The Lebanon Studio…My First

You never forget your first…

Pain brought me to the practice of yoga just like it has brought so many of you.  Pain in the the physical and emotional form and not yet revealed to me, but pain also in a spiritual form. I love yoga.  It healed me.  I have the habit of turning the things I love into work and putting the ones I love to work.  If I’m working for you and helping you on some level, know I love you.  It’s how I express.

I started teaching in Lebanon at the community center.  I had 10 lovely yoginis every Monday at noon.  The center left a bit to be desired and the ladies started looking for a very inexpensive place for me to rent.  That landed me next to the Village Wine Cellar at what is now Elemental OM.

I can’t describe the condition of the building.  It was filled with trash from top to bottom. There were holes in the ceiling of the first floor and the ceiling of the second was collapsing.  Exposed electric, rotting wood and so much potential!  I remember taking my kids through to show them mommy’s new studio.  I think Katie was about 6 at the time and she walked in, stuck her thumb in her mouth and shook her head no.  She said, “Oh mommy, no…no.”  I handed Elliott a crowbar, told him not to fall through the ceiling and we went to work.

When I first rented the space I was just starting the process of divorce.  The one thing no one freely shares about divorce is that you lose 1/2 of your kids life in the process.  I couldn’t stand to be without them.  The grief was unbearable.  Every night and weekend without them I would go to that messy 200 year old building and work and cry.

You might not realize it, but I did all the demolition myself.  I hauled out 3 dump trunks of debris.  I tore down all the walls, the ceiling upstairs and spent 6 weeks with a sledgehammer pounding the plaster off our gorgeous exposed brick and then sanding it all by hand.  I did the faux finish plastering myself.  I laid the floor upstairs and you may not know I put a layer of sand down first to level our messy floors.  You have been practicing on a beach this whole time.  I painted.  I cried.  Everyone thought I was insane.  I was…am.

I only went to the hospital once during the process!  Pretty good for a certified klutz with no understanding of electricity.

There are many ghosts in the Lebanon studio.  We’ve helped 2 to cross over and 1 remains.  Students say a woman whispers in your ear sometimes when you practice.  That’s her.  I think we will be leaving behind the ghostly impression of the approximate 6,720 classes we taught there over the years.  It’s a magical place.

I like to think EOM changed Lebanon on some level.  I like to think it touched all of you.  I like to think you have changed because of yoga and bring a little more light and love to the world.

Our work there is done.  Thank you for your dedication to the studio and the practice.  You will find us in Symmes and Montgomery and hoping soon you will find us elsewhere as we find another new home.