Why I Started Making Time For You Pilates: A Story of Whakapapa, Resilience & Movement
- Cassina Tawhai
- Apr 25
- 4 min read
When people walk into a Pilates class, they often see the present moment — the breathwork, the movement, the calm. What they don’t see is the lifetime of experiences that brought the instructor to the mat.
Making Time For You Pilates, which opened in March 2021, is not just a business. It’s the culmination of a lifetime shaped by culture, hardship, athleticism, motherhood, injury, and an unshakeable belief in the healing power of movement.
This is my story.
🌺 Roots: A 1970s Baby with Deep Māori Ties
I was born in New Zealand in the 1970s, daughter of Mita and Robyn, raised within strong Māori cultural values. My grandmother was a nurse, and I spent countless days in the crèche at her workplace — surrounded by care, community, and the rhythm of people helping people. My grandfather was a butcher and a Māori minister, a man of service and strength. Those early years taught me that wellbeing is not just physical; it’s spiritual, communal, and woven into identity.
At age 10, life changed dramatically. My mother became a quadriplegic and lived in hospital care. My father raised us alone, carrying a weight no parent expects. He passed away when I was 31, but the resilience he modelled has stayed with me every day.
🏃♀️ Growing Up in Australia: The Athlete Emerges
At age 5, we moved to sunny Armadale, Western Australia. I was a competitive calisthenics kid, a Little Athlete, and a summer–winter all-rounder. By 14, I was coaching athletics — my first taste of guiding others through movement.
My main event was race walking. Kerry Saxby was my hero. With one leg significantly longer than the other, my coach would literally shake my shorter leg out of my hip before competitions. At 16, I had a timed trial for potential WAIS sponsorship… but the day before, I landed on a high-jump bar and ended up in hospital with a spinal haematoma. I went home bedbound. My athletic career ended overnight.
Two years later, I was pregnant with my first child.
🌑 Injury, Motherhood & Losing My Athletic Identity
My recovery was long. I didn’t return to athletics.
In my 20s, I worked as a nightclub dancer, but behind the lights and music were debilitating migraines, dark rooms, and constant chiropractic adjustments. I was diagnosed with early spinal arthritis. I had two more children, and my last birth nearly broke my pelvis. My shorter leg caused ankle and knee issues, and I was fitted with orthopaedic arches.
Movement — once my identity — became something I feared.
🌤️ Finding My Way Back to Movement
Four or five years later, I slowly crept back into sport: country tennis, golf, tag rugby (where I rolled my ankle at the sight of uneven grass), and eventually triathlons. With sports asthma, I could participate but not compete at the level I wanted.
But somewhere in that period, something life-changing happened.
I found Pilates — on a DVD.
Every session surprised me. My posture improved. My mood lifted. My body felt more aligned. It was the first time in years that movement felt like healing instead of punishment.
I added free park training, free yoga, and eventually completed a Certificate in Personal Training (which I later upskilled to become a certified holistic fitness and nutrition coach to begin to offer online coaching programs). I coached junior rugby and Australian football — including the very first female team of the Palmyra Demons, a memory I hold close.
In my late 30s, I found bodybuilding. I added hot yoga, barre, and reformer Pilates to support my flexibility. At 48, I became a professional bikini bodybuilding athlete. Something I am still doing now.
Movement had returned — but this time, on my terms.
🧘♀️ The Instructor Journey: From India to Myaree
After triathlons, I felt called to yoga. I travelled to Kerala, India, and spent four days beginning my instructor journey. I loved it.
But when I returned home, I saw a special on a Certificate IV in Pilates. Without hesitation, I enrolled.
During COVID, I completed my training with Breathe Education. I visited every local studio trying to find one that aligned with my personality — but none felt right. So I looked into subleasing a space.
One week before graduation, I found a beautiful second-level studio in Myaree. I painted walls, laid floating floors, installed mirrors, furnished the space… and the day after I graduated, I held my first open day.
We stayed in that studio for three years before I made the decision to close the doors and move into community halls — Kadidjini Park Hall in Melville and Waylen Scouts in Ardross.
💛 Why I Started Making Time For You Pilates
Because Pilates changed my life.
It helped me rebuild after injury.
It restored my posture.
It strengthened my spine, hips and ankles — which I now haven’t rolled one in over 20 years, nor been to the chiropractor in over 10.
It supports my bodybuilding career.
It gave me community, confidence, and calm.
And I wanted to give that to others.
Making Time For You Pilates has never been about being “busy.” It’s about being meaningful. Whether it’s a full class or just you and me, the session always runs — and it’s always a good one.
I’ve watched Pilates change countless lives, just as it changed mine.
Whatever instinct made me choose Pilates over yoga that day… I’m forever grateful for it.
🌱 Looking Ahead
We’re not going anywhere.
This studio — whether in a hall, a room, or a future space — exists because movement heals, community matters, and every person deserves time for themselves.
This is why I started Making Time For You Pilates.
Because movement saved me, and now I get to help it save others.
If my story resonates with you — the resilience, the rebuilding, the belief that movement can change a life — I’d love to welcome you into the Making Time For You Pilates community. Whether you’re starting again, starting fresh, or simply needing a space that puts you first, my classes are here for you. Your journey matters, your wellbeing matters, and there will always be a mat waiting with your name on it.
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