Wow is 2013 really over??
Hello and welcome to my yearly newsletter. What a difference a year makes. Good to know that my life is always changing, and never boring. Let’s face it adversity keeps life interesting. Dealing with and overcoming the challenges in life keeps us growing.
Last year at this time, which was really 2012, I was high and excited about opening a new yoga studio. Man that was awesome. I love new endeavors. All packed with hopes, dreams, ideas and plans for so many great things to come. I went on about changes and challenges between yoga studios and how it’s important to move on if you aren’t happy where you are.
Wow, I’m right back there!! I had to move again. We had a great year and a great start with the new studio. Unfortunately, things changed and once again I found it was time to move on. I had to leave a community I help build. The good news is that a chunk of that community came with me and we are practicing together and building it again.
When is it time to move on? It’s not an easy decision to make. The time to move on is a challenge, whether it’s from a job, relationship, or a place.
Moving on requires change, and change is not easy. We are all creatures of habit. Most of us have a morning routine, be it coffee and the newspaper, or watching “Good Morning America.” We all have our routines. Even where we place our yoga mat in class it is usually in the same spot. Changing your routine often causes uneasiness or discomfort. Many people would rather stay where they are, than move outside their comfort zone. “It’s familiar”, “it’s fine”, “it’s okay” is what we keep saying to ourselves. But is it?
One reason people won’t move on is fear of the unknown. It takes courage and a leap of faith to move on. You will know when it is the right time to move on. You just have to be honest with yourself and take the time to really think about why you are even thinking about considering a change. I think it’s when the fear of the unknown out weighs the comfort of staying.
Moving on is not running away. It is being honest with yourself, facing your fears, overcoming inertia and just doing what feels right.
I have left yoga studios, and students have left my classes, neither is easy. We have developed a routine sometimes once a week, sometimes more. When one of us decides to move on, it feels like a void, a space, a hole where they used to be. Myrtle Beach is a very transit town, people are moving in and moving out a lot. So it happens more frequently than other places that I lived. Luckily other people move in which helps balance it all out.
I moved on almost 5 years ago from California to South Carolina. It was crazy at first to think that after almost 30 years of living in the Bay Area, developing a wonderful yoga community, and lots of friends, that I would leave. But the desire to be around family, and to reconnect with my east coast friends out weighed the comfort of staying.
I do love being here on the east coast. Hanging out with my mom and my siblings frequently is great. Also just being on the east coast makes visiting my old friends so easy. From traveling up to North Carolina and recently down to Florida, reconnecting with friends that I grew up with is such a joy.
People often ask me if I’m going to move back to California. All I can say is that I’ve always loved both places and for now and I can only speak about the present, and that is firmly in the Carolina’s. But when it’s time to move on who knows where I might end up next!!
Many South Carolinians moved out of their comfort zone last year when they came to the first annual Napa Valley Wine Country Yoga Retreat in California. Out of the 24 people, half came from the Carolina’s. Many had never been to California, or a yoga retreat. I do believe they had a great time. They took a leap of faith and yes, I’m sure for some, it was unfamiliar and took them way out of their comfort zone. There is a quote, from somewhere I read, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Seeing students from California and Carolina practicing and playing together was a dream come true for me. Check out the retreat page for information on this year’s 2nd Annual Yoga retreat, same place, same great accommodations, same great food and lots of yoga. Plus there will be a surprise this year.
Namaste,
Lauren
I’ll leave you with this from “A Lamp in the Darkness” by Jack Kornfield
In the Jewish mystical tradition, a great rabbi taught his disciples to memorize and contemplate the teachings and to place the prayers and holy words on their hearts. One day a student asked the rabbi why he always used the phrase “on your heart” and not “in your heart”. The master replied, “Only time and grace can put the essence of these stories in you heart. Here we recite and learn them and put them on our hearts hoping that some day when our heart breaks they will fail in.”