Reflections from a soon-to-be East coaster
My name is Molly and I’ve been working here part-time since November, when I returned to the Bay Area after a 4-month hiatus. I hoped to be back for good, but I’m moving away again tomorrow, for at least a few years this time. I am now feeling – as they say – all the feels.
Like many of you, I found Yoga Garden because I lived nearby. It quickly became my refuge in the city. My place to go when everything else was…everything else. It was where I brought friends and made new ones, developed my practice, and experienced profound personal transformation under the humble guidance of life-long yogis.
Before I continue – I must come clean. I have an ulterior motive with this post. I think you should buy our new digital membership. Please forgive this shameless plug. Annoyingly, businesses have to make money. Not annoyingly, I think you’ll like what you find. You can buy it here, and experience the magic of this community for yourself.
As I was saying…the Bay Area became my home over the past five years. It’s where I discovered myself, my passions, my voice, my own heart. Often I think it’s something about the hills. The fog. The redwoods. The cliffs, smacked by waves for infinity. Before moving here, I had never seen or experienced such profound beauty. I would think to myself: how did I get so lucky? Why me? What am I supposed to do with these gifts from the universe? Then I discovered a funky-looking house on Divis, and the special community inside, that would help me sort through these questions and so much more.
So the thought of losing the Yoga Garden community has always been the scariest thing about moving. Painfully, the SIP has made it such that I can’t say goodbye in the way(s) I want. No final class with Roy or Michelle, no final hang with my yoga school pals, no final team meeting in our little office with David, Lindsey, Meredith and Sierra Wolf Pup. But on the other hand – the SIP has also ensured that despite being 3,000 miles away, I don’t really *have* to say goodbye to Yoga Garden.
It still feels sad though. And I think I figured out why: the beauty that Yoga Garden brings to my life is community. A true community, based on a shared practice, where we breathe and move and confront the truth of our hearts together in one room. How can we maintain that through Zoom? How can we possibly replicate the feeling of shared physical space, filled with the sound of ohm? How will we protect this fragile, intangible thing, that has changed my life and many others? Frankly, I don’t know. I’m not sure any of us do. But I do know that if anyone can figure it out, it’s this community. And I’m so glad to have the chance to try.
Thank you, Yoga Garden, for the space you’ve held in my life and in the neighborhood. I bow to this community and the truth it brings into the world.
See you on the Zoom machine ~ * ~ *
