Dear Rising Om Community,
After nearly 5 wonderful years at our Bannerman Crossings location, I have made the extremely difficult and painful decision to close this north location.
Our lease is coming to an end and while my heart wants to keep this one going forever--- my decision to close is based solely on the financial side of things.
The unfortunate truth is that during our journey at this location we have never reached the numbers we needed to cover the costs. Regardless, I remained deeply committed to keeping this space open because I love this community and that beautiful space so much.
If you know me, you know I don't give up easily. I fight for this community with every ounce of my soul. We are connected in a way no other community is. And this wellness business is truly my life's work. I would keep fighting here too, but I have to follow my business mind over my heart just this once.
Because as heartbroken as I am, I can no longer carry a business that isn't sustainable. It is time for my family to release this financial stressor from our lives. It is time to downsize + simplify my life which will allow me to continue focusing on our thriving Betton Place location.
I have been grieving this decision for quite some time as I knew this moment was inevitable... but the heaviest part of this process is the feeling that I am letting you down.
So first I would like to say: I'm so sorry.
I will forever wonder what I could have done better, or why we simply couldn't get to where we needed to be to stay open. But I am also trying to give myself plenty of grace---painful memories of trauma, followed by a pandemic, remind me I never really got a fair, fighting chance to build a brand new business. I have been in survival mode for so long now, I can hardly remember a time when I wasn't terrified of losing everything.
Which leads me to the second thing I would like to offer: I promise I did the best I could. I never ever wanted to abandon this location so I did everything I could to make ends meet and push through. Closing our doors was my absolute last option. With that comes tremendous regret at all the things that went far beyond my control.
I also must be completely honest though... Aside from regret, pain and feeling like I am letting the community down….I am very at peace. It’s the right time for our family and for the overall health of the business. We as a community have fought like hell to bounce back from all that we have…and for that I can only feel gratitude and pride in our team and our community.
At the end of the day I have zero regrets in creating another extension of my heart through this beautiful community we built at Bannerman Crossings.
It must also be said that the ones that truly built that community are the TEACHERS. Thank you to every single teacher that has left their imprint on that space over the past 5 years. You showed up for our students no matter what. I am eternally grateful for your dedication and passion to our students.
And THANK YOU to every community member who has been a part of this location. It has been a sacred honor to spend this time together in this space. Thank you for supporting Rising Om through everything. Thank you for being along on this ride with me. With our team. With your yoga family. It’s been a wild, wild journey.
A very special thank you to the management and owners of Bannerman Crossings. They have been an absolute dream to work with from Day 1 and I am crushed to be leaving such a fantastic group of people. Thank you for this opportunity and for taking such great care of Rising Om over the years.
Lastly, I want to offer a massive reassurance that our Betton location is not going ANYWHERE.
We are thriving there, our classes are packed (thank you clients!!) and this is my retirement plan....so we have to have many, MANY years ahead of us :)
By simplifying the business I will now be able to see to it that we continue to have a long future ahead of us for the Rising Om Yoga community.
The details on the Bannerman closure:
- Our last class will be Friday September 23rd.
- All class passes can be used at our Betton Place location as they always have been.
- We will be trying to move as many of the remaining classes at Bannerman over to Betton.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions you have about this transition.
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My last thoughts in this exact moment:
Live your life with no regrets. Take the risk. Create something amazing. Do the scary thing. Do the thing nobody else is doing. Life is far too precious to live with regrets and what ifs. Follow your heart. Something beautiful always comes from following your heart. It may not turn out how you expected, but the journey always has beauty in it if you choose to see it that way.
Thank you to my community.
With Love,
Brittani
