Donation protected
Be a YES for helping us continue our journey together!
My yoga journey began by simply saying, “Yes.” At the time I really had no idea at all to what it was I was actually saying YES to. I thought I was simply agreeing to help make my mother’s dream a reality: she wanted to open a yoga studio, and she needed someone, anyone, to be a certified Bikram Yoga teacher and be the technical owner of a franchised studio; and I, about to graduate college, had no other immediate plans. So I said, “Yes.”
It turns out that I was actually saying YES to a path of self-discovery that would give me the ability to connect with people and touch lives in a way that I didn’t know was possible. I was saying YES to filling my life with love, friendship, and true community – the kind of community that we all dream of but is actually very hard to find. And I was also, as it turns out, saying YES to growing and evolving in all of the most uncomfortable and challenging of ways.
You see, I never wanted to be a business owner. I never wanted to be in charge of everything and to hustle and “prove myself” and be my own boss. I actually dreaded it. I wanted to spend my free time dreaming and exploring, and have a job where I could follow other people’s directions and get plenty of praise for doing things well and being good at my role. I knew that saying YES to my mom that day would change all of that; and I was not excited about it. But at least I would only be a figurehead… my mom would be the one actually in charge.
And then the day came when I once again was presented with an opportunity to say YES: our family studio was closing, but I could take the metaphorical ball and run with it by myself, if I wanted. I did NOT want to, and I was a firm NO for solo business ownership. And yet… everything was in place, all I would have to do is show up and keep doing what I was doing…
Well, as you all know, I said YES once again, and Odyssey Yoga was born. It was not born of my raw determination and grit; it was born of the grace and humility of simply saying, “Yes.” The community had been slowly built and cultivated in the only way true community can be: time, patience, genuine affection and trust, loyalty, and (best of all) the sweet innocence of learning and growing together. When Solar Yoga had opened in January 2006, I taught my very first Vinyasa Flow class. I did not know what “yoga” really was, but I was ready and willing to learn, grow, and share. We grew up together. We learned together. And together we discovered that there is so, so much more to this sacred and life-changing practice than just postures.
This is why it feels the way it does when you walk into Odyssey Yoga. That comfort you feel? It’s because you have walked into a home filled with memories and familiarity and trust, and because we have spent more than a decade folding new friends into our loving arms. There is no pretense, no façade; if you are wanting to get on your mat and do the work for yourself, you will not be doing it alone. And if you want to fill your life with the kind of people who have open minds and open hearts, and see beauty and possibility in the world, you have come to the right place.
And THIS, my friends, is why I just had to say “YES” once again. As a business, things had to shift, and we could no longer stay in our current home, so I was faced with the gut-wrenching decision once more: do I say “no” and let the heavy weight of ownership fall off of my shoulders at last, or do I say “yes” and find a way to continue the journey? No one would have faulted me for letting go, and some even encouraged it. I saw that road stretch out before me, and it would have been safer and easier.
But if I said “no” then our community would have broken up and drifted off in all directions like a dandelion fluff blown into the wind, and the sacred, focused, dedicated yoga practice that we had worked so hard to grow would be uprooted; and I simply could not stand for that. I believe in it too deeply to let it go without doing everything I can to continue holding that space for us and continue teaching the kind of yoga that helps us grow as humans and live a life of gratitude and contentment. It is too important, and so much bigger than me.
So I said, “Yes.” To finding a way, to finding an amazing partner who inspires me, to finding a space that feels like home already (even without walls), and to being open to however it is going to happen. And now, my friends, I need you so say YES with me: if you also believe that this community is something special, and that the yoga has to continued to be taught and practiced, and that this is bigger than you or me or anyone of us individually, please consider donating to help us build the space where we can continue the journey together. Any donation amount will be incredibly helpful. Together we can be a resounding “YES” for our studio, our community, and each other!
Love, Stacie
GOAL: $20,000
WHAT IT IS FOR: Building out the new space and creating a beautiful and special new home for our community!
TIMELINE: Construction begins this June (asap) and we hope to open by July 2019... so the time is now!!
**All benefactors will receive a yoga goody-bag once the new studio opens as a token of our heartfelt GRATITUDE!**
My yoga journey began by simply saying, “Yes.” At the time I really had no idea at all to what it was I was actually saying YES to. I thought I was simply agreeing to help make my mother’s dream a reality: she wanted to open a yoga studio, and she needed someone, anyone, to be a certified Bikram Yoga teacher and be the technical owner of a franchised studio; and I, about to graduate college, had no other immediate plans. So I said, “Yes.”
It turns out that I was actually saying YES to a path of self-discovery that would give me the ability to connect with people and touch lives in a way that I didn’t know was possible. I was saying YES to filling my life with love, friendship, and true community – the kind of community that we all dream of but is actually very hard to find. And I was also, as it turns out, saying YES to growing and evolving in all of the most uncomfortable and challenging of ways.
You see, I never wanted to be a business owner. I never wanted to be in charge of everything and to hustle and “prove myself” and be my own boss. I actually dreaded it. I wanted to spend my free time dreaming and exploring, and have a job where I could follow other people’s directions and get plenty of praise for doing things well and being good at my role. I knew that saying YES to my mom that day would change all of that; and I was not excited about it. But at least I would only be a figurehead… my mom would be the one actually in charge.
And then the day came when I once again was presented with an opportunity to say YES: our family studio was closing, but I could take the metaphorical ball and run with it by myself, if I wanted. I did NOT want to, and I was a firm NO for solo business ownership. And yet… everything was in place, all I would have to do is show up and keep doing what I was doing…
Well, as you all know, I said YES once again, and Odyssey Yoga was born. It was not born of my raw determination and grit; it was born of the grace and humility of simply saying, “Yes.” The community had been slowly built and cultivated in the only way true community can be: time, patience, genuine affection and trust, loyalty, and (best of all) the sweet innocence of learning and growing together. When Solar Yoga had opened in January 2006, I taught my very first Vinyasa Flow class. I did not know what “yoga” really was, but I was ready and willing to learn, grow, and share. We grew up together. We learned together. And together we discovered that there is so, so much more to this sacred and life-changing practice than just postures.
This is why it feels the way it does when you walk into Odyssey Yoga. That comfort you feel? It’s because you have walked into a home filled with memories and familiarity and trust, and because we have spent more than a decade folding new friends into our loving arms. There is no pretense, no façade; if you are wanting to get on your mat and do the work for yourself, you will not be doing it alone. And if you want to fill your life with the kind of people who have open minds and open hearts, and see beauty and possibility in the world, you have come to the right place.
And THIS, my friends, is why I just had to say “YES” once again. As a business, things had to shift, and we could no longer stay in our current home, so I was faced with the gut-wrenching decision once more: do I say “no” and let the heavy weight of ownership fall off of my shoulders at last, or do I say “yes” and find a way to continue the journey? No one would have faulted me for letting go, and some even encouraged it. I saw that road stretch out before me, and it would have been safer and easier.
But if I said “no” then our community would have broken up and drifted off in all directions like a dandelion fluff blown into the wind, and the sacred, focused, dedicated yoga practice that we had worked so hard to grow would be uprooted; and I simply could not stand for that. I believe in it too deeply to let it go without doing everything I can to continue holding that space for us and continue teaching the kind of yoga that helps us grow as humans and live a life of gratitude and contentment. It is too important, and so much bigger than me.
So I said, “Yes.” To finding a way, to finding an amazing partner who inspires me, to finding a space that feels like home already (even without walls), and to being open to however it is going to happen. And now, my friends, I need you so say YES with me: if you also believe that this community is something special, and that the yoga has to continued to be taught and practiced, and that this is bigger than you or me or anyone of us individually, please consider donating to help us build the space where we can continue the journey together. Any donation amount will be incredibly helpful. Together we can be a resounding “YES” for our studio, our community, and each other!
Love, Stacie
GOAL: $20,000
WHAT IT IS FOR: Building out the new space and creating a beautiful and special new home for our community!
TIMELINE: Construction begins this June (asap) and we hope to open by July 2019... so the time is now!!
**All benefactors will receive a yoga goody-bag once the new studio opens as a token of our heartfelt GRATITUDE!**
Organizer
Stacie Richter Finucan
Organizer
Longmont, CO