Happy 1st Anniversary

by Laura Butcher

The reason I got into yoga was ‘burn out’. I was working 12 hour days in a global ad agency in London as one of those ‘lucky’ graduates, running 10K’s to keep ‘in shape’ whilst trying to maintain a social/normal life. On top of that my dad was poorly and when he was admitted to intensive care we knew we didn’t have long left. After his death, I went into proactive mode, with hindsight, to cope, and I returned to work quickly. Having got back to work, I sat in front of my computer wondering what they hell I was doing there. Up until that point I had no idea that everything I had done was for my Dad’s approval and now he was gone, it really felt like there was absolutely no point me being sat there. I walked out, got on a train to my best friend’s house and she said to me in kinder words, ‘I love you but this isn’t really about your dad, it’s a legitimate reason for you to breakdown and stop’. And she was right. Everything I had worked for, out the window, with no idea what I wanted to do or really, who I was.

I was having bereavement counselling and she suggested going to yoga, after lots of eye-rolling and ‘I don’t have time to be breathing on a mat’ conversations, I decided at this stage I had nothing more to lose. I walked into my closest studio, The House of Yoga and signed up to their 30-day trial. A teacher called Tal taught my first class, she opened the class by saying ‘we live in such a busy world, can you allow yourself to go easy in this class, to rest when you need to rest and commit to looking after yourself?’ I remember that feeling like a shocking revelation at the time, being kind to myself was not something I had done much of.

Never doing anything by halves, by the end of the trial offer, I had signed up to their Teacher Training course and 6 months later I was a qualified teacher (I know how ridiculous that sounds now). The only thing I cared about was helping people the way I had been helped. My plan was to move home, teach a couple of classes and recharge. What I did instead was start my own business, teach 15 classes/ week wherever I could and start a psychology course in my ‘spare time’. I remember one of my biggest fears was being bored (I’m laughing now). Clearly, my fire is caused by the internal, not the external.

I was LOVING everything I was doing, but yet again I was doing too much. I was now spending half my week in Worcester and the other half in Surrey, teaching as much as possible every day, whilst studying to be a counsellor. I wanted to be with Sam, but I didn’t want to give up my business and be a ‘wag’ so I was in struggle. I called my best friend again, she’s so irritatingly wise, again in kinder words she said ‘ah, so you’re choosing success over love?’.

So, I took on some of the amazing girls I trained with to take over my classes in Surrey and made the move to Worcester full time to be with Sam and support his rugby career at Worcester Warriors.

Two months after moving up, Sam got a career ending injury. Having given all my classes away at home and only knowing a handful of people in Worcester we had to make a decision, stay or leave. We decided, if Sam wanted to have a coffee shop (and he did) London was expensive and saturated, and in reality, most of our friendships were here now, we loved Worcester, so we stayed.

Having looked around over 30 different venues, drawing up floor plans, covers to costs ratios, measuring footfall for each one, and each one falling through at the last minute, an amazing location came up. I can only thank the universe that the Landlord’s sister knew Sam’s dad (being a ‘Smith’ it was a real a stab in the dark!) and they took a chance on Sam. At this stage, we had a strong word doc., a great logo (spruced up by my old ad agency), and an industrial coffee machine in our kitchen for practicing late art. We will be forever grateful to the landlord at 6 Foregate Street.

There was a spare room upstairs in the cafe, Sam didn’t want that many covers, so asked me if I wanted it, I said ‘I wasn’t ready for a yoga studio’, but considering the rent I was paying elsewhere, it seemed silly not to take it, so I changed my mind…

A year later, we have up to 30 classes a week, 6 incredible teachers, 15 teachers in training (The House of Yoga came to Worcester and Tal led the training…), monthly workshops, regular retreats and the most inspiring, welcoming, supportive community of members I could ever wish for. I honestly don’t know that I did to deserve the people who have walked into my studio, I feel truly blessed. Our classes have waitlists and now Sam needs to use the room too, so we are renovating another floor upstairs to have 2 studios. That renovation has been a whole other journey!

So, this month is our year anniversary and I wanted to THANK EVERYONE who has supported me so far. My friends, for still talking to me when I stopped talking to them. My family, for loving me when I was unlovable. My members, for believing in me. Sam, for supporting me, and all my teachers for everything that got me this far. It’s fair to say it’s been a whirlwind journey and there have absolutely been days when I found myself looking for a ‘normal’ job, but in truth, I have one of the most rewarding jobs in the world and it really feels like this is just the beginning.