Welcome to this week’s Newsletter

I hope you are having a good week. It would seem like the good weather has decided to hang around for a bit, so we should all make the most of it. 

One of the JTP family stayed online at the weekend to talk about hydration, as I have been mentioning it regularly in class during this hot weather. Earlier in the year I wrote about all the health benefits of keeping hydrated, and how important it is for energy levels, and how it goes hand in hand with nutrition for health. It’s all in the 5th January 2025 Newsletter for reference and this can be found on the Jane Thomas Pilates website, if anyone would like to find out more. 

All Face-to-Face Classes continue this week as per timetable, and I know we are heading into holidays so please remember to register on the Catchups System if you will be missing, but also book your Catchups — you can do multiple Catchup classes a week if necessary in order not to miss out and you can book them before you go as well as on your return, provided that you are releasing your own regular space.

Apologies for having to cancel Jenny's Thursday class last week. We will arrange a replacement class in due course, and will let everyone involved know.

Online Classes also run as per the regular timetable this week. We will be completing our Pilates With Weights in June today, but all the class recordings will continue to be available in the members jtp.zone website, throughout the Summer.

If you would like to request a specific type of class, please let me know — it could be you would like a slower pace session, more mindful, OR you might be wanting different props, or even a more powerful approach to Pilates — please let me know.

In last week’s Newsletter I wrote about the power of stillness and how it can feel ‘alien’ to those of us who live busy lives, but how powerful it can be when we use it actively to help us with our mind and body.

So I decided to follow this up with a focus on breath. It’s a subject I talk about a lot as a Pilates teacher, because when we exercise there can be a tendency to hold breath thinking that this will give us power … sometimes we aren’t even aware of doing this. But there is a gentle power to be found in the breath, because it is often the breath that anchors us in those still moments, and complements the stillness perfectly.

However, it’s not just when we are exercising that we might hold breath. We might find ourselves holding our breath at different times, in certain situations … I experienced this personally last week. I had a trip to the dentist (not my favourite outing!), and my anxiety crept in as it often does. So this time, I took a moment — before I got out of the car, I closed my eyes, placed a hand on my belly, and just breathed. Nothing forced or fancy, just steady, grounding breaths. Slowly, I did feel the tension ease and my mind soften. 

Breathing might be the most natural thing we do, yet it can become our most powerful tool if we give it some attention. When life gets noisy, when our thoughts start racing, when anxiety sneaks in… breath is the thing that can bring us back.

It reminded me of how we teach this in Pilates, but sometimes forget to use it away from the mat. Whether you're stretching, moving, or simply sitting in traffic — the breath is always available,  and you can always use it to guide you back to yourself.

So to put this into practice why not try this over the next week, specially if you have to face some situations that usually ignite that anxiety fuse. Find 60 seconds of stillness in your day to simply breathe:

• a deep inhale through the nose
• a long exhale through the mouth
• no rush, no force, just a moment to pause

It complements the stillness practice, and you don’t need to do anything fancy, or be anywhere fancy, to feel the benefit, you can even do it in the dentist’s waiting room!

Finding stillness, one breath at a time.

Keep looking, moving, and feeling good.

With love and support, 

Jane xx