PILATES MOVEMENT BREATHING MASSAGE
Mbodied
ABOUT US
Agur and Alice have been friends and colleagues for nearly 20 years and set up Mbodied at the start of Covid in 2020 to be able to offer Pilates and movement classes online. Their Pilates studio: Pilates Sanctuary, that they had opened together in 2006, had closed indefinitely and they wanted to keep teaching their wonderful clients. They realised that with the wealth of combined knowledge and the support of the Pilates community they had established in Clapham, London as well as further afield, there was a need to continue and grow after the pandemic finished and people could come back to the studio.
Mbodied hosts Pilates, workouts, Garuda Barre, breath work, face exercises and workshops. Alice and Agur also offer face to face massage through Mbodied.
OUR TEAM
ALICE
Alice is the Co-founder and Co- Director of Mbodied and Pilates Sanctuary.
Alice has over 20 years of experience in teaching Pilates to a wide range of people and alongside Agur, set up Pilates Sanctuary Studio in 2006 and Mbodied in 2020. Alice trained with the Pilates Foundation in 2003 and is also trained as a clinical massage therapist, oncology massage therapist and facial exercise teacher. She believes in the power of an integrated and holistic approach for the body, movement and health.
Alice teaches online Pilates, face exercise classes and workshops for Mbodied as well as face to face pilates and massage. In addition she part of the Pain Manageement team at the charity Freedom From Torture working with refugees.
AGUR
Agur has been a co-director of Pilates Sanctuary ltd with Alice Croucher since 2009 and Mbodied ltd since 2020.
She discovered Pilates while rehabilitating from a shoulder injury and she never looked back. Her dance background and her love and experience in the opera world is reflected in her lifestyle, her teaching, and the way she looks at bodies in movement.
With 20 years of experience behind her, she still enjoys teaching classical and contemporary Pilates repertoire, using flow of movement, sequencing and breathing.
Agur is a qualified clinical massage therapist, a trained oncology therapist and holds the Jenny Burrel, women’s health and menopause qualification.
She teaches at the Pilates Sanctuary, fully-equipped studio and combines her studio practice with her clinical work, which she offers from home. Her online teaching for Mbodied includes Pilates Matwork, Garuda barre and Oxygen Advantage breathing.
She also sees clients for clinical massage treatments where she applies her training in cranio-sacral techniques.
EMMA
Emma trained at Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and worked as a professional dancer whilst doing her Pilates training at the Pilates Foundation.
With over a decade of teaching experience Emma’s classes are based in classical Pilates technique, with influences from strength training, yoga and her dance background. Though a professional ballet dancer for 20 years, Emma is equally at home teaching elite athletes, Pilates beginners, injury rehab and general maintenance class
Alongside her work in dance and Pilates holds a BA Hons in Arts & Humanities from the Open University and is the host of 'Movers Shakers Makers' - a performing arts podcast.
ANDREA
Andrea has been teaching movement for over 20 years. She has extensive training and experience in dance (RAD and Ba Hons in Performing Arts- LCDS), Pilates (Pilates Foundation UK), Gyrotonic, Gyrokinesis and the Feldenkrais Method, in London and in Spain.
Andrea had her first contact with the Feldenkrais Method applied to dance during her training at “The Place” in 1995 but it was not until 2012, after her return to Spain, when she began her training in Madrid in 2012. Since then, she teaches exclusively this Method from her private studios in Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona where she gives individual lessons, she also teaches workshops and collaborates with different studios.
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Andrea loves being in a constant learning process that she enjoys sharing with a wide variety of clients with different needs, from professional dancers to people who suffers from chronic pain or who are in the process of recovering from an injury.
GLEN
Glen has been in the health and wellbeing industry for over 30 years. He is a Director at the National Centre for Circus Arts and has worked with hundreds of artists on skill acquisition, injury prevention and recovery. He has spent many years learning protocols to improve movement quality and range of motion. He has also studied neurology and breath training and has enjoyed applying these methods when working with individuals and groups on their fitness and well-being journey.
Alongside the more conventional training exercises, Glen has seen the benefits of returning to his gymnastics and circus background and introducing the fun of juggling and handstand training with willing clients.
Glen offers fun one to one training sessions which will be taylored to the needs of the individual and are suitable for all fitness levels.
TESTIMONIALS
Mbodied was created by Agur, Alice and
Glen in response to the Covid-induced lockdowns of 2020-2021. They created a much-needed resource for our community, who wanted to keep moving while stuck at home. So successful was this venture that it continues to provide a varied programme of classes on-line for all types of participants who can choose from a variety of classes, from mat Pilates to Barre, Breathing, HIIT and much more!
I participate in Mbodied classes a number of times per week and highly recommend this creative and highly professional team of experienced practitioners!
Margaret Frost
I absolutely love the MBodied online classes. They offer a fantastic range including mat classes, facial Pilates, HIT workout, Barre class, breathwork and Feldenkrais, all of which I join! The teachers are highly trained, deeply committed, and great at personalising the classes according to who attends each day. It's always different, fun and well tailored to all needs and abilities. I like the blend of being able to exercise in the comfort and privacy of my own home (or wherever I’m travelling!) while still getting personalised input from astonishingly attentive instructors. I wouldn't be without it.
Michelle Blunt
I have been taking 2 or 3 (sometimes more) online classes with Mbodied since they opened, and have learnt with all their instructors. All of them are really knowledgeable and excellent teachers. They are all really skilled at providing a small group session where the instructions and demonstrations are clear, they are responsive to the different needs and standards of all of us attending, and can give adaptations that allow me to fully participate safely despite my injuries and limitations. I like that the classes are always varied and incorporate a wide variety of exercises from many disciplines, not just the classical Pilates repertoire. Although I’ve learnt a lot of skills from the classes and can exercise alone, I find this is never as good as the challenge and variety I get from a live class.
Jackie Pierce
Agur not only knows what your body needs but also what your mind needs so you leave with body more flexible and mind in a better place. I usually sleep so well the night after a massage.
Sue Strather
​I can’t recommend Agur’s treatments enough. She is a uniquely skilled, intuitive and knowledgeable massage therapist that I just couldn’t do without now. I have been seeing her regularly since lock down and her treatments have literally kept me going. Her deep understanding of the body means she knows exactly where to focus and how to get problem areas moving and working as they should. I’ve had various injuries from slipped discs, sprained ankles to frozen shoulder and she has fixed them all. She even treated scar tissue after a major operation. There is nothing this woman cannot do! I would also recommend her craniosacral treatment which I have used during more stressful periods which is a great way of realigning and finding deep relaxation. I call her my body mechanic and I don’t know what I would do without her.
Nicky Bradbury
I’ve been doing online mat Pilates, barre, Feldenkrais and breathwork classes with Agur for over a year.
The classes are excellent and cover all muscle groups and ranges of movement. It is so convenient to have such high quality teaching online and I would highly recommend these for anyone looking to strengthen their body, improve flexibility and calm your mind.
Danielle Hennes
The wonderful Agur Arrien has been giving me massage and craniosacral treatments for several years now, treating arthritis in my neck and back with her magic hands. Her skill, experience, knowledge, and sympathy combine to make her an amazing therapist. I am confident that she knows what is best for my body and a session with Agur is always a pleasure to which I look forward.
Jane Wood