• Improves flexibility, muscle length, tone and condition – allowing you to perform efficiently
• Strengthens the ‘foundation’ muscles (core), helping to improve posture and form
• Reduces the incidence of injury
• Hugely beneficial for back pain, disc issues
• Neural problems – it will help alleviate pressure and deliberate control over the joints thus enabling the nerves to exist in a less agitated state. It will also gently encourage length to the nerve and control to the joint.
• Increases body awareness, which enables you to move in a deliberate fashion.
• Improves control, coordination, balance
• Both a physical and mental challenge.

First and foremost Pilates is a form of exercise, – it trains you to move your body efficiently. It is the quality of the movement that is key. Whilst you can track your progress, Pilates is not results-focused – it is process-focused. It helps to emphasise specific areas of improvement and it improves the link between the brain and the body.

Pilates takes the body through various movement planes, progressively adding challenges; e.g. weighted resistance, stability, altered breathing patterns and coordination. These challenges help us to recognise our body awareness and improve control over movement patterns. It allows us to do this with the specific intention of minimising the risk of injury and to improve efficiency.

Pilates is universal. It originated with Joseph Pilates in the early 1900s but more recently has been pioneered by Wimbledon Champion Pat Cash and the New Zealand rugby team. Whilst its use is best documented amongst athletes, Pilates crosses all gender and ability boundaries. I have taught Pilates to a wide demographic – from Olympic athletes to grandmothers, such is the nature of its diversity.