Three weeks ago, I set out as an aspiring student in search of a yoga studio.
Today, I bought it.
The journey from Point A to Point B was every bit as whirlwind and/or crackpot as it must sound, plus some.
The short story version begins with the move to New Orleans. First things first: find a new dentist, chiropractor, doctor for the kids, hair salon. Get the kids settled in school and into their new routine. Learn my way around and the quirks of traffic. Meet my neighbors.
After those details of life (that we tend to take for granted until suddenly they are no longer routine) are once again familiar, I begin Phase II: figuring out where I fit into it all.
And when there’s figuring out to do, I do what I’ve been doing since junior high: I go running.
And while running clarifies, simplifies, strengthens and empowers just about everything for me, it doesn’t offer much in the way of flexibility. This is especially true when I stop. Stretching my reach toward my feet to untie my laces after a long run reminds me of my mere mortalness (to say nothing of my age.)
Yoga. I need a yoga class. For years, I’ve been chasing the perfect yoga class. In the D.C. area, class times either conflicted with morning carpool or coincided perfectly with commuter traffic. New Orleans, on the other hand, serves up yoga classes easily and conveniently. I was thrilled to find a studio in my neighborhood.
And then I learned, talking with my instructor after class, that the owner was closing the studio in December. Crushed by the news, I lingered in the doorway and took in my little snapshot of this community I’d just discovered. Something in me shifted — that’s the best I can describe it.
I drove straight home and asked my husband how he felt about buying a yoga studio.
• • •
Fast-forward through three crazed weeks of talking with investors, bankers, accountants, attorneys, friends, family, neighbors and just about anyone who will listen to last night, when we met with the owners, Dave and Jen. We made a formal offer, and they accepted. Looking back, that moment when Dave and Carlos shook hands and Jen and I embraced encapsulates all that is this yoga studio we are buying: a business — one welcomed by and entwined with community. Our community. Our new home.
“Bloom where you’re planted,” wrote my graduate school advisor when I announced the move to New Orleans. “You always do.”
A lotus blossom, perhaps? :)
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) what a wonderful Southern welcome we received from old friends, new friends and friendly strangers. Julia and Cameron, I hope I’ll get to see you once more while we’re in VA, I’ll follow up with party details. Lynn, thank you! I got the sandwich you packed for me for the game, it was fantastic. really, you made that??? I’m glad I got to see you even if short and sweet. Lori, it’s going to be fun! Lora and Kate, you’ll come visit, I trust? it won’t be long before I see either of you. 
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