Lauren Wallin teaches a pay-as-you-go Chair Pilates class in Bethel Methodist Church. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

BETHEL — Lauren Wallin, of Bethel, teaches two chair Pilates’ classes at the Bethel United Methodist Church at 10 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays.

A participant in Lauren Wallin’s Chair Pilates class at Bethel Methodist Church. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

These are ‘pay-as-you-can’ classes with a suggested donation of $5 and $15. But if people forget their money or can’t pay, it is OK, said Wallin. Students pay the instructors, who in turn give a donation to the church.

On a recent Monday, six people were exercising in the bright, wood-lined studio at the back of the church.  Jeani Ochtera, Brenda Merlino, Jean Jones and Anna Leonard all came from Greenwood. Dot Bartlett and Marilyn Sahlberg came from of Bethel.

The class teaches strength, stretching, and balance, said Wallin, who as as a long distance runner, was having trouble with her feet, ankles and legs, Pilates taught her to work from her center down, “I was standing taller, I was feeling better, it changed how I was moving overall,” she said.