Welcome to this week’s Newsletter, arriving in your inbox with ‘lurve’!

The whole of February has been about self-care and how we can make this an everyday essential for our wellbeing, and in this week’s Your Whole Self, I write about how love, including self-love, isn’t about grand gestures, but about consistency in our everyday actions. 

The love we show and share, can be about all relationships, and that includes the one we have with ourselves, so I hope you enjoy reading it this week.

The only Face-to-Face Classes running this week are Jane’s classes on Mondays and Fridays at Old Woodhouse Community Hall — these are making up for classes missed due to illness earlier in the year. All other Face-to-Face Classes are on our mid-term break, and will restart week commencing Monday 3 March. Please check our online calendar (link at the bottom of any Newsletter, and the bottom of the website) for all class dates.

Online Classes all run this week as per the regular timetable.

Another week with a continuous, flowing routine to connect breath, movement, and in honour of St. Valentine, of self-love.

I hope you have all had a happy St. Valentine’s Weekend. 

Interestingly enough I was listening to a guided meditation which was about love, but it was looking at the difference between ‘like’ and ‘love’. I thought this would be a great topic for the Newsletter, specially as during the month of February, my Everyday Essentials for Wellbeing is all about self-care for health.
 

First, let's look at the difference between ‘Like’ and ‘Love’:

• Liking someone is easy — it’s based on shared interests, something in common, a surface-level of compatibility, and enjoyment
• Loving someone goes deeper — it’s about commitment, showing up even when it’s inconvenient, and truly seeing someone for who they are
• Loving isn’t always exciting or grand, but sustained by action in everyday life

Second, let's take the ‘everyday’ theme of showing Love: 

• So it doesn’t have to be dramatic it can be much simpler: 
  • making a cup of tea for someone before they ask
  • listening, really listening, when they’ve had a long day
  • remembering how they like their coffee
  • a small text saying, Thinking of you
  • a hand on their back when they need reassurance
• These are the quiet, constant moments that build a foundation of love.

Third, there is a love language of consistency:

• The true power of love isn’t in what we do once — it’s in what we do over and over
• It’s in choosing someone, every single day even in the small ways
• It’s the thousands of tiny moments that add up over time, rather than a single, grand moment
   

Finally, Love in Pilates and self-care — because love doesn’t always have to be about someone else: 

• Caring for ourselves isn’t about big, occasional efforts — it’s about the little things we do consistently
• You may not ‘Love’ doing Pilates, but moving your body consistently, and resting when needed is an act of love towards yourself
• You may ‘like’ the idea of self-care, so ‘love’ yourself by actually making it a habit

Love can take many forms, it can be a partner, a child, a sibling, or a lifelong friend, but at its core, it’s always about presence, care and the little things. 

Love is …

• For the people we cherish.
• For the ones who feel like home.
• And for ourselves.
   

Have a ‘loving’ week folks — keep looking, moving and feeling good.

With love

Jane xx