Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Haddock.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started practicing yoga after an injury sidelined me from dance classes in college. I quickly fell in love with how I felt after yoga. After college, I dedicated myself to my yoga practice while I worked as a nanny. I’ve always loved kids and my family has a long history of working with kids who have special needs.
My mother ran a clinic for many years and one of her clients told her about the Yoga for the Special Child method. Her son had practiced for many years with Sonia Sumar (the founder of YSC), while she had a center in Evanston. My mother and her client were adamant that they find someone who could take the training and teach her son. Since my mother knew about my love for kids and yoga, she offered to attend the training with me. Since the training was in February in the Bahamas, I said yes! Of course, I had no idea how this training would shape my life at the time, but something was guiding me to take on a challenge.
When we got to the ashram on the Bahamas, we were both totally overwhelmed. It was a totally new world! At the time, I was struggling with feelings of unworthiness and distrust. Sonia challenged us more than I’d ever expected, since we were forced to turn within and I had to confront these feelings. I can honestly say I had a huge chip on both shoulders when I arrived in the Bahamas – and it stayed that way for most of the training. On the last day, all of the emotions I was protecting cracked through the armor around my heart. During our last class, I started to cry…and not a pretty cry. I was weeping throughout the class. Even during the final relaxation, tears were streaming down my face! After that, it was liked I’d emerged as a new person. My heart finally softened and I decided to dedicate my life to learning from Sonia. I wondered where her guidance could take me, if in only one week she could release the armor I’d been building around my heart for so many years.
Since then, I’ve continued my studies with Sonia. I’ve taken a dozen trainings with her in the last eight years, and through further studies, also obtained my Yoga Therapist certification from the International Association of Yoga Therapists. I worked at my mother’s clinic with kids for four years, teaching dozens of children with a variety of needs. Then, I transitioned to a therapeutic day school for a year, creating a Yoga Therapy curriculum there. I’ve always loved running my own business, so after a year at the school I moved my practice to Chicago and hired a few other yoga teachers to help cover our growing clientele. And Five Keys Yoga was born! We’ve been a “mobile studio” for a few years, but last fall we opened our very own studio in Roscoe Village.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No! It’s never a smooth road. Obstacles arise and show us what we’re capable of (and even push us beyond them). That first training was certainly a challenge.
A more recent challenge was when we were looking for a space to set up our studio. We’d been renting from various space for many years and growing our clientele, so it was time to expand. I thought it would take six months tops to find a good space. I’d already done the research and knew that Roscoe Village was the perfect place to set up shop. I visited one space after the other after the other. Unfortunately, each place I visited wasn’t right in some fundamental way – it cost too much, the space wasn’t configured in a way that would work, or it wasn’t accessible to wheelchairs.
In the meantime, the place we’d been holding classes closed and we needed to find a new space right away. At the time, the search for a studio space seemed hopeless. So, we moved our classes to another rent per hour space and I took a break from searching. One day (sixteen months after I’d begun the search), I spotted a “for rent” sign just across the street from where we were renting. I wasn’t optimistic, since the space didn’t look right from the outside and I’d been let down so many times before. But when I walked in, I saw that this was exactly the space I had envisioned. It was accessible, had a large room for our group classes and a small room for our privates, and we could afford it! Even after I made the offer, it wasn’t smooth sailing. Another business made an offer too and it looked like the space was going to slip away from us. Fortunately, that other offer fell through and we were able to take space over.
It has been the perfect place for us. And I’ve ended up feeling grateful that the search took so long, since we ended up with a space that is perfectly suited to us. I didn’t find any other space like it in my search.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Five Keys Yoga provides therapeutic yoga and Yoga Therapy, including the Yoga for the Special Child method. We lead a variety of weekly group classes for adults and kids at our studio, as well as providing private Yoga Therapy at our studio and at organizations throughout the city. We believe yoga is a practice from which anyone can benefit, adaptable to any limitation.
We currently provide classes at Chicago Public Schools and Trilogy, which is an organization that provides services to people recovering from serious mental illness. We’ve also worked with early intervention organizations, churches, and after-school programs, to provide yoga for their community.
All of our instructors have served students with a variety of needs, including physical, emotional, behavioral and cognitive. In addition to being yoga teachers, our teachers are special education teachers, social workers, and program directors of organizations that work with people with disabilities. I am very proud of the extremely qualified and dedicated people who have joined our team!
What were you like growing up?
I was always a shy kid. As an only child, I’m most comfortable working independently, which is not always an asset. I remember my report cards in school would often say I need to work on asking for help from the teachers. I was highly motivated to do well – let’s blame the only child thing – and usually completed what was required of me thoroughly and on time. But this also added a lot of anxiety to my life (especially the year I took the SATs), which is a big reason why I turned to yoga. I’ve also always loved the arts – writing, drawing, performing, you name it! I continue to make art in my time off and I don’t think that will ever change.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1818 W. Belmont Ave.
Chicago, IL 60657 - Website: www.5keysyoga.com
- Phone: (773)857-1763
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/5keysyoga/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/five-keys-yoga-chicago
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