Meet Hannah Ruth

Hi, I’m Hannah Ruth! (they/them)

I believe that every path toward healing is a dance. Each day, we are invited to find lightness and wonder in the presence of these bodies we call home. Every massage, every movement practice, is a chance to find grace, fluidity, gentleness, and strength. It is a chance to enter into the presence of deep listening, letting curiosity be our guide. With patience, practice, and generous compassion, we can learn to dance with our shadows and our pain, and just maybe find a little bit of joy.

Dance has been a part of my life since I was very small. First, creative movement. Then, intensive ballet training into my late teens. In my mid teens, I found modern dance and fell in love. In college, it was West African dance and Contact Improvisation. Now, my dance practice tends to show up in just about everything I do.

In 2006, one of my modern dance teachers recommended that I try yoga as a way to release extra tension in my body. I soon realized what a profound impact the practice had on my physical and mental wellbeing. My first yoga teacher encouraged her students in the way of gentleness and self compassion, lessons that I carry forward in my teaching today. As someone now living in a larger body, my teaching and practice of yoga are rooted in accessibility and the generous use of props. The dance weaves in as we flow intuitively between poses, each with our own breath, our own timing. I completed my 200hr teacher training in 2025 with Fluid Yoga, and am a Certified Yoga For All teacher, trained in making my classes more accessible to people of different sizes and abilities.

Seeking work that would encourage me to stay connected to my body, I began my massage training in my hometown of Santa Barbara, CA on Chumash land in 2015. There, I studied Swedish Massage, Deep Tissue, Orthopedic Massage, Sports Massage, and more. Since then, I have sought additional training in Reflexology, Oncology Massage, Reiki, Pre- & Perinatal Massage, and one-on-one coaching to develop my skills in Deep Tissue. For me, every massage is a dance, in the grace and fluidity of my movements as I work, and also in the way that I listen. To every session, I bring generous attention to the feedback your body gives, both verbally and non verbally. I don’t believe in overriding your body’s pain response with excessively deep strokes in a “no pain, no gain” mentality. Instead, I seek to communicate directly with you in a dance of give and take, to find the sweet spot that leaves you feeling refreshed, deeply relaxed, and at ease.

Over the years I have worked with massage clients age 11 to 96, including dancers, college athletes, yoga students, busy parents and young adults, musicians, circus artists, construction workers, therapists, gardeners, and retired folks of the wiser generations. I believe all bodies are beautiful and deserving of deep care, and I seek to make my practice a welcoming space for all.

Hannah Ruth Massage & Movement is a fat positive, queer owned business. I am a Certified Massage Therapist with the state of California, Licensed in the state of Vermont, and a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT 200) through Yoga Alliance.

All site photography by Justin Altman.