It takes a village to create a dream. Thanks to all of you that helped to crystallize a vision into a tangible loving realty. Dave, Darren, Tom, Sean, Jeff, Kathy, Andrew, Donnie, Todd, Matt, Ken, Steve, Bob, Arbel, Farzam, Nick, Donna, and Randy are just some of the names to single out. Thank you Ban. And the biggest thanks to my wonderful manager and friend Chris for protecting my vision and adopting this dream as his own, assuring me that we could do this even in those times when there was extreme doubt. You all get a rose.
This could not have been possible if I did not do the yoga every day, sometimes, twice a day. Along with the energy it gave me, the yoga also kept me grounded, clear, detached and in alignment with my intention. Thank you, yoga, and thank you Bikram for this yoga. You get a rose.
Three years after we opened in what is now our old studio in 2003, we were already at capacity. From that point on we added more classes to keep up with the demand and held the facility together as best we could. It was then that we planted that seed to expand. Through those years we looked around, talked to our landlord, and met with banks and city officials to learn more about what we could do. There were lots of “no’s” but we persevered. Nothing was right until now. Seeing your faces as you enter the studio makes my heart sing the most. It was all worth it. Both Chris and I appreciate deeply your patience and your trust in us. It’s you BYSJ members that get the final rose. You will see a rose on our back reception desk everyday honoring YOU! Thanks.
For me, even with all the distractions, when you have a dream, you don’t hear the sound of the noise. There is a great quote by Brazilian author, Paul Coelho, that says, “And there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it’s better to lose some of the battles in the struggle for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you’re fighting for.” That inspired me.
Soon, you meet the right people and you begin to collect “yeses” and the right path shows up. One of the right people that came into my life when we first opened in 2003 was my business coach, Alon Sagee. He and I worked at building a brand and created our current website. He really knows BYSJ. I brought him back on board as we started to create this new space. I shared with him our community, the commitment you all have in your practice, the amount of new people we continually brought in each month, the diversity in our members. He was lit up and said “There is a movement happening.” I love that. Yes, there is! Alon and I created what is our second Invitation. This tells the tale of who we are now so eloquently. You will begin to see this revised “invitation” everywhere as you come to the studio and read our promotion pieces, website and social outlets. A portion of it reads, “There is a movement happening now. We’ve heard hundreds of stories of how this yoga has impacted lives in infinite and miraculous ways. We don’t really know how it works; we just know that yoga makes everything better. Because of our participation together in co-creating the spirit of BYSJ, we can now empower many more to live the best version of themselves through the practice of yoga. Our new and larger facility is simply a reflection that we can make a difference.
In the last three to five years, I’ve also been collecting art or pieces that are meaningful to our community. I was on a cruise years ago and we stopped at a small fishing town. There was this amazing store filled with collections of brass and some of them shaped as Buddha’s. That is where I found our door handles in the bathroom. The grand Buddha in our lobby was eyed more than 5 years ago. My Feng Shui master told me a few years ago that I should have something with big energy like a piece of art with colors of red and gold close to my entrance. I immediately thought of this Buddha painting and called my friend in Colorado who was with me when I first saw this piece. Ironically, he was around the corner from this gallery. He went in and there it was hanging on the wall and now marked ½ off! Of course, he grabbed it and had it stored it at his house in Boulder for three years, until the new studio was ready. The slate you see in the lobby was important to me as I wanted all of us to feel the earth beneath us. And it’s important to have a beautiful ceiling in the yoga room because we are on our backs 1/3 of class.
All of these ideas, collections, notes drawn on napkins, serendipitous insights were all fueled by you! Your emails about how the yoga has changed your life, your individual stories about how yoga gave you something that made you a better person, the comments about how much you love the fresh flowers, how thought provoking the inspirational cards are to you in the bathrooms, your requests to bring your kids to class, and your smiles and exchanges with each other only further kindled my passion and creativity.
This grand space is only a small reflection to the enormous uplifting platform you’ve given me to live out my dream. Please use the magnificence of this new home of ours to do nothing less than pull out the enormity and magnificence in you.
Evolve in your practice. Evolve in your being. Evolve to higher levels of consciousness. Discover. Help your friends and family discover. Then discover more. We have signed for 10 more years and I look forward to the thousands of life changing stories that I will hear coming from the grace of this good space, our home. Welcome home.