By Amy Nielsen

I got bitten by a crazy bug after having wild vivid dream a week or so ago. In that dream I saw my new studio space exactly as I want it. So I went looking for the space, the building and place I dreamt I was taking my new class in.

I have been casting about for the most appropriate place to build my business. What I do doesn’t require more than an office with a door for private conversation. I could rent space in any number of successful multi-practice buildings in the area. I could teach my classes at several different studios and community centers around here. There are many practitioners who have businesses like mine who use several different locations.

I’m still working out the best scenario for my need for large creative space and privacy. My needs for the day will really depend on who I am seeing and what I am teaching. To that end it might behoove me to find a space to lease or own and customize. If I were to do that, I could position myself and my business as a community resource. If the space were to allow I could even invite other practitioners to use my space to teach, which would of course, benefit my clients. It would become a community wellness space of sorts.

There are two very different locations near me where I could easily find spaces and clients. One is a large northern town with a long standing hippy, crunchy reputation and as many yoga studios and wellness stores as days of the week. Every other shop is an upscale boutique selling some local handmade kitch to the well-appointed city folk in squeaky clean Uggs. I know for a fact those folks will be able to afford my services, though they all probably already have six other guru whispering in their ears.

The other is a small forgotten corner of the Borcht belt that was a big destination in the fifties though has since lost favor to the more affluent area up the valley. Local people here drive pickups with bailing twine holding the goat in the truck bed. NPR regularly has lost sheep and cow reports. These are hard-working hardy folks. Salt of the earth kinds of people who make it because there is no choice but to make it. While they can pay less, I love this little town and its quirky mountain people. There is a depth of soul here that is missing from the flashier northern crowd.

In the summer the population of both towns swell with families who rent bungalows in camps to escape the oppressive summers in the city or have private getaways tucked in the hills with long driveways ending in mysterious grand gates and conspicuously placed video cameras. Those folks tend to stay mostly to themselves and would not be a possible client base for me.

As it happened in my travels over the last week I was in the smaller town for appointments. I took a little extra time and parked my car on the opposite end of Main Street. I walked the 10 or so, short, small town, middle-America city blocks, passing empty, dusty, storefront after dusty, storefront. The solemn walk was peppered by the few bright, new openings and a couple of freshly remodeled, long-standing businesses.

This town has recently gotten a major investment in the form of a new casino breaking ground. People are excited but cautious about the opportunity the venture will bring. There is already a casino in town and it is not all it is cracked up to be. This new one promises big things. Along with the casino there are plans for a large upscale community with a new shopping center, to be built if the casino takes off.

When we first moved to the area a couple years ago, we lived in town here. We could walk to Main Street and worked hard to frequent as many local businesses as we could in our daily needs. It was rough coming from much wider options, but it taught me a lot about needs and wants. It took me down a notch and reminded me of what is important. As I walk along the street I felt the vibe of energy radiating from the newly remodeled storefronts. They didn’t leave. They toughed it out. In two cases they opened new stores and have managed to hang on. That’s hope. That’s chutzpah. That’s seedling vibrational energy that can be stoked.

Then I saw it. Cue trumpets and beams of light; actually kind of literally since it was cloudy and the sun started to shine. There is an empty, stand-alone, building with a large, open lot next to it. It sports a big nicely framed window with deep vestibule. There is a separate entrance to the second floor. I peeked in the windows and saw beautiful, if dusty, wide, wood floors in decent shape, open all the way to the back where there are three transom windows letting in beams of gold. Yep, methinks it’s a sign.

I snapped a few pictures, wrote down the number on the for rent sign, and headed to my appointment.

Later that afternoon I was meeting friends in the center of the town, who were visiting for holiday tea and cookies. As we wandered the beautifully lit, neat as a pin town, I thought to myself; “Self, you would feel intimidated here. You would be spending your time fending off your fears and theirs. This town may seem to be the ideal location, but the vibe is all wrong.” I know I could make it work and be successful but do I really want to rail against that every day?

My line of work is all about vibrational intention and energy and how you spend your energy. Clean, pure intention is key when teaching in this line of work. The ability to get to a place of deep comfort and deep grounding to be able to support the work of others is paramount. Many practitioners choose to use their homes as studios for just this reason. I found out this week that where I thought I was going to practice just plain feels wrong and in this case, I am going to trust my gut.

I am also going to take the time over the next six months to hold a few classes in different buildings in both towns to see what happens. I’m not willing to discount the decades’ worth of people doing what I do in the northern town just because I’m new and shy about my knowledge base still. To do so would be to toss out the chance at meeting a fantastic new teacher. However, I think I might go there in supplication as the new kid looking for knowledge, then teach from my center in the well of hope building in the slightly dusty hill town.