Visit Rooted Souls Wellness Sanctuary in Marblehead, Ohio

When Rose Sabin found yoga, she found herself.

“I didn’t realize then that that was the beginning,” she says. “I was dying a slow death.”

That was 15 years ago. These days, Sabin is on a mission to share everything she’s learned through her new Rooted Souls Wellness Sanctuary — a complex set on 2.7 acres in Marblehead, Ohio, that will ultimately include a yoga studio, café, event center, gift shop and a handful of 500-square-foot rental cottages.

The new place, which Sabin expects to open in early May, will be roughly four times as big as her current Root to Rise yoga studio and cafe located just down the road in Port Clinton, but the goal will be the same.

“So many people come in here because they think they want a juice or a better body,” Sabin says. “But that’s not why they stay.”

To understand Sabin’s story, we have to back up a bit. We first met Rose and her husband, Doug, in 2010 for a story on the new home they built in Marblehead after a fire destroyed their original cottage. She was standing on the bow of her boat in a bikini, her long dark curly hair blowing in the wind, waving hello as she and Doug returned from a day on the water. Throwing on a colorful coverup, she went inside to whip up a batch of grape martinis.

From the local art on the walls to the BMW Z4 convertible parked in front, everything was perfect. Sabin ran her marketing agency in Cleveland during the week and then let loose on Lake Erie on the weekends.

“On the outside, I had everything,” Sabin says. “What I realized was I wasn’t focused on my soul. It was more about the shell.”

That shell began to crumble in 2011 when a friend invited Sabin to try yoga as a way to destress from her busy life.

“The room was 105 degrees and I wanted to kill her,” Sabin remembers. But something shifted inside of her. “Between her music and her words something moved my soul and I cried for the first time in years. She helped to heal me.”

One thought broke through all the others: “Wow, I don’t have to worry about the shell. I can really be who I am.”

Sabin began her two-track journey, working through her unresolved trauma from growing up in a dysfunctional family and battling infertility, while also training to be a yoga teacher, earning her certification in 2014.

Eight years later, Sabin was diagnosed with breast cancer — a battle that helped her see the final piece that was missing in her life. She sold her marketing agency and opened her yoga studio and wellness café in Port Clinton.

“We just kept growing and growing and growing,” she says. “There are a lot of women looking for a safe space where they can think and heal and grow.”

The new studio will have more room for classes, including spinning, barre, dance and Pilates, and a café that’s twice as big with expanded hours and an expanded menu with more sandwiches, salads and juices, as well as craft cocktails and wine — all made with seasonal, organic ingredients, many of which will be grown at an onsite greenhouse.

But Sabin says she and her team are most excited about the chance to grow their wellness community.

“People move up here and they know no one,” says Tina Roberts, who co-owns the café portion of the business with Sabin and is also a yoga instructor. “They come in [to the studio] and they start meeting people.”

After class, they tend to stick around and chat, maybe grabbing a coffee or a juice. Slowly, real bonds form.

“A problem shared is a problem cut in half,” says Sabin. “Without that support from others, you fall victim to depression and anxiety, panic attacks.”

To understand how a yoga class can accomplish all of that, you have to see Sabin or one of her instructors in action — and how they create a vibe that’s both vulnerable and powerful. Sabin doesn’t just tell you what pose to take. Rather, each session is more like a motivational story accompanied by music and poses perfect for the point Sabin is making.

On the day we’re there, Sabin explains how there are times we all need a blanket (to be comforted) and times we need a sword (to fight). Her voice rises and falls as she shares personal stories and pushes her students through difficult poses interspersed with soothing moments of rest. She calls everyone “my love” and exudes the kind of energy that makes you want to hold the pose a moment longer.

After class, she explains more over coffee. “A lot of people come in here because they need the blanket,” she says. “But how do they move forward? What do they need to sever? What is the necessary ending? Selling off the ad agency was a necessary step for me.

“It’s progress; it’s not perfection,” she continues. “We light a lamp onto people’s paths.”

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