Sona Pilates
our Mission
To create efficiency in the body through movement, strategy and joy so that the everyday becomes easier. We want to support and enable people to care for their bodies and their minds. By offering you tools and strategies on how to engage with and understand how the body works, you too can take ownership of your well-being with confidence.
Why choose Sona Pilates?
For personality and genuine connection – we care about your goals and your movement experience with us. Open and ready to learn with you based on our core values. We will laugh, explore, discuss and question – no Pilates Police here – you move for you, you show up for you and you take what you need ….for YOU!
We provide a genuine, knowledgeable and accessible way to begin or continue, workout and rehab with Pilates and movement classes or 1:1s.
Enthusiastic about movement well-being, we aim to empower you in your practice too so you finish a class knowing you have achieved deeper efficiency and feel happier, taller, leaner, younger, and fitter!
Classes resolve daily aches and pains, support posture and increase mobility. For some, it underpins running
training, for many it builds new efficiency in your everyday movement so that the every day becomes easier – the hikes more enjoyable, the old hobbies rediscovered, aches eased, energy lifted, spines longer and taller…and generally smiles around!
Our Core Values
To treat and support the individual and always recognise that the body is connected and should be considered as whole – body, mind and spirit.
- Movement is a tool to reconnect with yourself
- Movement is a joyful exploration of your body and mind
- Each body is individual and so to is its care
About leanne
Leanne is the founder and owner of Sona Pilates, you can find her in our Wells Road Studio most days or teaching online with her Northern Irish charm and dancers creativity.
Leanne is fully certified in equipment and mat Pilates from Polestar Pilates in London. Polestar is an international authority in Pilates education, focused on whole body wellness, healing through movement modalities and mind-body-spirit connection.
Movement has always played a vital role in Leanne’s life and she has practiced Pilates alongside her Dance career for over 15 years, including using it to rehab an ankle injury whilst at professional training in London within Trinity Laban.
From Head of Dance and Senior roles in Education, she is no stranger to the dynamic, creative and often exhausting patterns of daily life. And the strains it can put on the body both physically and mentally resulting in MRI’s, aches and niggles, adrenal fatigue and burn-out. But yet again it was Pilates that came to the rescue!
And finally, a shoulder injury 8 years ago brought Leanne fully back to Pilates and she soon re-immersed herself in the practice, its professional training and ethos. Once again, she was reminded of its ability to create space in the mind as well as the body, a benefit she seeks her clients to experience.
In 2017 Sona Pilates was established and Leanne left full-time sixth-form teaching in education to dedicate herself to her clients and Pilates teaching. Switching her mantra slightly from ‘Dance is for everybody’ to ‘ Everybody should also be doing Pilates!’. Leanne is a forever student, delving deeper into body knowledge and understanding, she is skilled and experienced in working with clients with Cancer, Neurological conditions, Parkinson’s, hip replacements and rehab injuries. As well as athletes, dancers and teens.
Her warm and enthusiastic approach will have you moving with more informed ease, a deeper connection and a sense of play. The body loves to move and Leanne loves to help you unlock this revelation within yourself.
She fully embraces the attitude of enjoying the life you are living – movement, friendships, cake, family, gin, travel and the arts; and is a firm believer in how the practice of Pilates can enhance your life for the better.
Josie practices under the name of Josie Bower Pilates
Josie is also training with Polestar Pilates in London to become a fully certified instructor in Equipment and Mat. This is a highly rigorous and international certification that Josie is excelling in.
ABOUT JOSIE
After graduating from Trinity Laban in 2021 as a contemporary dancer, Josie was eager to develop her love of physicality. Pilates has enabled her to enhance her knowledge and understanding of the relationship between mind and body, whilst also respecting the connection between the two.
From even the beginning of her Pilates journey, Josie has been passionate about providing positive movement experiences for everyone who arrives in the space – it is what everyone deserves!
Josie provides an attentive, accepting, light-hearted energy that encourages others to learn more about themselves through movement. You can find her in the studio on Monday evenings and offering 1:1 sessions.