The Centred Body

The beginning…

I love movement and growing up I did a lot of it, whether it was haring around on my bicycle, swimming or performing ballet and tap. That love of movement stayed with me into adulthood. As you can see from the middle photo above, taken on a cycling holiday in the South of France, I still hare around on my bicycle!

I’d always thought Pilates sounded like my kind of exercise; I like being healthy and fit but I’ve never been and never will be a ‘gym bunny’! It was wanting to recover and get strong from a minor back injury that pushed me to take my first lesson back in 2000.

I began training with Chris Hocking, founder of Pilates Based Body Awareness (she trained with Alan Herdman, the person who brought Pilates to the UK). After my first class I could understand and feel the benefits I would gain from Pilates.

Within 6 weeks of attending a weekly class and doing daily home practice I was able to sleep on my back without pain; I’d not been able to do that for the previous 9 months.

The next step…

After 6 year of practicing Pilates, I decided to dive deeper into the method. I gained my matwork qualification from Body Control Pilates® in 2007. The right hand photo above is me with Lynne Robinson, co-founder of Body Control Pilates® at the 2011 annual conference.

Since then, I have qualified to teach ante and post natal Pilates and I enjoy encouraging women to feel healthy and strong during their pregnancies and supporting them when they’re ready to return to exercise.

All roads lead to…

With my love of movement and performing, I originally trained as an actress. After drama school, I spent the next 15 years working in the Arts; everything from performing, running children’s theatre workshops to artist management and publishing.

A long held interest in holistic therapies led me to train in Indian Head Massage. The holistic nature of massage aligned perfectly with the holistic nature of Pilates and from these two complimenting strands of work my business, The Centred Body, was born.

The learning never stops…

In March 2015, I gained my Studio Certification with Polestar Pilates after 18 months of study (see opposite). In the final 12 months of the course, I was an assistant teacher at the weekly studio circuit class led by the in-house osteopath and clinical Pilates specialist at Moss Pilates, home of Polestar Pilates in the UK.

On passing my exams, I was invited to join the teaching team at Moss Pilates, teaching group Reformer classes and private studio sessions.

This also lead to becoming a Graduate Assistant for Polestar Pilates Education, assisting on teacher training courses and helping students work towards their exams.

The journey continues…

My performance background and bodywork training has enabled me to develop a comprehensive understanding of human movement. To continue to deepening my knowledge, I regularly attend workshops, Reformer classes and 1:1s with my Pilates mentors.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have participated in workshops with 2 of the surviving Pilates Elders; Mary Bowen and Lolita San Miguel (both worked directly with Joe and Clara Pilates). And when Michele Larsson, a 2nd generation teacher who was trained by Pilates Elder, Eve Gentry, was in the UK in 2013, I attended her 2 day workshop on joint mobility.

To help clients who need Pilates for rehabilitation work and to extend my skills in this field, I’ve attended a workshop for Pilates in the Rehabilitation of post-operative hips with renown physiotherapist, Kyle Blackburn. I’m currently training for a duathlon and to further my own knowledge and working with clients who participate in competitive sports, I’ve attended specialised courses such as:

Pilates for Sports, Pilates for Performance, Pilates for Runners, Pilates for Cyclists.

Embracing and embodying the Franklin Method

Over the years, I kept coming across the Franklin Method – one of Eric Franklin’s highly regarded books ‘Dynamic Alignment’ was required reading for my Pilates training – and I’ve recently qualified as a Franklin Method Educator. To help in particular my pre & post natal clients and women experiencing the menopause, I’m also a qualified Franklin Method Pelvic Floor Fascia Trainer.

When not teaching or practising Pilates, I enjoy hiking, cycling and kayaking – not all at the same time though!

My classes and clients…

I teach classes at various levels from beginners through to the demanding, classically-based repertoire at intermediate/advanced level. No two clients are the same and mine range from people recovering from injury to marathon runners and even triathletes. One of my oldest clients is an 82 year old gentleman, who started weekly classes with me 6 years ago; it really is never too late to start!

I’m a great advocate of enjoying whatever exercise you choose to do, doing it well and with 100% commitment. Who will make exercise an integral part of their life, if they don’t enjoy it?

And my teaching style reflects that; informative, challenging, yet enjoyable.

Pilates never appealed to me. But when I started having back problems a couple of years ago I quickly discovered that it’s one of the most effective ways of relieving and managing back pain and helping posture.

Not only is it great exercise to develop core strength, but Jacqueline’s classes are always thoughtfully prepared; she somehow manages to make sure that all students do each exercise properly with correct body control, and it’s all done with good humour making her classes enjoyable, fun and engaging.

While I’ve done Pilates with a few different instructors now, I can’t recommend Jacqueline’s classes highly enough – partly due to her friendly style, I enjoy hers the most.

Lou, Group Class Client

Photography © Niels Rakhorst & Jacqueline Pye. Photographs cannot be reproduced without the photographers' prior permission.