Just wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from your BL family!! We are so grateful for each and every one of you and your commitment to BL this past year. Wouldn’t be here without YOU!! We are so looking forward to launching our new 2022 schedule as well as a bunch of great workshops and events after the first of the year!! There will be lots and lots of ways to stay engaged and connected at BL!! Read More
Just wanted to take a moment to give a huge shout out to our amazing staff!! Saturday night we had a chance to celebrate them at our annual BL Christmas party. Of course, we had to skip last year for the first time in 25 years so this year’s celebration was even that much more spectacular. Read More
I recently ran across the following saying: “Focus on your Strengths and Delegate your Weaknesses”. Super simple I know, but it actually flashed me back to the fact that this was one of those profound life lessons that took me many years to apply to my own life.
I was raised by a very strong mom who was determined to “do it all” and I was set on following in her foot steps…until I hit a wall. The diagnosis was Fibromyalgia but, in hindsight, it was my body and brain saying…ENOUGH!! You simply can’t stay up late until all the laundry is done, get up early to get your kids on the bus, cook and clean for a family of 5, volunteer for tons of kid’s activities, never miss any of your children’s sporting events AND then add in buying and operating a business that’s open nearly every day!!! Read More
I could not be happier that BL is now offering more and more opportunities for our peeps to come back together. Last night, I led our first partner yoga since February of 2020. What a feel good night! And the fact that it was a sold out event solidified our presumptions that folks have missed these events and are more than ever, ready to re-connect. So…looking at the week ahead, BL is offering you, our students, many other opportunities to do just that…Read More
This past Thursday was such an amazing day at BL. Chris and I set aside 2 days a year to meet with as many of the staff as possible. We park ourselves with a cup of tea at 6:30 am (which is a ridiculously early time to be up) and hang out until 7:30 pm (at which time we switch from tea to wine…which was very welcomed after 18 meetings!). We call this day Revolving Door as staff rotate in and out of our office door every ½ hour. The day is scheduled a couple of weeks before Chris and I honker down to do the planning for the next seasons classes and workshops, so in this case, January through June of 2022. The main objective is to gather information from the staff on what we can do as a team to keep things fresh and moving forward. Read More
This morning was such a feel good morning at BL!! I took Deb’s weight training class (which never gets easier), followed by a little retirement/birthday celebration for one of our clients in the Link, chatted with lots of you over a cup of tea, welcomed back several returning bodies, taught a better backs class and all while wearing my latest Tricia flannel (Good Vibes Only). It truly was a good vibes type of morning. The momentum at BL is definitely moving in the right direction and I want to thank each and every one of you for contributing to that positive energy. Good Stuff!!Read More
Well it’s been quite a week at BL!! I just got back from visiting my daughter and her family in Atlanta last weekend, but when I got home Tuesday, I hit the ground running!! Lots and lots of meetings with the staff…a 6 hour photo shoot on Thursday and then our first ever BL book club meeting on Thursday night. Friday night I came and took Kelly’s line dancing which was a blast and Saturday morning I sweat alongside 40 other bodies in Tanci’s awesome Turn Up class. And, as of this moment, I’m sitting in my office writing my antics, working the November schedule, sending out subbing reminders, all while running and taping 2 workshops. So much good stuff happening at BL!!
So, I was going back through some old antics and ran across the message below. Just reading it conjured up so many emotions associated with this time. I started to feel all the fear of loss and uncertainty that I had as I wrote this message to my much loved BL community 1 1/2 years ago. Take a minute to re-read this message and I think that it may evoke some of these emotions in you as well...
Hey guys. So I’ve got some good news and some bad news…you’re getting the bad news first. Like every one else in the world right now, we have to raise prices. With all our costs going up, we simply can’t avoid it. Just $10 increase on unlimited memberships and $10 on massages. (Nope that’s not even the good news yet). The GOOD NEWS is that if you are on a contract as an unlimited member or a massage of the month, you’re locked in at those old prices. Oh and even more GOOD NEWS is that this price increase doesn’t go into affect until November 1st. So what does this mean???Read More
Wow!! I can’t even begin to tell you what an emotionally charged week it’s been!! Just to give you the short version…the week was jammed with meetings, including our monthly manager meeting and our bi-annual staff meeting. I experienced my first ever Cacao Ceremony, I attended one of my dearest friend’s son’s wedding, and I kicked off our yoga teacher training program. Oh, not to mention an overdue meeting with my landlord. Ugh. So many highs…a few lows, but over all just a jam packed run of good stuff. But one of the stand out BL highs was definitely the staff meeting. It was so good to have this group come together in person and re-connect. This crew has certainly been instrumental in BL’s ability to continue to fight and be UNSTOPPABLE!! As part of the meeting, Chris and I assigned a bit of homework. Each staff member was asked to come prepared with one thing they thought BL was doing really well; something that sets us apart and would make others want to come here. We also asked them to also come up with one area that they felt we could do better at or needs improvement. There was lots of great input and suggestions but the one that really stood out was regarding BL’s strong sense of community. Many staff mentioned our community as one of the things that is really special about BL and something that they said they really hadn’t experienced at this level. I know is SO true for me and so many of you as well. BUT…one staff shared that she had brought a friend to a class and that she felt like our strong community actually made her feel like she didn’t belong. Like everyone knew each other and she was an outsider. WOW!! This made such an impression on me and, of course, is the last thing I would want to hear as we work so hard to foster this sense of community to make students feel included not excluded. But the reality is this was her experience and I’m sure if one person has felt this way, others have as well.Read More
