The Eagle is in the Nest!

It has happened. Oh yes! This baby has arrived...

I will even play it for you (in fast motion!)

Guess what arrived in our #HarvardSquare yoga studio?! #Cambridge #Yoga #barre #stairwaytoheaven

A video posted by Andrea Isabelle Lucas (@barresoul) on Sep 8, 2015 at 2:28pm PDT

And YES you can definitely play it too!

turquoise piano

Yoga mats, hula hoops, and a turquoise piano??  What more could a yoga studio need!!

A big THANK YOU to the Longy School of Music in Cambridge for donating this wonderful new addition to our studio!

So much more to share with you but for now, just this!  Have a great weekend...

Living the Dream. Weeping into a Mop Bucket like Cinderella. Same Thing, Right?

Well, it's been exactly one month since the last time I posted, in the final days leading up to the opening of Barre & Soul Harvard Square.  Those next days were a blur of dirty hands, takeout food, and little sleep, as we hustled to get the studio open. It would NOT have been possible without the generosity and hard work of some amazing people I'm lucky to have in my life, including my friends, kids, partner, the Barre & Soul staff, their parents (I'm not kidding) and more.  THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this happen!

Fortunately, everything went perfectly and I also looked really good the whole time.

JUST KIDDING!  At 1AM the night before we opened, I was leaning over a mop in the middle of the yoga studio LITERALLY SOBBING LIKE A CHILD.  

We did manage to open, and the studio looks stunning. I especially love how it looks at night.

There's still a lot of decorating I want to do, like in the lobby (below),  but the details are coming together.

Classes are in full swing, and I'm working on the finishing touches.

(How crazy is that magnetic conveyor belt that lowers your cart down to the parking lot at IKEA?)

Update: this piano still needs to happen. Anyone have a lead on a used one in or near Cambridge?

I've managed to sneak away for a few days here and there over the past month to visit my hometown of Ogunquit, Maine. I love it here. So so much.

View fullsize

I also got to stop into the beautiful Portsmouth studio, which is lovely and I don't visit enough.  Its 1 year anniversary is TODAY!

Speaking of birthdays, Elise turned 9!  She's been doing gymnastics camp, had a friend visit from out-of-town for a week, sprained her ankle, made lots of messes, (cleaned up a small percentage of them), has been keeping me busy, and is generally a very sweet and adorable child...  We went shopping and found a few great back-to-school items I hope to share soon.  Now she and Roman are both on vacation and Jason and I are without kids for the next week or so... I'm hoping we might make a little getaway, at least for a few days!

(A photo of my good side, obviously.)

Something I've really been wanting to share... I took a fantastic weekend yoga immersion with Goldie Graham the weekend after the Harvard Square studio opened.  The topic was sequencing and hands-on assists, and if you're a yoga teacher, I would highly recommend it.  Goldie has a very genuine, plain-spoken way about her and a true passion for yoga that really comes through and that I found inspiring.

On the one hand, signing up for a weekend of anything was probably a crazy idea at such a busy time, but then again it was probably the only thing that could have gotten me to slow down.  On both Saturday and Sunday of that weekend, we practiced for about 90 minutes, which gave me the opportunity to hear what the wise little voice inside of me had to say.

First and foremost, I realized that I have worked hard, accomplished much, and need to chill the f*ck out and appreciate it!

I was also reminded of how important it is for a yoga teacher to maintain her own practice -- Goldie mentioned that she practices 5-6 days a week! -- and how little I've been doing that for myself.

I know, but had maybe forgotten, that I can do ANYTHING, but I can't do EVERYTHING.

Ironically, the workshop that I took to keep my teaching inspired, ended up inspiring me to cut back on teaching for a while.

I am choosing to take some time to do the things I am MOST excited about right now, the things that nourish me creatively and make me feel self-expressed.  Right now, that's writing my blog and creating the most beautiful yoga and barre communities ever through Barre & Soul -- planning amazing programming and events, continuing to build and foster the dream team and to beautify our spaces.

I'm grateful that weekend gave me the pause to notice what I need and to get more of it!  I'm happy to be back to the blog and grateful to you for reading!

Till next time!

Andrea

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

This week, I've been sharing the above quote with my yoga and barre classes.

This quote comes from Steven Pressfield in The War of Art, a book that inspired me to start my business, Barre & Soul®.  I'm sharing it with you all this week in the hopes that it inspires you too.

When I decided to start Barre & Soul®, I did feel fear.  I am grateful someone asked me this question:

Which is worse: the fear of doing it, or the fear of not doing it?

Immediately, I knew.  It was on.

This has served me well each time I get ready to take a new risk.  When I laid eyes on the space for the new studio in Harvard Square (which is currently under construction,) I was overwhelmed by the fear of NOT creating a studio there, which is how I knew it had to be done.

andrea construction selfie

Even though construction is stressful (is 'predictably unpredictable' an oxymoron? Because it describes life pretty perfectly at the moment...) and I have no way of knowing yet whether this studio will be a success, or whether it'll just turn out to be the most expensive mistake of my life, I couldn't NOT find out.

After all, what's the worst that could happen?  (Answer: zombie apocalypse, obviously. And totally unrelated to the success or failure of my business.)

Ask yourself which is greater: the fear of doing it or the fear of not doing it.

Here's to feeling the fear, and doing it anyway.

Love, Andrea

Just Pretend You're Oprah...

I was seriously nervous before my live radio interview with the New Hampshire Brand Project, which highlights entrepreneurs in New Hampshire.

Before heading in, I texted a friend that my stomach felt weird and I had just spilled coffee down my shirt.

She reminded me that at least I wasn't going to be on TV.

This was a good point.

"I'll just pretend I'm Oprah,"  I said. "Or David Vendetti."

And with that, it turned out to be an AMAZING experience. I hope I get to wear my coffee on the radio again sometime!

They made it easy by asking me about a bunch of stuff I REALLY like talking about.

The interview is below.  For the quick and dirty version, just skip ahead to these topics:

• 4:22 Interview starts
• 5:30 WTF is barre?
• 8:07 Info for future cult members barre beginners
• 10:40 My sordid past
• 16:20 Butts, young and old
• 18:33 WTF is fit feminist?
• 22:50 Is it my turn to do something great?
• 31:02 Working out isn't all that fun
• 32:22 Maybe don't eat that twinkie
• 37:55 Why can't I just like yoga like everybody else?
• 39:00 WTF is aerial yoga?
• 43:00 The #1 thing that will change your body and your life

For real though:

If feminism is going to continue to progress as a movement... it needs to be much more inclusive, a "me and you" philosophy, not "me or you."

No "us vs. them."  There is no "them."  There is only "us."  We are all one.

Peace.