Sound Method Yoga is Moving

Humans have evolved to resist change. To our ancestors change was not just uncomfortable, but potentially life threatening. Though we can learn to become more adaptive, less attached to our patterns, most of us will retain this seed of fear when faced with the unfamiliar. To change on one’s own terms causes discomfort. To have it thrust upon you causes anguish and helplessness. And yet, we adapt. As I get older (I’ll have my 40th birthday next month) I am so frequently delighted and sometimes heartbroken to observe the ways that humans are able to adapt. Teaching yoga has allowed me to watch and sometimes participate in the theater of change that my students experience. From the perspective of watcher and sometimes guide, I’ve seen how the body changes and adapts to different patterns of movement, to new breathing habits. I’ve watched the fidgetiest, right-brained, type A, never can sit still people (you know who you are) learn over weeks-months-years to be perfectly content on a hard, cold floor in a room full of people while holding a harrowing pose in complete silence. I’ve experienced with you as you went from wary to surrender. It inspires awe in me, and this awe is the closest thing to faith that I have in my personal DNA. I have faith that, given time, we can accomplish anything.

In mid August, on a Saturday late afternoon I received an email notifying me that the lease for our little studio, Sound Method Yoga had been terminated. The letter, very to the point in just two paragraphs, let me know that I had to vacate in two month’s time. Was our rent late? No. Had we caused a disturbance to other tenants, made too many demands? No. We are model tenants. The reason our lease was terminated, and on such cruelly short notice? The landlord had found another tenant who was willing to pay more for our 1500 square foot studio. For the record, I do believe strongly that companies have the right to make money and to make hard decisions to that aim. I also believe that 4-6 months notice for a small business to vacate is a more ethical demand.

The current commercial real estate climate is not kind to small businesses. The mom and pop kind of operation we have was not prepared to take on a lease that is twice as expensive as our current one. Making a space suitable for a yoga studio is a straightforward thing but it does take time, and construction costs can run in the tens of thousands of dollars. The challenge of finding a new home for our yoga community seemed impossible. Over the last month I’ve felt compelled to give up many times. I’ve been elated to get some small break in the flood of difficult news but also cried my share of hot and private tears. My most existential struggle though was with our old friend, Change. I wanted to cling to my sweet little studio like a life raft in a brutal storm but painfully, it was being wrenched away, leaving me to sink.

My only option was to embrace change. Those moments of paralyzing fear would not get me safely to shore. So I’m swimming (and taking you with me darn it!). Despite the harshness of the climate I’ve thrown myself into the commercial real estate storm. Sound Method is moving, but I cannot announce the location yet as negotiations are still taking place. Like many of you, I love yoga. I have dedicated my life to teaching yoga. But the real reason I show up at SMY everyday is to see my friends. Life would be very dull indeed without the awesome people who show up to do yoga with me and without my funny, smart, kind colleagues.

This is an exciting time for Sound Method. I humbly ask for your support as we transition from Clocktower to our new home. Our final day of classes will be Sunday, October 10. I estimate that we will have a 6-8 week gap between our closing at Clocktower and the re-opening at our new location. Please support your favorite teachers by coming to practice! If they will be offering classes at an alternate location during our down time, please make the trip! News of our new home is forthcoming and thinking of the moment when I get to share that information with you is often what keeps me going.

The truth is, that having change thrust upon you sucks. It is jarring to learn once again, that you have no control. But when change is forced it is also an opportunity. It’s a shortcut (or a swift kick) off of the well worn path that has felt safe, but is no longer taking you in the right direction. In the yoga tradition destruction is viewed as a benevolent force. Something new can only spring up when there is space to grow and blossom. How is space created? Through merciless annihilation. I hope for your patience during this transition and look forward to showing up to see you at Clocktower and later this Fall at our new home.