We opened our new location on Bastanchury Rd. in Yorba Linda last week and I feel so fortunate to see many new people mingling with our students who made the transition to the new space. Some new and returning teachers are also adding a lively flavor to our class schedule! This is the community of Full Circle Yoga.
I did some mingling myself. I was warmly welcomed by the tenants as I made my rounds of the center last week to introduce myself, but none better than Alma of Shaklee on the second floor.
Alma is 90 years old and has built a modest but sustainable company with her daughter over the past 50 years. At first Alma may have thought some stereotypical things about yoga when I told her why I came, but she was open to the prospect of sharing business cards, since we are in a cooperative wellness industry in the same building. I let her know that I work with people with special health concerns, and that many of our regular students are seniors, so I felt that sharing our business would be helpful for both of us. She asked for some of my flyers, then I sat down as she shared about her adult children's health problems and I heard her sadness, then hope, that things would get better. I said I know it is possible. Then we parted with a soft hand-hold as she told me:
"If there's one thing I can share with you, it's never give up. Don't let anyone get down on you, and don't ever give up. You're doing a good thing here."
Thank you, Alma. I am commited to my work and I will never give up. I will always remember that.