Member Spotlight: Daria
MEET DARIA!
Been a member for…
3 years
Favorite class?
I could never possibly choose!
What do you love most about Holding Space?
The variety of classes (and times!) and the sense of community.
If you had to tell a friend just ONE things about Holding Space, what would it be?
It’s more than just a yoga studio and classes. There are events and cross-overs with other businesses in the area, the people are wonderful - its like hanging out with friends, and all the gear is great too!
THANK YOU DARIA! We are so lucky to have you as a part of our community. ✌️
Member Spotlight: Kate
MEET KATE!
Been a member for…
2 years
Favorite class?
Relax + Renew
What do you love most about Holding Space?
Besides Relax and Renew? All the people! Everyone is so welcoming from the instructors to the attendees and you are encouraged to do your best for your body and if your body isn't cooperating, then tomorrow is another day to try!
If you had to tell a friend just ONE things about Holding Space, what would it be?
You will rediscover who you are and where you want to be after just one class!
Anything else to add?
I have really learned how to slow down, be present and just breathe.
THANK YOU KATE! We are so lucky to have you as a part of our community. ✌️
Member Spotlight: Jenn
MEET JENN!
Been a member for…
3 years
Favorite class?
I could never possibly choose!
What do you love most about Holding Space?
The owners.
The teachers.
The members.
The classes.
The workshops.
If you had to tell a friend just ONE things about Holding Space, what would it be?
It’s the perfect studio.
Anything else to add?
Holding Space is the best place for me to have joined to start working out. I’ve met amazing people that I now call friends. Working out was not my thing and now that has all changed for the better thanks to Holding Space.
THANK YOU JENN! We are so lucky to have you as a part of our community. ✌️
Member Spotlight: Leigh
MEET LEIGH!
Been a member for…
Over 3 years
Favorite class?
I could never possibly choose!
What do you love most about Holding Space?
The relaxed atmosphere, both teachers and students are quite friendly, fun and non- judgmental. The studio does not take itself too seriously, it's all about what works for each individual. I feel like it's a welcoming family to some degree.
If you had to tell a friend just ONE things about Holding Space, what would it be?
There is a variety of classes and teachers, so every class is different and engaging, and I'm always challenged, never bored!
Anything else to add?
I love that with so many classes on zoom as well as in studio, it's easy to incorporate lots of classes into my week, which keeps me feeling young and great in my body, no aches or pains.
THANK YOU LEIGH! We are so lucky to have you as a part of our community. ✌️
No more blink.
Originally published by Ellie in January 2017 - we are reposting in honor of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month. This is something Ellie needed to say to help in her healing process. We hope this post helps someone else heal too.
We were 9 weeks along when we went in for our check-up. Couldn’t wait to see that little blink on the screen.
But there was no more blink.
I could see it in my doctor’s face as soon as she turned on the monitor.
FUCK.
This can’t be happening. I failed. My first job as a mother and I felt like a failure.
Miscarriage is a scary word. It’s sensitive, personal and hurts SO deeply. It’s extremely difficult to talk about. How do you talk about grief? Mourning something that didn’t quite exist? 1 in 4 women will go through a miscarriage in their lifetime.
1 in 4.
That means someone you know will go through this or already has. Since going through it myself, I have learned about many, many miscarriages that the women (and men) in my life have endured. Young and old - some only had one, some had many more. And like a lot of people, I wasn’t aware of the statistics until it happened to me. It makes sense that people tend not to talk about their miscarriages. There isn’t anything anyone can say that will make it better. There are no words. The sadness you feel is unlike any other - it’s in your soul and it’s always there, on the surface, waiting to show itself.
Grief and sadness are just two of the side effects of miscarriage. There are uglier feelings that come along with this type of loss. I’m not proud of these emotions but they are real and deserve to be acknowledged.
At first, on top of the sadness, I was mad as hell about all of this. Stomp my feet, shake my fists, grit my teeth - MAD. If you saw me at Trader Joe’s I might have run you over because I just didn’t care. I was angry and needed to live in that anger.
Next, layer on resentment. I love babies and mothers, but right now - I hate you. I do. I resent you for what you have. It’s irrational, and I know it. I’m not proud of it. But right now, I literally cannot stand the sight of you and your beautiful offspring (or adorable baby bump). It’s horrible, I know. But it’s the truth.
Another feeling: guilt. I know it’s not my fault. But it sure feels like it. I can’t help but go through everything I ate, every time I exercised, every small iced coffee I ordered, every tiny twinge I may or may not have felt. I know it’s not my fault, but who else can I blame?
Loneliness. I’m working on breaking out of my self-imposed isolation. The holidays do not help. Grief is a lonely process. Even with my husband to work through this with, it’s very lonely. I haven’t wanted to see anyone. I’ve actively avoided people and places. I don’t answer the phone. I skipped my birthday. I don’t want presents, I don’t want cake or pie or dinners or celebrations. Maybe later. When there’s something worth celebrating.
And finally, impatience. When I found out we were miscarrying, my first thought - after the wave of surprising, crushing emotion flooded over me - was we have to get pregnant again as soon as possible. Hurry up and make it right. I will be OK if we can just put everything back the way it was. Life doesn’t work that way. And while it would be nice to just move on, get pregnant again and go along as planned - I realized I have to allow myself to have this experience. I never asked for it but it’s happening to me and despite the fact that it’s devastatingly sad and horrible, I need to honor it. So I’m trying to do just that.
I feel a myriad of these emotions at all times. Sometimes I’m more angry than sad. Sometimes I’m more resentful. And I’m impatient all the time. I feel like something was unfairly stolen from me and there is nothing I can do. Regardless of these ‘ugly’ feelings - life goes on. Everyday is a tiny, almost indiscriminate amount better than the last. Baby steps, for lack of a better term. Baby steps.
I’m about four months out from my miscarriage. The physical symptoms are gone. I’m beginning to feel ‘normal’ again though I still cry every day. I know the sadness will fade, the resentment will pass, anger will disappear and I will feel like the ‘old Ellie’ eventually. Regardless of all that, I felt it was necessary to share my experience. As women, we need to feel comfortable sharing these experiences if we want to create an open dialogue. I felt like adding my voice to this conversation was a necessary step in my own healing process. Everyone’s experience is different. This is mine.
That guilt marketing....
Tis the season. That season that runs from Thanksgiving through January.
The season for people feeding you insecurities.
Usually it involves these key words and phrases: cheat meal, make up for..., overeating, overindulge, cleanse, and my personal least favorite, detox.
Here's a radical idea: What you eat or don't eat doesn't make you either good or bad.
Here's an even more radical idea: What if you listened to your body? Like actually just listened to it. Like "Hey down there, what's up? We're part of the same big circle of energy, you, me, the brain the body, all one thing, so what do you feel like our fuel for today should be? Got ideas?" Because crazy as that sounds, sit still for a minute and listen, and you'll get an answer.
Do you have any idea how many times a day my body yells "PEANUT BUTTER!" at me? Like too many to count. So you know what I do? I eat a spoonful of peanut butter. Sometimes three times a day.
Most days my body tells me vegetable and lean protein, and a big chunk of bread usually with lots of butter, would keep it happy, so that's what I do.
And some days my body is like, "Lady, it's a nachos and 6 beers kind of day" and honestly who am I to argue? Because I'd be arguing with myself, and that's just an exercise in futility.
Your body wants good fuel to keep it functioning. For some of us that fuel is veggies and lean protein, for some of us that is all protein and no carbs, some people carb load and that's ideal for them, and you know what? All of that is ok. IF that's what your body is telling you. NOT what you're telling it.
Well how can I know what I need if I don't research it and listen to all these experts who are telling me how they made their body look amazing? And who are also trying to sell you something by making you feel bad about yourself..... just saying.
Sit with yourself. Sit. Listen. Maybe start by noting when you've had a day where your body feels exceptional, how did you move that day, how did you eat? Try it again and if you get the same results...hmmmm...maybe you're on a path. Tweak it, change it, learn to listen to it.
Because some days your body is going to go off the rails, because that's what it needs. Some days, you, a rare-steak and potatoes person, are going to have a "I just want to eat strawberries all day and lay in a field of flowers" day. You know why? Probably because you contracted a virus you don't know about yet, but your body knows, and it's trying to fill you with vitamin C and fresh air to fight that sucker early. So listen.
Some days your body is going to say, we are sitting on this couch for the whole day. And if you do that do you know what? You STILL have an amazing body. All day long converting oxygen to carbon dioxide. Literally a biological wonder. A living chemical reactor. Fuck yeah dude, you sit and convert those gases. Rock on.
Guilt over food is not a natural state of being. Guilt over food is a marketing tactic. End of story.
If you sit and listen, your body is telling you the path. It really truly is. It's telling you by your energy levels, and the way you move, by your joy and your enthusiasm and your peace in solitude. It's speaking to you.
But one thing it has never said to you is "Buy that product, that will solve everything." Because it doesn't need a product. It just needs you to listen.
September reset
Every year I take Back to School time as a reset, a time for newly sharpened pencils, boots to break in, goals to set, and things to discover.
New Years resolutions have never stuck for me, they're forced and contrived. However, September resolutions, that's where it's at.
It's that re-grounding that happens when the weather starts to chill and you put the margarita down and assess where you're actually going. It's a time for reflection and a reminder that there are goals to be tackled.
So I invite you as the weather cools down and the routine of school begins again to take some time to set your own goals.
My personal method is one personal goal, one learning goal and one broad resolution.
This year, to declare it: My personal goal is to have my home a phone-free zone from the time the kids are off the bus until they are in bed. My learning goal is to brush up on my Spanish and use it more around the house so that my children can absorb it in a natural way. My broad resolution is to give my body more relaxation time, some yin yoga, or like a day on the couch, which I am frankly really really bad at doing, giving myself permission to slow down.
Give it a try, let me know what you decide, declare your resolutions for this year out loud! Because when you say them, they become real, they sink into your bones.
Here's to the school year!
Nicole
Embracing the drive.
There is a letting go that we learn in yoga. We learn to accept, to surrender, to breathe through it, to be where we are.
For some of us that is the hardest lesson of yoga. By some of us, I mean me specifically.
I don't want to accept it. Ever. No matter what "it" is. Because it could always be better. Always.
That's not just an asana, or movement. It's also pranayama, striving for a nadi shodhana without manual manipulation. Reading and absorbing more philosophy. Never accepting my practice where it is.
I know that this is contrary to so much of what I have been taught about yoga, to so much of what I have learned.
And yet. It's not. If we are to meet ourselves where we are sometimes we must accept that THIS is where we are. That I am a driver, a pusher, a striver, a believer, an unfailing annoying dreamer, a grand schemer, that I am absolutely relentless.
Relentless. In all it's glory and all it's horror.
I am a young soul, I am impatient and curious and optimistic and stupid. Along with this comes the drive. The drive for more. The drive to never accept life as enough.
So I'm embracing that, I'm not trying to change it, to make it be what someone wants my yoga to be.
It's not about the asana, the pranayama, it's about the growth. The drive.
Someday I will slow down. But today is not that day. And I'm still a yogini.
Namaste,
Nicole
My first retreat
One fateful day in December 2015, I went to my regular Saturday morning class. Nicole was subbing. After a fantastic class, unlike any other class I had taken - she mentioned a retreat she was hosting that May on Cape Cod.
“Yoga retreats don’t have to cost as much as a mortgage payment or be in Bali,” she said.
I liked her spunk + sense of humor, not to mention the way she taught. I asked for her card.
I looked into the retreat. Read Nicole’s blog and spent several weeks trying to convince a friend of mine to go with me. Didn’t know Nicole or anyone else who would be attending + I wasn’t the type of person to go away for the weekend without a security blanket. My friend wouldn’t commit but for someone reason, I couldn’t get this retreat out of my head. So I sent Nicole an email explaining my interest but also my hesitation in going alone. Didn’t want to be the odd man out. Of course, I got a thoughtful email back - I wasn’t the only one ‘going alone’ + she told me about her first retreat experience. That was it - I took the leap - I was in!
“I've never even been to the movies by myself but 2016 is my year for trying new things and stepping out of my comfort zone - so I'M TOTALLY IN!” - direct quote from my email to Nicole.
Fast forward six months later, I packed my bag and headed down to Centerville. I was nervous but didn’t bail. When I got out of my car, I heard someone playing the ukulele. No joke. As soon as I walked in the door, I knew I’d made the right decision. The energy on retreat is palpable - it’s open, accepting and fun. Turns out, I actually knew a lot of people too. Before retreat they were acquaintances - now they are some of my dearest friends. During our opening circle we introduced ourselves + explained why we were there.
“Usually I’d have convinced myself to cancel but for some reason, I didn’t. So I guess that’s why I’m here.”
Beach yoga, delicious food, perfect weather, amazing conversation, instant connections - I could get used to this retreat thing. And I did.
The girl playing ukulele is now one of my best friends. My ‘yoga wife’ - we talk everyday.
To top it all off - without this retreat Nicole and I might not have made our connection. It was the beginning of a lot of beautiful things - Holding Space included.
Everyone’s experience at retreat is different. But if you don’t step outside your comfort zone + take the leap - you will never know what you might learn about yourself, your practice or what a weekend away can really do for you.
Open your heart
Heart openers are more than a category of asana poses.
Heart openers are postures we take when we are feeling like we love the whole world, and postures we should take when we are feeling like the world can go take a flying leap.
Like so much of our yoga practice, they are more about the soul than they are about the body.
We open our hearts to find new friends, and to pull the threads of old friendships closer.
We open our hearts to indulge in self-care, and to find the strength to care for others.
We open our hearts to lift our spirits, and to magnify joy.
We open our hearts to invite love in, and to send it far and wide.
We open our hearts to welcome connection, and to remedy isolation.
We open our hearts to promote laughter, and to have a good cry.
We open our hearts to receive gratitude, and to deliver thanks.
We open our hearts because all of this life is human connection, it is speaking heart to heart, having the courage to open up and let it all go. Because the day will come when you cannot. There is no perfect day to open your heart to someone, there is no right way to let someone love you.
We open our hearts because connection is all we have. It is everything. Invite it in, let it transform you. Let it strike you in those most disarming of ways. Let real, deep, honest human connection move you to tears, to laughter, to heartache, and back again.
In time of joy and in life's darkest moments.
Open up.
And away we go!
We are thrilled to be embarking on a collaboration that has been in the works for quite some time.
For the last several months, we have been talking about how we can collaborate together, professionally. Both of us, Ellie and Nicole, have a passion for yoga, Reiki, health, and wellness, and a desire to share that passion with the world. We hope that we can help other people find the wholeness that we have found in this space.
Though we did have a good friendship before, over the last few months we have been delighted to discover that we have a good working relationship as well. We have a lot of ideas, plans, and new adventures that have already begun and we hope to be introducing those to you very soon!
It is with enormous excitement that we present Holding Space and ourselves "to the world" so to speak as a duo, a team, a partnership. One based on the wonderful realization that we fill in each other's weak spots, boost each other's strong points, and balance each other out in an effortless yin and yang. Ellie's attention to detail keeps Nicole from drowning in her chaos and Nicole's big picture approach helps pull Ellie out of the weeds. We don't know why the universe gave us this wonderful partnership, but she did, so we are listening.
