PDD Team

CAITLIN KOLB, OWNER (she/her)

“I love working with beginners, people who’ve been afraid to move, or anyone who wants to feel ‘unstuck.’ We can always find something that works for you.”

Specialties: self-care, mindfulness, recovering from injury, managing stress, trauma-sensitivity, working alongside physical therapy, beginners, finding ease in your body and life

Caitlin Kolb is the founder and owner of Pilates Done Differently and The Movement Care Collective. She specializes in post-rehab care and is known throughout the Bay Area for her unique approach to therapeutic Pilates.

At her core, Caitlin is a helper. She sees Pilates, movement, and breathwork as doorways to healing, honoring wisdom in the details and power in simplicity. With a deep knowledge of the body and a holistic approach, Caitlin uses movement as a way to help people create change in their lives.

Caitlin has been teaching Pilates since 2005 and mentors other professionals who want to learn from her methodical, trauma-informed approach. She shares her expertise with the Bay Area community through workshops at hospitals, nonprofits, movement studios, and more. Her ability to read bodies and artfully move her clients through pain-free sequencing comes from her Body Arts and Sciences International Pilates certification (BASI), background in personal training and functional movement, and years as a professional dancer with Robert Moses’ Kin. Having mentored with leading physical therapists, Caitlin’s detailed work is a perfect complement to physical therapy or other treatment. She also incorporates neuroscience principles based on continuing education and mentorship.

Caitlin’s curious and supportive style is particularly powerful for people who are recovering from injury, managing chronic pain, or who’ve felt out of place in the traditional movement community. In a world that usually focuses on appearance, performance, and going faster and harder, Caitlin creates a slow and therapeutic space for healing. With foundational training with the Academy for Coaching Excellence (ACE), she uses a coaching approach to help her clients find clarity about what truly matters to them and take clear steps toward it. The work goes much deeper than Pilates choreography — with Caitlin, it’s about feeling more at home in your body and fulfilled in your life.

TINGZIN ELLIS, INSTRUCTOR (she/her)

“I bring curiosity and a sense of humor to my teaching. Let’s throw away perfectionism and find what really works for you.”

Specialties: low back pain, postpartum, feet, pelvic floor, perimenopause and menopause, healthy aging, breathwork

Tingzin has been bringing her compassionate and curious Pilates teaching to the Bay Area community since 2008. She first discovered Pilates in 1993, seeking healing after a life-changing injury. Since then, Pilates has become a lifelong practice, helping her manage anxiety, feel more ease in her body, and unlock the power of her breath.

She finds joy in holding space for her clients to explore and become more present and connected to their bodies. A lifelong learner, understanding the human body is a curiosity that drives her endless study of anatomy, biomechanics, and neuromechanics.

Tingzin specializes in helping people release patterns of chronic pain, especially in the lower back, feet, and pelvic floor. Breathwork is a foundational part of her teaching, where she draws from her strong personal meditation and breathwork practice. Tingzin loves working with older adults, with a strong focus on what you can do rather than what’s holding you back. Her own personal experience with perimenopause and menopause showed her how much the body can shift over time. She holds true that movement practices are about feeling strong and happy in your body, not about appearance or performance. In that way, Tingzin believes every body is a “Pilates body.”

Tingzin was certified in the Pilates Method through Balanced Body University in 2008 and completed her CoreAlign training in 2019. She has special training in the field of Foot and Gait Therapy and with working with the older adult population.

After years teaching at Spring, Mission Creek Pilates, and Blue Sparrow, in 2016 Tingzin was introduced to Caitlin and the Pilates Done Differently community. She was immediately drawn to the sense of community, deep respect for clients, and nontraditional approach.

Tingzin wants her clients to feel safe, respected, and taken seriously. With no agenda, Tingzin encourages her clients to throw away perfectionism and release any worry about “getting it right.” With an open mind and commitment to experimenting, working toward your movement goals can be enjoyable and fun.

KARLA QUINTERO, INSTRUCTOR (she/her)

Karla Quintero is a Pilates instructor and dancer who believes that the wisdom we hold in our bodies can support physical and emotional wellbeing. She brings her unique experience with somatics and the performing arts to her Pilates clients, equipping them with tools to observe and understand how they move. Through this process, clients gain the ability to identify and shift restrictive movement patterns, fostering a greater sense of freedom and vitality in their bodies.

Karla trained with Caitlin Kolb and Tingzin Ellis, two pioneers in the therapeutic Pilates field. In addition to her work at Pilates Done Differently, Karla teaches at The Movement Care Collective nonprofit to increase Pilates access for the Bay Area's Spanish-speaking population. She also teaches mat classes at San Francisco’s H3 Fitness gym.