Refreshing Reformer Stretch

Hi. I'm Melissa Connolly, and I am going to be sharing with you a short and sweet, reformer stretch class. All you need is your reformer. No props. We're gonna start with a nice and light spring, the latest you have, the latest I have here is one yellow spring. And let's begin standing in the well of the reformer. We're gonna face towards the footbar carriage side with your feet about hip distance apart.

You're gonna stand nice and tall, relax your shoulders down your back, lengthen up through the crown of your head, and let's take some shoulder rolls, raising your shoulders up, and exhale settling them back. 2 more lift up. And exhale, relax the shoulders down. One more up and exhale back, reverse the shoulder rolls, go back, up, relax them down, and back up and down one more and relax the shoulders down. Bend at your knees and then lean forward with a flat back and grab hold of the shoulder rest. Pull the carriage in towards you round your back. Feel that nice round, letter c shape, and then inhale, lengthen the carriage forward, lengthen your back.

Exhale round your spine, pull the carriage in, and then start to release the carriage and straighten out your spine. Just one more. Exhale round your back. And inhale release. Look forward and arch.

Now take your left hand on top of your right hand and exhale round the back, pulling in and inhale stretch and release. Ex. He'll pull the carriage in rounding your back, inhale stretch. And release one more time, curling the tailbone under. Pull the carriage in. And let it release.

The hands go over to the left side, right hand on top of your left, exhale round to the back, pull the carriage in, inhale lengthen out your back. Exhale round, pull it in, and inhale lengthen out. Just one more here around the back. Pull the carriage in, and then stretch it out. Take the right hand back to the shoulder rest and then just curl your tailbone under. Let go of the shoulder rest and roll up to standing.

We'll step down to the left side of the reformer. Grab hold of your strap with your right hand. You're gonna face the carriage, feet again parallel hip distance apart, have a little bit of tension on the strap here, and then lower your left ear down towards your left shoulder. So with that extra tension feeling, a little extra release in your neck, And now pick your head back up to the center and rotate your head. Look over your left shoulder. Take your breath in and exhale.

And bring your head back to the center. And then bring your left ear again towards your left shoulder. And this time, tilt your chin down towards your chest. Hold it as you inhale. And exhale.

And to come out of it, bring your left ear back to your left shoulder, and raise your head upright. Peg your strap. We're gonna make sure we're on a red spring for the next exercise. And moving into a SOWA stretch, step your left foot forward underneath the foot bar, right foot flat up against the shoulder rest. Shoulders are down, sink your body down into the stretch.

From here, bring the carriage in. And exhale sink it down and stretch. 5 of these. Inhale come up. Exhale sink a little bit further down. Inhale lift up.

X. He'll sink a little bit further down. One more time. Lift and then hold this last one here. Feel that you're pushing back through your right heel, You're pushing the heels of the hands into the foot bar and stretch for 5. Hold 4, 3, 2, 1. And then we come in straighten out your left leg. Left leg straight.

Lift your toes up off of the floor. My left foot flexed, hips are square, right, hip bone forward, left, hip bone back, and same, range of motion pushing out, and then coming in 5 times exhale, like getting a stretch down through your hamstrings, and in. Exhale, press back 3. And in. 2 more exhale stretch for And in nice and easy. Last one, maybe going the furthest that you have. Hold it for 3, 2, 1, and bring the carriage into the stoppers.

Take the right foot down to the floor, pivot face your reformer. The left foot steps underneath the reformer close to the leg. The right foot is up against the shoulder rest. We're gonna slide the carriage away. The right hand is on the carriage left hand to the wooden frame. And then slide out. Keep your back straight and long stretching the inner thighs. Go out.

Coming just a couple of inches. Breathe out press 2. And in stretching and releasing through the adductors. Do that twice more. Stretch out.

And in. Last one, stretch and hold. 32. One and let's bring the carriage all the way in. Once you close it into the stoppers, place your left hand to the middle of the foot bar, bring your left leg forward, sitting on the carriage, and the right shin up against the shoulder rest for the mermaid. The right arm stretches out to the side, palm is facing up, and then we exhale stretch the side and inhale lift up.

Again, exhale stretch your side. And inhale lift up. On this last one, number 3, hold it over, rotate your torso, place the hands wide on the foot bar, look down to the floor, Bend your elbows 3 times. Inhale. Bend. Press 1. Inhale.

Bend. Press 2. And bend. Press out on 3. Now start to lift the head. Raising your chest, inhale look up, and exhale press the carriage away. Breathing in, looking up, and exhale press the carriage away. And one more time, inhale lifting up, and exhale press away. Bend your elbows, bring the carriage all the way in, and come up.

Take your right foot down to the floor. And bring your left foot across your right thigh, sit up nice and straight, tuck the chin down to the chest, slide your hands down the reformer frame, and come down, holding on to the bottom edge of your reformer, and hold that hip stretch for 54, and 3, and 2, and 1, roll your spine back upright. And then the left foot goes down. So feet are hip distance apart. You're sitting close to the front edge of your roof warmer.

Reach your hands back and then lift your chest. Pull your elbows towards each other so you get that nice stretch across your chest. Across your collarbone, take a big inhale, lift your chest, lift your heart up, and breathe out. And then we'll come all the way up to standing from here. And turn around face the reformer.

Hold on to the left strap. The other side, we had a yellow. Now we have a red. It doesn't quite matter the spring tension because it's very light, and you're not using the resistance. So we can keep our red spring.

Feet, hip distance, and then tilt the right ear towards the right shoulder. Seeing that nice stretch down your neck, breathing in, breathing out. And then bring your head back to the center and then rotate your head to the right looking, past your right shoulder and exhale release. And then coming through the center with your head, tilt the ear to the shoulder, tuck the chin down to the chest, and hold it 5, 4, 3, 2. 1, until the ear back to the shoulder and lift yourself up.

Peg this strap, face the foot bar, step the right foot under the foot bar, left foot against the shoulder rest. Moving into our SOWA stretch, your left foot is nice and flat down, and then sink down, releasing your hips stretch down 1 and in. Exhale, press stretch 2. And in. Exhale. Press stretch.

3. And in. 2 more exhale stretch. The hip flexor. 4. And in.

Last time, hold it. Push your hands forward. Press your heel back. Sync, sink for 5. Stretch 4, 3, 2, 1. Bring it in. Strain out the right leg. The foot is flexed, and then we slide back to stretch the hamstrings.

1 and breathe out stretch to and exhale stretch 3. 2 more, press 4. And on this last one, press it back and hold it. Hold it. Hold it. And bring the carriage in. Close the carriage step to the ground, face the reformer. The right foot goes underneath the reformer, left it up against the shoulder rest.

Take your left hand to the carriage, right hand to the outer frame, and slide out. Working the adductor stretch, inner thighs. Press out 1. Stretch out two. Exale 3, stretch 4, and 5. Let's bring my carriage all the way in.

Close it into the stoppers. Moving into the mermaid stretch. Come up onto your right hip. Your left shin is against the shoulder rest. Right leg is forward, right hand to the middle of the footbar.

And now stretching your left arm out. Let's take it out and overhead side stretch. Inhale lifting up. Again, exhale side stretch. Inhale.

Lifting up. Number 3, hold a stretch over. Rotate. So both hands go on either side of the reformer, push the carriage away, bend the elbows, inhale, exhale press 1, bend the elbows, Press 2. Bend the elbows. Press 3. Now pick up your head. Inhale.

Lift your chest looking up. Exhale. Press away. Look down. Breathe and lift the chest look up. Exhale press look down.

1 more inhale lift up. Exhale press look down. Been the elbows to close the carriage and then bring yourself back upright. Alright. That left foot steps to the ground. The right foot comes across the thigh.

Sit up tall to begin, hands to the front of your reformer. Tuck the chin and round forward. Taking your hands to the bottom of the reformer gently pulling into a stretch. 1, hold 2, hold 3, 4, five roll up. Place the right foot down. Take your hands back and then just open your chest.

Pull your elbows towards each other. Take a big breath and lift your chest. Take a big exhale, burrito. And release. Face the reformer.

Add a blue spring. Come up onto your knees. Your left foot is flat against the shoulder rest. Place the arch of the foot onto the platform of your reformer and place the shin of your leg up against the footbar. Keep your shin on the footbar as you push the carriage back. So You should again be feeling another hip flexor stretch on that left side, look straightforward, breathe into your nose, and then exhale, stretch up, push the carriage further away, and relax your head down.

And then bend your knee, bring your shin up against the foot bar, but keep pushing back through that left leg, stretching your hip flexor. 2 more. Press a right leg out. Drop your head down. And then bend the right knee, shin up against the shoulder rest. One more press away. Take your time, exhale.

Releasing into this stretch. And then bend the knee, shin to the foot bar, and then let's pull the left leg in. Switch sides, right foot flat against the shoulder rest, left foot up onto the platform. So your shin is right up against that foot bar. Keep it there as you slide the carriage back.

So stretching here through the right hip flexor looks straightforward. Inhale. Now push back. As you push back, your head lowers down, stretch the hamstrings, and then bend the niche in against the foot bar. Look forward. Keep pressing back through the right leg. And press back. Your left leg, drop your head down, and stretch, and then bend, come in.

Last time, press the way, lower your head down and stretch, then the left knee and come in, and then close the carriage in, step off of your reformer, change it back to one yellow spring. Come around to the front of your reformer, place your feet, right, underneath the reformer. So you have your thighs against the foot bar. Sit up nice and tall and raise your arms. Reach your fingertips to the ceiling.

Lower your chin to your chest, round forward. The heel of the hands goes to the edge of the carriage and then push, push, push, push, push, keep pushing away, lift your head, lift your tailbone, arch your back, Exale curl your tailbone under bring the carriage to the stoppers. Two more times. Push the carriage forward. Lift your head. Archer back.

And then curl the tailbone under round your back. Last time, press away. Lift your head, arch your back. Exhale round, close the carriage to the stoppers, and now continue rolling up lower back, middle back, shoulders, head finished by reaching the arms, get nice and long, stretch, stretch, stretch, exhale lower the arms down by your sides, and we are finished.