About Us
At Free Range we help each person achieve their best in a friendly, safe, and fun environment. We choose highly trained team members who care about people and want to use their education, skills and talents to help everyone they meet achieve their personal best.
We offer Strength Training for all levels - Tim’s Strength Lab is helpful for beginners and those healing injuries to start and Elygah’s Group Fitness classes are for those who want to kick it up a notch with cardio, challenge, and getting their heart rate up. She also offers personal training.
Bill’s Tai Chi and Qigong classes will help you reduce stress, gain balance and flexibility, and move with mindfulness.
Tanya’s Chair Fitness and Dance class will get you in shape as you dance your way into stronger core, arms, and legs all from seated.
Reiki and energy work with Dawn help release stress and encourage healing and Andrea is our highly trained massage therapist who rounds out our healing treatments.
And yes, we have yoga. Dawn teaches a wide variety of classes including private yoga and Yoga Therapy sessions for all to enjoy ease, awareness, and deep compassion for themselves.
Meet the Team
Yoga. Yoga Therapy. Private Yoga. Reiki. Relaxation. Meditation. Breathwork.
Dawn uses ease, awareness, and movement to help people reduce pain, feel better, move better, and change their lives. She is a Certified Yoga Therapist through the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). She has been teaching yoga for 20+ years and has taught thousands of group classes and private yoga therapy sessions. Her goal is to help people feel better (mind, body, spirit) so they can find their own power and bring more good into the world. She has taught yoga to people with such a variety of conditions, illnesses, and injuries. She believes in meeting each student where they are at and helping them get stronger, develop resiliency, and be their best - mind, body, and spirit.
Dawn is a 200 hour Registered Yoga Teacher and went through a rigorous 2 year Yoga Therapy certification. She has thousands of training hours including The Buteyko Breathing Method, iRest, the Reembody Method, Anatomy, Kinesiology of Yoga and Therapeutic Yoga Intensive -Functional Synergy. YogaFit Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Pre-Natal/Postpartum, Sweat, Props, Kids, Seniors, Restorative Therapeutics, Pranayama, YogaBack, Anatomy and Alignment Levels 1 and 2, and YogaFit for Warriors (for people with PTSD.) Additional education in Kinesiology at Western Illinois University including Anatomy and Physiology, Sport and Exercise Psychology, Motor Behavior, and Wellness Program Development and Administration. She has a MS in Instructional Design.
Dawn is also a Level 3 Tera Mai™ Reiki practitioner.
Contact Dawn at 309-333-5069 or email
Dawn Piper, Free Range Owner Certified Yoga Therapist, Master-Level Yoga Teacher, and Level 3 Reiki Practitioner
Tim Piper, Ed.D., CSCS*D
Strength Training
Tim Piper got his B.S. in Fitness and M.S. in Exercise Physiology from WIU and his Doctorate from NIU. Finding an early passion for training led to his competition in basketball, cross-country, track and field, road racing, Powerlifting, Weightlifting, Highland Games, and Strongman.
He is recognized by the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach-with Distinction (CSCS*D). He taught at the college level for over 30 years and now works for McDonough District Hospital as their Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Coordinator.
He has been the strength and conditioning coach for countless athletes in almost any sport imaginable.and has coached the sports of Weightlifting, (a.k.a. Olympic Lifting), and Powerlifting for over 30 years each. He is certified by USA Weightlifting as a National Level Coach and is a World Marshall Level judge in the World Drug Free Powerlifting Federation.
Aside from coaching athletes, his personal training experience has included working with professional musicians, dancers, recreational ultra-endurance competitors, older adults, and he has worked with a large number of individuals with acute and chronic illnesses, issues and ailments. In his spare time, he has authored two books and over 50 publications in both peer-reviewed journals as well as trade journals and magazines.
Tim teaches his clients and athletes how to safely and effectively become stronger, more confident, and improve their overall fitness. His Strength Lab Class is designed around the student’s past and current injuries, illnesses, and issues in a personalized approach. If want to learn how to lift safely but don’t know where to start, this class will put you on the right path.
Email Dawn Piper to sign up or call or text 309-333-5069
Bill Maakestad
Tai Chi & Qigong
An introduction to two ancient mind-body arts that are as relevant today as they were two thousand years ago. If you want to lower your stress level, reduce your anxiety, restore your balance, and increase your overall sense of well-being, you’ve come to the right place. All ages welcome! Open to new as well as to continuing Tai Chi/Qigong students.
In his Tai Chi & Qigong class at Free Range, Bill is dedicated to offering guided exploration of these two ancient Chinese energetic arts—energetic, because both practices are centered on the belief in an intrinsic life energy known as qi (“life force” or “spirit breath”). The practices are related and for centuries have been practiced together, though recently they have been receiving significant attention in the West because many respected research institutions, such as the Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic, have recognized their superior health benefits. Bill welcomes people of all ages and abilities to attend his class and learn first-hand about the active, mindful relaxation that Tai Chi and Qigong offer.
Bill, who retired as a professor from WIU in 2009, began his training with Willie Jones, an experienced martial arts practitioner of Taekwondo as well as Tai Chi. Bill has continued to study and incorporate contributions from David-Dorian Ross, International Tai Chi Instructor; Dr. Peter Wayne, Director of Integrative Medicine Research at Harvard Medical School/Brigham & Women’s Hospital; and especially William C.C. Chen, legendary Tai Chi Master who helped introduce the West to Tai Chi.
Email Bill or call 309-255-8256
Adrea Mignon Craft, LMT
Massage Therapy
Adrea Mignon Craft, LMT has been practicing bodywork and massage for 25 years and is excited to work with the Free Range Yoga patrons! She is classically trained in many modalities, and specializes in deep massage techniques that address postural imbalances and for pain remediation. She recently became a certification candidate for Zero Balancing, an fully clothed energetic modality that works on the foundational joints of the skeleton to induce somatic responses within the surrounding soft tissue.
Modalities include:
Deep Massage, Sports Massage (pre/post event), Pre-Natal Massage, Zero Balancing, Classic Swedish (relaxation), Cupping, Kinesio Taping, Reflexology (Foot/Hand acupressure), and Chair Massage.
All sessions are individually tailored to each person and their preferences.
Contact Adrea by calling or texting:
512-963-7945
Elygah Lyons
Group Fitness
Elygah was raised in and around Macomb. She found a love of running, fitness and the outdoors at an early age which has continued to be an important passion in both her personal and professional life.
She became a CNA in high school and loves to help people become the best versions of themselves.
She has a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science from WIU.
She is currently working towards more certifications. She is passionate about helping others get stronger and challenging herself with Mixed Martial Arts.
Contact Elygah: 309-333-6925
Tanya Schmidt
Chair Fitness & Dance
Tanya's passion for movement began at the age of four in rhythmic gymnastics and achieving elite status at the age of 12 before transitioning to artistic gymnastics, and eventually becoming a Division I competitive collegiate cheerleader at Niagara University. Throughout her training on the East Coast, she had the opportunity to work with Broadway-level dance choreographers, experiences that shaped her lifelong appreciation for the connection between movement, music, and performance.
Tanya later earned a master's degree in mental health and spent several years working with adults in university settings before serving children and families in Buffalo, NY, and Las Vegas, NV. While the work was meaningful, she eventually found herself drawn back to her first love of gymnastics, fitness, and helping others through movement.
After moving to Macomb, Illinois, Tanya joined the local YMCA, where she spent nearly 15 years growing from Gymnastics Coordinator to Director of Gymnastics and Fitness. During that time, she developed a unique approach to fitness that blends dance, rhythm, strength, creativity, and community. She has worked with everyone from young athletes to adults and seniors, always believing that exercise should be engaging, empowering, and enjoyable.
Tanya believes the greatest transformations happen when people discover confidence in what their bodies can do. Nothing is more rewarding to her than hearing participants share that they have more energy, better balance, less pain, and greater independence after taking her classes. She believes that both the mind and body play essential roles in healthy living, and that joy, laughter, and connection reduce stress and create a more effective and sustainable fitness experience.
Tanya is a Certified Personal Trainer through the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and holds gymnastics certifications through the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and USA Gymnastics (USAG).
Contact Tanya:
Tanya Schmidt Owner & CEO
Poeller-Schmidt Gymnastic & Athletic Events LLC (PSGAEvents)
(309) 863-5267
psgaevents.ts@gmail.com