Over the last couple of years I have found myself casting about, looking for ways to make change in how I am teaching yoga. Then along comes COVID-19, a pandemic that has swept all of us into a wave of change.
Though I would never have dreamed of it, I have taken the opportunity to shift from the studio model to offering classes online, connecting to a potentially greater number of students in group classes and seeing individuals in the virtual studio for private yoga therapy sessions. There are real difficulties in returning of a studio model of teaching yoga: we are not yet able to gather in groups of any size making it difficult to cover overhead costs, the cleaning protocols would require both time and the need for having/carrying our own equipment, while an enclosed space with everyone coming and going increases the health risks for all.
While the studio is a beautiful container for our practice it is not the only container. By shifting to a different model for delivery, yoga becomes available to a wider population, access to class becomes flexible and the ability to broaden the scope of my teaching becomes possible.
It is with sadness in my heart and clarity in my head that while we, as a country, are preparing to re-open the doors to many small businesses in the next while, I am choosing not to re-open the doors of the studio and Inner Quiet Yoga will be moving to the home studio at the end of May. I will continue teaching the daily practice classes, yoga therapy courses and one to one sessions through the online platform until we can meet again safely face to face. As we step into the flow of change, letting go of what no longer serves us, we open to embrace new possibilities.
I am grateful to have had the last five years at 383 George St. as a place to welcome willing students, to host teachers, experienced and newly minted, as they nurtured their classes, to provide a venue for those who are learning the craft of teaching yoga and a safe haven for those who are healing. I am grateful to be able to meet challenge with resilience.
I trust we will continue our journey together wherever the path takes us, the virtual studio and the shared spaces of the future.
namaste,
Anne
