Our Team
Kari Hauge
A Williston local, grateful to be back in the community to share my love for the mat. After years spent exploring, learning, stumbling and growing it’s hard to express in words the ways yoga and meditation have been my way back home. My mat is my guide when I’m lost. This journey reminds me to appreciate my body, it’s the way back to my heart after I’ve tried to shield it and has shown me a deeper understanding of forgiveness, love and gratitude.
Each journey is different but we all have a reason for meeting at our mats. My goals is to create space for you to honor your path as you make your way back home too.
Kelly Blomberg
I grew up in the Black Hills of SD and have lived in Williston since 1982. I have 2 sons, 2 amazing daughter in laws, and 4 beautiful grandchildren. I began my Yoga practice 7 years ago as a way to support my daughter in law thru her 200 hour teacher training. On a trip to SD we took a hot HIIT class and my love for hot yoga was found. I am a forever student of Yoga and graduated my 200 hour Teacher Training in September 2020. I am passionate about all 8 limbs of yoga! I love to teach creative flow classes with an emphasis on building strength and linking breath to movement. The principles and practices of Yoga have changed my life for the better. I believe everybody benefits from Yoga and I believe Yoga is for everybody.
Brian Lawton
I first discovered yoga as a college elective nearly 20 years ago. The physical benefits of yoga were immediately evident, but I was also amazed at the emotional and spiritual development that I was undergoing as a result of my continued practice. I have been fortunate to have learned and practiced with amazing teachers throughout my journey, which took me from my hometown of Reno, Nevada to Honolulu, Hawaii to Orlando, Florida before making my way up to Williston in 2018. It was in Williston that I eventually completed my RYT 200 in 2020. I consider yoga to be a central part of my life and I am so grateful to have found such a fantastic yoga studio in Exhale, which provides a safe and welcoming space for all levels of practice. For me, yoga is about maintaining a connection to the breath throughout the practice and utilizing poses that build both strength and flexibility. I have been blessed with two beautiful daughters, Isabelle and Ruby, and have truly enjoyed the Williston community. In addition to yoga, I have a deep passion for education, social justice, and mental health issues, and love spending my free time sailing around the lake during our long summer days.
Linda Pitman
Wife, mother, daughter, sister, colleague and friend. My yoga journey started on the mat for the physical benefits, a way to move my body and to find strength and flexibility. I quickly began to realize yoga has much more to offer than what is on the mat.
In my personal experience, yoga is a lifestyle -- connecting the mind, body and soul. My journey in yoga continues to enhance my love of self and others, my contentment, my gratitude and my patience. Yoga has helped me become more present in daily life, shifting my anxious mind from pieces to peace. This journey has no destination, as my learning and my practice will continue to grow.
When I signed up for the 200-hr Yoga Teacher Training program, I had no desire to teach: my only motive was to deepen my own practice. However, yoga has improved the physical and mental aspects of my life beyond any expectations I could have imagined. If I can share the gift of yoga with only a single person, I will consider myself the lucky one.
I am forever grateful to Kari, her studio and my fellow teachers for allowing me to be a part of something so extraordinarily beautiful. Exhale is my safe place, and yoga is my happy hour.
Sarah Fetzer
I was born and raised in Wisconsin and moved to Williston in 2013. My passions include healthy living, cooking, traveling and spending time with loved ones. You may see me around the studio often as I help manage the studio and run social media.
My yoga journey began in 2015 when I took my first yoga class as an elective in college. I really fell in love with yoga when I started going to Exhale. I came for the workout but I started to notice that I loved the way I felt after class - more calm, centered and grounded. Yoga became my place to simply slow down and connect with my mind and body.
Deciding last minute and on a whim, I completed my 200hr RYT through Camp Utopia in 2020. As a teacher I like to challenge my students but also encourage them to make their practice their own and listen to their body. I really enjoy teaching a balanced class that includes strengthening, balance and stretching with ample time to connect with your breath and relax. I want my class to be a place where you are able to be present and grow in your practice, leaving the rest of the world for an hour.
Courtney Laiho
Ever since I can remember I’ve had an interest in health and fitness. At the beginning of 2019 I went to my first yoga class and from then on, yoga has been a part of my life. As a wife and mom of 3, yoga has been a great way to spend time for myself, become more intentional, and experience the power of mindfulness. I completed my RYT200 through Camp Utopia in October 2020. I enjoy a hot class with a challenging sequence. I love that yoga has so many aspects to it that you can always be learning and growing.
Denise Pippin
I was first introduced to yoga over 20 years ago and I remember my yoga teacher at that time telling me to stick with it because it would make so many positive changes in my life and to my body. Well, life got busy, I started back to work as a Realtor, and the boom happened. Fast forward to 2018, my good friend and fellow Realtor, Kari Donner, is transforming herself both mentally and physically through yoga. I am in the midst of a challenging period in my life and immerse myself into Exhale. I fall in love with hot yoga and besides the poses, it’s the breath that I notice the most. When I received an upsetting call or text, I would pull over, or sit down, and breathe. That yogic breath gave my mind and body the time I needed to calm down and think about how I would react to the negativity with a positive, non-confrontational response. And then, I noticed the physical changes in my body. Just like that yoga teacher told me would happen years before. I am grateful to Kari Hauge, Kari Donner, Kelly Blomberg, and my darling girls (Sarah, Helene and Bethanie), for encouraging me to take the 200 hr YTT. Needless to say, I love teaching! I still have a lot to learn, but am grateful for where I am, am grateful for the patence and love shown to me by my students and my fellow yogis, and am looking forward to continuing this journey at the new Exhale studio.
Denise Hicks
I’m from Houston, Texas and I studied Biology at the University of Houston. I started working in a lab right after graduation and fell in love with research. It was a wonderful field to work in until my career took a bit of a detour when my husband’s job began moving us around the world. This is when I began to lean into yoga and running to deal with the stress of change. I stick by the idea that running is a meditation in motion!
My husband and I were living in South Korea in 2015 and I was encouraged by a friend to bring yoga to our small community of expats. I completed a 200-hour foundations program with The School of Sacred Arts in Ubud, Bali during an immersion training and I began teaching right away. It has been a fun journey of learning and picking up my favorite methods of flow from different teachers I’ve worked with.
My little family has grown since I first started my yoga journey. I now have two wonderful little boys who love to explore and play outside with me and my husband. We moved to Williston in early 2021 after living in Bangalore, India for three years. I was lucky to practice with teachers there and join a couple of retreats despite my new title of “mom”.
I’m always learning and love taking classes at every yoga studio I come across! I think I have found my style after a few years of practicing with and listening to my students. I look forward to working with the community here in North Dakota and I’m always open to questions and feedback; come and visit me during one of my class times!
Sam Blomberg
Sam is a wife, a full time mom to two cute babes, a coffee addict, and a yogi. Her goal on a daily basis is to feel good, be happy, and have some energy to chase her kiddos. She teaches warm align & flow, hot vinyasa, and prenatal and helps with events at the studio. She enjoys travel, any and all music (especially the 70s) and the outdoors in any capacity- hiking, skiing, paddle boarding, etc. Sam has a bachelors degree in Anthropology and is a 200 RYT 2016 Camp Utopia grad.
Rachael Stewart
Growing up on a small hobby farm in Northern Michigan as the oldest of 10 children, creativity and outdoor physical activity was a part of my everyday life. When my husband and I moved our family to Williston I had the pleasure of meeting Kari and practicing at her studio. This created a desire to learn more and I became a 200 RYT in 2018. As a busy mother of 5 children I felt like I finally found some fulfillment in the physical and mental aspects that I was missing in my life. When our 4 year old son Jerry passed away in May 2019, the depth of my appreciation for yoga grew. It brought so many benefits to my life and helped me navigate my grief with the breathing, mindfulness, physical sequences in class and especially meditation. I feel incredibly blessed to share my journey of self-discovery with others using creative sequences to promote a strong mind-body connection, muscle strength, flexibility and detoxifying the body for a healthier and peaceful life.
Paula Linn
I have always had a heart in seeking new adventures. Growing up, my family never seemed to stay in one place too long and this created my desire for experience. At the age of 25 I found myself in a Bikram yoga class, solely to see what all the hype was about at the new yoga studio in town. And from that moment I craved the journey I went on in each practice. Not only did I feel better physically, but I also started growing and understanding myself so much more. I had finally found so many of the pieces that I was missing in my life all on my own. My body, mind and soul health improved at great strides, I became more conscious of my nutrition, what I was putting into my body, and for the first time in my life I learned what it felt like to really love myself. Within the first year of my practice, I decided to take the RYT 250 among many other trainings. I had found my greatest passion in yoga, my studio and the people in it. I intended to better understand and deepen my practice for myself. What I did not foresee was being an instructor, but I could not really help myself because I yearned to bring what I had in my life to others. So here I am in a new town in a new studio, with the happiest of hearts to bring my experiences to you, in hopes that you get to journey down the path that leads you to your best self.
Emma Abelmann
I was born and raised here in Williston and have loved sharing my love of yoga with this community. Ever since I started doing yoga, I felt better, slept better, and found myself becoming more in tune with my body and it’s needs. I graduated from Camp Utopia with my RYT 200 in October 2020. One of my favorite things to incorporate in my classes, is a slower flow and strengthening our brains to stay present during longer savasanas as we all need to give our minds that much needed break after a long day. What I love most about yoga is that it has brought so many amazing people into my life and that ANYONE is able to do yoga. I account my love of wellness to the amazing community Kari has created here at Exhale.
Kenzi Brown
I moved to Williston from Colorado when I graduated from UCCS in 2016 with a Bachelors in Business and a Masters in Education, where I also had the opportunity to play on the volleyball and basketball teams. My husbands job as a petroleum engineer brought us to ND, but we quickly fell in love with this welcoming community. We knew we wanted to raise a family here and saw a need for quality childcare, so we started Coyote Pups Learning Den and welcomed our daughter Corbyn last June. This is when I gave up coaching volleyball and basketball at the high school but still fulfill my love of coaching through teaching BURN classes at Exhale’s Downtown Studio. Athletics, health and fitness have always been a big part of my life, so I am very thankful for the opportunity to teach classes at Exhale and continue that life style.