Sophia Thorsen, owner of Northside Community Pilates, is 53 years old — yes, I have her permission to print her age. Yet Sophia does not look like 53, move like she is 53, or have the physique of a 53-year-old; the age she appears is much younger. What’s her secret? PILATES!
In April 2025, Sophia opened Northside Community Pilates where she teaches “classical Pilates,” which not only improves your body and its ability to move pain free; it also promotes a mentally calming influence. Sophia has faithfully used and taught Pilates for the last 28 years and it shows.
First, a little backstory on Pilates which Sophia shared with me: Joseph Hubertus Pilates, a German physical trainer born in 1883, is credited with inventing Pilates. As a child, Joseph was “sickly” and was introduced to physical exercise by his parents to improve his health and strengthen his weak body. Seeing the results of strength training and exercise, Joseph became “passionate about physical fitness.”
While interred in a prison camp during World War I, Joseph helped to rehabilitate injured prisoners through specific exercises focusing on breathing, flexibility, and strengthening muscles. Legend has it that he removed the springs from hospital bed mattresses and secured them to the bed frames which allowed the patients to “exercise against resistance in a recumbent position.” It was this crude apparatus and method of exercise that served as a foundation for Pilates.
After World War I, Joseph opened a studio in New York City where famous dancers flocked to his studio to improve their strength, flexibility, and coordination. To this day, Pilates and its unique apparatuses continue to be popular for creating a “systemically healthy body.”
It is this “fully holistic system” of classical Pilates from the 1930’s that Sophia uses in her studio to help clients create a healthy body that is toned, strong, and balanced. As Sophia explained, Pilates “affects the whole body” by creating healthy muscular and skeletal systems, which in turn creates a healthy respiratory system, affecting a healthier vascular system thus creating an overall stronger body.
Originally from Colorado, Sophia is a graduate of the Advanced Teacher Training Program and Master Program from The Pilates Center in Boulder. While living in California, Sophia studied and trained to become a certified Massage Therapist specializing in orthopedic massage, myofascial release, and manual lymphatic massage at the renowned McKinnon Body Therapy Center in Oakland.
Once their daughters were grown, Sophia and her husband Dan decided to relocate from their Oakland home. As it turns out, our beautiful city of Pittsburgh ended up on their radar. After a couple trips to Pittsburgh, a visit to the Mattress Factory, “seeing the creativity” of the Northside and the “kindness” of the residents simply by walking around the neighbor- hood, Sophia and Dan said it “felt like home.” In November 2024, they moved into a home in the Mexican War Streets near the Mattress Factory.
Having growing limitations with my body movements — I am no longer doing back handsprings as I did as a youth — and always wanting to support our local Northside businesses, I thought I’d try Pilates with Sophia. However, I knew little about Pilates.
Four tenets for beginners that Sophia taught me about Pilates are: 1. Pilates is not to be confused with Yoga (It’s totally different).
2. Pilates is a journey of fitness and not a “one and done” where one class will make you stronger and healthier.
3. Pilates makes you stronger and builds muscle so you will not necessarily lose weight.
4. Pilates is for every BODY type i.e., slim, heavy set, tall, short, young, middle aged and seniors! (Sophia’s youngest client was 13 and her oldest was 88).
As a beginner to Pilates, Sophia recommended that I begin with a private class. Sophia’s private classes are one-on-one, designed to assess your body, its strengths and limitations, and teach the Pilates basics. Sophia’s vast knowledge of human anatomy combined with her patient and encouraging teaching style made an immediate positive impression on me. With her ability to communicate effectively, I realized if I am to do Pilates, she was the instructor for me. After my first private session, I was hooked and purchased a package of different classes.
Following a few private sessions to learn the correct breathing techniques (an important aspect of doing Pilates correctly) and fundamental Pilates exercises on the different apparatuses, I was ready for my first group class. Unlike certain large health club chains, Sophia’s classes are intimate where you get personalized attention.
My first group class was the “mat” class with three other people of my level (beginner). The exercises were performed on the padded mat area of the “reformer” apparatus and relied on your own body weight and gravity for resistance to facilitate the exercises. This class builds core strength, flexibility, and overall body control. Even after the first class, my body felt better and more limber. After a few “mat” classes, my next step was to move to the more challenging “reformer” classes.
It’s okay if you are not familiar with the term “reformer” outside of perhaps prison reform, because neither was I. A Pilates “reformer” is an adjustable spring-loaded carriage that moves back and forth along rails designed to provide resistance and support for your body while exercising. The reformer allows you to perform the exercises while lying, sitting, kneeling, or standing with support from straps and springs. The reformer enhances core strength, flexibility, balance, and posture. I couldn’t believe that my body could bend and stretch the way it did using the reformer — without pain.
And speaking of reformers, it is interesting to note that Sophia has two hand crafted wooden reformers which are patterned after an original reformer designed and used by Joseph Pilates. Talk about authentic!
The most interesting and fun apparatus that I used was the Trapeze table or “Cadillac.” This table is outfitted with a full frame along with a trapeze bar attached to the top and a padded platform below. There are also various springs and straps attached to the frame to allow for a wide range of exercises.
Typically, a private session needs to be scheduled to use this piece of equipment. The table also allows for extended leg and arm movements and supports “hanging” and “pull ups” which “create better muscle tissue and range of motion.”
This was my favorite apparatus because I was able to increase the stretch and strength of my muscles resulting in improved range of motion in a very comfortable, safe, and fun way. Sophia guides your every movement through these more complicated exercises to ensure your success.
After these sessions, I felt looser, lighter on my feet, and stronger. Ready to do a split? Not yet, but I am certain that Sophia will help me reach my goal.
After a very long flight this past summer, my (replaced) hips were out of whack from sitting so long. The tightness in my hips caused my gait to be off, and I was uncomfortable while walking. My thoughts navigated to Sophia to see if she could help me out. In addition to Pilates, Sophia is qualified to perform orthopedic massage. If you have body movements that are challenged due to injury, arthritis, overuse, or even a past surgery, an orthopedic massage may be just what you need.
Although I love a Swedish massage, an orthopedic massage is not that. Rather it is an “active session” intended to evaluate the restrictions of the fascial system (i.e., dense connective tissue that surrounds muscles) causing the difficulty in your movements. The restrictions or areas of tightness are identified primarily through palpations.
Then, a “correction to those imbalances” is achieved through “myofascial manipulation” i.e., sustained and controlled pressure and manipulation. This “correction” releases the tension so that you can regain movement.
Unlike a Swedish massage, you will be up and down from the massage table during this type of massage to pinpoint the area(s) needing “correction” and determine the effectiveness of the massage. This type of massage “reorganizes how the muscles act on the joints” so that better body movements are restored.
After a single one-hour session of the orthopedic massage, my gait and ability to walk was greatly improved. And I felt more balanced in my body. Sophia does it again!
To ensure I fully represent all services Sophia has to offer, I wanted to mention one service that I have not yet experienced. It is a manual lymphatic drainage massage.
After an illness such as Lyme disease or “long” COVID, “viral and bacterial reservoirs” remain in our lymph nodes. Applied pressure on the lymph nodes and interstitial tissue, can “clear out metabolic debris” which can “help relieve pain associated with edema.” Ultimately, this type of massage aids in an improved immune system.
Sophia shared a story of a client who had a drastic improvement resulting from this type of massage. A man in his 80s had a wound from an MRSA infection that would not close. His doctors were not hopeful it would ever close and told the gentleman, “to live with it.” The man’s wife signed him up for lymphatic drainage massages. After several sessions with Sophia over time, this man achieved relief and his wound had closed. That’s how powerful a lymphatic drainage massage can be.
It should be noted that I am at the beginner Pilates stage. Sophia designs the programs for your level, your body strengths, and/or challenges. As you become more confident, stronger, and more flexible, you can advance to the more complicated and advanced exercise techniques with Sophia’s guidance. If you are at the point in your Pilates journey where you know the exercises, are comfortable using the apparatuses, and need minimal or no instruction; Sophia also offers “Open Studio” where you can sign up to use her studio on your own.
Whether you are an athlete wanting to improve performance, a dancer (or just an ordinary individual) looking to gain more flexibility or strength, or a senior who is tired of compensating for challenges with certain movements, look no further than to Sophia and Northside Community Pilates for an extremely competent and knowledgeable instructor and studio to begin your Pilates journey. Just remember, it is not a one and done, yet your body will thank you for the adventure. And remember, all BODIES are welcome!
P.S. Congratulations to Northside Community Pilates which celebrated their one-year anniversary in April!
Northside Community Pilates is located at 900 Middle St. Sophia may also be contacted at [email protected] or (510) 301-7899.
