The Pilates Lounge

What makes a truly exceptional Pilates instructor?
Is it the perfect sequence?
The smoothest transitions?
The most advanced repertoire?
In this solo episode, Katie Crane explores one of the most important skills every Pilates teacher should develop—the ability to teach the people in front of you, not simply the class you planned.
Inspired by a conversation with her teacher training students, Katie unpacks why regressions, modifications, and progressions aren't optional extras—they're the foundation of quality teaching. She challenges the growing focus on choreography and "flow" while reminding us that great Pilates education is built on critical thinking, understanding movement, and knowing the "why" behind every exercise.
Whether you're a student, a newly qualified instructor, or an experienced teacher, this episode is a powerful reminder that every person in your class deserves to participate, grow, and succeed at their own level.
In This Episode
Why teaching a sequence is not the same as teaching Pilates
The difference between a good class and a truly exceptional class
Why regressions and modifications should be part of every lesson
How to teach the room instead of sticking rigidly to your plan
The importance of understanding the purpose behind every exercise
Why critical thinking is one of the most valuable skills a Pilates teacher can develop
The problem with memorizing choreography without understanding movement
How comprehensive education builds confident, adaptable instructors
What new teachers should start practicing immediately to improve their teaching
Key Takeaways
✨ A good class runs the sequence. A fabulous class runs the room.
✨ Every exercise should have a regression, progression, and clear purpose.
✨ Teaching is about responding to the people in front of you—not simply delivering choreography.
✨ If a client cannot perform an exercise, it's the teacher's responsibility to help them access the movement safely.
✨ Great Pilates instructors continually ask one question:
Why?
Understanding why an exercise belongs in a class creates better movement, better outcomes, and better teachers.
Resources Mentioned
Pilates Pro Academy
Refine Mentorship Program
The Pilates Professional
Learn more at:
https://thepilatesprofessional.com.au
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Connect with Katie Crane
Website: https://thepilatesprofessional.com.au
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thepilatesprofessional
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What if the way you talk about hard times online is actually pushing your clients away?
Welcome back to The Pilates Lounge Podcast with your host, Katie Crane. In this solo episode, Katie shares an honest, off-the-cuff take on a trend she's noticed across social media: Pilates studio owners and instructors posting about how hard business is right now. She unpacks why that messaging can hurt your business, and what to say instead if you want to become the safe, steady place your community turns to when life feels hard.
In This Episode, We Discuss
The social media trend of studio owners posting fear-based messages about the cost of living crisis
Why being in business is a rollercoaster, not a ladder, and always has been
How your social media messaging either attracts or repels your ideal client
Why "the sky is falling" posts don't help your business, even when they're true
How to speak to your ideal client's fears while offering them a solution
Why Pilates helps reset the nervous system during stressful times
Katie's morning reading habit and two book recommendations for mindset
The difference between people who survive hard times and people who suffer through them
Why you get to choose how you show up, and it's okay to walk away if you need to
Key Takeaways
✨ Be the roof, not the storm
People aren't looking for someone to confirm that life is hard. They're looking for a safe, steady place to turn to. Show up as that place.
✨ Speak to fears with solutions, not more fear
Your ideal client already feels stressed. The most useful thing you can post is how Pilates helps them, not a list of everything that's going wrong.
✨ Business is a rollercoaster, not a ladder
Business was never meant to be easy or linear. Every business owner has hard days. The difference is in the story you choose to tell your community.
✨ Protect your mornings
Reading for fifteen minutes each morning, instead of scrolling social media, can shift your mindset and help you show up stronger for your clients.
About Katie Crane
Katie Crane is the host of The Pilates Lounge Podcast and the owner of Encore Pilates and Wellness in Darwin, Australia. With twenty-one years in business, Katie shares real, honest insight into building a Pilates studio, leading a community, and staying resilient through the ups and downs of small business ownership.
Resources Mentioned
Katie's studio: Encore Pilates and Wellness NT, Darwin
Katie's Instagram: @encore_pilates_and_wellness_nt
The Pilates Professional Instagram: @thepilatesprofessional
Book: a book on the All Blacks (New Zealand rugby team) and their "no dickheads" culture rule
Book: "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl
Listen & Subscribe
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Continue the Conversation in The Pilates Muse
Join the conversation here:
https://www.thepilatesprofessional.com.au/the-pilates-muse-publication
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This episode is also available on YouTube.
About The Pilates Lounge
The Pilates Lounge is a space for Pilates professionals, movement educators, and curious learners to explore meaningful conversations around movement, teaching, health, and the evolving Pilates industry.

What does 30 years of elite movement — from rhythmic gymnastics to international circus performance — teach you about the body? And how does that change the way you use Pilates with athletes?
In this episode of The Pilates Lounge Podcast, Katie Crane sits down with Lauren Skopal — exercise and sports scientist, founder of Limber Sports Performance, and former international acrobat. Lauren brings a rare perspective to movement education. Her background spans 12 years of competitive rhythmic gymnastics, 15 years performing aerial and acrobatic acts around the world, and a career in sports science and Pilates. The conversation is rich, honest, and packed with practical insight for Pilates professionals working with active bodies.
In This Episode, We Discuss
Lauren's journey from elite gymnastics to international circus performing — and how that shaped her body awareness
Why gymnastics-trained athletes make the strongest performers in disciplines like circus and acrobatics
Common injuries in artistic athletes and how Pilates supports long-term joint health
How Pilates can be embedded into athlete warm-ups, cool-downs, and strength and conditioning programs
The gap between sports science education and what Pilates actually teaches about the body
Why niching down in your Pilates business actually brings in more clients, not fewer
Lauren's new online flexibility program inspired by gymnastics-based training
Key Takeaways
✨ Body awareness starts young — and Pilates builds on that
Gymnastics trains the body from a young age to move with precision, control, and effortlessness. Pilates shares that same attention to detail. Lauren sees a natural connection between the two disciplines — and uses both to help athletes understand how their body works.
✨ Pilates belongs inside the training program, not just the rehab room
Most athletes only discover Pilates after injury. But Lauren makes the case for weaving it into warm-ups, cool-downs, and accessory work — before problems arise. It doesn't need its own time slot to be effective.
✨ Core-driven movement is a performance tool, not just injury prevention
Pilates builds stabilization, movement control, and muscular endurance. Lauren says that when athletes know how to use their core well, it improves force transfer, biomechanics, and overall performance — not just joint longevity.
✨ Niching down builds authority — and attracts more of the right clients
Lauren focuses her practice on athletic populations. Katie reflects on the same choice in her own studio. When you know exactly who you serve, you become the go-to person for that group. Referrals follow naturally.
About Lauren Skopal
Lauren Skopal is an exercise and sports scientist and the founder of Limber Sports Performance. She has over 30 years of experience in sport and movement as an athlete, international performer, coach, consultant, and educator. Lauren competed in rhythmic gymnastics nationally in Australia for 12 years before spending 15 years as an international acrobat and circus performer. She holds a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport and Health Science and a Master of Applied Sports Science from Deakin University. Lauren works with artistic athletes, gymnasts, dancers, tennis players, and circus artists — helping them build the stability, mobility, and movement quality they need to perform at their best.
Connect with Lauren
www.limbersportsperformance.com.au
@limbersportsperformance
@limberbylauren

 
Listen & Subscribe
Listen to The Pilates Lounge Podcast on your favourite podcast platform.
Continue the Conversation in The Pilates Muse
Join the conversation here:
https://www.thepilatesprofessional.com.au/the-pilates-muse-publication
Prefer to Watch?
This episode is also available on YouTube.
About The Pilates Lounge
The Pilates Lounge is a space for Pilates professionals, movement educators, and curious learners to explore meaningful conversations around movement, teaching, health, and the evolving Pilates industry

Are you teaching Pilates — or just choreography you borrowed from someone who borrowed it from someone else?
In this solo episode of The Pilates Lounge Podcast, host Katie Crane gets honest about one of the most important conversations happening in the Pilates industry right now: the erosion of lineage. Katie shares why learning from the source matters more than ever, what it truly means to earn the title of "master," and why the shortcut is always the long way around.
In This Episode, We Discuss
Why Pilates has a lineage — not a trend — and what that means for your teaching
The problem with teacher training programs that aren't connected to Joseph and Clara Pilates
What the word "master" actually means, and why most people are using it too soon
The guild model of mastery — apprentice, journeyman, masterpiece — and how it applies to Pilates education
Why foundation work like footwork is never something you graduate from
The role of repetition and deliberate practice in becoming a truly excellent educator
How to choose a mentor, teacher trainer, or course with your eyes open
Why filling your own creative cup is essential to sustaining a long career in Pilates
Key Takeaways
✨ Get as close to the source as possible Jay Grimes, who trained directly with Joseph and Clara Pilates, said it best: Pilates has a lineage, not a trend. If you're learning this craft, trace the thread back to the source and choose your lineage deliberately — not by default.
✨ Nice is not the same as qualified Just because an educator was kind, encouraging, and gave you a certificate doesn't mean they were the best person to teach you Pilates. Kind is not the same as competent. Helpful is not the same as correct.
✨ The foundation is not something you graduate from The masters Katie admires most are still doing footwork, still refining the Hundred, still finding new depth in the most basic work. The foundation is the thing you return to for the rest of your career — not the thing you rush through to get to the advanced repertoire.
✨ Mastery takes time — and that's the point Whether it's Don Bradman hitting a cricket ball against a corrugated iron water tank or Leonardo da Vinci grinding pigments as a teenager, the path to mastery has always been the same: repetition, patience, humility, and years of deliberate practice. The shortcut is always the long way around.
About Katie Crane
Katie Crane is the host of The Pilates Lounge Podcast and a Pilates educator based in Darwin, Australia. With over 21 years of teaching experience and four Pilates diplomas totalling more than 2,800 hours of study, Katie is passionate about protecting the lineage of Pilates and developing the next generation of skilled, grounded Pilates professionals. She runs her own studio, teacher training program, and The Pilates Professional — an online platform for Pilates educators.
Resources Mentioned
Jay Grimes — first-generation student of Joseph and Clara Pilates; quoted on Pilates lineage
Don Bradman — Australian cricket legend; referenced as an example of mastery through repetition
Malcolm Gladwell — author who popularised the 10,000-hour rule (drawing on Anders Ericsson's research)
Anders Ericsson — researcher into expert performance and deliberate practice
Romana Kryzanowska — first-generation Pilates elder; known for instructing students to "do it again"
Polestar Pilates — training organisation referenced by Katie (founder: Brent Anderson)
Pilates Association of Australia — industry body for certified Pilates professionals in Australia
PMA (Pilates Method Alliance) — industry body in the United States
The Pilates Professional — Katie's online platform: www.thepilatesprofessional.com.au
Pilates Pro Academy — Katie's teacher training program; mentioned at the end of the episode
Listen & Subscribe
Listen to The Pilates Lounge Podcast on your favourite podcast platform.
Continue the Conversation in The Pilates Muse
Join the conversation here: https://www.thepilatesprofessional.com.au/the-pilates-muse-publication
Prefer to Watch?
This episode is also available on YouTube.
About The Pilates Lounge
The Pilates Lounge is a space for Pilates professionals, movement educators, and curious learners to explore meaningful conversations around movement, teaching, health, and the evolving Pilates industry.

What would you be willing to risk to give your community something truly valuable?
In this episode, host Katie Crane gets real about what it actually takes to build a Pilates studio that honours the full method. From a very public business attack to losing 40% of her clients, to finally opening the last room of her dream studio — Katie shares an honest, behind-the-scenes look at the risks she took and why she would do it all again.
In This Episode, We Discuss
Why Katie relocated her Darwin studio in March 2025 — and what it really cost her
The public media attack that dragged her business name through the dirt
Losing 40% of her client base during the relocation and how she rebuilt
The opening of her new wall tower room and why it brought her to tears
Why teaching reformer-only Pilates is doing your clients a disservice
The neuroscience behind movement: "Neurons that fire together, wire together"
Why functional, upright movement matters more than perfecting supine exercises
How the reformer boom will eventually burst — and who will be left standing
What it truly means to invest in Pilates as a complete system
Key Takeaways
✨ The reformer is a tool, not the whole system
The reformer is one piece of the Pilates apparatus. When clients only ever use one tool, they miss the full benefit of the Pilates method.
✨ Functional movement means upright movement
Neurons that fire together wire together. If your clients only ever practice lying down, they only get better at lying down. The goal is to help people move well in real life.
✨ Business risk is part of serving your community
Katie spent over $100,000 more than planned on the relocation. She lost clients. She rebuilt her brand. And she says it was worth it.
✨ The reformer bubble will burst
The ones that survive will be the ones that truly understand and apply the full Pilates method.
About Katie Crane
Katie Crane is the founder of The Pilates Lounge in Darwin, Australia, and host of The Pilates Lounge Podcast. With over 20 years of experience teaching Pilates, Katie is passionate about evidence-informed practice, the full Pilates apparatus, and supporting movement professionals to serve their communities with integrity.
Listen & Subscribe
Listen to The Pilates Lounge Podcast on your favourite podcast platform.
Continue the Conversation in The Pilates Muse
Join the conversation here: https://www.thepilatesprofessional.com.au/the-pilates-muse-publication
About The Pilates Lounge
The Pilates Lounge is a space for Pilates professionals, movement educators, and curious learners to explore meaningful conversations around movement, teaching, health, and the evolving Pilates industry