Anyone observing me on a walk would be confused about what I am doing. I call it a walk but it's more like a moving Pilates session!  Walking is a wonderful form of exercise that is enjoyable and provides many health benefits.  So many of my Pilates clients choose walking holidays when they travel, both in Australia and overseas and it's an honour for me to help them prepare for these memorable adventures through Pilates. However,  humans have adapted to walking, and even though walking is excellent for our health and fitness, adding new challenges while you are ..read more

  "By all means, never fail to get all the sunshine and fresh air you can. Whenever and wherever possible, wear shorts or sunsuits outdoors, and let the lifegiving ultraviolet rays reach and penetrate into every skin pore of your body.”  Joseph Pilates Modern life means that so many of us spend the majority of our time indoors in artificial environments without fresh air or sunshine. We are continually warned to avoid too much sun exposure, especially in Australia as it can cause skin cancer.  Which advice should we follow to ensure we maintain good health as we age?   Sunl ..read more

  Your retirement years can be some of the best years of your life if you take steps to prepare for success. Many of my retired Pilates clients, who have prioritized taking care of their health, are a living testament to this. They enjoy active travel adventures around the world, including skiing, hiking, and experiencing new cultures. Others are active grandparents who can spend quality time creating memories with their grandchildren. Whatever your goals are as you age, here are 5 things you need to maintain:   Muscle Mass   Maintaining muscle mass is essential for successful a ..read more

  When I ask new Pilates clients how they have been previously managing their chronic back, hip, knee, or shoulder pain a common response I hear is - "I've been resting it."  When I ask them if resting seems to be working in the long term they admit that their pain is either not improving or increasing.  There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that "resting" when you have chronic pain is delaying the healing process.  There is strong evidence that prolonged bed rest does not improve outcome (pain, disability, days missed from work, or functional ability).  When ..read more

  This time 20 years ago I was overjoyed to be enrolling at the University of Technology, Sydney, to complete the Graduate Certificate in the Pilates Method. Having achieved life-changing results with Pilates after glandular fever morphed into chronic fatigue syndrome, I was highly motivated to become a Pilates teacher and couldn't have been more committed to my studies. Until this point, my entire career had been in dance and movement. successfully running my dance school for 13 years. Now, I was going to combine my love of movement with healing.  My mission was to help as many ..read more

  When I had glandular fever more than 20 years ago now, I was advised by my doctor to stay in bed for 6 weeks.  Most of the time I was too sick to think about moving and even getting to the bathroom was a challenge. Due to a painful sore throat that was like swallowing razor blades, I rarely ate anything and only drank liquids.  Around the 5 week mark, as I was starting to recover, I sat up in bed and looked down at my legs.  What I saw shocked me - I burst into tears. My previously strong legs looked like matchsticks.  I knew straight away I had lost muscle mass. How ..read more

  Early in the new year, my mum messaged her friend Anne of almost 80 years, to wish her all the best for 2024. The message she received back shocked her to the core. Anne's message was short. She was in hospital with a broken femur, awaiting surgery.  While the details are sketchy at this point, what we know is that Anne was walking her very placid and docile dog, when she suffered a fall, resulting in, according to her surgeon, very complicated surgery. In her younger years, Anne gave birth to 3 children, and her final pregnancy was difficult with several complications, but she ha ..read more

  On the last day of 2023, it's the ideal opportunity to look back at the most popular blog posts of this year before we move forward into 2024. It's fascinating to see which blog posts got people talking, questioning, and ultimately taking steps to improve their health & fitness. I've narrowed it down to the top 3 for 2023 so let's recap them.  Do you see any of your personal favourites here?   3 Essential Movements You Don't Want to Lose As You Age This really struck a cord with many people and was a gentle reminder that the simple movements we take for granted in our you ..read more

  Travel is a passion for most of my clients and Pilates is the ideal way to help them prepare physically for the demands of travelling to ensure they gain enjoyment from their adventures.  Long before I even knew what Pilates was, I experienced the importance of fitness on my first overseas trip.  On route to Orlando, Florida for a dance convention with a colleague our Qantas flight landed in Los Angeles at LAX for our 1 night stopover.  Instead of disembarking to a terminal as I imagined, we were herded onto small buses and packed tightly like sardines and suddenly we ..read more

  As most of you know I'm passionate about fall prevention and my Pilates sessions all include balance training.  Any type of fall can cause injury but falls on stairs are particularly dangerous, and sadly can be fatal.  Over the years most of the falls my cleints have had involve stairs.  Just recently,  I had 2 clients who fell on stairs, in unrelated incidents, but due to their ongoing balance training were able to save themselves so they sustained only very minor injuries.  As we age it becomes even more important than ever to have the confidence and physic ..read more