Vlog/Blog - The Next Chapter

Hey, how’s it going?! Welcome back to EB Yoga. Today I want to talk about, The Next Chapter. So, I’ve been trying to put pen to paper and put my thoughts and feelings into words about this next chapter for the last 6 weeks or so. And it seems like every time I sit down to write or I have a thought that I think could be the start of something good, it just feels sort of fake, scripted, like I’m saying things that everyone else just says about letting go and moving on and flowing with the seasons of life and things like that. So I decided just to sit down and vlog about it. A vlog is just a video blog, for anybody that didn’t know. I figured that if I could sit down and get some of my thoughts and feelings out to the camera, then maybe I could take that video and transcribe it into a blog.

Before I talk about the next chapter, I just want to take a moment to recap the last chapter. 3 years ago I began planning to open my yoga studio, which I opened in October of 2016. And I just closed the doors to the studio on April 30, 2019. It was over 3 years of love that I put into my studio and 2.5 years of teaching classes there. I taught over 900 classes and to over 300 students. It was an amazing opportunity and experience for me. Starting a business is no joke and anyone who thinks it is hasn’t done it before (LOL). But it was also a struggle during that time. I was still working full time for the first year or so and then I got to work at home but I still had my full time responsibilities. (I had) a little more flexibility but I still had a lot of work I needed to get done on a daily basis from my day job, which was my family business, plus my yoga studio.

Then in March of 2018 I got the idea to take my business online. My ultimate goal being time and location freedom. My sister Becky moved to Las Vegas in December 2015 and I’ve just missed the crap out of her for the last 3.5 years. Another sibling (Austin) goes to school in Chicago, and I don’t know where he’ll move after college. But I just knew that in my life I wanted some more freedom. I want to be able to travel with my family and not be completely tied down teaching 6 days a week in Bay City. So I knew online was where I wanted to go eventually, but I didn’t think it was going to happen as quickly as it did. I wasn’t planning to close my studio April 30, I thought I’d be open a few more months, if not until the end of the year. About 2 months ago, my father sat us down to let us know that he was selling our family business. Since the family business was my living paycheck and was helping me support my studio, I had to make the choice. With the studio breaking even, did I want to put my money into that now that I wasn't making a weekly paycheck and money was limited?

So closing the studio wasn’t an easy decision, but I ultimately I knew that’s what I wanted for the next chapter of my life, so that made it a little bit easier and not so sad. Although it was sad and my last day at my studio I can’t tell you how many times I cried and how many hugs I got. I truly have such a connection with so many of my students I met there; so much getting to know everybody and the time I spent with them and none of that will ever go away. I’ll always love those people and hopefully get to stay connected with those people when I do teach around Bay City and in the next chapter in my online business as well.

Today is May 21, 2019. It is exactly one month after my birthday, April 21, and today really feels like the first day of the next chapter. I spent the first part of May cleaning out my studio and then I spent about a week taking some time off, which I feel like I deserved (LOL). I went to Las Vegas to see my sister and she surprised me with a trip to Maui, which is my favorite place in the whole world. So that was totally amazing and I’m so grateful for my sister and I don’t know what sort of surprise I’ll have to plan to pay her back - pay her back in a loving way I mean LOL.

What I am most excited about in the next chapter of my life, is continuing to study with Alex Crow (@alexandriacrow) because I believe it makes me a better yoga teacher and human being. What we’re learning is what’s not being talked about in the yoga world enough, and I’m really happy to be studying and to continue to better understand, range of motion and hypermobility and other little bits and pieces that factor into our yoga practice like the trauma that we hold in our body and the stress we have in our everyday lives. Continuing my education with Alex and continuing to share what I know with you... I can’t wait to create more videos, blogs, and new content every week to talk about what I'm learning and hopefully explain it in a way that makes sense to people.  I’m working on a blog right now i’m really excited about called “Why I Broke up with Updog.” I don’t like updog. I don’t teach updog. I don’t think updog is good for anyone’s lower back. But that’s another conversation…

Thank you so much for taking the time to check in with me and what the next chapter of my life includes. I hope you will join me at EB Yoga Online and I hope to see you again soon.

~Elicia~