”Take up an idea, devote yourself to it, struggle on in patience, and the sun will rise for you.”

                                                                 -- Swami Vivekananda

Dhanwantari is my little unplanned ‘pregnancy’. I never desired to be a business owner. It wasn’t a dream to open a yoga studio. It just happened. I never took one business class (unless you count Ag Econ ) and I wasn’t even a yoga teacher. I was simply a yoga student who felt a deep connection with the practice. Maybe it is some cosmic, past life connection. Who knows. But, I literally had no idea what the hell I was doing or what I was getting myself into. The 5 month gestation period was wonderful. It all sprang from a simple idea that South Bend was in dire need of a space dedicated strictly for yoga and for some reason, I felt called to do it. During planning, development and loan approvals, all went so smoothly. Yet, just like so many parents to be, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. I had no clue how much it would change my life.  I was completely naïve. There were a few birthing pains, some tears were shed both of joy and of utter frustration. The day before Dhan’s  ‘birthday’ was my own 30th and let’s just say, I’ve had better birthdays. Like 30 isn’t already hard enough! Yet, when Dhanwantari opened its doors on June 25, 2007, I just knew that it was as it was meant to be.

There were many growing pains. Dhan went through the terrible twos. I struggled with Dhanwantari’s identity, just like any toddler, Dhanwantari wanted independence.  I struggled with the practice of yoga in the Midwest and what other people thought the culture of South Bend would and would not accept. “You can’t chant OM.”   “Don’t put the altar where other people can see it!”  “You can’t call it spiritual.”   “You are going to put a yantra on the wall??”  And my absolute favorite… “You can’t name it Dhanwantari! Here? In Indiana??”  But, I really don’t like being told what to do.  I have a little bit of a rebellious, iconoclastic spirit. You tell me no, I’m just going to do it anyway and more boldly than I originally intended. But, I’ll admit that I felt the conflict.   

Was I completely crazy? My accountant definitely thought I was.

I had complete faith and wonderful loving support. And for awhile, the first 3 or so years, I walked the line between what was culturally ‘safe’ for a mid-sized, Midwestern town and what I believed to be the TRUE practice of yoga. The practice that occasionally speaks Sanskrit, chants, meditates and sometimes uses words like “spirituality” and “Divine” and “God.”  It was as if I was continually dipping my toe into this deep lake of yogic possibility to test the waters and see if it was time to jump in.

This past spring, I JUMPED IN!

Just like a toddler becoming a child, Dhanwantari has its own identity, the personality is nearly completely formed and it is an entity onto itself! Dhanwantari isn’t a gym.  Dhanwantari isn’t a yoga studio. Dhanwantari isn’t a business. Dhanwantari is a community of transformation! And I am the proud guardian of this amazing embodiment of Yoga!

In this spirit, Dhanwantari now has a new look—website, logo. The logo is representative of the Kali Yantra. In India, Kali is the fierce form of the Divine Mother. Kali has become very dear to me for several reasons but primarily for her power of TRANSFORMATION. She is the force that wipes it all away, cuts through the negativity and the B.S. to destroy what is no longer needed so that NEW creativity and life can flow through you and in you. After four years of development, this is the energy that personifies Dhanwantari Center for Yoga & Well-Being… so stick around, wait til you see Dhan as a teenager!

Dhan's Logos though the years (L to R: 2007, 2009 and 2011)