Page 4 Berthoud Weekly Surveyor February 28, 2013

Zoga Wellness, yoga and moreBy Heidi Kerr-SchlaeferThe Surveyor

Several new businesses have opened in Berthoud this past year that provide unique shopping, drink-ing, and yoga experiences. Marcy Wood opened Zoga Wellness in No-vember 2012 on Fifth Street, next to KJ Wood Distillery.

Business ownership is second-nature to Wood, who grew up in a family where entrepreneurship was a way of life. She and her husband, K. John Wood, run her father’s apart-ment business in Boulder, but Marcy Wood always wanted to start some-thing of her own.

“Owning my own business is the expectation that my family put on me, but I had to find what business spoke to me,” said Wood.

Having studied kinesiology in col-lege, and having worked for years as an aerobics instructor, eight years ago Wood began to practice yoga. She admits that it wasn’t love at first sight, but once she discovered how to incorporate the practice into her life the benefits were undeniable.

Wood entered a training program in Denver, and two years later dis-covered Core Power in Boulder where she was quickly offered a teaching position. Core Power is yoga set to energizing music; it strengthens, bal-ances, detoxifies and exhilarates the

body and mind. “Eventually I realized that yoga

was more than just a physical prac-tice, there’s the whole spiritual, medi-tative side,” said Wood.

The practice of meditation didn’t come easy to Wood, so she under-stands when her clients struggle with this aspect of yoga. She has become a skilled guide in helping her clients achieve this fulfilling piece of the practice of yoga.

According to Wood, running and playing an instrument are types of meditation. If she has a client who is an avid runner, but has diffi-culty slowing the brain down during meditation, she guides them to run in their mind.

However, Zoga Wellness isn’t just about yoga, and meditation is just a small part of the overall picture. Wood’s Edge classes have become very popular and include the use of the FITWALL, a unique feature of Zoga Wellness and the only FIT-WALL in Berthoud.

The FITWALL was invented by a climber and is vertical fitness train-ing. It strengthens and promotes flex-ibility without injuring joints.

“It uses the upper and lower body together and it’s very easy on the joints. You really move on these things, and it gets your heart rate up because you are using the entire

weight of your body to get your work-out,” said Wood.

In just three short months, Wood has clients who have seen tremen-dous weight loss through attending Edge classes. While Edge is about cardio, Wood will inject yoga at the end of class during stretching. In March, she will introduce a fusion class that will include 15 minutes on the FITWALL, 15 minutes of strength exercises and 15 minutes of yoga.

There are three instructors at Zoga Wellness, including Wood. They offer classes in Vinyasa yoga and Edge. Wood also teaches a Yoga Plus class for the advance practitioner. She has always enjoyed the teaching aspect of group exercise and the relationships she builds with her clients.

“It’s when people tell me that they are feeling good by doing this, that’s what really makes my day,” said Wood.

Practicing yoga and the art of meditation helps with simple things, like calming down after driving through crazy traffic. As the mother of three, Wood is always on the run, but she finds yoga practice helps her stay calm in daily life.

While the Wood family lives in southwest Loveland, Marcy and John opened their businesses in Berthoud, in part, because their children go to Berthoud schools.

“Berthoud is an awesome little town,” said Wood. “It took us awhile to find this space, but I think it was

all meant to be.”Zoga Wellness

is already estab-lishing a foothold in the commu-nity. They have collaborated with Da Bean and City Star Brewing on punch cards that can be used to-wards a free class at the studio. Also, as a way to give back to the community, on the first Saturday of each month, at 8:45 a.m., Zoga Wellness offers a free yoga class, and all they ask for is a $2 donation to the Berthoud Bash.

Zoga Wellness is located at 403

Fifth Street and can be reached by calling 303-817-1923. Check their schedule online at www.zogawellness.com or find the business on Facebook.

Photo by Heidi Kerr SchlaeferMarcy Wood in her studio at Zoga Wellness.

Free Sales & Use Tax Seminar

The Town of Mead and the Mead Area Chamber of Commerce pres-ent a free seminar on Sales and Use Taxes. The seminar will be pre-sented by Caron Notarmuzi, Public Information & Education Specialist, Colorado Department of Revenue.

The following issues will be ex-plored:

• What goods/services are taxable.• When and how to collect.• How do I know how much to collect.• How to remit.• Differences between taxing entities.This seminar will take place

Tuesday, March 26 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Mead Town Hall located at 411 Third St., Mead. Bring your own lunch. Please RSVP by March 19 by contacting Linda Martin at 303-476-8160 or lmartin@townofmead.org.

Happy Tails & Sun Pony RanchBy Heidi Kerr-SchlaeferSpecial to the Surveyor

Head south on Country Road 1, and just short of three miles down there is a big red house sitting on a hill overlooking 21 acres of land on the east side of the road. In 2004 it became the home of Sun Pony Ranch, and a year-and-a-half later it was also home to Happy Tails Dog Ranch.

These businesses were the dream of Ginger Fedak, and it was while vol-unteering at Colorado Horse Rescue (CHR) that Fedak found the partners who would help her make this dream come true. The Signers were also vol-unteers at CHR, and today Sun Pony and Happy Tails are co-owned by Fedak and husband/wife team, Dave and Monica Signer.

“The three of us bring different abilities to the table. It’s a really nice partnership, and we all still like each other after all this time,” said Fedak.

Sun Pony Ranch is a riding facility offering riding clinics year round and 10 weeks of summer camp. They also have horses available for lease. The riding clinics are offered to various age groups and students learn about horse safety, horse personalities and grooming.

“The introductory clinics are a great, inexpensive way for a parent to see if their child really likes horse-manship as much as the child thinks they will like it,” explained Fedak. “We even have a Mommy & Me and Daddy & Me clinic for two-and-a-half to four-year-olds.”

While Fedak and the Signers’

backgrounds were mostly with horses, they were all lifelong dog-people. Fedak had always wanted to open a dog boarding facility that had lots of room for the dogs to run. As a dog owner, she felt this was the major thing missing from most boarding facilities around Colorado.

“Every time I’d go on a business trip and have to board my dog, I’d come back and she would be so de-pressed and a little dazed. It would break my heart,” said Fedak.

The three owners did their home-work. They got involved with the Colorado Association of Doggie Daycares and went to seminars and workshops provided by the associa-tion. They still continue their canine education today.

“We just had a behaviorist come in and she loved the place. She said we were top tier because of the space and the amount of exercise the dogs get and the fact that we watch for behavior issues and intercept before

anything escalated,” said Fedak. “She gave us lots of new tips, but also said we were doing a great job, and that felt good.”

Happy Tails Dog Ranch has sev-eral acres where the dogs can run for most of the day during their boarding stay. This is truly unique within the dog-boarding industry, and clients are willing to drive many miles to board their dogs with Happy Tails. Clients come from Loveland, Long-mont, and many even come from as far as Boulder.

There are 10 employees at Happy Tails, including a kennel manager. Every person who works at Happy

Tails must love dogs, but also must be good with dogs. It’s important that the staff members form relationships with each of their canine clients.

“When people bring their dogs here they can know that not only are their dogs well cared for, exercised and happy, but they are well loved. We give lots of hugs,” said Fedak.

Sun Pony Ranch and Happy Tails Dog Ranch are located at 18490 County Road 1, Berthoud, Colo. You can visit their websites at www.SunPonyRanch.com and www.Hap-pyTailsDogRanch.com. Call them directly at 970-532-4040.

The fourth Thursday of each month the Surveyor features a member the Mead Area Chamber of Commerce.

Let’s grow together!The Mead Area Chamber of Commerce is orga-

nized to advance the general welfare and pros-perity of the Mead area. All necessary means of promotion shall be provided and particular atten-tion and emphasis shall be given to the economic, civic, commercial, industrial, and educational interests of the area.

Photo courtesy of Happy TailsLuna and Macy run and play together while Charli relaxes in the pool.

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