Ashford and District Heart Support Group Talk by Jane Mackenzie.

Ashford and District Heart Support Group invited leading Kent Pilates instructor Jane Mackenzie to their meeting on 7th November to give a talk on the benefits of Pilates. The meeting, held at Ashford Stour Centre, was chaired by Tony Westgate, himself a regular attendee of Jane’s Pilates classes.

Ashford and District Heart Support Group “provide an opportunity for people to meet others and discuss similar conditions, and for partners and carers to get to know each other for mutual support.” They “organise a monthly walk, to emphasise the need for exercise, and speakers in order to keep up to date with clinical and medical developments.” More information about the group can be found on Facebook and the British Heart Foundation website.

Jane began her talk with a brief introduction explaining her own journey into the fitness world and ultimately Pilates. She then outlined some of the many benefits of Pilates, including: improved posture, balance, strength, reduction of the risk of injury, and improved mental health; a distillation of her recent article Ten Reasons to Take up Pilates. In a style typical to Jane, she then encouraged some audience participation, asking the group to carry out some basic Pilates moves. The session then concluded with a lively question and answer session.

Jane said: “they are such a nice group of people. It was very rewarding to talk about Pilates to them, and to see the way some of the problems that Pilates addresses resonated with them. I’m confident that some will choose to try out Pilates for themselves in the near future.”

For more information about Jane’s Pilates classes in the area, click on the link below.