A Sweet Full Circle Journey: A Tale Of Connecting and Returning
Back in 2003, I had just returned to the east coast from the Mount Madonna Center in California where I took my first 200-hour yoga teacher training. I also had the great gift of participating in their Yoga, Service and Community program for six months the year before.
My heart and mind were full and I was inspired to share what I had learned and loved with my new community in Massachusetts. I was living in a small cabin in Wendell and teaching yoga in a neighbor’s living room. I felt the call to venture out to some yoga centers in the Pioneer Valley to ask if I could possibly start a new class there.
When I met Sara Rose, (the owner of Yoga Sanctuary at that time), we had an instant heart connection. We saw each other. And even though I was a brand new teacher, she invited me to do an interview class and afterwards offered me a class on the weekly schedule. At that time I was teaching Classical Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga, as taught in the tradition of Baba Hari Das, sprinkled with practices from Yogi Bhajan’s Kundalini Yoga that I had loved and practiced during college at UMass before heading out to California after graduation.
Looking back at myself, I was young, naive and new to teaching, with much to learn and so much ahead of me. But in that simple moment, Sara saw and accepted me, and invited me in. The class only ran for a few months because the commute from Wendell to Northampton was difficult during the long New England winter. And shortly after letting go of the class I found myself pregnant with my first child and getting deeply involved with the Embodyoga® at Yoga Center Amherst (YCA) with Patty Townsend. Years of deep study, practice and teaching flew by while I was also raising my two children. I taught countless classes at many different places but my main home became YCA. In 2014, my husband Matthew and I bought YCA from Patty and I took over leading the teacher trainings. During COVID, YCA became Shraddhā Yoga. We moved all our offerings online and then over time began to collaborate with other studios and bring our Shraddhā Yoga offerings to their spaces.
Lindsay and Jonathan bought Yoga Sanctuary from Sara in 2020 and transitioned to the name Sanctuary with its own unique visions and mission statement. And at some point Matthew and I met with them to talk “yoga studio shop”. As I had experienced with Sara, I felt an instant heart connection with the two of them. After some beautiful meetings and dialogues we joined in collaboration to offer the yoga immersion and teacher trainings together. It was a wonderful and successful experience last year and we are excited to begin again with a new cohort October 15, 2025.
A few weeks ago they offered me the opportunity to take on the weekly Wednesday morning class that Lindsay has been teaching, and prior to that, Sara was teaching. The cave within my heart was saying yes, yet my mind was doing its song and dance about why I shouldn’t take on another weekly class. Thankfully at this point in my decades long practice, yoga has taught me how to distinguish core from periphery, truth from un-truth, and heart/soul knowing from frothy mental swirl.
And so I made the choice, as I’ve done many times in my life, to listen to the “knowing” deep within me and say “no thank you” to the swirl of vrittis (thought waves) in the chitta (field of consciousness) and “yes” to taking on the class.
I felt called to share this sweet little tale with you. A tale that reminds us that sincere heart connections can reveal what is now and what is next. And that sometimes things come full circle in a way that is meaningful and purposeful.
And so it was that my first yoga class in a studio as a brand new yoga teacher was at Yoga Sanctuary, back in 2003, and now after many years living and serving on the Amherst side of the bridge, I will return to Northampton to offer a new weekly class. The class that used to be taught by Lindsay, and before her, Sara.♥️
It is an honor to be invited into this class time and beautiful community to share what I love with you all on a weekly basis. I look forward to getting to know each of you and to be of service to you through the vast practices and teachings of yoga. Hope to see you on Wednesdays at 9:15am!
With love,
Corinne