The Shape of Support
Yoga and I met a couple of times in my life, but our love story truly began four years ago. I was living in de Pijp when, just down the street from my house, a small yoga studio appeared. It was surrounded by regular homes – no other stores, no other studios – on the corner of a cute, little street. A grey chalkboard stood outside. The studio was there, quietly. This was before the move, when it still lived in its first space.
I don’t remember my very first time there. What I do remember is the feeling I got when I walked in, every single time. Like I was home. But better than my actual home at that time. I was home in a bigger sense of the word. The space was filled with good energy. We can call it love. It was the attention of this one woman, whose class I started following weekly.
‘Heeeey, Esther!’ she said, smiling, whenever I walked in. I remember thinking, that’s quick, I’ve only been here a couple of times, and she already knows my name. The ‘Heeeey, Esther!’ moments made me smile. Sometimes, that would be the only time a day someone said my name. Or the only time I smiled. I felt seen.
“What’s your name?”, I asked after a couple of times. “Sharon”, she said, again smiling, with big open eyes.
Sharon filled this small space with her presence and love for yoga and made me feel more at ease then I had felt in a long time. There was tea in the small kitchen. Familiar faces every week. Dharma talks that fed my soul. Time to gently invite my tired body to move.
One day I was laying on my mat in the corner of the studio. I was in a twist. My knees turned to the right side and as I did so, my left arm, resting on the floor, lifted all the way up. My neck got tense. I was in pain. I sort of raised my hand and Sharon came over. I didn’t quite know what my question was – was it ‘can you help me twist?’. Why did I raise my hand?
“Is it supposed to hurt?” That’s what came out. I looked at Sharon, this small woman towering over me. “No dear, it is not,“ she replied and she started propping me up with bolsters, cushions and lots of blankets. She created support. I could breathe and let go.
I will never forget this moment. Life wasn’t supposed to hurt as much as it had hurt until then. I had to learn how to support myself, so I could breathe and let go.
This may not have been what Sharon meant that day. But it is what I learned – and keep learning – at Studio 108. It is my school of life. It is my school of love. It is my sangha.
Happy Birthday, Studio 108. I love you.
Esther is a writer, creator, and yogi from Amsterdam. She is a student and Karma Yogi at Studio 108 and does her best to be kind, gentle, and to laugh whenever she stumbles.
