What You Need to Know about the Spine Stretch

Although all Pilates exercises promote both stability and flexibility through simultaneously strengthening, stretching, and uniformly developing your musculature, each exercise has a primary focus. The order of these exercises throughout the mat-work series alternates the focus—on either strengthening, stretching, stabilizing, or articulating. The Hundred focuses primarily on building strength and stability in your Powerhouse; the Roll-Up stretches and articulates your spine; the Single Leg Circle builds strength and stability in your spine by requiring it to counter the asymmetrical effect of your leg circling in space; Rolling Like A Ball once again massages and stretches the muscles of your back; the Single and Double Leg Stretches strengthen your spine and abdominals by requiring them to work hard to stabilize against the moving weight of your extended legs.

The Spine Stretch fits nicely into this pattern by returning emphasis to stretching and articulating your joints and muscles to release any tension and tightness you might have developed during your workout. During the Spine Stretch, your spine is upright and supported by your Powerhouse instead of a mat, so it can enjoy a new freedom of movement. Your legs and hips are supported on the floor, so your hips can flex freely and enable you to sit upright on top of your sitz bones in good pelvic alignment without tightness or tension. The Spine Stretch offers your body an opportunity to regroup its strength and find refreshment in a calm, yet powerful, exercise.

What Is the Spine Stretch?

In the basic intermediate Spine Stretch exercise, you sit upright on the mat with your legs extended before you in a V-shape (the official Pilates mat includes foot boxes designed to guide your legs into the correct position). You extend your arms out in front of you, at shoulder height and width, then exhale as you stretch by curling your spine forward and over toward the mat. As you return to an upright position, your lungs will automatically completely refill themselves with fresh air.

Step by Step Through the Basic Spine Stretch

Complete your last Double Leg Stretch by exhaling, then inhale as you move your right hand onto your left shin and slide your right leg out along the mat. Press your left shin into both hands and exhale as you roll up to a sitting position. Inhale as you extend both legs out in front of you in a V-shape, with your feet about three feet apart; keep your knees facing up toward the ceiling, and your ankles softly flexed. Exhale as you raise your straight arms in front of you, parallel to the ground, shoulder height and width, palms down

Now, follow these steps to perform the basic intermediate Spine Stretch:

1.  Inhale to scoop your belly in and up along the front of your spine; fill your lungs completely to expand your ribs and decompress your spine.

2.  Exhale as you curl first your head, and then your spine up and over toward the mat, like a wave cresting over a surfer, with each vertebra individually following your head in a flowing forward movement. Continue curling your upper body forward until your entire spine is rounded and the top of your head is as close to the mat as possible. Keep your knees straight and use your curling movement to wring all of the air from your lungs.

3. Begin to inhale as you press your hamstrings down into the mat (without tucking), and starting at your pubic bone, pull your belly in and up to stack one vertebra upon the next sequentially, returning to your upright position. Imagine that you’re lightly pressing each vertebra up along a wall behind you as you rise. When you’re fully erect, your lungs will be completely inflated, your ribs expanded in all directions, and your spine elongated and decompressed.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 four more times, increasing your stretch, refining your spinal articulation, and deepening your scoop with each repetition.