T H E P L A T I N U M C R U C I B L E

A self development program for Pilates teachers ready to step into their greatest potential—developing confidence, leadership, communication, and impact beyond the exercises.

Do any of these resonate?

  • Are you a Teacher ready to level up? (Let’s upgrade the system, YOU!) 

  • Do you need inspiration and guidance on your teaching Journey? (no swimming solo, connection is needed in our community) 

  • Are you stuck in your teaching and need a new perspective? (no, you don’t need another training program) 

  • How would it feel to teach (and show up) from a place of truth, clarity and passion? (no lesson planning, clock watching or burnout)

 

You've taken various training programs, you have the skills to teach The Method, you have the foundation of over 800 exercises. 

You more than likely have an understanding of the full 360 studio from the mat to the array of apparatus. You love your playground. You are influenced everywhere, teachers, books, social media, online, in person, workshops, courses, like me I imagine you are a magpie to all things movement.  Me too.

There’s a lot of searching, I know, I've done it, and  I will never stop learning, questioning, playing and  being interested, it’s feathered my pilates nest. We all have a unique teaching thumbprint, all from one body of work by the man himself Mr J H Pilates. So much has been derived and transcribed since the 1920's when Joseph and Clara opened their "Body Conditioning Gym" in New York City.

There is so much out there today, so many thumbprints, we are all valid, all expressions and interpretations welcome.

"Mutual support can help all of us. Connection is much needed in our community. Diminishing the sense that as Pilates Teachers we are solo swimmers, I want to encourage a more collective awareness, more a world of support, care and kindness." ~ Jen Day

Let’s go on a journey to rediscover your unique voice as a teacher, firstly connecting to a deeper understanding of you.

One of the most significant shifts a Pilates teacher can make is moving from the role of instructor to the role of guide. Many Pilates teachers begin their journey by learning exercises, biomechanics, cueing, and programming. They learn how to teach the Hundred, how to improve a Roll Up, and how to correct alignment. These skills are essential. Yet after years of teaching, many instructors discover an uncomfortable truth: technical excellence alone does not create transformation.

Clients may become stronger, more flexible, and more coordinated, yet something deeper remains untouched. The teacher may feel they are repeating classes, delivering information rather than facilitating meaningful change. The Platinum Crucible explores how Pilates teaching can evolve beyond exercise instruction into a practice that supports awareness, embodiment, resilience, and personal growth.

The Program

 

The Platinum Crucible Program initially is a three month fully supported mentorship program. I will guide you through a process of self reflection, meeting you wherever you’re at on your teaching journey. You will learn valuable strategies, build trust in your work, develop a deeper understanding of the method, finding greater presence, creativity and flow. I hope to elevate your teaching and dive deep into understanding your own unique journey, your value and your direction. This journey is about YOU, it's about personal growth, inner work and a pause from external validation, sourcing and searching, a turn inwards. We stop performing teaching and start inhabiting it. Our language becomes our own.

Knowledge, Curiosity, Presence and YOU.

 

Why I’ve created this…

Through my own healing journey and twenty years of teaching and running a full-time Classical Pilates studio, I came to realise that the work we do as teachers reaches far beyond the exercises.

I created this program because I believe Pilates teachers are capable of so much more than delivering movement instruction. We work with people on many levels — physically, emotionally and energetically. Beneath every exercise, something deeper may be taking place.

When we learn to listen rather than simply correct, the body can become one of our greatest teachers.

Our bodies are designed to move towards vitality and healing, yet sometimes the mind gets in the way. This is true for us as teachers, too. We can spend years learning more exercises, anatomy, techniques and ways to help others while quietly holding ourselves back. We may doubt ourselves, compare ourselves, strive for perfection or remain safely within what we already know. I created this program to support teachers who are ready to move beyond those limitations.

This program is an invitation to step into that possibility. To trust your experience. To listen more deeply. To teach from a place of authenticity, presence and connection. Perhaps that is the real journey beyond the exercises: not becoming somebody else, but having the courage to become more fully ourselves.

 

T H E S T O R Y B E H I N D T H E N A M E

Why The Platinum Crucible? 

A platinum crucible is used to melt other compounds in. It has an extremely high melting point, making it super resistant to chemical corrosion. The melting point is 1768 degrees C so it can be heated to extremely high temperatures without having to worry about the crucible melting.

A Platinum Crucible was given to me by my Dad back in 2009 when I was recovering from a breakdown.

One hopeful spring day, Dad 'gifts' me this beaten, tarnished looking bowl, in a plastic zip lock bag (it was his way of showing love). He said, “Darling, it's platinum, go and sell it, it's worth a bit.”

Reluctantly, I took it to Hatton Gardens, I nervously approached a buyer and accepted his first offer - Dad said I should have shopped around a bit. I remember feeling very nervous carrying a large sum of cash through the streets of London. I handed over almost the EXACT amount in cash for my first ever pilates training program.

D E T A I L S . . .

I chose to call this project The Platinum Crucible for many reasons. First, because of my own story and the extraordinary part that a small platinum crucible played in changing the course of my life. But over time, I began to see another meaning within it. I like to think that we, as Pilates teachers, are platinum crucibles too. A crucible is a vessel. A container strong enough to hold extraordinary heat and withstand the process of transformation taking place within it.

Isn't that, in some way, what we do as teachers? We hold space. Our studios become containers. The rooms we teach in become places where people are invited to arrive as they are — to move, breathe, explore, feel and sometimes simply be. When we create those spaces with care, they can become places of safety and trust. Places where people feel secure enough to soften their armour. Where truth can emerge. Where vulnerability is welcomed rather than feared. We cannot know everything that somebody carries with them when they walk through our doors. We may see the body in front of us, but we are always working with the whole person. Their history. Their beliefs. Their fears. Their strength. Their vulnerability. Their potential.

And just as platinum can withstand extraordinary temperatures without losing its integrity, perhaps our work as teachers is not to rescue, fix or change the person in front of us. Perhaps our role is to become strong enough within ourselves to hold the space in which change can happen.

That requires more than knowing the exercises. It requires presence. It requires boundaries. It requires self-awareness.It requires the courage to listen. And, perhaps most importantly, it requires us to know and trust ourselves.

Because the stronger our own crucible becomes, the less we need to perform, prove or have all the answers. We can simply be present. And from that place, we can teach from something far deeper than technique. We can teach from our truth.

So this program is not simply about becoming a better Pilates teacher. It is an invitation to explore your own crucible.

What strengthens it? What compromises it? What do you bring into the space you hold? What happens within you when someone else becomes vulnerable? Where are you still hiding behind your knowledge rather than trusting your wisdom?

And how might your teaching change if you allowed more of you to enter the room?

Three Months to Dive Deep

The Platinum Crucible is a three-month journey designed to give you the time and space to go deeper — into your teaching, your relationship with yourself, and the way you hold space for others.

Over twelve weeks, we will explore the principles of The Crucible, moving beyond the exercises to uncover what it means to teach with greater presence, confidence, authenticity and truth.

We Begin With You. This is an opportunity for me to get to know you — where you are in your teaching journey, what you are experiencing right now, what may be holding you back and, importantly, where you feel called to grow. There is no right place to be. We begin exactly where you are.

Our Weekly Crucible

Each week, we will meet online for two hours. Our sessions will begin by arriving together. We will check in through meditation, allowing ourselves to become present and notice what is here — in the body, in the mind and beneath the surface. From there, we will move into a short movement practice, reconnecting with the very thing that brought so many of us to this work in the first place: our bodies.

Then we open the forum. This is where we explore, question, share and dive deeply into the week's Crucible principle. It is a space for conversation, reflection and discovery. A place where you can bring your experiences as a teacher, your questions, your challenges and your truth.

Together, we explore what lies beyond the exercises.

The Platinum Crucible Guide

Throughout the journey, you will have access to The Platinum Crucible Guide — a companion to our work together, filled with insights, reflections, strategies and wisdom to help you take each principle deeper.

Beyond the Three Months

Transformation doesn't necessarily fit neatly into twelve weeks. At the end of The Platinum Crucible, there will be an opportunity to continue working with me through extended mentorship. This next stage is about integration — taking what you have uncovered and allowing it to become embodied in the way you teach, lead, communicate, hold your space and run your practice or studio.

Because ultimately, this work isn't about becoming a different kind of teacher.

It is about uncovering the teacher who is already within you.

The Principles

Beginning with The Container and Self, moving through Presence, Listening, Boundaries, Vulnerability and Truth, and eventually into Authenticity, Leadership, Purpose and Integration.

 

  • Before transformation can take place, we need a container strong enough to hold it. As teachers, we are part of that container, alongside the physical spaces we create. We will explore what it means to create an environment where people feel safe, seen and able to arrive exactly as they are — while recognising that holding space begins with how safely we inhabit ourselves.

  • Presence is perhaps one of the greatest gifts we can offer another person. It is the difference between simply watching someone move and truly seeing them. We will explore how slowing down, listening and becoming more present in our own bodies allows us to notice more, respond rather than react, and create deeper connection with the people we teach.

  • The body communicates long before words are spoken. Breath, tension, posture, movement, hesitation and ease all tell a story. This principle invites us to become curious rather than immediately corrective — to listen to what the body may be communicating and allow that information to inform our teaching.

  • We never enter the teaching space as a blank canvas. We bring our history, beliefs, expectations, emotions and patterns with us. Developing self-awareness helps us recognise what belongs to us and what belongs to the person in front of us. The more we understand ourselves, the more clearly and consciously we can hold space for somebody else.

  • A crucible needs strong walls. So do we. Boundaries are not barriers to connection; they are what allow genuine connection to remain safe and sustainable. We will explore energetic, emotional and practical boundaries and learn how to care deeply without carrying everything home with us.

  • We do not need to be perfect to be powerful teachers. In fact, constantly trying to appear as though we have all the answers can separate us from the very people we hope to reach. Vulnerability asks us to let go of perfection and allow ourselves to be human — without making our clients responsible for our emotions or our story.

  • Every crucible is designed to withstand heat. For us, the heat may appear as self-doubt, comparison, difficult clients, fear of being seen, uncertainty or moments when our confidence disappears. Rather than avoiding these moments, we will explore what they have to teach us. Sometimes the places that challenge us most are the places where our greatest growth is waiting.

  • There comes a point when knowledge alone is not enough. We must learn to trust ourselves. Trust the years of experience we have accumulated, trust what we notice and trust our ability to remain curious when we don't know. This is where we begin to move from teaching by formula towards teaching the person who is actually standing in front of us.

  • Your greatest strength as a teacher is not becoming a copy of somebody you admire. It is discovering who you are. We will explore the experiences, values, strengths and qualities that shape your unique teaching voice, giving you permission to move beyond imitation and teach from a place that feels genuinely your own.

  • Experience develops something that cannot always be found in a textbook. We begin to notice, sense and understand things before we can necessarily explain why. This principle explores intuition alongside knowledge — not as a replacement for skill or evidence, but as another form of information that can deepen our curiosity, observation and connection.

  • Leadership does not require being the loudest voice in the room. It can be quiet, grounded and deeply embodied. It is about standing firmly in what you know, while remaining open to what you don't. We will explore what becomes possible when you stop shrinking, comparing and hiding your brilliance and begin to recognise the value of what you uniquely bring.

  • Ultimately, The Platinum Crucible is not about collecting more information. It is about embodying what you discover. Our final principle brings everything together — presence, boundaries, vulnerability, trust, intuition, authenticity and leadership — and asks how these qualities can live within your teaching long after the program has ended.

    The crucible is no longer simply the space you create for others.

    You become the crucible: strong enough to hold space, open enough to remain curious, and grounded enough to teach from your truth.

“Jen is the top of her game, what I mean is you always get Jen, her authentic self. It's a wonder to be around her unique perspective and self awareness.”

~Holly Murray PI Studios

P R O G R A M I N V E S T M E N T

£1200

Can be paid in three monthly instalments of £400