It is FOUR AND A HALF YEARS since I moved my business online.

Can you believe that?! 4 1/2 years from that dreadful Monday evening when Boris made his statement to lock us all up. 4 1/2 years since I stayed up with no sleep and a lot of adrenaline for 2 nights and 3 days, sitting at the breakfast bar in my kitchen, drinking a lot of tea and shedding quite a few tears and expletives, learning how to set up payment platforms, membership platforms, how to edit my own website, record and edit classes, how to store recordings, what video program to use, how to use Zoom, what microphones and external cameras to use...It still makes me shiver, just thinking about that time.

WHAT a long way we have all come.

I'll be honest. I had become a bit stale and was worn down with driving up hill and down dale (that's a Yorkshire saying - it's almost totally flat around here but I thought it added some theatre to the story) from one venue to another. I was starting to think about the "what next" options. Despite being asked many times over the years, I have never wanted to take on a commercial premises so what was I do to next? Maybe it was time for a total career change. Maybe I would even park up what limited common sense I had and go back to working with horses. Yes, I did give this serious thought... but then this coincided with a deeply unhappy time in my life and some"running away from it all" was also in play.

Then as we approached what we knew was on the cards and I was faced with losing almost 2 decades of hard work I became passionately protective of my business and was determined to keep it going. Hence not going to bed for 3 days and though I say so myself, I am very, very proud of turning it all around in a week and being one of the first to be up online and teaching.

6 weeks of live classes every single day, totally free on Facebook and Instagram live-  those were exhausting days but we had HUGE classes, beaming all over the world and my goodness, did it teach me a lot very quickly. Friends and family could connect from different continents and work out together and we had people joining from midnight to midday their time. There are some wonderful memories from those experiences and I honestly treasure them.

Oh those early days of Zoom!! When none of us had a clue about mute, who could hear what... and the amount of people with me 4 years down the line who were "absolutely not doing online thank you".... my favourite story from those days is "Granny" doing a video call to her grandkids in Australia and telling them that as her wifi was playing up, she was hot spotting from her mobile, and mirroring their stunned expressions onto her tv screen!! Serious kudos to Granny on that one!!

Bertie the magnificent Labrador made regular appearances, sitting in front of the camera, or coming for a cuddle and knocking me off my roller mid class,  and I ate my stress and unhappiness and became the fattest I have ever, ever been. A wonderful irony given that I was suddenly on such a big platform and being seen in homes all over the place. As my audience grew, so too did my worry about letting everyone down which sent me scurrying off to bury my head in the biscuit tin and as there's a Tesco express a mere somersault from my house, I was doomed.

We had The November challenge where I linked up with fellow local women in business (see photo above) and we did events live every day, We had an online "wear a hat" party,  we  had classes around The Olympics (lockdown version), the Jubilee, the Coronation, we celebrated the NHS.....we had guest teachers and speakers....we had socially distanced classes in the forest being attacked by donkeys and  we have celebrated new babies, puppies, weddings, house moves....  we have discussed where to source hard to find wall paper, holiday tips and have shared so much as we have slowly built our online community and seen it grow year on year.  I honestly cannot tell you the pride I feel in what we have achieved together.

True friendships have formed and the ease and convenience of being online continues. It really is a way of life for us now. However, while we appreciate that side of things (and the fact that I can work and you can join from anywhere in the world and you now have access to 8 classes for the same price you used to pay for one), the social side of things is so very important.

We have had walks and pub lunches, jolly's to London, we have been to Kefalonia to visit one of our members there and France to visit our member there (psst - Madrid and Hong Kong - watch out!) to name just a few events and this means so much to me.

Last year we had our second annual Christmas lunch which saw nearly 40 of us get together. Several of you travelled from far flung destinations on trains and motorways and it was a time of immense joy and pride for me, not least when some who were nervous about not knowing anyone, left telling me how many new friends they had made.

When I went home, I just sat on my sofa, looking at my cards and reflecting on the day and how much it had meant to me and all the wonderful things that had been said.

I would like you to know that that was a turning point for me. Things are not always as they seem and I have been running on empty for quite some time (well, and a fxxk load of biscuits!!) but that was a very special time that I reflect on regularly. Just what we have achieved and how far we have come and what we have created. So thank you all. I honestly treasure you more than you could imagine.

That is why I am always looking at new ideas, new challenges and how to keep it fresh, current and entertaining so..... here goes... non members this involves you too

STRENGTH,  MOBILITY, FULL BODY STRETCH, MAT PILATES, FUNCTIONAL WEIGHTS. 48 CLASSES FOR £45

I hate to be the one to use the C word BUT…. With just a few weeks to go, I have decided to dig deep and put up some more challenges to help us focus and see out the year stronger, fitter and determined to be sleeveless for the whole of Christmas just to show off our toned arms.

If you are already a subscribed member, you will have access to ALL this but if you are not yet online with me, please read below and see how you can join us for a special, early pre Black Friday, pre Boxing Day sales price just in time to finish the year.

I am a bit nervous as I have only just started to recover from the extra classes the other week (or to be honest, all the prep. behind it!) but hey!! Friends who workout together stay together and I know how much we are all going to benefit. So here goes.

The 6 week Christmas strength challenge.

Each Tues and Fri, I will deliver a strength class, built around the same format. Each week the class will be recorded and go straight into the library and I ask you to attend the class and then repeat the class on demand twice more that week before we have a new class the following week (Of course, if you cannot attend live, you can just access on demand but the key is to repeat x 3 times)

Tues 9am and Fri 8am starting Nov 8th. 6 weeks - all details will follow to subscribed members in the live calendar.

The Technique clinic. Thursdays 8am. 

Working through Nov - All those moves that seem very complicated or that you just cant “get” - as well as finding out why your neck aches when you curl up, why you cant roll up from lying, how to open those shoulders for roll over - that type of thing.  Let me have your requests and let's really nail some of those tricky ones.

THE 34 MOVES 

 It’s time! We are building up… in Dec., we will have part 1 on Tues 10th 8am, part 2 on Thurs 12th 8am and alll the way through on Tues 17th 8am. Put it in your diary! You know you love it and WHAT a way to wrap up all our hard work. 

The Back clinic.

Thursdays 9am through NOV. 

Addressing those common back problems -let's   have a look at all the different ways we can improve our spines and how we move them. Let me have specific concerns or issues to work with. Bring all your props and let’s get smiley spines. 

Finally where would we be without The 12 Moves of Christmas…. It never gets any easier and you will be required to wear sparkles but we LOVE it…. more of that in due course. 

New in the library is this week's Functional Strength class... using weights to help us live well, strong and independently. This class includes lying on the floor to reach under the sofa, chopping wood (I don't know - you might!), Golf swings, doing up the top of a zip, undoing the bottom of the zip, lifting heavy bags, lifting heavy weights to do an overhead throw into a skip (it will make sense when you do it), putting luggage into an overhead locker, getting up and down from a low seat, lifting a heavy wheelbarrow, digging in the garden.... and lots more. Check it out in the "Mixed ability" collection.