Anniversary Month!
Seven years ago, MyPilatesFlow began with a simple love of Pilates and a wish to create classes where people could move, learn and feel good in their bodies — and here we are, seven years later! This past year has been another really exciting chapter, from continuing to grow and develop my Classic Mat and Reformer classes, introducing new equipment and ideas into the studio, and welcoming the Clara Lite barrel into my Pilates family. Looking back over the years, there have been so many lovely milestones along the way — from building a loyal community of clients who have been with me for years, to growing MyPilatesFlow into the studio and teaching business it is today. What makes me most proud, though, isn't simply how much the business has grown; it's the people, the friendships, the confidence, the little breakthroughs and the many hours of movement we've shared together. Seven years on, I'm still learning, still developing and still as passionate about Pilates as I was on day one — and I feel incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful community sharing the journey with me. Here's to seven years of MyPilatesFlow… and to everything still to come! ❤️
Exciting Journey Ahead
After giving myself a couple of months off of personal goal setting- feeling hungry for the next chapter of my Business!
As many of you know from earlier Blog posts- I recently completed my Level 3 Cava qualification, enabling me to become an examiner of Pilates. I am now feeling ready to go to the next stage in making this a reality. I’m excited to share with you that the main YMCA Awarding Body have expressed an interest in forming a partnership with Mypilatesflow and that I have been invited to apply to be a private examination centre.
I’m beyond excited to have this amazing opportunity and although the enormity of the work ahead is mind blowing- can’t wait to begin the preparations! Unlike other Pilates/fitness qualifications I have studied for, this is really something that I can enjoy due to the creativity element of designing the Learning programme, which will be a blended one to include physical as well as online learning.
Lots to do over the next six to nine months but will keep you posted throughout the journey as I develop what will be Mypilatesflow Academy!
Clara Lite exercises
There is now a new section on my APP dedicated to this new piece of Studio equipment. If you like the look of what it offers then copies of the apparatus can be purchased online relatively cheaply for home use. Mine is a Balanced Body version.
Clara Lite Barrel exercises
September has given way to October and although at the moment we’re still being blessed with some wonderfully mild temperatures — it almost feels as though summer doesn’t quite want to leave us! But before long, we’ll notice the mornings getting darker, the evenings drawing in and that familiar feeling of wanting to spend a little more time indoors. It’s exactly at this time of year that movement becomes even more important. Pilates gives us a lovely reason to step away from the sofa, switch on the lights, put our bodies into motion and reconnect with ourselves. As the days become shorter, keeping our bodies moving can help us maintain strength, mobility, balance and energy, while giving us that all-important bit of time to focus on ourselves. So, as the seasons change around us, let’s keep moving — not because we have to, but because our bodies really do thank us for it. ❤️
Three Classic Mat Exercises to help wake up the body each day:
1. The Hundred
A classic energiser and a great way to start the body warming up. The rhythmic arm pumps combined with controlled breathing encourage circulation and bring focus into the centre of the body.
2. Single Leg Stretch
A flowing abdominal exercise that gets the whole body working while encouraging coordination and concentration. The alternating movement creates a lovely sense of rhythm and momentum.
3. Criss Cross
A brilliant way to finish with something dynamic. The rotation challenges the abdominals while the alternating pattern keeps the mind engaged and the body moving.
"Think of these three exercises as your Pilates wake-up call — breathe deeply, move with rhythm and let the energy build from the centre out."
*Subscribers will find these exercises on my APP
The Know Thyself podcast hosted by Andre Duqum is one of my absolute favourites! I listened to this but here is the link for the YouTube version as well as exact details from the show notes. One where you’ll need to give it your full attention- I did whilst soaking up rays on my sun bed on holiday-lol! Well worth the listen and gave me the kick start I needed to go back to being sugar free…
Dr. Robert Lustig is a neuroendocrinologist, pediatrician, and bestselling author who has spent 45 years watching children get sicker despite his best efforts to stop it. His work connects the dots between ultra-processed food, mitochondrial dysfunction, dopamine hijacking, and the chronic stress epidemic in a way that is impossible to dismiss. In this conversation, we explore what he calls the hostage brain, what happens to a nervous system under sustained biochemical assault, and why so much of what we call personal failure is actually a systems problem.
What We Dive Into: 1. When chronic pain, emotional or physical, goes unresolved, the brain reaches for anything that spikes dopamine to quiet it. Over time, tolerance builds and neurons die. Lustig's point is that this is not a personal weakness. The food, the screens, and the stress have conspired to put nearly all of us in some version of this state. 2. Dopamine drives wanting. Serotonin drives contentment. The loneliness epidemic is not simply a social problem but a neurochemical one. Cortisol reduces serotonin, dopamine antagonizes it, and ultra-processed food depletes the tryptophan needed to make it. Fixing loneliness requires addressing the biology underneath it. 3. Lustig draws a clear line between primary needs, love, sleep, real food, and secondary desires, status, power, accumulation. The crisis is not that people pursue secondary desires. It is that they have been engineered to abandon their primary needs in the process. Meeting the basics first is both the simplest and most radical act available.
Class Update
Studio Classes remain fully booked for this month.
Tuesday Evening Class at Didcot Civic Hall- Fully booked.
Wednesday Morning at Didcot Civic Hall - 2 spaces
Wednesday Evening at Fleet Meadow in Didcot - 2 spaces
Thursday at Edmonds Park Pavilion- Fully booked.
Christmas Social
Thank you to all those that have signed up for the Xmas meal at The Swan in Sutton Courtenay on Friday 4th December! I am hoping to be able to send you the menu shortly - once received…. Not too late to join us so drop me a line if you’d like to be added to the table.
Wishing you all a happy and peaceful October ahead!