Robinson, Lynne

views updated

Robinson, Lynne

PERSONAL: Female. Education: Honours degree; postgraduate certificate of education.

ADDRESSES: Office—Body Control Pilates, 6 Langley Street, London, WC2H 9JA England; Fax: (0)20 7379 7551.

CAREER: Designer, illustrator, and educator. Body Control Pilates Academy, London, England, director. Contributed to development of draft national standard for Pilates in UK; teacher at Chiva Som Spa Resort, Thailand; Body Control Pilates Centre, Fortina Spa Resort, Malta, consultant. Appeared on instructional CDs, including The Pilates Body, 2004.

WRITINGS:

Contemporary's Working in English, Contemporary Books (Chicago, IL), 1991.

(Illustrator, with Richard Lowther) Jocasta Innes, The Thrifty Decorator, photography by Nadia Mackenzie, Conran Octopus (London, England), 1993.

(With Richard Lowther) Stencilling, photography by Pia Tryde, Trafalgar Square (North Pomfret, VT), 1995.

(With Richard Lowther) Decorative Paint Recipes: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finishing Touches for Your Home, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 1997.

(With Gordon Thompson) Body Control: Using Techniques Developed by Joseph H. Pilates, Bain-Bridge Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1998.

(With Richard Lowther) Windows: Simple Solutions for the Home, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2000.

(With Gerry Convy) Pilates Workouts, Friedman/Fairfax Publishers (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Helge Fisher and Paul Massey) The Pilates Prescription for Back Pain: A Comprehensive Program for Developing and Maintaining a Healthy Back, Ulysses Press (Berkeley, CA), 2004.

(Editor) Miranda Bass, The Complete Classic Pilates Method: Centre Yourself with This Step-by-Step Approach to Joseph Pilates' Original Matwork Programme, Macmillan (London, England), 2004.

(With others) The Complete Book of Paint: Seventy Techniques, Finishes, and Designs for Your Home, Chronicle Book (San Francisco, CA), 2005.

(With Gordon Thompson) Pilates: A New Body in Four Weeks: A New Body Control Pilates Programme, Pan Macmillan (London, England), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Lynne Robinson has expertise in interior design and the exercise regimen known as Pilates and has written books about both subjects. Her design books include Windows: Simple Solutions for the Home, which she wrote with Richard Lowther. Stanley Abercrombie, writing in Interior Design, noted that the book has "plenty of practical and attractive suggestions." Robinson is also author of The Complete Book of Paint: Seventy Techniques, Finishes, and Designs for Your Home. Library Journal contributor Mirela Roncevic noted that this "book makes it sound almost too easy."

Robinson first became interested in Pilates in 1992, when she was suffering from back problems. The regimen worked so well for her that she has since become an instructor in the exercise program created by Joseph Pilates. Robinson "has been at the forefront of creating the boom in Pilates in the UK and her name and image have become synonymous with Pilates," noted a biographer on the Body Control Pilates Web site. "She is firmly established as the world's top-selling Pilates author and presenter, her books and videos being sold in over thirty countries." In The Pilates Prescription for Back Pain: A Comprehensive Program for Developing and Maintaining a Healthy Back, which Robinson wrote with Helge Fisher and Paul Massey, the author presents a regimen that includes sample workouts augmented by diagrams and photographs. In addition, the book includes tips on preventing back problems while doing various day-to-day activities. Betsy L. Hogan, writing in Reviewer's Bookwatch, called the book "a no-nonsense health guide" that she "highly recommended."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Bookseller, February 4, 2005, review of Pilates: A New Body in Four Weeks: A New Body Control Pilates Programme, p. 35.

Interior Design, April, 2000, Stanley Abercrombie, review of Windows: Simple Solutions for the Home, p. 155.

Library Journal, March 1, 2005, Mirela Roncevic, review of The Complete Book of Paint: Seventy Techniques, Finishes, and Designs for Your Home, p. 109.

Reviewers Bookwatch, January, 2005, Betsy L. Hogan, review of Pilates: A New Body in Four Weeks: A New Body-Control Pilates Programme.