Laurelle Gilbert

Shoes are one of my favourite things. More than bags and certainly more than necklaces - along with a stack of gold and enamel bangles, they are my number one accessory. Ever.And while I don’t own hundreds of pairs, over the years I have collected quite a few pairs of gorgeous heels.

Problem is I can’t walk in any of them. At all.

So, in the spirit of shopping my wardrobe (for lovely new things to wear that I forgot I had, and have now come back in to style) I thought it was time to try and make some use out of the killer heels languishing , almost untouched, at the bottom of my wardrobe.

Enter Sarah Toner - an extremely elegant former ballet dancer who now teaches a class for girls like me who need, as she puts it, ‘a short, sweet solution to the crisis of wearing stilettos’.

The class began with a massage (bliss) which encourages greater circulation in your feet and toes (half the problem when shoes cause you pain apparently).

Then various ballerina-esque foot exercises and a few minutes learning to rotate my hips in and out (a trick for strengthening your core and instantly looking like you have dropped 7lbs!)

Before carrying out various ‘walking’ exercises,  instructions on how to walk - head high, shoulders back, arms and legs coquettishly  swaying one in front of the other. All the while focusing on pulling in the pelvic floor muscle.

Sounds like a lot of hard work? It was, but by end of our half hour session I felt like I was floating on air, in 4inch heels!
Click here to read more about Sarah.