A WORTHY & RELEVANT TRANSITION
What a lovely nearly sixteen years in these two classrooms! From therapeutic courses for those recovering; undergoing chemotherapy, traumatic brain injury, rheumatoid arthritis, MS, PTSD, loss of a loved one, depression, and more. Then there were the lively and athletic and not for the faint-of-heart; upside down, inside out, Cirque de Sole-esquè. From meditation to nutrition to police and firefighter trainings, then a cheerleading squad, to national a magazine and television crew, then yoga for folks in residential recovery programs, and many community outreach programs. Folks witnessing their lives transformed in meaningful ways. From deep laughter to abiding tears then resistance and acceptance of the path of these practices.
All the while we shared the comforting space of these rooms. They now resonate in many ways with so many and have been a part of many hundreds of folks lives over these many years. While some of us feel the loss with some heartbreak, that heartbreak is evidence of how much we loved and were nourished by our experiences here. Like all experiences of love they change and evolve and with that change heartbreak comes hand-in-hand.
And now it is time to let go of these rooms at the end of January. However, the more intimate and always closer to us in class were the many props (mats, blocks, bolsters, blankets, straps and more) that supported our bodies encouraging alignment, balance, strength, flexibility, an a quality of embodied presence. Likewise they supported us in letting go of the unnecessary tensions that distracted us in out busy lives.
While we leave the rooms, these props have found
homes across the region as dear students were
offered and then accepted Yoga Prop Blessing Bundles to keep the resonance of their memories of class here alive while encouraging further exploration of the practices of mindful yoga, meditation, and other contemplative and physical practices in students’ own homes.
My dear Niece Hannah who was born about the time the doors opened here and was woven into classes and life here for most of her life helped me as we
assembled these Blessing Bundles for students to accept them (in person mind you and with masks on of course) here on recent Sunday afternoons!
What an incredible joy it has been to pass along in-person these Bundles to my students! And to receive heart-felt acknowledgements from them. Many attended classes for well over a decade and some have been just getting to know our community online over the past year.
AND NOW TOWARD LEARNING MORE BROADLY & EFFECTIVELY IN 2021
So many folks have noted their experience of loss with the closing of the doors of these rooms. Do please know that I will be here teaching and sharing. Teaching now will be less about ‘Yoga HIllsboro’ as it was and more ‘HIllsboro’s Yoga’ evolving in new ways.
Courses, series, workshops, retreats, and gatherings will be more accessible and relevant to the transformed ways we will be living in 2021 and beyond as our society and community evolve to meet all the many changes that are occurring; politics, pandemic, social change, economics, and more. You know that my teaching has always intended to meet each of us where we are. So . . . ‘where we are’ will be changing and let’s meet there however it evolves.
I am already in conversation with folks who have many public venues to host classes once we can meet in-person; Tuality Hospital Health Education, local Parks and Recreation, Blooming Junction Nursery classrooms, Pacific University Health Education Campus, other public venues like the Walters Center in downtown Hillsboro, perhaps even opening another physical classrooms space if it seems helpful. I will of course continue these very vibrant online classes each term as well!
Much love to you all for being here and be assured you and we will continue to learn together in ways that encourage and support our life within and life for those around us.
Warmly. — Brant