Why Pilates?
Val truly believes that Pilates is for everyone and everybody. Her clients range in age from 18 to 80 and come from all walks of life.
Pilates is one of the most versatile forms of exercise there is. It is low impact and every exercise can be modified and adapted to suit even the most inflexible body.
Pilates can challenge you to move beyond your comfort zone and it can keep you well within your comfort zone and still achieve amazing results, depending
on your goals.
What is pilates?
Pilates was first called ‘Contrology’ by its founder Joseph Pilates who opened his first studio
in New York in the 1920s where he primarily taught dancers.
It was only after Joseph Pilates’ death in 1967 that the method became known as Pilates and evolved into a
mainstream fitness model and is now one of the most popular forms of exercise there is.
Pilates is more than just a set of exercises – it is a system that follows the principles of breathing, centring, concentration, control, flow and precision, and it gives anyone who practices it an improved sense of body awareness and mind/body connection.
It is recommended that more than one session per week is optimal for best results but any Pilates is better than no Pilates, so there are really no rules about how frequently you practice.
“Contrology is complete coordination of body, mind and spirit”
– Joseph Pilates
Benefits of pilates
- Pilates can teach you how to move your body in a way that feels good for your body.
- Pilates can help you move better if you are coming back from an injury or have a condition that causes you to be less mobile than you would like to be, such as back pain, osteoporosis, arthritis, hypermobility, shoulder, hip, knee, or ankle issues to name but a few.
- Pilates will help you to stretch your body to relieve tightness and stiffness and increase your flexibility.
- Pilates will help to alleviate aches and pains and niggles caused by the stresses of everyday living.
- Pilates will help to make you stronger and help you perform better at your favourite sport.
Pilates will help to activate and strengthen the smaller deep stabilising muscles. Developing minor muscles helps to strengthen major muscles.
- Pilates will help to improve posture and balance.
- Pilates will teach you about breathing and how to bring correct efficient breathing to your movement.
- Pilates will teach you about mind/body awareness and relaxation.
- Pilates will give you time to yourself to concentrate and think only about you!
“Thanks Val for Pilates this morning. I am walking straight for the first time in about 10 days”
“Wow, great class… first time in weeks my head is clear, just brilliant, brilliant”
“I loved today’s class, felt really good afterwards and can feel myself getting stronger”
“That class was equally as good for the head as the body”
“That was the most gorgeous class, thank you”
“I loved the hour of peace and calm doing your class last night”
“What a great start to my day, thank you”
