Welcome to this week’s Newsletter. I hope you have had a good week. 

The JTP week has been a busy one, and here’s a few things that class members have brought to my attention:

Firstly, someone mentioned their disappointment that we don’t keep our face-to-face classes going over the Summer! Well, the answer to this is we do — we do run our classes over the summer, but it does tend to be a more skeleton timetable, than the rest of the year, because guess what, teachers need a holiday too. For those of you who have attended classes with JTP for a long time, you will know that we run 34 weeks of classes a year — 4 of these weeks fall over the summer months of July and August and, between us three Coaches, we try to stagger these weeks so that there is always a class running. This year has been a little different but only to cater for specific holiday bookings and venue availability. PLUS everyone who attends our face-to-face classes has full access to online classes all year. Online may not be your favourite way of doing Pilates, but if you are really keen to keep your practice going they are a great resource so don’t ’cut off your nose to spite your face’ as my mum would say — make use of them.

Secondly, if you are having to miss your regular class due to your own holidays falling in our term time, you can always use our Catchup System to book in so you don’t miss out on your Pilates practice. You can take Catchup classes before your actual holiday, and double up for a week or so, or you can take them after … you have a choice as long as you register your own absence. 

Thirdly, we offer a ‘holding fee’ in our face-to-face classes, for anyone who may be going on extended leave, or recovering from injury, surgery, bereavement (see below in Your Whole Self). In our face-to-face classes we do have to run full classes in order to cover our costs, so we work to try and sell every space. However we know life happens and we want to be able to support everyone who attends in the best way we can, so we introduced the holding fee for your space in class. This means when you are ready to return there is a guaranteed space ready for you — no waiting list required, it’s your space. This enables us to keep running the classes financially, but also to make sure we are there for you when you want to return.  If you know you have a long term absence coming up, just get in touch so we can arrange this for you, the holding fee is less than half the full monthly payment. 

We are currently on Summer holiday break from Face-to-Face Classes. 

This week the Online Classes timetable is all about recorded sessions as I take a break from teaching live. I have curated some great classes from the library to fit into the regular timetable. The links are timetabled in exactly the same way. 

This week I am going to talk about moving through loss with compassion, as Keith’s Mam — Mary’s Nana — died a couple of weeks ago, and that is what they and their family are currently manoeuvring through.

Firstly grief is not ‘linear’. It doesn’t follow a schedule, and it certainly doesn’t tidy itself up neatly after a set amount of time. It comes and goes, sometimes it can feel like a quiet ache, other times it can catch you off guard — it could be a piece of music you hear on the radio or when out shopping — and it can be a wave so strong it takes your breath away. 

Loss comes in many forms, the loss of someone you love, a change in your health, the end of a chapter you weren’t ready to close, and even when we think we are ok, grief taps us on the shoulder when we least expect it.

In my own experience, and in conversations I’ve had with others, I have come to realise that grief needs space. It needs gentleness, and most importantly, it needs permission. Sometimes it’s permission to feel, to cry, to laugh, to move or to be still.

For me, my anchor through loss has been Pilates, my personal practice and my teaching, because it’s not all about the body, but for the heart too. I think because of the focus on the breath, the controlled movement, even just being present can give us a place to be when the world feels a little unsteady. 

So if you are working through loss right now, remember that there is no ‘right way’ to grieve. Be kind to yourself, give yourself permission to feel, move, rest … whatever you need. And let others hold space for you, just as you would do for them. 

With love and compassion,

Jane xx