Dear Friends,

When I first imagined opening a yoga studio some 11 years ago, I imagined it as a vehicle to build community and bring yoga to my own backyard. My life at the time felt relatively comfortable, and I believed that this new endeavor would  respond to a little voice that had been quietly nagging for some time telling me that I needed more meaning and purpose in my work. Little did I know that EVERYTHING would change. Before opening day, my life was unraveling. I found myself in the midst of a cataclysmic and unexpected divorce, facing a serious health crisis, raising two teenagers and preparing to run a business having never engaged in a single business endeavor in all of my prior professional years as a professor. I was lost and afraid, and I resonated deeply with our lotus flower logo that represented a path through murky waters and the darkness of the mud. I leaned into my own yoga practice and meditation to get through those days, and the community that began to form around Johns Creek Yoga became just like the light of the sun that beckons the lotus flower to awaken, to grow, to seek the surface and blossom. 

In many ways, I feel like this community rescued me from the dark. You all gave me purpose and meaning. You helped me to remember my own potential and my own magic. You made me feel loved, and you, indeed, helped me to grow, to heal and to keep seeking light. I will be grateful all of my life for the ways every single one of you has enriched my world. I am a better person in every way because of all of you.

By now, you have surely heard the news that Johns Creek Yoga will join the Lift Yoga family as of THIS SUNDAY. I have full confidence in Lori Denton as the new owner, and I know that she will add her own magic to yours to continue the work that began 10 years ago. I will still be around teaching special classes, running retreats, offering Advanced Yoga Teacher Training and a 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training Immersion. The threads of connection that have bonded us all these many years will continue long into the future. 

This transition point also feels like the perfect time for me to reinvent myself. In that spirit, I am creating a new company and a new brand: SEEK Yoga and Travel. My focus will be on deep, transformative experiences by way of Retreats, Coaching and Trainings. I will also be focusing more on writing and hope to produce a book within the next year, and I am exploring the possibility of a podcast. The Blue Lotus/Johns Creek Yoga branding was perfect for the last decade of my life, but this new stage is calling for something new, and I am thrilled with all of the possibilities. 

The next email your receive from me will be from my new address: sheila@seekyoga.com, as always, you may unsubscribe at anytime by clicking the link at the bottom of this message. The new website will be live next week, and I would love for you to connect with me and remain updated via social media. The new links are below.

Meanwhile...Let's celebrate all that we have been this Saturday. My last class will be on the lawn at 9:30 followed by a concluding ceremony in the studio. I hope to see you there and offer you this blessing:

Today I give to you what was never mine.

I give you to the infinite breath of life that connects you to each other.

I give you to the collective heart that has filled this space with love.

I give you to the mystery of who you are in a world full of wonder and divinity.

I give you to the eyes that reflect your light and remind you that you are radiant and ancient.

I give you to the miracle of movement in a body born to discover that it is soul.

I give you to the grace that surrounds and protects you through darkness and light.

And I give you to your Highest self, that part of you that calls you home each time you grow still.

And today I take with me the gifts of our shared awakening.

I take with me the purity of love you have taught me through your vulnerability and trust. 

I take with me the awe you have inspired in me through your courage and strength.

I take with me the awakening you have created in me through your expectation that

I will be a vessel of consciousness.

I take with me a certainty of who I am because you have held the mirror for me to see.

In this sacred exchange may we remember that we have always been ONE, that we will always be unified no matter what distance unfolds between us, that we are co-creators of our shared evolution held always in the fabric of divine love.

,

In Light and Love,