May 13th-15th May 2022
Join us at the London Irish Centre
Other online workshops available

We invite all Pilates and movement professionals and enthusiasts to participate in our Spring Connection weekend events. Book now to receive 10% off the Workshops. We are very excited to announce one of our Founder Members Hana Jones will be presenting 2 days of workshops for us.

What is spinal extension? In the world of biomechanics, spinal extension is returning your spine upright after being in spinal flexion (rounded forward). That means back to your “natural curves.” However, in Pilates, we speak of extension as a backbend. For the sake of this article, let’s use this Pilates interpretation. Flexion is where inward curves round outward, and all curves match in degree of curvature relative to the natural outward curve of the thoracic (mid) spine. Therefore, extension is the direct opposite: where outward curves curve inward matching the degree of curvature relative to the natural inward curve of the lumbar spine (lower back).

We invite all Pilates and movement professionals and enthusiasts to participate in our Spring Connection weekend events. Pilates Foundation Members receive priority booking and discounts.

Tanya Thompson founded Kinetic Precision after a long search for answers. A dancer during and after university, she had practised Pilates as a client and then qualified as a teacher. When she began working in conjunction with physiotherapists and biokineticists, she found herself asking new questions with regards to safe client-specific training for toning, rehabilitation and sports enhancement. Despite her training, she says, ‘I started to feel that I didn’t know enough. I felt there was a huge gap between what movement practitioners are told that they can do and what they can actually do when they qualify.’

The Pilates Foundation, the UK’s oldest Pilates organisation and its only non-profit, has published its first, long-awaited handbooks for matwork and apparatus.

In keeping with its motto ‘The Highest Standard’, the volumes have very high production values; stunning colour photos of Pilates Foundation teachers demonstrating the exercises are a key feature. Director of photography and design Sarah Doherty also serves as one of the models. Each page of illustrations is accompanied by a page with the headings Purpose, Set Up, Breathing, Cueing, Variations/Adaptations and Contraindications. Unusually, there are no written instructions on how to perform the exercises: the space below the headings is left blank to be filled in by the book’s owner.

Pilates Foundation Board member Penny Jones, who oversaw the project, explained the rationale behind this decision: ‘A core value of the Pilates Foundation is to respect the individual approach of Teacher Trainers whilst honouring the original work established by Joseph Pilates. So instead of a description of how to teach each exercise, there is space for teachers to write their own ideas from their own training, their own understanding of the first principles of the Method and their own practice.’

The handbooks, which were originally intended primarily for trainee and practicing Pilates teachers, will enable anyone from clients to long established teacher trainers to build a unique and personal view of the Pilates repertoire. According to Jones, ‘The view of the Foundation is that this is the only way to ensure that Pilates continues to be a powerful and evolving system of well-being.’

The Matwork Handbook retails at £25 and the Apparatus Handbook at £50, with discounted rates available for Pilates Foundation Teachers, Affiliates and Friends. Discounts for bulk purchases are also available. Copies can be ordered from rochelle@pilatesfoundation.com.

HOT OFF THE PRESSES!
First Edition Pilates Foundation Training Handbooks!

The Myriad Movements of Mary Bowen – documentary film showing. Friday 9 May 7-8pm. Followed by Q&A with Mary.

An Evening with Mary – An informal evening of Mary’s entertaining stories of training in Joe’s New York gym and spending a lifetime developing and teaching the Pilates Method. Saturday 10 May, 5.30-8pm

‘When I was asked to present for the Pilates Foundation of the UK for two days quite a few years ago, I remember meeting a very congenial and professional group of teachers who were serious minded about their work with the body and maintaining the standards set by Joe and Clara’s life work. Joe died 47 years ago, but he lives in each one of us who continues his mission and his method towards finding and maintaining a healthier and happier life for ourselves and all those with whom we work.’

‘I found in the Pilates Foundation that there was room for one’s originality, which I believe is a great asset in keeping Pilates alive. After 56 years of practicing Pilates and 39 of those years teaching it, I find there is a dual evolving going on - becoming one’s own person at the same time as discovering better and deeper ways to teach Pilates. They evolve together. I look forward to returning to the Pilates Foundation this May 9 and 10 - meeting some old friends and making many new friends. Pilates can feel like a family. It reaches all over the world now as Joe was sure it should and would.’

Marie-José Blom took time out of her busy schedule to talk to the Pilates Foundation in advance of her presentations at our Spring Connection weekend, 9-11 May.