"Since starting pilates a year and a half ago I have become so much stronger, more flexible, and in tune with my body. My enjoyment from all physical activity, even simple things like walking, has increased in an amazing way. This is partly due to my posture now being so much better but also because I am much more present in my body.

Initially I started going to pilates because of shoulder pain from working at a computer all day. This has now completely gone. Really the best indication of my progress came when I had to carry a couch up seven flights of stairs and managed to do it without straining anything!

Pilates has such a great approach to exercising. The one-on-one attention, small classes, and variety of exercises used to work on specific areas of the body means it never gets boring. The teachers are always helpful and attentive, and the way they instruct, encouraging and often fun. They check in with how you are feeling when you arrive and if you have a different teacher one week they have always been informed of any issues or requests from your previous class.

Turning up to class twice a week is easy because its a great environment and there is a real sense of care that goes into all the classes. The other people that you exercise with are all really great and there is no sense of competition or pretension.

Pilates is the first form of exercise that I have stuck to."

"When my twenty year old daughter had no alternative other than serious back surgery, I was determined that she would never experience that pain again. Part of the recuperation plan involved paying for Axis Pilates classes for six months – and joining her to ensure she kept up attendance! Eighteen months later and neither of us will ever give up this important part of our lives. The teachers at Axis have customised the classes to ensure that each of us achieved our very different goals. I'd like to think this was a universal achievement of all pilates schools, but my research tells me that the staff at Axis are something really special in this field."