The Pilates aficionados of New York City have a new “It” class in their wheelhouse — and getting a spot on the reformer might be harder than snagging a table at Torrisi.
After teaching at Forma Pilates, the other in demand, referral-based Pilates studio in New York, 28-year-old Georgia Wood Murphy has opened Tera Studio & Pilates Club in downtown Manhattan. After an initial few months in a temporary space, Tera has officially opened its doors in its permanent studio, the address of which, just like the class spots, is invite-only.
Wood Murphy, who was born in Australia and raised outside of Dallas, got into Pilates after college while living in Houston. “I became obsessed with the movement,” she says.
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All the while, Wood Murphy was working for Accenture; prior to the pandemic, she’d traveled Monday through Thursday each week, as is common for young consultants, and it wasn’t until she was grounded during the pandemic that she felt herself needing a creative outlet.
She started teaching at her Houston studio before relocating to New York City, where she wanted to try teaching to meet new people. She completed the New York Pilates studio certification program and soon started teaching at Forma.
The idea for Tera began last May when Wood Murphy transitioned into teaching Pilates full time.
“That decision itself was really challenging, honestly — I was going from a stable salary job where I felt very comfortable financially, into something that was kind of a gamble. I was taking a massive pay cut and the hours are more up and down, I am working weekends, all that,” she says. “That decision was a really hard one, but I justified it and decided to move forward with teaching full time.”
She got married in October and while on her honeymoon started to craft the concept for Tera. Wood Murphy felt confident she could use her corporate background to create a solid business plan and had a strong sense of how she wanted to brand the studio, having learned from the three other Pilates studios she worked at.
“I had learned what I wanted to do with mine, what I didn’t want to do, where things worked, where things didn’t work. I basically worked for my competitors in New York for two-and-a-half years,” she says.
Classes at Tera are kept on the small side, with just six reformers, to allow for a “private, intimate Pilates community where like-minded people can be surrounded by one another and just come to work hard,” Wood Murphy says.
The classes are more challenging than the average Pilates class you might stumble into, but approachable. The most experienced of Pilates-goers will find themselves working hard, yet a newbie could easily participate just as well.
In addition to the workout itself, the aesthetic of the Tera world is important to Wood Murphy. The branding is done in this year’s beloved oxblood shade, with a seating space decorated with coffee table books, lit candles and fresh flowers.
“When we were initially creating Tera, I wasn’t looking to Pilates studios or really any other fitness studio, honestly, for inspiration. Our inspiration behind the branding is driven from more of a fashion perspective, which I think is pretty different from any other workout experience in the city,” Wood Murphy says.
This summer she is teaching partially in the Hamptons, and in August, Tera will launch an app, partially to allow access to those unable to get into class and partially to accommodate the clients who are on the go, be it traveling over the holidays or off on adventures this fall.
“Yes, you could say we’re exclusive. You need a referral to be able to get in, but once you’re in, you’re a part of it and you’re a part of our community. And that doesn’t just stop when you leave the doors,” Wood Murphy says. “People run into each other out on the street or go to dinner together. It’s more than just a Pilates class.”
