Maureen was born in England in 1945, where she married her childhood sweetheart, Terry, in 1965 and started a family. Here, she studied pre-primary education and opened her own private school. In 1974, after all the years of living, studying and teaching in England, she and her family immigrated to South Africa, where she again opened her own private pre-primary school.

After having suffered two falling injuries, her daughter, who is a qualified Pilates instructor in the UK, advised her to try Pilates to help her recover from her injuries. This came to be life changing advice for Maureen. After recovering from her injuries, she studied Pilates, anatomy and physiology and eventually combined the concept of Isometrics and Dynamic tension (ID) with her knowledge of Pilates to create what she now calls Youthing Boddy Pilates. Maureen runs her own studio on her smallholding in Durbanville. To learn more about Maureen’s Pilates, click here.

Throughout the years, Maureen also developed a unique concept called “Youthing”. Youthing is a term coined by Maureen herself, and it refers to the exact opposite of what is meant by the term “ageing”. This concept uses a combination of motivation and Youthing principals. Many depressed overweight people with low self-esteem not only completely reshape and tone their body, but more importantly begin to feel good about themselves. This is life changing. The bonus is that Youthing will slow down, even reverse the ageing process. To learn more about Youthing, click here.

Maureen emphasizes that she is not a qualified medical doctor or dietician. However, she has studied health and nutrition for over 25 years, and with her combination of experience in education, health and Pilates, she is in the unique position to educate and guide people on various aspects of health, Pilates and the principles of Youthing.

My violent reaction to a "natural" skin cream.

Having a very sensitive skin, I always chose natural products trusting that they would be ‘safe’ to use.

The photos show the dreadful allergic reaction I had to an expensive, ‘all natural ‘ and very well known range, whose eye, neck, and face cream, burnt me badly, I had blisters and red sores over my face, eyes, and neck. The dermatologist told me stop using their products immediately and write to the company. I did, but to no avail. I swore that would never happen to me again, and this is when I began to study the skin cream industry, their ingredients, and their claims, and what I learned shocked me. So I started to make my own cream, and have never looked back, but I never had any thoughts on marketing a face cream.

My skin cream worked wonders for me, not just healing my skin, and even with my T- zone (the central part of a person's face, including the forehead, nose, and chin, is oilier skin than the rest of the face). My skin looked healthy, more radiant, and the T zone no longer a problem. Many women have asked me which skin products I used, and after learning that I made my own, they wanted to buy from me. However I did not ‘sell’ any cream, but ‘gave it away’ to friends and men and women who had sensitivity problems, such as psoriasis, eczema, rosacea, acne, and other skin ailments, and asked for feedback. The reports that back were very encouraging; some reported that people remarked their skin healed and many that it looked younger. The most influential of these was a microbiologist who was instrumental in my thinking about marketing. I gave her some cream to test. Her beautician remarked how good her skin was looking, and what was she using. She kept encouraging me to market the cream and am grateful to her, she has been using the cream over a year now, and told me she ‘can’t be without it’
It was only then I considered adding this product to my Youthing range.

Be Vigilant

Just because the product you buy claims to be all natural, even organic. I realised that so called ‘natural’ cosmetic creams even from health shops, often contain carcinogenic ingredients, colourants, even heavy metal, that you really don't want on your skin. I have had personal experience of that ! It has been postulated that the average women will absorb almost 5 lbs (approximately 2.3 kilo) of chemicals through their skin every year, through cosmetic use. This is in the form of petrochemicals, heavy metals, dangerous preservatives and deadly colourants.
It is also important to remember what goes on the skin goes into the body!

Maureen's talents also include a keen hand at poetry. Here, in downloadable PDF format, are two poems that Maureen has produced: