Quick Reformer Flow

Hi, thanks for joining me. We're back again to do another quick reformer flow so if you're ready, I am ready. And here we go. We have a box, as you can see and I have on the reformer, set up with one red spring. So what we'll do, is we'll sit facing the straps and we'll reach down and take a hold of the straps and I'm gonna hold just above the hardware.

So on the actual ropes. And then without doing a lot of pulling yet, just by holding the ropes, you should feel a little bit of spring tension. So what I want us to do is, as we just prepare to move is, do a tiny bit of backward pulling on the arm and just use that tension that you've created against the ropes to to build a taller spine. And then we'll just steady our eyes forwards. We'll get right away prepared to move.

And we're going to press the arms back. As the arms are pressing back, I want us to feel that we're lifting taller, taller, taller in the body. And then as the arms reach forwards we're gonna allow the spine to create a flexed position. So you're pulling back away from the arms that are reaching forwards. And then as you start letting the arms start to move back begin to reintroduce that straight body alignment to your body.

Take the arms back, maybe we'll lift the chest a little bit here. And then as the arms reach forward, draw back through the abdominals, through the ribcage and create a round spine. So for me, it almost feels like I'm pulling back away or into the tension of the spring. It feels good. And then take the arms, re-extend the spine, press back through the arms, let the spine bend.

As the arms are reaching forwards, deepen, deepen into that simplicity of movement. We can create a lot of muscular energy, and press and lift the spine. Taking the chest up and forwards. And as the arms are reaching forwards, we're never letting the springs do the work for us. But we're just working with the spring tension, with the weight of the spring, to change the shapes in the body, and last time, lift up.

And last time round, once we arrive in the round position, we will go back. So I'm pushing down with my feet onto the headrest, and pulling my cabs back into the edge of the box. We're gonna find the low back connected to the box and then roll back up. Keeping the spine now round, but as the shoulders come over the pelvis we feel that same sensation of drawing back away from the ropes, and go back. Letting the pelvis rotate under so that the low back has an opportunity to come to flat or connected, and then reach forwards.

Resisting the pull of the spring as we bring the shoulders back over the pelvis, and go back. Keeping the knees connected together, the back of the legs active. So I'm all the time pulling my legs back towards the box. And inhale. One more time like that, back.

Digging deep, and forwards. And this time when we go to the back, we're gonna stay at the back, rolling down, connecting the low spine to the box. And when you do, allowing the legs to come up, float up into a tabletop position. We're gonna keep the knees as they are, but curl the chest towards the thighs. Lower the body down, straighten the knees, bend the knees, curl the body forward.

Nice and simple. Simple doesn't mean easy, as you know. Stretch the legs out, bring the knees in, curl the body. Take the body back to the shoulder blades, and stretch the legs out, and bend the knees in. Keeping the torso still there, and then holding the leg still as we move the torso.

And down, we'll do two more. Out, and in, and fold the spine forwards, and back, and out, and in. And fold the spine forwards, and down. Take the legs back down. Once they come down, we round the spine up.

Once the shoulders are over the pelvis, we're gonna lift the spine up into an upright position bend to the right arm and reach the left arm forward. So spinal rotation, and center. And bend the left arm and reach the right arm forward and center. And one arm reaches and one arm pulls, and center. And one arm reaches and one arm pulls, and center.

As you continue to alternate from side to side, can you feel that you're evenly weighted over your sitting bones? Can you feel in addition to that, that your knees are connected together, aligned, never changing? And rotate, and reach the one arm doesn't have spring, the one arm does have spring, but both are active, and center. Little torso work, little oblique work, little arm work, all in the same combination of movements. So, we work in the whole body.

Last time to each direction. Rotate and reach. Come to center. Rotate and reach. Come to center.

Take your body down again. When the lower back starts to come into connection float the legs up, straighten the right leg, and turn to the left. And change. And change. So we're holding the reformer still now, and change, and creating rotation in our trunk.

And change. The arm that I'm rotating towards drops below the box, as the arm I'm rotating away from stays lifted up in line with the shoulders. So you can think about the arms just following the line of the shoulders, and the arms hugging in towards the body, towards the box, all the time. We're gonna do four, and four, and three. Keeping that low spine connected, feel that upper arm reaching the bottom arm pushing down.

Two. And two. And one. And one. Coming back in both knees bent.

Roll up, keeping the legs as they are, come up in your spine. Look straight ahead, and take the arms back. And forwards. And pull, and forwards, and pull and forward. Whoa. Keep your balance, Meredith.

Two, and forwards. And one, and forwards. Bring the feet down, the body comes up. Reach down, put the straps away. We're gonna take the box away.

Just put it right out of the way. I'm gonna put mine at the end. Add another spring, so we have two red springs now. You could go heavier if you want, but that's what I'm choosing. And then we're gonna come onto the reformer.

Tuck the bottom leg in underneath, thread the arm through so you have somewhere to put your head. Put your foot at the front of the foot bar. Check to make sure you're in a long line. And in a level pelvis, the other hand, it's gonna come to the shoulder block in the front and I want us to push down and forward on that shoulder block. And then we're gonna straighten, and bend.

Feels a back of the leg working as you work to push the reformer, and resist. So it's not a heavy spring, but it should be fair amount of work here. And bend. And press, and resisting, and press, and resisting. Little unilateral side to side work.

And in, and four, coming back pressing into the shoulder block. That's what's gonna give us a little bit of arm work in these short duration classes. I like to think of how we can work as many parts of the body as we can. Well, all the time really, but particularly now. And in, last time out.

Last time in, once you're in take your leg into external rotation. So we're taking the foot up, we're still on the heel. Take the leg out, and in. Feel that you're creating rotation in your hip, and secondary to the creation of rotation we press the reformer. And pull, and press, feeling the shoulder blades down on the back, and out, and in.

And five. And back, and four, and back. Nice, long neck, soft eyes. Last two here. And in.

Last time, come all the way in. Turn yourself onto your back. Let your head headrest down on the headrest. Take the leg that was on the bottom on top of the leg that was just pressing. And just take a spinal rotation there using the top leg to press the bottom leg down, and away.

And from there we'll come back. We'll turn to the other side. Taking the pelvis towards the back of the reformer, the foot towards the front of the reformer. I like to just feel that I'm nice and level in my pelvis. Hand on the shoulder block, and here we go.

Push out. And as you bend your knee, push into that shoulder block and reach out. Feel the length in the spine, the power in the leg. Focus on finding the right place to press from, which in my suggestion here, is the back of the leg. The back of the leg pulls the reformer in and out, and in, focusing on economy of movement.

So we're always doing something, thinking about the correct recruitment of our muscular system. And three. Pulling in, and two, pulling in, and one, and coming in. Once you're in, take your external rotation, the foot comes with the hip, and reach out, and point the knee as much straight up as you can. Feel that hip working as you work to straighten the leg pressing the knee towards the back of the shoulder.

And reach out, and pull in. Keep that arm on the shoulder block active. And reach out, and pull in, and breathe. And find your tempo, so that each movement turns into the next movement. And five, pulling in, and four, pulling in.

And three, pulling in. And last two, every repetition counts. And last one. And bring the reformer in. And take yourself onto your back.

And take the leg that was on the bottom on top of the leg that was just working. And take yourself across to the side. Stretching the hip, finding a spinal stretch, breathing, and coming back into the center. From here, we're gonna uncross the legs. Place the feet parallel to the sitting bones on the foot bar.

Center the eyes straight ahead, press down into your feet and roll the pelvis up. Trying there to hold the reformer still, coming nice and high up into that bridge position. And then rolling the body down, reaching the arms down and forwards, fully articulating through the spine as we take the pelvis all the way down into neutral. And then pushing down into the heels. Almost a sensation, for me anyway, of sliding the feet down on the bar.

Or just a different way to say activate the backs of the legs. And roll yourself down, down, down, down. And one more the same. We go up. Find that straight line, and down.

Really feel the work in the arms, the reach of the arms. And now, making a combination, we go up. Keep the height of the body, take the carriage out. And in. Touch.

And inhale. And lift up. Press out, maybe almost all the way, but not quite. Think up as you come in. Touch, and roll down.

And inhale, and lift up, holding the reformer still. And press out, and bend in, staying lifted, and roll down. I thought that was the last one, but I can't just let it go. I would need one more. So let's go together. Roll up.

Last time. Press out, bend in, go down, all the way. Roll to your side, bring yourself up. We will take the foot bar down here. We're about to go and get the box for some side overs.

So, let's take the strap, hook some more springs up so the carriage is fully loaded. And grab the box. So we're gonna set the box on the reformer sideways. Come up on the box, taking the foot underneath the strap, leaning over onto the side of the hip. Hand comes down onto the headrest, find a straight line in your body.

One hand behind the head, the other hand behind the head. And we go over, and up. And just four, over. And think out with the body, and over, and up. And one more.

And up. Reach down with your arm, take the hand from behind the head overhead. Feel that stretch in your body pushing actively through the leg that's in the strap. Come up with your arms. Turn to the opposite side.

Changing sides. Leading with the heel up into that strap, find your straight line, hands behind the head. And we go over, and long. Keep the leg underneath the strap active. Over, and long.

And inhale. And exhale. And inhale. And exhale. And reach all the way.

Bring that arm overhead. Push out into the strap, try and slide the foot away from the arm. And then when you're ready, use your arms. Come up, step out of the strap, turn the box so it's long ways now. Put the foot bar back up.

We're going to change to a red spring while we're at it. You might need to change your spring first just so you can get the reformer out of the way. Or that's what I was experiencing in real time, anyway. Here we go. You're gonna lay on top of the box, with the chest just at the far end of the box.

Legs active and straight behind us. Hands on the foot bar. Feel the shoulder blades draw down as you work to straighten the arms out in front of you. And then start looking forward where you're taking your body, which you're doing, coming up through the body. Nice, high, energized legs.

Undulate the body back down, so it's a reverse articulation. Eyes come down towards, this brings on the arm's bed. Pull the bar apart. Feel the shoulder blades, draw down the arms, straighten. The body comes up.

Get that nice stretch through the front of the body. Take the body down. Bend the arms in. Shoulder blades go down, arms reach out. Body comes up, body goes down, and bend, and stretch.

Remember to take the eyes in the direction you want your spine to go. Try bringing the carriage all the way in. And down. So I'm still looking forward, 'cause I still want that extension in my spine until the very end. Last time.

Out. Bring the reformer in. Take the reformer out, bend the elbows in. Take the hands off the foot bar. Bring the knees underneath the body.

Rest the arms over the foot bar, and just sit back into rest position. Dropping the head between the arms. Taking a pause, a couple of breaths, inhaling. And, letting any tension in the body go. And, inhaling.

(breathing) And then begin to bring your body up. Step off the box. Stand up nice and tall. And we're all done. Thank you for joining me for class today.