Thank you to our readers and advertisers for making Inspire(d) Magazine a possibility. We appreciate your support over the years! It is wild to think we’ve been at this for 17 years. Here’s a quick look back on this “experiment in positive news” from past to present.
2003-2006 – Aryn reads biography about Dan Eldon. Gets inspired. Travels around Canada, then China & Southeast Asia. Comes back to Iowa with an idea for a positive news magazine.
2006 –Aryn and Benji meet. Aryn tells Benji about Inspire(d) idea on first date. He says, “Let’s do it!” They get engaged one week later.
2007 – Benji and Aryn get married August 17! The first Inspire(d) rolls off the press October 4! For our first three years, we printed the insides of the magazine at Graphics Inc in Calmar, Iowa, and our cover at Howe Printing in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. We had custom racks made at KolGol in Waukon, Iowa, and were printing 3,000 per issue. Benji delivered magazines in our trusty Subaru Legacy.
2007-2008 – We started off publishing 10 months a year (with a June/July issue in the summer and a November/December issue in the winter), but quickly realized we couldn’t keep going at that pace and still enjoy life!
2008-2010 – We switched to a bi-monthly schedule, printing every two months for the next two years. It was good run, but we found we were ready to move up to new printers with full color capabilities and more magazine-printing options. The cover and insides would all be printed at Crescent Printing in Onalaska, Wisconsin, for the next 13 years!
2010-2023 – We started printing quarterly and found that this was the sweet spot in making the best quality magazine possible, being able to sell ads, and also maintain some semblance of balance in our lives.
2012 – Our only daughter, Roxie, was born and quickly moved into boss status!
2018 – We got a new magazine hauler, a Dodge Grand Caravan Minivan! Benji officially drives the “Rad Dad Van” now, delivering 12,000-17,500 magazines / quarter.
2023 to present – There was a major paper shortage during the pandemic, and we were having trouble getting our regular paper. We found a new printer that had more access and made the switch to Schumann Printers in Fall River, Wisconsin, with the Spring 2023 Inspire(d) Magazine. They have been fantastic to work with!
Today – Future – Our goal is to keep bringing positivity to the masses through our print publication, website, podcast, social media (Facebook & Instagram), and newsletters! Want to help us out? Can you please take this survey so we can learn more about our readers? THANK YOU for inspiring us for 17 years!
Caring…for barns, flowering plants, and, most importantly, people, has been the mission and passion of longtime Decorah resident Marlene Fenstermann. Her husband Duane talked her out of her original passion, to be a missionary in the foreign mission fields, encouraging her instead to train as a nurse and join him on a lifelong journey.
On a cold, but sunny February day in 1937, when her parents were supposed to pick up the season’s baby chicks, Marlene Kay was born in the old Decorah Hospital. This same day, the Winneshiek Tuberculosis Group envisioned Winneshiek County Public Health Nursing Service (WCPHNS), where Marlene would work as Administrator 34 years later, in an office just across the hall from where she was born.
Marlene was at the head of WCPHNS as it grew from one nurse and one secretary to a group of often 20, including Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, and support staff serving the needs of homebound patients in Winneshiek County. She also started a successful collaboration with the Luther College Nursing Program.
Her memoir, “My Journey in Public Health Nursing”, is a tribute to the dedicated nurses with whom she worked for 32 years and the widely varied needs of their patients – from prenatal care to terminal care and a myriad of physical and mental conditions in between birth and death. Journeys to patients’ homes often involved harsh weather, bad road conditions, and even personal danger. Marlene has kept her patients’ stories close to her heart.
She grew up on a farm in Ludlow Township of Allamakee County when extended families lived close together, sharing a church, a country school, farm chores, and the ups and downs of daily life. Experiencing the death of her two-year-old brother during farm chores was a shared sorrow for the family and an indelible memory for a little girl of eight.
Marlene’s education and work experiences took her around Iowa and to North Carolina, but she returned to Decorah when Duane was hired at Luther College as Acquisitions Librarian. She worked with the Iowa Barn Foundation for years to help save old barns around Iowa, loves flowers – especially daffodils – as they bloom in season, and enjoys photographing nature and the world around her. Some favorite photos are of the landmark Decorah Eastside School days before its demolition. I have read Marlene’s memoir and the tributes to her as she retired. My favorite: “She was blessed to be a blessing.”
What’s the best advice anyone ever gave you?
“Join me in public health nursing,” from Dorothy Hastings, RN, my mentor.
Share a memory from public health nursing in Winneshiek County.
So many, such different needs. A long impactful memory is of Michael Dawley who was severely injured, eventually quadriplegia, at North Winneshiek School in 1974. He ran into a folded up trampoline and it fell on him, knocking him unconscious and near death, but his mother never gave up on him. The WCPHNS cared for Micheal and helped his mother care for him at home for 30 years until mother and son went into a nursing home together. This experience epitomizes the reason for public health nursing care.
What food could you eat every day?
Dark chocolate… and is tea a food?
Who is a person who had a big impact on your childhood? Rev. Henry Johnson at rural Zalmona Presbyterian Church, a Dutch immigrant who knew at least seven languages and, thankfully, had us memorize many Bible verses.
On the road driving to and from Des Moines for meetings and conferences related to Public Health Care, I would notice the barns of Iowa’s farms, often in disrepair next to more modern structures. Working with the Iowa Barn Foundation to help families preserve their barns became another mission of mine. One of my favorites was a unique tin barn near Frankville that had a faucet in the loft.
What is an important lesson learned in your life?
Most people are basically good, and they all have a story to tell.
Tell us about some special memories.
– One night in 1964, when I was working at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, we literally took down the old segregation signs and labels in halls and rooms and changed the words to reflect the new integration policy.
– I love singing, and “How Great Thou Art” has been an oft requested solo for me. After a serious stroke several years ago, I requested “You are My Sunshine” when I “came around”. Those gathered knew then that I would return to a full life.
Laree Schouweiler is the kind of person who manages to turn strangers into friends within one conversation. But after she moved to Decorah from the Twin Cities in 2010 as a “trailing spouse” of a partner who accepted a job at Luther College, she was having trouble connecting in the community. She continued to travel north to see friends – and boost endorphins with a workout at her favorite yoga/cycling studio. She loved it so much, she decided to take the Sculpt Teacher Training program. Sculpt classes combine the physical principles of yoga, plus strength training and cardio, to provide a diverse and intense workout experience.
Laree Schouweiler / Photo courtesy DYC
“I had years of experience coaching youth and high school soccer, and I loved the well-rounded-ness of Sculpt classes,” she says. “Once certified, I brought the classes to the Driftless area. It wasn’t long that I was chasing down a yoga certification, this time a more in-depth 200-hour yoga training, layering that with cycling and several other adjacent certifications.”
Indeed, since there wasn’t a job suited to her specialties in Decorah, she decided to make one. She founded Reefuel, an indoor cycling and yoga studio, in 2013, Driftless Yoga Festival in 2019, and finally, in 2022, she founded her current business/calling: the Driftless Yoga Center.
Situated in a fun, urban-feeling studio on the third floor of the Impact Coffee building in downtown Decorah, Driftless Yoga Center (DYC) is an airy and welcoming space, emphasis on welcoming. DYC’s work follows three core principles, to be: equity driven, radically compassionate, and justice supporting in all they do.
The studio offers 12 yoga and strength classes per week, including sculpt, HIIT, vinyasa, and gentle yoga classes. They also host monthly special events like the DRI(ftless) TRI(athlon) – a 90-minute experience that begins with a guided run or walk around Decorah, meets back up for a HIIT segment, and ends with a yoga flow.
DYC is a Yoga Alliance School & Continuing Education Provider as well. This upcoming fall, the Center is hosting its first Sculpt Teacher Training Program, a 50-hour certification geared towards providing participants a foundation of knowledge to lead a safe, constructive, and well-rounded 60-minute Sculpt class.
Photo courtesy DYC
Read on to learn how Laree turned her years honing in on what work fills her cup into a space and business dedicated to helping others fill their own.
The Basics: Name: Laree Schouweiler Age: 41 Business: Driftless Yoga Center formerly, Reefuel Year Business Established: 2022 (Reefuel: 2013) Business address: 101 W Water Street Website: www.driftlessyoga.org
Tell us about the “leap” moment. When/how did you decide to jump in and become your own boss?
In 2013, I opened Reefuel – an indoor cycling and yoga studio. Its entire premise was to build community through yoga and cycling, centering on a welcoming environment, skipping the diet culture, and making movement fun! For seven years, I think Reefuel did just that! The space went from 10 weekly classes to over two dozen. Four instructors to 15. But the best part of the place was the people! Walking into a fitness class can be so nerve-wracking, but the community of folks always uplifted each other. It was such a unique experience for a movement studio, I felt like. There was so much support for each other in and out of the studio. During that time, Driftless Yoga Festival was born. An annual festival that intersected beautiful Northeast Iowa and yoga!
Then in 2020, the pandemic hit. The tragedies of that year took the wind right out of my sails. Plus, I was pregnant with our third child. Leaning into the yoga philosophical practice of ahimsa – radical compassion – I made the difficult decision to close the studio. I leaned heavily back into my family, my studies, and how to really leverage these teachings to make shifts for the greater good. I studied with activist and yoga teachers Michelle C. Johnson (Skill in Action) and Susanna Barkataki (Embrace Yoga’s Roots) and each experience educated me on the connection of yoga’s teachings to bettering the world, not just a movement!
A portion of proceeds from events and merchandise sales is redistributed back into organizations that help bring awareness to issues near and far. / Photo courtesy DYC
When Reefuel closed, I didn’t think I’d ever return to teaching publicly again, let alone open another studio. But if 2020 taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. I stepped back into organization with the Driftless Yoga Festival in 2021. It was an opportunity to bring forth a more radically compassionate event on the heels of completing a 300-hour yoga certification that was rooted in equity. Then, in the spring of 2022, I started to tip my toe into the teaching world again. There was a pull to get back out there. One May morning, I stepped into Impact Coffee and was approached by owner, Sean Brown, about seeing their recently vacant third floor. I didn’t think much of it in that minute – more of a, “Cool! I’ll check it out!” But when I walked in, I knew immediately this was next. The large north-facing windows beckoned me. It feels like you’re in an urban setting (which I still miss… occasionally). Knowing that cycling wasn’t going to be a part of this next step, Reefuel didn’t seem like an adequate name. So, I leaned into Driftless Yoga and Voila! The Driftless Yoga Center was born, with a vision of a more equitable movement space.
Can you tell us more about the DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) work you do at the Driftless Yoga Center?
At DYC, there are three pillars:
• In an effort to be equity-driven and remove financial barriers to access movement, a suggested $12/class is requested, but none will be turned away for lack of funds.
• DYC aims to be a radically compassionate space free of diet culture or gossip. Movement, yoga, and fitness belong to every BODY without judgment.
• Since 2022, DYC’s Karma Yoga Project has redistributed over $20,000+ back to organizations that uplift the underserved and under-resourced.
Reefuel was quiet about the philosophical yoga practices out of fear of making people uncomfortable. I hope Driftless Yoga Center is living these practices out loud. Vibrantly. Everyday. With every practice.
What do you mean when you say, “radically compassionate”?
In yoga philosophy, there are several pillars of ‘right action’ or ethical practices and one of those practices is ‘Ahimsa,’ meaning non-violence. To practice non-violence is more than just not causing physical harm. It can look like being inclusive in everything from language to accessibility to practice. In a world that is filled with so much division, practicing ahimsa can feel radical!
Driftless Yoga Center hosts monthly special events like the DRI(ftless) TRI(athlon) – a 90-minute experience that begins with a guided run or walk around Decorah, meets back up for a HIIT segment, and ends with a yoga flow. / Photo courtesy DYC
What’s the best thing about being your own boss?
I get to choose each day how to move the business forward, simultaneously prioritizing business and family. Sparks of creativity and inspiration get to be put right into action. It’s empowering to be able to have a choice each day.
How about the worst?
I have to live by those choices. Highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. Yoga helps me to balance the ride, but sometimes it gets hard not to get caught up in the rat race of capitalism! Also, I struggle with setting my own “work hours”. Days bleed into nights and I’m always thinking – what could I do better? What is next? Or should I throw it all away and start over?
Any mentors/role models you look to/have looked to?
My parents are entrepreneurs and they’ve always supported and inspired me. My mom’s taught me ‘The answer is always no if you don’t ask,’ so I operate from that optimistic lens. Oh, and ‘NO’ is just a starting point!
Occasionally, Driftless Yoga Center will host special classes outside, like this one on Washington Street in Decorah (just outside of Impact Coffee). / Photo courtesy DYC
What’s the one thing you wish you had known before you started?
Once you start your own business, you can’t go back, and the hyper fixation on the business is hard to separate. I love the studio, teaching, and building a compassionate community – so it is hard to turn off the ‘work brain’ even when I am “not working”!
How do you manage your life/work balance?
Ooooofffff, is there a work life balance? This one is so tricky for me because I LOVE WHAT I DO! With the Center, I have been trying to put in place stronger boundaries about when I am home with kiddos (no phones at meals and not working while home with them), but there always seem to be exceptions.
What keeps you inspired? Any quotes that keep you going?
“Nothing that celebrates humiliation or pain of another person builds connection.” – Dr. Brene Brown
Driftless Yoga Center is welcoming for all. / Photo courtesy DYC
Justice work at DYC!
Driftless Yoga Center donates portions of proceeds from events and merchandise sales to organizations that bring awareness to issues at large near and far.
