Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenny Fairbank.
Hi Jenny, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was just out of undergrad and in my early 20s I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I knew that whatever work I was going to do had to have meaning and I wanted to love it. Back then travel and working out were two things I loved. So, I became a flight attendant and fitness trainer. During those early years, I was having a conversation with a friend and we were talking about our wildest biggest dreams. Seemingly out of nowhere I said I wanted to have a retreat center. I found a photo in a magazine and sent it to her. (Yes, through the good old-fashioned mailing system) This friend and I were actually pen pals. We wrote letters to each other for two decades. (Long story) This exchange about our wildest dreams came and floated away. Not long after that, I left the airlines to focus solely on my personal training career.
Living in the fitness world I started taking yoga classes and fell in love with the practice and soon became a certified yoga teacher. Over the years many of my private fitness and yoga clients joked about me being their ‘therapists’. Some even seriously suggested that I get my counseling degree. This was said to me so many times that I eventually took the advice and applied to the Social Work master’s program at the University of Pittsburgh. I graduated in 2008 then attended Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy school and completed all levels of their training as well as their group therapy program.
Wanting to start something completely new, my husband and I picked up our lives and moved from Pittsburgh to Austin, TX in 2009 after a one-time visit to the city. Within a year we bought and rebranded a yoga studio and I started my private yoga therapy practice. As if that wasn’t keeping me busy enough, I also started writing a mindfulness workbook for my clients, then an additional business mindfulness training workbook and an online course with a friend turned business partner. Soon we were teaching executives in boardrooms how to implement mindfulness and meditation into the workplace. For several years all was going well. Until it wasn’t.
In September 2017 my business partner said, for personal reasons, she could no longer work in our company. Within a few months, the business was completely closed down. It actually felt right to close the business. I felt complete. During all these years I was deep into my own spiritual practices, had found my guru and felt like my consciousness was rapidly changing.
I should mention that in 2015 I sold the yoga studio, have continued my private therapy practice all these years. After closing the mindfulness business my husband and I were feeling called to move out of the city of Austin and began a search for some property out in the country. We didn’t know where we wanted to live but knew that we wanted some land and a quieter life. The memory of having a retreat center surfaced from my subconscious. We started talking about possibilities. We drew up several vision boards. We let our minds run wild with ideas and thought big. One of my dear friends and spiritual healer connected me to a man with whom she was acquainted who had property in Wimberley, TX. Without much thought and zero expectations, we took a drive out to meet him. It was the first weekend of November 2017. As he was showing us the land, I was having a very strange feeling run through me. I knew something was happening. Long story short, he asked us to come back the next weekend to discuss ideas for the land. We started working right away and moved onto the land on November 1st, 2018. Ruby Retreats was born and opened in spring 2019.
Then, as per the course of my life, I began another endeavor. March 2022 I launched the Spiritual Living School with my dear friend and Steven Ross.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Life has definitely not been a smooth road, but I see bumps in the road as growth opportunities and I am grateful for them. I wouldn’t change one thing. I’ve learned and grown through each test.
My greatest challenges have been financial. I had student loan debt all of my adult life up until 2 years ago when I finally paid off every penny that I borrowed. The yoga studio years were financially difficult plus my husband had some health issues which led to a period of unemployment. At times it felt like an avalanche was coming down. What kept me together was the studio – the students, my yoga practice and meditation. Those difficult years brought me my guru and a deeper connection to Divine Spirit.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
There are many ways in which I serve.
I have a private practice working with Individuals and couples teaching mindfulness techniques and meditation practices. I help people identify and release energetic blocks that are holding them back from living their best life. I love going deep in one-on-one sessions. Most clients stay with me for long periods, often years. We dive into how to live a balanced material and spiritual life.
In addition to being trained as a spiritual counselor, meditation teacher, and yoga teacher, I am also a trained Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy practitioner. In this modality, I work with the mind-body connection that gives people space to be with their thoughts, emotions, and body in a very supportive way. This modality is helpful to releasing stored trauma.
I launched the Spiritual Living School with Steven Ross, a fellow yogi and longtime friend. We offer an online community where like-minded truth seekers gather through conversation, classes, mini-talks, book study, weekly guided mediations, etc. . .
Steven and I also offer deeper studies programs like our Self-Mastery Breakthrough, a 6-month dive into living a spiritual life based on yoga principles and philosophy, In addition, we created a Meditation Teacher Training program that certifies professionals how to teach meditation to their clients and students.
I am the founder and operate Ruby Retreats – a retreat center in Wimberley, TX where I hold quarterly weekend retreats, customized retreats for individuals or small groups, kirtans, drum circles, etc. . .
I am proud of all the work I am currently doing, as it all manifested through many years of study, attending school and training. I am most proud that I have done all of this with no financial support from anyone other than my husband who is an RN.
What sets me apart is my dedication to the spiritual path and my clients. I am very devoted to this work and those whom I serve.
How do you think about happiness?
I have a portable paradise within me that I tap into daily in my meditation practice. That is where true happiness resides in every one of us. I don’t look for external things to make me happy, for that is an illusion. It doesn’t exist.
Pricing:
- Mindfulness/Meditation Session $150.00
- Spiritual Living School online community $18/month
- Self-Mastery Breakthrough 6-month program $6k
Contact Info:
- Website: Ruby-Retreats.com
- Instagram: @RubyRetreatstx
- Facebook: Ruby Retreats
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqBPVkBUFe4Zfoe-0FPNJyQ
- Other: https://www.spirituallivingschool.com/
