My name is Jennifer Buergermeister and I am a yogini. Houston is my humble home and I have been sharing the art of yoga with its citizens for 8 years! Yoga saved my life in many ways and I have dedicated my life to yoga. Since 2006, I have set a very strong intent to make Houston a Yoga Mecca in the USA. And it is beginning to happen. The labors of the seeds that I have laid are coming into fruition. My friends call me Jenny “Appleseed.” Though there are many examples that I can give you, and I will if you want, there is one that I feel most compelled to share with you. It is about how I opened my studio. I have learned a few things over the years, being a widow and finding yoga which changed my life forever and helped me get through the most difficult time in my life – grieving. My heart was broken and in its mending, an energetic change occurred, even detectable on an EKG. I began to beat to a different drum. Synchronicities, as they are termed, have become a norm for me in my daily life, and there isn’t anything that I am more aware of than the law of attraction. I believe that it begins in the heart and with a feeling. And I feel yoga.
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Yoga and “the breathing arts” open and allow grace to flow through the heart. It has been said that with love anything is possible. The first step is to consciously breathe, the second is to bravely act, and the third is to lovingly accept that which is unfolding before you. In other words, trust.
The heart chakra (energetic wheel partly associated with the endocrine system), or the Anahata, is a connector of energetic networks linking you to the world in which you live. It allows your essence, an awakening to being here now, to gradually permeate the interconnected web of life and energy in this universe. The reproductive chakra, or the Svadhisthana, is also an energetic connector. Through this energy center you attract certain elements of the world. Your heart emits an energy, which is funneled by another person's second chakra. Your second chakra, like a magnet, attracts another person's heart emissions. This cycle is known as the law of attraction and typically involves the process of creativity that signals messages out to the universe. The question is what are you sending out and what are you attracting?
With continued practice and the synthesis of life lessons learned, you bring your thoughts and emotions into the space of feeling. Here, you are able to make lasting Self changes. Within this New-Self integration, you begin the deeper journey toward synchronization and play within the “divine matrix.” When you learn this truth of your being, and understand the truth that prevails, it is possible to live fearlessly like a warrior - a peaceful warrior. Then, change occurs and you are forever transformed. That which is esoteric and misunderstood is revealed as the wise teacher. We find purpose in life, living, and in death. (Buergermeister 2009)
In 2007, my dear student and friend Bruce M. Cameron and I spoke of opening a yoga studio together. We said to each other that if one day the right space just so happened to appear, and the commercial rent price was right, that we would entertain opening a studio. One week later I drove down the most trafficked street in Houston, Westheimer Rd., and saw a leasing sign posted on a lovely building located in the heart of Houston. I called the landlord and he described the space as a shell - no walls and needed lots of build-out. He mentioned also another space that he had for lease down the street. Bruce and I met and looked at both spaces which had been vacant for over a year. One needed a lot of build-out and the other lacked a restroom and a waiting room but we were thinking somehow one of them would work because we loved the area of town and felt it could be a huge success. All we had to do is make a choice between the two locations. I phoned the landlord who told me that both properties were leased – the larger space that needed build-out went to a geology firm that analyzes rock to find oil who had plenty of money to upgrade his space, and the other with no restroom leased to a lawyer who wanted to import Jerusalem tile. Just like that! They were both vacant for over a year, no one even looking at them and then in one week, BAM! My heart sank and I sadly hung up the phone, tail tucked between my legs, and thought, “It just wasn’t meant to be.”
A week later, while walking out of my first teacher training course with five of my most faithful students, I checked my phone messages and there was one from Mr. Deal, the landlord of the two properties that had just been leased to other people. He said that strangely one of his tenants in the first property that we liked wanted to move and asked to put his property up for lease. Mr. Deal said that he thought he had a better solution than the other two properties for us. He said it was downstairs from the unit that was still a shell and had a private restroom and…a waiting room. Plus, it already had hardwood floors. What are the odds, right?
It was a small space, approximately 800 sq. feet, and he thought that we could maybe fit 15-20 in a yoga class. We saw the property and decided to move forward though it was fairly small. The landlord gave us a straight one year lease at an unbelievable price for the area, and without triple net!
Soon the geology firm upstairs began their build-out which required a lot of patience to bare the noise and smells of turpentine. They expanded into another area upstairs which took even more patience - this time they decided to rip up the old carpet padding and stain the concrete. Not only did the smell nearly push all the other tenants out of the building, we could now hear every little footstep made upstairs. Things were not going as well as we had hoped.
Then the geology firm purchased a new state of the art million dollar machine to analyze rocks. They tried to get the one ton machine upstairs in their unit space but it was architecturally impossible. The owner of the company had a dilemma.
Meanwhile eight months had passed and the Jerusalem tile importer wasn’t selling and moving his product. Evidently he couldn’t pay his rent. The landlord had numerous issues with the tenant and had to evict him. Mr. Deal, aware of his well paying client’s issue with their new million dollar machine, and his other yoga clients tired of hearing footsteps across the floor from the tenants above, called us and offered the Jerusalem tile space down the street to us at a good price. He mentioned that they had built a restroom and storeroom in the back of the unit since I had last seen it, and that he felt it could now work for us.
We were at a crossroads with our current space, needing more of it and very tired of the smells and noises from above. We looked at the new space and made a deal with Mr. Deal. That is really his name!
Our new space is over 2000 square feet. It has sacred Jerusalem tile from an old ancient seabed from the holy land embedded with crystals and fossils, and has a large restroom and a waiting area three times the size of the other space. It was such a win-win for everyone!
How it all came together is amazing. There is no way I could have predicted the series of events that led to opening this studio. From tail between legs, to slowly growing into a small space, then a new larger space big enough for all of our needs, discounted rent for the first year as we grow, and with the new amazing floor that feels like heaven when you look and walk on it. I am sure that it was organized by something more intelligent than what we could have ever imagined or written down on paper. Spirit was working and since we had the right intentions, the universe was responding to our hearts.
So it happened. We were in the adorable, yet small space for just 8 months. Just as more students were filling up the room and space was shrinking, my upstairs neighbor wanted my space. How else would our upstairs neighbor fit the enormous, multi-million dollar piece of equipment? It was so massive that it demanded our space downstairs which we had worked so hard to make into a beautiful yogic sanctuary. Opening the first studio space had been the culmination of years of yoga instruction, during which time I had developed a devoted flock of students. Little did I realize that this lovely space was only the caterpillar. I would soon meet my butterfly space.
The new space developed quickly. The irony is that just as soon as the upstairs tenant needed to make way for the machine monstrosity, another tenant of the same landlord was being evicted. Now, in Jennyoga studio, ironically the Negev tile provides the fossilized, solid base upon which yogis practice the ancient techniques of mind-body discipline. The polished limestone shines like the soft light of the divine and heaven-bound souls reveal themselves as graceful human yogi-beings. The move from one space to the next was easy--done in two weekends. The preparation was smooth enough since we had a little experience under our belts from developing the first one. The only challenge was to make the rent, which had doubled in cost.
The landlord gave no other allowance except one month free to recoup the money that it cost Jennyoga to move and to build out the new space so that there'd be an inviting, welcoming area which was a storeroom. Payment began the next month, allowing only 30 days to reorganize and open, with an equivalent 30-day spare cash flow to make it all happen!
Then, in the middle of September in that same first month, Hurricane Ike slammed the Northeast corner of Galveston Island before moving inland to ravage the city of Houston, Texas, the studio’s hometown. By the grace of angels, the studio survived, enduring only minimal damage. Much of the city was without electricity for many weeks, requiring us to work diligently to rejuvenate the excitement of the studio after its return. We worked incessantly to maintain the level of support and practice from the previous space, and even more so to increase the patronage.
During this time I even pondered turning the studio into a non-profit venture, offering donation yoga. I got the idea after visiting a studio in New York. I grew to believe that somehow the studio could pay the teachers and squeeze out the rent, but soon I found that I wasn’t making enough money to pay myself after the storm. As things tightened up, money just wasn’t coming as fast as it needed to in order to stay open. I noticed something odd about the account and our rent checks--they had not been cashed, yet the accounting department at the landlord’s office testified that everything had cleared and that the studio had a zero balance. We were barely making rent in the first few months and sent a few rent checks prematurely that clearly lacked funds after several payroll checks had cleared. I knew if the landlord cashed all the checks, we were in trouble. We were coasting and the ship was seeming to sink.
During the storm, come to find out, the landlord's office sustained extensive flood damage. The storm caused chaos and misplaced checks. This act of nature, for Jennyoga yogis, became an act of mercy. It had bought us the time to garner enough support and to attract the many students who, by the time of the financial shortfall discovery, were attending the studio, and were able to supply the needed revenue to keep the studio alive. I had asked the universe, to God, to make it clear whether or not I was supposed to keep the studio open, and if so, to please help. I remember even saying out loud, “If I am where I am to be, ok universe, make it happen.” And the games with the universe began. It took six months for the landlord to find and cash the checks, giving us a miraculous edge to get out of the red and back on track. Bruce said, “God must sure love you.” I believe he is right!
Today we are a rock solid yoga studio in Houston and a hub for many yoga enthusiasts. I was voted to become the president of the Yoga Teachers Association of Houston and have united the studios of Houston into a business together called the Texas Yoga Conference premiering February 27-27, 2010. We have made many connections to California and have made Houston, Texas a hub for popular California teachers to visit. Some are even moving here. Houston is becoming a mecca for yoga enthusiasts. We recently had Arthur Klein premier his movie Y Yoga at the YTAH General Meeting this year and amazing connections are being made with Breathecure® and medical professionals in the area. Ask and it shall be given. There is no doubt in my mind. Namaste’
Jennifer Buergermeister is the current president of The Yoga Teachers Association of Houston. She is the owner of Jennyoga, a vinyasa yoga studio and school in Houston, TX. She is also a facilitator at MD Anderson Cancer Center located in the renowned Texas Medical Center in Houston. She has been teaching yoga in Houston for eight years and practicing for fourteen.
Jenny founded Breathe the Cure® in 2007. Breathecure® is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of quality breathing. She intends to establish worldwide breathing programs to children and adults, which promote a model of preventative health care. Along with contemporary medical technology, Yoga and other methods of contemplative practices can be offered as complementary forms of treatment. Her motto is Live. Breathe. Do Yoga.™
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