ABOUT LOUISE SOLOMON

 

Louise Solomon first developed Yogalates™ organically for her own body. Her experience of injury in the Yoga room as a fledgling student led her to the Pilates room that led her back to the Yoga room. With a fundamental knowledge of core and function that had her yearning for more, her body and mind had experienced an awakening that was unprecedented at that time. Louise then trained in Ashtanga Yoga full time for one year and naturally applied her Pilates training when the birth of Yogalates began.

In the current climate of health and wellbeing, Yoga is at the forefront of popularity and discovery.  Conversations are constantly heard “what type of Yoga do you practise” a smorgasbord is at our fingertips, lucky us!

Yogalates™ is unique, an awarded modality with accolades such as the accredited teacher training being used as an example of best practise in the accreditation arena of the Vocational Education & Accreditation Board (VETAB). In 2001, our DVD series topped the UK health and fitness charts winning an award for innovation as:  

“A meeting place of east and west, effectively merging the ancient practice of Yoga from the East and posture enhancing dynamics of Pilates from the West.”

Working from the inside out, Yogalates™ improves body awareness and alignment to help develop proper movement patterns that we use in our daily lives, and focuses on a practice designed for “Western” bodies.  Designed to awaken and strengthen the subtle and structural core muscles through Pilates based exercises while incorporating the Asana (postures), philosophy and wisdom of Yoga.

Louise has run benchmark Teacher Trainings in Yogalates™ for the past 23 years and has 30 years in the wisdom of teaching. The course material was used as an example of best practise by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA). 

Louise also ran a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and to this day uses a range of modalities to support her students through their individual learning curves of knowledge.

The importance of breath is the ultimate focus in each and every class; the ease of breath, ease of pose and ease of mind enhances a mindful practice.  Each session is started with body breath awareness “Savasana” as you discover what Louise terms as "your functional resting breath - a resting core”.

The classes are then layered to deepen core awareness recruitment and strength as the complexity of poses are built and explored through the many levers and loads applied.

Resistance bands are used in an array of exercises that stretch every section of the feet, ankles, legs and hips with rotations and resistance (which replicate some of the exercises we know from reformer Pilates machines). These help open the hip joints as well as warm the thigh muscles. The use of the bands also creates a suction effect deep inside the joint that enhances the secretion of synovial fluid and is a great preparation for the complex standing poses of Asana.

Through guided cues that aid the recruitment of core strength in static holds, slow flow movements, inspirational vini sequencing, foundational standing and balancing postures, you will learn to balance from your core with ease and efficiency, using your breath as you fine-tune the core of your body.

The understanding of the your body type is brought to the forefront of every pose and blended through the class structures unique to Yogalates™. The practice also supports the individual’s nervous system and the alignment of the diaphragm, resolving in a soothing and heartfelt Savasana.

Thus structurally and ethically sound in its application to movement therapy, the Yogalates™ method supports a safe and functional approach to enhanced physical and mental wellbeing. It embodies all levels of fitness by offering progressions and an array of modifications for participants of all ages. 

Both mind and body are primed for deep immersion into self through the journey of life on and off the Yoga Mat cultivating a mindful state of awareness. Thus encouraging participants to listen to the wisdom of their own bodies in order to find their personal footprint in practise and making the Yoga mat even more access-able to a greater demographic.

Louise is joined by her daughter Crystal Solomon Lebars, a physiotherapist born and bred into the Yogalates™ lineage. With their combined skill set the Yogalates™ method is ever evolving within the parameters of movement science and function.

Nicole Whiteman, who has been teaching Yogalates™ in Sydney since she graduated in 2003, was the start up founder of Body Awakenings Studio in Gymea in Sydney and 'Inspya Me Online' an online yoga platform says that although she had practised Iyengar, Vinyasa and Bikram Yoga, she found that she still didn’t have core strength;

“...Yogalates makes every pose feel different, it also stabilises my lower back, something a lot of clients tell me is the same for them.” 

Nicole Whiteman

".... I want to thank you for Yogalates, it has been part of my health plan. My Dr is extremely happy and so am i. Im allowed to ride a bike again! Thats huge progress Louise. From broken wrist to corrective surgery and now bone density near normal.Thank you for everything you and your staff provide."

Lauren Julian