One Year Ago and….News!

Almost one year ago we watched as a worldwide pandemic threw our world into turmoil and panic.
Upper Valley Yoga closed our doors to try and keep us all safe, and keep this thing from spreading. At the time I worried it might be a whole month (!)

If you'd told me it would be more than a year before we could open safely again, I might have run for the hills. Instead, we began almost immediately teaching classes virtually—learning, figuring it out, reinventing our studio and conquering obstacles again and again to keep UVY going.

So.....news!

I am fortunate to have a really fabulous landlord who understood last Fall that I could no longer afford the rent, and so he let me stop paying. A couple of weeks ago he found someone interested in renting the space and I had to, once again, make a decision. After much gnashing of teeth and much not sleeping; much worrying, doubting and considering other options, I had pretty much decided to toss in the towel and trust that the universe would point me toward another space down the road. Luckily, I am married to a stubborn problem solver, a brilliant spatial thinker, and someone who has— alongside me—poured a lot of time, money, blood, sweat and tears into that space.

And he had an idea. At first I was really resistant to his idea. I practically wailed in response to his suggestion. Shrinking the space is going backward! It's admitting failure! It's acknowledging that we made a mistake when we expanded! But as I said, Greg is stubborn. (And knows me well). He just kept explaining how he thought it could work, and showing me on paper how we could drastically reduce our rent but retain enough space to continue to have decently sized classes.

I asked: "by downsizing"?
He said: "by right sizing".

It's a whole new world. It will continue to be. We are all "right sizing" to this new world in all sorts of ways.

My landlord completely supported Greg's idea and adjusted the rent down to what I can eventually afford.
So here it is....

I don't have all the answers about how everything will work but here are the basics: We have moved everything out of the office and the far opposite side of the studio, and either repurposed it, given it away*, sold it, or tucked it into the main space. Very soon, a construction crew will rebuild the walls at the two ends, recreating the offices that were there originally. They will then open up one of the walled off doors, near the west side of the hallway, to make our new entrance. He will rent out the end offices. Sometime in May (I hope!) a few of us who feel ready will begin to teach in person once again in wrj in our newly "rightsized" studio. We will monitor and evaluate to make sure we all feel safe, gradually and progressively increasing those classes.

There will be no office. Instead, a desk in the corner, a single props cabinet. Cubbies for belongings, hooks in the hallway for coats. And a beautiful, familiar space, new and not new, in which to hold yoga classes.

In the beginning, classes will be quite small and we will all be masked. When we have decent herd immunity, classes will be bigger, but with a strict attendance limit that will be somewhere between 14 and 18 bodies. Preregistration will be absolutely required.

There's a lot of other stuff to figure out, but I can tell you that yes, we will still offer some livestream classes. And yes, some of us who are comfortable with it will teach hybrid in person/livestream classes. Yes, we will be together again in that space and that reality lifts me right up, even as anxiety about the details, and the tremendous amount of continued behind-the-scenes work threatens to overwhelm me. Yes, I will open the Thetford space too, but the space is much smaller and timing is a little less clear.

So maybe it's a bit premature but I want to say to you: WE DID IT! We made it. The studio will survive and be OK.

Teachers who have swum right along with me and cheered me on and adapted and been willing to do things they weren't sure they liked, who have encouraged me when I felt sad or desperate or unsure, who have contributed their own fine ideas about how to do things.....thank you thank you thank you. I couldn't have done it without that encouragement and willingness and love. You have buoyed me up.

Teachers who are patiently waiting to teach until they can do so in person, we are so excited to see you again and be with you in person! Thank you for keeping faith and for encouraging me, even if you decided online teaching was not for you.

And students....wow. One year later I'm still amazed and grateful that you have jumped into this weird world right alongside us. It's not just the PPP loans that have made me able to continue to pay teachers, but your showing up, buying passes, telling friends, subscribing to my VOD site YOGA NOW, and coming to class. Virtually. Your good humor, resilience and heart has been infectious (in the good way).

I included 2 photos here of our beloved studio because one makes me kind of sad and wistful and the one of my son Liam monkeying around makes me feel giddy and playful. I think it's ok to feel both ways.

Stay tuned: I will update you through the newsletter and blog as plans solidify.
I look forward to giving you an actual date that we will open our new/not new doors.

Love, Leslie