Farewell 1540 15th Ave…

Dear friends,

Some thoughts on the last day at Seattle Yoga Arts’ current location, which I’ve identified as my yoga home and served in many capacities since arriving in Seattle 6+ years ago. Many of you on this list have never set foot in the studio, but all of us can relate to leaving a space or a place that has held so much.

~ ~ ~

Each of us already knows, deep within our clear wise heart, that nothing lasts forever. 
Nor should it. 
None of us owns this land despite boundaries, deeds, or leases.
Just ask the birds
Or the cedar trees
Or the wind.
We are guests here.
All of us, lucky enough to be alive on this planet. 

Yet, we are human. 
We connect deeply with places, with spaces. 
We fall in love with a city, a neighborhood, the fish bowl view out the floor-to-ceiling windows, a well worn wooden bench, that familiar sound of the first autumn rain echoing on the metal awning.
We embed our identities into the places we live, love, work, travel, and yes, practice yoga.
Where is often just as powerful as who, what, and when. 

Each of us has a different relationship with these walls at 1540 15th Ave, in Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington. 
In turn, we will each have our own response to the loss of the physical space.
Anyone who has spent even one class in the studio knows that it is imbued with exceptional energy. 
For 12 years, it has held the space for our collective transformation.
Space for our sorrows and confusions
For our anger and heartache
Our witnessing, our discovery, and our healing

Consider Lord Shiva, ever dancing on the altar… representing all movement within the cosmos. 
Reminding us that there is no such thing as an ending in and of itself.
Endings are simply one part of the eternal cycle: Creation, Preservation, Destruction, Release.

So, if you are feeling a kind of grief in saying goodbye to the ochre walls… The well worn floors… The inviting lobby… The happy rice paper lamps dancing on the ceiling… You are not alone.

Trust that this is the beginning of the next possibility; creation arising anew. We depart 1540 15th Ave, but the vibrant community we call Seattle Yoga Arts – and the wider experience we call being a yogi – lives on in each of our hearts, every single day, no matter where we are.

I hope that you can receive this news as another opportunity to really see and intentionally cherish what is alive and well and thriving right now, my friends. And use this experience as another practice in becoming deeply skilled in the art and power of letting go.

~ ~ ~

I hope to see you online – and in our next brick and mortar yoga home.

Love,
Nicole