Somehow we need to balance the anxiety and restrictions around Covid19 with protecting ourselves.

It seems like a conflict and a tug war between the reality and circumstances we find ourselves in and the knowledge and need of self-care: physically, mentally and emotionally to keep strong and healthy...

Hi Everyone!

"I'm so tired. My shoulders hurt. My neck hurts. My whole body hurts." 
These are some of the words I've heard this past week. 
I've also heard the usual "I'm OK, Aoife" that still sounds tired with the 'sure what can you do?' air to it...

Hello hello!
I know the quote above is a bit confusing and weird.
Bear with me though, I’ll explain.

I’m sure you’ve heard of Samuel Beckett – one of the famous 20th century Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer and poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (1969).
Born in Dublin in 1906 he exiled himself (much like James Joyce) and found a welcome home in Paris where he died in 1989.

Yes, I’m a “Trekker”.

We used to say ‘Trekkie’ until it became associated with the ones that lost touch with reality. So yes, Trekker.

In case you don’t know, a "Trekker" or a "Trekkie" is a fan of the franchise Star Trek – with its different TV series, movies etc.

Being a Trekker makes me geeky in more ways than one {see, I'm not just a Pilates geek 😇} but NO, this post is not about "the voyages of the starship Enterprise" nor about its "5 year mission (or continuing mission) to explore strange new worlds"...

Two full weeks of Jan 2020 are behind us and in case our paths didn’t cross yet I want to wish you:

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a good start to this decade, to this year, to this week and this day – as you read this.

You might not know this, but there are a couple of things that happen almost every New Year that I don't like...

We all know we should be moving more and that we feel better afterward. You might have thought it’s the endorphins from the physical exercise and outlet of the stress but there’s something more that happens in a Pilates class.

A lot of our clients tell us there’s a whole sense that the whole body feels better after they finish their class. It’s a sense of well-being in some difficult-to-describe way.

Why is that? And, what is that feeling?

A few years ago there was a whole "Sitting Is The New Smoking" movement that swept the media (just Google it if you missed the hype).

Personally I was never took part or joined in with that idea.

I didn’t like the ‘scare tactic’ and negative vibe of the message nor did I agree with the idea that sitting, in and of itself, is a problem.

Chairs have become the symbol of our modern sedentary age.

We now live in a world where chairs are everywhere and it’s almost impossible for us modern, 21st century humans to avoid them.

But the chair is not the problem!

The Pilates Chair, also known as the Wunda Chair, was originally designed by Joseph Pilates (1883-1967) as a home exercise equipment (doubles as a living-room chair for small New York apartments). A simple piece of equipment the Chair consists of a seat, a pedal and springs that attach to the pedal (to adjust the resistance).

We all know that spending too much time sitting in chairs is bad for us.

Our backs hurt, our shoulders and necks are crying, our hips are aching and getting up from that prolonged sitting can be an uncomfortable (or even a difficult) endeavour…

A Chair Class might sound strange. But, it's not the chair or even sitting that is actually harmful for us.

It is the “Staying in one position for a long period of time” that is unhealthy for us and wrecks our bodies.

Moving Against Springs Resistance Helps You Feel Each Movement.

The support and challenge of the springs also help you find length against tension, stretch through oppositions (two way stretching) and most importantly:

You Learn How To Move With Precision To Your Full Capability.

In order for you to move efficiently with ease & grace you need to find balance and control. Working against continuous resistance helps you find and develop the necessary skills for free functional movement and beyond.

Joseph Pilates invented and built an amazing array of spring resistance based apparatus to accompany his Method. Each apparatus was designed to help accelerate the process of restoring body functionality and movement.

The Pilates Reformer (originally called The Universal Reformer) can be considered as the centrepiece of Pilates’ brilliant equipment inventions.

The Reformer is probably the most known Pilates apparatus nowadays and it was the most used in Joe’s studio as he endeavoured to reform mankind.