What is the measure of a woman? Her body? Her
weight? Her face? Her family? Her boyfriend? Her career? Her
finances? Her charitable works? Her yoga practice? Her practice of
any kind? As a founding member of The Hub, I've often measured myself
as a woman by the work, loyalty, and dedication that I did at The Hub
as the attorney, business manager, and yoga teacher. And, now that
I'm following my road less traveled to Sweden (Vasteras for those who
know), I'm measuring myself on a scale of the heart - how much can I
love and how much love am I willing to receive. In fact, now I
realize that the measure of myself has always been about love, how
much do I give and how much am I willing to receive.
Love comes in many forms, but to me, the measure of a woman is how
acutely she can perceive love in every form that is offered. In my
experience with The Hub since it's inception in Lauri's yoga class at
PJ's house when we were all throwing out ideas for names, many people
have crossed my path, many different forms of love have been offered
to me and from me. From students like Julia Blanchard and Paula Tiso
and Daria Donovan, teachers like Nita Rubio and Matt Pesendian, and
healers like David Elliott and Nisha Sharma, the lesson of
recognizing, giving, and receiving loving words, actions, and feelings
has been stronger than ever. And it's because of the deep friendship
with Lauri and our courageous and hilarious efforts to always find the
love that we have grown as women - more loving, more expansive, more
understanding, more compassionate than the moments beforehand. What a
complete pleasure and exhilaration it's been for me to witness and
participate in the loving off!
erings from every single teacher, every student, and everyone who has
worked at The Hub during my tenure. We've laughed so hard. How many
people can say that they laughed collectively at every business
meeting in their company? Genuine smiles and genuine well wishing to
others? I don't think that's common - in fact, I think it's rare.
The Hub is a rare jewel for this reason - the ability of everyone
involved to find the love in all interactions.
I bought out The Hub's inventory of green Hugger Mugger yoga blocks
and sent them with my fiance, Mattias Eriksson, to Vasteras in order
for me to prepare to teach yoga and breathwork in Sweden. I also
bought yoga mats and sent them off to Sweden last Fall when I was
there. When The Hub's doors opened in February of 2009, I was
teaching a full schedule of yoga classes for the first time in my
life. Who knew that I would continue teaching two years later in
another country? I'll always be grateful for that learning ground.
7am classes every weekday with Lisa Siegel (Thank you Lisa!) and 4pm
yoga classes during the week and eventually 4pm restorative yoga
classes on Sunday, for which I gained a great circle of students. We
learned from each other, at least I hope we did, or rather, I know I
learned from them. In fact, my students have now become my greatest
teachers. I was practicing yoga until my low back gave out, but I
kept teaching yoga because of my new debilitati!
ng weakness. I knew more about the practice of yoga and moving the
body because of my inability to move the way my heart wanted to. My
teaching shifted as I became more vested in my students' abilities to
understand how their bodies work and listen closely to the language of
their bodies. More than ever, I made it my mission to impart the
wisdom of listening to our bodies and honoring those communications.
As the great choreographer and some say inventor of "modern dance",
Martha Graham, said, the body never lies. And as I embark to Europe,
I hope to continue to create space for people to develop that close
friendship with their own bodies, to listen closely when we move our
bodies, and to understand that the body is always telling us something
about our hearts.
I know I'll be back at The Hub in the future. For now, I want to tell
the world about how awesome and wonderful are the people at The Hub,
past and present. Workers like CJ McCrary, Tess Jablon, Lizzy Rich,
Mike Baker, Dana Stall, Stacy Mullins, The Prince - Scott Ishihara,
and Alex Richmond (whom I'm training to take over my weekday 7:30am
yoga classes because he's as cool as a cucumber with impeccable taste
in music and an excellent way of teaching morning yoga). Didn't we
all laugh hard together? You each taught me how to be humble and how
to be a better leader and manager. Meagan McCrary for being a damn
good writer, girlfriend, and yoga teacher - please contribute and read
her Little Black Blog of Red Flags. She's doing a great service for
all us Sistahs! Chris Barton for agreeing with me (haha) and being an
excellent accountant. All women who have worked at Lululemon and
supported The Hub with their dedication to the practice of yoga and
genuine smiles from the!
heart all the time. David Elliott for giving me the space to
express myself freely in public (sounds frightening) and the time to
come full circle in truly understanding what life is like when I
actually learn to accept, appreciate, and love myself just as I am -
and for creating a community of individuals who gather at his events
and take it over and make it their own foundation of love and
acceptance on which to go out into the real world. Teachers and
leaders like Scott Schwenk (my first breathwork leader and simply my
favorite group leader), Tad Robichaux (a Duke of Love and Dance and
the kindest, friendliest, intelligent man), Chad Hamrin (my favorite
no bullshit yoga teacher), Gail Bennett and her husband, Bill
Tunnicliffe (she is humble and has one of the most beautiful yoga
practices that I've ever seen - and he literally made the Hub with his
bare hands and a little help from Flavio ;) ), Matt Pesendian (his
Shadow Yoga teachings and his ancient wisdom as a Chin!
ese Medical Doctor validated what my body was trying to tell me - than
k God for Matt), Nita Rubio (she taught me that great teachers
actually channel information from another plane of existence), Cass
Phelps (a cutting edge leader on the treatment of autistic children
and the vitality of calming down), Edward Yu (who else can do Tai Chi
balance poses on the edge of a tall boulder in the ocean?), Jay Co (a
trail blazer at trail blazing and cute salutations such as "Peace,
Love, and Pear Ice Cream with Candied Pecans" - also a fantastic
teacher trainer), Vicki Howie (for her incredible dedication to the
importance of balancing one's chakras and loving one's son), Sarah
Ezrin (Sistah!, Teacher, and Business Phenomenon - survivor, lover,
daughter, and expert at all things Facebook and connecting with the
world - lover of Ashtanga and mutual appreciator of Sonya Cottle),
Sarah Court (classy, funny, wise - she rocks the Bejeezus out of her
students!), James MacDonald (for shaking his booty in Upward Dog and
getting into every single solitary pose in!
the Anusara wall map of asanas, I mean WOW - and his dedication to
helping cancer patients), Sabrina Kappler, Kate Szilagyi, Erin Fukuda,
Hank Ostendorf, Cindy Starry (Sistah Mermaid and Pied Piper for the
welfare of children), Suwon Weaver (amazing fashion designer and
healer), Nisha Sharma (great leader, great Sistah), Katrina Rivers
(boldly going where no woman has gone before - please contribute to
her New Mexico retreat center), Laurence Walsh (for showing everyone
how to go for it in her breathwork classes and writings), Mike Baker
(for leading with empathy and compassion and great music), Scott
Ishihara for Leading the Dance and Preparing to Lead the World (I'm
taking credit as the first person to push him to teaching breathwork
in the world and yoga at The Hub as soon as possible), Jenny Miller
(for painting the Elf Tree of Life in the office, the rainbow
paintings of human diversity in the lounge, and the floating feathers
with the hidden Moby Dick in the Sun Room!
- what a talent - and an excellent breathwork leader and interior des
igner), Chris Chavez (for showing me how empowering it is to lead a
class with passion, calling people by their names, and giving them the
confidence and blast of energy to take poses to an entirely higher
level of practice, and to videotape my teaching to learn and improve
as a teacher), Deirdre Doherty (great interior designer and breathwork
leader), Ryan Brewer for singing your heart out and grooving to a
sweat, John English for showing me the way of the South, Chris Doggett
for showing me the way of my heart and Patchimama, Charu Morgan (for
showing me how easy it is to be loved by a man when I open my heart -
she helped me receive Mattias and hold onto the best man), Sarika
Quach (for opening my mind to new names and sweetness), Lara Catone
and Sarah Vosen (for entertaining me with their remarkable Acro Yoga
and being living examples of practicing what they preach), Jamie
Bechtold (for the gong and subbing restorative - thank you), Oscar
Marquez/Sat Nishan (for the gong!
, for being available, for listening, for being a great therapist and
financial advisor), Marga Laube (for teaching astrology at the Hub and
teaching Lauri, Mike, and I about The Hub and our relationship to it),
Jade Sol Luna (for being my astrologer, my friend, and my champion as
a maha jyotish astrologer and writer of new book Asterian Astrology,
and guiding Lauri, Mike, and I in ways that catapulted our growth),
Amy Lombardo (for teaching Open Level Yoga on Sunday mornings and
showing me how someone can move to a new city and make a life for
herself as a professional yoga teacher and head of a major charitable
organization), Chloe Ashworth (for making me laugh and working with me
on MindBodyOnline and all the clothing inventory and picking out yoga
clothes to sell - that was fun!), Chris Ashworth (for helping Lauri
birth the baby Hub when it was just a glint in her eye), Nina Irani
(for having a glint in your eye when Lauri and I had the Hub glint in
our eyes), Gali Kron!
enberg (for writing so expertly and teaching the laws of attraction an
d being a fun dancer to go out with), Christiane Schull (for being an
excellent rebirther, my therapist, and force to prepare for Mattias'
great love), Kris Nelson (for teaching me how to get a lot done by
doing less and relaxing around business conflicts), and and
and,
For those of you that I have forgotten to write about here, of course
you are vital and important to The Hub and to me. I know I'll be
thinking of your names and faces and contributions and talents as I
walk the Earth. The Hub is actually all of these contributors, all of
these cells, all of these spirits working in concert to make a unified
whole that we call The Hub. The Hub grows as the leaders, teachers,
and, most importantly, the students grow in number, diversity,
laughter, sweat, and tears.
And here's a toast to the students I've met along the way - both my
students and co-students in classes with me: Lisa Siegel, Daria
Donovan, Corinne Theile (LAX Bikini Girl and Charitable Giver of Kind
Bars), Paula Tiso, Leslie Dick (bless your family), Karen Milak, Rama
Yaffe, Delan Hilliard, Patty Miller, Patti Mills, Reva Ferguson,
Stephanie Fish, Terese Stryker, Mona, Kathy & David Tavitian, Ramsey
Woods, Marc Peterson, Lindsay Doering, Chad Matthews and his three
beautiful little daughters, Stacy Mullings, Blaise & Jimmy & All the
Brothers at UCLA, Lulin Tsai, Lauren Kutasi, Robin Udany, Ashley
Marrs, Dr. Richard Marrs, Kyle & Kelsey Milack, Felicia Tomasko (also
for subbing and being a great business advisor), Ariel Hyatt (from
teen to Woman), all of the David Elliott community, and my Allyu. The
list just goes on and on. Thank you for teaching me. Aho
Mataquiasan.
Lauri Ashworth has been my teacher, my best friend, my Sistah!, my
client, and my student. While Lauri owns her baby, The Hub, many have
believed that she and I were business partners at The Hub. For me,
that mistaken belief is the ultimate compliment to me. I work from my
heart, and her love, influence on the world, and talents are what drew
me to support her project of creating The Hub from a mere glint in her
eye. I have a degree in the Entrepreneur Program at USC's business
school, so writing business plans is one of my many skills. For me,
writing the plan with her was a total joy in creativity, imagination,
artistry, humor, family, and intuition. Turns out, my financial
predictions were on the money. The Hub is a dream turned into
reality, and she gave me the opportunity to be a crucial part of that
inception. Lauri is an excellent cook, and we had many meetings over
her food with her family. And, like a family, especially a family
doing business together, we !
have had a rainbow of emotions, interactions and exchanges at The
Hub. I definitely feel that I am a member of the family, and that is
the most important thing I take away from all of this.
Through my experience at The Hub and the willingness of Lauri and the
others to work with me through all of our stuff and the kindness of
strangers, I have matured into a solid and trusted business attorney,
a more decisive leader, and a confident, supportive
teacher/healer/leader of classes and workshops.
What's good that's coming up? My wedding in Stockholm in May (we
hope) with my American family and my Swedish family! More
personalized yoga classes and shaman based breathwork classes in
Vasteras and Stockholm, Sweden. Continued legal work advising my
business clients on their entrepreneurial ventures. More cooking of
delicious, healthy meals for Mattias, my Swedish family, and friends.
More massage therapy and helping others to feel good in their bodies
(Mattias is a lucky man). Re-picking up the guitar (Sweet JR Getches,
please send my white Stratocaster back to me) and bass after 20 years
and jamming to AC/DC, The Eagles, and Rainbow with Mattias in our
living room and with The Mahoneys in Scottsdale, Arizona in July.
And, of course, more laughter. Lots and lots and lots of laughter.
--Barbie
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