Ismini Phillips is an Award winning Movement and Rehabilitation Specialist. She has been teaching Pilates since 2007 and The Feldenkrais Method® since 2020. She set up Ismini Studios to offer health and fitness solutions in Tonbridge. She is a qualified Pilates and The Feldenkrais Method® practitioner, Back4Good practitioner, MS/neurological conditions exercise specialist, and breast cancer exercise specialist, running the Pink Ribbon Program and bootybarre® teacher. Ismini offers a variety of Pilates mat and equipment classes, The Feldenkrais Method’s Awareness Through Movement® group lessons and Functional Integration® private lessons, running sessions that are suitable for all, including those returning to exercise.
Ismini also offers educational workshops using both Pilates and The Feldenkrais Method® working to teach others how to achieve ideal and optimal physical and mental wellbeing.
A holistic approach to wellbeing
For Ismini, Pilates and The Feldenkrais Method® are a way of life and she takes a holistic approach to these modalities. She has been involved in dance and fitness from a very young age, and first came across Pilates in the mid-1990s. She had suffered with back pain and sciatica during her second pregnancy and found that Pilates offered the perfect solution. During her third pregnancy she was able to continue with classes and salsa teaching right up to her due date.
For Ismini, Pilates and The Feldenkrais Method® are a way of life and she takes a holistic approach to these modalities. She has been involved in dance and fitness from a very young age, and first came across Pilates in the mid-1990s. She had suffered with back pain and sciatica during her second pregnancy and found that Pilates offered the perfect solution. During her third pregnancy she was able to continue with classes and salsa teaching right up to her due date.
Ismini’s passion for Pilates and The Feldenkrais Method® became a major part of her career. She was awarded her Level 3 Pilates Teacher Certification by Future Fit Training and Body Control Pilates and graduated in The Feldenkrais Method® having completed the four year training with Garet Newell, founder of The Feldenkrais International Training Centre. Ismini has continued her education with Body Control Pilates and qualified as a Back4Good Practitioner and BackCare Professional, having completed the Body Control Pilates Level 4 Low Back Pain Certification. This enables her to run the specialist Back4Good and HealthyBack classes for the management of low back pain. Ismini also continues to undertake advanced training in The Feldenkrais Method® and is now a teacher of the “Three Day Introduction” course to The Feldenkrais Method. Ismini is a member of the Body Control Pilates Association, The Feldenkrais Guild UK and the BackCare Charity.
Ongoing training and qualifications
Since qualifying as a teacher, Ismini has taken up training with various bodies, including Body Control Pilates, Alan Herdman, Mary Bowen, Eric Franklin, the Australian Physiotherapy & Pilates Institute, Michael King, Future Fit Training, Tracey Mallett, Nathan Gardner (co-author of The Pilates Bible), Linda Gardner and more. Her approach makes her different to other Pilates teachers: Ismini offers a confidential, organic and all-round approach that helps her clients with postural problems, abdominal and core strength, back problems, rehabilitation after injury or surgery, cardiovascular fitness, post-cancer care, ante- and post-natal fitness and more. During her training in The Feldenkrais Method® Ismini has trained with international teachers including Garet Newell, Ned Dwelle, Roger Russell, Scott Clark, Thomas Farnbacher, Raz Ori, Ulrike Apel and more. Ismini has had amazing results with her clients using her own unique intuitive movement sessions which she has created from her vast knowledge gained through her immense and varied training.
Ismini works in various specialist areas. She is a certified Pink Ribbon Program Breast Cancer Exercise Specialist. She is known to be one of the Pink Ribbon Program’s most experienced UK breast cancer rehabilitation specialists, having worked with this client group for over a decade.
Ismini also has experience in working with people affected by Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions. She trained with Mariska Breland, a leading force in exercise and Pilates for neurological conditions and has gained a certification in this field. She now also uses The Feldenkrais Method® to achieve even greater results so her clients get the best of both worlds.
In October 2015, Ismini was invited by Tracey Mallett to join her in LA to train as one of the UK’s four bootybarre Master Trainers. If you’re looking for a fun, energetic and all-round workout with a difference, then Ismini’s bootybarre classes offer you a fusion of Pilates, ballet, dance and yoga, with high-intensity cardio intervals.
Ismini can carry out full body readings before you begin any new exercise programmes at the studio, having completed Conscious Embodiment training with Zachary Dacuk.
Currently, Ismini is continuing to advance her training in The Feldenkrais Method® and Pilates in order to offer the crème de la crème movement lessons for optimal results.
Professional work
Operating within various healthcare settings, Ismini often finds herself receiving referrals from osteopaths, GPs, psychotherapists, massage therapists, orthopaedic surgeons and more. She works in conjunction with them to encourage the healing process through effective exercise and movement, which improves overall confidence and quality of life for her clients.
As a teacher, Ismini is committed to her own development and regularly takes Pilates and The Feldenkrais Method® lessons for herself.
Running retreats and workshops is a passion that Ismini is taking forwards so that you can immerse yourself in these wonderful movement modalities to enable you to learn, regenerate and transform your entire self for ease of movement and a pain free future.
