By Gabrielle Saveri | Special to The Sun — After a decade of flying under the radar in Sonoma’s exercise scene, en-er-gy fitness, a boutique studio located right off the town’s main square, is celebrating it’s 10-year anniversary.
“For the 10 years, I enjoyed being the best kept secret in town,” says owner Renée Wiggs. “Now more and more people are starting to learn about the studio.”
Wiggs says she is confident in knowing that anyone who comes through the doors has been “drawn in to enter, often for unknown reasons — sometimes coming in on a recommendation, but always to experience something special.”
Raised in Hawaii and a college graduate of San Francisco State University, Wiggs left a corporate career in Marin for the Sonoma Valley 20 years ago, bringing her belief that true wellness is fundamentally all about one’s personal “en-er-gy” and wanting to embody that belief into something unique.
“It’s an understanding that everything in the Universe is made of energy, we are all atoms and molecules,” she explains. “Our energy defines us. That definition shows up in our attitudes, how we feel, our exchanges with other people, and ultimately everything we draw unto ourselves – thus ‘en-er-gy’ can be a noun or a verb, or both!”
The idea for en-er-gy fitness came when Wiggs imagined the beauty of bringing a small boutique studio to the Sonoma community. She had grown wary of spending a large monthly fee at a gym that offered more than she needed — weight training rooms, showers, lockers, a pool, and so on. “I realized I just wanted a big dance floor – I wasn’t utilizing all the other stuff,” Wiggs says.
Now, years later, that’s pretty much what Wiggs has to offer – a group exercise space, with a diverse schedule and variety of unique classes, many of which are not offered anywhere else in the area. “I offer multiple price points to accommodate various budgets, and a great schedule so if you buy a five or ten class pass, you can experiment with an assortment of fitness formats,” she says.
Over time, Wiggs believes that her studio has evolved into more of a spiritual, healing place, perfect for people who seriously want to work on themselves. “In the beginning, we were more focused on group exercise classes,” she says. “Now, as I’ve grown older, it’s more about incorporating mindfulness into how we move, use, care for, and heal our bodies, all for the purpose of maximum longevity – it’s about embracing a lifestyle.”
En-er-gy fitness offers classes for all adult ages, ranging from youthful millennials who love to sweat-it-all-out, all the way up to 70-plus year olds who prefer to stretch, breathe and meditate. “It’s hard to put into a box,” Wiggs explains.
The largest class the studio can accommodate, Wiggs says, is 15-20 people, but more often, classes are much smaller. “The instructors know you and engage with you. There’s a real intimacy and level of trust that is quite unique to en-er-gy. My clients tell me they feel welcomed, not exposed,” she says. “My studio will always be a non-competitive and non-judgmental space.”
Wiggs is proud of the business. “It’s a major accomplishment for me to have made it 10years,” she says. “I’ve survived some really hard times. I made it through 2008-2010 when so many, including myself, lost their homes, and many of my clients also lost their jobs. I’ve never celebrated myself before, so I want to do that. I’ve seen so many businesses on The Square come and go, and I’m still here.”
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