Our Story
Root & Rise Wellness came into being as if by its own volition—a natural antidote to the fast-paced, overstimulating world we live in. As tenders of the earth, we understand that true nourishment begins with healthy soil. We believe our roots—our connection to Mother Earth—are the foundation of our well-being. Only from a balanced nervous system and a nourished spirit can we grow into the most authentic versions of ourselves.
Why Root & Rise? Because healing is a remembering. It’s a returning. It’s tending to our roots so we can rise with steadiness, resilience, and grace.
Why the snakes? This sacred symbol first appeared to Zoe in a guided therapy session, but its meaning is ancient. They represent the divine feminine, the Earth Mother, the golden thread that weaves all beings—living and nonliving—into one interconnected web. They remind us of the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth that guides every season of our lives.
Through our work, we aim to strengthen your connection to body, breath, and spirit—and, in doing so, to the earth itself.
Zoe Schapira
Founder, co-owner, teacher
Zoe’s devotion to yoga began in 2012 when mindful movement and meditation became a cornerstone of her mental health journey. Since then, her love for yoga has continued to grow and blossom into a central lens through which she approaches life. Forever a student of the practice, Zoe looks to yoga as a vehicle to anchor into the present moment. As a practitioner and teacher, Zoe incorporates breath awareness as a window to slow down the brain and regulate the nervous system. Trained in Integrated Vinyasa from the Colorado School of Yoga, Zoe’s classes encourage intentionality and balance. Holding space for hard work and stillness, Zoe invites students to examine limiting and conditioned beliefs that arise both on and off the mat. Zoe’s classes focus on embodiment and are accessible to all levels. While Zoe has witnessed the life-changing impacts of presence and intentionality, it is her passion to share the gifts of yoga with her community.
Zoe is also a folk herbalist who came to herbalism through her own journey with physical, mental, and emotional health challenges. After feeling disheartened by the lack of empathy and individualized care she experienced within the Western medical system, she found a deeper path of healing through the wisdom of plants. She is trained in the Wise Woman Tradition by Marysia Miernowska through The School of the Sacred Wild.
Zoe offers one-on-one plant spirit consultations rooted in ceremony and deep listening. In each session, she holds space for clients to connect with plant allies and receive intuitive guidance. Together, you’ll explore herbal protocols and lifestyle shifts that may support healing on physical, emotional, or spiritual levels. Herbal formulas may be provided directly or offered as a custom protocol for you to gather from a local apothecary.
Dylan Alsbach
Co-owner, teacher
For most of his life, Dylan has fostered an expanding reverence for one’s connection to Nature and to the body. Before coming to yoga, Dylan would use physical movement and exertion as a means of escape from anxiety. With growth he came to develop a better understanding of his own mental health, and how intentional practices like breathwork and meditation can help to ease egoism and improve one’s overall frame of consciousness. When Dylan started to explore yoga, many aspects of a consistent practice resonated with him, especially the strengthening of the mind-body connection, the influence breathwork can have on one’s nervous system, and the mental freedom that can arise on and off the mat from overcoming ego, aversion, and attachment. In this way, Integrated Vinyasa classes were the initial source of Dylan’s passion for yoga. Once the connection was made for Dylan between this style of yoga and the benefits it brought into his every day experience, there was no turning back. Dylan was trained to teach Integrated Vinyasa through the Colorado School of Yoga, and considers it to be just the beginning of his life-long endeavor as a student and teacher of the practice. Yoga in today’s world is often faster paced, with an emphasis on the physical asanas rather than the breath or balance of lunar and solar energies within a flow. Contrarily, students can expect Dylan’s classes to focus on embodiment, alignment, the linkage of breath to movement, and the integration of Nature and everyday life. With a wide range of accessibility, Dylan’s classes favor progression that is available to everyone rather than achieving complex poses.
When he isn’t practicing yoga Dylan likes to spend time convening with Mother Nature, enjoying the company of his partner and two dogs, refining his sourdough recipe, burying his head in books, rock climbing and camping.