5 Pilates Stretches to Stay Grounded During the Holiday Rush

To help you stay grounded and mobile this season, we’re sharing 5 Pilates stretches you can do anywhere. Use them as a quick 10-minute reset when you need to decompress, unwind, or re-center during the busiest moments of the month. For best results, we recommend using a 12″ TOGU ball for gentle support and deeper release. If you don’t have one, try an overstuffed pillow or foam roller. Just remember—props may change how the exercise looks or feels, and as always, honor what’s appropriate for your body.

1. Pilates Side Stretch

Whether you’ve been traveling, sitting more than usual, or simply feeling the weight of holiday stress, the ribcage can lose its natural accordion-like motion. Side bending encourages lateral flexion, which helps restore that mobility. This side-bending movement encourages fuller breath, lengthens tight hips, and gently stretches the entire body from fingertips to toes. It’s a simple way to wake up your intercostals (rib muscles), improve your breathing, and reconnect your upper and lower body.

2. Pilates Adductor Stretch

This is one of the best stretches for the adductors, the inner-thigh muscles. When the adductors are tight, they can tug on the pelvis and lower back, creating poor coordination between your abdominals, hips, and pelvic floor. The kneeling variation is deeply effective—but if kneeling isn’t comfortable, stay standing and reach your arms forward for balance, perhaps resting them on a table top. Gently shift your weight forward and back to explore the stretch. Think of softening, not forcing, as you introduce movement to this tight area.

3. Pilates Chest Stretch

We love this one for opening the chest, encouraging rib mobility, and maybe even getting a little snap, crackle, or pop along the spine. Swan encourages thoracic extension, which is ideal if you’ve been hunched over a steering wheel, computer, standing, cooking, or wrapping all day. In a kneeling position, you’ll also get into the hips and pelvic floor. If that’s too intense, you can modify as needed. Try placing a pillow under your seat to reduce the depth of the Child’s Pose, or take the variation seated at a table with your arms extended forward and your spine stretching upwards. The goal is to help your chest open and your spine stretch.

4. Pilates Twist Stretch

Our body’s ability to rotate decreases as we age. Over the holidays (with its potential for long hours of travel, stiff or unfamiliar guest beds, and irregular disruptions to our everyday routines), we can feel even tighter and less able to rotate. This gentle twisting movement helps massage the abdominal region, think better digestion—especially useful after those indulgent holiday feasts—and can help relieve mid-back tension. If tight hamstrings make the sitting-on-the-floor version difficult, try performing it seated in a chair, pulling against the armrest to help initiate the twist.

5. Pilates Hip and Pelvic Floor Stretch

This gentle pelvic floor release is one of the simplest ways to reset your hips and lower back. Sitting on a soft ball creates a subtle, supportive pressure that helps the muscles at the base of the pelvis relax and “un-grip.” When the pelvic floor can soften, the hips open more effectively, the spine decompresses, and the entire area begins to coordinate better with the abdominals and diaphragm. This is the definition of doing less to feel more.

Why these 5 Pilates Stretches?

Incorporating gentle movement into your day—even just 10 minutes—can help you feel more limber, centered, and refreshed throughout the season. Light, mindful motion encourages synovial fluid to circulate, sending nourishment into your joints and easing stiffness. And these 5 Pilates stretches target chronically tight and stiff areas, including the hips, the base of the pelvis, the middle and upper back, and along the spine. When exhaustion, stress, or holiday overwhelm our bodies, movement may be the last thing on our minds. But these 5 gentle Pilates stretches can help reset your body and support your well-being.

Disclaimer:

THE INFORMATION EXPRESSED ON THIS SITE IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.  WE DRAW ON OUR EXPERTISE AS PILATES AND MOVEMENT SPECIALISTS BY EXPANDING OUR PROFESSIONALISM THROUGH CONTINUING EDUCATION AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCES.  WE AIM TO PROVIDE VALUABLE INFORMATION CONCERNING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PILATES, FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT, AND FITNESS. YOU TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL DECISIONS NOW OR IN THE FUTURE CONCERNING YOUR HEALTH, LIFE, AND WELL-BEING. THIS INFORMATION IS NOT TO BE USED AS MEDICAL ADVICE EITHER TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT, CURE, OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE OR AILMENTS. YOU SHOULD CONSULT A PHYSICIAN BEFORE BEGINNING ANY EXERCISE PROGRAM.