The great houses that stand on High Street bring a sense of strength to the main route through Newburyport, remaining stable and sturdy over hundreds of years.

But the 200-year-old carriage house situated behind 73 High St. not only represents lasting strength — it teaches and promotes strength inside.

This is the home of Progressive Bodyworks Inc., a state-of-the-art Pilates studio run by master trainer Clare Dunphy, who lives in the main house on the property.

"Pilates is like sculpting with clay," Dunphy said. "Underneath that clay or rock, there's a beautiful piece of work."

Walking into the studio, a large, glass door reads "physical training for the mind and body." Inside, polished wooden beams and floorboards sparkle with age, bringing a sharp contrast to the hospital-like contraptions that furnish the room.

The studio, which offers private lessons, as well as teacher training and certification, houses several pieces of Pilates equipment, including two "reformers," a "Cadillac," "high chair" and "barrel." Invented by German fitness creator Joseph Pilates, Dunphy said many of the pieces of apparatus were modeled after hospital equipment of the early 20th century. And each, she said, has the ability to target several different parts of the body.

Pilates, Dunphy explained, is a "low- to no-impact" form of physical fitness aimed at improving and correcting aspects of health that she believes other aerobic or athletic programs often fail to develop, including poor blood circulation, body and breath control, alignment, joint flexibility, core strength, as well as stretching and strengthening the spine.

"(Pilates) really retools everything," she said. "It reshapes the body."

With its emphasis on exercises that stress concentration and the ability to put mind over matter, Pilates, she added, can be practiced by all ages. "It's good for every body," she said.

A physical education undergraduate at Northeastern University in Boston, Dunphy began teaching fitness in 1981, becoming interested in proper body alignment and methods for the aging population to stay in shape.

After reading several articles about Pilates in the mid-1990s, she traveled to New York City to study the art of contrology, the name Joseph Pilates gave his fitness method as it focuses on the mind's ability to control the body's muscles.

"I was blown away," she said. "I had run the gamut with everything in fitness, but I had never seen people move so well."

With two years of training and practice in New York City under her belt, Dunphy returned to Boston, where she moved around several Pilates studios before eventually opening one of her own.

"(Pilates) just captured my imagination," she said. "I thought I really understood placement and alignment; it humbled me."

Once she migrated to Newburyport in 2002, Dunphy saw an opportunity to expand her business in the old carriage house behind her home, a place that, at the time, housed nothing but cars.

With the help of local artist, Titus Blade, Dunphy restored the carriage house, transforming it into a workout space that has gone on to train Pilates teachers from across the globe, helping them hone the precision and craft of the fitness program and its instruction. Dunphy also offers $100-an-hour private sessions.

"Teachers are always learning," said Dunphy, who also writes Pilates instructional material and provides "quality assurance" for Pilates education worldwide.

Despite the patchwork of gold and pink squares that color the ceiling and the matching wooden Pilates equipment, Dunphy's carriage house-turned-studio maintains much of its historic integrity, with the original wood walls and stalls standing as an example of strength to all those who pass through.

"This place is really special," she said.

PILATES AT A GLANCE

Created by Joseph Pilates, a gymnast, boxer, circus performer and fitness trainer who lived from 1880 to 1967.

Came to America in 1926 when Pilates opened a studio in New York City.

Focuses on the ability of the mind to control the muscles of the body.

Key factors include breath and body control as well as body alignment and precision.

A low- to no-impact form of physical fitness.

Popular for individuals in rehabilitation as well as many actors and performers, but designed for all ages and levels.