Class #3616

Mindful Movement Reformer

55 min - Class
409 likes

Description

Focus on what is happening in your body with this mindful Reformer workout by Sara Colquhoun. She shares a class that she does weekly when she needs to slow down and tune in to a mind-body connection. She maintains a nice flow throughout the class, adding exercises to test your coordination, control, and balance.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box, Theraband

About This Video

Dec 04, 2018
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Transcript

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Hi, I'm Sarah Cahoon and I'm here at Pilatos anytime today filming my mindful movement reformer class. This is a reformer class that I like to take myself through usually on a weekly basis. Uh, it's just a time to sort of slow the work down, really focus on what's actually happening in your body and tune into that mind body connection. So it's just going to keep a nice fluid flow at, it's not going to be too intense workout. Um, but it's really just going to challenge that mind and body. And I've got the lovely Mary here who's doing my class with me. We're going to get started with just showing you how to set up the theraband that we're going to use a little bit later on in the class. So if you've got a theraband, we're using a green band, um, you could use a blue band or even lighter if you wanted to.

I'm just going to pop myself down to sitting and grab the end of the theraband Lupe had around the arch of your foot. We're going to tie back there about, into a nice from double knot. So just make sure that it's really tight that it's not going to come under can be a little bit tricky. Sometimes once you've done that, just pull nice and tight on the band and make sure it's secure around the arch of the foot and then you can just unravel that loop and take it off the foot and that way we've got that lit ready to go from when we need it and we're just going to pop the theraband down beside the reformer bed and we'll come back to that later on. We are starting with the foot bar up and just one red spring on. We are going to come to standing beside the reformer bet and take your right foot or for Mary to be her left foot. Place it right up against that timber there and take your left foot and place it back up against the shoulder rest and have that back knee just resting onto the bed hands just nice and lightly onto the foot bar. On the inhale. We're just going to press back a little bit deeper into that lunge and just keep the chest open on the exhale. As the reformer comes in, round the side, fine and just skirt to pull the reformer in.

Eve's Lunge

On the inhale, start to stretch that hip flex or open and think of lifting the heart and chest up towards the sky. And on the exhale, round the tail, round the head. Pull the reformer in. Three more of those breath in to open the heart and chest. Exhale, round and scope breath in. Okay, and use that breath out to flush out any old air out of the lungs and the ribs. Take a fresh breath of air in and stay out on this one.

So we're going to take the arm up that is the same as the leg that's on the reformer. And take a little side bend over towards the outside of your reformer. Come back to center. Bring that hand down onto the reformer skirt round and pull in. Let's do three more of those smoothly. Take out out to the lunch, take that arm up and side stretch over.

And you should feel that a hip flexor stretch as you go into the side. Stretch. Last one, take it back, stay. Lift that arm up. Side stretch one more time and then bring that arm lightly back onto the reformer. We're going to hold that position. Just float the back knee up off the bed and then lower the back knee down and we're going to breathe out. Float it up, breathe in, lower it down. One more, float it up, and if we can, we're going to take that inside arm off again and we're going to reach it all the way up. Take the other arm off as well. If we can reach it all the way up.

Go for a little chest opener to three. Circle the arms around hands, find the foot bar scoop, pull all the way up to standing and rest and we'll walk it around. Do the other side and a scoot through there. So place that foot right up against that timber and the back foot, pressing up against the shoulder. Rest. Start with that knee resting onto the reformer bed. Really light on the hands.

As we inhale, press into that hip flexor stretch. Exhale, round and scoop. Breath in to open, opening up the heart and chest. Big exhale, getting rid of all that air. She come in last two. As you pull the reform or even really think about that tailbone rounding and scooping under towards the football. Chest opens as you go out. Okay, last one we're going to stay at and we take that inside arm up, stretch it over towards the outside of the reformer. Bring it back down. Find that foot bar and then around the spine, Paul in.

Press it back. Float the arm up. Stretch over to the outside, back to center. Hand lightly on the football round to pull in. Last one, take the arm up, side stretch. I'm gonna come back to center. Take that hand down and stay. Lift the back knee up. Breathe that in. How low are lightly down. Exhale up.

So I'm really thinking about driving that back heel into the shoulder. Rest as I straighten the leg. Last one, we're going to keep it up. Float that inside arm all the way up if you can both arms to the sky. Little lift of the chest, two, three, circle the arms around, slowly scrape around, come all the way in. And wrestler foam my bed. We're going to pop the boxes on next long ways, so grab your box and popping that onto the reformer. Good.

Roll Back

We're going to pop the foot bar down, so that's out of the way and we will stay on that one red spring. So we're going to come to sitting onto the box and my real papa feet onto the head rest. And from there we're just going to reach the arms out in front and we're going to go into a little breathing exercise in our rollbacks. So on the exhale, draw that tailbone under. Start to roll back just as far as you feel like you can keep those feet down onto the headrest. Just stay in that position and take three deep breaths. H exhale.

Feel as though you zip and you scoop up that little bit deeper like your abdominals are drawing away from the line of your tights or the line of your shorts. Maybe you're wearing a skirt, I'm not really sure, and we're going to exhale. Roll it back forward. Inhale, stack the spine up tall. Let's do one more of those. Exhale, roll it back. Three deep breaths, and just think back to that last exercise and the hip opening that we got. You want to try and find that he poping in this position so that you really deepen that seeker from the spine. Exhale round the spine and come forward. This time we roll it back, we stay and we're just going to do 10 small pulses from that position. So little breath out in her back so everyone's height for this one might be a little bit different. You really want to try and work down through the feet.

Draw back with the abdominals away from those thighs. Lengthen and round the spine last to take a breath in. Exhale around the spine. Breathe in stack at old, way up tall. This time we're going to twist to the left so we do a little rotation. Exhale, roll the spine back and just do five little pulses. Now to that side, x, how to still keep the hips nice and square four and five. We're going to pass through the center on the breath in. Exhale, twist to the other side just from that upper body.

Roll Back w/ Rotation

Five little pulses there to breathe out. Three, four cres through those feet. Five. Now stay on that angle as you roll it back up to sitting and then come to center. We're going to twist back to the left and then on the exhale, roll it back. Stay in that roll back, and we're going to take the arms up all the way over to the other side. Stay to that side as you roll forward. Stack back up. Tall, hit center, twist to the right x how? Roll it back. Press through those feet as the arms come up over to the other side. Roll the spine forward and then come to center. Let's do one more.

Each side. Twist to the left. X How? Roll it back. See if you can float the arms through the middle, roll it back up on that side, and then stack Santa's last one. Big Breath out, up and over with the arms. Twist to the left. Roll it back up, and then hit center. Now we're going to do one more roll back just through the middle. Going back to where you were before. Take a breath in the next exhale, get a little bit further back. Take a breath in. Next exhale. Get a little bit further back. Try and press through those fie.

Chest Lift

Next exhale all the way back down to the box and circle those hands around behind the head and you should have the shoulders just back off the box. From there, we're going to inhale. Take the shoulders and head back off the edge of the box x. How come up into a chest lift in how to take it back. Exhale, come up.

Really enjoy that opening of the chest and the jaw. Okay, and then to come up, we're going to think of it lengthening through the spine to lift you into that chest lift. [inaudible] last one. Let's stay at the top. Am I going to bring the right leg up to the tabletop? Take your left ribs towards the inside of that right knee and then exhale, go back towards your left elbow. Exhale, go across towards the inside of the right knee. Back towards your left elbow.

Chest Lift w/Rotation

[inaudible] so you're allowing the eyes to go back towards the left elbow. The rib to stretch back two more. Okay, last one. Yeah. And then take the chest back to center. Right leg floats down, left leg floats up. Exhale.

Right rib goes across towards the inner side of that left knee and then back towards the right elbow. [inaudible] again, see if you can think of this coming from the spine. Stretching to bring you across. [inaudible] last one. And then we're going to bring the spine back into the middle.

Squeeze both legs up to the tabletop. And now we just go left hose, go down to touch the headrest and then alternating the air, right toes and Shane. Okay. See how stable you can stay through the hips. And now just adding a little twist. So I'm going to twist towards the knee. That's in the air, but really think of going to the inner side of the leg rather than the outside.

Toe Taps

[inaudible] two more each side. [inaudible] last one each side and then back to center and then we're going to lower those legs all the way down. If you need to grab a hold of the back of those thighs and use that to help. Roll yourself back up to sitting. Stack the spine up tall. Okay. From there we're going to reach down and grab ahold of your straps.

Arm Press Back

Cross the straps over so that they in opposite hands. Take the hands through the loop and we want the loop sitting around the outside of the hand, so towards that pinkie finger. Sit the spine up tall and my arms are just a little bit below my shoulders. On the breath out, pull the straps out to the side, get a little hold and then inhale slowly to return. Exhale to pull out. Get a little hold in that position.

Inhale to return. Breathe out. Yeah, Ray. Chat through the arms in how slowly back. Really see if you can explore this movement coming from the shoulders rather than just those hands. Yes. Wait, did you chew more?

Feel the waist narrow and the ribs soften as you press last one. And we're going to try and hold it out there for five. Breathe for four, reach through the arms, three press through the fate, two deep and the abdominals. One good work. And then slowly come all the way back and release those straps. So uncross your straps or don't do what I did and re cross them and pop them back down onto your spikes.

Cobra

And then from there we're going to jump up so that we can bring your foot back up. Pop it back into the middle setting. We're going to stay on the one red spring and we're going to jump around onto your tummy facing towards that foot back. So head is just over the edge and we're going to squeeze together with the legs there. On the exhale. Let's press the arms out to straighten. And on the inhale, keep the arms straight, slowly move through into your Cobra. Big exhale, press back away. And then on the inhale we're going to bend the elbows out wide. Exhale, push out and feel the shoulders engage down the back.

Try and increase that feeling. As you inhale, lift the chest into the extension. Exhale d even from your center and in how bent? Three that to press breathin guide you into that extension. Breath out. Reach away, and inhale bend. I'm gonna do two more. Exhale, press in. How?

Lift this one. We're going to stay up at the top. Take your right ear to your right shoulder and then circle the head around to the middle. Stack it back at all. Take your left ear to your left shoulder. Circle the head around to the middle. Stack it back up. Tool. Push back away again. Then the elbows come all the way in. Let's do one more like that. Press it am.

Lift the chest up into that extension and take the right ear to the right shoulder. Circle it around the middle. Feel that next stretch up to center. Left to left shoulder. Circle it all the way around. Come up to center. Push the ref on my bed back away. Get a little longer with that body.

Bend the arms come all the way in from there. Bring your hands onto the box, tack up into your rest position. So to bring those legs on, just let the body hang down and you can let the head rest where ever you feel comfortable. Let the arms just feel like they hang and really try and feel that breath right into the sides and back all the way down to the pelvis. One more deep breath in and deep breath out. Slowly come all the way up. And from there we're going to come onto all fours on your box. So in a regal, the legs back and let's take your right arm out to the side and we lift it up to the sky. Take a big breath in. Exhale, take the ride arm through for a thread the needle.

Child's Pose

We're going to use the box and press into the box as you rotate and then inhale, take that arm up to the sky. Try and open up your chest, big breath out, and flush any of that old air out of the body. As you twist through. One more big breath in. Feel the body with fresh air. Exhale, drain all that air out of the body and then slowly coming up onto that right hand. And let's take that left arm out to the side. We inhale, lift up, big breath out, rotate, and you can see I'm using my arm just to gently press that little bit deeper into the rotation. Inhale, lift up. Exhale, use the edge of the box. Get that little bit of extra rotation through the ribs. Inhale, last one, big breath out, squeezing all that air out of the ribs and lungs, and then bring that hand back onto the box. We're going to grab your therapy and that you prepared earlier, so grab that and let's pop that loop around the right foot. And Mary, we're going to try and have the loop of the foot, um, the band facing towards that front edge.

Thread the Needle

We're going to come back onto your box, keep a hold of the remainder of the theraband so that we can pop that underneath your opposite knee. And then from there, take your hands back onto the box. Now you can adjust the tension with this one as you need. So if you want to tie to just pull tighter on that bat and from there we're going to take your right leg back to straighten and lower it down towards your headrest. On the exhale when lifting that right leg just straight up in parallel in how lowering it back down. Exhale straight up in parallel. Breathe in, lower it back down. Exhale.

Single Leg Lift

Sometimes it's really hard to feel if the leg is actually parallel, so thinking of a little internal role of the thigh can actually help really get that hamstring going and get that leg nice and parallel. We're going to do three more. Yeah, try and keep these right hip lifted so that it's not dropping down towards the box. As you lower that, it's keeping the height and you're folding in that hip socket. Hold up on this last one. I'm gonna stay here for 10 little pulses in that parallel and one, two, three.

Really feeling that movement organically coming from the hip and not the foot. Yeah. Nine 10 now we hold the leg up externally, rotate your thigh bone, and now keep that thigh bone externally rotated. Lower the leg all the way down. Lift the leg up in the rotation a little bit higher than what it was before.

So that external rotation is going to facilitate that little bit of a deeper range in the hip. As that happens, think of a little bit of a d for work through the abdominal, so it's really drawing back to your spine. Last three, two and one. Keep the leg up there and 10 little pulses in that top range. Really moving from the hip and the foot just follows. Six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Hold the leg. We finish off with a single leg. Cat Stretch. So round the spine. Pull the knee in, in how? Lengthen the leg. Open the heart.

Single Leg Cat

Chest x. How round the spine. Pull the leg in. Inhale. Lengthen. Open heart, chest. Okay. Big Breath in. Two more and big breath out. Last one.

Yeah. Reach that leg up one more time. Oh, pen a chest, and then slowly come all the way down. Great work. We're gonna change it to the other side. So just pop your buttocks onto the box, slide that band off, and we'll slide it onto the other foot. Okay, so just make sure that knot is around at the front of your foot. Come back onto your box and then just find that right tension underneath your opposite knee. Place the hands onto the box, and then from there we take that leg back to straighten in parallel.

Single Leg Lift

Take it down towards the head rest and on the breath out we lift the leg up in, breathe in, lower it back down in how long? I really love to do these series as a preparation for the leg and foot work. It creates a great amount of heat and strength through the back of the leg and really teaches you how to move from the hip rather than moving your spine and pushing for your feet. We've got three more. Just check in with that leg that it's parallel. So little internal role. Last one, and keep the leg up and little pulses for 10 to three full.

Feel that lent through your spine. Eight nine, 10 and now hold it. I got P and externally rotate that thigh lower than like all the way down. X how lifted up in how lower it all the way down. Exhale, lift it up. Go ahead and just imagine that you are balancing a foam roll that across your pelvis.

You'd want that foam roller to be really level and not tipping to one side. [inaudible] full more. Keep thinking about that spine lengthening in both directions. Last to last one, am I going to keep that leg up there and pulse for 10 keeping that external rotation on the thigh and really pulse from the hip. Seven, eight, nine, hold it up there.

10 and now we can't stretch. Round spine pull in. Inhale, lengthen, reach and open. Exhale and this you can just move at the pace of your own breath. Okay, let the breath guide you through the movement. [inaudible] they've got one more to go. Mary, the last one, reach the leg back, open, open, open and then bring the leg back down and rest. Coming from there. We're going to take the theraband off and you can pop that down out of your way now. So we're done with that and we're going to pop the box off as well. Sam, from there we're going to come down into our leg and footwork series, so our foot bar is already out. Ready to go.

Single Leg Cat

We're going to add on just a blue spring, so we're going to start quite light and you'll see as we go through why we're starting on that light spring. So aligned down onto your back, the heels, come onto the foot bar and just rigor yourself back up against the shoulder, wrist pressing to the center of the heels and really try and find that center of your heel play, keeping that reforma bed still. We're going to burry that and roll the hips up to the sky. Take a in at the top and then exhale, roll it down joint by joint through the spine. Now these lights spring is going to make it really challenging to keep that rough oma bed still, so you have to be super mindful that you've got that sense of drawing under an end. Towards that foot bar. Exhale, roll it down, Mariana. Do One more. He brie that, rolling it up and just think back to that hip flexor stretch we started with. Try and get that openness through the front of the hips, but that depth and scrape under with the back of the hips.

Bridge

When you get to the bottom, roll it all the way back down and now on these lights spring, we're going to press the reformer bed out as we inhale and exhale, pull back in. Okay. See a challenge with this spring is to not fly away, okay? You use the inhale to feel that sense of length as we press out the exhale, drive the reform of Betty and from the back of the legs. [inaudible] we're going to do formal on this light spring.

Heels

Keep thinking of the center of the heels pressing into that foot bar. [inaudible] last one and then bringing their a a bed all the way in from there. Take the legs to straighten and they just resting on the football. If you can, we reach the arms up to the sky and just try and roll up through your spine. And if you need to, you can always grab a hold of the back of the legs. Let your knees bend when you're the Chubb.

Teaser

Reach through and just add on an extra red spring. And then from there we're going to roll back the same way. So we reach those arms, Zap, roll it down through the spine, press the arms down, pick up the two legs and come onto the art. Just the feet with the knees and feet, just hugging together. On the breath out. We're going to press the hips straight up and then on the breath in, roll the spine down and on the exhale, press the hips straight up.

Bridge

[inaudible] inhale, roll it down, joint by joint through the spine. One more of those. Exhale, press straight up and then inhale, roll it down. When we get to the bottom, push the riff oma bed app, and then on the exhale, pull the reforma all the way. And so you should feel that slight increase in spring. Now [inaudible] see if you can still really work to pull that reform a bed back in from the back of the legs and get just as much length as you had on the light spring. [inaudible] when did you five more? He married big breath in as you press the exhale, Jerome is the reformer bedding.

Arches

Okay? Three. Okay, too. Pressing the shoulders gently back. Last one, and stay. Take the legs to straighten again. Out over that foot bar. Reach the arms up to the sky and slowly roll it up through the spine and just let the legs self and reach through. And we're going to add on another red spring. Take the arms back out, stretch the legs, roll it back down, and then these time place the toes onto the bar.

Teaser

And now we do the pelvic curl to go up first. So we tuck the tailbone under, roll it up, and now on the inhale comes straight down and land on your tail x. How roll the spine up [inaudible] and then inhale straight down. Land on your tail. Exhale, roll it up. This one can be a little bit challenging on the coordination. Lower it straight down and stay next breath that we pushed the legs out to straighten and then bend the legs. Old Whitening. We'll add in a little bit of pace and in [inaudible] so you should feel now that we've gradually worked you up to this spring and we're aiming to make the reform a bed look and feel exactly the same as you were on that light spring, so it's really smooth. Almost like there's noise stops and starts and just like that reformer beds moving like one big circle.

Bridge

[inaudible] we've got three more [inaudible] and breathing out to press and get that limp last one and stay on the inhale. Let's take the heels under the bar x, how rise up hunter toasts in how under and exhale up as we go through the core phrases. Really think about opening through the front of those hips, lengthening through the waist and that spinal column lengthening in both directions. [inaudible] formal and see if we can explore using that breath out to make you a little bit lighter on your feet each time you rise up. Okay, last two. Last one. Bend the legs and come all the way. Aim from there.

Toes

We're going to go onto the heels so I both, he'll start on and then we're going to lift the right leg up to the tabletop. We breathe that. Push the left leg out to straighten. We're going to bend back in. Place the right leg down. Lift the left leg up to tabletop. Push out on the right link, bending left leg comes down. Right leg comes up. I'm going to keep working through these, changing from side to side, and just pop your hands onto your hips as you do it.

Tendon Stretch

So we're going to try and feel that the hips stay nice and square and the change happens down through the legs. Yeah, we start to get a little bit quicker with the transition. Okay. Her form of bed gets all the way in. Then change. If the hips are feeling nice and square, then you can take the arms back down.

Heels Single Leg

By your sides. We've got one more of these, each side in how to journal the Reforma in and then all the way back in and stay. Now we're going to come onto the toes, lift that right leg up to the table top. We breathe that and push the left leg out to straighten. Stay out here. Place the right leg onto the reform bar. Now lift the left leg, Ben backing on the right leg. Push out the change happens at he two straight legs and then bending.

Toes Single Leg

So this one just becomes a little more challenging to keep the hips still cause you've got the weight of that reformer bed. As you change legs. Again, just check in with those hips as you change. See how steady you can keep that pelvis and often having your fingertips touching really helps because you can feel if one hip starts to hike up higher than the other. And when did you two more of those? Each side bending all the way in and press all the way out.

Lost one each side. Be as precise as you can with the landing of that foot on the foot bar. Last one, and bend all the way in. Press out one more time and stay place both feet back onto the foot bar. Let's keep the hands onto the pelvis there we start.

Running

The prince is breathing in for two. Breathing out for two. Okay. And in for two and a half and Ian and yeah, fresh breath of air in and then flush out all of that old air in the body. [inaudible] last breath cycle [inaudible] and then both heels, just go under the foot bar and just breathe and take a little stretch to those carves. If you need a bit more of a stretch, just hold onto your timber frame and just pull yourself down a little to get those heels under. And now just try and keep the heels under the foot bar as you slowly bend the knees in so you get a bit of a deeper stretch through that Achilles.

As we come all the way back, right from there, we're going to stretch your legs back out over that foot bar. Um, so the sky, let's roll it up and we're going to change the springs for the hands and straps. So let's go down to a red and a blue spring and reach the arms back hat. Roll it down through the spine. Bring the feet onto the foot bar. Just while we get our hands into the straps, arms are going to come straight up to the sky. And from there we're going to squeeze the legs up to the table top and we're starting with the arm circles. So we breathe that. Press the arms down. Inhale, circle all the way out and around. Exhale, press breath in around.

Teaser

Really use the circle to get the back of the shoulder engaging. And as those arms come up to the sky, think of that head of the shoulder dropping a little bit deeper back in towards the reformer bed. Let's reverse it. Open out wide. Okay. In Holland [inaudible] see if you can picture the waist narrowing as you draw the arms in towards the waist. [inaudible] we've got two more to go.

Arm Circles

[inaudible] last one, bring the arms up to the sky. One more time. Press the arms straight down and then this is where we're going to start the oppositional arms and are going to take the right onto the side, left arm to the sky and then pull back in. Maiden center breathing and Embry that pull the [inaudible]. We're going to keep changing from side to side.

Oppositional Arms

[inaudible] do you want to challenge this one a little bit more? You could take it to the two red springs. [inaudible] try and feel that your spine stays centered as the arms are changing directions. [inaudible] big breath out to draw them back to the middle. Last one, h Psi [inaudible] and then draw the arms that one more time. Let the carriage path pop your left strap back down and then bring both arms up to the sky. On the exhale, let's press the right arm and the left arm straight down.

Single Arm Press

Yeah, breathe in. Bring them back up. Exhale, press both arms down. Inhale back up. [inaudible] so now it's really going to challenge you even more to stay centered that we've only got that one strap. We've got one more. We're going to keep both arms down. Let your left arm press into the reform a bit. Try set bend on the right arm five times.

If the springs a little strong, take it down to one red [inaudible]. You use the power of that breath app. Last one, keep the arm stray. Let the arm come all the way back up. Let's grab your left strap, take that hand through and then pop the right strap down, both arms up to the sky. Exhale, press arms down, breathe into return. You might find that one side of the body is a lot harder than the other side, particularly if you're teaching a lot, you'll usually have that one dominant side of your body. Last one stayed down for us. That right, I'm into the reforma.

Tricep Press

Bend the left arm. Exhale, stretch for five. Okay, focus on that left shoulder drawing back towards the reformer bed and down away from the shoulder. Rest. Last one. Keep the arms straight, take it back up to the sky, and then we're going to keep that strap gap. Grab the other strap as well, and we popping the fate into the straps. So let's go one foot. At a time in and taking both legs to straighten, take the legs up to the sky to start with, and they're going to be at a 90 degree angle. If you can. Keeping that tail down, we in how? Open out. Why keeping the riff a bed still x.

Single Arm Press

How close the legs together low and let the reformer bed move. Inhale, open out wide again, let the reforma move. Then keep the reforma bed still close, high in how open. Keep it still. Exhale. Let the reformer bend move and let it move again to open. Keep it still as you close. Hi. Okay.

Tricep Press

We're going to keep working through that sequence of reform or bed moving and then finding that quiet, calm, stillness, [inaudible] feeling those heads of famous. Drop that little bit deeper into the back of the socket with each open close and we explore that external rotation in the hips. Bringing the legs back up and we're going to start the leg circles. Exhale, press down, breathing. Circle the legs around. Exhale, press down and today really explore that range of movement in the hips. Are there any points that feel a little bit sticky in your circle that feel a little bit restricted?

Leg Circles

See if you can imagine like you've just squirted warm oil into your hip sockets and the femur heads are just rolling around in those hips sockets. Let's reverse it. Open out why. Yeah, let the thigh bones drop back. D per issue. Come up. [inaudible] breath in. Big Breath out to circle all the way round to more last.

Okay. And then bringing the legs up from there. And let's take your left leg out of the strap. So the left foot comes out. We'll pop that strap back onto your Spock. Take that left foot onto the foot bar and then press the left leg out to straighten so we don't have any sort of stretch going on that right leg at the moment.

Hamstring Stretch

We're in a bend the left leg and let the right leg stretch across towards your opposite shoulder. And then straighten the left leg and let the right leg open it out to the side. And the left knee also opens out to the side, back to center, and then take that right leg across towards your opposite shoulder as you bend the left knee. Straighten that left knee, and then oil pin, the right like out to the side. Let the left knee bend out to the side as well. One more time, take it across. Just hold this one and if you want to, you can reach up and grab ahold of your strap for a little bit of an extra stretch back through center.

And the same as you open out to the side. You could let that strap wipe and Adelaide a bit more by holding on as you pull to the side, back to center, bend that leg eem. We'll bring that foot out of the strap, pop that back on a Spock and bring that left leg in. So pop that left foot on. Press that leg up to the sky and now we'll bend that right leg and enjoy that stretch across the body and then pass it through the middle.

Bend the right leg, open that left leg out to the side, back through center. Take it across. I like to also think sometimes I have a little role in of this foot in that position and it'll just get you a little bit of a deeper stretch right down through the peroneals, right down through that outer side of the ankle. Last one, each side and we'll just stay brief for a couple of deep breaths. Can Roll that footing if you like. It's not the prettiest set positions, but it's a good stretch and then back through center, open that leg out to the side and you can pull down on that strap.

Get a little bit of a deeper stretch through that inner thigh, pressing back with that opposing hip back through center. Bend the leg, come all the way. Ina Am I going to bring that foot out of the strap? We'll pop that back down onto your spike there and we're going to come up from there. Let's bring out a springs onto two red springs and up to kneeling.

Down Stretch

We're going to flow through a high by Cobra now. So hands onto the bar, tuck the toes under and really press those heels right back up against the shoulder rests. Take it into your rounded spine and on that exhale, press the is back until you open the hips. Come all the way in. Glide the shoulders down the back and really lift up, hauled and pock that carriage. Now keep the reforma bed still as you draw in from your abdominals to sit to your heels. Push back with the legs. Pull all the way in, open the chest and park that reformer. Pull in, adding that little bit of pace to it now and just keep it moving and flowing with the breath.

Okay, last one. All the way in. Lift, lift, lift, exhale, round. Let's reverse it. Come forward, but pressing to those heels, light on the hands and skirt pullback. Come forward with. Press into the heels. Be Light on the hands. Push back x how skirt from the abdominals to more last one. See how much you can drive those heels back into the shoulder rests, [inaudible] and Ram. From there. We're going to take off one of the red springs and come to standing beside the reforma. So we'll have our right leg down onto the timber, left foot, comes back up against the shoulder rest and lets keep the hands lightly onto that foot back. Best lifting that left knee, scoop the tailbone under rounded spine and we're going to push back with that left leg. Exhale, pull it in. Inhale, push, exhale, pull in.

Scooter

So this one really challenging but great for us to try and keep that talk of the title as we push and pull the leg [inaudible] you'll really have to stay light on those arms. Two more [inaudible] last one, pull it in and stay from there. See if you can come up onto the fingertips. Then take the hands around onto the pelvis, lengthen out the spy. Mitzi. It's challenging from there. And then go for a flat back [inaudible] so you might not get as much pushback in this position cause it gets really challenging to go from the round to the flat. [inaudible] for more. Think about this stabilizing leg, really digging into that heel.

[inaudible] three I'm working really hot. He not to tip our balanced to last one. [inaudible] and then rest. Could we take it around to the other side? So I place that left foot down onto the timber or onto your floor. Hands lightly on and right foot back up against that shoulder rests from there. Sit back towards your heels. Tuck and scrape that tailbone under.

And now we push out and pulling. Push up and pull in. And this one really used that breath out to pull the reformer. Enc, you get that scope into the belly. Keep it as you push out. Last two, last one, and then haul. Come up onto the fingertips and then if you can take the hands onto the pelvis there and now push out and pulling. Great.

And if that's too strong with both hands off, feel free. You can always keep one hand on or even still keep both hands on and just do that flat slide. Yeah, it's hot in here. So if we get a little slippery, Woo, we're going to do two more. Really think of grounding down through that standing leg. Last one in and hauled. Good whack. Okay. From there, let's go to two red springs. We're coming up to standing onto the reformer.

Have the feet just in front of the shoulder. Press, press through the heels, press down through all 10 toes, and then lift all 10 toes up off the bed so they're in a little flex. Let's let the spine go into a little round today and we inhale. Push back with the legs. Exhale, pulling. Inhale, press back with the legs. [inaudible] think of that round back scooter.

Elephant

And you're really going to try and drive the reformer in from scoping through the abdominals. [inaudible] progressing the shoulders away from the ears and down through the back end to the waist. Last two, last one. And then step the feet back against the shoulder. Russ, take the toes down flat. Take out right hat and take it through to the left ankle. So we go for a little rotation. Now inhale, push back. Exhale, pull in. So if you can't reach right down to the ankle, just go to the Shin or to the CARF, wherever you can get to.

If you can reach past the ankle, go for that shoulder rest last one, and then place that right hand on left hand comes around, rotate the body and inhale, push back x half, and think back to that thread. The needle that we did at the start. Getting that rotation purely around that ribcage. [inaudible] for rests or the heels last one, and then slowly lower from there. We're going to bend the knees and come down. Take it down to one red spring. Keep our feet back up against the shoulder rest and just do a little regal back.

Arm Circles

We're going to reach back and grab our hands straps. That's it. Good. We're going to start sitting towards the heels again in that little scoop under, so we're going for that sea cove again. Start to pull on the straps. We're going to scrape the hips up, lift the arms, circle them around, round your spine, back to our start position. Big exhale lifted up.

Okay, inhale, circle it around. Really play with that spine. Moving from the round to the open spine, and then again like half footwork. There's no stops and starts the reform. I just continues to move. Let's reverse it and around. Okay.

Breathing palms to the skies. You Scoot back and yeah, scurry pit back, really important. Try and press into those heels. Um, stay in that peripheral vision. Last two, last one. See how much lift and all open you can get through the hips. Scrape it all the way down and rest good. From there we put a pop those straps back down again.

Stay on the one red spring. I'm going to come into a side reach, so we'll sit right up against those shoulder rests and just have your batshit just onto your heels. Grab a hold of your front shoulder rest and take these arm up to the sky. On the inhale side. Stretch over towards your feet. Looking down, take off with both hands and then find that foot bar. Push out into the side, stretch coming all the way up. And then from there both hands come off lift, look down towards the feet, take both arms off, same time if you can, and then take it over into that side. Stretch coming all the way up.

Mermaid

Last one. Really allow that head to turn and look down pass through center. Let's stay at on this one. Take the arm over and find the foot bar so both hands are on. Breathe out and press away. Rotate the body a little further.

Inhale, lift the spine. Come all the way up. Exhale, press out. Rotate the body a little further. Breathing, lift all the way out. Let's do one more. Okay, think of that body spiraling in space. Last one. Press all the way at and stay. Bring that left hand in a little bit more. Pass it back through your side stretch and then come all the way up and let's spin around to the other side. So tech guys, feet up as tight as you can to your shoulder. Shoulders.

Grab a hold of that front shoulder, wrist. Reach the arm up to the sky side. Stretch over to the feet. Take both hands off at the same time. Find the foot bar side stretch coming all the way up. Really use the lift in the waist to float the arms off. Thinking of that spine lengthening in both directions. One more of those and we're going to stay out on the next one. Take that top arm around, find the foot bar, rotate and press away a little bit deeper.

Inhale, lift up. Okay. And if you know you have one side that's a little tighter in your rotation, potentially try and finish with that side lost. So you finished with that side. Open and unlocked breath in. Last one. Exhale, press away and stay out there. Brewing that underneath arm backing a little bit closer.

Take a bit of a deeper side. Stretch. Slowly come all the way up and rest. Now we're going to finish off with one last kneeling lunch stretch. We're going to pop the foot bar down for this series, so pop it down completely flat. And Mary, we're going to get rid of that little silver bit across if we can, and I'm going to go to a red and a yellow spring for a little bit more support. Or You could use a red and a blue. So coming up from there, place your left foot back up against that shoulder rest.

Front Splits

Bring the right foot forward so your toes. Find the foot back and then if you can, you bring the body up right from there. So it is a little bit of a balance in this position. If you need something to hold to you, you can grab a pole or a foam roller to rest your arm onto. Mary and I are going to see how we go.

We're starting really upright with the body so you're not in a lunge at all just yet. Press back with that left thigh. So we go just into a hip flexor. Stretch on that leg. From there, we're going to start to straighten that right leg out. Go a little bit deeper into your stretch if you can when we come in and stay as low as you can with the hips. So it's like you're splitting with the legs. Once the reforma gets all the way in, pull the hips back up and find your start position. And then starting from that hip flexor stretch first.

So just that left knee goes back, start to push out straight in the right leg, get a little deeper, Ben from that right leg. Pull the reformer in. As far as you can and then zip pull it up from there. We're going to add on the arms if we can. So the left arm goes down as we start the hip flexor stretch. Now the left arm's going to go up to the sky and if you can a little back bend.

As you start to come in, the arms slowly goes out to the side and then it stays out there. You scoop up up, up last one. Let's take that left arm down as we go out. It's a really challenging on the balance. Push out, lift the arm up, little back bend if you can, and then slowly coming in, scope it in with a chest with the abdominals, pull all the way up and then slowly come down and change sites. So bring that right foot back up against the shoulder rest and bring that left foot on.

And your foot position might be a little bit different depending on what type of reformer you've got, as well as to whether that heel will land on the foot plate or not. So let's take the arms out to the side. Right leg goes back into that hip flexor stretch first and then start to push the left leg to straighten. Getting a little bit deeper with your stretches, you start to come in, think of the legs splitting apart, and then scoop it up, throwing the body really tall, push back from that right leg and start to straighten that front leg and think of the leg splitting apart as you come in and in scoop. Lift it up tall. Let's add in the arm if you can. So the right arm comes down and it goes up.

Your little challenges to do an extension. Nice work, Mary. Slowly to come in. Keep the arm moving slowly. Skirt from your center. Lift last one, right arm comes down, stretch the front leg, lift the heart and chest slowly to come in, splitting with the legs and then pull all the way up and then bringing that leg off from there. And we're just going to come to standing beside your reformer and just do a little roll down. It's whatever you like to stand. Mary is going to reach the arms up to the sky.

Roll Down

Take a big breath in and then on the exhale, roll down through the spine, wherever the arms fall is fine. Let the head just relax. The knees, be soft and just little nods of the head or side to side. Breathe into the back. Slowly roll it all the way back up to stand. Ground down through the feet or even through the hips.

Zip through your center or open through the shoulders. And then we are all done. Thank you so much for joining me, for my mindful movement, reformer. Thank you Mary so much. I hope you enjoyed it. Bye.

Comments

1 person likes this.
Love it!! Amazing Reformer class! Thank you Sara, thank you Meredith!!!
Z A
1 person likes this.
Love ❤️ that was great blast and present. Thank you soo muchç
1 person likes this.
Lovely class! Great flow and creative variations.
1 person likes this.
I loved this class, lots of new ideas to teach to my students!
Thanks so much Ladies, I’m so happy to hear you are enjoying the the class!
This was so fun Sara Colquhoun! Thanks again.
1 person likes this.
great class, lovely creative flow, precise cues and beautifully demonstrated by two of my favourite instructors. thank you!
1 person likes this.
Beautiful creative class, thanks Sara!
Ellie R
1 person likes this.
Thanks so much Sara, Very inspiring. You are beautiful
1 person likes this.
Exactly what I needed this morning is mindfulness but a nice challenge too . More please
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