A Note on Community

What’s in a name?

Last year we added Community to our studio’s name, to help reflect our values, our mission, and make an acknowledgment that though we are “just” a yoga studio, we know that we exist in as part of a larger context. We practice, serve, and work in this diverse Albany neighborhood, in a city which is itself wears so many hats, as a home to many, as a place of educational institutions, hub of government and commerce, a stop on the interstate that connects upstate and downstate, nestled as part of the upper Hudson Valley.

The geographical diversity of our greater Capital Region speaks little to the diversity of people who live, work, come through our area and in turn our studio. Near and far, we draw all kinds of people, and all kinds of people are part of our community. Yoga in the west is often presented as being for a certain type of person, and being fairly one dimensional. One thing I love about our studio, is that there is so much room and a desire for many types of people to practice here. Indeed, so many different kinds of people are part of our HeartSpace Community. There’s also room for all kinds of yoga.

In my own experience with HeartSpace, I was welcomed as a larger bodied, brand new, clumsy beginner, and it didn’t matter my identity, creed, or any other characteristic. I could be there. More than that, I was encouraged to be there. To meet myself on my mat, and welcome the things that were easy to acknowledge about myself along with the hard things. I sustained my practice at that time with donation-based community classes. And I kept coming because it was a space where I could learn and grow, learn about myself and others, dig into philosophy and source texts, and find common threads in other beliefs and people. This is what I love about yoga: the invitation to self-inquiry and opportunity for community.

And this is what I love about HeartSpace, in its past, it’s present and in its future. As owner, I feel a responsibility to live up to our name as well as always grow and strive to be better. I send this out as a reassurance that all people will always be welcome in our space. That we will continue to strive to keep our students and clients safe. That we care about building access not only to yoga but other resources that our community needs.

It often feels risky as a business owner to even hint at something political. But yoga is not apolitical. To be a yogi is to be in constant flux not only with the vacillations of your internal world, but with the world around us, constantly churning, changing, requiring us to interact with it. We do not practice our yoga in isolation or alone, and that’s perhaps one of its greatest gifts.

Keep taking care of yourselves and each other.

In gratitude, Nadia