Our Yogomotiv Community has grown since we opened our doors in October 2016.
Read below to find out why people love our studio, our Team, and how our classes have positively impacted their lives!
Want to share your experience with others? We’d love to hear from you!
After a break from enjoying practice (owing to complex health challenges & finances), I have recently fallen back in love with yoga, thanks to the affordability of this lovely little studio. Tucked away above the shops in Shenley Church End, it’s so peaceful & there’s a calmness about the place too. Thanks to Sarah & team ….. what on earth did I do without yoga in my life?! namaste
Cheryl P
I love my classes at Yogomotiv, run by qualified professionals. I’m recovering from a bulging disc and needed somewhere I felt understood, and Yogomotiv certainly do. Everything about the studio is welcoming and calming and the instructors are nothing short of brilliant. My plan is to visit Yogomotiv for a long time.
Clare B.
I fully recommend Yogomotiv. The team at Yogomotiv are great. I have been going there for a year now doing Pilates and I have seen a vast improvement in my core strength and mobility. I thoroughly enjoy going and the team are so friendly, helpful and knowledgeable about how muscles work with each exercise. #simplybrilliant
Marie W.
I have been attending both Yoga & Pilates classes at Yogomotiv for almost 2years now. Great instructors who are helpful & friendly. The classes are small so you are able to receive help or support.
Sam D.
I have been attending yoga sessions at Yogomotiv for over a year now, and I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every session I have attended. Apart from the fact that the instructors are really friendly & helpful, the whole atmosphere there is relaxed & informal. There is no sense of ‘competition’, you are encouraged to do what feels right for you & your body. If you are looking for a relaxed environment, then Yogomotiv is definitely work a visit.
Joe R.
I had been going to the gym for years and decided that I didn’t want to exercise in this way. I had tried Pilates in the distant past and thought it would be the thing for me. I was slightly nervous about being a new girl, but not frightened by the thought of new exercises – just not being able to do them!
Since starting classes with Sarah, I’ve gained better movement and by doing a small amount each day I have found I feel much more mobile and I haven’t had so much cramp in my calf and feet muscles – I just feel more zippy !!
Rosemary
Always been a gym bunny but recently diagnosed with arthritis & tennis elbow. Pilates has helped me so much – feel great after my session. Lisa is a great instructor!
Lorraine J.
It was such a great session!
Thank you for all of the arrangements that you, Carly, Lorraine and the rest of the team have put in to place to enable us to access this – it really is a lifeline at the moment – Namaste
I just wanted to say a big thank you for finding a way to keep our yoga classes happening, even if in a different format! It really is helping to keep my sanity with the lovely Carly and the rest of the group, knowing I’ve got my yoga to keep me going :).
I wanted to strengthen my back as I was having some back pain when horse riding. I was also told it would generally help with my riding. Other types of exercise hadn’t helped and I think I just needed a bit of structure so I started Pilates with Sarah.
Before I started, I couldn’t ride for more than about 15 minutes but also walking any distance gave me back pain.
My biggest fear was that I wouldn’t be able to do the exercises/keep up. I’d tried another Pilates class before but it was a big class and I didn’t know whether I was doing it right, there was no personal input and it was just too frenetic for my level of fitness.
I love the personal nature of the classes – they are fun and sociable and exercises are adjusted to suit me if necessary. I always know that if I was doing it wrong I’d be put right and I had the opportunity to ask questions.
Overall, improvements in my general fitness levels and although I haven’t returned to riding for other reasons, I’m now able to go for longer walks without back pain which is a huge relief.
Angela
Before I started working with Sarah, I suffered from lower back pain and stiffness. It was hard to get through a week without some days of back pain.
I didn’t have any reservations about Pilates and Personal Training before as I’d attended a few group sessions with Sarah and knew I needed some one-to-one sessions. As a personal trainer Sarah has assessed and focused on strengthening my back and taught me how to strengthen my back.
It has been fun working with Sarah; she’s committed to getting results and is very knowledgeable in her field of work. We also laughed a lot.There have been many positives from working with Sarah, but if I have to choose one it’s definitely having less back pain.
Saads
I want to start Pilates as I had heard it was a very safe form of exercise and I used to get bad pain in my glutes. Also I was not as supple as I wanted to be and things were getting worse. I had never found a class based exercise type I enjoyed until I discovered Pilates and yoga.
Before I started Pilates and Yoga I just felt older than my years – now after a few months of classes, I no longer do. I’ve now got better flexibility, no pain in my glutes and improved posture – which is great!
Jane
Many thanks for setting this up. You ( & tech) are brilliant. A little grab of semi normality in an increasingly weird world. Good start to a lovely day of warming sunshine and lovely to feel connected – smile on my face & a positive outlook for the rest of the day.
About our Online Pilates Classes :
Today’s was ace, it wasn’t just the fact that I got to do my favourite Pilates, it was also that I got to connect with the lovely people from the sessions. A real soul boaster!
Could you be our next success story?
I now stand up straight, just like my mother told me to!
By the time I hit 50, the years I had spent sitting at a computer all day were taking their toll. I was round shouldered, had restricted movement and pain in my right shoulder and was starting to creak.I had wanted to try Pilates for some time and was looking for a small class where everyone could get enough personal attention to make sure they were doing the exercises properly. I find large classes rather intimidating.Sarah’s enthusiasm and belief in the effectiveness of Pilates is infectious and encouraging.Sarah is very good at analysing and identifying the causes of my aches and pains and tailors and tweaks the exercises accordingly. They can be challenging but are always “do-able”.The classes/training sessions are never repetitive or boring. They are full of variety, great fun and fly by.The sessions on the reformer are brilliant. They have helped me realise how lopsided I had become and have really helped to straighten me out and make me stronger.Since working with Sarah, I have regained mobility in my shoulders and have much better posture. I feel taller, stronger and much more flexible. She has transformed the way I walk, stand and sit. My mother has commented that, when I was younger, she spent years telling me to stand up straight – and now finally I do!
From small steps with pain to giant leaps on the ski slopes
After my second baby, I developed hip and pelvic pain. Having always been fit and active previously, I found that my mobility was affected. I was diagnosed with pubic symphysis dysfunction, and the symptoms eventually settled with a few sessions of physiotherapy. Five years later, in my late 30s I had my 3rd baby. The hip and pelvic pain returned early on in the pregnancy, and despite being wearing a support belt on the advice of my GP, by the time I gave birth, and in the months afterwards, I was quite incapacitated by pain and a lack of stability around my hips and pelvis. I struggled to get in and out of bed, or the car. I could no longer run and play in the park with my children, it was painful to lift the baby, the car seat or shopping bags, and I found it hard to push a buggy. Because I was no longer moving normally I then developed lower back pain in addition, and instead of losing the pounds I had put on during pregnancy, I put on even more weight.
I was still breastfeeding, and was worried that exercising whilst my ligaments were still loose from the hormones would make things worse. I was keen to lose weight, and didn’t see how I could do so whilst I could barely move. I was also on maternity leave with 3 children and the school run to manage, and didn’t think I could fit in a proper training programme whilst I had an infant in tow. I was quite sure I didn’t want a ‘British Military Fitness’ approach where I felt intimidated by or shouted at by a trainer, or that I was holding other people in the class back due to my pelvic problems.
Sarah has been absolutely amazing! She always arrives with a cheerful smile, and is so motivating, friendly and full of energy, that even on a rainy sleep-starved morning when the baby has been awake all night, she has been able to make training enjoyable. She has been down to earth, enthusiastic and flexible in her approach. We have had sessions that incorporated a baby and a buggy, and later a toddler sitting on me for added resistance while I did Pilates. We have had sessions that included a 7 year old on a scooter racing us around the block, and a 9-year-old playing ball games. My children love it when Sarah is coming, and she deals with them with warmth and good humour without letting them distract us from the purpose of the session. To keep the sessions varied, we have explored parks all over Birmingham, but on a cold rainy day or when the kids are home in the holidays, she will work me just as hard doing circuits in the living room or patio. She has given me sensible dietary advice and discouraged faddy dieting.
One of the most impressive things about Sarah is that she is not content to simply be a great personal trainer. She is constantly studying and exploring ways to introduce new techniques, theories and technologies into her training sessions. She knows far more about anatomy and biomechanics than most doctors. But she wears her huge amount of knowledge lightly and modestly, and adapts training sessions to incorporate her clients’ individual problems without one even realising what she is doing at the time. She is an experienced Pilates practitioner and builds core-strengthening techniques into the session with minimal fuss or equipment.
She correctly assessed my back, hip and pelvic problems, and in combining core strengthening with cardiovascular exercises has enabled me to get strong and pain-free again, get moving, lose some weight and enjoy exercising!
After feeling that I would never be able to move normally again, I was able to go skiing for a week with my family earlier this year! I’m hugely grateful to Sarah for helping me to get better and be able to have fun with my children again, and couldn’t recommend her highly enough.
Mano
Now I can sit pain free at work all day
Before working with Sarah I had suffered for many years with lower back stiffness, and pain in my neck and shoulders. I found that yoga helped ease the pain, and I enjoyed it, but the pain would always come back.
I had heard about Pilates, but did not really know anything about it. I am naturally a bit nervous about trying new things (I fear embarrassing myself). When Sarah and I met and she talked to me about what Pilates could offer, I was also a bit sceptical. It seemed too good to be true, that through discussing my problems, and assessing my posture, etc, she would be able to help me rid myself of the pain in 10 sessions.
Working with Sarah is very easy. The initial assessment was relaxed and informal, and was a discussion about my lifestyle, the type of exercise I like and don’t, my expectations of what Pilates could do for me, and her plan for how we would proceed. Once we started working together, the actual exercises were challenging, but they were tailored just for me and clearly were targeting my ‘trouble areas’ of back and shoulders…, which, it turns out, were completely interconnected. You work hard, but because it’s one-on-one there is constant feedback and Sarah is very encouraging.
My lower back pain is now gone, and my shoulders, which I have been noticeably different heights for YEARS are now at the same level. I used to have migraine like headaches (on the days when my neck and shoulders hurt the most) and these have stopped. I have even adjusted my seat at work for better posture on Sarah’s recommendation, and I no longer have pain from sitting at my desk all day.
Overall I am an unashamed success story of what Pilates, and Sarah can do for you. Its not easy, but it is absolutely worth it!!!! Sarah knows as well as me that our Pilates sessions really changed me—both in body and in spirit—and I am happy for anyone to know.