She starts the way real Montauk people do — on the beach. Early, no audience, just her dog and a stretch of shoreline near home. It’s quick, grounding, and over before most people have checked the weather.

At Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa, her classes unfold outside, on the deck, facing the Atlantic. No walls, no mirrors — just open air, salt, and that uninterrupted view. Mats line up early. People know better than to arrive late.

The mix is exactly what makes it interesting: locals who treat it as routine, summer regulars who build their mornings around it, and a steady rotation of brand partners —LoveShackFancy among them, along with beauty labels that understand the value of being part of something that works. Nothing feels forced. It all just folds in.

Ruiz is the reason it holds.

She’s social in the way that matters — effortless, engaged, aware of who’s there without making a production of it. She greets people by name, keeps the energy moving, and somehow makes a full deck feel both structured and relaxed at the same time. The class flows, but so does everything around it.

Plenty of people can teach yoga.

Not many can create a morning people don’t want to miss.

Off the mat, her life runs on the same rhythm. Her husband and kids surf daily — boards, tides, conditions. It’s not occasional; it’s constant. The ocean isn’t the backdrop here, it’s the schedule. Ruiz moves easily between it all — the beach, the class, the social layer that naturally forms around both.

What she’s built at Gurney’s doesn’t try too hard, which is exactly why it works. It’s disciplined, social, and just unpredictable enough to feel alive. The kind of thing you plan your morning around without admitting that you are.

By the time it ends, the sun is full, the deck is clearing, and Montauk is starting to fill in.

But for the people who were there, the day already happened.

YOGA WITH KAT RUIZ
GURNEY’S MONTAUK
CLASSES FROM $35