We talk with Heather Ruth about leaving a high-stress career to gain multiple yoga certifications and to launch the Serenbe Yoga & Bodyworks studio. Her journey began as a way to manage stress and gain physical strength. Listen to her story and hear how she became Mom to five Nigerian dwarf goats. Heather received her Thai Yoga Therapist certification and 200 RYT in Costa Rica specializing in Restorative and Breathework, and attained her 300 RYT through The Maze Method, which focuses on alignment. She is also certified in Aerial Yoga and Yoga Nidra. Heather's classes are light hearted and meditative in nature.
We talk with Heather Ruth about leaving a high-stress career to gain multiple yoga certifications and to launch the Serenbe Yoga & Bodyworks studio. Her journey began as a way to manage stress and gain physical strength. Listen to her story and hear how she became Mom to five Nigerian dwarf goats. Heather received her Thai Yoga Therapist certification and 200 RYT in Costa Rica specializing in Restorative and Breathework, and attained her 300 RYT through The Maze Method, which focuses on alignment. She is also certified in Aerial Yoga and Yoga Nidra. Heather's classes are light hearted and meditative in nature.
0 (1s):
Hey guys, it's Monica here. I wanted to tell you about a new podcast that I've started with my very good friend, Jennifer Walsh called biophilic solutions. Our last season of ceremony stories, building a biophilic movement was so popular that we decided to dedicate an entire podcast to it every other week. Jennifer and I will sit down with leaders in the growing field of biophilia. We'll talk about local and global solutions to help nurture their living social and economic systems that we all need to sustain future generations more often than not. Nature has the answers. You can find biophilic solutions on apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe and follow us today. So you don't miss an episode.
0 (41s):
All right, now let's get back to ceremony stories.
1 (46s):
welcome
0 (51s):
To savvy stories. I'm Monica, Austin. And today we're talking to our neighbor, Heather Ruth, after leaving a high stress career that led her sick and tired. Heather made her way to getting multiple yoga certifications and launching serum B yoga studio. Her journey began as a way to manage stress and gain physical strength, listened to her story and hear how she became mom to five Nigerian dwarf goats.
2 (1m 15s):
Let's get to, you know, just bring joy in people's life. And I really do see a change from the time people show up to the time people leave.
3 (1m 27s):
Welcome to savvy stories. We're so excited to have you today, Heather, so happy to be here. Oh, how has everything been ?
Thanks Steve. Good.
3 (1m 36s):
Another one of the things we always want to know about people is we typically ask what their ceremony story is. But since you're a resident, you have so many ceremonies stories. I think we start off with asking, how did you find out about ceremony? Like how did you find your way here?
2 (1m 52s):
Yeah. So I have to give that credit to my husband, to be honest about how we made our way to serenbe and if you know, my husband he'd be the last person that would bring us out of the city. I would intuitively be the person that would have brought us out of the city and back into the country. But so in 2015, I was working with Delta airlines flying around the world and he was entering an early retirement phase from a very long career in corporate tax accounting, a career that man almost did him in just with us and, and all of that.
2 (2m 44s):
But he purchased an investment property one weekend. Literally I came home from flying over the weekend and I get home. And some people like buy a new, I don't know, book right over the weekend. He buys a new property and it was a mixed use property in this place called Sarah and which I had never heard of. And, you know, I'm like, okay, cool. Maybe I'll get to see it one day. So we came down and visited and it's a mixed use property. It's actually called the nest and in the commercial space right now, it's where chat Hills gallery, you know, resides.
2 (3m 27s):
So we would come down and spend some time here and just kind of disconnect and relax and realized the difference that we felt just being here. And we were both really kind of taken aback by that. We're both actually from small towns in Georgia. He's from about two hours north of here of here. And I'm from about three hours south of here. So we grew up in small towns where used to this kind of quiet life. Of course, when we were growing up and then adult hood hit for both of us. And we both headed to the city, you know, careers and families and all of that.
2 (4m 8s):
And we kind of laugh. Now, we say moving into Sarah and me is like getting back to our roots, the, with all of the amenities that we now will add as an adult, it's like getting back to the country, but even better. Right? So, so we had that property and we were still living in Virginia Highlands in Atlanta, just kind of coming down here whenever it was available, it was being leased or rented through the N. And so if guests weren't there, we would come down and stay. And 2017 rolls around and we just, we were kind of tired of the city.
2 (4m 52s):
And we were really falling in love with Sarah and B, which again was really surprising for fall in love with, you know, being out of the city. But as he was segwaying into retirement and, you know, kind of trying to find the new identification for his self, which was solely through his work for 30 years, he didn't know how to not identify through that part of his existence. We just kinda made the leap and I'm going to be honest. Had we thought about it too long, we probably wouldn't have done it.
2 (5m 35s):
The, the stars just kind of aligned. Honestly, somebody randomly wanted to buy our house in Virginia Highlands. It wasn't for sale and randomly our favorite house and Sarah and Abby came on the market and, you know, we came, we looked at it. We were like, man, it is as great inside as it is outside, but we don't need that much space. You know? And so we laughed, you know, looking at this house and we were like, yeah, we love it. But we're trying to downsize here. That's not, you know, And you know, and so maybe if some kind of price drop happens, maybe we might re-enter stain. Well, the next week price drop happens and we just looked at each other and we were like, you know what? Somebody tried to tell us something here. You know, we better listen. So yeah, we, we very much on a whim just moved down here and no one or family or friends could believe that we were moving out of the city. And I can tell you who we see more of now more than ever, including when we lived in the city, our family and friends, when they come down and visit because who wouldn't want to visit this place.
2 (7m 3s):
And we wake up every morning, honestly, and just pinch ourselves every morning. We are so grateful to be able to wake up here and like, like we live here and, you know, almost four years later, we're still just like, man, we get to live here.
3 (7m 19s):
Are you guys in the city where you did? Is that where you guys met up there?
2 (7m 24s):
Yes and no. So yes, I, we met, we've been together 21 years. And when we met, I was living in Macon, Georgia, and that's where I went to school. He was living in Atlanta, a mutual friend, introduced us and we hit it off pretty, pretty quick. I continued to live in Macon for six years of the first six years of our relationship and then moved to Atlanta and he was already living there of course. And so, yeah. So by way of Atlanta kind of, and that's where we spent most of our time together is in the city together.
3 (8m 6s):
So yeah, you guys are deep, deep in the city. I mean, you guys have been there for a long time. And
2 (8m 13s):
I mean, we lived in Sherwood forest before we moved to Virginia Highlands and we moved to Virginia Highlands because we wanted more of a walkability aspect of a neighborhood and, you know, Sherwood forest, if you're familiar with it, you know? Right, right. In next to Ansley park. Right. Steve, I know you guys lived in Ansley park.
4 (8m 37s):
You're circling all my neighborhoods as we park.
2 (8m 41s):
Yup. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. And you know, Virginia Highlands, we loved it and yes, it was walkable, but our kids were, were, you know, and in college we were empty-nesters and we found that like, we were the only people on our street without kids. So Virginia Highlands was an amazing community and great, but we had kind of a hard time connecting with people because we didn't have littles, you know, and that's a big way that people connect, especially through those years is through the parents of the other kids and all that.
4 (9m 24s):
Yeah. Do you have a complete mix? People with little kids and people with the house, doing all kinds of things, even in the pandemic.
2 (9m 31s):
I know I'm telling ya, and it's the pandemic's been interesting because I'm inherently an introvert. Actually, people are always surprised to hear that for me, given the jobs that I've done over my career, none of them are introvert centric jobs, but I really am. I just am. I'm an introvert and I have met more people and felt the community stronger during the pandemic than ever. And I have been really pleasantly surprised by that. I just feel like sometimes as we all know, if we've lived life that, you know, it's not the good times, the amazing times that we grow from, or we tend to gravitate towards each other.
2 (10m 25s):
It's those times of hardship that make you reflect on your life and where you are and what you're doing with it and who you're choosing to spend your time around. Right. And I've really felt such a strong closeness and sense of community during the pandemic. It's been pretty amazing. And I, I pointed out that I'm an introvert because like Keith is the extrovert and I'm the introvert. I always say he walks out the front door and down the sidewalk. I walk out the back door and into the trails and into nature.
2 (11m 7s):
And that's how I, you know, get my energy. And so it's been really nice for me to tap into that sense of community that is not really who I inherently have been in the past.
3 (11m 26s):
Did you, is that like, what you find is like the, one of the more surprising things that you found out about ceremony, because, you know, I know when we all move here, you don't, you don't know everything, you just you're moving for whatever particular reason. And so there's always something sort of curious that you find out what was sort of your surprise benefit.
2 (11m 45s):
You know, we're going so hard with all the things when we lived in the city, but just like your normal, you have no idea because it's just what you do. You get up in the morning and you move through the process of your day and you really don't slow down or take the time to realize, Hmm, is this really the best thing for me? Am I really living a life that I want to live? Or am I just moving through the motions? Right. And I think that moving here and allowing ourselves to slow down and get comfortable and used to that, because there is a little bit of a grace period there.
2 (12m 35s):
Like, you gotta give yourself some time when you move here. I feel like at least for us to get used to not looking for stimulation and interaction and something to do every minute of your waking day, like that's how we're programmed these days. I feel like, and you know, I always thought, oh, I'm not necessarily like that. You know, especially while I was always comparing myself to Keith,
3 (13m 6s):
He's a little high strong.
2 (13m 10s):
So, you know, it just allows you the, the time and the space to slow down again. I can't say it enough. And I can't, especially with him, he's changed. Like it has changed both of us moving here. It is changed. He's a different person. I'm happier more at peace. I'm more content with life and the slow pace of it.
4 (13m 50s):
And when I see him walk out the door, down the street to the days that he's in many conversations, so he finds plenty of things to fill those gaps.
2 (13m 58s):
Yes, he does. Steve. I welcome it. Especially during pandemic, go with names of people to talk to you, wear your mask. Yeah, no. So yeah, he's, he's, he's more of a social butterfly than I am, but he's become, he's kind of moved more towards the center and he's also a little bit of an introvert way, more of an introvert than he's ever been. But I think that comes with finding inner peace and being okay with just being by himself. And I don't know that he was ever okay with that because just the stress of the job and always being on the go and travel and, you know, just that phase of life, but it doesn't allow for much slowing down
4 (14m 51s):
And then decided to actually bring some of your profession. Well, I did segwaying
2 (15m 1s):
Into that, which is a story in and of itself. So when we moved here in July of 2017, I was still flying for Delta when we moved here. I think it was two weeks after we moved here. I remember getting off a three-day trip and driving home on a Sunday evening. I had been working for the past month through bouts of bronchitis that, you know, stemmed from a cold, that turns into a double ear infection. And I was just working, working, working through it, you know, and, and I remember driving home that Sunday evening, I had literally lost my hearing both of my ears and I was just driving home crying, feeling so sorry for myself and also so sick, so sick.
2 (15m 59s):
And I got home and I went to the doctor the next day, who basically said, you know, you can't do this. You're going to lose your hearing. And long story short with all that many tests done, I was basically allergic to the job, Dustin dander, how rooms and allergic to circulated re-circulated air, also known as a tube that flies through the air, right? So I was forced to not do that job anymore.
2 (16m 40s):
And I probably would have just kept going with it if I hadn't have been forced to stop it yet, another little push from the universe, if you will. So I had always wanted to get certified to teach yoga. And actually when I started with Delta, it was either going to be Delta or go get my yoga teaching certification, you know, which path am I going to go down first? And the Delta thing happened first. And so I just went there. And so when that career path, if you will ended, I knew exactly where I wanted to go get certified. Exactly what kind of certification and well, that certification started like a month from then.
2 (17m 29s):
So I just went, I just went for it and came back the end of 2017. I mean, it was just a short window, like stopped with Delta. Do you know, like September went away in October to Costa Rica got certified back in basically December began teaching at the studio that was already here that Garney had already brought to Sarah and began started teaching there in January. Yeah. How I even started down the road of yoga. I mean, just pushes and nudges from like in that little
3 (18m 12s):
Studio was how many square feet, like it was such a sweet little, you know, we would pack them in there. It was great. It was, it was, we had something and we were really happy about that.
2 (18m 28s):
Yes. I say, it's such a sweet, cute little postage stamp. It was 700, I know, 300 square feet tiny. It was tiny 200. I'm getting the current studio in that one, the numbers, it was tiny. I mean maybe 200 square feet in that feed in this practice space. But you know, it was something and super happy to have that. Actually, when we moved here, it was here. It just opened when we were trying to make the decision to move here or not. And the fact that there was a yoga studio here was part of our thought processes behind, okay, what does the city have that we're, doesn't have and vice versa.
2 (19m 17s):
Right. So that was a big part of it. My husband, Keith also
3 (19m 21s):
Practiced yoga. So yeah, Ronnie was always looking like, okay, what did she want to be doing that we didn't have here that she also knew people would want? And so when that space became available, I think she sort of jumped on it and said, well, if nobody else is going to open it, I will. But that wasn't her dream. You know, it was more of an ends to a means or a means to an end. So tell me though, how did you, cause you took it over, you basically took it over from her and it was yours, but then Steve decided to build a building in Moto. And tell me about how that whole thing happened.
2 (19m 57s):
Yeah. So I remember garnish, you know, Hey, you want to grab coffee at the Daisy
3 (20m 6s):
Dangerous, don't grab coffee with Garney unless, you know, you're going to own something and there's words, you know,
2 (20m 13s):
What's going on. No. So she was actually, you know, we talked about the yoga studio and, but also she was asked, she was asking me about what I thought about a Peloton studio here. Then we were kind of talking about that. And, and I said, you know, Garney she want me to take over the yoga studio. I'm happy to do that. You know, I'm not, this is all I'm doing now. And still, still brand new doesn't Sarah and be still in the mode of this isn't enough. I need more to do as my job, you know?
2 (20m 56s):
And she was totally open to it. I didn't know if she would be cool with that or not, but she was totally open to it. And yeah, so we were there for a year and a half building community. Right. It takes a lot to build. Right. Steve,
4 (21m 22s):
It's amazing. Everyone shows up, you just lay it out.
3 (21m 25s):
If you build it, they will pick it up.
2 (21m 29s):
Yeah. So, and then, you know, the, the plans for one motto we're coming to the table and the idea that all of the wellness offerings would be under one roof in this first, first commercial only space. I believe Steve, if that's
4 (21m 53s):
Yes. Well the, the, the corner of the hill is mixed juice with restaurants and offices. And so this, but this was the major one. This is the first major real three-story class. A office.
2 (22m 2s):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we were like, yeah, we're in, I mean the opportunity to build a yoga studio from ground up as an intentional yoga studio space. And then instead of taking a space and turning whatever it was into, you know, yoga studio, I feel like that's a pretty cool, you know, chance to be able to do that. And what
4 (22m 30s):
A beautiful job you did share with share with everyone listening. Some of the things you've included.
2 (22m 35s):
Yeah. So our new spaces definitely inspired by nature. One of the kind of things that we're known for is the herringbone bamboo gray floors that we laid down in the space. So that's almost like the main feature of the studio and there's lots of natural wood and lots of plants of course, inside. But the offerings that we have a little bit of everything, including Ariel, including heated power classes, some nice gentle yoga classes, meditation's restorative is very popular here.
2 (23m 28s):
Yoga, nidra. I mean, listen, you name it. I try to offer it because my whole thought process behind that was people are moving here from cities. A lot of times in cities where they have a boutique yoga studio on every corner. Right? So pick the of yoga. You want to do that day within a one mile radius. Typically you have places to go for that here. So a little different. So I just try to offer, you know, all of those types of classes that people were taking in wherever, the place that they moved, whatever city they moved here from so that everybody can kind of maybe find something that they connect with.
2 (24m 9s):
And of course, Matt Pilates as well that we do in the studio. And we're continuing to expound on the offerings and moving some stuff outdoors and taking advantage of the beautiful nature that surrounds us here. So,
3 (24m 23s):
Yeah. And you guys had to pivot quite a bit with virtual, with COVID, but now you're back in the space with the limited people and all the protocols and stuff. But tell us about the yoga that gets probably the most press for you and the most interest that we all kind of like chuckle at, but it is it's sold out for months ahead and it's called goat yoga. And you started doing that. I think when the old studio was around still, right, you got the goats. How did that happen? Was that also something that you and Garney kind of thought up or was that something you had dreamed of doing or because it's such a wild concept and it's so successful and people just can't quite figure it out until you do it.
3 (25m 11s):
And it's so fabulous. That's thanks and be wrong.
2 (25m 18s):
I laugh at myself. Like, what am I, what am I doing? No. You know, so I did grow up on a farm full disclosure, you know, in the south. So I am familiar with animals and I love animals and farm animals. We did not have goats, but you know, so a little known fact, maybe goat yoga was part of my business model. When we made a decision, you know, to kind of take over the yoga studio, like, how am I going to have a yoga studio off the grid in the middle of nowhere, without the huge population of people that most studios and big cities have, how is this thing going to thrive?
2 (26m 8s):
Right. And so of course go yoga. I did not come up with it by the way was not, I did not invent it, but it was out there. And I saw it and I was like, man, this is kind of on brand for Sarah V you know, I sent gardening attacks and it was like, Hey Garney what do you think? I'm thinking about bringing goat, yoga into Sarah and B. And Garney said I've been waiting on someone to say those
3 (26m 36s):
Words. Yes. So
2 (26m 40s):
It was just all downhill from there. I got a herd of rescue Nigerian dwarf goats from a farm in north Georgia. I got them as babies bottle fed them, you know, and we just started rolling with it. And four years later, we're about to begin the fourth season of goat yoga here at Sarah. Can you believe,
3 (27m 3s):
I know mark
2 (27m 6s):
Begins the way of goat yoga. It continues to be. I continue to be, I know, I guess of this crazy thing, but you know what? I get to make people laugh and forget their worries for an hour and 15 minutes. I will not take all the credit my goats do. Okay. So my goats get to, you know, just bring joy in people's life. And I really do see a change from the time people show up to the time people leave. And I think that that it's not the yoga, it's getting outdoors, getting up close and personal with animals and feeling the joy of it all.
2 (27m 54s):
Yeah. So,
3 (27m 56s):
Yeah, it's amazing. And it is, it's like, we are desperate for that connection and you know, that's why we have dogs and cats, everything, but to be connected to sort of like an farm animal or an animal that you're just not used to having in your day-to-day life. It's so incredible. And we've had so many people like how many times am I calling you? Right. Heather, I have Danny PSEO from naturally magazine. We'd like to do good. You know, like all these press people want to come do go yoga. And we sort of joke that it's the, the goat yoga built the studio. Right.
2 (28m 36s):
True. It really is. And, you know, rolling into the next year. And especially during times of pandemic, you know, it's outdoors. It's nothing you can do and abide by all the safetiness that you want to feel in the world today. Right. We're going to start, I think adding some things to it, like maybe a little sunset cocktails and cuddles, happy hour, no go yoga involved, just, you know, being surrounded by these sweet little
3 (29m 13s):
Puddle have on you
2 (29m 15s):
And visit with you, you know, they're so social and have a nice cocktail and watch the sunset. Or are you going to start maybe doing some things like that, you know, rolling into the next year.
3 (29m 27s):
Well, and, and tell us, because I know it's seasonal, so the goats get a break during the winter. They do, but they're about to come back like right now, we're recording this in the middle of February. When do they come back? Heather?
2 (29m 40s):
Yeah. So we began 20, 21, March 20th is a Saturday that will begin the next season. We run through spring, summer and fall into the end of October, which is our last classes. We do some privates like during the off season, but the weather can be so unpredictable that a lot of times that makes a little difficult, but yeah. So it's perfect weather during those times to be outdoors and
3 (30m 14s):
Do yoga so well, we should let people know, like this book's up. And so it can book out two months ahead.
2 (30m 22s):
Yeah. I think the first, at least the first four classes are already sold out. So yeah. Yeah. It's, I think I feel that this year I'm scared to say it. I think it's going to be even busier. I really, and I know that, you know, people are traveling from two hours up to two hours to come here to do yoga and then they discover ceremony, which cry. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, I am, you know, I am an advocate.
2 (31m 4s):
I send them away and I tell them, you know, go check out the farmer's market. It's live music, amazing vibe going on, you know, go check that out, go eat lunch at one of the amazing restaurants here, go hit the trails, get lost. Take the time to just wander the trails, you know, at the lab or at the waterfall, it's just like I do. I like plan their itinerary. People are always emailing me. Hey, we're coming. What else should we do? Like in Sydney, they're going to be itineraries to fill out their days after goat yoga here. So, so much. I was like, it's time to get another hurt, Steve.
2 (31m 44s):
Ooh, they've helped me take care of those guys. And then let's see what you say.
3 (31m 55s):
Well, what else do you have planned for this year? I love that it's coming back. I mean, you have such amazing stuff at the studio and we'll put a link to both in the show notes. Anything else that's going to be new with the studio. I know you've been doing some teacher training, which has been amazing. Stevie who's one of our producers and editors on the podcast is now a Yogi. She works with you, which is amazing. What other plans do you have for yoga this year?
2 (32m 23s):
So this year a lot, but you know, I really plan on, of course, we're going to keep rolling with our in limited size in offerings. We'll always that right, of course. But especially during the nice months, I would love, love. I have many plans for lots of amazing outdoor yoga experiences. I am now right now getting certified for, to teach sound baths, which is with the bowls and in the studio.
2 (33m 4s):
But I think it would be amazing to do one like outside, you know, and some yoga nidra at night under the stars, that's sleep yoga. I mean, just, just getting outside and taking advantage of the beauty here and taking some of the yoga outside. And
3 (33m 24s):
That sounds great. Yeah. And anybody can come, you don't have to be a member of the studio. You can come for the day and just pop into a class, sign up on your you're using. You can use the two lab.
2 (33m 37s):
Yeah. We use the tool, the app, you do have to pre-register for things. Hasn't always been the case, but especially right now with limited class sizes pre-registration is required. But yeah, all the details, any questions everything's located on our website, I hope it's pretty intuitive and easy to find information. If anybody does have any questions, my email is on their contact information. Just reach out.
3 (34m 3s):
Sure. Any last thoughts for our listeners about what you want to tell them anything besides of course they need to come to yoga, but like,
2 (34m 13s):
You know, I get asked this question often, you know, what, what is this place?
3 (34m 20s):
My people,
2 (34m 20s):
And we all get that too, right? Miss me there. And I also, once people are here, they say, it feels different here. What is it? What is this feeling? And I have been really trying to come up with the right words for it in the last four years, almost since we've lived here. And it's just this immense peace and connection with nature that it's different here. You really can feel it here. So I just encourage people to just come out, spend the day, wander the trails, take advantage of all the amazing wellness offerings that there are here.
4 (35m 9s):
I think you, you, you mentioned you came from small town and rural Georgia, and we've gotten away from that so much that we don't know what it feels like. And tsunami is just a place that connection to nature and people. But we haven't been building places where that happens and it's story after story, like it talks about being in the middle of it. And yet isolated.
2 (35m 36s):
You can really feel the intention of this place here, I guess, is the best way. I knew how to put it into words. It's
4 (35m 45s):
Pulled us all in, including us initially. It's something about the nature of this father. It really pulls people in. Thank you, Steve. I love having you all here. And, and now that you've brought the yoga and what an addition that's been, I know that on the webpage or on the podcast, there'll be pictures of your studio and it is just a beautiful studio
3 (36m 10s):
Is beautiful and the light. Thanks. Well, I'm also lucky to have you Heather, because you add to the community, you know, it's like every single person who comes in is, you know, just another piece of light. Thank you, Monica.
2 (36m 25s):
I really appreciate it. It's truly a blessing to be here, to live and work here.
3 (36m 30s):
Thank you for being on today. Thank you for, for speaking with us and let's all go do some yoga. Go yoga, go do some yoga guys.
0 (36m 40s):
Thank you. Thank you for listening to ceremony stories, new episodes are available on Mondays. Please subscribe and leave us a review and visit our website to learn more about guests, episodes and everything. Ceremony at ceremony, stories.com. This episode is supported by the, in it ceremony, nestled in the rolling countryside of the bucolic community of ceremony, where guests can walk on the 15 miles of private trails through preserved forest land, the wildflower meadow and the animal village, relax at the pool hot tub or in rocking chairs on a wraparound porch. Play on the croquet lawn, grab a canoe or jump on the in ground trampoline, connect with nature and each other all while staying in a luxurious space at the Inn at ceremony.
0 (37m 24s):
Book your stay today@saronbn.com, S C R E N B E I N n.com.