Dynamic Reformer Flow

Hi everybody. Welcome back to [inaudible] anytime. My name's Maria. Set up your machine with at least three heavy Springs, your foot bar and footwork. Position your head rest up and come onto your backs for me. Please bring your feet wide on the bar. Flex the feet. Allow the body to be nice and relaxed into the reformer. Take a breath in and on an exhale.

Press the carriage out and resist in right back out to resist in. Continue to flow like this and each time you come in, see if you can deep in your contraction, really squeeze the heels towards the midline of the foot bar. A few more here. Press resist for us. Resist last time. Come in, halfway in pause from here.

We're going to take a little pulse and take a little scan of your body. Let go of tension in the neck and shoulders. Really zero in on the initiation of this action. Three and two and one. Press the legs out all the way straight. Come on the way in, feet to first position right away. Squeeze the heels, wrap the legs, pull out resistance back out to and N each time, creating a little bit more length in that spine, pulling the rib cage right out of the pelvis.

Sandwiching the inner thighs. Listen for that breath. Use it in a way that makes sense with how you're moving. One more here. Come in halfway in. Pause those same little pulses here.

Try to take the work out of the knee and see if you can really feel the action beginning at the hip socket. Relax the arms. Relax the neck. Three, two, press all the way out. One. Wrap those legs. Create a little bit more length all the way in heels on the bar that's have the feet together. Squeeze the knees and pressing out in, in nice flowing action. Never a stop in what you're doing with your intention or your movement.

Really feeling the back of the leg. Initiate this deepening on the way in. Last one. Come in halfway. Pause here. Those same little pulses. Really feeling the fireboat pushing down into the well. Dig a little deeper. Scan your body.

Two, one, press out all the way. All the way in. All 10 toes on the bar, heels lifted. We're going to do Relevate press all the way out. We're going to add lower and lift the heels and come in. Squeeze the legs tight back for to lower lift.

Lower lift all the way in. Back out for three and down and up for three. Sandwiching those legs, choo and one. Control it in. Back out for four and three and two and one. Come in, back out long. Minimizing the movement of the carriage. Four and three. Drop the shoulders, two and one. Come in, back out.

Keep the spine long as you lower and lift and five and four. Squeeze the legs, three and two and one back in. Last set back out. Wrap the legs. Seven, six, five full range, four and three. Sandwich the legs, two and one. Come all the way in. Reach behind you. Put your head rest down. Set yourself up for bridging heels on the bar. Feet, hip distance. Take a breath in. Exhale, tuck and bridge your hips up.

Open the front of the hip sockets. Pull yourself back down to the mat. Inhale at the bottom, tuck in, peel yourself up, step into those feet. Pull yourself back down in the mat. So the up in the downer, equally as pointed, it equally is important. Hold here, pull yourself down to the mat. And last time tuck in, press up. Pause here without shifting it.

I'll take the right leg to the ceiling and then cross that leg over into a figure for that bottom leg. Now pulse is straight up and there's a real tendency here for the hips to twist. So you really want to be mindful of the right in the left hip bone. Keep them right in the same plane. Stay at the top right thigh bone doesn't move.

Extend that leg out to the side. Cross back to the figure four and open to pay attention to that bottom leg and in back out three. Minimize what you're doing with the arms. Back out for sandwich your spine. Two more here and in last one. Stay here in the figure four. Roll back down through your spine. Take a stretch. Bottom leg comes up. Hold that deep breath in through the nose.

Exhale out through the mouth, two feet back to the bar. Come back to the top of your bridge. Hold it there. Opposite leg reaches up. Cross over to your figure. Four stop the bottom leg pulses straight up and again, really being mindful of where the pelvis is in space. Really asking yourself what's initiating that action.

It should come from that Phi bone. Few more here and that. Stay at the top perfectly still. Now the leg opens away from the midline back to the figure for open to continue like this and focus on what you're using to stabilize. You go a lot of different choices here. Make sure you're not clenching with the arms and the neck.

Bottom leg is still last run. Stay in the figure four. Peel yourself back down through your spine. Pull the bottom leg up. Stay here. Deep breath in through the nose. Exhale through the mouth and moving on. Legs to tabletop, hands wide on the shoulder. Rest. Pelvis is neutral.

Twist your hips up and over to the right. Pause here. Big exhale as you spiral back to the mat. Inhale up and over to the other side. Pause, big exhale as you spiral back. Let's do it one more each way. Inhale, elbows are wide. Exhale, pull back from the spine. Inhale up and over. Really establishing the movement from the pelvis and back center.

We're going to add to this. Take your twist and pause. Squeeze the legs, shoot them out over your foot bar. Stay there, sandwich the inner thighs. Bend the knees, unwind back to your center point so the other sides who is just shoot those legs out. Squeeze the legs tight together. Unwind back to your center position. Twist the hips, stay there, the two legs shootout over the foot bar. Sandwich them. Pull yourself back in. Last time, twist. Shoot the legs out. Really make sure you're in arching the lower back here.

Pull the legs back, center and lower down. Sit yourself up. We're going to set up for a hundred whatever you usually do. We'll be fine. I'm going to go on a heavy spring and a medium spring. We're going to put the head Russ back up. Come on to your back and let's just establish that hundred position a few times.

Legs to tabletop. Inhale here. Exhale to your perfect hundred position. Pause. Set it up slowly back down, and exhale. Lift in Paul's shoulder blades off the mat and lower down. Last time here. Pause from here. Pull your knees in.

Curl the tail off the mat. Feet under the bar. Pull in animal lift. Take it over the bar. Pull in and curl under the bar. Okay, and then over the bite, reach the legs in under the bar. Last one over the bar, knees in and lower down. Hey, next set. Head and shoulders. Stay down.

Take the arms by the side. Take the legs to the ceiling. Turn them out. Squeeze the heels. Inhale, lower the legs over the foot bar. Pause here. Big exhale back to the start. Inhale, lower in length in the legs. Squeeze the inner thighs and exhale up. One more time. Lower the legs. Feel what's happening in the center of the body. Exhale up, knees in, lower down. We're going to add some arms to that.

Now take the legs back up, arms by your side, palms face in. Turn out the legs. Inhale, open the arms, lower the legs, pause. They are really stabilize. Exhale, close the shape. Lift the tail this time. Also, inhale, open front ribs to back ribs. Exhale, close. Curl the tail up. Inhale, open and pause. Exhale in and curl the tail. Shoulders out of the ears. Last one. Inhale. Big exhale. Tail comes up two feet down. Let's take a moment. Okay, last set. We add the upper body, so legs back up, hands by the side.

The palms turn in. Inhale, open the shape. Pause. Exhale. Everything lifts. Tail comes up. Inhale, reach, lungs. Stay connected here. Exhale, curl. Lift the tail. Nice big breath in and exhale.

Last one, E now and exhale. Tail comes up, up, up, up, up, and lower down. Okay. Legs to tabletop. We're going to use that rotation, that twisted choreography we did from here. Lift your upper body up and pause from here. Twist the hips, squeeze the legs out over the foot bar. Stay there, sandwich the legs. Pull the legs back. Center. Lift a little higher. Lower down. Inhale here. Exhale, lift. Second side, twist the hips. Shoot the legs over the foot bar.

Squeeze the legs tight. Pull the legs back. Center, lift higher and lower down and again, upper body up, twist. Shoot the legs out. Be equal in both arms here. Pull yourself back center and lower down and lift and twist. Shoot the legs out so we're in a twisted hundred position. Pull the legs back, center. Lift a little higher and lower down and we're done with that. Set yourself up. Okay, we're going to rowing front and we're going to build it.

Flip our down. Headdress down. One heavy spring. Have a seat facing forward. Bring your hands to your shoulders. Try to get out of the front of your hip. From here, press the arms out on the diagonal.

Pause right back in for me and again, shoot out. Pay attention to where the shoulder blades are. Resist as you come in last time there. Get tall crown of the head to the ceiling. Resist in, we're going to add on now. Arms out to the diagonal. Stay there, lower the arms. Reach towards the edge of your carriage. Go back to the diagonal. Where are those shoulderblades resisted back out minimizing the movement of the carriage. As the arms go down and the arms go up.

Resist in now, think about the thigh bones being heavy. Press out so we don't want the front of the hip to overwork. Back up. Pull the shoulder blades down. Resist and we're going to the full choreography. Now shoot out. Pause. Lower the arms, arms all the way up over the head.

Arms by the ears, palms out. Explode the arms down by the side, back to the shoulders and out on the diagonal. Hold it there. Lower the arms. Minimize the movement of the carriage all the way up. Up, up, grow tall. Press the arms down. Back to your start. Last time everyone out on the diagonal, press the arms down. Take the arms out, pause for a second. Pull the rib cage up out of your pelvis.

Explode the arms down and this got a rowing back. Turn around. This is my favorite exercise. Many of you might know that already. Leg straight in front of you about five fingers distance. Nice to do without the ropes as well. Hands to the chest. Be beautifully tall. Tuck and pull the pubic bone under.

Really looking for that curl in the lumbar spine. Open the arms, pause, connect to the back of your shoulder. Dye forward. Beautiful. See shape, big circle here, up and all the way past the toes. Back to your start. Beautifully tall. Tuck in sequence without sinking. Open the arms. Connect to the back of the shoulder. Dye for deep in the contraction in the center of the body.

Beautiful long wingspan. As you come up and over the top, back to the start tucking. Curl yourself back. Open the arms from the center of the body. Connect deep in the contraction. Big circle up and over the top. Take a moment to grab hold of the souls of your feet.

Pull your head towards your feet. [inaudible] and let's move on. We're going along box. Grab your box. We're going to the long position. I'm going to work with the same spring. Change it now if you need, we're going to pulling straps, so plain, all pulling straps, chest over the edge, and we're going to choke up a full arm's length onto the rope and begin inflection from here. Inhale, pull the arms back, lift the chest and lower all the way back down.

There's energy in the legs. Inhale, open the chest. Heart moves forward, long neck and all the way back down, but you're still connected. Inhale, open the chest. Look for a feeling of length in the body and lower it down. And again, inhale, reach through all 10 toes and lower end to full flection here. Last time, big breath in and all the way down. Let's change our hands. Slide them down to your loop. Tuck the elbows in by your side.

The spine is neutral and begin swinging out in, in from the elbow. So a nice clean kick back here. The elbows are hugged in the spine is long. Check in with your abdominals. They should not be touching the box. Some of you might opt to add extension to this action. Either way he listening for the breath. Keep moving in a long gated position.

Last one like that. That's take a little moment to rest. Reach the arms up onto the frame, drop the head down. Then open the arms wide. Lift yourself to neutral, so you're in a beautiful long tee position. From here, pull the arms into your side, work as you open the arms back to the T. so we work to close and we reach. We work more as we open. And again, pull the arms down and like you're unfurling a Cape here.

As you open, the shoulder blades are still and open. If you'd like to add the extension, you may do that at any point or you can stay neutral. Last time everybody back to that T pause. Everything comes down. Reach the arms up on the frame, drop the head and come up. Have a seat facing the back.

So we're going to go into a roll back series and into a ball series. Choke up on the ropes to begin to feet on your headrest. You're beautifully tall. From here. Curl tail under bone by bone. We're going to go all the way up and over. Really open the chest here. Use that as a stretch. Chin in first.

Sequence yourself back up, pressing the lower back into the box fist. Take one more of those. Go ahead and tuck your tail. Under. Shoulders are down. Open the chest, the chin comes in, peel yourself up. The lower the arms are here, the more challenging it is and we're going to move on. Bring your left leg up to your ball shape, bringing the other leg up to join it. And I really want your five bones perpendicular to the floor.

Shoulders are dropped from here. We're willing to hundred tuck. Roll yourself down to your very perfect hundred position. Pause there. Now pull those knees in back to your ball shape. Hold your ball shape for a minute. Pull your chest to your thighs compress and again, peel down to your hundred positions.

Squeeze the legs tight and then back to that ball shape. Pull the chest to the thighs, not thighs to chest, chest to thighs. Tuck and peel them. Control it back to that ball shape. Look for that perpendicular orientation to the ground.

Last one, so it's not exactly like ball from the mat. It's sort of like slightly tipped back. Now compress, compress, compress. Keep pulling the chest to the five bones, two feet down. Sit tall. Just simply turn your head one way. Shoulder blades are heavy and then turn your head the other way. Shoulder blades are heavy and back center. We're going to add to that.

Come back to your ball shape, huh. Okay. From here we roll down to the a hundred tuck and roll to your hundred. Now from here we lift to teaser. Whatever your teaser is, lengthen the spine back to hundred. Reach those legs long for that and back to your ball. Compress, compress, compress. Shoulders are down, and again, peel down to that beautiful hundred lifted teas are still sequencing through the spine. Then back to your a hundred reach long.

That's a ball shape. Compress. Shoulders down last time. Squeeze the inner thighs here. It will help. Sequins to lift. Crown of the head, heads towards the ceiling. Talk in, peel down. Get beautifully long that to that ball shape. This is your last moment here, so really compress chest to thighs, two feet down and scoot back.

Plain old chest expansion so the arms pull back. Turn the head one way the other way. Come center, release the arms. Continue like this. Pull back, turn, turn, center [inaudible] continue like this. And imagine your feet are really heavy, really that those thigh bones be heavy and relaxed. Press feel of the shoulder blades are just take that quick scan of your body. Check in with your legs, your back, your neck center. Last one, pull the arms back, be tall. Turn the head one way the other way.

Center and release without tangling the ropes. Turn and face forward. We're gonna go to a little modified teaser. Come to the front half of your box. Place the two feet on the frame, hands on the box to begin. Set yourself up with your legs at tabletop. Find your balance and then the hands come off from here. The arms sweep up and they lower down, back out and up too.

And the effort in the belly here must match the effort of the arms. Otherwise you're going to throw yourself off balance. Some of you might opt to straighten the legs. Notice the more you put effort into the belly, the arm will naturally just lift higher on its own. So really pull the waistline back. Pull the waistline back, stay tall. Last time everybody controlling it at all moments.

Bend the knees two feet down. We're moving on. Okay, we're going to short box, but I want you to place your box in front of your shoulder rests. You might need a sticky at this point for your forearms and we're going to take the machine down to a medium setting. The lighter you go, the more challenging this'll be. So it's up to you. What you want to do today, I want your whole forum on the box that's establish the plank position here. So one leg pushes you out, get your bearings, the other leg comes up. Take a moment here just to squeeze the legs together.

Energy out from the crown of the head all the way to the heels. The Achilles tendon is long from here around the upper back. Pull the in, lift the hips up, the heels go down. I want the spring totally closed. So you're holding the machine in from the center of the body.

Come back to your plank position and pause from here. Pull the right knee to the box. Really connecting the right five bone to the center of the body. Press that foot back. Any other knee comes in. Lift the knee high to the center of the body.

Take that foot around the upper back. Inchworm met Karajan and hold it in and take a look down at that spring. Make sure it's not helping you. Woo. Come back to plank. Moving to the side. No right knee to the right shoulder. Pause and take it back.

Try not to hold the breath left knee in and hos listen for the breath. Take the leg out. Pull the carrying gent inchworm action in. Try to keep the tail tucked under. Back to plank. Last time here, one knee twist across the body. Really make sure that is coming from the pelvis, not the knee. Take that foot back and then twist. Try to get your pelvis perpendicular to the ground. Push through your forearms for me. Take the foot back.

Inchworm in heels. Go down. Oh, little break here. Yeah, take a second. We're going to add to that. So come back to your start position. You're on your forearms. One foot back, the other foot back. Okay. We're going to skip the center position from here. Right knee to the right shoulder. Holt. Now stand that leg out. Straight, straight, straight. Hold it. The lay comes back center. Place the foot down. Other knee draws into the shoulder. Hold it. Extend that leg out.

Back in. Put the foot down. Oh, the kerogen. Ooh. Just one more set back to your plank. This turn, we rotate. One knee twists across the body and then extend that leg out. Upper body is square, the leg comes back center. Take the foot back, other knee across the body. Make sure you're not arching. Extend the leg out. Push through both forearms. Come back center. Take the foot back.

Well, the carriage in and hold, hold, hold. Shoulders out of the ears and down to the knees. Okay, that's go on. We're going into the CanCan series. You're going to have a seat at the edge of your box. Grab the closest rope to you and bring it up over your knee and it's not a bad idea to do this the first couple of times without the tension.

Come down to your forearms. Elbows are going to be under your shoulders, legs to tabletop, and pause here from here. Rotate the pelvis towards your foot bar. Pause here. Then all the way back to the back of your carriage, Holt and again up in over. Make sure your feet are moving with you and up and over. Push through those forums.

Neck is long and then up in over moving from the waistline, not the hip socket. So it's this really the Seesaw action of the hips. Twist. Push that forearm into the box and twist in the opposite forum into the box. Last time twist. Don't lose your neck and twist.

Sit yourself up. The rope comes off. Same thing with the upper body, so the legs are straight. Five fingers distance behind you. The hands come in front. Tuck and roll back. Take a moment to really let the thigh bones be heavy. Heavy to the box. From here.

The rib cage twists towards the foot bar and then away from the foot bar and again twist the rib cage and twist. So the arms are a reflection of what's happening in the upper body, right? The arms are really connected to the center. Keep the five bones heavy, heavy, heavy. The tendency is to grip here in the front of the hip. You can control that last one [inaudible] and sit yourself up. So we're going to put that together. I'm going to go without the rope cause I don't think I need it today.

Legs to tabletop and then the hands in front of you and you might be holding the rope from here. The upper body goes to the foot bar. That opposite hip comes off the box and everything twist to the other side is going to feel a little precarious. Go ahead and twist. One hip is up. You're balanced on one hip here and to the other side. It's very Grammy. It's very Martha Graham and up and over and up in over one more here and up in over paws and up in over pause. Set yourself up, laid onto your belly, facing the other direction.

Bring the heels together, flex the feet, hands on the top of the box, and then just a little hamstring press here. So we're doing sort of double action here. We're working the gluten, the hamstring, but Oh my gosh, we're opening the front of the hip and that should just feel delicious to you right now. You either neutral or urine extension and you're using this as an active recovery and relax and second side, everybody have a seat with or without the strap. The strap closest to you is the one you want. It's going up and over your knee.

You can also play around with the tension on this exercise. Come down onto the forearms, elbows under the shoulders, legs to tabletop. And here we go. Twisting to the foot bar and then away from the foot bar. You already know the exercise now, so just focus on where you're moving from. What is sensation in your body?

And I would like it to be in your waistline. The sacred is really heavy on the mat for me. Everyone, the lower back isn't long. Two more here. The feet are kind of arking up and over with each rep. last time, twist to the foot bar and away. Sit yourself up and grab that loop. Remember the loop is optional. Legs are straight in front of you. Have room behind you.

Tuck and curl back, hands in front of your chest, rotate to the foot bar and then away from the foot bar and to the foot bar and really separate the lower body from your upper body. And if you get too much Slack, just go ahead and adjust if that like feeling of the tension dropping out of your shape bothers you. Just make an adjustment with your hands on the rope. Listen for that breath. Last one here and then sit yourself up. That's put it all together. I'm going without the rope. Again, find your balance. The legs are at tabletop, the hands are in front of you.

Take your legs to the foot bar and then everything twists up and over. So the rib cage and the pelvis are moving opposite directions like you're wringing out a dish rag. Really do that little tight twist, tight twist from the waistline to Wist. Okay. And to whist. If you don't feel for carious in the balance, you're probably not doing it right. One more each way. [inaudible] and come all the way up. Turn and lay back on your belly.

We're gonna try something slightly different this time. The feet are the same. Reach the hands behind you. Pull the arms back, open the chest, and from here that little hamstring curl. Shoulders are out of the ears. Shoulder blades are drawing together. Experiment with taking your breath here into the front of your chest. It should add length to your shape to pubic.

Bone of course is on the box for three, two, one and come on out of there. All right, everybody up. We're doing a little prep for twisted arabesque onto your knees. Now this feels a little different for most of you. Hands come to the edge of the carriage. The back is neutral. Extend one like up into arabesque. It is turned out.

Twist that knee and tuck it behind the bottom leg and then extend back to Airbus. So we internally rotate and then we externally rotate. Continue like this and really feel that action coming from the glute, not from the back. Check in with where your weight is. It should be between your hands and your knee. The tendency is to tip forward onto the hands.

Let's do one more twist in. Take the leg up. Pause here. Everything's still carry the leg side, both arms straight. Really commit to it. Take that knee out. The other leg reaches up and that should feel again really nice on the front of that hip. Internally, rotate. Tuck in external rotation. Take it out and up. Dry it in pinky toe to the sky and again, check in with your neck and reach and in and the leg just stretches and stretches for ever. Tuck it in and extend it up.

Check in with the shoulders in and reach last one in and reach. Hold it here. Carry the leg side. Commit to it both arms straight, all the way side. Ladies and chance knee comes out and that's come off of here. Boxes, go back to their home and we're going to set up for up stretch and we're going to build it. I always like building my exercises into progressions, a heavy in a medium spring, but feel free to go as light as you want up onto the balls of the feet.

That's just establish the start position. That same drawing in of the tailbone shoulder blades are wide, the carriage is in all the way from here. Open to plank. The shoulder joint stays right where it was and then that dye through that inchworm sensation in and paws shoulders out of the ears. Again, press open and inchworm in this time. Get your hips more engaged, so feel the hips come down into the shape. It will help you a lot and pull in. Moving on, push out to your plank. Stay here. Bring the plank in. Either stop at the foot bar or come all the way over the foot bar of that's what you know. Inchworm in back to your start.

Push open to plank. You use the hip, shoulders wide, pull the carriage in and then an Schwann back to your start. Last one here. Plank. Pull in, inchworm in and pause. Right hand center, back to that arabesque all the way up. Open the hip. This time, little pulse up from that glute. What's happening with your shoulders in your arms and your neck. Now hold the leg up. The bottom leg moves the carriage out and in lift the top leg higher.

Press out the leg will naturally lift here a little. Hold it there as you come in to more. Keep reaching through the pinkie toe. Both Armstrong commit to the arms. Last one and the big finale into that twisted arabesque. So bend the knee and the standing leg moves.

It bends back to Aribel disk and come in. And if you can, this is explosive on the out and in and out. So just adding that little stick huddle rhythm is going to change it. Last one, pause. Carry the leg side all the way side. Let that hip fold.

Step the foot down, hands to the other side. The other leg comes up to Arabic. [inaudible] enjoy that nice open sensation. Pulse the leg up. You know what's coming. So set yourself up for that. Check in with the shoulders and the arms and the neck. Hold that leg up. Bottom leg moves you out. The leg goes higher. Come in, maintain the height back out to the leg, goes higher and in. Maintain the height again.

Neck is long. Stay here. Hold it here from here into the twist. Then the standing leg explode out. And Ben both arms straight and stretch. Hold the carriage still and in and out.

Last run and in. Explode out. Pause here. Carry the leg side. Yeah, step down. Put the heels down, take your hands to the carriage. Walk your hands all the way back. Grabbed vigorously to the shoulder. Rest and shift your weight forward onto your foot.

It's okay if the knees are bent. So I really want a feeling of traction throughout your whole spine and you're so far forward that if you were to drop your hands, you'd fall right on your head. But don't do that. Take a deep breath in and exhale. Walk the hands back to the foot bar. Step off to one side, spring change if you want, whatever you need. I'm on one heavy, just basic. So as stretch, do whatever it is that you need here.

If you have some other little ritual you do, that's fine. We do need to do a little side bending though. So take the arm up the arm closest to the spring and then side bend up and away from the spring. And I want you to feel like you're doing a tiny mini backbend up in the upper back, right between the shoulder blades. And that's just going to keep you open and generate a little bit more stretch and all the way in second side down to that. Nice. So as stretch, I work with my front leg at 90 back leg.

Really parallel. You might be comfortable here sometimes. This is what really is working for me though. [inaudible] from wherever you're at. One hand comes up and then side bend up in a way from that spring, that little sensation. Even if you just think back bend, I feel like it'll change the way you're engaging. Uh, come all the way in. Have a seat on your reformer.

Bring your two feet down on the mat. Bring the palms up on your knees and just take a moment to focus on your breath and let your mind come to just a centered place. Take a scan of your body, make note of the energy you feel happening throughout your whole body. Take that with you for the rest of your day and when you're done. Thank you everybody.