NOVEMBER 2026 NEWSLETTER – FITNESS PILATES
Dear Fitness Pilates Member
Hope you had a good October and enjoyed the Halloween celebrations if you attended any. Here we are in November, the month before Christmas. So much to do, so much to arrange before the big event. But no matter how busy you are, it is still important to make time for YOU.
Planning for the Christmas holidays – My last working day will be 17th December.
All classes will resume back to normal on the 4th January 2027.
Class Timetable
Monday – Stisted Village Hall 0930-1015 & ZOOM – 1100-1145
Tuesday – Braintree Swim Centre 0930-1030
Wednesday – Wethersfield Village Hall 1100-1145
Thursday – Coggeshall Village Hall 1100-1145 & Stisted Village Hall 1500-1545 Chair Pilates (1st Thursday of the month)
Friday – 1st Friday of the month – Fitness Pilates/Mindfulness – Carers Connect – St Peters Village Hall 1115-1200
PLEASE NOTE – There will be no classes on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th November (BSC please check with centre if class will be covered)
Don’t forget…. if you can’t make the ZOOM times then I can send you a recording for just £8. Let me know and I can forward you a link from my YouTube Studio.
St Peters Village Hall Pilates/Mindfulness 1st Friday of the month. If you or anyone you know cares for someone then you are more than welcome to attend. Classes are FREE. (donations welcome) Light refreshments will be provided before the class. This is a good time to offer one another support and friendship from other carers. If you would like any further information then please do get in touch.
Christmas is coming up so FAST! – CHRISTMAS PRESENT IDEAS!
I don’t know about you, but every year I struggle to find Christmas presents to suit my family and friends. If you also have a similar problem then I have the perfect solution.
Is there someone you would like to buy for who has talked about Pilates but has never actually got around to attending a class? Then I have your ideal Christmas gift sorted. How about a gift voucher of classes? You could buy 1, 2, 3 or however many you require. Let me know and I will issue you with a personalised voucher.
I also have a few black Fitness Pilates T-shirts left in stock, S M and L so if you would like one then please let me know. They are £20 each.
👣 Spotlight: Bunions, Foot Problems & How They Affect Movement
Foot health is often overlooked, yet the feet are the foundation of every movement pattern we make.
When the feet are weak, restricted, or structurally altered (such as with bunions), the whole kinetic chain is affected — knees, hips, pelvis, and even the spine.
We can add foot exercises very easily; y into our FP classes and they can make a huge difference in how you perform exercises.
🔍 What Are Bunions?
A bunion (hallux valgus) is a bony deviation at the base of the big toe, causing it to angle inwards towards the other toes.
This changes how weight is transferred through the foot, especially during walking, standing, and exercise.
Bunions aren’t just about appearance — they affect balance, stability, gait mechanics, and joint loading.
⚠️ How Bunions & Foot Dysfunction Affect Movement
When the foot can’t work properly, the body compensates up the chain. Common issues include:
- Reduced push-off strength during walking
- Knees collapsing inward (valgus knee)
- Hip instability and reduced glute activation
- Tight calves + Achilles from altered foot loading
- Increased pressure on the smaller toes + metatarsals
- Poor balance / reduced proprioception
- Overuse of the quads and lower back instead of glutes
Many clients with knee, hip, or even lower back pain don’t realise the root cause starts at the foot.
✅ How Fitness Pilates Can Help
Fitness Pilates is powerful for improving foot function because it focuses on:
✔ Foot-to-core connection
✔ Balance + proprioception training
✔ Reawakening intrinsic foot muscles
✔ Strengthening the arch + big toe joint
✔ Improving ankle mobility + alignment
✔ Teaching better weight distribution and load transfer
🧘 Pilates Exercise Ideas for Foot Health & Bunions
🔹 Foot Strength & Mobility
- Toe spreading / doming (short foot exercise)
- Big toe mobilisation + lift without other toes
- Ball rolling under the arch + heel
- Calf stretch with foot alignment cueing
🔹 Balance & Gait Training
- Single leg balance (eyes open → closed)
- Heel-to-toe walking
- Standing roll-down + foot articulation
- Banded ankle eversion / inversion work
🔹 Integrated Pilates Moves
- Footwork in staggered stance
- Standing Pilates squats with tripod foot cueing
- Side-lying leg series barefoot (foot activation)
- Glute bridge with heels lifted for foot strength
Props: massage ball, mini band, yoga block, spiky ball, wedge
Tips
✅ “Spread the toes and press through the tripod of the foot – big toe, little toe, heel.”
✅ “Can you lift the big toe without lifting the others?”
✅ “Notice if you collapse into the inside edge of the foot.”
✅ “Barefoot where possible – socks reduce foot feedback.”
✅ “The feet are part of the core – what happens at the base affects the top.”
As someone with a bunion I add footwork into all my mat classes and it really helps.
| Just like your devices, your brain needs time to power back up
Your mind largely believes what you repeatedly tell it through the power of repetition and neuroplasticity – but we can reverse this by consistently practicing encouraging statements and constructive thoughts which can help rebuild neural pathways to foster confidence and resilience. |
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| Can you imagine letting your phone battery drain to zero before an important day? Never. Why should your mind be any different?
It was the World Mental Health Day on October 10, and I wrote some ideas on my Facebook group page how to take care of your mental health by resting and recharging your mind regularly. Here are three brain-boosters to try (aside from meditating):
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How to Stay Happy
A recent study on happiness has shown that in general quadriplegics are happier than lottery winners, how can this be? What does that tell us about the relationship between the external world and inner state. – notably content and happiness. Only 5% of your happiness comes from what you are doing right now i.e. Pilates to your overall total happiness
Extreme variations in external circumstances do not correlate to happiness i.e. losing your limbs compared to having access to limitless funds you would be happy?
Principles – internal and external – you cannot make yourself happy through external needs. Once you earn up to £75,000 any excess over that has no meaningful impact on your overall happiness.
Volunteering – 2 hours per week
Writing down 3 things a day that you are grateful for, being of service to other people and living a life where you are connected to a community, all increase your sense of purpose and meaning – pursuing meaning and purpose of which happiness is a by-product
Trying to be useful
Follow meaning and purpose instead of personal pleasure – change is inevitable
Focus instead on how can I be useful to other people, what am I grateful for, how I am being of service, what is the meaning and purpose of my life right now, rather than how am I going to be happy.
This study demonstrates that you can be in extreme discomfort or disability you can still be happy compared to someone who has had a massive lottery windfall
You can’t make yourself happy through getting stuff you can only make yourself happy through purpose.
If you have any questions regarding the content of the newsletter or anything else, then please do get in touch.
Before I sign off, remember that ‘greatness starts with being grateful. You can’t feel joy without being thankful. Being thankful is a vital component of happiness’.
The more you count your blessings, the more blessing you’ll have to count
Wishing you a great month!
Love Marisa x
Fitness Pilates Health Coach
Mob 07811441810
https://marisaswain-fitnesspilates.co.uk
www.facebook/PTSfitnesspilatesclassesBraintree
https://www.facebook.com/groups/533434484245389/
You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube
JOY
Joy does not arrive with a fanfare, on a red carpet strewn with the flowers of a perfect life.
Joy sneaks in, as you pour a cup of coffee, watching the sun hit your favourite tree, just right.
And you usher joy away, because you are not ready for it. Your house is not as it must be, for such a distinguished guest, but joy cares nothing for your messy home or your bank balance or your waistline, you see.
Joy is supposed to slither through the cracks of your imperfect life, that’s how joy works
You cannot invite, her, you can only be ready when she appears. And hug her with meaning, because in this very moment,
joy chose you
Donna Ashworth
Can you believe it’s November
Can you believe its November, we rally, back and forth, ‘Isn’t it so very dark out?’ Where did this year go? And all the while our soul are actually silently screaming. I’m losing control, it slips away so fast and winter is here again, what if this darkness never lifts? How do I bring joy when I feel only fear? We tell each other so much in the phrases we throw out to hide the truth. And if we listen very closely, we’ll hear it. And if we hear it, perhaps we can remind one another that light can be made. We can shine whenever we like, in so very many ways. And as for time, it may feel fast but slowing everything down fixes that in a heartbeat too. ‘Can you believe its November’ we say. Please help me see the light, we mean.
Donna Ashworth