YouTube channel, Wellbeing, Self Care, Pilates, Online Fitness Classes, Health and Fitness, Fitness motivation, Fitness Blog
rachel lawrence
Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure ...

Creative, functional workouts to sculpt, tone and give you a body that serves you well in life, because ultimately that's what we all need. It's not about how you look, it's about how you feel inside and out- full of confidence in your own skin. On my YouTube channel we celebrate all ages and levels of fitness with something for everyone. Every workout will teach you something new about your body and is rooted in over 50 years of experience in movement, dance and pilates. I am a Fully Certified Pilates Instructor with over 13 years of practice in many settings from Physiotherapy clinics specialising in Sports Injuries to Rehabilitation post knee, hip and shoulder replacement. I had my own boutique studio in London pre the pandemic and now I choose to share my teaching online for anyone in the world keen to learn more about their body and grow physically, emotionally and mentally through an intelligent, focused, movement practice.

Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination.....❤️
Fitness Blog, Age and Fitness, Wellbeing, Fitness motivation
rachel lawrence
Note to Self - Will you be my Valentine? 💘

February, the month of love, is not just reserved for showering affection on others. This Valentine's season, let's redirect some of that love inward and embark on a journey of self-love. Let's explore how taking care of yourself can be the ultimate act of love.

• Love Begins with Self-Care - In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it's easy to neglect the most important person – yourself. Just as Pilates can strengthen and rejuvenate the body, a self-care practice will nourish the soul. Take time for activities that bring you joy, whether it's a relaxing bath, a walk in nature, or reading a good book. Treat yourself with the same kindness and attention you would give to a friend.

Note to Self - Will you be my Valentine? 💘
Age and Fitness, Fitness Blog, Fitness motivation, Health and Fitness, Pilates, Wellbeing, YouTube channel
rachel lawrence
The Top 5 Benefits of Pilates Breathing

5 Benefits of Pilates Breathing and 5 Health Conditions it can Help

1️⃣ Increases your lung capacity

2️⃣ Improves muscle activation and performance during exercise

3️⃣ Reduces anxiety and stress

4️⃣ The exhale activates the core muscles

5️⃣ Improves mental health by focusing your attention to the mind/ body connection

One Lung Breathing is an incredible tool for anyone as it focuses you on one lung and one side of your ribs at a time. I’ve found it very helpful for people new to Pilates in understanding HOW lateral breathing works.

The Top 5 Benefits of Pilates Breathing
Book, Health and Fitness, Pilates
rachel lawrence
My First book on Pilates will be out soon!

I have exciting news for you. My first book on Pilates will be published this spring!

Last year I was asked by a publisher to write an easy to follow guidebook on Mat Pilates and I am thrilled to announce that it's now available for Pre-Order on Amazon UK and Amazon.com

I spent all last summer writing it and many a late night post YouTube broadcasts working on it to make it as easy to follow as possible. If you can I would love it if you could pre-order a copy on Amazon; pre-orders help push the promotion of books and I need the help to get it out there to everyone who needs it. It's very reasonably priced and a great little guide you can dip in and out of whenever you need to refer to an exercise or want to build your own little programme for home practice. It has all 34 of Joseph Pilates original exercises in with tips and cues to make the difficult exercises more accessible and the easier exercises more challenging- not that mat pilates isn’t challenging enough anyway 😊

My First book on Pilates will be out soon!
Fitness motivation, Fitness Blog, Health and Fitness, Pilates, Online Fitness Classes, Wellbeing, YouTube channel
rachel lawrence
A message from me to you ❤️

Happy New year!

This year I plan to focus as much on keeping a healthy mind as well as a healthy body. It’s going to be an exciting year with lots of fun Pilates practice, new ideas to boost your mental and physical health and a deepening of our community connection.

A message from me to you ❤️

Age and Fitness

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Note to Self - Will you be my Valentine? 💘

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Note to Self - Will you be my Valentine? 💘

February, the month of love, is not just reserved for showering affection on others. This Valentine's season, let's redirect some of that love inward and embark on a journey of self-love. Let's explore how taking care of yourself can be the ultimate act of love.

• Love Begins with Self-Care - In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it's easy to neglect the most important person – yourself. Just as Pilates can strengthen and rejuvenate the body, a self-care practice will nourish the soul. Take time for activities that bring you joy, whether it's a relaxing bath, a walk in nature, or reading a good book. Treat yourself with the same kindness and attention you would give to a friend.

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The Top 5 Benefits of Pilates Breathing

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The Top 5 Benefits of Pilates Breathing

5 Benefits of Pilates Breathing and 5 Health Conditions it can Help

1️⃣ Increases your lung capacity

2️⃣ Improves muscle activation and performance during exercise

3️⃣ Reduces anxiety and stress

4️⃣ The exhale activates the core muscles

5️⃣ Improves mental health by focusing your attention to the mind/ body connection

One Lung Breathing is an incredible tool for anyone as it focuses you on one lung and one side of your ribs at a time. I’ve found it very helpful for people new to Pilates in understanding HOW lateral breathing works.

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What is cross pattern movement and why you need it for brain health

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What is cross pattern movement and why you need it for brain health

The term cross pattern also known as cross crawling involves using the opposite arm and leg at the same time. This cross lateral action integrates both sides of the brain for optimum learning and brain communication so it’s not just your body that benefits but your brain too. Essential to do as you enter midlife if not before as our brains and bodies need challenging to both maintain, and improve our health and wellbeing.

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My First Podcast!

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My First Podcast!

I was invited to guest on popular podcast 5 Minutes to Change Your Life by broadcaster Joanne Mallon who was recently recommended by UK magazine Woman and Home as the podcast to listen to in August. I am beyond thrilled and honoured to be invited. Joanne asked me to come up with a way to improve posture in just 5 minutes so do have a listen, let me know what you think and please share this link with any friends you'd like to help too.

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Keto-Green- A Great Way to Lose Weight and Balance your Hormones

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Keto-Green- A Great Way to Lose Weight and Balance your Hormones

What do you know about Keto? Thanks to a great podcast where Hormone Expert Nicki Williams interviewed Triple certified Obstetrician and Gynaecologist Dr.Anna Cabeca - I now know quite a bit and it’s fascinating. Why? Because I’ve been struggling to shift a few pounds that have been hanging around my waistline despite a very active lifestyle and until the menopause, a completely flat tummy. I now know it’s not me, it’s my hormones! So after hearing about the benefits of a Keto-Green diet which balances the hormones and burns fat through ketogenic eating I decided to give it a go. The basic premise of this diet is very low carb, good fats and protein which changes the metabolism to create ketosis - where the body turns to utilising its fat stores for energy.

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Welcome to 2022! Let's start the year with kindness......

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Welcome to 2022! Let's start the year with kindness......

Hello Pilates friends, family and buddies,

And a very Happy New Year! I am really looking forward to helping you continue your wellbeing journey in 2022.

This year I want you to focus on self care and kindness, taking care of yourself is the most important thing in your life because if you feel good, not only will you benefit but so will everyone around you. So as we move into the New Year let's start with a basic kindness; no guilt about what you ate or drank at Christmas and no punishing fitness goals. Let's just get moving and working on taking care of our health.

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Receiving my YouTube Silver Creator Award for 100,000 Subscribers

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Receiving my YouTube Silver Creator Award for 100,000 Subscribers

A momentous day today as I hold the physical manifestation of the mountain of work I’ve done over the pandemic. 😅 My #silverbutton award from @youtube for 100k subscribers. Absolutely thrilled and got to be honest enjoying a little rest over the summer 😂If you’d like to see my YouTube Video unboxing the award and please click here

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Reframe your Thoughts and Change your Day

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Reframe your Thoughts and Change your Day

Isn’t it strange the difference between how other people see us and how we see ourselves? What I’ve learnt over the years is that we all have good and bad days, we all have something about us we’d like to change or improve, and we all have moments in our lives which are more challenging than we think we can bear. And the biggest life lesson I’ve learnt is that we CAN have more good days than bad if we choose to reframe our thoughts to positive ones, we CAN become the best version of ourselves if we accept truly who we are and not compare our lives to others. And we CAN overcome whatever life throws at us if we are kind to ourselves in our thoughts and actions, as well as to other people.

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Sustainable Pilates - Taking Responsibility for the Planet as well as your Wellbeing

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Sustainable Pilates - Taking Responsibility for the Planet as well as your Wellbeing

As I’ve got older certain things have become more important in my life, responsibility for the planet is one of them. Ok that sounds very grandiose I know but I’m trying to do my bit. I’m Flexitarian but eat more Vegan food now, I avoid as many single use plastics as I can and I do seek out eco-friendly and sustainable brands for everything from make-up to homeware, not to mention the most frequently used items in my wardrobe- namely my Pilates clothes. I live and breathe (literally!) Pilates and I have been actively looking for Pilates clothing that I can wear knowing that it has come from a sustainable and ethical source and looks good too. Most recently I was approached by a lovely Swedish brand called Pebbles Pilates who asked me if I’d like to try their product. I have to be honest it was great to be approached as most often, and I think if you’re older like me you will know this, sportswear brands only feature very young, very agile movers which can put you off if you’re older. We all need peers to connect with after all.

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Learn to Love Your Body for What it Does not How it Looks

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Learn to Love Your Body for What it Does not How it Looks

How do you feel about your body? Do you look at it with admiration at what it can do? Or do you pick out parts you don’t like, critique and compare to others. I’m fessing up to being guilty of the second statement on occasion. Odd you may think when I’ve danced all my life but growing up in a competitive environment and a society where it’s socially acceptable to criticise and comment on a woman’s body can do that to you. And I don’t want that for the next generation, nor do I want anyone who feels that way to continue feeling negative about body image. This is why all my classes and YouTube sessions are body positive and age positive.

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Why an Injury Can affect Your mental health and How to Overcome it

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Why an Injury Can affect Your mental health and How to Overcome it

There is a great article on why a sports injury can harm your mental health in this months Psychologies magazine with some excellent advice. One piece in particular was ‘ if you can’t play your usual sport due to injury what can you do instead? And this is where Pilates comes in. Working as a pilates instructor for 10+ years now I’ve seen many injuries and pathologies that have affected peoples mental health and the first priority is always to get people moving in whatever way they can because movement in itself is healing. A comprehensively certified teacher can call on 600 + pilates exercises from both the mat and apparatus repertoire and adapt them to work with the injury and rehabilitate both body and mind. I’ve had many clients arrive as injured who’ve stayed with me post recovery and continue to use pilates to cross train and stay injury free. And it isn’t just injuries, age can play a big part in how we feel about ourselves and the same philopsophy applies, movement is healing so my advice to you is no matter your age, no matter your injury find a way to move to stay healthy in mind and body.

LET’S GO!

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