written by Katie Huddleston, Pure Pilates Instructor
We all know that teasers are just one of those exercises that are hard! A million things to think about: your abs are pulling in as your legs are stretching out, you're tucking and sitting just behind your sitz bones while reaching your heart and arms forward. It takes a lot of strength, stretch, and control. In fact, the name “teaser” is because you are literally teasing your spine in the opposite direction from its natural state. Your lumbar spine has a natural anterior curve and your thoracic spine has a natural posterior curve - in teaser, these two curves are working in the opposite direction making for the “ teasing” of your spine.
Although the teaser on the reformer is my least favorite/most challenging, I do have two favorite places to do teaser that help me to strengthen and feel strong and supported.
The first one is on the chair. With the support of the pedal I can deepen into my abdominals to get into a good position. I have a short torso and long legs, so for me, letting my upper body be slightly lower lets my legs feel like they aren’t so heavy with a nice tucked position of the pelvis.
My second favorite, which has been a popular favorite for my clients, is the teaser on the spine corrector. That nice well between the barrel and the step creates a nice nook for your pelvis to stabilize. This is also where you can create that open chest with the head back feeling like the long box on the reformer and arm choreography that mimics hands in straps for the reformer version.
Strengthening the teaser in these two places will help me with the reformer version for sure!
