Fitness Studio Staff

Shannon Kray

Role: Owner/Program Director, Group Fitness, Pilates mat, Apparatus & Reformer Instructor, Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant.

Qualifications: Shannon received her Bachelor of Human Kinetics degree from UBC in 1996. Since then, she has been involved in the health and fitness industry as a Personal Trainer, Group Fitness Leader and Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant. In 2002, Shannon continued her education by studying the Pilates Method. She currently instructs both Pilates mat, Apparatus and Reformer classes.

Special quality: Her passion for assisting others to live a healthy lifestyle and reach their personal wellness goals continues to grow. She opened Balanced Fitness Studio with the desire to create a warm and inviting studio that offers exception instruction in fitness, pilates, yoga and lifestyle coaching.

Alison Boons

Alison has had a personal yoga practice for over 7 years and has grown to love the tradition and commitment of a yoga practice. She has completed 200 HR Yoga Teacher Training plus an additional 35 Hours of Kundalini Teacher Training and 25 Hours Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training, all at Semperviva Yoga College and is registered with Yoga Alliance.

Alison believes strongly in the power of yoga to bring awareness to self, to assist with stress and to deepen our knowledge, trust, happiness and love with ourselves and all those around us. She continue to further her education and understanding of the teachings of Yoga, and the inspiration and the grace that comes with a regular yoga practice. She encourage my students to be mindful of their breath in order to connect the mind & body & bring awareness to the present moment, and strongly believe that while asana is extremely important to a yoga practice, it is just the underlying edge.

Andrea Van Vliet

Andrea recently joined Balanced Fitness as a Pilates Mat & Reformer instructor. She completed the comprehensive Pilates instructor training through Balanced Body University. Through pilates she achieved a mind and body connection through concentration and breath. This allowed her to find strength, balance, and flexibility that she had never been able to achieve before with other exercise regiments.

Her caring and encouraging teaching style, and attention to detail helps clients improve their body awareness and alignment while providing a challenging workout. Andrea is dedicated to sharing her passion and knowledge with her clients so that they may achieve the benefits which will transcend into their everyday life.

Andrea is continuing to educate herself in other areas of physical fitness and is always striving to achieve new knowledge and techniques that she can share with her clients.

Rachael Pope

Rachael is fully certified in all Pilates apparatus including mat, reformer, cadillac, chair and barrel work. Her love of movement began with dancing. While training in her early 20's she discovered Pilates and quickly saw how much of an impact it was having on her dancing and on movement in her everyday life. Pilates helped her to re-balance her body, she was no longer dealing with constant injuries.

Rachael's clear common sense approach and obvious enthusiasm for Pilates helps her to motivate clients of all ages and fitness levels. Focusing on the fundamentals of form and breath in every session, Rachael guides her clients to develop better posture, core stability, alignment and a deeper body awareness. This leads to true functional fitness and a renewed connection with the strength and power in every person's body. She inspires her clients to take what they learn in their sessions and apply it to their every day lives. Every class is practical, hands on, and accompanied with a bit of humour to keep it light!

Jamilah

Jamilah completed the comprehensive Stott Pilates Instructor training on Mat, Reformer, Chair, Cadilac and Barrel through West Coast Pilates, Vancouver. She is an Official Zumba instructor. She has extensive training in Power, Iyengar, and Anusara yoga. Jamilah has taught fitness, yoga and pilates in India and Indonesia. She is currently teaching at Balanced Fitness Studio and various corporations in Burnaby, Vancouver.

She has passion for working with each client to bring awareness of the body through alignment, and challenges them on their own physicality, towards achieving their personal health and fitness goal.

Jamilah regularly updates her training with relevant workshops in Yoga and Pilates to maintain her variety in technique and will continue to do because learning is never end.