Hello HYL Community!
The last two years of our lives have been the most unexpected, painful, and strange for us as a family, a company, and as individuals. Some of you may know us a little better and know that on June 30, 2019, Aida Bielkus, sister, daughter, mother, and co-founder of HYL suddenly passed away from an aortic rupture. Having never experienced grief to this level or depth before, each of us, separately and together, processed, experienced a range of emotions we never had felt, and together with our friends, family, and community embarked on trying to find meaning in life’s most curious of mysteries-death. Just a few short 8 months later, the world started to hear the words “COVID-19” and the entire world shutdown, and so did our yoga studios. We found ourselves again, needing to quickly adjust to a whole new reality.
First, we want to thank all of you, our extend HYL family, for being with us throughout this time of change. Even if we have never spoken, knowing our HYL community was there — that there was a place of like-minded ones– brought us peace. Many of you who knew Aida have been through her loss with us and for us. And all of you, we know, have experienced some type of loss due to COVID-19.
A day or so after Aida’s passing an unbelievably beautiful rainbow filled the sky. It is as if she was imploring us to see that even in the darkest and stormiest of days, light finds its way and transforms. As we now start to move forward out of this year of the pandemic, and out of the immediate loss of Aida, we continue to ask ourselves the same questions we know many are asking now.
WHAT COMES NEXT? WHAT DOES “NORMAL” MEAN TO ME? HOW DO I TRULY WANT TO BE IN THE WORLD?
We at HYL are committed to each of you, to bring you the best education on yoga, meditation, and coaching. Having had these practices as part of our fabric of life for the last 20 plus years, helped us immensely through these two years. They gave us a pathway to more acceptance, more willingness, and more curiosity.
HYL is also committed to changing our world for the better. Our tagline “Transform Yourself-Transform Your World” has never meant more to us than right now. If we want the world around us to have less hate, we must transform ourselves away from hate, toward love. If we want the world around us to have less anger, we must transform ourselves away from anger toward kindness. And so on and so forth.
As we journey from this moment to the next, we are really looking forward to reuniting with you! And we want you with us–the likeminded ones. The world needs more beacons of change.
So please join us on our Reunite Yoga Retreat this fall at Attitash Resort in New Hampshire. We hope to see you there, to share, to practice, and to be together.