The Future of 21st Yoga
A most loving hello to each of you in our beautiful 21st Yoga community. I hope you are feeling healthy and are adapting well to the thought-provoking circumstances of this spring.
I am writing to inform you that our time to gather together under the roof at 21st Yoga has come to an end. After the most careful consideration and a courageous inventory of our circumstances, it is clear to me that the model on which we built this incredible community nearly 4 years ago is no longer in alignment with our physical abilities, our finances or our intention.
We will close officially on May 1, Friday, and will leave our beautiful home on 2100 South in the following days.
There is no way for me to write simply what this decision means. Many of you know me personally, and the rest of you know the ethic and the unparalleled talent and heart of our remarkable staff. All of you are aware of how the past two months have changed the trajectory of how we love, interact and connect with one another.
This is perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of the scenario with which I am now faced. I miss you. Quite simply, I miss you. I miss the warmth of each of you and your collective presence. I miss the sound of Scott’s clarinet, Amy’s laugh and Katie, teaching her heart out in the neighboring studio. I miss breathing together, and sharing the space where power and emotion flow. I miss the music and the clatter in the halls and the smell of our signature scent filling the golden space of the living room. I miss our spectacular entry rug, the eye contact, the hugs, the stories, the ineffable foundation of community that occurred in a miraculous way.
I am also a faithful person. I respect the pause these circumstances have created. I know that these types of transitions, assessments, decisions and clarifications are happening in every household and for everyone of you too. We are all making choices about finances, allocations of energy, and who we invite into our closest circles. I wish for you clarity and love as you move forward.
Even amid this change - which came with little notice and certainly little clue for me about the enormity of circumstances - I am grateful for the past two months. I have had time to consider every possibility for every path I could walk, every avenue of resources, energy, and intention.
In the end, I am clear that a new way of being is before us. A new way of practicing yoga, teaching, gathering, and caring for one another.
I’m not sure what the future holds. The 32 employees of 21st Yoga have had access to unemployment compensation and the vast majority are receiving that regularly. In the last seven weeks, we have built a library of 50 classes that are available without payment on our YouTube channel. These will continue to be available indefinitely. The online classes are led by are 20 different teachers, and include 25 different formats of yoga, meditation and movement.
It is my great hope that these can serve as a heartfelt exchange to those of you who had classes or time left on your yoga passes when we closed. I am not in a position to refund money, but I’m very grateful to John Cottrell for so quickly and expertly making our classes available online. As you know, many of our teachers are doing some version of this on their own now as well. I believe you are in good yoga hands until the next model of our community practice emerges, as it certainly will.
So, until then, please know that you each are loved, and that you each had a unique and important role in creating the remarkable community around our studio.
With love,
Lucy