Inclusivity

Julia Cox (Haptonstahl) has been a practitioner of Pilates since it was introduced to her as a dance student at age 14. She attended Northern Illinois University on scholarship majoring in dance as well as studying anatomy of movement at Columbia College in Chicago. Julia danced professionally in MOMENTA Dance Company as a young adult in Oak Park, Chicago, Austria, the Art Institute of Chicago and performed fire dancing in the Chicago area. In 2020 Julia was nominated for a 3Arts Award and in 2021 she was one of the recipients of the 3Arts Make a Wave grant for Chicago artists. In the later months of 2021, Julia collaborated with composer, Rylan Gleave, and created a new dance work. She currently is a disabled dancer and choreographer with MOMENTA Dance Company and co-teaches Every Body Can Dance Workshops with MOMENTA throughout the year. 

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Teaching Pilates since 2010, Julia completed the rigorous 750 hour Pilates Teacher Training program at Village Pilates Studio in Oak Park, IL in February 2013. She has been classically trained in Pilates on all apparatus and all fitness levels under Regan Zubak and Cameron Jarrett. Julia completed her Pilates Method Alliance (NCPT®) Teacher Certification in April 2013. She keeps up with her Continuing Education Credits to stay updated on changes in the field. Currently she is enrolled in a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training through YogaRenew.

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In July 2018 Julia received her Pilates Master’s in, “The Science and Psychology of Teaching” through the guidance of Master Teachers Chantill Lopez NCPT® founder of Skillful Teaching and Anne Bishop NCPT®, EdM founder of Body Brain Connect. She continued to work with them on their Master’s Plus Program throughout the next year.

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Training with exceptional and experienced teachers in Pilates and dance, Julia utilizes her lifelong experiences in movement and health to teach people to move intelligently with a sense of purpose, while providing a guidance of how the body moves anatomically. She teaches students to be able to take ownership of their movement practice, guiding them to gain a greater sense of body and mental awareness. Julia has a unique intuition and intelligence of visual and spatial understanding to see the body as a whole when teaching students. Teaching to the whole person is essential in one’s movement and teaching journey. Teaching to a body is just not enough. She hopes to help her students meet their goals while creating a positive, challenging and motivating movement experience! 

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Although in her thirties, Julia has endured many difficult health experiences. After multiple surgeries and other health issues that have created setbacks, the teaching and personal practice of Pilates and somatic types of practices have always brought her back to life! Her main research in her master's program dived deeply into teaching with the understanding of the vagus nerve and working on regulating the autonomic nervous system. Her current practices in her daily life involve retraining her nervous system after being diagnosed with complex post traumatic stress disorder, functional neurological disorder, and fibromyalgia. She has a passion for learning about the relationship of the body and mind, and regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Her body has taken a liking to more of a restorative approach to fitness, which is why she has focused on the Pilates and Yoga route in her teaching. Steel mace (weighted exercise) practice has also been found helpful to help work through difficult emotions while gaining strength.

 

Julia loves to teach people of many backgrounds. She has a special interest in teaching dancers, athletes, people with endometriosis, pelvic floor dysfunction, chronic pain, people with disabilities, previous or current injuries in general as well as exploration of the unknowns of what the body can do. Regular movement practice has proven to be a lifesaver for her mind and body. She hopes the good health and happiness she has experienced through her practice of movement will be a source of inspiration for her own students.