December, 2020
Greetings!
Before 2020 winds down for good, I wanted to send you a love letter of sorts. What is the saying; Hindsight is 2020? Yes, a lot of us would like to see 2020 in the rear-view mirror but I think that it is more complicated than that. Here is a quick snapshot of what 2020 was for O2.
January was our biggest month ever. After reeling from the closure of our Cambridge location, tremendous personal loss, getting the wind knocked out of us, we were slowly feeling a sense of stability and security that had been absent for so long. People poured into the studio for classes on New Year's Day. We celebrated the Somerville studio's 19th anniversary. It was a fun and festive month.
February was equally exciting. Emily offered a Partner Thai Massage workshop, Jill and
Paulina a Yoga With Friends, and Tina a workshop called Basics for Beginners. Remember when we could practice in the same room and we could actually touch you!?
We finished the month with our 19th O2 Yoga Retreat in Tulum, Mexico.
March, oh boy. My family and I returned from Mexico on March 8 I taught my Tuesday morning classes on March 9, and closed the studio on Friday, March 13. Boom. It was so terrifying, abrupt, confusing, and surreal. I remember scrambling, and trying to put new protocols in place and then, making the call to shut our doors. It was the first time I heard the term social-distancing and Covid-19. I know that a lot of students were pivoting to online classes but I wanted to take our time and do it right. Elliott and I enlisted Brad Braufman, videographer extraordinaire, to help us make some videos to get us through, what we though would be the next month of being closed.
April, we got 8 videos in the can so to speak before the pandemic really started to heat up. What I didn't realize was that I wouldn't return to the studio for another few months.
We launched our first few online classes on April 6. It was a hell of a learning curve and we had a lot of issues. I remember being so exhausted after teaching just 2 online classes in a row that I fell asleep sitting up on our back porch. The online format was so different from what I was used to. Talk about teaching an old dog new tricks!
May. After so many of you beautiful souls asked how can you help, I finally broke down and started a GoFundMe. Thanks to you all, we raised enough to get us through the summer and into the fall. I also sent out an incredible amount of thank you sweatshirts and t-shirts and get to see you rocking them online!
June through September. We kept on with the online classes and got more comfortable. I can not thank those of you who entered this wild west of a world with us and kept our spirits up as we learned. So many of you joined us either live or pre-taped and continue to do so. I cannot thank my brave online teaching staff for jumping in and teaching their awesome classes with so much .calm and skill.
Late September. I was in touch with the City of Somerville and was constantly following the Phase 3 (that is us) re-opening plans. Mayor Curtatone was stricter than the rest of the state and I supported him on it. Not that I didn't want to open but I felt that we needed to be cautious, thoughtful, and prepared. I went to the studio for the first time in months and it felt like a crime scene, frozen in time, cold and empty.
October. Steven spent 3 straight days repairing and replacing the ventilation system, installing filtration systems, new door and steps out the back, lighting, hand-washing stations, sinks, and flooring. We also put in place a Covid-19 cleaning/practice protocol with the help of the lovely Ivy from the Brattleboro Theater.
November. The cases of Covid-19 kept climbing and I decided that I couldn't, in good conscience, continue to encourage in-person classes. We did begin our very first online teacher training (assisted by the talented Jon Doyle) on November 6 (3 days after we taught our last in-person class). Oh and something else joyous and wonderful happened this month, now what was it???
December. We continue to grow our online classes, the teacher training has been incredibly successful, and we finish off this year in a state of complete unknown.
I cannot be hostile towards the time that we have spent together this past year, learning, practicing, crying, laughing, grieving, freaking out, falling down, and picking each other up.
I have had the honor to be invited into your homes, met your pets, family, and seen you when you just rolled out of bed, in need of a haircut, with long beards, and makeshift props. I have been able to say good morning ( you may notice that I only teach in the morning and that is because, as anyone that knows me, I do not function well past 2pm)
and see or hear you answer back. I get to see so many of you who I would never get to from all over the world. I get to stay safe in my home, while you stay safe in yours, but still do my job.
I want to say a special thanks to Elliott and Kelly Turley who help me keep O2 running, relevant, engaged, and beautiful. They also keep me sane and supported and pick up the slack when I cannot.
I want to say a special thank you to my son, Deven, and husband, Steven, who are always behind the scenes fixing, building, and creating things, giving me hugs, modeling clothing for photos, setting up my lightening, adjusting microphones, keeping the animals quiet, and making me feel like I am doing something important and meaningful.
I am sure there is so much more but I promised myself to keep this short (ha!). Please join Elliott and I for a free class on New Year's Day as we honor the past and look forward to the future by practicing being present.
All my love and a huge virtual hug to you and yours. Mimi
