March fourth
A big cycle came to an end this past month.
My last scheduled public class at Kindness Yoga was Monday, March 9, 2020, it was a Signatures Series class, at the Broadway studio at 6:30 pm.
Alissa Gunn was the manager at that studio and she was there that night, RIP.
The class I taught that eve, was packed with people, hot, humid, and wall to wall.
After class, I came out of the studio, leaving everyone in savasana, my shirt was drenched like I had just come out of a pool.
I commented to Alyssa, “If this COVID thing is for real, there is no way they will let us stay open.”
We both laughed and chatted back and forth, sorting the people who were coming in from the people who just finished, the 8 pm would be starting soon.
Such a bitter-sweet memory now. The before pandemic innocence and normalcy, our evolving community, and a future that seemed ripe with possibility.
I walked out of the studio that night feeling hopeful and confident. The family and I had moved back to CO. in July of 2019 to re-invest our heart and energy into the studios. We had an amazing team of people around us, the best teachers in the city, and we were aligned in taking Kindness Yoga to the next level.
Then the wheels of the bus, just kinda, came off.
A short four days later, on Friday the 13 of March, the State would shutter all non-essential public businesses. At that time, I could not conceive of a life that did not have me teaching for Kindness Yoga.
Well, the four years between then and now have been some of the most transformative and painful of my life. So much has changed, so many lives disrupted, and so many things that I thought would always be, are gone.
I only realized it as I was prepping for a return to teaching public yoga classes here in our town of Nosara, Costa Rica. Looking back I felt so much emotion. I realized how much I missed being with people in live yoga classes, the coordinated movement of our bodies and minds together. My first ever public class was in June of 2000, and I had not taken significant time off from teaching, until COVID forced our studios to close.
My first public class back here in Nosara was on Monday, March 4th, 2024.
The beginning of a new week, MARCHING FORTH, into my teaching again.
Now, March 4th is not just a great fricken day that reminds us to move forward, it also happens to be my beloved Cameron’s birthday! How beautifully ironic, the day of the birth of the person who has marched forward with me through so many of my life’s firsts, she has birthed our children and invested her trust and heart with me, her birthday marks a new beginning of learning and sharing.
Going forth again. Teaching to live people, week in and week out. A four-year cycle has come and gone.
Take a moment and reflect on your life before the pandemic, was there anything that you used to do, that was important and healthy for you, that you stopped doing?
On March 13th for most of us, our lives changed dramatically, and patterns both good and bad were interrupted.
Use this story to dig deep and resuscitate parts of you that you left behind. Please share in the comments any thoughts or emotions that come up for you.