What a party! The Open House was a tremendous success! So much yummy food and candy and juices and teas. So many prizes and gifts! So many games and fun.
I am deeply humbled and grateful for the Lansing community and its support, my friends and family for helping make this dream become a reality. The look on the faces of children (and some grownups!) yesterday made it all worth it.
(See photo gallery here.)
I made a miserable attempt at a speech yesterday. I don’t feel it adequately expressed what I wanted to, so I will give it a shot in this quick blog post:
I want to take a moment to thank everyone here and those who supported Just B for sharing in this dream. I say dream to reflect this current state, not one I’m seeing off in the future. We are living a dream and creating a dream. This effort is about community and collective energy. It’s not about me. It’s not about any single person. It’s about us and what we believe we can do together – share yoga, all eight limbs with the entire community on a donation-basis. Make it open and available to the entire community for its health and healing. Pattabhi Jois said, “99% practice, 1% theory.” That wasn’t meant just for asana practice on the mat. It’s meant for the yoga we walk in life.
The Just B studio’s existence is evidence of that.
The Just B Shabazz class is evidence of that.
Let’s all keep practicing our yoga, on and off our mats.
(The list of people to thank is enormous. I shared a few special thank you gifts to Just B teachers and folks who’ve contributed great sweat equity. But I want no one to feel as though their contribution isn’t valued. A new tai chi student, Heather, gave four hours of chair massage. AMAZING! Another new tai chi student, Ellen, was patient and kind enough to be in charge of kid games and signage and put in tons of hours. Ameerah ran around and got every photo shot imaginable. I haven’t seen what she got on video. Pray, ya’ll.
October Moon, Mama Bear’s, The New Citizen’s Press, Soulful Earth Herbals, Feed Your Karma – are all on a list of businesses that generously gave gifts and time to the party.
Yogis were everywhere too! Shiloh, Nick, Dalia, Rose, Jade, Monica, Connie, Lauren, Anna, Brian, Chuck, Darcy, Michael R., Gale…I love you guys.)