My ten key foundational principles of wellbeing that I identified many years ago

THE FLOW
The aim in all of this is to allow your body and mind to be balanced and move freely with breath, control and precision so that the muscles and joints can move with an even rhythm.

FOCUS
The focus is on you. A great way to start YogaPilates Fusion is to take a moment and close your eyes to tap into how you feel right now, and imagine yourself feeling beautifully balanced, standing tall, and realising your strength and focus through your practice of YogaPilates Fusion.

BREATHE
Consider your breath to be a “moving meditation.” It is both beautiful and empowering to flow from one exercise to the next breathing deeply with your focus on establishing a balanced body and mind.

BALANCE
Balance is achieved by focussing on your breath while maintaining the correct posture and spinal alignment. The movements in the YogaPilates Fusion program will connect and balance your left and right brain to enable your body and mind to flow in a balanced way moving forward.

 MOBILISATION
Mobilisation is achieved through the regular movement of the spine through up and down motion, as well as side to side, forward to back, and rotations.

 CORE
When the core is activated movement becomes dynamic as well as being controlled and precise. Activation of the pelvic floor muscles and deep abdominal muscles are the key to achieving stability through movement.

CARDIO
Cardio work increases your heart rate and promotes blood flow throughout your body. It will make your heart strong, increase your lung capacity, and reduce the risk of things like heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. It will also help with weight loss. The cardio dance section that I run in my classes is not included in this book because it doesn’t translate well into the written word.

STRENGTH
When you lift weights, work out on machines, use resistance bands, or do exercises with your own body weight, you will build strength, muscle mass, and flexibility. Muscle loss is one of the main reasons people feel less stable and energetic as they get older. Building strength is key to the pro-aging approach that I bring to everything I do.

STRETCH
Actively moving through this series of YogaPilates Fusion exercises will stretch and strengthen your muscles, tendons and ligaments. These are the things that hold your bones together and are critical to mobility and flexibility.

MEDITATION/RELAXATION/INTENTION
Yoga Nidra is also known as the waking sleep. It will totally change the way you feel physically and emotionally, and it perfectly completes the balance of the mind and the body that is at the core of the YogaPilates Fusion® method.