Who We Are
Our Team
Laree Schouweiler (she/her)
DRiFT: Strength & Yoga Center Founder & OrganizerFor someone who nearly got booted out of her first yoga class, the founder of Decorah’s own DRiFT: Strength & Yoga Center has certainly had a decade of sharp and subtle turns.
A 500hr Experience Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance, Laree has upwards of 2000 hours of teaching experience on the mat, but is still adamant the true practice of yoga happens OFF THE MAT. Her classes are filled with dynamic movement that unites with breath and infused with the idea that yoga isn’t something we do - it is something we are.
Beyond Laree’s yoga background, she also holds a Master’s of Leadership, alongside her movement-based certifications such as ACE Health coach, Schwinn Indoor Cycling and Skill in Action (Yoga for a more just world).
When Laree isn’t motivating folks to stretch their ideas of ‘what is yoga’, you can find her trying to keep up with her three kiddos, seeking a quiet moment to enjoy with her husband or escaping the madness to find movement for herself.
Dillan Espeset (she/her)
Initially, Dillan was drawn to yoga as a way to build strength and flexibility that filled a hole dance used to hold. Yoga has been a method of connecting the body, mind, and breath through loving kindness towards oneself and others. Dillan completed her 200-hour YTT program at Palm + Pine in La Crosse, WI in 2023. Her mission is to cultivate movement practice to find health, love, and happiness within body and mind while emphasizing the power and balance of challenge and rest. In 2024, Dillan completed Sculpt Teacher Training at DRiFT and now leads Vinyasa & Sculpt Flow formats in the center.
Dillan is a mama, wife, stroller-jogger, and plant based baking & cooking enthusiast. You will probably see her around town pushing a stroller or chasing her boys on their bikes!
Sculpt and Vinyasa Instructor
Ellie Kuennen(she/her)
Although you typically see her attending classes, leading the run of the DRi TRi, or instructing CircHiit sessions at DRiFT, Ellie is also a labor and delivery nurse at WinnMed (last spring, Ellie was awarded WinnMed’s its first-ever DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses!) and teaches nursing clinicals for NICC students in their obstetrics rotations.
She was born and raised right here in Decorah, and still calls it home with her husband and three kids.
Sculpt CircHiit Instructor
Grace Gerleman (she/her)
Grace Gerleman grew up here in Decorah on a small family farm, then attended UNI for Communication and Media. She took and taught group fitness classes at UNI, including cycling, circuit/HIIT-based classes, kickboxing, crossfit/lifting classes, vinyasa yoga, and line dancing cardio. She loves the intensity and environment to challenge yourself in group classes.
Grace is currently in law school through Mitchell Hamline School of Law (Saint Paul).
The energy and excitement about movement
is what drew her to DRiFT, and she loves teaching Sculpt CircHIIT — especially early morning classes that help people start their day feeling strong, motivated, and accomplished.
Sculpt CircHiit Instructor
Johanna Bergan (she/her)
Johanna Bergan is a Decorah native who finds joy in movement and community building! Johanna is drawn to leading Sculpt classes because the combination of epic music, community accountability, and picking up heavy things gives her motivation to move her own body, and she hopes it helps you too! Johanna's fitness journey has had many stops and includes instructing indoor cycling and strength classes for two years at T'd Up Fitness (Schwinn certified), a certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in health coaching, and now Sculpt Teacher Training.
Instructing classes is just one way Johanna contributes to helping each of us find our own strength, worth, and potential. "Taking up space" on your mat can translate into becoming our full selves in our community. Let's grow together!
Sculpt Flow InstructorActionable Items & Impact:
Since July 2022, DRiFT’s Karma Yoga Project has redistributed $50,751 back into local, regional & global organizations that align with our core values: including SURJ - Des Moines Chapter, Helping Services, MomsDemand, Decorah High School Scholarship Fundraiser, Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund. Lahaina residents, Epilepsy Foundation of Iowa, MedGlobal supporting Palestians in Gaza, The Supply Hive and MORE!
DRiFT is also an annual AND proud sponsor of Decorah Pride, celebrating the creativity and diversity that lives in the driftless region.