SPRING Sessions · Heartbeat High
It's Cool to Care
Meet Heartbeat High, SPRING's New Perth Home for Pilates Teacher Training
By Kimmy Smith
Perth, we've got some very exciting news!
On behalf of the entire SPRING community, I'm absolutely thrilled to officially welcome Heartbeat High as our newest SPRING Partner Studio! After months of conversations, planning, and getting to know one another, we're so excited to be bringing our Pilates Teacher Training programs to Perth in the new year, alongside a studio and team we have so much admiration for.
And for those of you who've been dreaming about becoming a Pilates teacher, the timing couldn't be better. A new year, a new skill to learn, and perhaps even the beginning of an entirely new career.
Heartbeat High’s Co-Founders, Phoebe Woodhead and Olivia Stell,
If you're familiar with Heartbeat High, you'll already know there's something pretty special about the community they've created. Colorful, playful, full of personality, and built around a genuine love of movement, Heartbeat High is a place where people are encouraged to show up as themselves, challenge themselves, and have a whole lot of fun along the way.
Behind it all are Co-Founders Phoebe Woodhead and Olivia Stell, who have spent the past eight years building Heartbeat High into a thriving community of four studios across Perth. Phoebe, who also serves as Creative Director, brings more than 13 years of Pilates teaching experience and a wonderful passion for education, creativity, and helping people discover what they're capable of.
Phoebe sums up the Heartbeat High philosophy so beautifully:
"We believe it’s cool to care. To want to learn, practise and get better. To learn about yourself through movement, develop new skills as an adult, and push yourself when you feel like pushing."
I think that says so much about the kind of community Phoebe and Olivia have created, and the kind of learning environment we're so excited to offer our future students together.
So, before we kick off our first courses in Perth, I'd love to introduce you to Phoebe, share a little of the story behind Heartbeat High, and celebrate the beginning of what we hope will be a wonderful new chapter for both our communities.
A Little More Color, A Lot More Heart
When Phoebe and Olivia first dreamed up Heartbeat High, they were looking for a Pilates studio and community that genuinely spoke to them.
At the time, much of the Pilates world felt polished, exclusive, and a little too concerned with appearances. They wanted to create something different. Somewhere people could show up exactly as they were, enjoy a good challenge, have a laugh, and leave feeling a little more connected to themselves and the people around them.
Their very first tagline was "to make fitness a pleasure, not a chore," and while Heartbeat High has evolved enormously since those early days, that original idea still sits at the center of everything they do.
Today, Heartbeat High has grown into four studios across Perth, with a dream team of more than 35 people. And while the business has grown, Phoebe and Olivia have remained wonderfully consistent in what matters most to them.
"We take Pilates seriously. We take the bodies in front of us seriously. We just don’t take ourselves too seriously."
We think that might be one of our favorite studio philosophies yet.
The Pleasure of Doing Something Hard
One of the things we particularly love about Heartbeat High is their philosophy around the good kind of hard. Not the kind of hard that leaves you feeling defeated, but the kind that comes from concentrating, practicing, trying something unfamiliar, and discovering that you're capable of a little more than you thought.
As Phoebe explains, the pleasure isn't always in getting something right the first time. Sometimes it's in the process of figuring it out.
"We believe there’s pleasure in doing something that challenges you. In concentrating, learning, trying something new, getting it wrong, trying again, and surprising yourself with what your body can do."
That same philosophy carries beautifully into teacher training. Learning to teach Pilates is challenging, rewarding, and occasionally humbling, especially when you're trying to remember your anatomy, cue an exercise, and tell your left from your right, all at the same time!
We often remind our SPRING students that confidence isn't something you need to arrive with. It's something you build through practice, curiosity, repetition, and the willingness to be a beginner. Which sounds an awful lot like Heartbeat High's good kind of hard.
From a Young Dancer to a Passionate Educator
Phoebe's relationship with Pilates began through a dance injury when she was just 12 years old. Movement had always been a huge part of her life, but Pilates gave her an entirely new way to understand the body.
She started teaching young, and over the following 13-plus years went on to train through Polestar, STOTT, and P.I.T.C., teach thousands of classes, and eventually build Heartbeat High alongside Olivia.
But what's particularly interesting about Phoebe's journey is how her passion has evolved. While she still absolutely loves Pilates itself, these days she's just as fascinated by the art of teaching it. How we communicate movement, use music, structure classes, build confidence, and create experiences that make people genuinely excited to return.
It's something that really resonates with us at SPRING, because there's an important distinction between knowing Pilates and knowing how to teach Pilates.
You can have an incredible understanding of anatomy and write a beautifully considered class plan, but when you're standing in front of a room full of people, each with different bodies, abilities, and reasons for being there, there's an entirely different set of skills that comes into play.
And those skills deserve just as much attention as the exercises themselves.
Four Years in the Making
Now, here's where the story gets particularly sweet…
When Phoebe first heard that SPRING was coming to Australia earlier this year, it was through a friend at FŌMME. She'd also been following East River Pilates for years and, as it turns out, was already friends with some of the wonderful people behind our Australian Partner Studios, including Good Times Pilates in Melbourne and Scout Studios in Sydney. Talk about a small world!
What we didn't know at the time was that Phoebe had actually spent almost four years looking for the right teacher training organization to partner with. Four years!
She wasn't interested in offering another certification simply for the sake of it. She wanted an education partner that shared Heartbeat High's values, teaching philosophy, and commitment to professional development.
"I didn’t want to bring in a course simply for the sake of offering teacher training - it needed to feel genuinely aligned with our values, philosophy, quality of delivery and approach to education."
As we got to know one another, it became clear that we shared so many of the same beliefs about what thoughtful, high-quality Pilates education should look like.
At SPRING, our programs combine evidence-based learning with practical teaching experience and mentorship, helping students develop the knowledge, confidence, and adaptability they'll need to work in real studio environments.
And at Heartbeat High, continuing education has always been part of the culture. Their team is constantly learning, questioning, refining, and looking for ways to become better at what they do.
As Phoebe shared:
"I wanted to partner with an education provider that shared that belief — that certification is the beginning of becoming a great teacher, not the finish line."
We're so honored that Phoebe and the Heartbeat High team have chosen SPRING to be part of that journey. And knowing she's joining a community that already includes some familiar faces makes it all the more special.
Finding Your Own Voice
Of all the things Phoebe is looking forward to sharing with future SPRING students, there's one that particularly stood out to us: helping them find their own voice.
When you're first beginning your teacher training, there's so much information to absorb that it's natural to focus on remembering exercises, getting your cues right, and making sure you haven't forgotten anything important.
But as you grow in confidence, something wonderful starts to happen. You begin to understand not just what you're teaching, but why you're teaching it. You learn to read the room, respond to the people in front of you, and develop your own way of communicating and connecting.
"Great teaching isn’t about delivering the perfect class plan. It’s about being able to read the room, connect with the person in front of you and adapt what you know to what they need that day."
It's one of the reasons we're so excited for students to begin their education at Heartbeat High, surrounded by teachers who are still learning, experimenting, and refining their craft, even after years of experience.
"We don’t need more instructors who all teach the same way - we need thoughtful, curious teachers who genuinely care about getting better."
We couldn't agree more.
A New Year, a New Chapter
For anyone in Perth who's been thinking about becoming a Pilates teacher, this might just be the beginning of something wonderful.
Maybe you've been considering a career change for years but haven't quite found the right moment. Maybe you're already working in the movement industry and would love to expand your skills. Or perhaps you've simply fallen in love with Pilates and can't stop wondering what it might feel like to be on the other side of the room.
Whatever brought you here, we hope you give yourself permission to explore that curiosity.
You don't need to have your entire career mapped out or know exactly what kind of teacher you want to become before you begin. That's what learning is for, and there's something really special about surrounding yourself with people who are just as excited to learn as you are.
And if there's one thing we've learned from Phoebe and the Heartbeat High team, it's that some of the most rewarding things in life are the ones that ask us to stretch ourselves a little.
Good. Hard. Fun.
We think that sounds like a pretty wonderful way to begin a new career.
To Phoebe, Olivia, and the entire Heartbeat High community, thank you for welcoming SPRING into your world. We're so excited for everything we're going to learn, create, and share together.
See you in Perth! 🌱
Feeling Inspired?
Your dream Pilates teaching career could begin at Heartbeat High in 2027!
SPRING's Pilates Teacher Training programs are coming to Perth in the new year, bringing together evidence-based education, hands-on teaching experience, mentorship, and the wonderful Heartbeat High community.
Explore Upcoming Perth Pilates Teacher Training Courses →
Your Dream Career Starts Here.
