Wrapping a brightly colored rubber resistance band around the bottom of her feet, Dr. Kelly Baute grips the handles and slowly pulls straight back with her elbows out to her sides.

“Now you don’t want to shrug your shoulders,” she said. “You want to bring your shoulder blades together.”

After a few repetitions, Baute grabs a small, green, inflatable exercise ball and begins rotating from her hips side to side, touching the ball down on either side of her.

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Eight other women sitting on exercise mats facing Baute copy her movements. They are of various ages and backgrounds, but all have one thing in common: A desire to be more physically fit and to improve their overall wellness.

That’s why they have come to Baute, owner of A Splendid Earth Wellness.

After four years of running the business from her home and satellite locations in Seymour, Baute now has opened her first studio at 2021 N. Ewing St. in the same building as The Herbal Alternative.

In the past, the building has served as a workout facility known as The Body Shop. It’s also the same building that housed the old Spencer Craft and Hobby store and Construction Zone miniature golf course.

The new location allows Baute to grow her business and help more people reach their wellness goals.

“It’s a good space,” she said. “It’s got good energy.”

The 2,700-square-foot space features a 1,100-square-foot exercise area, where she is offering different group classes, including yoga, barre, Zumba, pilates, Pound and core muscle strengthening. Baute teaches some of the classes, while others are taught by instructors with whom she contracts.

Classes range in price from $10 to $12.

“That’s my passion,” she said of group fitness. “You get your social interaction, you get your exercise and you have fun. You keep active, and you keep engaged. It doesn’t have to be just about building a higher heart rate.”

A grand opening celebration for A Splendid Earth Wellness is planned for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. There will be fitness demonstrations, live music from the band U4ia, food samples of recipes from Baute and Chef Dan Orr’s book “The Wellness Lifestyle” and door prizes.

Besides group fitness classes, A Splendid Earth Wellness also offers personal training, lifestyle management coaching and education, ergonomics and corporate wellness and is a point of purchase for the Garden Tower, a composting vertical self-contained gardening system that holds up to 50 plants.

Baute plans to begin an older adults exercise program to help senior citizens along with one for moms and young children to understand movement and build fundamental developmental skills.

“We do less and less with kids about movement. As time goes on, there is less and less physical education, so it’s an opportunity for the parents to move and be with their kid,” she said. “They also are learning what developmental stages their child should be at and what movements are important at that stage.”

The exercise business may not be lucrative, but Baute said she gets the most reward from seeing people achieve their goals.

But trying to get people to exercise requires more than just knowing about it, she said.

“Knowledge of exercise is not enough to motivate, but fun motivates people, and that’s what we are about,” she said. “We want a no-pressure environment. It’s about building a community.”

Although she’s originally from Columbus, Baute has lived in Seymour for more than 20 years and considers it her home.

She wants to help people make positive and lasting changes in their lives that leads to a happier and healthier community, she said.

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What: Grand opening of A Splendid Earth Wellness

When: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday

Where: 2021 N. Ewing St., Seymour

For information about the business or to see a group exercise schedule, visit asplendidearthwellness.com or its Facebook page. You also can email [email protected] or call 812-535-9329.

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