Pilates instructor on Reformer in Fremantle

Pilates for Menopausal Women in Melville
A supportive, evidence informed approach to emotional wellbeing and physical strength

Perimenopause and menopause are profound transitions. They touch every layer of a woman’s life - physical, emotional, mental, and social. Many women experience shifts in mood, energy, sleep, cognition, confidence, and a sense of themselves. Hormonal changes play a role, but so do the life transitions that often arrive at the same time: changing family roles, increasing responsibilities, caring for parents, career pressures, or simply feeling stretched thin.

Pilates offers a safe, intelligent, and deeply supportive way to navigate this season. It reconnects you with your strength, your breath, and your inner steadiness. My approach blends mindful movement, nervous system awareness, and small group connection to support you not just physically, but emotionally.

We recommend new clients to sign up for our Strong Foundations Pilates Pack. This is the best way to experience the Reflexions approach and ensure that your sessions are aligned with your individual needs.

Why menopause affects mood and wellbeing

During perimenopause, fluctuating hormones can influence mood regulation, stress tolerance, sleep, and cognitive clarity. Many women experience:

increased irritability or anxiety
low mood or emotional overwhelm
disrupted sleep
brain fog or forgetfulness
fatigue or low energy

But biology is only part of the picture. Midlife brings its own social and emotional responsibilities. Many women carry an immense amount of invisible labour. Feeling unsupported, stretched, or isolated can amplify symptoms.

This is why a body mind approach is so important. You need more than just a workout. You need a place to breathe, move, regulate, and reconnect with yourself.

Pilates offers exactly that.

How Pilates supports menopausal wellbeing

Pilates is one of the most supportive forms of movement for this stage of life. It is gentle yet strengthening, structured but adaptable, and deeply connected to breath and awareness. Research consistently shows that exercise, mindfulness, and social connection help ease the emotional challenges of menopause - and Pilates naturally combines all three.

1. Mood regulation and emotional steadiness

Movement supports healthy neurotransmitter activity and helps stabilise mood. When you move with awareness, your system becomes more resilient and less reactive.

2. Calming the nervous system

Pilates integrates deep, mindful breathing. This activates the body’s calming response, helping you feel grounded, centred, and emotionally regulated.

3. Strength, posture, and joint support

As hormones shift, many women notice stiffness, aches, or changes in muscle tone. Pilates strengthens the deep stabilising muscles, supports healthy posture, and restores supple mobility.

4. Better sleep and reduced stress

Regular mindful movement can improve sleep quality and help your body discharge accumulated tension.

5. Feeling connected rather than alone

Small group movement has a powerful effect on mental wellbeing. When women feel connected, supported, and part of something, emotional resilience naturally increases.

Common symptoms Pilates can help with

Women often begin Pilates during menopause to ease symptoms such as:

low mood or emotional overwhelm
anxiety or increased stress
sleep disruption
cognitive fog
joint pain or stiffness
changes in muscle tone or posture
decreased bone density
pelvic floor changes
fatigue and low motivation
feelings of isolation or disconnection

Pilates becomes a steady anchor - a place to rebuild not just strength, but confidence and inner ease.

The power of small group Pilates

Small group sessions offer something uniquely therapeutic. They provide:

connection and belonging
shared understanding
gentle accountability
improved motivation
reduced feelings of loneliness
emotional support through community

Clients often find that being part of a small group makes them feel seen, encouraged, and more at ease in their bodies. The connection is just as important as the movement.

In my Semi Private sessions, you receive personalised exercises while enjoying the emotional benefits of practising alongside others in a calm, supportive environment.

Female Pilates Instructor sitting on Wunda Chair

My approach

I'm Erica, and I take a whole person, deeply attentive approach to Pilates. I work with many women who are navigating perimenopause and menopause, and I understand how varied and overwhelming this transition can feel. My role is to support you in moving in a way that feels strengthening, regulating, and genuinely good for your body and your nervous system.

I blend mindful Pilates with somatic awareness, breathwork, and a calm, grounded teaching style. Each session is adapted to your energy and symptoms on the day, whether you arrive feeling flat, energised, emotional, or simply needing to reconnect with your body. I focus on creating a practice that feels both achievable and nourishing, without pressure or intensity that pushes you beyond your capacity.

While the environment isn’t always quiet (my members can be wonderfully chatty), it is always warm, welcoming, and supportive. The sense of connection and lightness in the room often becomes just as therapeutic as the movement itself.

My intention is for you to feel seen, guided, and gently empowered. Women often tell me that my sessions feel steadying and compassionate - a place where they can move at their own pace, laugh, breathe, rebuild strength, and gradually come home to themselves.

What We Offer

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Private Pilates Sessions

Perfect if you prefer one to one attention or have specific goals such as pelvic floor support, mood regulation, posture, or returning safely to movement.

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Semi-Private Pilates Sessions

A small, intimate group setting that offers individualised guidance with the added benefits of connection, support, and shared motivation.

Book Semi-Private

Holistic Approach to Menopause

Menopause is never just a physical transition. It affects mood, sleep, energy, identity, relationships, self confidence, and the way you feel in your body day to day. Because of this, I offer support for women through menopause using a holistic, mind body approach that goes beyond exercise alone. Each modality plays a different role in helping you feel steady, supported, and connected to yourself again.

Mindful movement

Pilates helps you rebuild strength, improve posture, support your pelvic floor, and move with more ease and confidence. It also regulates the nervous system through mindful breathing and fluid, controlled movement. Many women find that Pilates becomes their anchor - a place to reconnect with their bodies, release tension, and gradually restore physical and emotional resilience.

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Remedial massage and dry needling

Massage and dry needling provides relief from the muscular tension, headaches, stiffness, and physical fatigue that often accompany hormonal changes. It supports circulation, helps calm an overactive nervous system, and creates a sense of deep rest that many women in midlife crave. For many of my clients, massage becomes a vital reset - a way to soften, breathe, and feel cared for in a body that is going through a lot.

Counselling and Somatic therapy

Menopause often brings up questions of identity, boundaries, relationships, past wounds, and the emotional load of midlife. My counselling approach integrates somatic awareness, breathwork, and evidence based therapies to help you make sense of what you are feeling, regulate your nervous system, and reconnect with your authentic self. It is a space where your emotions are welcomed, understood, and held with compassion.