I came down with a near fatal case of the petrified frantics back in week 4 of February when I learned that my deal on new studio space was about to fall apart. With less than 5 weeks until my 2 year lease ended and I had to vacate my 1100 square feet inside Rain Fitness, I had no where to go since I'd released holds on 2 other perfectly adequate spaces back in January and I had no leads because the commercial rental market in Seattle is tight tight tight.
Having survived slow times, 2 previous studio moves and all manner of bizaare and unnatural events complicating our first 5 years in business, I was left staring into the abyss and I was absolutely terrified.
In utter desperation and immediately, as in about a minute, after leaving the meeting wherein I received final confirmation that my deal, 7 months in the making, was dead, I dialed up the leasing agent for my dream building which is less than 30 yards from my previous nook inside Rain. Having spoken to him twice before and been assured all spaces were under long term lease, things had changed.
He had 1700 square feet, 3rd floor, tricked out and ready to occupy. Praise the Lord!
That was on a Friday; on the following Monday Sister Heidi Sidekick, her daughter Liliana (the REAL boss of our world) and my gay husband Jimmy and I all saw our new space for the first time and we absolutely loved it. I got the keys mid-March and began cleaning, organizing and moving in all the non-essentials.
Our first day of business in the new space was April 2nd and I haven't really sat still for very long since then.
Now that we've stabilized our schedules in the new location, we've added a bunch of classes including a Classic Mat 45 from 12:15 - 1pm over the lunch hour, a High Tech(nique) Stretch class on Monday nights and (this is brilliant, if I do say so myself) a 30 minute Reformilac Cadiformer class on Tuesday evenings immediately after the conclusion of Mat Class wherein we practice the basic repertoire on our 5 Reformers and/or 4 Cadillacs.
I've expanded my book to accommodate wonderful new clients (better location + easier access = a whole lot more scooping) and we've gotten to know our new neighbors, most of whom are architects, designers and, of course, the ubiquitous software people. My diplomacy and honesty has been challenged but survived (barely) my assurance that it is cusomary in the historic work to, after mat class, bump the salsa music from our three surround sound systems and laugh as loud as we can while drinking alcohol. Joe Lives!
Two trips to Florida in the meantime, including presenting at the Pilates Style conference in Hollywood at the end of June, and here I am, back at the keyboard trying to catch up on all the stuff I've been waitlisting for you.
My topic list is long; in addition to continuing to focus on what to do when stumped and how to be a better teacher, we have to get you completely up to speed on the proper use of the word "certified," we'll preview the various educational conferences happening later this summer and fall, we'll track down my favorite teachers and find out what they're up to (calling Ron Fletcher!) and so you'll do a better job than I did, I'll highlight the one but near fatal mistake I made in planning for our recent move.
I have about half the "State of the Industry" piece completed, which I'll probably post as a segment while I keep chipping away on the balance of it.
So, heavenly Pilates people, your Nun is back in the Herman Miller Caper chair, her fingers are flying, her heart is light, her laugh is loud and she's looking to make a difference in this mixed up, mashed up, wacky and wild Pilates world.
Thanks for sticking around.