Yoga Sanctuary Lives On
Dear yogis,
Two months ago, I was preparing to write you a very sad letter; I thought that I would have to close Yoga Sanctuary’s doors forever after struggling to make it as a business through the pandemic. Instead, I have a story for you about community, the power of working together, and magic.
Don’t you NEED some good news right now?!
Spoiler Alert: skip to bold sections below for the big news!
In ancient times, 1999 to be exact, I started Yoga Sanctuary with my soul-sister, Tara.
Three years after Yoga Sanctuary was born in our modest Arts and Industry Space in Florence, Tara and I knew we needed to be downtown to grow. Only, she needed to grow in new ways; she applied to midwifery school while I moved Yoga Sanctuary downtown that January. I married Matt that fall, whose father had provided the maple floors from his sawmill for the new studio. Five years and a whole lot of yoga later, my first beautiful baby, Arya, came along in 2007. She attended all of my business meetings with then-office assistant and teacher, Amy Reed (now Araabi). She finally learned to crawl on a yoga mat at Yoga Sanctuary!
It’s hard for me to tell any story without acknowledging my philosophy teacher and friend, Douglas Brooks. From him, I learned the extraordinary teachings and all the exquisite stories I share in my classes and trainings. I love the ancient stories that affirm the beauty and wonder and mess of life. I love that they teach us that we’re not supposed to clear up all the mess but to learn how to live with it all –– and still make something beautiful.
The stories of Hanuman and Ganesha, the Bhagavad Gita, Laksmi and Kali; all of this I learned from Douglas, and many YS teachers have learned those stories from him too. My gratitude for Douglas knows no bounds.
Like all great yoga stories, like the Bhagavad Gita, let’s pause here right in the middle of it all.
A yogi turns everything to her advantage - even disadvantage. My journey in yoga seemed often to be one experience after the next of “opportunities” that could have crushed me or at least caused me to turn back or give up. Instead, I leaned into the challenges (but never easily) and turned them into new ways to grow - and to the best of my ability, serve the world more.
Yoga Sanctuary moved to Thornes because my landlord at 191 Main St wanted to take over the YS space. I never wanted to move, but as usual, the universe knew I wasn’t likely to seek out something bigger or better because I usually couldn’t see that far or wide. Usually I had to get pushed or pulled into something bigger. I never dreamed that I would one day own a yoga studio in such a beautiful, light-filled, spacious location and that so very many wonderful people would come to learn and grow, breathe and practice together within this sacred space. An eviction transformed into a blessing.
My own suffering and need to heal initially drew me to yoga, and eventually my desire to share yoga’s healing power inspired me to become a yoga teacher. Yoga was the first place I learned that I might actually have some value as a human being. It’s where I learned that my body could be a safe place. It’s where I learned that my own breath can connect me to something sacred and meaningful, something profound that lived within me but was also so much bigger than me, something I seemed to have lost along the way but longed to remember.
Yoga is the process of transforming samskaras into mudra. Mudra is also an imprint - think of a wax seal. The soft wax receives the imprint made by the seal. Mudra is all of it - the imprint maker, the receptivity, the imprint. Yoga is taking our experiences and somehow transforming all of them into something sacred by how we change ourselves. We are melted down and can reshape ourselves in the heat and chaos of the process of growth. Our pain can become compassion, our anger, our empowerment and commitment to stand up for ourselves and others. Vulnerability becomes the place we feel the deepest joy, love and connection. It’s what makes life worth living, and it’s always a risk to be open.
Back to the very sad letter I almost wrote you.
By May of this year, Yoga Sanctuary was failing financially, despite our wonderful online studio, Om at HOME. I had come to the incredibly painful realization that not only was the current state of Yoga Sanctuary not financially viable but my own well-being was suffering from months of tremendous strain and stress as a business owner and mom trying to survive the pandemic. I had decided I would have to close Yoga Sanctuary’s doors. It was a devastating decision to have to make, after I’d held on through so many challenges over the years to keep Yoga Sanctuary alive. But, never had I experienced such a pounding as YS took from this pandemic.
Sometimes magic is ignited by the goodwill and generosity of great people working together for a common cause. It is the kind of magic our world needs more of. The kind that makes your heart sing, that makes you believe in goodness and gives you hope. Hope so that you just know, in your bones, that there is always more light than darkness; and that light is what helps us get through the dark, together.
In June, I told my landlord in Thornes that YS was not surviving the pandemic - and that quite frankly, I wasn’t either. He hoped YS could find a way to get through these times and remain a part of the Thornes community. He wasn’t ready to let YS’s doors close, but there was no easy solution either.
I took some time to think. And by thinking, I mean that I largely practiced listening. This is what I have done every time I have reached my personal limits, when studio ownership challenges, life challenges, and parenting challenges seemed to clash with a refrain of “impossible!” And if I was allowed only one word for the past four months, I’d choose impossible. Sure, we made lots of amazing things happen as a team at YS. Jen was a super star, doing all of the technical work to get our online studio set up, while she and I took turns bolstering each other through all the stress. Our teachers instantly pivoted to teaching online, most of us for the first time ever. And you students have been amazing! Willing to try technology that was new for some of you, willing to receive the gifts of “being together” in a virtual space, and letting us know that YS and your practice was nourishing and sustaining you through these hard times.
What I heard when I listened was that YS belongs to all of us together. Each of one of us contributes to our collective Sanctuary in the ways we participate, study, breathe, practice, care for one another, and just plain show up as we are, week after week, for this extraordinary practice. I already knew this but I had forgot that there was one last possibility.
I could ask for help.
I reached out to two YS students, largely because they had reached out to me at the beginning of the pandemic to ask how I was doing and how YS was doing. My inner guidance pointed me to them, with no investment in outcome, just a starting point to say the numbers aren’t working and I am basically going to explode if I keep this all up much longer. I asked if they had any ideas of what to do, as I didn’t want to give up and permanently close the doors yet.
I got the sweetest email back, that started the journey of many a conversation, that led to the unfolding of a miracle.
Here comes the magic! Fanfare, please!
This couple, who is beloved to me, have stepped forward and committed to carry Yoga Sanctuary forward, through the pandemic and beyond!
Loud and triumphant drumroll, shouts of joy! Rainbows and unicorns!
Lindsay Pope is your new Yoga Sanctuary owner as of August 1, 2020!!
Lindsay has been a long-time YS student and teacher-trainee, and is thrilled to be stepping into this role. Her husband, Jonathan, has already contributed as fully as a business partner would and he will be supporting YS in countless ways. He makes a mean spreadsheet and all while making everyone around him feel loved.
As soon as they said yes, besides crying with elation and gratitude and relief, I basically grabbed their hands and said, ok, let’s get to this!
And Lindsay and Jonathan so bravely dove in with me to a new river where magic happens, where listening leads to openings we didn’t think existed, where the sounds of each one of you Yoga Sanctuary students were echoing through the water and calling to us through this shared journey, where tears co-mingle with joy, for life is never only one thing. Endings become new beginnings, the impossible becomes possible, and hope lives on.
This is the kind of transition I have been wanting for years as I wanted to sell the studio in order to focus more on teaching.
Yes! I will keep teaching at YS!!
Jen will also be staying on for a little while longer, and is excited and grateful to be helping YS transition into its next chapter.
Below is a fun “interview” conversation between me and Lindsay, so you may learn more about her. Also, spoiler alert: there is a crazy attack of puppy kisses… so don’t miss it!
As YS’s longtime founding owner, I intend to leave a legacy of hope, where the possibility of transformation dwells not on the other side of hardship but right inside of it, in the mess of it all, and within you, exactly as you are. Lindsay brought hope back for me when I thought Yoga Sanctuary was breathing its last breath; to her and Jonathan, I am forever grateful.
No matter how painful or hard the road, someone will be here to support you, and you can find your way through. Our sanctuary is made up of all of the people who love and care for, protect and nourish the sacredness of life. And nothing could be truer than the most important lesson of this moment in time; we are all in this together.
Thank you, thank you all, for 21 amazing, growthful, immensely beautiful years. Thank you to all the wonderful YS teachers now and through time, to all the helpers and managers, especially Jen; to my landlord Rich, to Jody, and Thornes; to my darling husband Matt, my daughters Arya and Layla for bringing so much sparkle and joy and inspiring yoga monkey kids!
Thank you, Lindsay, and Jonathan: because of you, Yoga Sanctuary lives on!
Saprema - with the greatest love,
Sara Rose
With Gratitude & Blessings…
We've put together a short and sweet photo montage of the last 21 Years at Yoga Sanctuary. Enjoy! 🥰