Once you are enrolled in the U of T Virtual Fitness Studio, you’ll receive an email every Sunday with the updated Zoom link, the schedule, and any new announcements regarding weekly programming. This week, I was delighted to receive notice of a new class being offered by Harthouse: Stretch and Release.
This new class started on February 3 and is hosted every Wednesday at 11:00 am. Stretch and Release invites students to “a mindful stretch practice to help ease pain and release tension.” Harthouse has always offered Flexibility Fusion, which is a similar class that I’ve never taken, but I was interested in and excited about this new class, so I thought I’d try it out!
This was my first UTrain class where I didn’t have to change into workout gear, and it was a nice break from the monotony of my class schedule. Sadaf, the instructor, welcomed us to the class and asked us to grab a chair and a broom, which we would use in the stretches. I didn’t have a broom so I grabbed a Swiffer instead.
I definitely felt a bit silly at first holding both ends of the Swiffer, but I quickly got over my embarrassment because my back loved the stretches. This class was going to focus on hips and thoracic mobility, all of which are especially important now that we spend so much time sitting in front of our screens.
We started the class with broom moves — picture me holding both ends of the Swiffer behind my back and doing windmills with my arms. We then switched to more classic standing stretches. I am a very flexible person, so the more traditional stretches didn’t do much, but I loved the addition of tools — like the chair and the broom — to intensify each stretch.
Later, we practised some moves with the broom on a chair, learning stretches we could easily work into our day. Finally, we moved to the mat and practiced good, postured sitting with a wall and ran through a cycle of down dogs, up dogs, and bird dogs.
I have never before done stretching for a full hour, so I found it hard to keep my attention. However, Sadaf was very engaging, and I really did feel more relaxed after the class. If you are planning to join sometime later in the semester, Sadaf will be incorporating resistance bands and weights into the class, so make sure you bring those — and a broom.
