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Carla Mullins boasts being one of the early adopters of pilates in the early 1990s, so could be described as an Australian pioneer in the alternative medical practice.Carla remembers, “It started because I personally had very poor health. I lost use of my motor control. I was having epileptic seizures every day, and I was having severe immune response. My neurologist in Sydney had sent me to see a movement teacher — a new ‘cult’ called pilates in 1993. At that point, no one had actually heard of it.” One of the three studios in the country happened to be located nearby, so off she went to try it.

Carla demonstrated a strong commitment to her movement and strengthening classes, attending three times a week for two years. As a result, she had regained her health, was medication free, and began working in Sydney as a lawyer once again. But in 1998, after being questioned about her long-term career goals, Carla realised her destiny and desires lay elsewhere.

Although she was drawn back to Brisbane due her father’s terminal illness, she brought with her an unwavering desire to set up her own pilates studio. “I first looked at New Farm, and decided it was a little Sydney-like, quite mainstream. So then I came to West End, and I saw a man walk across the street wearing a full Indian headdress and no shoes, and I thought, ‘This is definitely the place for me.’”‘Body Organics’ was born in an old church on Dornoch Terrace. According to Carla, business became increasingly busy, soon encouraging her to expand her practice to include physiotherapy, osteopathy, naturopathy and massage, eventually leading her to a historic building on Ambleside Street. “I immediately fell in love with it, and tried to restore it as respectfully as I could, given its history. Some of the rooms were horses’ stables in the 1800s.”