For the entire Pilates Industry, 2025 has seen tremendous growth and enthusiasm. Pilates has transcended the boutique environment and become integrated into the broader fitness and wellness consciousness, being synonymous with health, vitality, and longevity. To “do” Pilates is to be fit, to “practice” Pilates is to be inspired, and to “teach” Pilates is to share passion. But with the growth, there is a need for caution and reflection. What better time to reflect than at the end of the year?
With 2026 fast approaching, I am asking myself, who does Balanced Body Education want to be in this new, quickly growing, and fast-paced Pilates world? How do we want to show up, and what are our values? At Balanced Body headquarters in Sacramento, you will find the words, ‘All Things Pilates’ and ‘Movement Changes Lives’ on our walls, in our media and marketing. As I think on where we have come and how we move into 2026, I think these are excellent values to lean into.
All Things Pilates
We have spent much of 2025 in the education department working on scaling for a future that is ‘All Things Pilates’. We have developed an exciting new student platform, which we are calling CLARA. This platform harnesses the power of digital systems to augment in-class practical learning. We will begin rolling out CLARA to all new students early in 2026. The first students will have free access as we set the stage and prepare our Educator network with these new tools.
Did you know that Balanced Body Education turns 20 years old in 2026? That is a milestone and well worth celebrating. CLARA is one way to celebrate, and updating our curriculum is another. Our time-tested manuals maintain their original integrity but are organized and updated to meet the needs of students today, as they are rich with newly filmed video resources and programming ideas. These resources allow students to begin teaching even as they are completing their learning. We have also freshened up our signature Movement Principles course. The new course explores the essence of Pilates and successful Pilates teaching by delving deeply into the pre-Pilates skill-based movements that feed all Pilates exercises. We will also be widely releasing Balanced Body’s Advanced Movement Principles coursework. This advanced course, created by Nora St. John, is next-level training designed for Pilates practitioners who want to deepen their practice and explore movement options for clients with various movement challenges.
We know there are more educational offerings than ever before. We believe that the best way to meet this moment is to root ourselves in the teaching and sharing of Pilates more deeply. With these new resources, our Balanced Body Educator network and each Balanced Body Pilates student will have exceptional learning tools and opportunities for successful and satisfying professional Pilates careers.
Movement Changes Lives
This statement is as true today as it was 50 years ago when Ken Endelman began making Reformers and Pilates apparatus. It is also a guiding principle for every course we teach, and often, it is the very reason students choose to become Pilates instructors. This passion has contributed significantly to the global rise in Pilates. Our goal is to cultivate this passion and the curiosity around movement education with educational offerings that inspire and support the whole of the Pilates movement community.
CLARA is not only a student resource but will grow into a community continuing education library. In this resource, students, instructors, and Pilates enthusiasts from all educational backgrounds will have access to workshops taught by leaders in the varied fields of movement. There will be workshops and workouts featuring many of our aligned Pilates partners, renowned fitness practitioners, and more. Through CLARA, we want to put you—the learner, the entrepreneurial business owner, the instructor—squarely in the center of your own experience, providing the tools and introducing you to the breadth of knowledge that is widely available in our Pilates world and beyond. This is exciting!
If 2025 was scaling, 2026 is revealing. I am very excited to introduce you to CLARA this year, to hear your thoughts, and to continue supporting you as you change lives through movement and explore all the things, all the opportunities, all the experiences, all the possibilities that is Pilates.
All ideas and assertions expressed in The CORE are those of the individual contributors, offered to spark conversation, enrich understanding/inspire growth and share diverse perspectives within our community. They may not necessarily reflect the views of Balanced Body®.
Joy Puleo is Balanced Body's Director of Education. In July of 2013, Joy moved, with her family, from New York to Sacramento, California to join Nora St. John and the rest of the Balanced Body team to work on developing curriculum and educational programming. Joy has been teaching Pilates teachers since 2002 and in the health and wellness industry since 1996. Joy earned her MA from Columbia University in Applied Physiology. As a lecturer she presents at conferences and studios across the country and abroad and with Balanced Body, she is a regular at most Pilates on Tours. In addition to her degree Joy is A.C.S.M. certified and is able to provide ACE credits for students who take her classes. She is a fully qualified Balanced Body Pilates Instructor and teacher trainer, CoreAlign and Bodhi Suspension System master trainer and a graduate of the PhysicalMind Institute. Joy was also trained on the GYROTONIC,® Level I and the Ladder. In 2011 Joy founded Body Wise Connection, a not-for-profit which works with women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Body Wise Connections sole purpose is to remind women that even in the throes of a diagnosis and treatment for cancer the body can heal and strengthen. Body Wise Connection works to restore physical self-awareness and empowerment through gently, rhythmic Pilates based movements. Though Joy is no longer in New York, Joys work has expanded to include all cancer patients regardless of the primary cancer diagnosis. Joy believes that movement changes lives and that education is the key to unlocking potential. Joy is thrilled to be working with Balanced Body on the shared mission of elevating mindful movement as a component to long term health and wellbeing.
