My yoga teacher said in my first class at a studio called The Yoga Seed, “the power of transcendence is beautiful, raw, and something we’re all built to do. Trust the process.” As I lay there in a puddle of sweat, breathing heavily and fully exhausted… and cried. I was surrounded by loving people I’d never met, all of us on different paths yet in the same place sharing breath, fire, and collective harmony. A seed was planted in my gut telling me that no matter what happens, we’re all built to grow and transform; it’s in our DNA to evolve. I wish to share this with others.
The next 15 years were spent studying the mental sciences and teaching, which landed me in Westport with Conor my partner who also shared my vision of opening a space for transformation and community. On a walk through Brackloon Woods, a wild place where we get to witness the power of growth and rebirth throughout the seasons we decided on the name of our studio; The Yoga Root. A place to ground and grow, and a natural progression where I started yoga and where we were right now in life. The root system is a vital and organ-like component; the foundation of the plant but remain largely unseen. Roots are resilient, strong, and provide grounding for life to flourish…much like the teachings of yoga.
The Yoga Root was given life from a seed planted in California and nourishment from a life in Westport surrounded by nature. And like that first lesson about seeking a new flame, we found our studio space in Feb 2020 with an opening date for March when the pandemic started. We thought our dream had come to an end, but our gut told us to remain patient, trust the process and hug it out when it all got too much!
In the past month since reopening, we finally feel like we can see new shoots of growth, creating a community of diverse people from all walks of life, who come together to move, breathe, and feel at ease as we reopen. We are finding this is the real beauty of having a yoga studio right now; the new community it grows and the re-connections to one another it creates.