About the instructors
About Suzanne
Suzanne’s training includes 3 years teacher training with the British Wheel of Yoga and OCR teaching Pilates, including advanced mat work. She is also qualified to teach stress reduction techniques which are included in every session.
Each instructor regularly attends Pilates Instructor courses to keep abreast of the latest advances that bring benefit to clients. For example in Wimbledon a newly developed range of ‘Standing Pilates’ exercises are taught which combine weight bearing and balancing to help improve bone density, extra toning and better balance.
Suzanne is also a qualified counsellor and sees clients for a wide range of issues including self confidence, lifting depression and reducing anxiety. As a brief solution-focused counsellor, she helps clients to solve problems in as few sessions as possible. Please see her counselling website for more information.
About Jacqueline
I have been practicing Pilates since 2000, initially to aid recovery from a minor back injury. I began training with Chris Hocking, founder of Pilates Based Body Awareness (who trained with Alan Herdman, who brought Pilates to the UK). After my first class I could understand the benefits I would gain from Pilates. Within six weeks of regularly attending class and doing daily home practice I was able to sleep on my back without pain – something I hadn’t been able to do for the previous nine months.
Having attended PBBA classes and workshops for six years, I decided to follow my passion for Pilates and become a teacher, gaining my matwork qualification from Body Control Pilates® in 2007. Since then I have also qualified to teach ante and post natal Pilates. I teach classes at various levels from beginners through to the more demanding, classically based repertoire at intermediate/advanced level.
To learn more about Instructor Jacqueline Pye (Kingston classes) please see www.thecentredbody.co.uk
About Vanessa
After years of training my body as a classical ballet dancer and then fourteen years as a fitness instructor and personal trainer I started to suffer from terrible lower back pain. Although that was a horribly painful experience the upside is that it led me to discover Pilates. I was astonished at the results! Not only am I now pain free but I thoroughly enjoy the mind body approach to fitness I found in Pilates. As a result I made a decision to engage in Pilates teacher training with one of the best training courses available, Body Control. My background in classical ballet, fitness and Pilates provides me with a wealth of knowledge and techniques I can pass onto my students.
I trained as a classical dancer at the Arts Educational School Tring Park , where I successfully auditioned for the English National Ballet Company and went on to perform in Nutcracker , Romeo and Juliet and La Sylphide. I won The Dame Alicia Markova Award in 1987. My professional career took a different path when I successfully auditioned for Arlene Phillips in 1988 and went on to dance in the modern dance genre. After the birth of my daughter I hung up my dance shoes and trained to be a studio fitness instructor and personal trainer and subsequently a Body Control Pilates Instructor.
Vanessa’ s qualifications include:
- Body Control level 3 to intermediate standard
- YMCA nutrition and weight management
- YMCA training for the older person