Tales from the Yoga Studio Read Free

psychic in Venice Beach who told me I’m going to be fine, so I’m running with that. My doctor’s an alarmist, anyway. I was doing some yoga at the gym, and I was about to try one of those superheated classes. That’s when Stephanie insisted I come up here. I sometimes work shifts at a coffee shop she goes to.”
    â€œWelcome aboard,” Lee says.
    Graciela slings her bag over her shoulder. She has truly gorgeous dark hair, all ringlets, bounce, and shine. As she’s gathering it back behind her head, she looks up at Lee and says, “Do you really think I’ll be ready for the audition? I’m not kidding myself, am I?” The sparkle is gone from her voice, the cheery bravado. It’s been replaced by that dancer despair Lee knows so well from listening to some of her students.
    She studies Graciela for a minute. Part of the hell of being a dancer is that all that strength and beauty Graciela has, all the hours of training and practice, can be rendered insignificant by a little tendon problem or something else equally small, painful, and vital.
    â€œGo out and make an appointment with Katherine,” she says. “She’s our masseuse, and she’s got a million little tricks. And then I want to see you here at least four times a week. We’ll start you out in restorative poses. But I warn you, I’m going to keep my eye on you. I’m going to rein you in, and if I catch you pushing too hard, I’m calling you out .”
    Lee gives Graciela a hug and holds it for longer than she meant to. When she pulls away, she sees a look of such intense anxiety and sadness on Graciela’s face, she wonders what else is going on that she’s not saying. There’s so much she never learns about her students’ lives outside the studio. “Oh, honey,” Lee says. “I know. But trust me, you just have to slow down and stay focused and have a little faith. We’ll do our best, okay?”
    â€œMy budget’s tight right now,” Graciela says. “I’ll try to come as often as I can.”
    Lee thinks about Alan, about his lectures on Lee’s soft spot, how the studio is not a nonprofit organization. But what’s one more person in class? And if Graciela can’t afford it, she just won’t come, and then, somehow or other, Lee loses out, too. She likes this girl. To hell with Alan. She founded the studio; she’s the owner.
    â€œPay me what you can. And if that means nothing, that’s fine, too.” Lee walks out to the reception area, then, having second thoughts, sticks her head back into the yoga room. “Just don’t tell anyone. Especially a handsome guy with long hair you’ll see around sometimes carrying either a tool chest or a harmonium. My husband.”
    Among the improvements Alan has made at the studio is creating a lounge area, complete with room for retail, out of what had been a storage closet back when the studio was the showroom of a rug dealer. There are a couple of comfortable sofas and chairs where students hang out between classes and shelves that Tina keeps stocked with a growing collection of yoga-related products. The lounge is one of the best improvements they’ve ever made, as far as Lee is concerned. A little funky, admittedly (where would she be without the Furniture for Sale page on Craigslist?), but it’s gone a long way toward helping build the community feeling Lee always dreamed about creating at the studio. In addition to the friendships, people have used the space and spirit of the practice to organize fund-raisers for a handful of local causes and a couple of international disaster relief efforts.
    The retail area is another matter. Lee hadn’t wanted to take on the responsibility of ordering and keeping track of the finances of what has become a small (very!) store, but Tina talked her into going ahead with it, claiming students need a convenient place to buy mats