“We have to remember that nothing lasts forever. That this is not permanent.”
“We need to remember that nothing lasts forever and that this is not permanent.” Romy Toussaint’s yoga studio shut its doors during New Jersey’s strict lockdown. She was faced with an unprecedented question: How to provide services and maintain community, in a deep, meaningful way, when people cannot be together in person?
“When we went virtual, there was this fear that ‘oh now, people have choices, they can go study with all these superstar teachers and there’s a lot of free stuff online.’ But what we discovered is that people really love their teachers, they love their community and they want to practice with them. More people started coming to classes because it was convenient, because they could do it from their living room and also because they really needed their practice to deal with the fear. With fear about COVID, fear about not knowing what is going to happen.
Yoga gives people tools to deal with fear and uncertainty.
One of the fundamentals of yoga philosophy is the art of impermanence. That this is not permanent. Another teaching of yoga is that there is enough. If you focus on what you have enough of, you can move on. What is it that you do have? What is good, what do you have enough of? Just focus on that and see what comes from there. Going back to the teachings has been really helpful to people during this time.
If I can teach philosophy in every class, that is what I want to do. I usually theme my classes in a way so they go deeper. I worked with the technology to make the online classes feel like we are together in one room, creating a space where people have the opportunity to connect. Having themes, having conversations, having questions, having them talk in the beginning and talk in the end and keeping the Zoom open at the end so they continue talking to each other. So they are connecting not just with themselves but with others. We are all in the same boat, you are not alone in your house. You may feel like you are alone in your house, but we are all doing this together.
COVID has made my purpose very clear to me and why it’s important to do my work in the midst of uncertainty, especially in the midst of uncertainty and turmoil.” -- Romy #NewJersey
Learn about Romy’s online programs at: romyoga.com
