Tisha - Freelance Pilates Instructor

04/05/2025

Here’s a little breakdown of locations and services currently available to book in with me… please contact the studios/clinics for availability and bookings, but do send me a DM if you’re having trouble finding a spot.

🔹Six Physio - Chiswick and Putney

One-to-ones and duets.
(Each person in a duet has their own program and so can be different levels or with specific needs)
Link to booking platform in my bio, or you can of course call or email the clinics.

🔹Pilates Plus - St Margarets (Twickenham)

One-to-ones and 3:1 classes
(Classes on full equipment with each person having a different program base on their needs or goals)
An initial assessment is required for new clients, please call or email the studio to book. Link to the website in my bio.

🔹Pilates Now! - Chiswick Park (inside Virgin Active, open to members and non-members)

One-to-ones and small groups Reformer/Tower classes (max 4)
Online bookings available through the website, link in my bio.

That’s all for now! I’m trying to make sure I don’t overload myself ☺️. For images of the studios, head to the “studios” highlight.

01/05/2024

When I left London in a panic some 2 years ago, I was convinced that this was it; I live with a brain injury and all I could do was adapt my life to my disability. So many people were telling me this, from doctors to other people with a TBI. So I basically threw my life in London away, thinking there was no hope for me to completely recover.

But I’m somebody who just can’t quit. So I went on designing my own intensive program of motor, sensory and cognitive rehab; since I’d spent fortunes on qualifications in order to do so. One year on, I’m probably at about 95%. My cognitive functions are back to normal, my visual and sensory problems are minimal, and I’m on my way back to the level of fitness I was at before the accident. That’s why I disappeared for months while I was testing this out and making sense of it, because heading back to London was becoming a real possibility.

Had I known this was possible, I probably would have made different choices. So let me shout it loud and clear: if you are told that your condition isn’t treatable, this might very well be true. But it does not mean that you can’t develop adaptative strategies that will allow you to restore or improve function. It might just take a while and cost you some money, but isn’t worth it?
(Same applies if your condition does not tick current medical boxes and so doesn’t fit any diagnosis)

So am I back in London? Yes. Am I back teaching? Yes. But I’m pacing myself and restarting progressively because after all I do live with a brain injury and neuro fatigue is something I have to manage to make sure I don’t end up bed ridden for days. But one thing is sure, the neuro training side of my work is only going to grow and develop. The quickest, easiest and most effective way to improve your movement capacity and sense of wellbeing is through improving your brain functions. And it’s not just about brain injuries, trust me.

Like and follow, and share this with someone who needs to hear it 😊

12/09/2023

Full springs, split pedal, barely holding on, and my left side is definitely working now! I can feel more sensory stimuli like touch too. As long as I keep up with my individualised training, as I still regress easily. Takes time for those neuro connections to get stronger and change to become more permanent.

In the year following the accident my left side had felt completely alien to me. And for the last 3 years I’d felt like my body was 2 half bodies glued together, with the left feeling smaller, flatter, slightly hollow and mushy. And with that it wasn’t activating as much, nor could I feel as much anything on the left.

As I’m starting to regain juice down my left side, I finally start to feel my body being one! And with that I suddenly have moments where I feel back to being myself. There is no such thing as a mind-body separation, we are one.

The thing to take away is that if you’ve experienced this type of symptoms after a Traumatic Brain Injury, or a mini stroke, it is possible to improve, no matter how long it’s been (I’m 4 years in). Of course the severity of the injury, your age, your general health and your motivation will all be important factors.

And you may have been cleared medically (I was cleared over 2 years ago) and not need medical treatment as such but you do need to train with an instructor who understands the neurology of movement, brain functions, and the consequences of a head trauma. Appropriately modified exercises can help a lot, while others can do the opposite…

12/09/2023

That was 6 months ago. Now on next post!

11/09/2023

11/09/2023

22/03/2023

What do we actually mean by strength?

We talk about muscles being strong or weak, but are we talking about muscles fibres? And their quality or quantity?

There’s no equipment that could measure strength on a muscle at rest. In order to measure strength, we need contraction of the muscle. And in order to get contraction, we need activation.

Activation is the command from the brain to the muscle, telling it to contract: how fast, how much, and do you what.

So with that in mind, when we talk about strength, and improving strength, it might be worthwhile thinking about brain health, and the neurological pathways involved in movement (motor and sensory)…

What do you think?

21/03/2023

Little myth busting: if Pilates gets great results with low back pain, it has not that much to do with strengthening of the abs or "core"… to me this is actually secondary.

Exercises like this one on the Cadi don’t strengthen your abs much, the springs provide assistance so you can go all the way up even if you don’t have the abdominal strength to do so on your own…so how come it can be one of the most helpful exercises for people who experience chronic low back pain?

With the assistance from the springs, not only can you go all the way up and down, but you can do so slowly and in a controlled manner, ensuring you are mobilising all the joints in your spine sequentially and providing lots of sensory feedback up to the brain about what’s going on in there. If the pain usually experienced isn’t quite in proportion with the actual physical state of your back, which is often the case, that pain experience will generally lower, depending on other factors involved, and sometimes pretty fast. Pain is a complex phenomena, and chronic low back pain is a neurological condition, not a musculoskeletal one per say… (always check with your doctor)

Also a muscle that crosses a joint that isn’t moving as it should (could just be not ever being moved) can’t function at its full capacity cause the brain will limit activation to protect that joint, thinking there’s a problem with it… so you can do all the abs workout you want, if your spine isn’t moving as it should somewhere you’re just wasting your time, money and energy. Ooops, I said it 🤭

So yeah, if used appropriately Pilates exercises and the equipment can be great tools for sensory and neuromuscular rehab, that’s why we can get such good results… it all starts in the brain 😉

18/03/2023

Everywhere in the world Pilates is classified similarly to yoga, and the wellness applications are widely understood. With the adequate visa, I can teach near enough anywhere and did so for 4 years. Before I had to leave for health reasons, I was teaching in some of the best studios in London.

Apart from in France. Apparently here someone somehow decided that it’s sports and so you need a pro license that can only be obtained with a French diploma or equivalent to be allowed to teach private sessions. And since there isn’t a Pilates specific diploma I can’t get that equivalence.

While I would have been happy to do a course, I can’t either. Because the diploma involves a physical aptitude entry test that I’d never pass between the consequences of the accident and my TBI (currently applying for disability status) and the skills I don’t have. I may have fairly advanced knowledge of anatomy and the neurology of movement, but I don’t know how to dribble!!! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Still trying to find a way…

Shame because France is also now recognising the importance of adapted exercise for chronic conditions and there is a new specific diploma for this. But the sports one is a prerequisite 🙄. I feel they’re really missing the fact that the instructors who are passionate about this kind of work aren’t really the sporty people but those who like me suffered an accident, injury, illness or trauma themselves and want to help others. Give me a 🙋🏻‍♀️if you are one, I know there are many in the Pilates world.

And sadly those losing out the most are the people someone like me could help. Don’t mean to brag but I helped a lot of people in 4 years, including many who had ended up feeling like no one could help them and had resigned themselves to living in pain…

So. Bottom line is this: it’s getting paid I’m not allowed to do, not teaching itself. So I’ll be teaching one to ones on equipment FOR FREE as a hobby. I’ll of course still accept the thank you gifts (used to be flowers, nowadays organic groceries would be handy 😬) And I’ll only take on cases that really interest me. Email me in the first instance.

This page has always been about simply sharing info so that’ll stay the same…

10/09/2022

I disappeared longer than planned…

From collapsing of exhaustion as I got here and 2 months barely able to get up or eat, feeling like my life was no longer worth living… I know that many brain injury survivors end up finding themselves right there too.

To 4 months trying to understand the system and to finally access adequate medical treatment and rehab. I may be a French citizen, I definitely feel like a foreigner… me and my acquired British accent, 20 years in London will do that to you 😂

To now doing specialised neuro visual rehab, maxilo facial physio (face and jaw) and soon hopefully vestibular rehab. Awaiting a new MRI and neuropsychology assessments… and an evaluation with a neurologist who is actually specialised in TBIs. 3 years since the accident, about time 🙄

All the while trying to do my best with the intensive motor and sensory rehab I entirely designed on my own based on my training with . 3 months on, it’s actually working! My left side is starting to really come back to life, my blood pressure finally levelled up side to side, my thermo regulation is kicking in, I think clearer, have more energy and my spatial awareness has improved. No longer banging my head on cupboards, burning myself cooking or slamming doors on my fingers! 🙌🏼 Still see blurry but my visual problems are indeed too severe for me to rehab them myself… sometimes we got to know when to refer out - going well too!

And now starting to try to understand how to get through admin hoops to get the equivalence required for me to be allowed to work here… only in France, I could teach near enough anywhere in the world with my international Pilates certifications 🤷🏻‍♀️

So while I’m not legally allowed to get paid to teach, I can at least share info, and spread awareness, inspiration and if I can, hope.

If there’s anything in particular you’d like me to cover, go ahead and ask 😉