This week I thought I’d take you on a trip down memory lane and share some of the highlights of the last ten years...
I remember returning home from my first teacher training course all bright eyed and keen to start teaching, armed with so much knowledge (or so I thought!) that I couldn’t wait to share with anyone who would listen.
Plan A was to open my very own yoga studio. Plan B was …. well there wasn’t really a Plan B, so I went back to Plan A…
I left the corporate world to follow my dream of becoming a yoga teacher, imagining that my life would be just one big zen bubble. But reality hit when I realised that to open my own studio I was going to need a business plan (what?) and some serious funding. Ever optimistic that the universe would provide what I needed when I needed it, I scoped out some real estate agents and began looking for a potential site.
On day one of my investigations, I found THE PLACE. Level 1/55 Foveaux Street didn’t look like much from the outside. It didn’t look like much from the inside, either. I walked up the stairs with the agent and upon reaching the top step, looked around at the dusty, dirty cavernous space that was once a clothing warehouse and said, “This is it!!” For some strange reason it just felt right. There I was with no plan, no money, just the vision of a place where people could come and practice yoga and make profound changes to their lives. It was June 2001.
Fast forward 9 months to February 2002, and with the help of Phil and a few good friends, I had written the plan, sorted the finance, and was ready to open the doors of our studio – Bikram Yoga Surry Hills. People told us that we were crazy to take on such a huge space. “You'll never fill it, it's a waste of space”, some of them said. But we firmly believed that if you build it, they will come. And they did.
For the last ten years we’ve seen a huge change in the way yoga is viewed by the general public. In that time yoga has gone from being something that only incense-burning hippies did to being a household word. Yoga hit mainstream consciousness and people from all walks of life have embraced it, felt the benefits, and told all their friends.
Over the decade we’ve explored different styles and settled on teaching Power Vinyasa and Yin yoga, two styles that are transformational yet accessible. We’ve participated in events such as Yoga Expo, Mind Body Spirit Festival, Earth Festival, Yoga Aid Challenge, Global Mala Project and many others. We’ve taught sporting teams and celebrities. We’ve had the honour of hosting amazing and wonderfully inspiring teachers from around the world: Bikram Choudhury, Craig Villani, Wade Imre Morissette, Twee Merrigan, Shiva Rea, Bryan Kest, Les Leventhal, as well as musicians Dave Stringer, and Gaura Vani, to mention just a few.
Our students have come and gone, made comebacks and had babies. Others have made life-long friends and met their future spouses within the studio walls. Others still have been inspired to go on and become yoga teachers themselves. Our beautiful yoga community has grown and thrived over the years, and will continue to do so into the future.
The massive 200 square metre room that people told us we’d never fill is now packed to the rafters in some classes. We’ve pretty much decided that yoga is not just a passing fad, hence the need to expand into a new space where we can continue to share the benefits of yoga with anyone who is looking to transform their life. Our new studio space will offer us the ability to continue sharing yoga in its entirety – asana, meditation, wellness, lifestyle.
We’re excited to have you all come along for the journey. It’s been an incredible ten years, and the next ten are going to be even more amazing. We hope you enjoy the last week of classes at the Foveaux Street studio, and are looking forward to checking out the new studio space on 3d January 2012!
Don’t forget the final class on Sunday 18th December 4pm-6pm, complete with live musicians. We look forward to celebrating with you!
Namaste,
Nicole