Building Community
A Mission Moment share by Humble Haven’s Founder, Suzanne Burns
“A former student, team member, and friend reached out to me recently to talk about the process of opening a yoga studio. After graduating from our teacher training program, she relocated from the Richmond area for her husband’s job. In each new place, she’s found a space to continue her practice and teaching. But now, having landed in a new city and state, she’s struggling to find a yoga home—and is beginning to explore the possibility of creating one herself, both for her own growth and to support others.
If you’re new to our community, you may not know that our first studio space was located downtown on 13th Street. My friend asked me if I had always wanted a space in downtown Richmond and while I certainly liked the idea of being in the city because there weren’t any other heated studios there at the time, my landing in a space on 13th Street was largely because it was where someone was willing to offer me a lease. That someone was my sister's neighbor and friend, Stu, who happened to hear that I was looking to open a yoga studio and had a vacant suite in a building he was helping to renovate.
“We define wellness as anything that supports individuals feeling well in their day-to-day lives ”
In 2015 when I was looking for Humble Haven’s first location, I had a business plan, a few thousand dollars that I had convinced my friends and family to give me, and a small amount of savings that I had managed to scrape together while working in the corporate world. What I didn’t have was a big budget or any experience owning and operating a business which I learned made me a less than desirable candidate for a commercial lease. What I also learned during that time was that all I really needed was for one person to believe in my vision, my plan, and have a willingness to work with me.
Gratitude doesn’t quite cover it when I think of all the ‘one persons’ that I have in my life that have created a web of support for me along the way. I don’t know if it exists in other cities because Richmond is the place I’ve lived the longest in my life, but I do believe our city is overflowing with people that are not only able, but are willing and worthy of being in a web of support. It is this knowing and acknowledgement that was the seed for our newly published community resource page at humblehavenyoga.com.
Day in and day out I personally share and hear others share of the people and providers that make a positive impact in our city. Because I often hear the same names and organizations shared by our teachers and team members, we created a place where our recommended resources can live.
The Humble Haven community resource page is intended to share local resources for holistic wellness services that we have personally utilized and would recommend. We define wellness as anything that supports individuals feeling well in their day-to-day lives which is why you will see organizations listed that offer educational programming, health and massage services, or employment support.
My truth is that I have not arrived at this point in my life on my own and creating a web of wellness support is a huge part of that. Our hope is that this collection of community recommendations provides one (or many) resources to assist you in getting where you desire to go.”
-Suzanne Burns, Founder