It was all set. I’d leave FDA in December, enjoy the holidays, spend February in India to practice with David Garrigues, come back and ready the shala for opening day in April 2016. I had a plan. I had an answer when someone in career-driven, everyone’s-uber-successful DC asked me. I could still hold my head high even though I wasn’t part of the DC machine any longer.

India was awesome, everything was on track. March came and the permits were lagging. Everyone said, “oh, that’s DC, you can count on things taking ten times longer than you planned.” I kept my spirits up and decided to use the additional time to continue my studies. I signed up for Tim Miller’s Second Series training and followed David all over the country (I spent over 100 days with him that year). The permits weren’t coming and the hold on the buildout continued. Then, one day in August, near the end of the training with Tim, I got an email:  if you’d like to continue toward setting up the shala in this space, you’ll have to start paying rent on September 1st. WHAT THE ACTUAL F…?! The permits still weren’t ready and not one nail had been hammered. The space was an empty shell in a brand new gleaming building. At this point the best case scenario was to occupy in six months, which meant a minimum $30,000 in the negative before we opened the doors (turns out it would’ve been more like $60k!). I just couldn’t stomach it. I bailed. It was no one’s fault really, just the nature of the beast for small business DC.

So, as I boarded the flight back to DC I had no plan. I had no answer. Thankfully I did have the unfailing support of Flow Yoga Center (it’s owners, staff and patrons) and the opportunity to teach as much as I wanted. I kept that up and then on February 6th, 2017, with the encouragement and support of my good friend Jen Rene, launched an evening Mysore program that continues to this day. In the midst of all that, with additional trips to Nepal and India and apprenticeship with David, a new plan began to take shape. 

In 1996, when I came out to my parents, our relationship hit a major rough patch. It wasn’t until 2003, when they met Richard, that things between us improved significantly. Since that time we’ve had a few ups and downs, but we’ve come to a good place. As I approached 50 and they passed 70, I began to feel this draw to be nearer to them. Plus, my younger brothers and their wives are Richard and I’s closest friends -- and their children are super important to us. And since Andrew, my youngest brother, moved to Nashville nearly 20 years ago, we’ve intermittently considered the notion of living here.

I also knew that I wanted to put myself out there and try to build community. To bring yoga, specifically Ashtanga (vinyasa and the eight limb path), to those that didn’t have access. There aren’t that many places in the country where Rich and I both want to live and feel comfortable, as a gay couple, living -- that don’t already have thriving Mysore programs -- and are close to my family. Nashville met all three criteria. 

So, all that is to say, family and yoga - this is why Nashville. And I’m really happy about it so far. Now all I had to do was secure a space in Nashville, come up with the funds to get it going, establish a business in TN, find a house, move and….