Origin story Part 3

​Origin Story Post 3
If you are just seeing an origin story post for the first time, search #aaworiginstory to catch up on the previous posts.
Now, where did we leave off?
Ah yes. The green office. January 2013.
Things were pretty smooth sailing when I moved into my new office. 2013 was a year of rapid growth. I hired my first employee, met so many amazing people, and spent my days sharing my story while hearing theirs.
But somewhere in the middle of all of that, something started stirring in me.
I knew that a healthy lifestyle was about more than just what you put in your body, and I started looking for different ways to move mine. I was searching for something that felt good. Something that fit. Something that made sense for me.
First, I tried a private personal training gym, which unfortunately turned into a really bad experience.
Then I joined a big box gym. It started off well, but after a couple of uncomfortable experiences there too, I stopped going back.
After that, I tried working out on my own. But doing it on your own can be hard, and I struggled with consistency and motivation.
Then, after about a year of all of that, my mom invited me to a yoga class.
And honestly... I hated it.
I swore I would never go back.
It was a 42-degree hot yoga class in January, which meant it was absolutely packed, and I spent most of that first class lying on the floor wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into.
But I was determined.
And my mom was determined.
So we kept trying.
We visited a couple of different places, and eventually I found a studio where I did not feel judged by the size of my body, which was a huge relief. But even then, it still was not exactly what I was looking for.
I had found one class, with one teacher, that felt right for me.
But it still was not enough.
As I kept practicing, something in me kept growing. The drive. The passion. The knowing.
I started to realize that what I was looking for did not exist yet.
I began talking to my clients about my yoga journey, and I kept hearing one of two things.
“I’ve been to yoga and I’ll never go back.”
Or
“I’ve never been to yoga. Where do you suggest I go?”
After months of having those same conversations over and over again, something clicked.
I realized I was being called to do something.
I did not know exactly what that meant.
I did not know what it would look like.
And I definitely did not know how to let myself dream that big.
But the voice inside me would not quiet down.
In March 2014, we moved in with my parents while we waited for our house to be built. Financially, life felt a little lighter in that season. We did not have rent or a mortgage, and for the first time, it felt like there was room to make a move.
I still did not know exactly what that move was.
Then one morning in late July, I drove into the parking lot at work and saw a huge FOR RENT sign right at the entrance.
I did not even go upstairs to my office.
I walked straight into that Money Mart and asked if I could look around.
And lo and behold, it was pretty well already set up to be a yoga studio.
I could not believe it.
It was small, but it would work for what I was trying to do.
I immediately called the landlord, and I am pretty sure they thought I was completely off my rocker. I was way too eager, way too excited, and probably coming in far too hot. But I knew in my bones that I had to have that space.
After a lot of back and forth, and a couple of meetings with my accountant, they finally agreed to rent it to me.
I signed the lease that August, with possession set for December.
And suddenly, the thing that had only been a whisper inside me was becoming real.
Next came the waiting.
The planning.
And the beginning of something much bigger than I could see at the time.
This is a picture of what the space looked like when I took it over… It was a disaster….