john cafiero

pilates instructor

To me, moving well means relishing​ movement rather than dreading it.
I was an active child until I discovered reading and became a lifelong bookworm. I studied literature and became a writer and editor. In my forties, my years of sedentary habits and work caught up with me in the form of lower back and pelvic floor issues. Physical therapy reminded me that I have a body and piqued my interest in how it works. I realized that movement is fundamental to life. Pilates taught me that getting strong and learning to move well can be a pleasure, even a delight, and I decided to make it my job. 

As a writer, you learn that everyone has a story. The same is true for the body: every body has a movement story. This idea informs my teaching. In each session, I try to understand where my students are in their movement stories, challenge them to turn the next page or start the next chapter, and make the whole thing interesting and fun. 

In the end, I’ve found in movement what I've always sought in literature: an expression of what it's like to be a human being. My ultimate goal is to help each client, through movement, to more deeply inhabit their own humanity.

Outside of Pilates, I spend my time reading, writing, and making bad jokes with my wife, Sarah, and our two boys. Sarah and I own Rooted Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (conveniently located in the same building as Centerline Movement!). I’m also an aspiring playwright and member of Old Pueblo Playwrights and an occasional graphic designer.
When you unlock better movement, a new world opens up to you. After finishing my Pilates training, I hope to add other disciplines to my teacher’s toolkit, and here my curiosity is endless: TRX®, The Gyrotonic Method®, yoga, martial arts, dance, gymnastics, improv, MovNat (Natural Movement Fitness). Stay tuned to find out what I explore next!

My teaching style is relaxed, engaged, and encouraging. I don't believe that fitness training should feel punitive. Pilates allow us to indulge in movements and sensations that we may deprive ourselves of in everyday life.

To me, moving well means relishing movement and effort rather than dreading it. When something needs to be lifted, pushed, pulled, walked to, climbed on, or crouched under--being up for it, every time. I can't say it better than Joe Pilates himself: "...naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure."
John always challenges me, starting out super-easy and gently—and then with baby steps—getting progressively more difficult.

​Throughout, he's encouraging and supportive. Even his corrections seem like a compliment—I LOVE that!

— CLAUDIA, CENTERLINE PILATES STUDENT
John is delightful, incredibly intelligent, and engaged. He really listens, and is able to meet you where you are.

He doesn't have any attitude of superiority. He's WITH you in the session, and there's fluidity and a wonderful feeling of collaborating together. 

— JULIE R, CENTERLINE PILATES STUDENT
I think John's biggest strength as a teacher is his willingness to learn and adapt. He goes beyond the session to think of ways to support any injury or imbalance and devise homework for me. He genuinely wants to provide the best experience for me each time and I greatly appreciate that. 

I remember early on, when I found one particular exercise to be almost too difficult for me to do. John spent the next 10 minutes having me do the same exercise, but in a smaller way, so that we could really understand where the issue was coming from. I felt so supported and heard in that moment, and it also motivated me to be more aware of my own body.

​John is always thinking about the movement that I am doing. He is engaged. And his own fascination with and interest in Pilates comes through in every workout. 

— SARAH C, CENTERLINE PILATES STUDENT

JOIN ME!
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Pilates Classes:
Mondays @ 1:30 p.m.
Mondays @ 2:30 p.m.
​Private Pilates Sessions:
by appointment