the story of Second Star

“second star to the right and straight on till morning…”

I’ve always wanted to be Peter Pan; grinning and free; sweeping up lost children and flying them off to a place where they create their own perfect world. Neverland. What a beautiful concept.

Years ago I was working at a spa in Atlanta and while consulting a client about what she was hoping to get out of her hour long massage she replied, “I want to go to Neverland.” I smiled and in my head I thought, “second star to the right…” and that was the moment I knew how I could be Peter Pan, sort of. If I could create a space where for one hour people leave there lives and just be…just be…then for one hour maybe they will find themselves in Neverland. So almost 10 years later I am opening Second Star Studio, my life’s dream, a place to walk into and leave the world outside.

I visited the town I now live in for the first time 4 summers ago. As I drove out of the city 45 minutes to the west and watched the scenery melt into rolling hills and farm land speckled with the odd village or township I could feel myself ease, like my entire body was taking a long sigh. By the time I pulled into my tiny town I was grinning. By the very next morning I knew I had found home. It took 3 more years of returning in the summers before I managed to move here year round but I knew the timing was right. I bought a house and settled into my role as town yoga teacher. I thought “ok I’ll do this for a while, maybe a year or two, and then start looking for a place to open a studio.” A month later I had rented a store front.

The old video store in town had been closed for 4 years and had become a graveyard of TV and computer monitors, various scraps of drywall, ceiling tiles and carpets, and layers upon layers of dirt and dust ground into the blue linoleum floor. I had found a building but it was going to need some serious sweat equity. So I dove in. I was lucky enough when I bought the house that it was in amazing shape and even more amazing was the group of friends that showed up to help me paint and move in. So being not wiped out from the move I had plenty of time to scrub the studio. But I had no idea what a huge task that would be. For 3 weeks pushed around debris, scrubbed the floor, painted, scrubbed the floors again, shampooed the carpet and scrubbed the floors even more. When I say that there is not an inch of that studio I haven’t touch with my two hands I mean that in the most literal sense! But even in those late hours into the evening when I was tired and sore a student or co-worker would pass by and come inside to see the transformation taking place. And before I knew it I was grinning again, walking them through my plans for the design of the studio. Covered in dirt and Simple Green I was still happy because I was building my very own Neverland; place for yoga, massage, art and anything that helps people find their bliss. And on Monday the doors will open and I will teach my very first yoga class in my own studio and as most yogis would agree Savasana is pretty darn near Neverland.

It took a long time to get to my Second Star and it wasn’t easy once I did but I’m here now and I can’t wait to share it with everyone. Through all the journeying and under all the dirt there was something special waiting; a hidden potential. As yoga teach that’s what I’m always looking for in my students, the ability to do something that they may not think possible and then to guide them along the way. Just like Peter Pan scooping up the lost boys and guiding them to Neverland. So I officially call out to you, if you are looking for an escape from life for a while I’d be happy to help you find it, we’ll start at Second Star