Coppell Barre3 owner Kiki Thorn leads her 4:30 p.m. exercise class with vivacious energy, rivaling the pop music blaring through the studio. Towards the end of the session, the ambiance changes; calming music fills the studio, signaling the time for mindfulness.

Thorn has owned the Barre3 studio for three years. Barre3 has been voted as one of the best fitness centers in Star Local Media Readers’ Choice Best of Coppell in 2024. However, fitness was not always a regularity in Thorn’s life.

Thorn decided she wanted to have a regular fitness routine after having her second child, Coppell High School senior Sydney Thorn. She then discovered her passion for fitness and became a certified instructor in 2010. She has taught fitness for 15 years.

“I started taking classes at the local gym, and I thought, I can do this, I love this. I want to teach this,” Thorn said.

She purchased the studio in 2021 after COVID-19 to save it from shutting down and preserve the community which she and others at the studio created.

“We’re like a family here, and I didn’t want that to end,” Thorn said. “We’re like a team. Everyone pulls together to help each other.”

Being a fitness instructor does not feel like an obligation for Thorn.

“I just love the energy of it, and I love the fact of group fitness because you didn’t have to come up with anything on your own,” Thorn said. “There is someone there to support you, guide you and help you, and it is fun.”

Owning the studio is a combination of Thorn’s degree in business and her love of exercise. Though Thorn had worked at her grandfather’s chemical company, Mar-Tek Industries, while she was attending the University of North Texas, she wanted to do something of her own.

“Fitness is my favorite thing, and I also know how to run a business,” Thorn said. “Instead of being with my family business, I can go on my own path and actually get to follow my own passion, which is fitness plus owning a business.” 

Physical exercise is Thorn’s specialty, but mindfulness is a concept she applies to everyday life and spreads it to her clients and fellow instructors.

“It means being present,” Thorn said. “It’s so hard for us today to slow down, and just take a moment, breathe and focus inward on the real things and not just the temporary problems,” Thorn said. “I have people tell me all the time what a difference it is to have a little bit of time in their day to quiet themselves.”

Mindfulness was not a daily practice for some at Barre3.

“Before I started working out and teaching at Barre3, I didn’t really understand what mindfulness meant,” Barre3 instructor Jami Blomstrom said. “During my training and my time working out at Barre3, she is the one who taught me the mindfulness approach.”

Blomstrom also uses mindfulness in her everyday life.

“Anytime you feel stressed or sad, these are things you can incorporate in the outside world when you start to listen and utilize your breath,” Blomstrom said.

Thorn also plays an important role in teaching instructors about mindfulness.

“[Thorn] has created and held a space for me to learn and grow in my practice of mindfulness. We practice what we preach,” Barre3 instructor Amanda Kennedy said.

Thorn uses mindfulness to reduce stress, especially since events in her personal life had begun to pile up and weigh on her.

“I love Barre3 because we get the fun and the movement,” Thorn said. “But at the end of every single class, we stop, focus on our breath, and just take at least two to three minutes of mindfulness to let our bodies heal a little bit from our busy days.”

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