Petts Wood Pilates Classes 
What To Expect In Pilates Classes:
A Pilates class begins with very gentle stretching – a lengthening movement to ease you into a session. Body awareness is heightened to allow you to detect hidden tensions. The breathing alone can help enormously with relieving pain. The first movements are simple, not necessarily easy to do correctly, but are comfortable and within everyone's capabilities. They are always performed in good postural alignment limiting the risk of injury. Once you have learnt the basics of correct breathing, stabilizing and correct alignment you can move onto to learning the sequences which bring together the Eight Principles of Pilates. When you first start doing the Pilates exercises it's a little like learning to drive with many things to remember all at once. Then, after a few weeks of practice, it becomes easier and soon it's like riding a bike. With regular precise repetitive movements, we build up programmed muscular patterns known as engrams or muscle memory. With more practice the engrams develop so that we no longer need conscious thought for our muscles to react – when did you last consciously have to think how to walk?
A man is as young as his spinal column. Joseph Pilates
Keeping your spine strong and flexible is one of the main points of focus in Pilates. The more you focus on the spine the better the control and awareness you develop to help prevent future injury. At the start of taking up Pilates you need to undo/unlearn all those bad habits and replace them with good form of movement and muscle control to restore natural mobility. It takes a team of muscles to move bones and they nearly all work in groups. One may be the primary mover while others add subtle direction or fix a bone in place, and opposing muscles have to release their tension in order for the action to take place. This group action is dependent on each member of that group fulfilling its role.
Pilates will teach you to move the way nature intended – the way you use to move as a child before you developed poor postural habits. The Pilates way is based on a mind-body connection, allowing for a more holistic fitness approach to your health. Pilates is much more than a mindless repetition of movements. It connects the mind with how we move; you have concentrate on how you are breathing, how to isolate certain movements, how to stabilize supporting structures and how integrate movement into a flowing rhythmical co-ordinated way. Pilates and its' various teachings are not a quick fix for a bad back but a long term commitment to improving posture, health and the quality of one's life. There is no need to bring any equipment we can supply all you'll need, except on a hot day you may wish to bring a small hand towel and a bottle of water. It's best not to have eaten for at least 2 hours before a class. You need to wear loose fitting clothing, ideally shorts or jogging bottoms, a t-shirt and or a light sweat shirt. Socks are oppotional.
The Pilates Method of body conditioning develops the body uniformly, corrects posture, restores vitality, invigorates the mind and elevates the spirit. Joseph Pilates
To restore the muscle balance throughout the body then the body must be in its right alignment while we exercise. The correct alignment of your pelvis and spine are the starting point in Pilates. When we start to change the body's alignment it will feel strange, especially when learning the alignment exercises. But anything new and out of a comfort zone feels odd at first. For example fold your arms in front of you, now unfold them and fold them the opposite way round – how does that feel – strange?
The Pilates method of body conditioning is gaining mastery of your mind over the complete control of your body. Joseph Pilates
Despite being around for over 90 years it is only recently that people have found Pilates to be one of a few forms of exercise (yoga also) which give consistent results without the burn and the pain and without the risk of injury. Long term devotees of Pilates have learnt to move with care, with direction and thought as they reach their mature years staying beautifully toned, supple yet strong and living examples of the benefits of the Pilates way.
