05/23/2026
If I see any more pretentious 'Reformer' studios popping up I might scream. This is NOT what it's about.
Once upon a time, Pilates was for ALL. It was about creating body awareness that carried on into all of life's activities, not about creating quick fixes and taking selfies with your Matcha and matching sets (how INCREDIBLY dull).
People actually looked different and celebrated that. We weren't afraid to be. Sign of the times, it seems, returning to the dark age with this lack of acceptance of those we could learn from.
Teachers were comprehensively educated (over a longer period of time rather than a weekend with Tutors and Assessors that were TIME SERVED, had actual anatomy and physiology knowledge And knew how to apply it according to need and understood how to teach to the person in front of them in a small group or one to one environment. There was no one size fits all approach.
We celebrated the practice (not perfection) of the method and applied the principles, making Pilates more than purely fitness based movement.
It's all just so very sad. Members of the public/community are not being looked after and have no frame of reference for what should be being taught with Pilates Method in mind to be safe and effective in sessions.
Teacher training organisations are still ticking boxes and calling qualifications 'thorough' and are being allowed to do so by governing bodies (because let's face it, it's all about the money). And claiming to be the 'original' 'Pilates' teacher training organisations (in the North East at least) - I'm very sorry but I (and many others) were delivering qualifications many years before you even did your training so please get a grip and lower your egos. I have to call that out as it's simply blatant lies from those who just want to make the quick buck. As a minimum, those that came before include Newcastle College - original OCR (MK Pilates), Absorb (Kim Wells), Eclipse, Fit Training, Body Control (Gosforth)....
There are still a few studios who are brave enough to rise up above the noise, act with integrity and are working within scope of practice. Please speak up!
All the 💜
