Class #195

BASI Reformer Flow

50 min - Class
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Description

Intermediate Reformer class at a deliberate pace following the BASI block system. This class will challenge you as well as ask you to look for details within your practice. A challenging, yet energizing workout.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

About This Video

Jun 21, 2010
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Let's just stand, um, to decides of our reformer facing. We're going to start with a couple of roll down and now I'm ready. Inhale. Exhale, folding forward feeling as the spine folds forward, the sense of lifting up, supporting from the front of the body. The neck is totally relaxed. The hips are just over the heels. We're going to stay at the bottom for the in another inhale and we exhale to roll back up. So just articulating through the spine, pressing the hips just a little bit forward so the spine has something to stack over and making sure that the hips are just below the shoulders as we stand up.

Inhale again, we'll do three exhaling as we fold forward. Using this as an opportunity to start to let the outside world go to start to live within and put the focus within anyway. Folding down maybe at the bottom just by pulling in a little bit deeper through the ABS. You can take your spine a little further. Exhale, we're coming up. We're honing through the spine. Shoulders gently reaching away from the years are falling heavily down towards the hip.

Yes, it comes up last and is the first thing to go back down. This is our last one. Building forward, perhaps looking with the n or noticing if you shift over to one side and carry most of your weight there. If you tend to want to shift from side to side. So just creating a sense of, I dunno, I want to say solidity, is that a word? Solidity. Good. Find. Feel solid within your body. And with that we're going to come come to our reformers so I can be here too.

I've yet to find the perfect hairdo for Pele's ponies don't really work. All right. No head rests. We're heading into the pelvic curl. Don't try to keep personal comments to a minimum arms long and straight. Press the heels down into the bar as you exhale. Curl through the spine so you're lifting the pelvis up.

Feel the knees reaching towards the feet. Inhale at the top. Start the movement downwards with the chest. So we're already set up on our footwork spring so we're not having to work really hard to keep the carriage still, although we are peeling the spine down into the reformer. Inhaling, as the tailbone relaxes to neutral excelling as we curl back up again, the knees are in parallel alignment. Hamstrings are working quite hard. We're biasing towards a little bit of a posterior tilt. Notice if both hips are level, you should be able to see them pretty clearly at the top excelling as you curve the spy. We're rounding down creating space between the bones in the back, feeling the movement all the way down through the lower abdominals until the pelvis releases down and again going a little quicker this time for three more.

X Haleigh. Inhale, pause and exhale to roll. John, maximizing the curvature of the spine, looking for a lot of control. Balance. He was in the breath. Exhale up. There's another place where you can check in and feel. Is one leg working harder than the other? Try to look for balance in your body.

Exhale to come down one more time here. Rolling up on the exhale, sending the knees out over the toes, arresting the hips up through space, breathing in and breathing out to come down. Coming back all the way through the tailbone. Reach the arms back and hold onto the hooks where the straps live. Pick up one lake, followed by the other leg for the spine. Twist supine. Inhale as we go to the left and exhale as we work our right-o obliques to bring our legs back through center. Shifting up onto the right hip.

We take the knees over to that side and we exhale working hard from the waist. Bring their ribs back and then the hips back in heel as we go across. Exhale as we pull back. Sorry Tara and Neil, as we go across and exhale as we pull back. So Dad, just a couple more to go. Say two more to heat side. Mobilizing through the lower back, creating a sense of energy all around the body and back. Last one, both sides and cross to come back.

Reach around for the backs of the legs. Rock yourself up, turn around and take your foot bar down. We're going to finish our warm up on the box. If you would just grab your box and put it on long ways, please [inaudible] and then just sit right at the edge of it with both feet on the foot bar, so just a little bit of energy downwards to the legs, arms straight out in front. Breathe in, prepare, breathe out. As you once again, articulate your spine down. This time we're looking for just below the shoulder blades. Rounding down through that spine. Inhale, raise your arms up. Exhale, press your arms back forward and follow them forward.

End Up sitting tall and healing at the top, excelling to articulate to onwards. You're working deeply through the apps. We're going to do three of these heavy shoulder blades, a little bit of inner arm pressure. Inhale, arms up, exhale forward and rural rounding, staying round as the shoulders, travel over the hips and then sitting up. One more time, excelling as we go down a little bit of inner thigh. Work in heel, raise the arms up. Exhale, press the arms down and follow them forward. And from here, we're going all the way back down or not all the way. Let's say rounding just to below the shoulder blades.

So you're in your low abdominal curl. Take a breath, pick up the left leg, pick up the right leg. Hold the tops of both knees for the double leg stretch. Here it is reaching out and around reaching act and around keeping the arms long. The upper body lifted. As the arms travel overhead, the belly button drags down into the box. It's important that the backstage is flat. Last four [inaudible] and three to push the arms through an imaginary solid. Last two, one more.

Holding onto the left knee. Stretch the right leg, stray curl a little forward and change. Feel energy inside the size as they pass by one another. Feel energy behind the story. Lay behind both legs. As a matter of fact, sending the toes out on a horizontal line. Continuing to challenge the upward curl of the body. Looking for stillness in the pelvis. Gonna go. Three, three, two, two, one, one both knees and hands behind the head. Okay, candy, stretch the right leg out.

Rotate to your left and change wringing out this spy mining energy again back at the street like in a thigh. The rotations common from the ribs, primarily not from the eyes of the elbows had just rest in the hands. Last three, three, two and one. Bring both knees in and reach your arms forward. Inhale, keep in the back flat. Lower both knees away from you. And exhale, pull them back. Any Hilter, reach the toes down. Keep the upper body lifted. Exhale to the pull back. Inhale this time, toes down, arms up. Exhale everything back. Let's do that twice more.

You weren't okay. Reach behind your thighs. Curl a little forward and Rola. Put The box away. And then we're just going to go straight into here. So head rest up if you wish. Three reds or three reds and a blue spring or whatever you like for your foot.

Alright. Alright, so we're starting on the heels and one our consistent energy in words in the inner thighs, arms long and straight. And here we go. Connecting from the back of the leg. We send the legs out straight and then we contract the back of the legs to pull the reformer in, stretching out to pull back, finding a Ruda, but making sure that while we're rhythmic, there's energy in both directions. Never letting the springs do our work for us. About four more to go pulling inwards with the apps last too, I don't want come in all the way back. Place the toes on the bar.

Lift them up a bit, not as high as they can be. A bit about halfway between locked up and locked down. Press out, pull home, stretch the knees all the way to straight without overextending. So in order to do that, we've got a really energetically squeezes inner thighs. As the knees straighten or in other words, there's perhaps the idea of lifting the knees fast. We press out and last five for keeping the bottom of the ribs.

Press down the feeders still last too. Here's one. Coming all the way back at the bottom, bringing the heels together, squeezing the heels together to find a strong inner thigh contraction. We squeezed the thigh bones together and pool and press the combination of hip extensor work in add doctor work here that we're looking for. Imagine the belly button traveling through the reformer into the ground underneath you. Last for checking both legs. They both work in Siri, four, two and one come all the way back and we're going to bring the heels to the outside of the bar.

Feet flexed and still squeezing energetically inwards as though there's something that you're holding. We press out that inner thigh work continues as the knees extend completely and Paul feet are still as though they have a wall to stand on about straightening the legs from just below the chest last four times. Yes. Checking in with the shoulders. The arms are long intention free. Here's my last one coming all the way home.

Oh, that's okay. One more is not going to kill you or me and here we go. We're on our toes again. There's a slight lift in the feet. Stay still, so we press out and pull back, press out and pull it back. Using this to just continue to warm up the body to get it ready for the more intricate movements to come. Same connected to your mind, linking your mind and your body. What about four more there?

As we know, counting is not my forte but I approximate. Wow, this is it. And then all the way back in parallel, feet on the toes for calve raises, let's do 15 pressing all the way out, lower the heels, squeeze the muscles all the way up the back of the leg all the way to the glutes and arise up onto the toes. Articulate down through the foot, pull way under to lift way. Don't land. I don't like two way. Can you involve not only the feed and calves but also the abdominals for full range of motion in the feet. Checking that you come straight up and pull straight on her. I gave a number and then didn't count.

How about five miles and two and 30 stay lifted on the toes, been the right knee and pull the left heel down and then up to the toes to change full range of motion again in the foot. The foot. That's [inaudible] the foot of the knee. That's bending presses on the bard just as much as of that foot of the hail that's reaching under. In other words, both feet are working, keeping the pelvis from rocking back and forth. So this strong, steady hit. I have three more to go. Two to one.

I don't want to drop that heel. Don't give it a stretch. Change sides when you're ready and then hop onto both feet. Come in, let's sit up and adjust the springs for single leg work. Yeah, two reds and a blue, two reds. Those of you at home probably know what you, you'll want. Candy and I are doing two reds and a blue.

We've got our left foot flexed on the bar, the right leg at table top, hip steady, and we press straight out supporting the knee as we go and pull back. So even though that, hmm, let me say that differently though. Right leg. The one that's just floating there in space is nice and steady so it doesn't float back and forth. Yes, left foot is still. So can you try to press your foot a little forward as you stretch your leg of the left one, the left one, it's your f. It's kind of coming. That's it.

So imagine you're standing on something. Two more. This is it. I'm all the way in. Adjust legs. And then here we go. Squeeze in the back of the leg. We extend and to press and pull.

Here's a good place for us to check. Maybe if when like works a little harder. One to me feels a little harder. Strong energy in both directions. We're going four more times three and two coming back in. Placing the left toes on the bar. I'm gonna stretch the right leg out. Okay.

So as we stretch the left leg, we're going to bend the right knee, bend the left knee, reach under the bar, straighten bent, then straight left knee straightens the right knee bends as the left knee bends. The right leg goes under the bar and over. One more time through and then all the way in to change length. So it was on the bar. That's like extended forward energy. Checking pelvis, pressing out bend and reach under. So simultaneously moving the legs even though they're doing different actions.

Well, same as coordinated on this side for some reason. Last two, the pelvis study is that free, like travels through space. Sorry, one more. I meant last too. Over the top and under. This is it. Come all the way in and place the foot down. Okay. We're going to sit up and take the foot bar down and want to do an abdominal series and od. Personally, I enjoy doing this on a blue spring. Uh, you could choose to use a red, although it'd be a little bit, or red is going to be easier than a blue and it's not an easy series. So pick your points and I'm going red. I'm going blue.

I'm just don't have a blue spring. So I just moved my gear bar back. Okay. And then you can turn your body around. We don't need the head rest. We're going to put our feet on it and reach for your straps. I'm going to hold on above the buckles, feet flat down on the headrest, sitting tall through the spine. To begin and move. Give yourself enough space on the reformer so that you can move back.

That you can roll back on it. Yeah. Perfect. Alright, so we start here on the inhale, lifting tolerant. Then we exhale to curl the spine down into the reformer. So going down all the way until the low back is connected to the mat. And then from there it's a tiny movement, but it should feel intense. Press the ribs down to curl the chest forward.

You're trying not even to move the reformer much. Inhale to go back. Just challenging the height of the curdle springs. Help us out here and Dan, we're going to do that two more times. And back. Last one. All right, so now the upper body is doing the same thing and one leg is going to come up to meet it.

So you just pick the leg up from the hip joint [inaudible] and down and another side and down [inaudible] five and pulls away and but the chest doesn't move much very far forward. We'll do three more to each side. Three and to and to [inaudible]. And last time on this side, both feet down. Breathe in and roll up. As you exhale all the way at the top, put the strap that's in your left hand back on the huck.

Keep the strap that's in your right hand. Reach your left arm back forward. We're going to come straight down through the middle again on the exhale. Here we go. When you get to the bottom, you're gonna reach back and take that left hand behind the head. From there it's like chest lift with rotation is what you're looking for. So it's a small rotation to the right and back and again, turning around the wrist, right elbow stays straight, carried stays pretty.

Still. One more time. And then as we turn to that same side, we're going to pick up the right leg for three, creates a little bit more intensity. Got to stabilize the pelvis. Yes, this is it, but the leg down reached the left arm forward and with control and coming up, we go right up through center and then set the syrup down and pick up the opposite one. Okay, so we've got both arms reaching for it.

It's a bit of a challenge in my opinion, to come down with only one strap, but do it right and center. All right. When you get to the bottom, reach the right hand behind the head and then it's XL to reach across and slightly upwards. Not a lot. And just going to do five of these and back. Draw the abdominals in as you rotate to get more work. Yes, this is the last one without the leg. And then we've got three picking up the leg that we're turning to here as well.

One and two and back. 30 and back. Reaching the right arm forward. We roll ourselves back up. I'm going all the way up to the top. Set the string back was a tough, huh. Tough and fun. All right, we're gonna go into hip work now, so red and a blue spring probably probably want to flip our up so you have something to push off.

And then all the way down onto our backs. I feel free to have your head rest up if you wish. And we're gonna press out on the with the legs, putting one foot into the strap. Stabilize this trunk, press that leg out to bring the opposite foot in. We're gonna just do the basic hip work series today. Once, sorry.

Yum, yum. Okay, so we start with the frog. We squeeze inner thigh, external rotators and we press sliding legs forward. Inhale to Poland. Challenge yourself to use your feet as little as possible to not even think about pressing from there, but instead to think about moving from the hip from close up towards the hips. Let's go a little faster.

I think pulling back and pressing forward. One, two, four more. Working hard in the inner thighs, working hard in the abs last too. And last one. Stay there. Bring the legs up. Check your external rotation rotation and see if you can challenge it from your hip joint. Then press the legs forward. Separate them, circle them up around and together. Bringing the heels together and touch.

Exhale to press down for our circles. Inhale out around and up, rotating in the hip joint and press. Make sure they feed, come all the way to touch and squeeze together before you start pressing them down. Look for stability in the pelvis. It's what it's all about really. Last, uh, if you can come to 90 without lifting your tailbone, that's fantastic. If not, you'll probably have to stop a little shy of there.

And then let's finish at the top. Recheck the external rotators, recheck the inner thighs and reverse out down and together. And here it's a little easier in my opinion to make sure you're a neutral pelvis or it's just a little easier to find I think with the legs together. No less important when they're separate, but just without saying it again, easier to find. Oh, I did it. Is that it again reaching down and together looking for symmetry in the movement? No, no. We'll go four more times.

Squeezing the legs together at the bottom. Last too, having the femur glide around the hip joint. Last one here. Okay. Holding the legs on a low diagonal.

Think about them going straight across the horizon. Meaning as they separate for openings, they don't lift up or down. And then we pull them straight back in, yelling as they open. Think about not just squeezing the inner thighs, but lifting. It's like you're pulling up with your abs. Let the legs float together, and again, I think the ribs fan out as the legs open. Closing the ribs, looking for strong, working at the abs as the legs come together.

Five more times, little quicker, maybe last to to see if you're collecting tension in your neck. The answer should be a definite. Now this is the last one here. Let's bend the knees. Reach back to take the head rest down. Okay, head into the short spine here.

I'm going to talk slowly through the first one and do slowly. As you exhale, reach forward with your legs and point your feet from that place. Fold and half at the waist, coming all the way into the stopper with the carriage. Now here the pelvis might have to lift up off the reformer a little and that's okay. Exhale as you articulate up, keeping the carriage still at the stopper in yelling as you bend your knees in for support and turn it into a little hamstring can direction up there. XL as you start from the chest rolling down, allowing the hips to move away from the feet slightly, and then you'll more than likely have to drop your knees into, keep the carriage still as you roll down as far as you can. From that point, we're going to flex the feet and the rest is a hint. So we bring the legs straight across the top.

That was lovely and forward and we go low quicker. Inhale as you come all the way to the stopper. Exhale as you milk the road, uh, the articulation of the spine ruling way up onto the shoulders in y'all keeping tension on the straps. We bend the knees. Exhale, we articulate, manipulate the spine down, stretching the hips, stretching the low back at the bottom. We flex the feet and inhale to come across the top. We'll do two more Xers. Just stretch. Squeeze in heel, two fold in, half.

Exhale to Rola in Neal to bend. Excellent shall roll down, keeping energy through the inner thighs and energy through the arms. Flex. Reach across the top and forward last time all the way into the stop or maximize that stretch by continuing to reach the tailbone down. Then roll up. Exhale, the whole thing is performed in external rotation in to bend the knees. He'll stay together. Exhale to roll the spine down into the mat. Keep the carriage stone to the very last minute when the feet flex and we inhale to bring them across the top and back. Take our feet out of the straps and come in. [inaudible] kneeling lunch for the nailing lunch.

Usually one spring is plenty for the nailing one. Here we go. Let's start on the left knee. Curling the left toes under so the foot can stay pretty close to flat up against the shoulder block right foot up on the bar. Do my very best to get straight and then just keep the hip pressing forward with a slight posterior bias and push with the hip extensors back until we feel the hip stretch and breathe. Here we go. Start to straighten the front leg.

The hip should go straight out as though you're drawing a straight line or sliding it along a table, working to length and out through the spine. Christie, how am I going? I'm going to straight candy. Looks Straight. If this isn't enough of a stretch for you, try dropping your heel down under the bar. Personally, I'm quite happy where I am. As you bend your right knee, your front knee, press actively through the backside of the left leg so that you get the stretches. You come in chest as lifting a pressing the hip bones forward is a breathing deep breaths for three. And then starting to slide the hips once again, back on that straight line, lengthening along through the spine, breathing in and out, and then bend all the way back. I think Jess come up.

So carriage comes all the way in. That's when they get to take that off. I know, I love that one. It's not easy, but it feels good. Left foot places. Um, make sure when you're put putting your foot on the bar that you're not putting it right in the middle. Wants to be just in front of the hip. So thinking about alignment, once you get that set up, then start to engage the back of the right leg pressing back so that you're opening up the front of, they have the energy here is [inaudible]. As you start to slide that left hip back, the energy in the spine starts to go from up to forward.

I'm gonna Ribbon that left knee again, energized to the backside of the right leg as the chest comes. Once again, up and forward. Oh Man. Breathing in and out. It's important to take your time and your stretches. If your muscles a chance to stretch last time, sliding the hips back, sticking my tailbone ups here. Here, you're energizing or you're biasing towards the, I should do that. Okay, so then I'll be even, I think you should, Candace is going to do one more and I'm going to come in, see what's going on. So oftentimes it doesn't feel super, super funny. So it's fine to pad the knee with some something and then just sliding the hips back. So you'll watch as she carries her body story back.

There's no dropping or lifting of the pelvis. There's energy outward through the spine, energy back or through that back leg and then she just sprays and she looks beautiful. I'm going for that. Lovely, lovely, nice straight back. If you have to round your back as you straighten your front leg, you've gone too far. Keep the spine flat. Lovely. She's strong feedback like as she lifts up away from the side, come in. Oh, you're such a beautiful student. Do you need a break for your knees?

No. No. What are we going to do? Down stretch I think. No, and it was just a lot of weight on me. I get it. All right, so we slide the toes under. We got the feet. Press up against his shoulder blocks. Start here. Just start round and then start to think about tucking the pelvis as you start to bring the hips forward of the knees. So now we've got strong back of the legs and strong abs.

Then begin to lift the chest forward. Imagine that there's a brick wall in front of you that you're not allowed to go through. From there. The exhale is to press the carriage back. As we inhale, we keep the back of the leg strong. We lift up, AH, up to come in and we press out. Exhale. Once we set that arc like shaping the low back, the body doesn't change much. Arc of the body stays consistent as we move from the shoulder joint using the abdominals and the backs of the legs to support the spine about three more and a little bit quicker. Exhale and inhale in and out.

Oh, the way to touch. That's where it gets hard. Xcel press, I guess it's hard all the way around isn't it can mean a lot up and last one I say now lifting. Huh? And then from there just bring your feet together behind you. Rest your forearms on the bar and just sit back for a stretch. Settling the hips towards the heels. Just going to take a moment or two here. All right, coming up. What are, when you're ready. Let's turn ourselves around.

Whoa. Where does the time go? We're going to do the arms kneeling series. You want the pad? Do you want a second one? No, I think I can get [inaudible]. Perfect. Okay, no worries. So for the arms kneeling series, we've got the hips just over the knees. Now the, um, the tendency here is to want to be to lean back when we pull the arms back. So the challenge is to keep the shoulders just over the knees almost feels just the littlest bit like you're gonna fall forward, but you're not because you're going to be really supported in your front. And here we go. It's a downward pressure for us.

And then the arms move back and then a downward pressure as the arms move forward. They don't move very far forward or very far back, say about 10 degrees in front of the legs and 10 degrees behind. Their most important thing to think about in this is that downward reach so we can get the lats working, which is our muscle focus. We're just going to do about four more than three to reach right. Last two students strong through the middle one more to go [inaudible] and then reaching the arms forward, setting the straps back and to come around to the opposite side. Um, I'm going to lower my spring tension personally. Um, and again, I don't have a blue spring, which is why I'm taking my foot by down and going to second gear on my red spring. All right, so for arm circles they're going to face the ocean.

Lucky you. Oh, I guess I am facing the, I shouldn't as well. The fetus slid back up against the shoulder blocks, so it starts to bother your knees. To me it feels a little easier on the knees and it's just a personal thing to bring the feet together behind Ya. So the palm space for the eyes are forward. We exhale, palms up, has the arms travel upwards. Ooh, this is the heavy sprain and then we reach around to the sides. Okay, next. So on the way on turning the palms to face forward.

So think about stretching the chest as the arms come around. It's important. The arms never go behind you. You always are able to see them in your periphery, especially as they come down to the sides. I guess the only time you won't see them as, as they reach past your eyes near your ears. Let's do about four more, little faster. It's exhale. Inhale down. Excellent.

And inhale down last too. This is it. And then we're going to go the opposite way. So we reach out and up first and then we reach the arms down. Shoulders are heavy. As the arms float through space, the arms, hands face upwards as the hands come down, face forwards as the arms reach up and upwards. As the arms go down.

We're both staying strong and our arms are both staying strong and our legs in order to support this movement three more and forward and up. And so I did last time. Yeah. [inaudible] we're gonna stay at the top first fingers and thumbs together. Make a little princess crown and then take your crown off and put it back on. Try to take the crown straight up. Feel the shoulders reach down as the arms lift.

Can you bring your pelvis forward just a little or bring your upper body back, knees, that's enough. Reach the arms around and set the straps back and for the sake of the knees we'll skip the biceps for today. Let's do the mermaid. Okay, awesome. That is hot. I will give you that. Okay, so we've got the bar put up. We're sitting to the side with one shen up against one shorter back.

I'm using a red spring, I believe it would probably be fine, but I prefer red. Okay, so one hand on the bar, one hand on the headrest. What do you want to make sure before we start is at work straight up and down through our spine that our arm is straight and that our shoulder is down from here. We're going to inhale and press out. We're trying to get that arm parallel to the ground. Both sides of the body are long and that freedom just floats up in line with the shoulder. As we exhale, we're turning from the ribs freemium, reaching around towards Flipboard as we draw the opposite shoulder down in. As we come back open looking forward and exhale as we come in.

We want to think tall and we're definitely not bending the elbow. Definitely not hunching the shoulder. Inhale to open. Exhale from the obliques. We turn big rotation through the spine. Inhale as we unwind and exhale as we come up.

And just one more candy. I'm just going to come over there. Go ahead. You're doing fine. I'm just going to give you a nice stretch. So all the way down, she's doing a great job with shoulder stability. The arm kind of float through space as she rotates her spine. She's thinking top, rib forward, bottom read back and that just feel so good.

I think [inaudible] and then coming back and nice and still stays in the carriage and you come all the way, way back in and just allow that arm to drop as you do. So other side I love. That's true. Me Too. So now that you've got that kind of hands on thing, try to find it in your movement and I'll come and give you another one on this side. Not that she was doing anything wrong because she wasn't, but sometimes it just helps to have someone guide you a little further. All right, shoulder blade down, abdominals in spine long. Here we go.

Inhale to send the arm parallel to the floor. The carriage stays still as we rotate the spine. That topper reaches around in that bottom. Rip Pulls back. Inhale, unwind. Exhale, sit straight up, shoulder down. Arm Long. Inhale over. Exhale to turn the body. It's important that that arm, the one that's supporting us, stays nice and strong with the shoulder.

Pulled away from the air. Inhale back and exhale to come back up. Last one, turning around through the waste. So for your teachers out there, I'm just shaking my hand under candy's ribs, my top hand on the top side of her ribs. I'm gently guiding her just a little further into her stretch. Feels amazing. She opens out and then she comes all the way back in. And let's do some back extensions. So grab your box, want to put it on the long ways. So I want to do the breaststroke prep cause it's one of my favorite exercises.

We're going to do it two different ways. First with springs and then without springs. Okay. So we're going to get on the box, the chest just over the edge, both hands on the foot bar and then I always look to make sure I'm straight, you look straight to me. And then what I want you to do is just line up pretty straight with the body abdominals in and legs just about as high as the box from here. Push down into the foot bar, just the littlest bit to extend upwards through the spine, like you're bending around your bra and then feel the shoulders reach down the back as we stretch our arms forward. And then as we bend our elbows, we're pulling the shoulders apart so there's energy on the way and we press back. Exhaling any, inhaling it in the back of the leg, strong the abdominal strong. When I say the back of the legs strong, I'm not necessarily talking about gripping your glutes and lifting them up.

Just talking about reaching away from you and keeping them as high as the box. And that should give you just as enough, just enough for support of the low back. Let's do about two more reaching the shoulders down as we send the arms forward and resisting the pull of the springs on the way. Again. Last one. Yeah, let me come back. All right and then just be careful, but reach down and take your spring off. Now this challenge is the exercise because if we're just pushing and pulling on the bar, the bar is going to move around on us.

I know that canvas can do this cause we've done it lots of times before together. So we stretch out and you have to kind of catch the reformer from just sliding away. Now here's where it gets tough. We are dragging ourselves in. We want you to think about stretching the bar so there's an active pull apart in the arms. Shoulders are pulling broad. I absolutely love this exercise. It's one of my very favorites. I like it whisperings and I also really like it with that challenges your muscles in a different way.

Maybe about three more sliding out, not neglecting all the other parts that we've talked about. Stretching the bar on the way in last too. That's an interesting cute stretching the bar. I didn't get it first. Yeah. Yeah, and what I mean, yeah, I mean it's not going to really move at all, but it's just that feeling of trying to pull your arms apart. Thank you. I like that. Shall we do one more?

So on this one, want us to stay out with our arms straight and then just start to articulate up for letting the eyes lift, letting the chest lift. Don't make it a huge back extension. Just look for a little bit more in the opera back out and then reach back to pull in. Okay, so probably a good idea to reach down and put a spring on to suit. The carriage is going to stay still and then we're just going to step off to the side again and we'll finish the way we started with a couple of roll downs.

Maybe face this way so you don't face me so you don't have to see you don't wanna. You don't want your bum to the camera, do you? Not really. Neither do I. So I'm going to face this way and here we go. Breathing it. Just melting, flower seeing or just allowing yourself to feel anything feels different in healing at the bottom. Exhaling, making our ways back, pressing the hips forward, stretching up, up, up through the spine and allowing the head to be the last thing to come up. Let's just do that one more time. Folding forward, letting intention just spill out from the top of the head. Keeping the spine supported, heaviness in the neck, shoulders and arms. Heavy but not so heavy that they're creeping into the year. Oh, this feels good. I can't come up yet. You can go ahead if you want.

When I'm having one more breath down here and one more inhale to exhale and come in. That is a wrap. Fantastic job. Thanks. Good. Okay.

Comments

1 person likes this.
wonderful flow and clear instruction. Love the warm up on the box!
1 person likes this.
great class meredith :) loved the abdominal section!
Pele
Wow! lots of fun. Lots of creativity and best of all, not excruciatingly slow or overly technical even if the class says "deliberate pace". There was still some flow and rhythm that was enjoyable.
Wonderful class. The ab work in the warmup on the long box is superb and hard! Especially loved seeing the seagull flying by... so peaceful. :)
Still LOVE this class and Meredith's teaching! Since we are all playing this on our computer or other device, it's hard to look at the screen for placement cues. It would be helpful if when we have "heels on bar" during the workout, we were verbally cued for abduction or adduction. I try not to look at the screen to keep my neck in line with my spine. :)
Thanks for the suggestion Kelbel. I will try to keep that in mind next time. Also thanks for the kind words!
Great class-love your teaching style-great cues!
Thank you Jill.
This was a great class! Loved the cueing.
Wonderful class Meredith, thank you. I absolutely loved the breast stroke prep without springs.
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