Classes and Instructors
Get to Know Group Exercise at Willamalane
Willamalane’s group exercise program includes a variety of cardio, strength, flexibility, and water fitness classes designed for all fitness levels. Check-in at the front desk before class to scan your membership card or pay a drop-in fee. Schedules and class offerings are updated monthly. See the current schedule for locations, class descriptions, and instructors.
Class Descriptions
Cardio
Active Exercise: Improve your strength, flexibility, and cardio fitness. This class includes standing and floor exercises. Equipment: Mat, dumbbells, bands, 9-inch ball. Instructor: Sasha.
Beyond Basics Line Dance: Learn a fun, aerobic social dance with challenging and dynamic choreography. Dance to a wide range of musical genres. Previous line dance experience suggested. Instructor: Lila.
HIIT & Tone II: Build cardiovascular fitness and improve endurance with this challenging full-body workout. HIIT & Tone II is a moderate-intensity class/ Equipment: dumbbells, mat. Instructor: Kelley on Mondays, Karra on Wednesdays.
Intermediate/Advanced Line Dance: Step up to the challenge with this intermediate/advanced class. Learn tags, restarts, dances in contra, and phrased dances. Previous line dance experience suggested. Instructor: Lila.
Zumba®: Get down, feel great! Let the music free your body. The ultimate dance-fitness party will groove you into shape. Instructor: Johanna.
Zumba® Gold: A fabulously fun fitness program based on exciting Latin and international dance styles. This is a low to moderate-intensity class. Instructor: Johonna.
Strength
Better Bones and Balance: Enjoy floor exercises and strength training in this class created by Oregon State University, using research on what helps prevent osteopenia and osteoporosis. This advanced class is the next level after Strong Bones Strong Body. It includes both standing and floor exercises. Equipment: Mat, dumbbells, bands, and a 9-inch ball. Instructor: Cindy.
Body Sculpt: Strengthen your core, tone your muscles, improve your balance, and stretch! Equipment: mat, dumbbells. Instructor: Johonna on Mondays, Kelley on Wednesdays.
Core Yoga: Build awareness of and strengthen your core muscles. Equipment: mat. Instructor: Amber on Wednesdays, Anna Kay on Fridays.
Forever Fit: Make daily activities easier with this low-impact aerobics, strength, and balance class. Standing and chair exercises. Equipment: dumbbells, bands, and a 9-inch ball. Instructor: Kathy.
Group Training: Personal trainers will lead these group circuit training sessions that focus on strength, balance, cardio, and flexibility in the fitness center at Bob Keefer Center. Classes meet on multi-purpose courts 3 and 4. Instructor: Dave.
Silver Fitness: Increase strength and range of movement and improve daily living with this fun class. Great for older adults or those with exercise limitations. Standing and chair exercises. Equipment: dumbbells, bands, 9-inch ball. Instructors: Sasha.
Strength & Stretch I & II: Build strong bones and increase mobility, flexibility, balance, and core. Strength & Stretch I is a lower-intensity class with seated and standing exercises. Strength & Stretch II is a moderate-intensity class with standing and floor exercises. Equipment: mat, dumbbells, bands, and a 9-inch ball. Instructor: Shannon on Mondays and Wednesdays, Laurel on Thursdays.
Strong Bones, Strong Body: Build bone strength, improve balance, and increase energy. Great for people diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia. Standing and chair exercises. Equipment: dumbbells, bands, and a 9-inch ball. Instructor: Cindy.
Flexibility & Balance
8 Silken Brocade Qi Gong: An exercise based on Chinese Traditional Medicine balances mind, body, and energy through breath and movements. This is a 30-minute class; no prior experience is necessary. Instructor: Sandra.
Ashtanga Yoga: Enjoy dynamic, active yoga, that is perfect for every fitness level. Connect your breath with your movements to grow stronger, improve focus, and eliminate toxins. Equipment: Mat. Instructor: Sarah.
Chair Yoga: Combine traditional Hatha Yoga chair postures with some supported standing poses for better breathing, stretching, and flexibility. Instructor: Sarah on Mondays, Kate on Wednesdays, Anna Kay on Fridays.
Gentle Yoga: Experience a relaxing yoga that feels good and includes stretching, strength, breathing, and mindfulness. Equipment: mat and towel or blanket. Instructor: Sarah on Mondays, Kate on Thursdays at 10 a.m., Savannah on Thursdays at 5 p.m.
Hatha Yoga: Explore movement through mindfulness and the breath—stretch and strengthen, improve balance and flexibility. Equipment: mat. Instructor: Kate on Tuesdays at 10 a.m., Marilyn on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at 8:30 a.m., Savannah on Thursdays at 3:45 p.m., Robin on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m.
Kaiut Yoga: This meditative healing practice uses gravity and long-held shapes to release adhesions in connective tissue and unwind chronic joint restrictions. Beneficial for all body types and experience levels. Equipment: mat Instructor: Anna.
Mat Pilates: Strengthen your core muscles and maintain a healthy posture. Great class for beginners! Equipment: mat and foam roller. Instructor: Lonnie.
Strength in Movement: This class focuses on your range of motion, breathing, balance, posture, strengthening, flexibility, and mindfulness, all essential for mobility. Equipment: mat, foam roller. Instructor: Kate.
Tai Chi: Improve balance, reduce stress, and gain more flexibility. All levels of experience are welcome. Instructor: Joe.
Tai Chi Advanced 24 Form: Join us for the advanced practice of the 24 Tai Chi Form. Previous Tai Chi experience suggested. Instructor: Sandra.
Vinyasa Yoga: Combine breathing with yoga postures. Strengthen, stretch, gain mobility, and feel good in your body. All levels are welcome. Equipment: Mat. Instructor: Kristin.
ZB Tai Chi and Mobility: Focus on balance, control, and range of motion while grounding and centering yourself, using mobility exercises, Qi Gong, and the Zhaobao style of Tai Chi. Instructor: Matthew.
Water Fitness
Ai Chi: Enjoy a water movement and relaxation program in the shallow pool, using water in flowing yet powerful progressions. This exercise program creates the opportunity to improve range of motion, enhance balance, and increase mobility.
Aquatone: A moderately paced, shallow-water workout employing low-impact, water-specific exercises designed to build strength, flexibility progressively, and endurance.
Deep-water Exercise: A moderately paced, deep-water workout designed to help you learn to use the water’s resistance to increase muscle tone, cardiovascular endurance, and range of motion. Specially designed flotation equipment supports you during the class.
Exercise That Feels Good: A slower-paced, shallow-water workout that will enhance your daily life in an environment that is kind to your joints. You will improve strength, balance, flexibility, and energy.
HIIT: Build cardiovascular fitness while improving muscular strength and endurance. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a cardio-intensive, full-body workout, yet gentle on the joints. Class is held in the deep pool.
HYDRO-FIT: This aerobic-paced, deep-water class will challenge you to increase cardiovascular fitness, endurance, and core conditioning. Specially designed fitness equipment enhances the water’s resistance, toning and strengthening your body.
Meet the Instructors
Amber Lippel: Amber is a trauma-informed yoga teacher, EDGU instructor, massage therapist/Reiki Master with over a decade of experience. She's a retired soccer player, long-distance runner, and army officer. She has worked in caregiving, senior living, and as a death doula. With a college degree in philosophy, Amber incorporates work on the mind-brain connection, along with all the layers of being.
Anna Jensen: Anna is a Certified Personal Trainer, Group Fitness Instructor, Therapeutic Yoga Coach, and Biofield Energy Therapist. After years of competing as an equestrian and collegiate track and field athlete, she has become an avid rock climber who greatly enjoys helping people connect with their bodies, unleash their potential, and experience the joy of movement.
Anna Kay Sitzman: Anna Kay received her 200-hour yoga teacher certification from House of Om in Bali. She is a lifelong dancer and collegiate swimmer who has found that yoga balances her desire for both creative movement and strength-building.
Annie Scheifley: Annie enjoys encouraging people to enrich their lives with art. She has spent 50 years dancing and training in ballet, jazz, hip-hop, ballroom, salsa, swing, line dancing, yoga, and stretching. Choreographing and teaching are her passions. Other hobbies include painting and photography. She was honored to exhibit at the Eugene Art Walk in February 2023.
Chelsea King: Chelsea has been dancing ever since she can remember. She has been teaching since she was a teenager and loves creating routines that even beginners can enjoy! She believes that Everybody can (and should) dance when given the opportunity.
Cindy O'Brien: Cindy specializes in classes for people over 50. She aims to help people prevent and manage osteoporosis, osteopenia, and arthritis while building balance and strength in their backs, knees, and hips. Her goal is to add quality to your life without causing pain.
Jamie Velazquez: Jamie grew up with her mother's aerobics classes and never stopped dancing. She has been Zumba® certified since 2010 and has developed and taught dance fitness programs. In addition to instructing, Jamie supervises Willamalane's group exercise programs.
Janet Hollander: Janet is skilled in modern dance, creative movement, tai chi, judo, aikido, yoga, and music. Her signature program, Nia Technique, combines many of these disciplines. Janet also leads workshops and classes in Better Bones and Balance, as well as chair-based fitness.
Joe Bernal: Joe began Tai Chi classes in La Jolla, California, in order to regain better balance and strengthen his body and mind. Since then, Joe has continued Tai Chi with approximately five or six different masters. When he's not practicing the art of Tai Chi, Joe is the lead singer of the Northwest River Band in Eugene, Oregon.
Johonna Gamble: Johonna has been teaching dance and general fitness classes for over 15 years. Advocating for continuing education, she expanded her repertoire to include a 200 Hour Hatha Yoga certification, a continuing AFFA Group Fitness Instructor certification, as well as licensing with Zumba. She encourages finding fun in any fitness activity.
Karra Rudisill: Karra is a Certified Personal Trainer and group fitness instructor with experience teaching a wide variety of fitness techniques, including strength training, conditioning, functional movement, and more. Her biggest passion is dance fitness, so she always brings that type of energy to all her classes and often provides fun fitness games at the end. Karra prides herself in making sure that everyone feels motivated, challenged, and pumped in her classes.
Kate Morgan: Kate is a massage therapist, certified yoga instructor, and Reiki Master who enjoys helping students to know themselves and their bodies better. Her Hatha and Chair Yoga classes incorporate meditation, breath, and reflection into mindful movement.
Kathy Bronson: Kathy has 31 years of experience in the fitness industry, including land and water fitness. Kathy strives to improve the quality of life of everyone she connects with. She specializes in pre-surgery, post-rehabilitation, Parkinson's, MS, massage therapy, and health coaching, incorporating mind-body techniques.
Kelley Pearce: Kelley has a degree in Exercise Science and certifications from the American College of Sports Medicine as an Exercise Physiologist and the American Council on Exercise for Group Fitness. She teaches a variety of classes, from conditioning to yoga; no activity is off-limits. She has been in the fitness industry for 28 years, and good health is her passion!
Kristin Yarris: Kristin has taught group fitness classes for over 15 years, including time spent as a Schwinn-certified cycle instructor, a Yoga Alliance registered instructor, and a YogaFit-trained instructor. Kristin loves sharing the benefits of yoga and other physical activities with her students.
Laurel Fooks: Laurel is a certified personal trainer passionate about functional, accessible fitness that improves her students' quality of life. She is licensed to teach Barre Fitness and specializes in modified movement classes for adults over 40 years old.
Lila Reid: Lila teaches a variety of dance styles and has an extensive background in dance. She is passionate about movement, music, and dancing with a community. Lila teaches Line Dance for group exercise and two-step and waltz for wellness workshops.
Lonnie Kasow: Lonnie is a certified Pilates instructor with 11 years of experience teaching Pilates on the mat and using studio equipment. She loves to help people become stronger in the core, more elongated and aligned, and more fluid in the spine. She believes that Pilates can be a wonderful element in a person's exercise and well-being repertoire.
Matthew Coe: Matthew has long embraced a centering practice, which has taken him through long-distance running, Daoist meditation and qi gong, and several styles of martial arts. Matthew has also explored several systems of yoga, becoming a certified yoga teacher, a certified Yoga Tune Up® instructor, and a trauma-informed teacher for Yoga Behind Bars. He holds a B.S. in Biology with minors in Biochemistry and English, and is a trained death doula.
Marilyn Miks: Marilyn found yoga later in life and began practicing in her late 40s. She became certified as a yoga instructor at age 57 and especially enjoys encouraging new yoga practitioners to listen to their bodies and discover the benefits of yoga.
Robin Santa-Teresa: Robin has been practicing and studying yoga since 2006. She completed a 200-hour Anusara Yoga teacher training in 2016. She loves teaching alignment and movement to people of all ages, abilities, and bodies. Her aim is always to find joy and fun in life.
Sandra Wu: After 25 years of practice and teaching Tai Chi Ch’uan, most recently with locals Lin Lin Choy and Erica Anderson, Sandra emphasizes the Yang 24 form. This form is suitable for all ages and fitness levels. Her teaching style incorporates a layered approach, beginning with easy-to-learn movements and delving into the depths, applications, and nuances of Tai Chi in the advanced class. Sandra describes her classes as both serious and enjoyable.
Sasha Woodward: Sasha is a certified group fitness instructor, personal trainer, medical exercise specialist, and health coach. As Willamalane's fitness coordinator, she teaches and substitutes for various classes. She works to create a positive, supportive group exercise community.
Sarah Stark: Sarah developed a deep respect and passion for Yoga after practicing it while attending college at the University of Oregon. Sarah fell in love with Yoga for its ability to heal the body and calm the mind. After graduating from the University of Oregon with a degree in Psychology, Sarah studied Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore, India. For the past five years, Sarah has taught Ashtanga and Restorative Yoga for rehabilitation and continues to work as a mental health counselor. Sarah was born and raised in Oregon, where rock climbing, live music, and sunsets bring her joy. Sarah is a 200 RYT with Yoga Alliance, QMHA I, and CPR Certified.
Shannon Wickersham: Shannon has been in the fitness industry for over 15 years. She is group fitness certified and enjoys teaching classes that focus on strength, mobility, and flexibility. She loves to help people feel stronger and more confident.
Stephanie Turnbull: Stephanie uses her background in biology and healthcare to inform her fusion yoga programs. She focuses on Integrative Yoga Therapy, Hatha Yoga, and Yogalates to strengthen and stabilize participants’ cores, backs, hips, and overall bodies. She embraces exercise for personal empowerment.
Savannah Reynolds: Savannah is a passionate yoga and fitness instructor dedicated to creating a welcoming space where students of all levels can explore movement, breath, and self-discovery through connection. With a background in holistic wellness and personal growth, she blends mindful alignment with empowering flows to help students build strength, flexibility, and inner balance.
Trish Parker: Trish is passionate about dance and inspires her students. She brings different dance styles, the joy of movement, and a sense of fun to her dance fitness classes.