I hope I’ll never forget the way it felt on the day I walked into the buildout and it was finished enough to look like a real studio. I just couldn’t stop crying. It was immensely beautiful. It looked EXACTLY like the drawings and I had imagined it in my head a billion times but everywhere I looked all I could see, all I could feel, were the people who had stood beside me and offered their help and love in various ways over the very difficult past few years. It was the culmination of so much and still just the beginning.
Always the phoenix… It’s over my bed, it’s on my body… the freedom of starting over... rising from the ashes... Microcosms of samsara all over the past three years.
My friend Janeen, owner of Whitney Designs, created this incredibly beautiful space that feels like me and like onlYoga but reinvented. Leaving our old space was hard, and she guided me away from just trying to recreate the old space. I feel so lucky to have had her help, not only because I think she’s absolutely the best at what she does but because she held space for all my tears through the process.
Ernie and Willie (who gives the sweetest hugs ever) and their team from Envision brought the design to life. In this process I’ve dealt with some of the stereotypes and pitfalls in construction, but these guys are ALL heart and integrity. They made me feel like this was more than just another job to them. I felt supported and invested in, and I still do.
The staff at North American Properties (Colony Square), our landlords, have showed onlYoga such kindness, support, and a generosity that you just don’t see very often, especially in corporate America.
Roll back to December 2019…I felt the energetic shift before it showed. In my exhaustion I asked to learn how to be more receptive, to not be in constant battle, to lean more into my feminine energy. To learn how to have faith…I’m still learning. I know there is no end to this lesson. Just a continual expanding of consciousness through experience.
Cue Zach. Without a doubt, we would have no physical space without him. He is the hand that reached down and pulled us from the mire. The feet on the ground to my head in the clouds. I’m pretty sure he didn’t intend to embed himself into onlYoga and my heart the way that he has but every time I recognize joy from being in the studio, from connecting with my students, from our growing community, from feeling the gratitude of standing in front of you at the end of class after riding the energy of our little collective consciousness, I remember that I wouldn’t have any of this without him. A stranger that I had to trust with one of the most important processes of my life and who ended up showing up for me in a way not many men have. His work with onlYoga was made as an offering and on some days, even in the midst of such intense gratitude, it feels hard to receive on such a large level. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get him into class, so don’t be shy about leaving your thanks and love for him here.
But all this was for me, and it was for you, and it was for our community. The magic of how everything unfolded makes me certain that we’re in the right place, doing the right thing, and that there is meaning and magic behind it all.
We gathered together for our first 108 in three years. Bridging the old with the new. We all squeezed in and sharing this longstanding onlYoga tradition with so many of our new students in our new space was so sweet (and sweaty). This has always been a loved event but when Bridgett took over the food, it elevated in a big way—huge thanks to her for always preparing us the most heavenly and healthy food (you won’t believe it’s vegan). And if you haven’t had her chickpeas yet, order now…trust me.
A place to feel belonging…community. Standing together looking in the same direction…alignment. In this intoxicating 3d world—so brilliant, so overwhelming…in this constant beautiful cycle of destruction and renewal, how important it is to have the people who remind you that everything is inside. The world is a macrocosm of you.
You bring meaning to my life. And I am so happy you’re here. Thanks for playing along. There is so much more to come…
“Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again.” - Pema Chodron
*This is not complete in all who have offered support.
