Cleopatra

We're here to take a look at cleopatra on the reformer. Head rest is up foot bar is up, and cleopatra has that beautiful element of lateral flexion and thoracic rotation. So, and you'll see different arm choreography, but we'll show I'm showing a fairly standard pattern. Knees are bent and stacked. Both feet are balls to feet against the back shoulder rest and you're perched on the side of your hip.

Hand is on the foot bar. And for a moment, hug this hand on your shin bone and see if you can get pretty elevated and elongated. Alright? That's already putting some side bend into this side of your body. I'm sure you can feel that. Now, this hand can either touch the mat in front of your thighs or if your arm is long enough, you could start with your hand hooked over the edge of the carriage.

You can see that my arm is not long enough to accommodate that at the beginning. So what I've done and I do and I teach is to rock out on that hip, hook that, start to continue pressing out. Now, you you wanna turn profile. Lot of strength on pushing arm. Turn your head profile if you were clear, Pat, you're eating grapes or being served wine. That's what we were always told.

The feet are pushing against that shoulder rest. And now as you start to return the carriage, This inside hand is pulling up. I'm stretching and pulling up my inside waistline, and I'm turning my chest toward my feet pushing again, feet are pushing arm is pushing, but I'm also trying to elongate that my waistline down toward the mat, eat the grapes, lift your waistline pull up with this hand up and spiral into yourself. The other arm is internally rotating. And you get that beautiful twist in your trunk one more to go. Feed are pushing, your profile, or you're getting fanned off if it was a hot day.

And then you're coming in. The inside arm is pulling up. Feel that glorious stretch in your inside tummy. Twist twist twist twist. And now we'll do the other side.

So I'll just turn my feet away and reposition on the other side of the body. Both feet back on the back, shoulder rest, knees are stacked, inside hand on the foot bar again in front of the shoulder. And for a moment, see if you can get fairly vertical. Hand will go either on the mat or if, again, if you can start with it on the edge Fantastic. I'm gonna start to push out and lean out onto that hip and grab that carriage, show that profile as part of your neck strengthening to be able to turn your head. Carriage starts coming in, you're pulling up your spiraling, your carriage arm, your shoulder, and your rib cage into a twist.

Inhale as you push out. Maybe you're getting fanned off now and exhale up with your spine. Over with your spine and a twist of your spine. So good. One more time. Feel how integrated everything is, feet, hips, shoulder, turn your profile.

Are you breathing in? Exhale as you come closer to the stopper, you're pulling up, you're twisting, and your side bending, you're really ringing it out. And that is cleopatra on the reformer.