Kaitlyn Seifert

Kaitlyn Seifert felt that growing up in CB South was very special but to go out into the world from a small, somewhat isolated community, well, it was a bit of a culture shock. However, living in a close-knit community also taught her how to maintain relationships because, she says, even if you disagree or don’t like someone, you still have to see them at school every day. With traveling as a passion, Kaitlyn did so extensively but her wanderings always led her back home to the valley where she recently opened The Ohm Zone, a wellness center, with her boyfriend Nick Fulwiler.

Her parents are Tim and Kris Seifert, and Kaitlyn’s mom Kris was a Gunnison Valley Hospital (GVH) health nurse for 35 years while her dad worked at the water and sanitation department on the mountain. Both her parents still live in the valley.

Throughout Kaitlyn’s school years here, she played hockey and volleyball and says of team sports, “They teach you a lot about how to work together. I still carry that and believe that friendly competition helps everyone grow.” CB kids are definitely a unique breed and Kaitlyn really loved school and learning. “My teachers really helped me to think critically, not just memorize things, which was a skill that became apparent to me when I went to college and a lot of my classmates in college didn’t know how to think for themselves,” she says.

Kaitlyn graduated from the CB High School in 2015 and enrolled at the University of California in San Diego. Having always excelled at math, she initially chose it as her major but after a few advanced math classes, she discovered she was more interested in the way people thought. “I didn’t just want to do the math problems, I wanted to understand why we were doing them. The academia world is too narrow focused in its thinking. I wanted a broader focus.” Kaitlyn switched her studies to cognitive science, a mixture of psychology, anthropology, sociology and computer sciences. “I felt like it was more of the whole picture, and I could do more things with it.”

In college, Kaitlyn spent a lot of time at the beach. She befriended many international friends who she visited often in their homelands. Her travel bug bit early on, at the age of 13 when her grandmother took her to Europe, visiting Paris and London. When she was 15, she went to Australia for three weeks with a student ambassador plan, an enrichment program sponsored by People to People, traveling from Sydney to the Gold Coast.“ She’s also been to New Zealand, where her younger brother Patrick now lives.

Her post-college travel adventures carried her to places like India, Mexico, Central America and to Canada to see the northern lights. “I went to Yellowknife, one of the most northern cities in Canada,” she says of the small city in the Northwest Territory.

Kaitlyn earned a Bachelor of Science in Cognitive Science with a minor in Psychology in 2019. Afterwards, she returned to Crested Butte and was working at the late great Brick Oven while living at home, saving to travel more. Her adventures took her to Bali, Australia, Costa Rica and India again. “I love India. I loved the people, the colors, the vibrancy and the eastern way of thinking. I feel they are a lot more communal oriented,” she says, and feels that same communal vibe is what makes CB so special, “because Crested Butte still holds that almost tribal, communal thinking.”

At the end of 2019, she went to Costa Rica and received her yoga teacher training. “I’ve always been interested in alternative medicals. I wanted to figure out how to apply the western brain knowledge from college into an alternative way of healing that really connects brain and body. I think the west is really brain focused, and the east is spiritually focused,” and she saw the benefit of connecting the two disciplines. “I loved how the spiritual was infused into everyday life, especially in Bali. They put out offerings every day, sometimes three times a day, for their gods and goddesses and I loved that connection to something bigger. In the U.S., we can be very individualistic. I like the greater sense of connection; I like feeling that I’m part of an ecosystem.”

After training, she returned to CB and taught for the Yoga Co-op with Kristi Murrin. And then Covid hit. She stayed put, living with her parents and spending a lot of time outdoors, which made the lockdown tolerable for her. In fact, for Kaitlyn, that Covid downtime was actually a break, “a nice pause in the pressure of deciding what I wanted to do in my life.” She continued to teach yoga after the pandemic and completed another teacher training course with Kristi in the Co-op.

In 2021, Kaitlyn was working at the Daily Dose while teaching yoga at both Thrive Yoga and the Yoga Co-op and still kind of unsure of what exactly she would do as a career. “Yoga is kind of hard to make a living with, but I was ok with just continuing to learn and float around for a bit.” That same year, the travel bug spread its wings again, this time carrying Kaitlyn to Egypt with a group she discovered called The Academy of Oracle Arts. “It’s like a mystery school, schools that teach you old spiritual lineage traditions.” She was especially drawn to Egypt and the adventure started out on her birthday — “I felt it was a cosmic alignment.” The usual throngs of tourists were gone because of Covid so her group had the advantage of a lot more time and space to explore, doing rituals and ceremonies in the pyramids and temples. “We did a lot of singing, dancing, learning about hieroglyphs and what they mean. We did a lot of plays, embodying the different stories on the walls.” The two-week experience completely changed her. “I felt like I was more centered and alternatively minded, instead of succumbing to the pressure of getting a 9-to-5 job.”

Kaitlyn continued on her path, working at the Daily Dose and teaching yoga. In her quest of learning, she went to Peru for another yoga teacher training session. When she returned, she started dating Nick, who was living in CB and who was also into alternative wellness. “He introduced me to these wellness technologies, like an ozone sauna, a red-light therapy bed and Pems, which is magnetism. I was really inspired because I feel like technology is a big part of our modern world and although not all of it is particularly good for us, I was inspired that technology can also be really good to help you on your healing journey.”

The two opened the Ohm Zone in July 2025 with all that technology and a space for yoga, massage and energy work. “We do use electrical technology so it’s a play on Om and Ohm.” They’re located right behind the Daily Dose and Mountain Earth, in Donita’s old kitchen. “It’s a pretty special space because I used to have all my childhood birthdays at Donita’s,” where Hellie May and Kay would take her into the back to make her own ice cream sundaes.

“It’s been really fun,” she smiles, and at least for now, Kaitlyn’s found her path. “I’m really happy and excited that I can offer something back to my community, just a space where people can really show up as they are. I don’t want this space to feel intimidating. You can come without any experience or be a seasoned veteran to try stuff out and be in connection with others who are also seeking wellness or new ways of being in the world.” Kaitlyn tells that the Ohm Zone offers packages, memberships and free trials for locals.

As a local born, raised and still here, Kaitlyn has witnessed the changes, especially in the north end of the valley, and offers, “Everything is always changing and as soon as we try to hold on to a certain way, it creates a lot of sadness and grief. I think there are ways to change while maintaining that core identity of community. For me with yoga, I feel like I’m changing the way I teach it and the way I relate to it. Instead of being fully in yoga studio land, it’s more like movement practices that connect your body and brain. We’re concerned with how it feels rather than how it looks.

“I think Crested Butte is similar,” she continues. “We have kept a lot of our funky, quirky feel but it looks different now. Of course I’m still a grumpy local at times thinking, why are there so many cars and people on our trails,” she laughs. “But I feel like I’ve also been a tourist in so many other places that it’s hard for me to say to people that they can’t come here,” she says from her experience of also wanting to travel to beautiful places.

One thing Kaitlyn says she has learned from all her traveling and pilgrimages is that there are ways to be a tourist and ways to be a traveler. “A tourist has a very extractive mindset, like, what can I get out of this place, and a traveler is more about how can I give and receive from this place, what can I offer? Instead of being against tourists, we should think about how we can integrate them in ways that feel good for us as well.” Right now, Kaitlyn is very much rooted to her home but she’s keeping an open mind and says she’ll see what opportunities present themselves in the future. However, she confesses, “It would take a lot for me to move.”

For more info check out the website OhmZoneCB.com.