Thank you for sharing the journey with me and being in our Pilates bubble, whether you’ve stuck with me throughout or dipped in and out either online, outdoors, studio, Place Eight Wellness or whether it’s been a while since we’ve connected - the last in person classes at Stoke Hammond Village Hall, Aspley Guise and Dunstable studios at the end of March seems so long ago!

I started 2020 full of optimism and excitement about being able to open up my own small Equipment Studio at Westfield Farm in February. My boys were also happy for me to move out my Reformer etc from our space at home and had great plans for it to become a man cave - they’re still waiting as I’ve been lucky enough to have that space still available for running our Zoom classes from! After only being open for a few weeks we had to close up at the end of March and fully move all sessions on to Zoom. Originally I’d never have wanted to teach online but I’m so grateful it was an option for us and once we’d all got the hang of it I think it’s been working really well. We had audio issues and device positioning issues to resolve but we did it! I also started recording the classes early on and saving them to Vimeo so there’s now quite an extensive library available (281 videos to date!!) for your home practice so no excuses over the Christmas holidays and Vimeo links and password reminders have also been sent where applicable!! I’m so happy to still see so many of you each week and I have a good view of you when Zooming from home as I have my laptop screen mirrored on a large TV! It’s given us all positive focus and a little sense of normality and routine during these challenging times.

This time also provided me with an opportunity to reflect and I decided to step out from The Pilates Workshop umbrella I’d been part of for most of my Pilates career and re-brand my business in my own name of Louisa Harris Pilates, I also created my own website www.louisaharrispilates.co.uk and learn at lot! Mainly by getting stuck in with plenty of trial and error and with help from a great friend who is much more technically inclined than me!  

Westfield Farm have been so supportive throughout and generously shared their beautiful outdoor space with us over the summer holidays when we were permitted to run small group outdoor classes. Every class was so special if the rain held off to see you all in person again after such a long while, to enjoy the peaceful surroundings and cloud watching!

As September and back to school time approached I considered our options for returning to indoor group classes and like many of you I didn’t feel comfortable returning to a village hall environment I looked into other possibilities and was lucky enough to discover the wonderful Place Eight Wellness in Swanbourne. A perfect modern, clean and airy venue with a stunning indoor studio space as well as a beautiful outdoor decked space for our sessions. Small groups of up to 6-7 were permitted within the space available and it was great to get back to those in person classes and we even managed a beginners daytime course too. Teaching with the visor/mask plus extreme cleaning regimes proved a little challenging at times at Place Eight Wellness as well as at the Equipment Studio at Westfield Farm. We were due to resume after the October half-term but then had Lockdown 2.0 so reverted back to being fully on Zoom for matwork and the Equipment Studio had to close again too. I started my first online course for Beginners too, a few of which were due to begin in person at Place Eight Wellness - they’ve done amazingly well over the last few weeks! As it’s uncertain what the situation will be for us all in the New Year I’m planning that the matwork timetable will remain on Zoom for the first half-term of 2021 and we’ll have to see how everything goes.

I’d have loved to have been able to teach 1:1s and 2:1s at the Equipment Studio once Lockdown 2.0 was lifted in early December but had discovered that teaching and mask wearing plus excessive usage of cleaning products had really exacerbated my asthma which had settled (and I’d managed to avoid the steroids) while solely Zooming again. I hope that I can open up again for private sessions in the New Year and will be in touch with my regulars asap in the New Year if so. If we remain in Tier 3 only 1:1s would be permitted, 2:1s would only be permitted if from the same household/bubble.

I am also delighted to report that Flavia from Happydemic Pilates has recently begun using the studio for her 1:1s on Tuesday afternoons/evenings, it’s lovely to share the space with a colleague again.

At the start of the year I’d been lucky enough to work with 3 lovely Body Control Pilates student teachers that many of you met, Florence, Barbara and Lisa - so glad that we had plenty of time together in person before Lockdown and moving fully online and thank you so much for sharing your classes with them to build up their supervised teaching hours. I’m delighted to report that they have all now passed and are fully fledged teachers themselves, I wish them every success and happiness with their Pilates journey!

I only joined NYR 3 years ago to shop for my own stuff at a discount but have had the pleasure of sharing that as well as special offers and sales with many of you over the years. You all loved the calming room spray I'd use before class at the village hall or studios, the scent was Rose and Geranium like the Women's Balance Aromatherapy blend. This little sideline has been a real help to my business while the studio has been closed and it even managed to raise £100 for St Luke’s Church in Stoke Hammond from a recent online event so thanks to many of you also for your support with this too.

 

I’m planning to schedule a free (probably fundraising) online Winter spa event (45-60 mins) during January (probably from w/c 11th January 2021 onwards) - if you’re keen to join please let me know, as well as if daytime or evening would be your preference or maybe you’d be interested to get one arranged for your own group of friends and family and enjoy some host benefits for yourself.  

 

I’m hoping to implement an online booking/scheduling and payment system for classes and private sessions during the New Year which I hope will make things easier for you as well as less admin and reconciliation for me - will keep you posted!

 

I held a Gratitude week during May half-term by offering my weekly timetable of classes for free to take the opportunity to thank all my active Zoom clients for their support through lockdown. There was absolutely no obligation at all for payment during this week but clients were invited to make a donation in lieu of usual class fees if they wished to support Willen Hospice and the Winter Night Shelter in MK. This was repeated during the last week of the Christmas term too when group block booked classes only cost £2 per class instead of £8 - (I’d tried to work it out evenly between studio and Zoom classes before we were fully back to Zoom again). I also offered a free Beginners online workshop in November and welcomed donations in lieu of class fees there too.

 

Thanks to your amazingly generous support I’m very happy to say that we’ve raised £680 for Willen Hospice and £420 for the Winter Night Shelter MK which I’m sure will be a great help to these worthy local causes

 

Willen Hospice: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/louisa-harris-at-louisa-harris-pilates

 

Winter Night Shelter MK: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/louisa-harris-at-louisa-harris-pilates1

 

If you haven’t already done so it would be a huge help if you could please add a review for me on Google here https://g.page/louisa-harris-pilates-mk/review?rc and/or subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpQoDXGq5r1EIZQkWYrluzg

Please also connect with me on social media if you wish to: 

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/louisaharrispilatesmk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/louisaharris.pilates/

 

Can’t remember where I heard this but it seems appropriate: “2020 was not the year we had everything we ever wanted but the year we learnt to appreciate everything we already had”.

Whether you're a past or present client, or colleague, thank you all for your support over the past year whether it's a connection in person at class or online interaction and inspiration. It's a pleasure to have you in class and see the difference that your Pilates practice can make. I've loved hearing how aches and pains have improved or even gone completely, how everyday tasks and range of motion is so much easier.  For me the true power of Pilates is in the difference it can make to our lives outside of class and help to keep us doing whatever else we love to do.

Thanks for bringing your Christmas spirit to class with great tops, jumpers, socks and extra accessories - certainly helped me to feel less of a grinch!!

Thank you all so much for your thoughtful cards, kind words, Christmas gifts and wishes - I really do appreciate every one.

I wish you a peaceful Christmas break with all the special people in your life and wish you every health and happiness for the year ahead.

Hoping to be offline more over the Christmas break! We resume again week of 4th Jan and I'll send out a reminder about start of term for all classes nearer the time!

Take care and stay safe,

Louisa x