2024 started with a suicide and ended with a murder conviction.
On January 1, our beloved Hannah, on her way to teach the very first class of the year, discovered the body of a young man who had leapt to his death from the top of the George Street garage. Being Hannah, she stayed with him until first responders arrived and then texted me to ask if I would “mind" teaching her 8 am class.
On December 3, the woman who murdered my friend Doug Benefield was sentenced to 20 years in a Florida penitentiary. I was in the courtroom, as I had been during the trial in July, because the last thing I could do for my first love was to sit next to his daughter while the defense killed her father over and over with their lies. And while I spent days sitting behind the prosecution, my heart cramping up from a mixture of sadness and rage, Hannah, Danielle and Lauren (who made a special trip back from West Virginia) taught my classes at Grayce.
To say that I am grateful to and proud of these women is not enough. They are my breath and my backbone and the very heart of Grayce.
On top of literally always having my back and those of our students, in 2024, Danielle completed her first year as a full-time yoga teacher and developed her popular inversion workshops (The Art of Balance) under her own banner @mamutzieyoga; Hannah designed and created her first collection of yoga jumpsuits for her brand Baume (@baumeyoga), and Lauren, at the wee age of 26, ran for city council in her hometown of Huntington, West Virginia.
As for me, I was blessed to be named the yoga ambassador for lululemon's King Street store this year, and I am so grateful for the kindness and support of their team.
As a yogi and a teacher, I am also struggling mightily with ahimsa (non-harm to all living things, one of the first principles of yoga) in the context of the murder of my loved one, a divisive political climate, the rise of antisemitism in our country, and the continued torture of the hostages held these 431 days by Hamas. Looking back on this year, I can see that I have often led with more passion than wisdom, and more guts than grace. Still, I have tried my best to lead, to teach, to listen, to learn and to hold space for my own growth and that of my students. Please forgive me where I have fallen short.
To close this year of guts and grace, Hannah, Danielle and I will all teach SAY GRAYCE together this Sunday at 10 am. After class (from about 11:15 - 1), we will have Christmas cheer and cookies (unless Wilbur eats them first), and if you want to give the gift of yoga, we will have gift certificates and Hannah’s beautiful yoga jumpsuits. We will also say a sweet (and hopefully temporary) goodbye to Hannah who will shortly start a much-needed sabbatical so that she can focus on Baume.
On behalf of Hannah, Danielle, Lauren and me, we love you, we thank you and wish you a 2025 full of love and yoga. And hope. Always hope. For in the wise and heartbreaking words of Rachael Goldberg-Polin, mother of Hersh, "Hope is mandatory."
In love and grace.
Shalom,
Erin
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