Become a fully qualified Pilates teacher, on your own terms.
Get instant access to your place on five training weekends in Glasgow, a full year of online study materials and videos, extra supervised practice time at Meridian ahead of your assessment, the chance to deliver real community classes once you’ve qualified, anatomy and physiology taught by a working nurse, and a Level 3 Diploma that’s certified by Focus Awards and mapped to CIMSPA, the moment you enrol.
Still doing a job that isn’t you any more?
You’ve sat in a Pilates class for years thinking you could teach the next bit better than the person at the front.
Monday morning still feels like somebody else’s life. You get up, you do the job, and none of it is actually yours.
You’ve looked at teacher training before and talked yourself out of it, because you didn’t think you had the right body, the right age, or the right background for it.
You keep waiting for a sign that you’re allowed to change your job, as if the permission has to come from somewhere outside you.
You’ve paid for courses before that promised more than they delivered, so now you read everything twice and trust almost nothing.
You want work you can build around picking the kids up, not work that takes you away from that.
And underneath all of it, there’s a quieter fear: that at your age, with your history, in the body you’ve got, it’s too late to start something new.
Are you a Personal Trainer?
- Add this qualification to your personal training skillset
Are you a Fitness Instructor?
- Diversify your professional experience
Are you a Yoga Teacher?
- Bring something new to your yoga studio
Are you from a non-sports background?
- Start a brand new career as a Fitness Professional!
You've already built half a Pilates business.
You just didn't call it that.
Tick what you've actually done in your career so far. This maps it straight onto the skills that run a Pilates teaching business, so you can see, in black and white, where you're not starting from zero.
Tick what applies
Sixteen things people bring from corporate careers. Tick anything you've genuinely done.
Generate your map
We take the five you ticked first and match each to a Pilates business strength.
Keep it or print it
Your one-page Career Assets Map, ready to save, print, or pin above your desk.
Whose map is this?
Both optional. This just personalises the map, it has no bearing on the matching.
What have you actually done?
Not job titles, the real, ordinary things you've done in meetings, on wards, in classrooms or on spreadsheets. Tick anything true. Aim for at least five if you can.
Your Career Assets Map
Before you read what’s on the other side of this, try something. Tick off what you’ve actually done in your working life so far, the presenting, the managing, the listening, the budgeting, and see it mapped onto what it means for teaching Pilates. That’s not a worksheet. That’s your own CV, just pointed in a different direction.
What’s on the other side
You stop correcting the teacher in your head, and start being her.
Monday feels like your own life again, because you built it yourself.
You find out your body and your background were never the problem. This training was built for ordinary bodies, not studio ones.
You stop waiting for permission and give it to yourself, in writing, with a Level 3 diploma behind it.
You get a course that tells you exactly what you’re paying for and why, in plain English, nothing hidden.
You build a timetable around your kids, not the other way round.
And you find out it isn’t too late. It’s just the next thing.
Introducing the Glasgow Pilates Teacher Training
A Level 3 Diploma in Instructing Pilates Matwork, taught in person over five weekends in Glasgow, built for people who’ve never thought of themselves as “the type,” and designed to take you from doing Pilates to teaching it properly.
How I ended up building this
I started doing Pilates in 2000, while I was already teaching yoga. I wasn’t looking for a new qualification, I was looking for a way to teach my own yoga classes better. Pilates gave me the core strength and the body awareness my yoga training never had, and within a few years it had changed how I taught everything.
By 2006 I was teaching matwork classes myself. By 2011 I’d gone and done the Level 3 Diploma in Instructing Pilates Matwork, the same qualification you’ll get from this course, and as far as I know I was the first person in Northern Ireland to do it. Nobody local was teaching it. So I had to go and become that person.
What I learned teaching Pilates in community halls in Northern Ireland, funded by EU Peace and Reconciliation money and Invest NI, not in glossy studios, is that Pilates works best when you strip the trend out of it. The people who got the most from my classes weren’t the flexible twenty-somethings. They were people managing Parkinson’s, MS, cancer recovery, bad backs and tight hips built up from years of other people’s problems. Ordinary people, taught in an adapted, non-classical style that meets a body where it actually is.
That’s when it clicked that the best teachers for this wouldn’t necessarily come from the fitness world. They’d be the people who already know how to sit with someone in pain, adjust on the spot, and make a room feel safe, because that’s most of what good teaching actually is.
So I built this training to hand that same qualification to the next person who’s spent years holding a room together, in a caring job, a classroom, a ward, or an office, and never had anyone point out she already had half the skills she needed.
I would recommend to anyone who is thinking of engaging on a Pilates teaching qualification journey. The support, pace and materials are all excellent and Victoria is the icing on the cake, making you feel positive at all times.
~ Yvonne, 2021 Graduate
COURSE DATES:
We meet one weekend a month in Glasgow, Scotland from 10 am to 4 pm each day for 5 months, followed by an assessment weekend 6 weeks later:
- Weekend 1: 30th & 31st January 2027
- Weekend 2: 27th & 28th February 2027
- Weekend 3: 20th & 21st March 2027
- Weekend 4: 17th & 18th April 2027
- Weekend 5: 15th & 16th May 2027
- Assessment: 10th & 11th July 2027
It will be expected that you complete work outside of those contact hours and you will receive email and WhatsApp support (Mon-Fri office hours) during the course to help you do this.
90% attendance is required to complete this qualification and any missed hours can be caught up so don’t panic if you have a pre-existing commitment on any of the dates.
COURSE FORMAT:
During the course you will learn the principles of Pilates Matwork as well as how to programme and instruct a series of Pilates Matwork sessions in a one-to-one or group setting. The course runs according to the StretchBodyMind principles of FOUNDATION, EXPRESSION & VISION.
FOUNDATION:
Providing a Positive Customer Experience
Anatomy & Physiology for exercise and health;
History and Principles of Pilates
EXPRESSION:
Lifestyle Management and Health Awareness
Teaching Special Populations
Creating a series of Pilates Matwork classes
VISION:
Client interviews including postural assessment
Teaching, adapting and progressing Pilates Matwork exercises
Business skills
COURSE VENUE
We are running this year’s training course in Glasgow’s best Yoga & Pilates Studio – Meridian Yoga & Pilates Studio – at 146 Crownpoint Road, Glasgow, G40 2AE, Scotland.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This Level 3 diploma is certified by Focus Awards and is mapped directly to CIMSPA (The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity) professional standards for a Core Group Exercise Instructor.
You will also receive:
-
- training by Lifestyle Medicine Nurse and Pilates Teacher Lynne Bayley
- training by Pilates Master Trainer Victoria Cunningham
- comprehensive training materials and supplementary textbook
- one year’s access to the Ordinary People Academy’s online studio with Pilates Teacher Training pre-recorded videos and PDFs
- additional supervised practice time at Meridian ahead of your assessment weekend
- the opportunity to deliver real community classes once you’ve qualified, to help build your confidence
- your own Career Assets Map, mapping your existing career onto Pilates business strengths before you even start
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
- There are no specific entry requirements for this qualification but some experience of Pilates Matwork classes is highly recommended
- The course requires physical exertion and individual participation is essential; therefore, a degree of physical fitness is necessary
- There is also an element of communication (discussing, presenting, reading and writing) involved and learners should have basic skills in communication and IT pitched at level 2
“Pilates is the complete co-ordination of body, mind and spirit”
INVESTMENT
The course costs £2500!
This can be paid in full or by 6 monthly instalments of £450.
We do not offer refunds for course payments.
You stood out as a tutor as you understood the pressure of everyone’s life and the juggle it takes to prioritise your own needs.
There was no pressure or negative vibes and that is something i really appreciated given the stress of my life while attending your tutoring sessions
It ( and you ) was a breath of fresh air in the hustle and bustle of a busy life.
~ Nicola, 2023 Graduate
ASSESSMENT:
During the course you will complete a Learner Achievement Record and Assessment Workbook as well as sit a multiple choice exam in Anatomy & Physiology.
You will complete a practical assessment 6 weeks after training.
You will also be expected to submit evidence of personal matwork sessions and any observation hours and student teaching hours undertaken during the course which will complete your Learner Achievement Record and will be submitted for your final assessment.
Qualification Structure:
- Anatomy and Physiology for Exercise and Health (Level 3, Unit Ref: A/600/9051, 6 credits, 43 guided learning hours)
- Health and Safety and Welfare in a Fitness Environment (Level 2, Unit Ref: T/600/9016, 2 credits, 16 guided learning hours)
- Principles of Exercise, Fitness and Health (Level 2, Unit Ref: A/600/9017, 4 credits, 28 guided learning hours)
- Know how to support clients who take part in exercise and physical activity (Level 2, Unit Ref: M/600/9015, 2 credits, 13 guided learning hours)
- Programming Pilates sessions (Level 3, Unit Ref: R/617/6256, 10 credits)
- Delivering Pilates sessions (Level 3, Unit Ref: Y/617/6257)
TUTORS:
I’m Victoria Cunningham, MAHons, MSc, SYT, HDipCT. MIPHM and I’ve been practicing Pilates since my first class in Australia in 2000. I trained to become a Pilates Matwork Instructor back in 2006 and have been teaching consistently since then.
In 2011 I became the first person in Northern Ireland to deliver the new Level 3 Diploma in Instructing Pilates Matwork with Active IQ. I am now teaching the YMCA Level 3 Diploma in Teaching Pilates (Practitioner) which I feel is more robust.
I am the Founder of Ordinary People Academy and the Pilates Master Trainer for Platinum Training Institute – Ireland’s leading fitness training provider – and Fitness Academy Europe where I developed Yoga and Pilates training courses which are delivered throughout Europe and the Middle East.
I am also the Creator of Yobarrelattes® Instructor Training and Stretch & Play Facilitator Training as well as a number of CPD courses for Yoga and Pilates Teachers through StretchBodyMind.
I’m Lynne Bayley, The Lifestyle Medicine Nurse, and I’m the Anatomy & Physiology Tutor on the course.
By day, I am a registered nurse at a GP surgery, specialising in diabetes and women’s health. My dedication to Lifestyle Medicine fuels my passion for holistic well-being.
But my expertise doesn’t stop there! As a qualified Pilates Teacher and Senior Yoga Teacher, I am devoted to helping our community maintain ease of movement and improve self-care practices as they age. Additionally, I am a skilled breathwork facilitator, guiding you to unlock profound levels of relaxation.
I would also describe myself as a wellness warrior, actively overcoming Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. On my own social media channels I share my journey and insights to help you lead a healthier, happier life through Health Coaching and Lifestyle Medicine.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS PEOPLE ACTUALLY ASK
I’ve never taught anything in my life. Is that a problem?
No. There’s no teaching experience required to start. You’ll want some Pilates matwork experience under your belt and a reasonable level of physical fitness, but the teaching itself is what the course trains you in.
I’m not really a “fitness person.” Is this still for me?
Yes. Personal trainers and fitness instructors do take this course, but just as many people come from yoga, from caring professions, or from no sports background at all. That’s genuinely who this is built for.
What if I can’t make every single weekend?
You need 90% attendance across the five weekends, and missed hours can be made up. There’s email and WhatsApp support Monday to Friday during office hours if you fall behind.
Do I need a particular body type or fitness level to train as a teacher?
No. The style taught is adapted and non-classical, built for teaching real bodies, including people managing conditions like Parkinson’s, MS or cancer recovery. If you can already do Pilates matwork, you can train on this.
Is the £2,500 refundable if it turns out not to be right for me?
No, there are no refunds on course payments. That’s stated plainly because places, materials and tutor time are committed as soon as you join, not to catch anyone out.
What’s the actual difference between paying in full and paying monthly?
Paying in full is £2,500. Paying monthly is six instalments of £450, which comes to £2,700 in total. Same course either way, the instalment plan just costs £200 more overall.
What can I actually do with this once I’m qualified?
Teach Pilates matwork one to one or in groups, plan and run your own class series, and you’ll have covered the business side too, so you’re not qualified and then stuck on what to do with it. You’ll also have the chance to deliver real community classes straight after you pass, so your confidence is built on actual teaching, not just the certificate.
Is now really the right time, with everything else going on?
There’s never a version of “the right time” that arrives on its own. The weekends are already fixed in the diary, one a month, so it fits around a life that’s already full rather than waiting for a gap that isn’t coming. The real question isn’t when. It’s whether you’re the kind of person who starts, or the kind of person who keeps waiting for permission. If you’ve read this far, you already know which one you are.
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