Dear ICY Community,
We hope you are well, healthy, and happy. We hope even in physical distance you can feel the energetic experience of love, connection, and togetherness with your ICY community. We hope whether your life is slower or busier right now, you can take a moment to pause and feel the warmth of sunshine on your skin, drink in the incredible beauty of Colorado wildflowers, or observe the sunset over the mountains as it paints beautiful shades of red and orange across the sky.
John and I are incredibly grateful for every single being who became a student at ICY since opening our doors in 2002. It has been an honor to hold space for you, to do deep and beautiful work together, to see friendships grow, to provide inspiring and wise teachers at ICY, and to cultivate resilience in the face of challenges. Thank you for all you brought to us, to the studio, to the community, and to the world. We are blessed to have known you and we are so grateful that our paths crossed.
Thank you for being our teachers. Through the years there is so much we have learned from you. We are also so grateful to have had the opportunity to be your teachers, too, no matter if it were for one class or one thousand classes. Your willingness to show up, your commitment to your practice, and your trust in us to guide you on your yoga journey has been an amazing inspiration to us.
John and I teach yoga because we want to make a positive difference in the world. We know, have seen, and have experienced how yoga changes lives. Nowhere is that more evident than in the growth and changes we have seen in you over the last 20 years. Although we are very sad to leave our home, our friends, our studio, and our business, yoga teaches us that the only constant we have is change. And change is good.
This is the law of impermanence. It’s spoken about in Buddhism, Hinduism and even ancient Greece. There is a beautiful quote by Heraclitus, “No man ever steps in the same river twice.” He insisted flux - or constant change - is the fundamental essence of the universe. As did the Buddha.
The Hindu trilogy of gods represent this idea so perfectly: Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves, and Shiva destroys. All work together. Over and over and over.
Understanding impermanence allows us to embrace the coming and going of all things - to really appreciate the sweetness when it’s there. Without, of course, getting too attached to it. The Buddhists speak of the importance of equanimity - experience life fully; do not be adverse to “bad” or uncomfortable things; and do not attach to the good things. Stay neutral. Find the middle ground. Be balanced.
Impermanence can be comforting. It is because of impermanence that we have variety. Whether it is the seasons or our ability to continue to grow and evolve, or our studio closing, life would be pretty boring if everything were always exactly the same, wouldn’t it?
Just like the good things that come to an end, Inner Connections Yoga & Wellness, ROCK Salt Therapy & CommuniTEA is no longer in Castle Rock, CO. We love you and we will miss you. You will be in our thoughts and hearts always.
As parting words, we share with you the wisdom of Sufi poet Rumi, “If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind." This is yoga at its highest. Our final hope is that we helped lead you in the direction of your highest good.
Om shanti, shanti, shanti.
