ITHACA STUDIO
MAHA IS OPENING A SECOND LOCATION IN ITHACA, NY!
Our new Ithaca studio is at Aurora and Seneca Streets, above Ooy’s Deli, on the second floor. We’re planning a soft opening for August, with our full grand opening after Labor Day.
I myself will be in Ithaca full time as of June 1st, and will spend June and July getting myself and my dogs settled into our new digs.
This means it’s time to build our Ithaca team!
Maha is currently accepting applications for yoga instructors and front desk team members. Please see the below applications for all the details, and share with anyone who would be a good fit.
WHY ITHACA?
For those of you who know me personally, you know that I have been deeply connected with the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York since I first moved there over twenty years ago to attend graduate school at Cornell.
While I didn’t love that grad program and Cornell ultimately wasn’t the right fit for me, I absolutely fell in love with Ithaca and always dreamed of moving back.
I left Ithaca in 2005 because, at that stage of life, I craved a bigger city with all the urban accouterments: a hip restaurant scene, a yoga teacher training program, a large, diverse social circle.
I often spoke about moving back to Ithaca in “middle age,” which in my twenties was some sort of mythical, far-off season of life that might never come.
I now know that middle age comes quickly; she sneaks in through a side door, catching you off guard with her salt and pepper hair and bifocals.
Today I’m 45 years old and have been sitting with my shifting priorities over the past five years. I’ve been tending to this longing of my heart to slow down, to surround myself with nature, to leave urban life behind for something quieter and simpler.
This all crystallized for me during the pandemic.
Covid reminded me how things can and do change in an instant. Covid reminded me that life is precious and short and that the universe owes us nothing. It told me that, if I wanted to move to Ithaca in middle age, I would need to be brave and interrupt the status quo and relative comfort of my life here in Philadelphia.
I knew I would need to risk disappointing members of my community here to respond to my heart’s longing and that, at the end of the day, I am responsible for fulfilling my own dreams.
Many of you have studied yoga with me for years, and I know this news could be a major shock, and maybe even a big disappointment.
So what does this mean for Maha Philadelphia?
The Philly studio will be in the competent hands of the studio manager Alan, our lead teacher Desiree, and the amazing front desk team and teaching staff you know and love.
I will be back periodically a few times a year for special classes, workshops and trainings.
In some ways, things will change; in many other ways, they’ll very much stay the same. I just signed a ten year renewal on our beautiful space here on Sansom Street. In my heart, I know Maha will continue to thrive in this location. And a big part of that is our ability to evolve.
Maha is intentionally changeable and adaptable. At the core of our studio’s mission is a willingness to change our minds, to ask insightful questions that encourage growth and evolution.
Change may not be easy, but it is inevitable. It’s like middle age; we can resist it, sure. But there is more leverage in aligning with the change, in opening ourselves up to a new form of ourselves.
I’m so excited about this next chapter!
With love,
Justicia
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