Recognized by Fitness Living Magazine™ For building a private classical Pilates studio in Los Angeles where every session is one-on-one, opens with breathwork, and closes with a short meditation.
Classical Pilates changed that. Today he and his wife, Jaime, run West Hollywood Pilates at Highland and Melrose in Los Angeles, a private studio where every client trains one-on-one in a slower, more mindful style that he says is just as hard as any workout he has done.
“Pilates is something that the better you get at it, the harder it gets. The more you know about it, the more there is to know about it.”Yonatan Elkayam / West Hollywood Pilates
The first thing clients notice is the calm. The studio’s common area has 40-foot ceilings, natural light, and plenty of plants, and despite the traffic outside, Yonatan says, people often tell him they feel serene the moment they walk in.
They also notice how every session begins and ends. Each opens with two to three minutes of breathwork and closes with a short meditation. Yonatan says the breath makes the whole session more potent, while the stillness lets the nervous system relax and the body absorb the work.
And they notice the pace. Classical Pilates moves more slowly and mindfully than a typical modern class, and many clients discover that slow is not the same as easy.
Yonatan Elkayam co-founded West Hollywood Pilates with his wife, Jaime, after classical Pilates helped him recover from years of sports injuries. He teaches privately, at a slower and more mindful pace, with breath at the center of every session, and his goal is for each client to leave better than they arrived.
A Private Studio Built for One Client at a Time
West Hollywood Pilates describes its work simply: one-on-one classical Pilates, and no group classes, ever. For people looking for private Pilates in West Hollywood and the Los Angeles neighborhoods around it, that promise defines the experience. Yonatan Elkayam and his wife, Jaime, built the studio around the belief that Pilates works best when a teacher can respond to the single body in front of them.
West Hollywood Pilates is a private classical Pilates studio at 717 N. Highland Ave. in Los Angeles, near Melrose Avenue, founded by Yonatan and Jaime Elkayam.
Every session is one-on-one on Balanced Body’s full Contrology line, opening with breathwork and closing with a short meditation, and Jaime leads the studio’s functional movement side.
Clients range from their 30s to their 80s, and new clients can start with a $65 intro session or a free 15-minute intro call.
Music has been at the center of Yonatan’s life for three decades, and fitness was always part of it: swimming, the gym, yoga, and eventually CrossFit and Olympic lifting. He credits CrossFit with teaching him a great deal, but its competitive push left him injured, and for a performer who relied on his body for work, those injuries mattered.
When he first tried Pilates in group classes, the teacher wore a microphone, the music was loud, and the pace was fast. He never felt he understood the machines, the springs, or where he should feel each exercise, and everyone around him seemed to love something he simply did not get.
Inside the One-on-One Classical Method
This profile looks at how a musician and actor who kept getting hurt found classical Pilates, and how he and his wife built a private Los Angeles studio around it.
Three decades in music, a string of sports injuries, and a turn to classical Pilates at Equinox in 2019.
A greeting at the door, a conversation about goals and injuries, an assessment, and a plan built together.
Clients from their 30s to their 80s, including older adults, dancers, athletes, and group-class regulars.
From Stage and Screen to Classical Pilates
About eight years ago, he met Jaime, who was then managing the trainers at Equinox. Yonatan wanted steadier daytime work he could combine with gigs and acting classes, and his aunt, who had studied classical Pilates at Equinox, kept urging him to try it. He enrolled in 2019 and, according to the studio’s website, trained under Carrie Samper, who was certified by Romana Kryzanowska, one of Joseph Pilates’ best-known students.
Classical Pilates turned out to be the opposite of what had scared him off. It helped him fix the injuries in his shoulders, lower back, and ankles, and the deeper he went, the more there was to learn. He was drawn to the history of Joseph Pilates, who called his method Contrology, the study of controlling mind and body, and to the idea that the apparatus exists to lead clients back to the mat, which he considers the highest level of the work.
A Studio Born From a Coaching Practice
He finished his training as the pandemic began. Jaime moved in, and with time on their hands, the couple started studying Reiki, an energy-healing practice. According to the studio’s website, both are now Usui Reiki Masters and certified breathwork facilitators. When a couple in their community, headed toward divorce, asked for help, they built a program that began with breathwork, moved into classical Pilates, and continued with coaching, Reiki, and sound healing.
By Yonatan’s account, that couple came out with a stronger marriage than ever, and the blueprint became Word of Mouth, the Elkayams’ coaching business. People found the mix hard to grasp, so Pilates got its own name. West Hollywood Pilates and Word of Mouth now share the same walls and are open to the same clients, and the holistic thinking shows up in every Pilates session Yonatan teaches.
An Hour That Belongs to One Person
Most new clients find West Hollywood Pilates through its website and book an intro session there. Yonatan greets them at the door and leads them up two flights of stairs, past the common area, to the Pilates studio: a full classical setup from Balanced Body’s Contrology line, with a reformer, Cadillac, Wunda Chair, ladder barrel, arm chair, ped-o-pul, barrels, and magic circles.
Then they sit down together. Yonatan asks about goals, injuries, tightness, whether the client sits or stands all day, and what they want Pilates to help them do. A rigorous assessment of core strength, stability, and flexibility follows, and together they build a plan for moving forward. He walks them out at the end, and most clients start coming back two or three times a week.
Quality Over Quantity
The biggest challenge in building the studio, Yonatan says, has been working against the current of the industry. Much of the Pilates world, in his view, focuses on quantity: ten or twelve reformers in a room and as many people as possible through the door. He sees value in group classes and respects teachers who hold that space well, but he believes many people arrive unprepared for them and miss much of what the method offers.
West Hollywood Pilates takes the opposite approach. It is a premium, one-on-one service, and there is never a second private session running in the same room. His work, as he describes it, is showing people that the value lies in quality rather than in more.
West Hollywood Pilates matters because it gives people who felt rushed, unsafe, or lost in group classes an unhurried hour of expert attention, where the breath sets the pace.
What West Hollywood Pilates Offers
Based on the interview and the official website, West Hollywood Pilates serves adults of all ages, from beginners to dancers and athletes, through private instruction taught by its two owners.
Who West Hollywood Pilates May Be a Good Fit For
Yonatan’s clients range from people in their 30s to an 84-year-old, and include professional dancers and athletes.
Older adults and anyone who wants to keep moving freely, whether that means playing with their kids, traveling, or doing the activities they love, may value unhurried private sessions built around their goals.
People who found fast group classes intimidating, or who are new to Pilates, can learn the equipment and the method one-on-one. Anyone with an injury or a medical condition should check with a physician first.
People who already take group Pilates and want more from it may use private sessions to understand the method, find their own tempo, and learn the breathwork.
“I had a really great session. Yonatan is a next level instructor who challenges you while being fully engaged with where you’re at. The vibe of the room with super high ceilings is inspiring and he’s incredibly knowledgeable about the mind/body nature of breath and movement. Very inspiring.”
Taking the Stairs as a Warm-Up
Yonatan’s oldest client is 84. Her doctor found the studio for her because he wanted her to move more.
When she first arrived and saw the two flights of stairs, she told Yonatan she did not walk stairs and was not sure she could do this. He suggested she think of the stairs as her warm-up.
A year later, by his account, she climbs both flights at a good pace. She recently told him that her doctor said she was in better health than she had been in a long time.
She also told him she had measured an inch taller after four or five years at 4 feet 11, putting her, in her words, back in the five-foot club. For Yonatan, that is the point of the work: giving people the ability to live their lives to the fullest.
A Family-Run Studio
The team is Yonatan and his wife, Jaime, and every session is taught by one of them. Yonatan teaches classical Pilates; Jaime, whom the website describes as a functional movement coach and Reiki Master with more than 15 years of experience, leads the studio’s functional movement side.
Why This Matters Locally
Los Angeles has no shortage of fast, crowded fitness options. At Highland and Melrose, a block from the West Hollywood border, West Hollywood Pilates offers something different: a light-filled studio where the city’s noise drops away and the hour belongs to one person. According to its website, it serves clients from Melrose, Beverly Grove, Hancock Park, Larchmont, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and nearby neighborhoods.
For people searching for private or classical Pilates in Los Angeles, the studio offers owner-taught sessions, a full classical apparatus, and a philosophy its website frames around how clients will move in twenty years rather than how sore they feel tomorrow.
Clients From Their 30s to Their 80s
Yonatan’s clients include professional dancers and athletes as well as older adults relearning their bodies. One client in his 70s could not get up off the floor when they began; today, Yonatan says, he travels often and stands and dances at concerts for hours.
Questions Readers Ask
Who Is Yonatan Elkayam?
Yonatan Elkayam is the co-founder of West Hollywood Pilates in Los Angeles, which he runs with his wife, Jaime. A professional musician, actor, and filmmaker, he began his classical Pilates training at Equinox in 2019 under Carrie Samper and now teaches private classical Pilates.
What Does This West Hollywood Pilates Los Angeles Review Highlight?
This Spotlight follows Yonatan’s path from performer to classical Pilates teacher, the coaching practice that led to the studio, its one-client-at-a-time model, the first-visit experience, its services, and how to take a first step.
Where Is West Hollywood Pilates Located?
According to its website, the studio is at 717 N. Highland Ave., Suite 6, Los Angeles, CA 90038, near the corner of Highland and Melrose.
Does West Hollywood Pilates Offer Group Classes?
No. Every session is private and one-on-one, and only one session runs in the studio at a time.
Does West Hollywood Pilates Offer Virtual Sessions?
Yes. Yonatan teaches some clients virtually over Zoom, in addition to private sessions at the studio.
What Is the Best First Step for a New Client?
Start at westhollywoodpilates.com, where first-time clients can book a $65 intro session or a free 15-minute intro call with Yonatan. The website also lists pricing, reviews, and an FAQ.
Key Takeaways
West Hollywood Pilates is a private classical Pilates studio at Highland and Melrose, founded by Yonatan and Jaime Elkayam, with no group classes.
Yonatan turned to classical Pilates after years of sports injuries as a performer, beginning his training at Equinox in 2019.
Every session opens with breathwork and closes with a short meditation so the body and mind can settle.
Clients range from their 30s to 84, including dancers, athletes, and older adults who want to keep moving freely.
Conclusion
West Hollywood Pilates grew out of a performer’s search for a way to move without getting hurt, a pandemic that gave a young couple time to rethink their work, and a belief that Pilates is best taught to one person at a time. The result is a studio where the pace is slower, the attention is complete, and the work is still hard.
What Yonatan wants people to take away is that classical Pilates keeps giving back the deeper you go. For clients at Highland and Melrose, that may be the real value of West Hollywood Pilates: an hour that belongs entirely to them, and a body that keeps getting stronger long after it.
Yonatan Elkayam
A professional musician and actor who found classical Pilates after years of sports injuries, Yonatan teaches one client at a time in a studio he built with his wife, Jaime.
Yonatan Elkayam is the co-founder of West Hollywood Pilates, a private classical Pilates studio in Los Angeles that he runs with his wife, Jaime. A professional musician for three decades, as well as an actor and filmmaker, he came to classical Pilates after years of sports injuries. He began his training at Equinox in 2019 under Carrie Samper, in a lineage that traces back through Romana Kryzanowska to Joseph Pilates. According to the studio’s website, he is also an Usui Reiki Master and a certified breathwork facilitator, and Balanced Body published his essay “A Letter To Joe” on its blog. With Jaime, he also co-founded Word of Mouth, a coaching practice that shares the studio’s home.
Yonatan’s philosophy is that Pilates should be taught to the person in front of him. He favors quality over quantity, slower and more mindful movement, and breath as the thread that connects body and mind. His goal is for every client to leave better than they arrived.
His values include presence, patience, safety, and authenticity to the classical method. West Hollywood Pilates specializes in private classical Pilates on the full apparatus, Pilates for beginners, back pain, adults over 50, and pregnancy and postpartum, functional movement coaching with Jaime, and virtual sessions.
About This Spotlight
Fitness Living Magazine™ selected this Spotlight for Yonatan Elkayam’s path from performer to classical Pilates teacher, a studio model built on one client at a time, sessions framed by breath and stillness, and a clientele that spans from people in their 30s to their 80s.
Part of the Fitness Living Magazine™ Local Fitness Leadership Series, this profile documents an independent private Pilates studio through a recorded interview, a client-approved draft, and material supplied by the business.
Yonatan Elkayam’s recorded October 27, 2026 interview with Fitness Living Magazine™ is the foundation of this Spotlight. The official West Hollywood Pilates website supported its address, booking, intro offer, credentials, and services.
This feature is editorial content and is not medical advice. Descriptions of training, studio experience, and client experiences reflect Yonatan Elkayam’s account, a supplied client review, and current public business information; they do not establish guaranteed results. Individual experiences vary, and readers should consult appropriate healthcare professionals before beginning a new exercise program, especially if they have an injury, are pregnant or postpartum, or have a medical condition.
