Pandemic

And suddenly, the world has turned upside down.

The waves of the present situation began lapping at the shores in late February / early March. We started to think about physical contact and viral spreading at the yoga studio; over time we promoted hand washing and sanitizing, worked to launder / clean props more regularly, went to a rental plan (with all props washed between use), forbid teachers to touch students, reduced room heat....

We kept it going as long as we could, but on March 13th, West Hartford Yoga closed it's doors for in-studio operation.

It did not take me long to shift into crisis mode. After a weekend of stunned silence and regrouping we started to live stream yoga classes the following Monday, and have continued to stream 1, sometimes 2 classes per day via Facebook ever since. We archived the classes on Facebook as well as YouTube - pulling all but the most recent back on June 1, reserved for Supporting and Sustaining Members, vital revenue to help the studio ride through this crisis.

Coincident with that, we started to hold a limited schedule of live interactive classes using the Zoom platform. Numbers have been limited (15 is a big class) but these are folks paying for yoga, and at this time and place, that's a big deal. We're also contemplating opening up (June 17th we're permitted with fairly stringent requirements for social distancing, although we're not planning to open until later). We're also looking into outdoor classes this summer.

But Jude (you say) what about you personally?

We'll, truth be told, I was kinda of built for pandemic. I live alone, and I'm used to spending a lot of time alone. From a social perspective, I barely notice the change. If anything, being so active up at the studio has meant MORE social interaction (albeit socially distanced) than pre-pandemic. And so many of the things that have been cancelled are things I've been somewhat burned out on anyway - teaching yoga, making music, Falcon Ridge. All in all it's been a nice break.

A more cynical perspective - it's my personal hell. Now everyone is living in it. Misery loves company.

And in a lot of ways, I'm thriving. Keeping the yoga studio alive has become my mission, playing to my strengths (tech, A/V geekery, organization, willingness to do stupidly daunting tasks) and keeping me engaged.

• Emptied out a 10'x10' Storage Locker the studio filled up during the move from Jansen Court to Brook Street (nearly a decade ago)
• Cleaned out the storage shed behind the building which had become the place to put things instead of actually dealing with them
• Sorted through 60 boxes full of papers, records, ephemera, resulting in 22 full banker's boxes for the mobile shredder. 
• Free-cycled a ton of stuff - fans, fixtures, mannequins, etc.
• Set up a special cart (complete with flat screen video) to enable zoom yoga classes
• Set up a completely new product line (virtual / online classes)

Financially, not doing too badly either. While my checkered past with the IRS precludes me from any sort of stimulus and I've not bothered to file for unemployment* (figuring that would open some cans of worms best left unopened), the studio applied for and received a Payroll Protection Plan load / grant so I've gotten paid through this mess. I was sitting on a pile of cash from Tom's estate when all this started, and the last check came through a few weeks back. And while my engineering work hit the skids, the last month pre-pandemic was pretty solid and things are starting to revive there as well. And, let's face it, I live pretty close to the bone.