What Pilates means to you (and us) this International Pilates Day
We took a few minutes out of the studio to ask our clients and community what Pilates means to them in their everyday lives, and we’re thrilled that it impacts you all so deeply 🙏 Here are a few of your wonderful words on Pilates:
"I love how I feel after my classes, it makes me stand taller, it puts a spring in my step. I started Pilates because of lower back pain and I never feel this now. Lauren is such a great teacher and instantly put me at ease. "
"I love Pilates, it’s just the best complete body and mind exercise I have ever found and I am so grateful to have found Lauren Hilton Pilates to continue my love affair with Pilates! Thank you so much!"
"My GP, our mutual friend, had strongly advised Pilates in Spring 2021, although I had no idea what it meant – not even how to spell the word. I had three major problems; Standing, walking, and breathing. My daily Pilates at home focuses on the spine. I have always enjoyed our sessions together. You make me feel comfortable. Sometimes, I just don’t stop laughing. Our two years of Pilates have shown me what improvements can be made."
"Support from a wonderful teacher to help improve and maintain my body as I get older in the hope that I can keep moving without too many aches and pains! Being part of a lovely community of people who are all doing the same without being competitive with each other."
“Time out from the hamster wheel that life brings with a focus on just me whilst I’m in class. Some giggles and friendships made along the way. Moving into a new birth year feeling stronger and with a positive mindset."
"Feeling good! "
"Being in tune with my body: Listen to my body and understand how it moves. And lots of laughter !"
"It's not just about core strength, it's a full body workout. For me, one of the benefits is how building strength helps improve range of movement. Having injured my hip years ago I have finally found my glutes again!!!"
"A lovely complete body stretch whilst calming the mind- it’s a release mechanism for body and soul."
"It’s my happy hour to stretch, bend, breathe, and relax and my body and mind always feel 100% better for my class with Lauren. The quiet relaxed atmosphere of the room is welcoming and I love the people I’m surrounded by. Thank you pilates and thank you Lauren."
"Realigning my body, strengthening my core, and refocusing my mind."
"A better awareness of my posture and how my muscles and joints function, which will hopefully give me better long-term postural stability and strength."
"The aging process takes you by surprise - one day you can get up off the floor easily, the next you are rolling around like a beached whale. Pilates has reactivated some of those sleeping muscles and helped me regain mobility, flexibility and the confidence that I can still do things I had thought were in the past."
"Pilates has enabled me to get my life back. Following spinal surgery at 27yrs old (where I was told if I had been practicing Pilates beforehand, it wouldn't have resulted in surgery) I felt broken. I also had an 8" appendix scar that cramped at the slightest movements, preventing any potential for abs. I always felt like life wouldn't work the same for me. I had tried Pilates several times and I would consistently reach week 6 of the classes where the exercises would ramp up in effort and it would become impossible for me. I felt useless compared to the others in the class and would stop going. I was feeling like I wouldn't be able to do the activities I wanted to with the same freedom others had. Then I met Lauren, who was recommended by my osteopath. Through Lauren, I was introduced to a whole new world of Pilates! With hypermobility eds (Ehlers Danlos) - undiagnosed until Lauren noticed my posture - not only has Pilates opened up a world of diagnosis that has made all manner of things make sense, it has enabled me to live the life I want to, do the things I enjoy and has given me back my freedom. My back occasionally twinges but overall, my core strength and posture are so much better and it allows me to walk into the world and my future with confidence. I will be forever grateful to Lauren, who has a peace and a grace that shines from her, and an open heart where I felt safe sharing stories whilst going through a particularly bad point in my life, alongside encouraging me, both mentally and physically, that things were possible. This positivity - I have no doubt - is enabled by her love of Pilates, and the ripple effects of her grounded and caring nature are felt by so many. She has a wonderful influence on many and sharing Pilates is a way of offering healing, promoting self-love, and expressing a gratitude for life. Thank you Lauren, for creating a path for me to learn to love Pilates and regaining my love for life 💕"
"It means valuing my body, keeping it in good condition, and helping it to recover from recent illness and treatment. It means having an instructor who helps me to do this with safety, wisdom, and knowledge and who makes me feel valued as a client. It also means meeting great people, both staff and class members, and feeling part of a supportive group. "
"I always feel better after a class and as I don’t work on a Friday now, it’s a great relaxation on a Thursday evening to let all the stress and the rubbish of the work week go and head into the weekend!"
"To keep my body moving!!!. Great Pilates teacher and has a lovely way about her. Fab u las classes”
"Where do I start? Because of Lauren I can move better and manage my body movements to be able to face the day! Whatever it brings!! I could not imagine not being able to see Lauren and with her help, be able to function. So practicing Pilates means sooo much ❤️ Happy International Pilates Day everyone! x"
"It makes you feel better especially when you're feeling a bit negative about life at the time. A good session makes things better "
"Helps to balance my life and well-being"
"Flexibility & the joy of movement "
"A chance to relax, move and engage with like-minded people. "
"Put your mat on the floor and yourself on the mat.
Inhale and exhale deep and long.
Lauren’s menagerie, frog, bird, and cat
All making us supple and strong.
Table-top, if available, core strength to mend,
Each pelvic clock number to seek,
Standing position means nearing the end?
Say “Thank You and have a good week!” "
"After double spinal surgery, every Pilates session I have is like I’m breathing life back into my muscles and joints. I feel stronger, more connected inside, and more confident in my ability to control my body’s movement. Without Pilates, my 45 yr old body feels double its age!! Thank you for everything Lauren x"
"Being Flexible and Calm"
"Increased flexibility & after class feel energised, thanks Lauren”
"Pilates means an increased ability to move as I get older, it keeps me as supple as I can be for my age and makes me aware of my body and its potential for miracles at any age."
You are why we do what we do and we’re so humbled to hear your thoughts and comments and how Pilates impacts your lives every day.
Here’s what Pilates means to the Lauren Hilton Pilates team:
Hannah
Pilates has taught me so much about myself and given me a new perspective on just how incredible the human body can be. I have always struggled with body image and feeling like I just didn’t understand what my body was doing whenever I did any form of exercise which meant I never found it enjoyable. In the last 20 months, since starting Pilates, my mindset on exercise has completely changed, and going through the Polestar training modules I can honestly say this is the most confident I have felt in my own skin for a long time. Even understanding how important breath is and how it facilitates movements has helped me massively and something I’m feeling the benefits of every day. It has allowed me to appreciate all the intricate inner workings of my body and the progress I have seen in myself is something I’m incredibly proud of and can’t wait to start sharing that feeling with others through regular classes.
Charlie
Movement is such an important part of life, that is why I love Pilates. Pilates challenges the strength of every muscle in your body. Pilates reconnects the body and mind through strengthening, lengthening, and stabilising. I love teaching the principles of Pilates to others, helping them achieve optimal movement for optimal health.
Lauren
I’ve been pondering this question all week and have savoured reading all of your comments about what it means to you so I thank you for sharing this with me.
Pilates has quite literally been life-changing for me. As many of you know I was recommended to take up Pilates in 2007 following a back injury. I’d been lifting weights at the gym and as I put the bar down something didn’t feel right in my back, the next morning I couldn’t stand up straight and for 3 months I was in a lot of pain.
My physio was the one who recommended I try it so like a good patient I booked myself into a lunchtime class at my gym in central London. I remember lying there on my mat and the teacher told us to place our hands on our pelvis, feeling the pubic bone and belly button and two hip bones, she explained the tipping of the pelvis to us. I still remember that first class, it was so slow considered and controlled unlike anything else I’d done previously. I was a little sceptical at first, being in my twenties I was a ‘go hard or go home’ kind of an exerciser so wasn’t sure what Pilates could really do for me. I could already hold a plank for 2 minutes so why did I need to work on my core! I really laugh at this now.
I continued to do 2 classes a week and my back improved so much I didn’t give it a second thought but the other main benefit I noticed was how I felt myself. I felt this internal strength that I’d never had before, I started to learn where my body needed to be in order create optimal movement, the nuances in the Pilates method became fascinating to me and I became more curious about the whys behind things.
I became pregnant with my first daughter and shortly after her birth, I knew I needed a life change. I felt like my identity had been lost, I had a new one now and realised my work needed to be something rewarding, not only for me but for those I served and decided to train to become a teacher. First a mat teacher, then a comprehensive teacher teaching on the apparatus designed by Joseph Pilates.
Fast forward 10 years and Pilates now means something different to me. It’s become my livelihood for one but it’s made me more curious to learn more, the longer I’ve taught the more I understand and respect that I’m a guide, a teacher and an eternal student myself but ultimately we’re our own teachers. Through some amazing mentors, I’ve been able to dive deeper into my own Pilates practice, to have the inner confidence to really slow down and let my body be my guide and I now try to listen and respect what it’s trying to tell me.
So Pilates to me is a saviour and it’s made me much more grateful. I’m grateful that I’ve found a movement method that I know will support my ageing body for as long as I’m on this earth and that through Pilates I’ve built a wonderful and supportive community of people who I know love Pilates as much as me!
Thank you to all of you who continue to support Lauren Hilton Pilates and for the extra kindness you’ve shown to me these last few weeks.
