Blog
by Lauren Hilton Pilates
Take five to enjoy free Pilates resources, Pilates tips, how-tos and insights, as well as our newest Pilates At Home classes.
Why less really is more to get the full benefit of Pilates
In this blog, we’ll explore whether our workouts can be more meaningful if we try less hard and consciously connect our body and mind.
Why breathing the right way will make you less stressed
Poor breathing mechanics can contribute to lower back pain, neck pain, headaches and migraines, pelvic floor dysfunction and anxiety. In this article, I’ll talk about how stress can affect our breath, causing sub-optimal breathing, and what we can do to help ourselves.
5 benefits of using resistance props in your Pilates mat work
My top 5 benefits of using Pilates resistance props in your mat work to get a studio workout at home, and delve deeper into your Pilates practice, build strength, improve your bone density, feel more flexible and build muscle tone.
How to do the Pilates Hundred (with a free class!)
Get behind the scenes on classic Pilates exercises, learn the benefits of the movements, and what those mean for our day-to-day movement and well-being, this month’s Behind the Moves is all about the infamous Pilates Hundred…
Behind the Pilates Moves: Plank
Ever wondered about the why behind some of the Pilates movements you do in class? We delve a little deeper into a move per month so you can learn the benefits of the movements we’re offering our bodies and what those mean for our day-to-day movement and well-being.
Let’s talk about Pilates plank…
Behind the Pilates Moves: Mermaid
Each month we'll give you the why behind some of the Pilates movements you'll be most familiar with in class, so you can learn the benefits of the movements we’re offering our bodies and what those mean for our day-to-day movement and well-being.
Here we'll talk through Mermaid…
Behind the Pilates Moves: Pilates Bridging
In each edition of Behind the Moves, we'll give you the why behind some of the movements you're familiar with in class. When we attend a class each week sometimes we're unaware of the benefits of the movements we are offering our bodies and what those mean for our day-to-day movement and wellbeing.
This time we're talking all things Bridging!
All you need to know about Pregnancy Pilates
When we become pregnant we might continue with our regular exercise routine, perhaps we may choose to adapt it or we may decide to slow down and try a new movement practice altogether. A pregnancy-specific exercise programme, such as Pregnancy Pilates, is designed with the different trimesters in mind and to support the changes that occur in your body rather than fight against them.
Behind the Pilates Moves: Swan
Swan is a Pilates exercise that you may know from your mat class and it also features in all of the apparatus too. Swan is a back-bend, known in movement language and anatomy as an extension. Extension exercises can often be our least favourite.
Let’s take a deep dive into Pilates Swan…
The Pilates Wunda Chair
At Lauren Hilton Pilates we use the full studio equipment in 1-2-1s and studio circuits class, this includes the reformer, tower bar, barrel and Pilates chair or ‘Wunda’ chair. Most people have heard of the reformer but the chair was, until more recently, considered a niche piece of equipment that only Pilates devotees had heard of.
The Pilates Ladder Barrel
What is the Pilates Ladder Barrel?
What is that?! What do you do on it? Clients that come into the studio are always curious as to what the ladder barrel is and what you can do it on it!
If you have seen one you may have felt a bit scared (a common response to the dungeon-like apparatus on the walls), or you’ll likely want to drape yourself over the ladder barrel as soon as you see it.
What is Pilates?
What is Pilates?
Is Pilates the same as Yoga? This is the number one question I get asked when I tell people that I am a Pilates teacher! Whilst there is cross over between the two movement methods they are very different, yoga originates from India where as Pilates origins are a little more recent.