Like so many, I first came to Pilates because I had a bad back. My story begins in my childhood.

I was passionate about gymnastics in my school years. At the age of about 11, whilst training for a gymnastic competition, I fell off a vaulting horse, landed flat on my coccyx and cracked it. There was no treatment except rest. I managed to continue my sports through school but always suffered from back pain. Little did I know how this amount of impact and ‘shift’ in my pelvis was to affect my life.

Whilst working in an office I found the delights of high heels (the wrong thing to wear with a bad back, I know now!!). Although I didn’t realise it at the time, these heels pushed my pelvis forward and exaggerated my lumbar curve, developing more contraction and tightness in this region. They also tightened my calf’s and hamstrings which pulled against my lower back. It wasn’t long before I began to stoop and adopt a different posture putting even more pressure and strain in my already very vulnerable spine.

I loved going to the gym but ignored all the warning signs. It was when I was in my mid-twenties that I first prolapsed a disc in my lumbar.

The pain was excruciating and very debilitating. It took months to recover but only with the aid of an osteopath, kinesiologist, and a physiotherapist. I couldn’t really afford all the treatments, but it was the only way I could get better.

It was my osteopath that recommended Pilates to me. After the pain started to subside. I decided to explore Pilates and found that that thousands of people had managed to improve their back problems from taking up this exercise. I was encouraged to give it a go. It only took a few sessions to get me hooked.

The Pilates method had helped me immensely, and I was learning so much about my body. Posture is key to a pain free body. Flexibility and mobility are essential to keep general fitness.

Even though the training was thorough and hard work back in 2005, you never stop learning. Every single day is a day to learn. With continued development and many courses attended over the years, my appreciation of the human body has my full respect.

My own development has led me to the large studio equipment designed by Joseph Pilates in the 1930's/40’s. These help a person to re-engage with fundamental and therapeutic movements, right up to an advanced level of a workout. This equipment is accessible to anyone who’d like to try them and can vastly improve your understanding not only the method itself but also highlights your strengths and weaknesses and your ability to ‘cheat’ without realising it!

Training

In 2005 I trained with Body Control Pilates Academy. BCP pride themselves on taking their teachers through vigorous training methods, looking closely at anatomy, and sitting an anatomy exam approved by Cambridge University along with a theory paper on the Pilates method.

Lea’s continued development and training:

• Level 3 certified mat work
• Level 4 trained
• Reformer certified
• Large studio equipment
• Small studio equipment
• Posture analysis 
• Functional movement
• Pre and post pregnancy
• Osteoporosis
• Neurological conditions (stroke, Parkinson’s and MS)
• Foot and gait health
• Car seat posture analysis
• Fascia release using small equipment
• Online classes and video’s