I am writing this sitting by the window in my office, and my eyes are constantly distracted by the fluttering of leaves (why are some of them green?!) falling from the trees and blowing around the yard. I can’t believe it has been four months since I opened the studio for the first class. There have been lots of improvements and completions made to the building, I have added lots of new classes, had some successes and failures, met some wonderful new humans, and grown into myself as an instructor. I have been completely overwhelmed by the love and support of my friends and my students, who have been patient with me as I grow and learn, and I am honored to receive their trust in me as a guide in their wellness journey. My entire life has changed over one summer, with my career, my family, and myself. The Autumnal Equinox is a time for us to take pause to express our gratitude in the abundance we have enjoyed in our lives, and like the trees who are letting go of their foliage, to let go of what is no longer serving us. So today I take stock, reflect on my journey thus far, appreciate my successes and release my regrets.
Studio Space Update
The studio is such a beautiful and peaceful space, I am forever grateful for the privilege I have that afforded me the ability to build this capsule for my shared practice. This month the heating was installed in the studio, so many of you have noticed the sleek, new baseboard running along the walls, and a more temperature-controlled experience. I have to admit, although I adore summer and hate to see it go, it will be nice to practice without needing a towel to mop up the sweat! I hereby promise not to have the heat cranked up too high during class time, so we can all enjoy Undulating Dog without dying of heat exhaustion! The siding on the building is complete on the front wall and nearly complete on the left side, as we work our way around the building. As the days are beginning to shorten, we will be hustling to get the outside lights installed so that we’re not leaving in the dark after evening classes. There will also be a railing built on the studio steps. I’ve also added more yoga decks and resources to our collection for student perusal and use, so make sure to check that out!
Class Goings-on
The Thursday evening chakra class has been an absolute joy. I cannot believe that we are starting Third-Eye chakra next week; what an amazing journey. I am incredibly proud of the women who have stuck with this series, as I know it has been a challenging class. I am also saddened by those who have not been able to attend lately because of schedule changes with the new school year and general business of life. I fall in love with my students and miss them when they aren’t in class! I plan to loop back around to Root chakra and work our way back up again once we finish this round (sometime in November), so everyone will have a chance to get the complete set of rainbow cards if they missed one the first time around!
Saturday mornings continue to be a luxuriously relaxing class for me, and a fabulous way to start off the weekend. I am always amazed by the peaceful energy this group creates, and am so thankful for being able to carry that out of the studio and into my life. Although, like the rest of you, I struggle to rise early on the weekends, I find my Saturdays to be much more productive, focused, and enjoyable when I start it with some light exercise and mental awakening. The restorative class is equally energizing and calming; a lovely combination.
In order to reflect with honesty, I’ll be frank about both my successes and my failures, and while I would not yet categorize the Beginner Hatha class on Monday as a failure, it has had a rough start. I have had to cancel two of them so far; once due to the delivery of the propane tanks for the heating system, and once due to low enrollment. Enrollment has been sporadic at best, but I am not yet ready to give up on this class, because I do believe in its value. The sessions that have run so far have been so much fun; a good middle ground between the Restorative class and the Chakra class, where we learn all kinds of different techniques, get to play with mudras and breathing, fun and interesting flows, and different themes. This is my favorite class to plan, because there are endless opportunities for variety, and the students who come to this class are going to learn so much in each session. I am determined to get this class off the ground, especially because I have a special place in my heart for educators, and they were who I had in mind when I chose the after-school time slot. This would also be a great class for middle or high school students, and I would love to see some teens in the studio. Beginner Hatha is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Just keep swimming...
Tuesday open practice was a bust. Not a single person signed up for it. I ran it for a month, and had zero interest aside from a couple of comments on the Facebook post. I quietly scrapped it after a month and it disappeared off the website with zero fanfare. I am still more than open to offering open studio time, but it certainly isn’t going to be successful the way it was going, so back to the drawing board on that one. I take it for what it is; a learning opportunity.
And for the newest class - Elemental Yoga on Tuesday evenings! I created this class as a direct result of the survey I sent out about a month ago. Many people said that a late Tuesday evening class was the best time for them, so I went ahead and made it a reality! This is the first time I have offered a course where you register for all four sessions at one time, again, as a reaction to suggestions from students that booking each class separately was burdensome. I enjoyed planning this series, and I am especially excited about the little gifts that I have prepared, one for each student for each class. I’m not going to tell you what they are, just sign up for the series if you want to find out! I opened registration for this just a few days ago and have no takers yet, but we shall see…
Homeschool Life
We started our year of homeschool with an epic road trip to Niagara Falls. We got to see miles and miles of gorgeous farmland as we crossed the entire state of New York, listened to some cool audio books in the car, and had lots of roadside picnics. The falls were gorgeous, as always, and we made the most of our visit by doing all of the major attractions. We hiked alongside the river, took the Maid of the Mist boat tour, explored the Cave of the Winds, and got completely soaked at every turn (there were lots of laughs as we poured the water out of our sneakers). We even got to pop into some museums and had a lovely afternoon at a sculpture park that featured some truly thought-provoking installations, like the gigantic grocery list carved in stone and the pedestal house that moved with the wind.
Honestly, I had a lot of anxiety about starting the academics once we got home, and even had a couple of sleepless nights worrying about how it would go. I was full of self doubt. But all of my fears have so far come to nothing; homeschool is going better than I could have predicted. I am an early riser, so I am up and having my tea and meditation by 6am. I get my breakfast and shower in, and fire up the office before Norah’s alarm at 9am. By 9:30, school starts. She takes six “classes” right now; ELA, which I teach, Pre Algebra and 2D Art on VLACS, which is the state’s free public charter school, a Ukulele class on Outschool with a fabulous instructor, and Physical Science, which I teach with the help of curriculum I purchased. Norah chooses her PE class each day, which is 30 minutes of exercise. We typically complete a day’s worth of work in less than three hours. After PE, it’s lunch and then the afternoon is ours! We try to do an experiential learning activity each week, so this week we went apple picking and canned homemade applesauce. Next week we go ziplining, and the week after that we will be visiting some museums in Gloucester and Salem. In November, we will spend a weekend in Portland, Maine.
I am not going to lie, the freedom of it all is absolutely exhilarating. Norah is gaining so much confidence in her math skills, as she works with increasingly difficult concepts. She is making leaps and gains in music, learning through reading about current events, and has 100% of her teacher’s attention all morning. We are well-rested, happier, calmer, we get to have fun, and there is lots of time to pursue other interests. Norah is in Scouts, so there have been campfire socials and camp outs and parades. She sees her friends on the weekends just like every other kid. She watches the clock so she can start texting with them as soon as public school gets out. Socializing has not been a concern at all. Honestly, I thought I was going to miss the school and regret doing this, but now I am thinking I might never go back. And that’s not because work was horrible, but because THIS is amazing! Every day that things go well, I feel more and more confident that we made the right choice.
I have never been good at letting go. I like control. I have struggled with anxiety and anger when things didn’t go the way I expected. But I am trying to change that. Each full moon I practice releasing those feelings of guilt, self-doubt, and the irrational need for control that always plagues me. I write these words of release on a slip of paper, meditate on them, repeat them to myself, burn them, and let the ashes fly away into the night. The feelings always return, but I find that, with practice and intention, I am able more and more to trust myself to make the right decisions for me, to speak my truth, to allow my path to unfold in front of me without trying to straighten the curves by sheer will alone. I haven’t had a panic attack in four months. Something must be right.
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