“The body is a sacred garment. It’s your first and last garment, it is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honour.” Martha Graham

About Pilates

Pilates works in a different way to other fitness techniques. Targeting the deep postural muscles, it works by building strength from the inside out, rebalancing the body and addressing faulty movement patterns. It will improve your posture, achieving the perfect balance between strength and flexibility and is a great way to relieve stress and tension.  Everyone has a different body shape with particular problems, and ultimate potential. In the studio I will assess each client and adapt exercises to suit the individual’s strengths and weaknesses, progressing them through to more challenging exercises.  All clients are therefore required to have 2 initial private sessions. This enables me to assess your requirements and limitations on an individual basis. After you have completed your initial sessions, you have the option of continuing with private sessions, or beginning shared sessions in the studio, or joining a mat work class. Please wear comfortable clothes that allow unrestricted movement.  If you have any health concerns such as heart trouble, recent surgery, or ongoing back pain, you will need to consult your doctor before commencing Pilates.

About The Pilates Teacher

 

My name is Hilary Symmans and until the late 90’s I worked as a bank clerk/secretary. I had often thought about teaching some sort of fitness technique but never really come across anything that I was very passionate about. Then I began experiencing bouts of extreme back pain, where I found it so uncomfortable to sit for any length of time, let alone walk! Even several visits to the physiotherapist and chiropractor did nothing to alleviate the pain, and only being in my mid 40’s I started to get very depressed, thinking that for the rest of my life my back was going to control what I did. Then one day, I happened to open my local newspaper and saw an article on Pilates. Within a week I had made an appointment for my first session with a Body Control Pilates teacher, and I never looked back. I was so smitten with this method that made me feel longer, leaner, stronger and completely changed the shape of my body, that I decided to train to teach. I completed my training with the Body Control Pilates Association in London and qualified to teach mat work in June 2000. Since then I have also qualified to teach on the Pilates Reformer, Stability Chair and Cadillac with the New Pilates School in Brighton, taught by BCPA co-founder Helge Fisher and Michelle Cohen of New York’s Kelly Kane School. I now have over 8 years experience teaching Pilates. During that time I have also lived in Innsbruck Austria, teaching Pilates to physiotherapists and dancers. I am very passionate about Pilates and believe that all of us need to be able to move freely in our bodies to enable us to enjoy life. I offer quality Pilates and guaranteed individual attention.