THE EXERCISES known as Pilates were developed by Joseph Pilates, who created his routine in the early 20th century with the aim of improving both the physical and mental health of students. They work — start Pilates and you can change your body plus boost your overall wellbeing with fairly rapid results. Pilates is a great full body workout, gentle enough to be suitable for all ages and abilities yet so effective in strengthening your core and lifting your butt (low-slung bum

I WANTED to say something about my favourite ancient yogic breathing technique, Ocean Breath, sometimes also known as Ujjayi breath, or Breath Of Fire. A major part of effective yoga practice is Pranayama — control of the breath. Prana means life force, ayama means to regulate or lengthen. Do your yoga without effective breathing and it will still be a great workout — incorporate correct breathing and your physical and mental benefits will be intensified. Ocean breath is easy

SOMETIMES people are afraid to come to yoga as they think they won’t be able to do it… This is something that’s only recently come to my attention despite the fact that I’ve been teaching for more than six years. I had one lady who got frustrated and left before the end of her first session recently, with the parting words, ‘I can’t do it. I’m just not flexible enough!’ Really disappointing, for me as well as her, and she was gone before I could convince her that flexibility