We’ve expanded our CoreAlign schedule to include three levels, making it easier to find the right place to start—so you can keep progressing as you gain experience. Whether you’re completely new to CoreAlign or ready for more challenging work, there’s now a class for you.

Benefits of CoreAlign include upright/functional movement training, posture, balance, and gait improvement, and core stabilization.

COREALIGN LEVEL 1

CoreAlign is unlike most of the equipment in the Pilates studio—you’ll spend much of class upright, working with two independently moving carts that respond to how you shift your weight, step, push, and pull.

Level 1 gives you time to learn how the equipment works and become familiar with its foundational movements.

Expect coordinated stepping patterns, standing and floor work, and plenty of instruction as you learn to work with the moving carts and resistance.

Who this class is for: Anyone who wants to try CoreAlign. No previous Pilates or CoreAlign experience is required.

As with all of our group classes, you must be able to get down to and up from the floor independently and comfortably use stairs.

COREALIGN LEVEL 2

Once the basics of CoreAlign are familiar, Level 2 gives you more ways to use them.

You’ll work with longer sequences, more varied positions, and movements that ask you to coordinate the two moving carts while changing direction, shifting weight, and working against resistance.


Classes move at a steadier pace than Level 1, with less time spent introducing the equipment and foundational exercises.


Who this class is for: Clients with Reformer experience can begin here, even if CoreAlign is new to them. Clients without Reformer experience should first take Level 1 and progress with their teacher’s recommendation.

COREALIGN LEVEL 3

Level 3 takes familiar CoreAlign work and makes it more complex.

Expect longer combinations, quicker transitions, and exercises that ask more of your strength, balance, coordination, and ability to manage the moving carts independently.

There’s less time spent breaking down familiar movements, allowing the class to spend more time exploring advanced variations and more involved sequences.

Who this class is for: Clients who have been regularly attending Level 2 CoreAlign and are comfortable with the equipment, common exercises, and pace of class.

 CoreAlign class schedule

We hope and intend to add more later this year.

CoreAlign Level 1: Mondays at 4pm with Katrina

CoreAlign Level 2: Wednesdays at 9am with Libby and Fridays at 9am with Christine

CoreAlign Level 3: Wednesdays at 4pm with Audrey

We often offer POP UP CoreAlign Classes. Make sure you are opted into our News & Promo email list to be the first to know

Pilates Teacher CertificationWhen I started thinking about the importance of a Pilates Teacher Certification, I was drawn to this quote.

“Certification refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, assessment, or audit. Accreditation is a specific organization’s process of certification” – Wikipedia

That is a long definition above, and I quote it here to make a point. By definition, there is no such thing as a training that is also a Pilates Teacher Certification.  To become certified first you must graduate from a Pilates Teacher Training and then you take the certifying exam from an accredited third party.  In the United States the accredited third party is The Pilates Method Alliance.

For Instance, I encourage students to take the Polestar Pilates Comprehensive Series to become a Pilates Teacher, however at the end of that process it is important to then register for the Pilates Method Alliance Certification Exam.  This exam is created by a group of experts in the Pilates field and the third party system of it all helps keep the qualities of Pilates instruction high.

So now the question becomes what does one look for in a Pilates Teacher Training?  To qualify for the Pilates Method Alliance Certifying exam you must complete a comprehensive Pilates Training.  Thus there are’t Pilates Mat Certifications or Pilates Reformer certification.  You can certainly take a Pilates Mat Training or a Pilates Reformer training, but to sit for the certifying exam, you must understand all of the Pilates apparatus.  It is also important that any training you consider also covers adaptations for injury, scope of practice, and history of the Pilates Method.

My bias is of course the Polestar Pilates Comprehensive series, but I also want to make sure that any student that is looking to be certified as a Pilates teacher researches the possibility and finds the best program for them.  Does the Pilates teacher training that you’re thinking about support the Pilates Method Alliance?  Does it have a curriculum that covers program design and meeting every client exactly where they are in their movement journey.  Does the Pilates teacher training cover all of the apparatus?  These are all questions that need to be asked when looking for a Pilates Teacher training.  And if you’re looking for the best, be sure to check out the Polestar Pilates Comprehensive series for the latest developments in Pilates research and movement efficiency.

At The Pilates Studio in Hadley, we are happy to host the Polestar Pilates Comprehensive series every year.  Our next series starts in September!  Check here for the dates and times! Once you finish you’ll be eligible to sit for the Pilates Method Exam and complete the Pilates Teacher Certification process.

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