Midlife on the Mat with Donna

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Midlife on the Mat with Donna

🧘‍♀️Embodied led Pilates & Yoga teacher bringing wellness to Rossendale, empowering women through midlife with movement to connect mind, body & soul ✨

07/09/2025

In our classes we focus on what our bodies CAN do, creating an empowering environment where you can discover your strength and resilience during midlife.

With that focus, it enables you to find gratitude for your amazing and unique body.

We embrace the power of yoga and Pilates to help transform your mid-life journey.

We know first hand the physical and mental effects menopause and midlife can have on us as women and we are passionate about the transformative power that mindful movement can have for everyone, but especially midlife women ...

💥 **Strengthening Pelvic Floor**:

Pilates exercises help rebuild vital pelvic floor strength, counteracting muscle wasting and enhancing overall vitality.

💥**Improving Bone Density**:

Our weight-bearing yoga poses and Pilates movements support bone health, reducing the risk of osteopenia.

💥**Enhancing Posture, Balance and Coordination**:

Pilates and Yoga sequences improve balance and coordination, helping you feel confident, steady and secure.

💥**Increasing Joint Mobility**:

We focus on increasing joint fluidity and mobility, relieving tight hips, backs neck and shoulders, and promoting overall joint health.

💥**Boosting Digestion**:

Specific Pilates exercises and yoga poses can enhance digestion and promote gut health.

💥**Mental Wellness**:

Our mindful movement practices enhance the mind-body connection, helping you manage the mental symptoms of peri-menopause and menopause.

Join us and let’s navigate this journey together with strength and confidence💪

See you on the mat!

01/09/2025

Summer often provides a wonderful opportunity to unwind, break free from routines, and temporarily set aside our 'structure.' However, when this freedom extends too long, it can lead to feelings of disorientation, restlessness, a sense of aimlessness, and decreased motivation.

As we transition into September, it's a perfect moment to reset for yourself. Take the time to regain your sense of grounding as we enter the final four months of the year. For me, this always feels like a "new term" has arrived and it is an ideal time to cultivate new habits, (but remember to avoid placing undue pressure on yourself to achieve unrealistic goals!)

Instead, focus on taking small steps towards a happier and healthier version of you.

What a perfect time to return from my summer break and get back on the Mat with all of my students - both existing and new this month! I look forward to seeing you all! 🫶

27/08/2025

Holding space for my lovely students over the last couple of months has been a huge challenge for me as I have been teaching with an injury.

I’ve been pretty exhausted and fed up as I have been in quite a lot of constant pain! ☹️

Thanks to my physio and my own Pilates practice that I have been able to do daily since I have been on my break, I am almost back to normal (whatever that is! 😜)

So I am going to practice what I preach by switching off to enjoy my summer break, making time for me (and for me that includes getting on my mat) to fully rest and recover, so I can continue to bring my positive energy back with me to my students (who I absolutely love teaching😍) when I return.

I look forward to seeing you all in September! 🤩

Classes back on from Monday 8th September.

25/08/2025

‼️EDIT: Just 2 spaces left for the evening course and 1 space left for the morning course‼️

Do you want to get stronger and/or relieve aching joints or reduce the pain in your back, knees, neck, hips?

Do you want to move with more ease in your body?

Then welcome to my Absolute Beginners Course and the absolute magic of Pilates!

Come and try it out and see how it can help you

✨ breathe - relax and release tension

💪 build muscle tone to improve your strength

🧍improve your posture and core stability

🚶‍➡️develop easeful movement in the body and

✅increase stamina

I would love you to join my welcoming, friendly and supportive group. ALL are welcome and remember you don't need to be flexible or supple or strong.

Pilates is for EVERY BODY irrespective of shape, size or ability and September is the perfect time to start something new.

The only requirement is that you must be able to get up and down off the floor - that's all!

Not sure what Pilates is?

See the photo of me sitting in the post. Try it at home. Sit with the legs extended (as straight as you can for your body) about hip width distance apart. Sit right up on to your sit bones and find the length in your spine by rolling the shoulders up back and down so the shoulders stack directly over the hips. Toes point up to the ceiling, heels into the floor. Hands extended in front at shoulder height.

You will notice that just sitting like this activates the body - throw in some co ordinated breathwork, core engagement and some movement and hey presto, you are doing Pilates!

Who's joining me? 😊

Comment "Interested" below for more info.

14/08/2025

I have been carrying an injury over the last few weeks and I saw , who took my history and asked me about recent changes.

It dawned on me that I have let my own Pilates practice slip by the wayside recently!

I have still been busy teaching but here’s the thing, when I teach Pilates, it isn’t my class.

It’s my students class.

My role is not to perform but to explain, observe and guide safely so that my students get the most out of their classes.

(I also throw in a bit of questionable humour and terrible counting!)

💥I walk around the room checking my students’ alignments
💥I adjust students where needed and
💥I cue them into their flow.

So these words are a great reminder the power of Pilates and having had a word with myself, I will be making sure I get MY sessions back in!!!

Every body NEEDS Pilates!!!

With a bit of manipulation, some advice on what I need to do (unsurprisingly Pilates!) I am feeling so much better. Thank you Jack!

13/08/2025

✅Booking now open and spaces are selling fast! ✅

Although we are in the thick of summer, the mind starts to think about the annual getting back into routine in September!

Have you heard of the incredible health benefits of Pilates?

Do you want to get stronger and/or relieve aching joints or reduce the pain in your back, knees, neck, hips?

Then welcome to my Pilates ABC (Absolute Beginners Course) starting in September. Due to demand, I am offering an evening AND daytime course.

This is a brilliant form of exercise for ALL but especially our (hormonal!) midlife bodies because:

✳️ all mat based (low to no impact)
✳️you learn to breathe properly to bring calm to the mind (and boy do we need that!)
✳️the movement eases hormonal joint pain
✳️ the exercises strengthens the whole body while working on core stability
✳️ we get the body moving with functional movement and balance to move with ease
✳️ builds bone density (which declines with hormonal changes) to prevent fractures keeping us strong and healthy💪

I would love to see new faces (or those who practise Pilates but want to get back to basics) to bring my love of it to you so you can get hooked too. 😊

It will be a friendly and supportive group.

Trust me, once you start Pilates, you find you NEED Pilates!!! 👏

Comment below if you are interested and want more information 😊

12/08/2025

Absolutely love working with my 1:1 clients on their Progressive Pilates Plan.🧡

Closely following their lifestyle changes and seeing their progress is absolutely wonderful to be part of. This client is no exception. 🙌

Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers, brilliant card and most importantly your kind words of thanks.☺️

Interested in working with me?

DM me for full details.

08/08/2025

The first time I heard these words was from my own wonderful yoga teacher and it was a lightbulb moment.

It was the first time I could see how I could take my yoga off the mat.

Holding on to these words today as my precious daughter flies nearly half way across the world on her adventure.

Acknowledging and sitting with all the extremes of emotions that arise and remembering that she’s a chip off the old block, having done the same at her age packing my bags and flying literally half way across the world to Australia!

And we didn’t even have mobile phones! I recall my sweet mum tearing up at the airport and my 17yr old brain couldn’t understand why she was upset as I was beyond excited to spread my wings!

Well now I’m that mum only this time I hugged her and waved her off with a huge smile, letting her go and fly.

Have the time of your life and come home safe 🧡

28/07/2025

What even is that phrase all about?!?

With so much in the media about Pilates being about the aesthetics, its time to set the record straight.

✨Joseph Pilates’ goal was to create a method to allow the body to move with fluidity, ease, and efficiency.

✨Such a body has to be strong and flexible, and it has certain qualities of movement, such as being centred and balanced; fluid yet controlled and is achieved by keeping movements slow and by using the breath.

✨These qualities are applied in every Pilates exercise.

🙌With consistent practise and work to perfect alignment (at whatever variation is right for your body) you will get YOUR Pilates Body - super strong, super balanced and a super happy body!

Hit a ❤️if you agree!

22/07/2025

✨The practice of yoga through asana is about self-study, not just of the body, but of the mind.

So the real essence of yoga practice is totally unseen.

It is felt.

It is lived - on and off the mat.

It never matters how it looks.

Your body, your practice.

22/02/2025

🧡Good times with family and great company🧡

A fantastic week unplugged from social media with lots of walking, talking, sunrise strolls, eating, training, spa, more walking & even more eating…

Refreshed and ready to get back on the mat with you all on Monday🧘‍♀️

01/02/2025

“You created a warm and safe space for us to completely let go and trust in your guidance”

“I'd love to attend again.. It was one of the most relaxing and hypnotic experiences I've had.”

“Thank you so much for such a wonderful evening. I loved every minute.”

“Thank u for tonight was relaxing and amazing xx”

Just some of the incredible feedback from last night’s Unwind, Relax and Release event.

Makes my heart sing 💕!!! Thank you so much for coming and trusting me to guide you.

Who wants to join us at the end of March? Comment below if you are interested 😊

Thank you Arlu Holistics for posting this gorgeous picture as I didn’t take a single one!!!

Address

Pilates & Yoga In Helmshore, Haslingden And Rawtenstall
Helmshore
BB4

Website

https://midlifeonthemat.offeringtree.com/

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