This is a great movement pattern to do if you have tight shoulders from sitting hunched over a laptop or your mobile phone. Grab a belt or resistance band and keep it close to your desk. Every hour or so move your body – this is a great thing to add in. Learn more about […]
Seated Pilates Exercises – Bicycle
This seated version of Pilates Bicycle is great for anyone who wants to work their waist muscles but can’t /doesn’t want to get down on the floor. For some people getting up and down from the floor isn’t possible. Joint replacements, joint fusion, arthritis, labyrinthitis are just some reasons. Also the crunch from a lying […]
Beginners Shoulder Bridge for Strength
Beginners Shoulder Bridge for StrengthUse a ball or cushion between the thighs. That ball helps activate the stability muscles – bonus it helps build body mind connection while speeding up the benefits of the exercise. Do 20 reps if you can ✅Get in touch if you need help with movement✅Like and save this post for […]
Access Bars®
Have you had your Bars run? If not, why not? It’s the equivalent to pressing ctrl-alt-Del on your mind to reset it, quiet the chatter and clear negative belief patterns
Beginners Pilates – VW for bad backs and posture
Pilates VW exercises great for bad backs and posture. Get in touch with me if you need help with movement, mobility or strength, email jen@iamjenwilson.com
Beginners Strength Training – Squat
Beginners Squat using a wall for support. This is a great way to improve your posture in your squat and protect your knees. Perfect for beginners. Please get in touch if you need help with mobility or strength, email jen@iamjenwilson.com
Beginners Strength Training – Biceps Curls
A biceps curl is quite a straightforward exercise – that standing in different positions changes the experience… Give this a try to bring support into your movement – perfect if you are brand new to get form abd technique, great to build strength if you have a habit of swinging the upper arm to use […]
Desk Workers Neck Mobility
Sore neck from sitting at your desk all day? These simple stretches can really make a difference. They are movements and stretches I include in my Pilates & Yoga classes which are online and also at my private home studio in Springburn, North Glasgow. www.iamjenwilson.com/classes If the timetable doesn’t suit, I have 60+ sessions on […]
Beginners Leg Exrension for Sore Knees
If you struggle with sore knees this exercise is excellent to build strength in your quads. Start with 10 each leg, building up to 15, the doing 2 or 3 sets of the exercise Make sure you squeeze your thigh at the top. ✅ Get in touch if you need help with beginners Strength Training […]
Desk Workers Mobility
If you are sitting at a desk all day slumped over a laptop you likely have sore shoulders, neck, back… that pain could even be getting worse and starting to travel down your arms… You don’t need to suffer!!! Gentle mobility regularly can really help. I have a weekly Midday Mobility class on a Wednesday […]
Shhhh, it’s oh so quiet
Is your mind noisy? Do you constantly have a voice in your head chippering away – sometimes it’s you inner critic, sometimes it’s your wee old lady grumbling and groaning, sometimes it’s the voice of inspiration, sometimes it’s word turrets as you remember things you have to do or buy – Anyone else standing in […]
Kit for Pilates & Yoga classes
Do you need equipment or kit for class? In all honesty you don’t need any kit for class… BUT it really can benefit your experience. Resistance bands Resistance bands are really useful to help get your muscles to activate – if you have ever been to see a physiotherapist, they likely sent you away with […]
Movement in Midlife
I have to keep reminding myself that I am now in my midlife… it’s weird because I don’t feel older than 21, but here I am, 43… What does it mean to be in midlife? Things are changing in our bodies, some women I know at this age are already experiencing Peri menopausal symptoms, some […]
Mental Health Matters
There’s never a bad time to start looking after your mental health. Right now, today is the best time. Something I learned (the hard way of course) is to do the work even when your mental health is in a good place. It’s maybe even more important you keep a strong practice when you are […]
Its time to get moving!
Moving a lot of your body a little is much better for your overall health than moving a little of your body a lot! If you spend lots of your day sitting, whether it’s at a laptop or on a sofa, if you are on your phone a lot, you really need to get your […]
Control The Controllable
What do I mean by that? You control what goes in your mouth – eat and drink with intention to be healthy. You know that tanning a bottle of wine and eating the whole cheese board/chocolate cake isn’t good for you every day… Start to ask yourself WHY you are reaching out for these comforts […]
The Difference & Similarities Between Pilates & Yoga
I have been thinking about this post for a long time, and I finally have set out the time to actually write it… The Difference Between Pilates & Yoga From the outside there are many similarities in Pilates & Yoga. Both are generally taught on a mat, moves are slow and controlled, both can be […]
Guided Meditation
Guided meditations can be really useful for people who find that it’s difficult to keep focused on your breast or quieting the mind. At the end of all my yoga classes I guide my class through at least a 10-minute sometimes 30-minute guided meditation. So, why is meditation so important for us? In Today’s world, […]
Breathing In Pilates
Layering in the breath to the moves in Pilates is a fantastic way to enhance your experience of the exercises. In Yoga, we are often encouraged to belly breathe, which is lovely, but only sometimes. I would argue that there are times in Yoga that doing the lateral breathing that we do throughout Pilates is […]
Benefits to Doing Yoga & Pilates Online
Moving classes online wouldn’t have been on my list of priorities or even been possible with my client base had we not been forced into it back in March 2020. As much as it’s not a way I love teaching, it has meant that not only have my current clients been able to keep […]
PILATES: TO POINT OR NOT POINT YOUR TOES?
Should you point your toes or flex your foot? Pointing your toe in a Pilates class came from it being taught a lot in the beginning to ballet dancers and no one (or not many) questioned it, so it has been passed on through the decades. My answer – it depends. When doing Pilates pointing […]
Neutral Alignment
It’s pretty much written in the script when teaching Pilates to talk about a ‘neutral alignment’. Less common in Yoga (unless you come to my class). It can be useful in Yoga to play around with neutral in/out of neutral to see what you experience yourself. The simplest way to explain neutral spine is where […]
Sweet Valentine
Are you showing yourself enough love?? In my book 9 Rules to Sort Your Shit there is Rule #7 Self Love & Self Belief… In that chapter I write this: ‘When I think about self-love, I believe it’s about looking after yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, respecting yourself, putting yourself first, and filling your cup, remember […]
THE FOUNDATIONS OF MOVEMENT: FEET
Our feet are our foundations, a masterpiece construction with 26 bones, 33 joints, 5 arches, over 7000 nerve endings, and over 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments in EACH foot! 25% of your bones are in your feet. The body is so complex that science is still scratching its head at many of the functions. One […]
Little Old Me
I have been teaching Pilates since 2009, I am not going to lie, back then I was a cardio & weights queen. There was nothing more I loved than getting a sweat on or lifting weights. Teaching Pilates (or even participating in a class) was the last thing on my mind. The woman I worked […]