Quick Full-Body Reformer

Hi, I'm Meredith. Thank you for joining me here today. We are gonna do a quick intermediate flow on the Reformer. For those of us who don't have a lot of time to sneak in a workout, this is for you. So I have set up on my Reformer three reds and one blue spring.

That's my preference for footwork. You can decide what your preference for footwork, but we're gonna go into it very shortly. So that being said, we're gonna come down onto the Reformer, onto our backs, placing the feet onto the foot bar, the head down, the arms come down, pause for just a moment, maybe close your eyes, or soften your gaze, and just bring your awareness inwards. Take an inhale (inhales deeply) and an exhale (exhales sharply). And when you have sufficiently grounded yourself, I feel like I've sufficiently grounded myself, we'll begin to move.

So breathing into prepare. As we exhale, we'll feel our feet dragging down or sliding down on the foot bar. That's not an action cue, it's more of a sensation cue. We'll roll the pelvis up. So articulating up through the spine looking to create a straight line from the knees down to the shoulders, feeling the inner thighs working so that the legs stay parallel, pausing to inhale, and then rolling back down.

So just mobilizing through the spine keeping that dragging down on the heel sensation to feel the backs of the legs are activated. Roll all the way down until you feel your tailbone come down and touch. And inhale there (inhales deeply). And exhale, feet down, press down, roll up. The arms can be pressing down into the mat as the pelvis is rolling up, the knees are reaching forward, the heels are pulling back, pause to inhale at the top (inhales deeply) and exhale starting with the chest, softening your way down through your spine.

Trying to find the center of the spine as you roll down. Noticing as we do two more, if there's any shifting from side to side. Is there more weight on one leg than the other? And can you work to create an even connection with both legs? Inhaling at the top, (inhales deeply) and exhaling to articulate down.

Reaching the arms out towards the foot bar. Lots of things to check in with. Last time, inhale, tailbone touches, exhale to roll up, (exhales sharply) mobilizing the spine using the front of the body for support, back of the body gets a little love here at the top. And exhale, we roll down deepening the curvature of the lower spine as we lay the spine back down all the way. Lift your arms up and bring them to the outside of the frame.

If that's not comfortable for your shoulders you could also decide just hold the hooks where the straps live. This is my preference. We're gonna lift the legs up. And on the inhale we're gonna tip the pelvis to the right, lifting off the left hip onto the right hip, keeping the left shoulder and elbow down and reaching, and exhale, drawing in through the center of the body to return to center. And inhale, reach up and over to the opposite side, and deepen through the center of the body as you come back into the center.

And inhale, lift off one hip onto the other, keeping the knees lined up side by side. And feel the navel pull back away from your clothing towards the spine as you return to center. So looking for depth here. Inhale as we go across, and exhale as we come back through center. We'll just do one more to each side.

Inhaling as we go across and deepening to come back to center. And one more time to the opposite side, keeping the two sides of the body equally long, and exhale to come back. So what we'll do here is we'll turn so that the shoulder blades are just at the edge of the Reformer. Reach back to bring your hands behind your head. Supporting your head with your hands, reach over the top of the Reformer with your upper spine.

From here, lift the head and chest. Keep the head heavy in the hands as you bend the spine forward. And then as we go back, we're working, we're feeling a elongation an elongating contraction through the center of the body, an exhale to come up. Feeling the head heavy in the hands and stretching ourselves back over the top of the Reformer. We'll do three more, lifting up feeling the ribs draw down, and together.

Use the end of the exhale to deepen into that shape. Last two, inhale and exhale (exhales sharply). And inhale, and exhale pausing at the top. Take your hands behind your thighs, use your arms to deepen into the shape. Maintaining the height of the trunk, reach your hands back behind your head and straighten your knees, and bend your knees.

And straighten your knees, and bend your knees. And inhale and exhale. And inhale. Checking the weight of the head in the hands, making sure we're not pushing the face forward. And exhale, take just the right leg, straight, and the left.

Feel the legs just pass one another, meeting in the middle and then change. Meeting in the middle and then change. And three, and three, and four. Going to five. So last one, the legs stay in that pattern as we create rotation, and rotation.

Wring out the spine, staying lifted as we come through center. Taking the gaze just past that bent knee as we were rotating towards it. Three, counting down. Three, and two. Two, and one.

One, both knees come in. Take the hands in the thighs or the thighs to the hands, press your thighs into your hands and rock up and turn and come down. Going into footwork. I like to have my head rest up for this so I can see what's happening in my feet. So you can decide what you'd like.

Finding a neutral orientation in the pelvis. Checking for the ribs to be nice and heavy on the Reformer. Press out, resist in. Press out, resist in. As you're moving the Reformer, feel first that you're engaging through the backs of the legs.

So we feel the connection of the heels to the bar to bring our focus into the back of the legs, and pull back. So we're working the springs in both directions. I like to sometimes feel if I can make it harder on the in than the out. Last three. And bend, and working from the center of the body always bringing some focus there.

And one, come almost all the way in and pause. And we do a tiny out and down. Push and pull. Checking in with the rest of the body. Are the arms active?

Feel the feet flexing back towards the knees. Last five, small range. Three. Two. Take it all the way out on one, and come back in.

We are gonna go onto the toes. We'll do a little combination here. So press out until your legs are straight, lower your feet under the foot bar. Lift your feet back up and bend. Feel the backs of the legs initiate the movement out, all the way under, maximizing that full dorsiflexion in the feet and bend, and out, under, up and in.

Creating a rhythm. And under, and up, and pull, and press, and flex. Take that stretch. And up, and bend, and out, and under, and up, and in. Last three, how many is that you ask?

I have no idea, just guessing. And in, and two. If numbers matter to you, I'm not good at keeping track. You might know that about me, so. And we come almost all the way in and we do small outs and down, working the springs in both directions.

Out and down, out. Feeling the inner thighs working. Out, keeping everything aligned. Five, and four, and three, and two. And all the way out on one.

And bend and come back in, swivel the heels together to bring the heels together, knees apart. We squeeze the heels together, use that to activate the inner thighs and reach out and pull back. And reach out. Can you feel a sense of connecting the heels through the inner thighs, through the center of the body? So everything is organized, everything is connected.

And out and down. Feeling as though we're just floating on that moving carriage. And back, let's do three more. One and in, and stretch out and drag back. And one, when we bend our knees we go almost to the end of the spring and then press and drag.

Press and drag. Keep continuing to bring your awareness into that heel squeeze. Bring your awareness into your inner thighs. Last five, and four, and three, and two. Take it all the way out on one.

Come all the way back in. Reorganize the feet so we're back in parallel alignment. Press out and bend the right knee, take the left heel under, meet in the middle so both feet are pointed, and then change. And meet in the middle, both legs are pointed so we're fully moving through the feet. Taking that stretch.

And we'll go a little quicker now. Down and up, and down and up, and down and up. Where are the shoulders? What are the arms doing? So there's never any room to stop thinking about all the pieces of the body, or there is but I recommend thinking about all the pieces.

It makes things more interesting for sure. Let's do three, full stretch under, and two, and two. Keeping the pelvis centered. And one, both feet come up, both knees bend. Reach over the top of the foot bar with your legs, lift your arms towards the ceiling, lift your head and look at your knees, roll up towards the foot bar.

Can we get it? Take a hold of the foot bar letting the knees drape over the top, and bend the arms pulling the bar apart in your imagination as you lift your chest up and back. And then returning to straight. Just a little transition there to change the spring, I'm going to one red and one blue. One red would be an easier choice if you're so inclined.

Reaching forwards we roll the spine back down, roll the spine back down, and reach back for the straps. Taking the arms so they're just over the shoulders. Applying pressure on the straps from the underneath of the arms, from the back. Lifting the legs up into a tabletop position, then lift your head and chest, follow through and reach the arms forward. Maximum upper spinal flexion.

Lift your arms. And as the arms come over the shoulders let the head come down. And lift the body, reaching forwards, lift the arms, keep the body lifted, and take the body down. And head and chest, arms follow through, arms lift up, head goes down. Last two, head and chest, follow through with the arms, lift the arms, take the head down.

Last one, head and chest, arms follow through and the legs go out and in, and out. Reaching actively through the arms all the time like you're using your arms to pull yourself higher. And in, and two, and in. And one, and bend. Lift the arms, bring the body back.

Bring the body up, straighten the knees, lift your legs straight up, continue to reach forward with your arms as you bring the thighs towards the body. So we're reverse curling. Reverse curl down, keep the height of the body, bend your knees, lift your arms, let your head come down. And lift up, and stretch the legs forward, bring your straight legs towards your body, bring your straight legs even closer to your body lifting your pelvis away from the Reformer, lower your pelvis down, bend your knees, lift your arms, and come down. One more time, lift up, stretch the legs, straight legs come up, reverse curl, keep the body lifted, continue to keep the body lifted as you take your pelvis down, bend your knees, lift your arms, and come all the way down.

Oh that was a lot. Bring your feet into the straps. Just very simple hip work here. We take the legs forwards and bend, keeping the feet flexed, and forward squeezing the heels together, and pull, and forwards, and bend. Staying nice and centered on the carriage, from side to side over the pelvis, we are centered.

And bend. Last one, hold the legs straight and point the feet, lift the legs up, press your straight legs down, separate and circle to the top. Once they touch, they start to move away from the body, they open at the bottom, circle to the top. Even symmetrical circles. And press, and open, around to the top.

And press, and open, around to the top. Just one more, feeling the back of the legs moving the Reformer, open, around to the top. Reverse, go open, reach away, touch together, come up. Keep the pelvis heavy, keep the ribs heavy. Open, keep the carriage still, bring the legs down and together, then the carriage moves, carriage moves as we come up.

The only time it stays still is as we open the legs then we move the carriage to circle the legs down, move the carriage to bring the legs up, stabilize the carriage as we open and press down and together. And up the center, and down and together. And up the center. Last one, down and together and pause, take the legs straight out to the sides, take that stretch to the insides of the legs, and then squeeze the upper thighs to bring the legs together. And inhale open, and exhale from the center of the body, we think of working to bring the legs back and open, and back together, and open.

And where are the shoulders? Where are the arms? Thinking out loud, but a good reminder for us all. Last two. And together.

And one more. And together. And once the heels come to touch, bend your knees. If your headrest is up, reach back and take it down. Stretch your legs forwards, fold your body in half.

We're trying to keep the pelvis heavy but we're letting the carriage come all the way into touch. Roll up and back, holding the Reformer still, bend your knees, keep your feet above your face as you roll down, allow the thighs to drop a little closer to the body, flex your feet, and then hip hinge your way back down, take the legs out straight. We're gonna do a little different version this time. Fold over, come to touch, roll up and back, bend your knees, tuck your feet right up next to your seat and now keep the shape of your body as you roll down. So just alternating different variations of this movement.

Once the pelvis comes to touch, take the legs out. Going back to the first variation, fold over, touch in, roll up and back, bend the knees, keep the feet over the face, roll the pelvis away from the feet, still working to keep the Reformer still, flex the feet, bring the legs through, point the legs, point the feet and stretch the legs. Fold in half, roll up and back standing actively into the arms, bend your knees, feet to seat, bring the shape of that down. One more time, back to the first variation. Fold in half, touch down, lift up and back, bend your knees, roll away from your feet, thigh bones get closer to the ribs, take that shape through in a hip hinge and then stretch back out.

Lift your legs, take a hold of the straps and bend your knees, put your elbows on the insides of your knees, flex your feet and send your feet straight up, the soles of your feet straight up. So we're just doing a little stretch here while we push out on the knees with the elbows, simultaneously pulled down with the arms against the straps, simultaneously dropping into the sacral area into the base of the pelvis. And just pause and have a couple of breaths here. Enjoy the stretch as a suggestion. And then slip your feet out of the straps, step down onto the bar, and come all the way in.

Hang the straps up. Okay, we're gonna do some arms. So we'll roll up. Change the spring to one red spring and come up onto your knees facing the back of the Reformer. Take a hold of the ropes, come all the way up onto your knees, bring your arms just to the front of your thighs and from there we find the mid back to take the arms back.

Resist from the same place we initiated from to bring the arms forward. And we go down and back, and forward. Feel that downward energy all the time. And forwards, and down and back. Lifting the spine, lifting the chest.

And forward, so you'll feel the backs of your arms but can you find just as much sensation. in your mid-back too. And forwards, we'll just do two more. Down and back. And forwards, and down and back.

And forwards. Sit down, hang the straps up briefly, scoot to the back. Reach back and put a blue spring on in addition to the red. So I've organized myself so I have my feet hanging over just so they can hook against the edge of the Reformer. We're gonna roll up, take the palms face up, press the pelvis forward and do a hip hinge, a thigh stretch.

So you're back on the diagonal, eyes are straight ahead, and we bend and straighten. Keeping the body in that organization. A little bit of a backward diagonal. And stretch and bend. And stretch, using the backs of the legs to press into the front of the legs, and stretch.

And five, and reach. Shoulder blades stay down the back. We initiate by stabilizing the scapula feeling the shoulder blades draw down towards the pelvis. Two more. One more.

Stay in that thigh stretch, turn the palms face down and pull, and reach. So if you wanted for this exercise you could pause and change to a heavier spring. Or you can just continue moving with me on this spring. Little light for this exercise, but we can create sensation. We'll do four, and reach.

Three. Keep that side stretch happening. Leaning back, two, and reach. One, and reach. Sit down, hang the straps up and turn around.

We'll go from that red and a blue spring to just one red. So remove the blue. Hands on the foot bar, press the pelvis forward, lift up, down stretch, press out. As you come in over the foot bar, press back through the legs as you lift up and forward with the chest. And take it back, and up and forward with the chest.

Think of pulling the bar apart. It's a nice way to find the upper back. Out and in, up, forward. Last two, trying to keep the feet energetically pressing back into the shoulder blocks all the time. And last one.

And all the way in. Bring your knees underneath you, step up onto the Reformer. Step back to the shoulder blocks, lean back. So we're looking for a flap back here. We've got the pelvis over the feet the shoulders broad and open.

We take the legs back now, and then right back underneath the pelvis keeping the energy back towards the feet. And inhale elephant. And exhale pulling, and think of the center of the body, the abdominal muscles, moving the carriage forward, stabilizing the spine as the legs move back. Last three. And back.

And two, keeping that flat back shape, keeping the spine stable. And one, coming all the way in and stepping down. Okay, let's take the foot bar down. Hang up the springs onto the carriage. We're heading into side overs here.

So we're gonna grab the box. Placing the box short ways on the Reformer. Sitting on the box, getting a hold of the strap, putting the (metal clanking) getting a hold of the strap. (metal clanking) Sometimes that's more difficult than you think it might be. Finding a straight line in the body, upper arm reaches straight out, opposite hand comes behind the head.

We're doing five. Go all the way over and back to your straight line, one. And all the way over and back to your straight line, two. And all the way over and back to your straight line, three. Reaching out, and two.

And all the way up, and one. And back to the straight line. Reach down all the way with your bottom hand, take your top arm over your head, push out through your leg in the opposite direction to maximize this stretch, you're welcome. And come up, and change legs, and turn. Starting with the hand down on the headrest so that we can organize in a straight line, opposite arm out to the side hand behind the head.

We go over, and up. And over, and up. How far can you go into the stretch? And up, and two. And up, and one.

And back. And go all the way over, top arm reaches overhead, the leg in the strap presses out in the opposite directions, we find that stretch. We come back up. Step off the box, turn the box to a long box shape. Changing springs.

I'm going to use a red. If you need a little bit of a lighter spring a blue is a good choice. (metal clanking) Coming back to take a hold of the straps. We're gonna hook the thumbs through the loops, pull the carriage, hold the box still, come onto it. Finding a straight line out from the head through the feet, energizing through the backs of the legs, arms bent to the sides of the body.

We reach the arms up, lifting the spine, take the arms all the way around. This is like you could feel like you're suspending out in that back extension, and then dropping the elbows down into the straps as the body comes down. And reach out. Taking advantage of the spring to lift up a little higher into your extension, and then bring the thumbs towards the shoulders as the elbows bend, elbows drop down. And reach out, and around, and bend and come down.

We'll do two more. This is our grand finale my friends. Come around, and come down, and reach out, and around, and come down. And hands on the box, come up, slide the knees in underneath you. We'll just reach back and hang the straps up.

And then just folding the spine over. Pausing and taking inventory. Feeling the pelvis reaching back towards the feet. Let the arms reach down towards the frame of the Reformer. Use your arms to pull yourself a little deeper into that shape.

And then roll up through your spine. And thank you for taking class with me.