Mission
Our mission is to teach Contrology as it was intended: a comprehensive system for developing strength, awareness, and intelligent movement. Working with original timelessly engineered Gratz apparatus, we educate students and the broader community that Pilates is not a workout confined to the Reformer, but an investment in understanding the body and cultivating lasting health.
Equally important, we are committed to building a thoughtful community of Classical Pilates practitioners—a place where like-minded individuals come together to study, practice, and support one another in the pursuit of health. Through shared discipline, curiosity, and respect for the method, our studio fosters meaningful connections that extend beyond the studio walls, promoting vitality, resilience, and well-being within the broader community.
The Studio
Body Contrology Lab honors Joseph Pilates’ original term, Contrology—the art of using the mind to master the body. Lab reflects our belief that this work is a lifelong study: a place for exploration, refinement, and intelligent movement.
We teach full Contrology, not just exercise. Rooted in precision, breath, concentration, and control, each session is designed to strengthen the powerhouse, improve posture, balance the body, and deepen physical awareness.
The work is rigorous yet rewarding, revealing resilience, ease, and vitality over time. Our aim is for every student to experience the method in its truest form—and the transformative power Joseph Pilates envisioned.
The Apparatus
Authenticity begins with the apparatus. Joseph Pilates did not work with a commercial manufacturer—he built his own equipment by hand refining each piece through experimentation and observation. Every dimension, angle, and spring tension was intentional, designed to create specific changes in the body and to demand precision, control, and efficient movement. After his passing, Gratz Pilates became the first company to officially manufacture his equipment, using direct measurements from Joseph’s original apparatus in his New York studio.
Gratz has continued to preserve those proportions closely-aligned to original, allowing the method to function as it was designed. In contrast, several other manufacturers have introduced adaptations—extra springs, altered angles, wider frames, or changes in resistance and construction. These modifications shift the body’s positioning in space, alter the biomechanics of the exercises, and ultimately change the level of control and precision required. Even subtle adjustments affect how the powerhouse engages and how the sequence flows.
STAY AUTHENTIC
For this reason, Body Contrology Lab is equipped with Gratz apparatus. Other reputable manufacturers include Pilates Designs, Legacy and Contrology by Balanced Body. These manufacturers maintain the original four spring design and quality of materials.
Our space houses a complete classical studio, including the Reformer, Cadillac, Wunda Chair, Electric Chair, Baby Chair, Ladder Barrel, Spine Corrector, Contour Mat, Toe Corrector, Foot Corrector, and more—allowing students to experience the work on all the equipment that honors its original engineering.
“If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30, you are old; if it is completely flexible at 60, you are young.”