First in the Neighborhood

I’m sitting in Tree House 2 where the only sounds are the trees rustling in the wind, some thunder rolling in and the crash of waves onto the shore not too far from here.

I’m on retreat, a work retreat, on an island off the coast of Massachusetts, with the once-in-a- lifetime opportunity to spend an entire week working on a project.  No family. No friends. No pets. No laundry. No cooking. No meetings. No appointments. No distractions  - even good distractions. No responsibilities - not a one – except to keep the promise to myself to use this week to produce something significant.

Over the years I had become expert at using the busyness of life as an excuse for not completing any one of a number of projects on my to-do list. Writing a book. Learning how to play the violin. That sort of thing. Most recent was my Community Yoga program, which I started last spring.

The concept behind Community Yoga is simple: Make yoga accessible to everyone – regardless of their age, wealth, or fitness level – with free classes in a safe, welcoming environment.  Reduce the stress of individuals in a neighborhood, I figured, and you reduce the stress and tension in your neighborhood. Improve the health of individuals in a neighborhood, improve the health of the neighborhood. Strengthen the individuals in a neighborhood,  strengthen the neighborhood.

The idea made sense to me and seemed to make sense to almost everyone I talked with. It certainly made sense to the 50 or more people who show up for the free weekly class.  While I’ve managed to teach or to recruit other yoga instructors to  teach every week, it’s taken me a whole year to figure out that this program could be so much more than it is. But to do that, I’ve got some work to do. Get organized. Form a nonprofit. Create a website. And what about a blog?

And so that is what I’m going to be doing over the next seven days.

I’m going to live in a tree house – a very nice tree house, mind you - and figure it out. Maybe not all of it, but enough so that when it’s time to head back – with open arms to the family, the pets and even the laundry – I’ll have a check mark next to this on my to-do list.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Namaste…. Gin