Carving out some time to focus on the here and now set the tone for Sarah Whitmore Boe’s present and future, the owner and founder of three—soon to be four—local Pilates studios explained.
“My journey to it was really during a time of change in my life. I got sober 10 years ago and really found my daily presence on one of these XFormer machines, which is the machine that we use,” Boe said, referring to the specific type of Pilates reformers that line Ritual Reform’s floorspace at each of the company’s locations.
“I fell in love with the format,” she continued. “It was a huge contributing factor to that very precious time in my life and getting to meet a new part of myself that I had not met before.”
Compared to traditional Pilates, the XFormer method is “a much more challenging, strength-based approach,” according to Boe, who runs Ritual Reform studios in San Luis Obispo, Templeton, and Santa Maria.
She opened the latter in mid-September and plans to open her fourth location in Arroyo Grande sometime before January 2026.
“People sort of relate classical Pilates to rehabilitation and stretching. You won’t find that with us,” Boe said. “There’s very fast transitions. You don’t stop moving for the whole 50 minutes. There’s no breaks. … It feels like more of a workout.”
“This is not to knock classical Pilates at all,” she clarified. “There is absolutely a need for that. … It serves its purpose, for a huge majority of the population. We just find that there’s people who want a little more intensity, and that’s who come over to us.”
Boe said that her studios also get a good amount of patrons who have never tried any form of Pilates prior to leaping straight into Ritual Reform’s XFormer approach.
“Because we’re sort of framed as a more challenging workout, it can feel really intimidating to come through our doors, and we really want to assure everybody that we are welcoming and approachable, and that this workout is totally possible for anybody,” she told the Sun. “You do not have to have fitness experience or be super in shape to come and do this. We are prepared to serve all levels. … Yes, it is challenging. Yes, it will be hard, and it is totally possible for anybody to come in and do.”
One of Boe’s favorite examples is about someone close to her who made Ritual Reform a weekly ritual.
“My mom is 69. She’s had a major back fusion, and she’s doing our workout three days a week,” Boe said.
Originally from Santa Barbara, Boe was living in Los Angeles when she tried the XFormer method for the first time.
“This format is really big in big cities. It has just never come to the Central Coast before,” she said. “When I moved back to the Central Coast, I was so upset to leave this format, because it did not exist here.”
Before envisioning her eventual path toward starting Ritual Reform, Boe said that she “kind of waited, just hoping that somebody else would do it.”
“I was working as a therapist at the time,” said Boe, who has a master’s degree in clinical psychology. “Eventually I just realized we have got to do this. Nobody’s doing it. I missed this workout so much.”
Within six months of debuting her first Ritual Reform location in Templeton in 2023, Boe opened her second spot in San Luis Obispo.
“The demand was so high. So it’s just grown from there,” Boe said. “We just realized the Central Coast was really hungry for this, so we moved quickly.”
Highlight
• The Lompoc Public Library recently installed a new drop-off box to help collect donations for the Lompoc Food Pantry. Canned fruits, vegetables, proteins, and soups are welcome, as well as rice, pasta, cereal, peanut butter, and other items to benefit local families facing food insecurity. Call (805) 875-8775 for more details. The library is located at 501 E. North Ave., Lompoc.
Reach Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 6 – Nov 13, 2025.