Things Change.

Well dudes, it’s been a year since we’ve been stuck inside. A year of social distancing, masks and a shortage of toilet paper (still don’t get that last one…).

Do you remember the ‘anniversary’ of when you realized life wasn’t going to be the same, due to this virus? I do.

I was teaching my last studio class pre-lockdown, thinking ‘I wonder when I’ll see these people again.’? Unfortunately, there are many I haven’t seen since that day. Keep in mind, these were students I saw consistently each week, some over the course of years.  

Suddenly, everything was different; school and work became virtual, social distancing was mandated, and new and stricter rules were placed around just about everything we previously thought we had control over.

Like so many things in life, we all wanted to fight the rapid changes; the changes we couldn’t keep up with. After all, change is hard, but to resist change is to resist life.

I remember last March like it was yesterday (even though SO much has happened in the past year). It was the first time in my life I was ‘bored’, for lack of a better word. The yoga studio where I taught had to temporarily close its doors after the first lockdown was ordered. Sure, I had two 9-month-old daughters, but it wasn’t like they had school or activities I had to figure out. Plus, they were still kind of these sacks of potatoes. My husband had already been working from home, and nothing seemed that different to me. The only change was that I didn’t have a job to go to. Well, and that I couldn’t really go anywhere else…

For the first time I could remember, I didn’t have to micro-manage every second, of every day. So, now what?

We tend to live these super-structured lives, and aren’t sure what to do when the status quo is shaken up…at least, that’s true in my case.

Those first few days at home I remember thinking, “This is great, I get two weeks to get my home organized, catch up on bills/paperwork, and SLEEP?! I’m here for it.” I did just that, in about 5 days. I’m not great without a plan, without structure…and suddenly, the ‘order’ I was used to (the order I lived by) didn’t exist.

So, we started live-streaming yoga, and practicing from behind a computer screen. How 2020 does that sound?!

Like everyone else, I was all “Ewww, rather NOT, get me back in the studio.”

And then, one day, I accepted it. It was a new challenge for me to teach virtually. I thought ‘Am I actually any good at this yoga stuff’? ‘Do I know what I am talking about’? ‘Will my words land if I am not in the same room as my students’? It was like brand new job for me…because FYI, no one teaches you how to teach yoga virtually. I decided to show up for it in the best way I could, and taught as many virtual classes as possible.

On May 26th, 2020 fitness facilities were given the green light to re-open. Back to work I went…

I started to realize that I was spending a majority of my time commuting to a job (that I loved) that I was underpaid for (side bar – IMO most yoga teachers are underpaid; it wasn’t studio specific). After one week back in my ‘old’ reality, a reality that I was so desperate to return to, I quickly learned it wasn’t the same. Life had changed, whether I’d resisted it or not. I found myself thinking ‘maybe this whole virtual yoga thing makes sense’?? I could teach from home, without the commute, while also spending more time with my family...hmmm?

At this point, I hadn’t even considered KDY as a real possibility, it was just a bit of a daydream.

The moment I decided to stop resisting my own reality, Kat Dawson Yoga bloomed (with the help of an army, of course!).  The pieces fell where they were meant to, and this community was formed. On June 12th 2020 katdawsonyoga.com launched! That was 9 months ago, and I couldn’t be prouder of this community, and of myself.

I said it. I am proud of myself, and truth be told?? I have ‘that’ feeling again. I want to shake things up, I know it’s time for more…

Am I scared? Duh.

Hopeful? Always.

Ready? Probably not.

We have big plans, Wildflowers!

Sending you Light, Love and Everything Good,

Xx Kat