Hello

 

It has been a momentous week for me — and I am somewhat sad yet excited at the same time to announce the closure of my Pilates Studio in Loughborough. It was a very difficult decision, as most of you know I have been there for 20 years seeing people for 1-1 Pilates sessions, and in latter years, training and mentoring other teachers (my team of Coaches included), together with the small group Pilates Reformer classes.

 

It was always going to be challenging to get the Studio back up and running following Covid-19 lockdown. Class sizes being smaller — because of social distancing and Government guidelines for the community sports industry — meant that outgoings would increase while income would decrease. It also started to feel like I had to begin again, and this required time and energy that I couldn’t justify giving. Apart from Covid-19, my lifestyle has had to change in the last 6 months, so in retrospect the lockdown was an appropriate time for me to reassess and move on.

 

Over the years, the Studio brought so much joy into my life, and into the lives of literally hundreds of others who passed through its doors. Chatting to some of my team of Coaches over the last week has reminded me of all the laughs and the memories that we created there. Plus I have met and taught some incredible people at the Studio and for this I am grateful that I had this opportunity.

 

I have many people to thank for the support I have had while running and growing the Studio space. At the top of the list is Keith, who without a doubt has kept me going through thick and thin. When we first started the Reformer classes and no-one had even heard of Pilates Reformers, let alone try them, he worked tirelessly on promoting and getting people into the classes. Next is all the Coaches who trained under me then taught alongside me, giving their very best to ensure everyone had a great experience: their own teaching being at such a high standard I was safe in the knowledge that all class participants were taught by the best team possible. Finally, to everyone who came to classes in the Studio, or had individual Pilates sessions — it is because of you that the Studio was so successful. Thank you all so very, very much.

 

I have laughed and cried with many in that building as we have shared our lives. But in the words of a very wise woman: the Studio is just a physical building, the sense of what we achieved continues, and the memories remain.

 

But now it’s the start of a new chapter for Jane Thomas Pilates — the jtp.zone  online Pilates programme will continue, and we have now commenced the tricky journey of getting face-to-face matwork classes back up and running after the Covid-19 lockdown, and I now have a garden Pilates pod (so watch this space...).

 

 

 

UP AND COMING

 

Live online classes for week beginning 7 September are:

• Monday — JTP Zone Facebook — 12.30pm — 45mins
• Tuesday — Zoom — 9.30am — 60 minutes
• Wednesday — Zoom — 8am — 30 minutes — Wakeup With Jane
• Thursday — JTP Zone Facebook — 6.00pm — 45mins
• Friday — Zoom — 12.30pm — Mindful Meditation Course
• Saturday — Zoom — 9.30am — 60 minutes

As always, links to the above Live classes are on the jtp.zone for members to access. Members of the Mindful Meditation Course have been emailed separately with their link to the session.

 

 

 

FACE-TO-FACE MATWORK CLASSES — NEWS

 

Old Woodhouse Community Hall — Fridays — commencing on Friday 18th September. This will be a five-week block of classes to test the waters of restarting group classes around the local area. We do have a very few spaces available in the 10.30am class there, so please reply to this Newsletter (remembering to include your mobile number)  if you are interested in returning to face-to-face matwork classes.

 

Rempstone Village Hall — this is the next venue we are looking at re-opening and we will be contacting all those who attended these classes in the first instance with details over the next week, so please watch out for the email.

 

Finally, we are now risk assessing Rosebery Street Medical Centre for the viability of restarting a limited number of classes there. More news about this and more next week...

 

 

This week's Exercise Of The Week is a Pilates Push Up, specifically looking at modifications for weight-bearing in the wrists.

 

In a Pilates programme, a Push Up forms only part of a sequence, along with a Roll Down — this is demonstrated in the video.

 

It is a great sequence that provides mobility, strength and stretch for the whole body.

 

As with all Exercises Of The Week, work at the appropriate level for your body and keep away from pain.

 

Here is the video.

 

 

This week, for reasons you are now all aware of, I have been thinking about how a physical building can affect our memories, thoughts and feelings.

 

How can one building hold 20 years of experiences, 20 years of memories, 20 years of feelings? And what happens when we move out of the building.

 

Very much like moving house, we all know how that can feel when perhaps leaving a house where our children have grown up in, or thinking back to leaving the home where we grew up in. We feel there is sentimentality within those walls, within the actual structure.

 

However, I have been reminded by several friends this week that the building itself doesn’t create the memories, the feelings, it is simply the tool in which things were allowed to happen.

 

It is our physical presence that makes the thoughts, the memories, the feelings, the experience. So wherever we go, wherever we are, that will continue and live with us wherever we find ourselves.

 

It isn’t about the building— it's about the heart and the soul within us.

 

 

 

Have a great week folks — keep safe, keep moving, keep laughing, keep looking good

 

Jane xx