, scoop the belly in and up. From your plank, press the hips back, lower the heels down.

Now hopefully, with all the work that we did, you should be able to feel your chest pressing deeper than before, maybe feeling your hips lift up higher than before. Body wave or roll to come back to your plank. Two more times, down dog, noticing how all the work that you've done has helped you have a little more freedom in this posture, and hopefully giving you a little more freedom in all the movements that you love to do in everyday life. Roll through it (exhales). Just as important as strength is flexibility, in this class we really blended those two together.

Last time, hips up, chest back, hips high, heels low. Lower the knees, sit back and breathe (exhales), roll on up, and you've made it. Now a lot of these flows can be integrated into your favorite Pilates Anytime class, either before or at the end. You don't have to do this whole class, and one thing that's very important to note, maybe I should have said it in the beginning, this is not an easy class so just because it's got a yoga influence does not mean it's all about relaxation and breath, in fact, this is one of the toughest workouts for me to do. But I certainly loved it and I feel a lot better now that I've done it and I hope that you do too.

Thank you and I'll see you soon.