Welcome to this week’s Newsletter where I want to celebrate JOY, and including it as part of our healthy habits. More about this in Your Whole Self, but also in the Exercise Of The Week where I have done a simple little sequence using a soft ball!

Coffee Anyone?

As we are into September now, I also want to invite you to join me for a coffee at Bawdon Lodge Farm on Friday 25 September from 10am. This would just be for a casual catch up and coffee where we can chat all things Pilates, or — even better —  life. It is the MacMillan Coffee Morning so I am sure Bawdon Lodge will have a collection box for donations. I want to stress that this is just casual not an organised get-together, I just thought it would be a nice place for us to get together in person, and share a coffee and perhaps cake. I would love to see you there so I hope you will be able to join me.

All Face-to-Face Classes are running with a full timetable this week. Remember to use the Catchups System if you have to miss your regular class, and remember also to book your Catchup class.

Live Online Classes are running as usual this week. I hope you enjoyed the Pilates Plus Class last week, using hand weights. This is housed in both the normal recorded classes section, but also in the Pilates with Weights section.

A little note here is that with all Live classes it might be useful to have your small props around you whenever you join a class. Things like a rolled up towel, a soft pillow, a yoga block, or mini soft ball — because you never know when you might need support of head, knees, lower back to fully benefit from your Pilates.

By now you should all have received the results of the survey for Online Classes, and the video showing how to use the improved members’ jtp.zone website, sent out last week in a special Newsletter.

I want you all to think about how you can make joy a health habit. 

It’s easy to think of health habits as things we should do — eat well, exercise, enough sleep. But when we attach the word should to anything it comes with a feeling of tedium and restriction. But joy should be an essential, not just a nice extra for when there is enough time. Joy is absolutely fuel for your mind, body and spirit. 

We have all felt the benefit of smiling, laughing, reflecting on joyful moments in our lives, and when we experience these moments our body releases feel-good hormones that lower stress, improve immunity, and even help muscles recover more effectively after exercise. 

If we can find joy in what we do it can make healthy habits stick — we are far more likely to repeat things that make us feel good.

Finding your joy doesn’t need to be grand or expensive:

• a five-minute dance in the kitchen
• laughing with a friend
• listening to a favourite song on repeat
• noticing a moment in nature that makes you smile.

Whenever I spend the day with my grandgirls, I have so many moments of joy. If Trixie is displaying her fiery temper with her older sister, it makes me giggle. When Adie is explaining something to me she is so serious and intent her little face makes me smile. I always come away from these times feeling happy, lifted and light … also exhausted 😉 

In Pilates, joy can be as simple as feeling how a movement makes your body feel, or realising that you can do something that you couldn’t do before. One of my one-to-one clients was telling me how strong and empowered she felt when she could lift her Super-King size mattress on her own when changing the bedding — she had a huge grin on her face and said how it made her feel when she had done it.  Now I’m not suggesting that you have to make lifting your mattress a daily joyful habit, but it is worth recognising and acknowledging these moments.

For example register your joy with some mindful moments:   

• at the end of your day, think of one thing that brought you joy
• write it down or tell someone about it — sharing joy multiplies it.

Why It Matters?
When joy becomes part of your health routine, your body and mind are more resilient. Small, consistent moments of joy can shift your whole outlook — and make every other wellness habit easier to maintain.

Have a fabulous week everyone — keep looking, moving and feeling good, and acknowledge all of those moments of joy that come into your life.

With love and support,

Jane xxx