The Unity Pilates Studio
Our new, fully equipped Pilates Studio in the tradition of Joseph Pilates
“Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.” – Joseph Pilates
The new Unity Pilates Studio
Welcome to the Unity Pilates Studio, our new, dedicated studio equipped according to the original New York designs of the pioneering Joseph Pilates, and the only classical Pilates Studio in Lewes. We offer private and open classes taught in the classic, holistic Pilates tradition.
This is not just a Reformer studio. The Unity Pilates Studio is equipped with the hugely popular Reformer, together with Joseph Pilates’ trapeze table, ladder barrel and step chair, offering more than 150 different exercise variations.
Classes in the Unity Pilates Studio are taught and guided by Patrick Morrison, our much-respected, comprehensive Pilates teacher who’s already well-known here for his popular mat-based Pilates classes.
The Unity Pilates Studio is a partnership between The Unity Centre and Patrick Morrison’s I Feel Good Pilates.
Read on to see our options for attending Pilates Studio classes.
THE REFORMER
One of four pieces of authentic Joseph Pilates equipment installed in the Unity Pilates Studio
“If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30, you are old. If it is completely flexible at 60, you are young.” – Joseph Pilates
REFORMER SPRINGS
The number of springs used is adjusted class by class, to fit your individual needs
Benefits of the Pilates Studio
The Pilates Studio experience is very different to mat Pilates. It’s said that 60 minutes on classic Studio equipment like ours is equivalent to 180-240 minutes of Pilates mat work. It’s around four times more intense than mat work because of the resistance of the equipment’s springs: each movement you make has the extra load of the Pilates springs.
The secret’s in the springs …
What makes a session on the Pilates Studio equipment so powerful is the combination of Pilates choregraphy working with springs. The core to Joseph Pilates’ designs for all four pieces of studio equipment is their arrays of springs. The springs activate your energies and fascia, creating a feeling that lasts into the evening, facilitating improved sleep, and into the next day when you can still feel their power.
Over time, your movement patterns become realigned, centred, more effective and with the optimal range of movement.
And patterns picked up from injury, perhaps from avoiding pain (in your foot, ankle, knee, hip, spine, shoulder , neck … creating a particular walking or running gait, or postural patterns) and stuck fascia can be addressed and progressed.
… and the teaching
Patrick says:
“I programme a challenge in every class to get progression with Feel Good movements as well as the ones which often aren’t so enjoyable but which produce huge benefits.
“I give clients a movement improvement within the class, which I confirm and ask them to self-prove by observing a change by the end of the session.
“My objective is that the Feel Good factor builds in the class and is lasting.”
What’s in the studio
Classes in the Unity Pilates Studio revolve around four pieces of substatial equipment, unique to a traditional Pilates Studio and to Lewes:
Invented and used by Joseph Pilates in the 1940s, the ‘universal reformer’ is the most well-known piece of Pilates equipment, consisting of a sliding platform on wheels that moves back and forth, adjustable springs, pulleys, straps and a footbar.
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Adjustable spring tension means the reformer can be made to work for everyone, including beginners, pregnant women and people with injuries.
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The first piece of apparatus designed by Joseph Pilates and the biggest, it’s a full-frame table with a rectangular, adjustable trapeze bar above a mat platform.
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Reputedly starting life as a beer barrel cut in half and covered in upholstery, Joseph Pilates invented this primarily for spinal flexibility and extension. It can also be used for ab exercises and oblique movements.
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The barrel forces the spine to move through a greater range of motion than on the mat or elsewhere, making these exercises some of the most challenging in the Pilates repertoire. Holding the rungs usually reduces these challenges by adding some stability, with a variety of rung positions to suit people of different heights.
The ladder barrel can also be used from a seated position for dynamic, full-body exercises like the ‘horseback’: an effective exercise for strengthening your legs annd pelvic floor, and improving coordination.
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Sometimes just called a Pilates chair (and for Joseph Pilates it was originally the ‘Wunda chair’), this can be used for seated and standing work, from various positions.
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It can provide a challenging full body workout, targeting a variety of muscle groups. It has design features to suit beginners or people with injuries or lower levels of mobility, and its split pedals are designed for rotational and reciprocal movement of the extremities.
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TRAPEZE TABLE AND (foreground) REFORMER
seen in a private one-to-one class with Patrick Morrison
“In 10 sessions you’ll feel the difference, in 20 you’ll see the difference, and in 30 you’ll have a new body” – Joseph Pilates
Reserve your class
To book a Private or Open Pilates Studio Class, use the timetable below, choose your class type, day and time and select ‘Book’. If you’ve already paid for a block of classes, you can go straight on to confirm your booking. If not, you’ll be offered the choice of buying a block or a single class.
Intro class: If this is your first booking you’ll be offered the special introductory pricing as an option. Your class will then automatically be an Intro Class with consultation.
When booking, allow 2-3 days between each equipment session to permit the body to assimilate the progression.
Unity Pilates Studio prices
Private class prices
(=£32.50 per person)
(=£35.00 per person)
(=£37.50 per person)
Block of 8 classes
£440
£520
(=£260 per person)
Block of 4 classes
£240
£280
(=£140 per person)
Open class prices
Single class
£28
Intro class prices
Single class
£50
£30
Taster prices
“Above all, learn to breathe correctly.” – Joseph Pilates
More about the class options
Here’s some more detail about what’s available.
Private classes
Private Pilates for one
A personal and exclusive Pilates Studio session. This time is yours and you’ll have Patrick’s undivided attention to your needs, your goals and developing your Pilates practice. And if you’re recovering from injury or dealing with a specific physical issue, this session is particularly suitable.
Duration: 55 minutes. Prices from £55 per class.
Private Pilates for two
Ideal for two friends, two family members or a couple, enjoying Patrick’s complete attention on your needs, your goals and developing your Pilates practice. You may both work together in partnership or, if you have different goals, needs or levels of experience, Patrick can work separately with each of you.
Duration: 55 minutes. Prices from £32.50 per person per class.
Open classes
Book a single place for yourself in a small, intimate, shared class. Open Classes are kept small so that Patrick can work personally with each student: you will still experience the benefit of Patrick’s attention to your needs, goals and Pilates development and Patrick can accommodate your individual requirements, including different levels of experience.
Maximum class size: 3. Duration: 55 minutes. Prices from £22 per person per class.
Intro Class
If you haven’t used the Unity Pilates Studio before, we ask you to begin with an Intro Class with consultation to familiarise yourself with the specialised Pilates Studio equipment and get you started. The class will incude a personal consultation with Patrick to explore your needs and goals, and develop a programme that’s personal and exclusive to you. And as it’s your first time, we’re offering this class at specially reduced prices.
Private Intro Class
An introduction and consultation for one person, on your own, exclusively with Patrick. The perfect way to begin your Pilates Studio journey.
Duration: 55 minutes. Special price: £50.
Open Intro Class
An introduction and personal consultation in an open class setting. Book a place for yourself in a session shared with one other student. Each student will have personal and exclusive time with Patrick but if you require greater confidentiality, we advise booking a Private Introductory Consultation Class.
To share this class with a friend or family member, or as a couple, book both available places.
Maximum class size: 2. Duration: 55 minutes. Special price: £30 per person.
An Intro Class may only be taken once and is only available if you haven’t already had a Unity Pilates Studio session.
Benefits of I Feel Good Pilates
Take Control! Change your body: rebel against gravity and time.
Joseph Pilates believed that health and happiness comes from movement. He thought you couldn’t have one without the other and that movement unlocks the potential.
We wholeheartedly agree and, recognising how he put that into practice, we’ve created a studio he would recognise and use authentic movement as close as possible to his original choreography.
We all fight gravity
Unfold : unfurl : extend – we will identify, develop and progress your movement potential. We’ll help you move away from the forces of gravity by decompressing the spine, lengthening and strengthening your muscles and fascia, increasing your joint mobility and joint health and improving your core strength.
People walk into the studio ‘small’ … and walk back out tall.
We also welcome people with mobility issues and neurological conditions because Pilates movements can often benefit them. People who come into the studio with mobility issues may be able to challenge and expand their movement possibility and range.
In Pilates we constantly remind the body of our movement potential. By doing so we open up neurological plasticity which improves everybody’s movement possibility.
We all challenge time
Pilates is a longevity practice available to anybody … whether you’re 15 or 95+.
Help yourself to achieve the optimal movement available to you at this moment and to turn back the clock to realise your potential.
Throw away your calender timeline age and work to the rhythm of your biological clock.
We will move every day !
“Movement heals and change happens through movement” – Josef Pilates
Pilates movement can change your life: to move away from pain or limitations by taking control of the body instead of being controlled by it.
We all need to move more. Our bodies are built for outdoor activity, working in fields, physically labouring. Joseph Pilates complained about the effects modern life in his 1936 book “Return to Life”! and, since then, exercise levels and physical exertion have dropped even more. We have become sedentary, with not much movement and shallow breathing, while ultra-processed food and takeaways, delivered to the home without effort, outsell raw and natural ingredients.
An hour of Pilates will reset all that and some of our physical human potential can be restored effectively. And with the improved physical wellbeing comes mental wellbeing.