“I believe that movement education is a talent that God has blessed me with. Nothing gives me greater joy than to help relieve someone’s pain and teach them how to stay pain free.”

Kim Butters was a middle school teacher in Marion County for nine years. Stress contributed to her being overweight and inflexible. “I was miserable, had low self-esteem, and trouble keeping up with my husband on hikes. A neighbor convinced me to go to an aerobics class with her. I loved it and began to pursue a more enjoyable, healthy life.” She became an AFAA certified Personal Trainer and Group Instructor in 2001 and left the Marion County School system to start her own fitness business from her home.

Kim would soon discover Pilates, her true passion, at Barking Legs Theater in Chattanooga. "Pilates instructors seemed to have a different—a more healing understanding—of the body. I wanted that!” She became a certified Pilates instructor in 2005 at Corebodyworks in Atlanta and a Pilates Method Alliance certified Instructor in 2010. She worked for nine years in larger studio in Chattanooga and worked part-time as a physical therapy technician.She has been teaching fitness classes onsite and online for Chattanooga State since 2001 and was invited in 2007 to teach Pilates to the Sewanee community at the University of the South, where she also teaches Beginning Pilates as a PE class.

Kim trained in classical and contemporary approaches to Pilates and studied with Pilates Elders (students of Joseph Pilates), Mary Bowen and Jay Grimes, as well as second generation teachers (trained by an Elder), Michele Larsen, Rebecca Leone and Marie José Blom. She has also completed course work with world-renowned stretching expert, Kit Laughlin, and facial mapping expert, Phillip Beech, author of Muscles and Meridians. She most recently studied with Madeline Black, international leader in Pilates instruction and movement education and author of Centered.

Betsy moved from Gainesville, Florida to Sewanee in 2019, after retiring from a career in hospital pharmacy and healthcare management. A parent of an alumna (Kathryn C’17), her love of Sewanee developed during her daughter’s collegiate career. When Kathryn made Nashville her post-graduate home, Sewanee seemed the ideal spot for Betsy’s next adventure.

Who knew this journey would lead her to become a Group Fitness Instructor? Encouraged by Kim Butters to pursue teaching and add to the fitness offerings at Bodyworks, Betsy achieved her ACE certification in 2021. An avid hiker, kayaker, and self-professed “gym rat” her cardio/strength classes are fun and energetic. Creating a welcoming environment that offers safe, effective exercise and improved fitness is her goal for you!

When she’s not teaching, hiking, or in the gym, Betsy can be found maintaining trails with the Friends of South Cumberland State Park and volunteering with Housing Sewanee, Inc.

Pippa was born and lived most of her life in Zimbabwe, Africa. In 1985, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in fine art and psychology and post-graduate diploma in art, counseling and math education from the University of Natal, South Africa.

After graduating, Pippa taught, travelled and exhibited her art in Zimbabwe the UK and Europe. She started exploring yoga as a means to maintain strength and flexibility. In the early 2000s (when she moved to the US), she started a consistent practice and study of yoga and in 2010 was asked to teach a Vinyasa flow class at the YMCA in Salinas, CA, which she continued to do up until her move to Sewanee in 2015.

In 2019, Browne pursued an Ashtanga and Kundalini Yoga teacher training in Birmingham, AL. She uses these deep, ancient practices to inform her life, art, and yoga teaching.