Welcome to this week’s Newsletter, I hope you have had a good week doing the things you love.

It's been back into my work routine fully this week with Face-to-Face Classes and my Online Classes timetable running along nicely, plus all my one-to-one family coming back to my home Studio pod for some personal Pilates time. Both Jenny and I offer personal Pilates sessions, so if you want more information or extra guidance then please don’t hesitate to get in touch — just reply to this Newsletter for more information.

My Pilates Celebration of Movement Day

Booking now opens for my 25th Anniversary Celebration of Movement Day, on Thursday 3rd October.

The Celebration Day is being held in Nanpantan Hall, Loughborough — a wonderful and established venue for retreats and events, set in the heart of Charnwood Forest. The Hall will be ours for the day, and as well as the programme of events and refreshments I am putting on for the day, everyone will have lots of time to explore the delightful woodland estate and well-kept gardens too. 

The day will begin as you arrive at 9am for a warm welcome and then we will be ready to start moving at 9.30am.

The planned timetable for the day will be:

• 9.30am — Beactivated and Move Freely — Jenny and Jane team teach
• 10.15am — Pilates with the soft ball
• 10.45am — Pilates with Isotoner Ring
• 11.15am — Refreshments
• 11.30am — Qigong with Carolyn Eddlestone
• 12.30pm — Lunch
• 1.30pm — Walk around the grounds
• 2.00pm — Pilates 
• 2.45pm — Comfort break
• 3.00pm — Sound Bath with Sweena
• 4.00pm — Goodbye cake and refreshments

Early bird booking is £95 and you have until 22nd August for that, thereafter it will be £120. Spaces are limited.

For more information and/or to book your space, look here.

Face-to-Face Classes reach week 5 of the Summer Timetable, and are at Quorn Village Hall on Monday, and Old Woodhouse Community Hall on Friday, all with Jane

The Online Classes timetable is back in full swing this week.

I look forward to seeing everyone and moving together. 

Over the Summer I am showing some different stretches and this week I am showing a dynamic stretch for the hamstrings. 

Dynamic stretching is so good for the body as we move into a stretch and hold for a short time, release then stretch again but all within a range of movement that feels right for the body — it feels like a moving stretch. 

Pilates in itself uses a lot of dynamic stretching as the exercises are about lengthening, reaching, using a full range of movement that is right for your body. You will often hear cues of anchoring the body with stability in order to gain more length with a movement creating space in the body... this is what Pilates is all about.

In this hamstring stretch I am using a dynaband in order to create a feeling of resistance to push against and support the stretch. It’s important to listen to your body when stretching so please work appropriately and don’t push through pain, find a range of movement that feels right for your body. Enjoy…

I will be getting heavily into the Olympic Games over the next few weeks where I will be watching and cheering on amazing athletes performing in their events.

I’m always amazed at the level of self-belief that elite sportsmen and women have to have in order to even put themselves in with a chance to win a medal. 

What is interesting is their mental health, and listening to what certain athletes have gone through since the last games. 

It seems that sometimes if athletes experience multiple wins which places them at the top of the world listings, they almost become a victim of their success, struggling with the pressure of being number 1. So how do they cope with this and manage it in order for them to then turn it around and return to compete again?

Having listened to and worked with many athletes, I can say that it's about regrouping and reevaluating WHY they are doing what they do. 

When they hit those dark places they start to question everything: why they are in this place, what are they doing, why are they pushing for further success, and is this something that they still love and want to do. Once they can rediscover this it helps them to start to enjoy the sport again, feel motivated to train, and actually start to really enjoy the training knowing that they can push themselves to perform at their top level. It’s not easy but they do have a team around them that helps them get there.

So how does this equate to us mere mortals, how do we overcome self-doubt and turn it into self-belief? We are not all elite athletes, but some of us will have gone through periods of self-doubt, and could be about many things: can I bake this cake? can I drive all that distance on my own? can I stand up and speak to all those people? can I manage to look after my grandchildren for the day? can I really do a full Pilates class? can I do that 10km walk? … all everyday events in life that can become questionable in our heads when we start to worry or doubt whether or not we can do it. 

Again it comes down to WHY? Our big Why: why we are doing what we do? why we find ourselves in this place? focusing on enjoying what we are doing, and celebrating what we are doing and our accomplishments. Rather than thinking about the ‘what ifs’, focus on understanding what could go better, what could potentially have gone worse, but what was good, and showing gratitude for this understanding. Stop comparing yourself with others, start to embrace what you are doing, answer the questions WHY? and are you enjoying this? And is this enough motivation to keep going and doing what you are doing, and turn the self doubt into self belief.

Have a great Olympic winning week — keep moving, looking and feeling good.

With love

Jane xxx