How do you measure a year?
Last week, I watched the new live version of RENT on Hulu with my daughter and as a result, she has taken to belting out her version of Seasons of Love. If you’ve never heard a (nearly) 6 year old sing songs from a Broadway musical at the top of her lungs, you haven’t really lived.
It’s epic.
It also got me thinking about the past year of my life.
One year ago this week, I launched my online yoga studio, the Conscious Healthy Collective. It was a massive leap into the world of online yoga and it was scary.
I had no idea what would happen.
I wasn’t really sure if anyone would join me or if they’d stick around for more than a month.
I had no idea if I’d run out of ideas for classes or if people would get bored with me.
I was afraid all of that would be true and that I was pouring my heart into something that wouldn’t pan out.
Instead, in those first few weeks after I opened the doors, 20 women joined the Collective.
Many of them have stuck with me for the entire year.
Some left and others joined.
6 months later, I launched a slightly more streamlined version of the Collective called LITE, which features all of the 15-minutes classes, meditations, pranayama, and monthly advanced classes.
A bunch more people joined and a few others left.
Mostly, we just keep going and growing.
So how do you measure a year in the life of a yoga community?
164 yoga classes
4900 minutes of yoga
13 meditations
3 pranayamas
8 kids who sometimes pop-up in the live videos (only 2 of them are mine and none of them show up in the actual recording. I can see them while I teach on the online platform and it’s sometimes the best part of teaching online)
3 animals who sometimes pop-up in the live videos (none of them are mine)
45 sunsets I’ve witnessed while teaching the evening class live online
100 fancy yoga leggings (guessing on this one and including everyone who has been in the Collective. These are not just mine)
518 spontaneous giggles during yoga class (guessing on this one, too but pretty sure it’s close to accurate)
I could measure hours spent on my computer, managing the membership site or creating cover images for the yoga classes.
Or I could measure tears of frustration when things didn’t work out the way I wanted.
Really, I want to measure how radically this community has changed and evolved and grown since I launched one year ago.
The current version of the Collective looks nothing like the version I launched on February 4th last year.
It’s way better.
In the past year I have grown as a teacher and a business owner.
I have made some mistakes and learned a lot.
I’ve gotten more clear and confident in what I offer.
I’ve listened to my community members and shifted my offerings to better support them.
Every single person who has participated in the Collective or LITE has had a hand in the growth and success of this community.
Gratitude does not even begin to express how I feel for each and every one of them.
I’m measuring this year in the joy, in the laughter, in the accomplishment, in the success, in the people who showed up for themselves on their mats.
Jonathan Larson wrote it best in the final verse of Seasons of Love (yep, we’re back to RENT):
“It’s time now to sing out
Though the story never ends
Let’s celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends.”
Celebrating you, my yoga friends. Thank you for making this year so spectacular.
Here’s to another amazing year of growth, transformation, and lots of yoga.
***
To celebrate this big anniversary, I’m opening the doors of the Collective and LITE from now until Friday, February 8th.
At midnight, the doors close again until June.
And as a gift to those who join before Friday, I’m offering a special bundle of classes based on your wants and needs for your yoga practice, personally curated by me from the last year of classes in the Collective.
Oh and if you’re a military family, I give military discounts.
I will also offer discounts to those who want to join but feel as though they can’t afford the monthly cost as priced. Just let me know what would be affordable and we’ll work it out.
I’d rather you get on your mat more instead of not at all.
I hope you’ll join me on the mat for the next year of the Collective.
Let’s move and grow together.
