May 5
th
, 2020
Hello Everybody,
I figured it’s time to reach out and say hello to you all and cover some topics that I’m getting asked about daily and some that I’m not. Here are the topics I want to cover:
A personal message from me
What are we doing these days?
About Online Classes
An ‘I’m In’ auto pay accounts update
State of the financial status of East Wind Yoga
Timeline for re-opening
A personal message from me
First off, what a time in our lives. Where do I begin? Maybe I should start with what I feel but every day that changes. Heck, my feelings change by the moment. More often than anything else, I feel gratitude. I’m grateful for the opportunity to sit with Mercedes (my mom) every day at our local coffee place and have my oatmeal & eggs while she has her latte. We’ve created some cool relationships and shared in great conversations (at a distance) with several locals.
I’m grateful to our East Wind community for so many reasons that I’ll share in a bit. I’m grateful for my health, my family’s health and the health of my friends. I’m grateful for the blessing of where I live, and finally, I’m grateful for what I’ve learned and how I’ve lived the past two months.
On March 19th after I taught my noon class and received word of the Placer County’s shelter in place order, I closed the Roseville studio and started thinking of my plan of action for going forward. And of course, I love my mantras, so I created a few to keep me inspired to see my plan through for as long as I needed to.
Here’s what I knew
I needed to keep moving.
I wanted to stay connected to our East Wind community.
I wanted to come out of this shut down stronger than I was going into it.
Here are the mantras I created for this moment:
LET’S KEEP MOVING (community mantra)
I will take care of myself and allow for others. (personal mantra)
I love my legs, I love my butt, I love my lungs, I love my heart. (hike mantra).
What are we doing these days?
I committed to leading our community on a hike EVERY SINGLE DAY until East Wind Yoga could open again. And these hikes have been simply incredible.
We have a phenomenal group of around 9 to 12 people on average and we hike around 5-ish miles a day, anywhere from Forresthill to Auburn. We have had 20+ on several occasions and have hiked as far as 13 miles a few times. We’ve seen so many cool things and have explored an endless number of trail variations and locations. Today was Day 47 in a row and this weekend we are hiking 15 miles to a camp location and hiking back on Sunday. There is nothing easy about any of our hikes and everybody is welcome to join us for all or part of what we do, including getting in the rivers. You can text me at 916-613-9337 if you would like to ask questions.
Let’s keep moving & let’s stay connected.
About online classes
I know several of our teachers have been conducting online yoga classes in different formats for some time now and in all truth, I haven’t seen or been to any of them. I have heard a lot of good things about their classes and I have so much respect for all of the ways that we adapt to changing circumstances and I’m happy to know they have followed their heart in this way. I have been asked, and I just want to be transparent and tell you, that I have struggled to be inspired to teach classes online because it just isn’t my thing. If you have any questions regarding the online yoga classes, contact our teachers directly or me and I’ll get you to the right person. My cell is 916-613-9337.
An ‘I’m In’ auto pay accounts update
I cannot talk about this subject without being overcome with emotion. I barely have the words. For all of the students that are signed up for the ‘I’m In’ auto withdrawal, I want to say thank you from the depths of my being. From Day One, I received so many requests to keep the payments going to support the studio staying open. That’s exactly what you all have done. You’ve made it possible for both studios to open when we are allowed. Also, I have even had a few people offer to donate additional funds to the studio and to those that cannot afford to pay when classes start up again. You people have blown me away. Your selflessness almost overwhelms me. I have had members want to donate funds/classes to EWY students that have been on the front-line of this pandemic as a way of saying “Thank you”. For those of you on the front line who are facing a higher risk every day to care for others or to keep necessary services going, THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU. This community is so fanfreak’n amazing.
State of the Financial Status of EWY
With all that said though, we must open soon!! I have committed a large part of my savings, but I alone could not keep both studios open indefinitely. I understand that so many now are experiencing financial hardship and need to cancel or pause their auto pay amount going forward and I will do so immediately upon request. Just text me at 916-613-9337.
Also, I promise to make it up to those that keep their payment going while we are closed. You all are in my daily thoughts. You are giving life to EWY
(see below)
. All expiration dates are going to be extended the length of this shut down.
I also want to send a shout out to our landlords,
Lezlie, (922 Lincoln Way Partnership) and Sylvia in Roseville who have been so understanding and willing to accommodate us any way I need them to until we can open. It truly takes a village and our village is special.
Timeline for re-opening
Last, I want to share my plan for re-opening. I have had many conversations with business owners in the area about their plans to open. Some are following our so-called leader’s phase plan and others have gone back to work because they must financially. I have decided to start teaching my classes according to my previous schedule starting on Monday, May 18
th
. I will follow the Placer County spacing and sanitation guidelines, but the simple fact is that we need to open for the continued health of East Wind Yoga and the health of all of us. If all goes well, I hope to open EWY to a full schedule in early June. It’s time.
In closing
There’s so much more that I want to say but I feel like I would be preaching too much so I’ll only preach a little. Our planet is rejoicing in our absence. Are we hearing its message? And if this pandemic hasn’t made us look closely at what we're doing to create our health and well-being, what will?
Blessings,
Scott
~
