Tanya Laing: Background

As the owner of 'Eden Pilates' I started my movement journey training to be a dancer at the Rambert School. As a result obtaining various injuries I then turned my focus to Pilates with a focus on rehab. I completed my teacher training in 2001 at "Pilates on the square" in London's Mayfair. 20 Years on I am still hugely enthusiastic about the benefits and results that are obtained with Pilates. I have a mostly worked in a physiotherapy clinic called Scorpio clinics in Virginia Water alongside a fantastic group pf Osteopaths, physiotherapists and alternative therapies . Over these years I have been lucky to gain the experience of working with all kinds of pre and post OP clients with every injury imaginable as well as pre + post pregnancy scenarios. During my time at the clinic I worked with a wide range of cliental, from elderly with conditions such as osteoporosis, cerebral palsy and MS, to professional Golfers, athletes. I have been a member of the Pilates foundation which is the leading body of Pilates teachers and certification. In the last 6 years I opened up my own beautiful purpose built garden studio in the leafy town of Shepperton.

About the founder of Pilates

Joseph Pilates was a German physical trainer who was renowned for having invented and promoted the Pilates method of physical fitness. Joseph's drive and determination to overcome childhood physical ailments eventually brought him to devise the Pilates method drawing on inspiration from gymnastics, yoga, ballet, tai chi and meditation which Took the world by storm and continues to grow to this day. Joseph assisted soldiers during WW1 which brough him to experiment with attaching springs to their beds in order for them to do resistance training while bed-ridden in order to keep their muscles active to avoid muscular atrophy and rehabilitate their movement and strength. These are the origins of the Pilates equipment you will have seen in the modern Pilates equipment. The main power of Pilates is it's adaptability to cater for far a vast range of physical capabilities. This is the core of Pilates which serves as a foundation for its ever evolving techniques to tailor for every situation. You get body awareness, alignment, good posture and stability which are needed to have body awareness/proprioception to turn muscles on and off as needed, with breathing and core strength as its root. Pilates leaves you feeling well exercises but in the most subtle way. It mobilises the whole body while giving you strength and better awareness in movement. You will feel truly relaxed but revitalised at the same time as yet another fantastic benefit of the Pilates technique.