Week 1 — A short and simple Pilates workout to bring exercise into a busy routineWe get it. Routines go out the window in summer, and never more so than this year, with weeks of blistering heat. To help make the transition to daily exercise as simple as possible, we asked Pilates instructor Aoife Lennon to design a short and simple programme you can do at home Fri, 04 Sep, 2026 – 14:19Deirdre McArdle
Aoife Lennon, founder of Vanilla Matcha Pilates, has just returned from holidays in Spain and is ready to hit the ground running. September is like “the second January”, she says, as people get back into health and fitness routines they may have let slide during the summer months.
Lennon is excited about working on a four-week pilates programme for Irish Examiner readers, which starts today.
Her goal is to provide a short, home-based pilates series for people of all abilities that “builds body awareness and confidence through realistic 10-minute sessions”.
She hopes it will inspire participants to continue practising pilates beyond the four weeks.
Limerick-based Lennon first came across pilates classes on YouTube in 2021. It was very much a eureka moment. “I took an instant shine to pilates. I already had a personal trainer qualification, but I always felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle when it came to moving my body. For me, pilates was that missing piece.”
Lennon says she wasn’t a naturally “good mover” and found she often got injured when exercising. “I feel like we’re given these machines and no-one tells us how to move in them. For some people it’s instinctive, but for others, like me, it isn’t.”
After joining an in-person pilates class, she found she was moving more freely and not getting injured. “I was learning how to break down each movement and really move my body. I was hooked.”
She was so hooked that she wanted to learn everything about pilates. She took pilates mat and reformer classes but wanted “more information”. After approaching her pilates teacher to ask about becoming a teacher herself, she enrolled in a training course at the Suzie Dodd Pilates Academy in 2022.
Continued working
At the time, Lennon was working at the University of Limerick as an events organiser. For six months, she continued working while doing the course on the weekends.
“I remember starting the course and thinking, this is it. This is the level of depth I wanted.”
In 2023, while waiting to board a flight, Lennon opened registration for her first class online. “There was no one in my local area offering pilates at the time. The 20 spaces in my class sold out straight away. I knew then there was interest.”
With those first classes, she says, she put her “heart on the table and really focused on the level of care I was giving to my clients. That effort was rewarded, and my business started to grow.”
She was so busy that Lennon went part-time in her role at UL, before eventually going full-time with her pilates classes. Today she teaches classes in TBB Gym in Limerick and Limerick Lawn Tennis Club, with a new location in Banna Beach Leisure Club in Kerry launching this month.
Speaking with Lennon, it’s clear from the passionate way she speaks that pilates is much more than just how she earns her living.
“I have found the thing I’m supposed to do, and I’ve never in my life ever said that before.”
With a degree in psychology, Lennon believes some of the success she’s had is because “there’s this element that goes way beyond the physical body in my class”.
She explains that the father of pilates, Joseph Pilates, said: “Pilates is mind, body, and spirit”. For Lennon, the mental element is critical. “It’s the hack to really ‘getting’ pilates,” she says.
How you think about and approach the movement can shape your experience of the class and the results, says Lennon, who focuses on the psychology, self-talk and the associations people build with movement in her teaching.
With pilates, Lennon says every exercise can be adapted to work for your body. “So you’re not stressing about trying to get good at the movement. The movement is made to work for you and meet you where you are at. And then there’s this compassion that comes, which goes beyond just the physical experience. People who may have felt lost in other classes, or felt scared of other [types of] movement, or they felt like they were missing things, finally start to feel ‘I trust myself’ because they understand their body more and how it can move.”
Week 1 – A Meaningful start
This mind-body-spirit philosophy is central to Lennon’s approach to teaching and will be at the core of her four-week Irish Examiner programme.
The sessions are built around a 10-minute class that can be slotted into a busy day. Even once a week is a meaningful start, with the option to build up to more, says Lennon.
The programme is aimed at complete beginners who may feel self-conscious about joining a class, but it is also suitable for existing pilates enthusiasts who might want a secondary session if they can’t make an in-person class.
Week one is a gentle, foundational introduction to pilates, starting with breath work.
“We’ll play with our breath at the start. In pilates, we talk about a 360 breath. Deep breathing really influences our ability to engage our core.”
Lennon says that some clients who have experienced diastasis recti [the partial or complete separation of the muscles that meet at the centre of the stomach], or any issue due to pregnancy or childbirth, have told her that when they perform core movements driven by breath work, it can be emotional and helps them feel more connected to their core.
Next, the session will dive into what Lennon calls “core basics” through movements such as glute bridges and spinal mobility and twisting. “Think of it as an introduction to your body if you haven’t checked in with it in a while.”
Over the four weeks, the sessions will build on these foundations. “I would prefer to refine the basic movements rather than getting loads of tricks that we can all barely do.”
New elements will be introduced as the sessions progress, but the emphasis of the programme will be on “better technique, better awareness of how you’re moving, and learning to meet yourself where you’re at each day”.
By doing the 10-minute sessions twice weekly and staying consistent over the four weeks, Lennon says people can expect to feel more “in their body” when they step off the mat.
They can also expect to feel more confident in themselves, especially those who’ve “felt clumsy or intimidated in other fitness settings”.
And they can expect to feel more supple. “It’s like getting your suspension fixed in your car, there will be more bounciness about you.”
Participants may experience some positive psychological benefits, too. “That 10 minutes might lead you to make other decisions throughout the day that are more nourishing for your body. And that will encourage you to continue to make those decisions that are self-nourishing. So you might start thinking, ‘I may as well drink my bottle of water, or get my steps in’.
“If you’re showing up for yourself regularly for 10 minutes on that mat in a way that you hadn’t before, you start challenging certain beliefs you may have had about yourself.
“There’s power in that, and in that consistent turning up for yourself.”
Read More
Natural Health: What can I do about my RSI?
Workplace Wellbeing: How to step into autumn at work with a spring in your step
Cortisol: Everything you need to know about the stress hormone
x
185th Anniversary Offer
Six months of digital access for €18.50
Already a subscriber? Sign in
No obligation. Ts&Cs apply.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
NEWSLETTERS
NOTIFICATIONS
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
Ray D’Arcy: Exercise helped to keep me sane
Workplace Wellbeing: Pursuing a hobby could lead to the ideal career or even starting a business
Top 8: Which of these Greek yogurts is the cultured choice?
More in this section
Not all ultra-processed foods are bad — here are some to add to your diet
Ray D’Arcy: Exercise helped to keep me sane
Workplace Wellbeing: Pursuing a hobby could lead to the ideal career or even starting a business
#September Reset#Health – Mind#Health – Body#Irish Examiner Instagram