Today we’d like to introduce you to Gina Fitzpatrick.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Gina. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am the owner of One Key Yoga. I’m a mother of 4, living in the city and was trying to navigate the public school system and all the intricacies of family life while contributing financially too. I fell in love with yoga because of its fierce healing and spiritual components and I wanted to learn to share it. I received my training at Temple of Kriya Yoga and like a lot of students of yoga, I was overwhelmed with the idea of actually teaching. Afraid that I wasn’t prepared enough. I wasn’t perfect and didn’t know how to share what I knew, instead of trying to find paying teaching jobs, I volunteered everywhere, literally anywhere that would have me. I taught. I learned to find my voice in a calm and no expectations kind of atmosphere. The results were that because I was coming from a place of honesty and desire to share what I truly loved, I was received well and job offers to teach starting coming to me. It was effortless and easy.
Effortless and easy until my husband, (at the time) without warning lost his job. We were staring at the end of this ease and into a frenzy of what to do next. Our oldest was off to college in the Fall and we were blowing through our savings. I kicked into high gear. I was teaching all day every day in every studio in Chicago I could and nearby burbs. From Glenview to Humbolt Park ‘s yoga studio, I had a key. I did this for an entire year. Juggling work and family, trying to figure this balancing act and squelching all feelings of angst and worry. My keychain was heavy with a dozen different keys to a dozen different yoga studios. While I drove they knocked against each other like an ill-fitted chime. I was exhausted.
By years end, my husband found a job, we were back. We had insurance again a steady solid income and managed to be ok. But, I was committed to my students. I didn’t, or couldn’t give up my classes. Who was I going to say no to? This has happened to me more than once, I got so attached to my teachers and when they move on I felt it on a visceral level. You feel a bit lost like you will have to start all over again and it’s frightening. The permanence of impermanence doesn’t feel encouraging at the time. We don’t realize that this is growth, spiritual and emotional. Necessary for sure but I didn’t know how to perpetuate this in someone else’s experience without feeling like I was contributing to their worries. I was loathed to leave but the stress of working every day all day was mounting. I was talking with a friend who was encouraging me to slow down and I reached into my pocket, pulled out my ring of keys with the color-coded caps and said “One day I’m going down to one key” and he said “open your own studio, invite all of your students to this one place and call it One Key Yoga “.
And I did 🙂 One Key Yoga celebrates it’s 3 rd birthday on Feb. 8th. At one point or another, most of my students came. Some stayed, some moved on. I’ve made new connections. New friendships and brought Yoga Therapy Training from Inner Peace Yoga Therapy to our space. We are in our second year of the 500 hr program which brings in Yoga Therapist from all over the country for a monthly training for teachers who already hold a 200 plus certification. We hold healing events which include Reikie, Sound Healing, Yoga Nidra, Restorative Yoga just to name a few. Keys are significant in the spiritual world, 3 keys worn together are said to unlock the doors to wealth, health and love. It’s a symbol of freedom and some thinks the power of eternal life. My one key opened a world of endless opportunity and deep love for what I get to do every day.
Has it been a smooth road?
No smooth road !!! Our opening day party with over 100 R.S.V.P. guest and the studio poised for this event, A catered light fair with donated Italian wine was derailed by the worst snowstorm in decades.
That was day one! But the next day we had at least 1 person in most of our classes. The second week there was a few more people who walked through our doors but there were plenty of days where I was there alone. I still was working all day, every day but in my own space surrounded by the beauty of local artist’s work that framed our walls. It was a slow build and by the middle of our first year I hired more teachers, put more classes on the schedule and yoga artist from around the city were calling and asking to do workshops and hold events. Still, on a steady climb and adding new features there are always challenges but yoga prepares you for what is immediately solvable or what needs more thoughtful consideration All are the lessons that make each day interesting.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the One Key Yoga story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a yoga studio that offers a great selection of classes that are available to everybody. We are sensitive to the challenges of each student and hold classes that have deep respect for each individual. As teachers, it is a privilege to be on a healing journey with anyone who chooses to begin this work.
One Key is also a rentable event space. We have 1100 square feet of workable space with a gorgeous bamboo floor and high ceilings. The sound quality is tremendous and this space converts to anything that you want it to be.
What I am most proud of are my teachers. Each one brings a truth and soulful quality to their classes. They are here because they want to share what they deeply hold as their purpose and you as a student feel that each time you step onto the mat with them. I am truly grateful for each one of them.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I believe that yoga will be moving into the therapeutic world. I see more hospitals and dr. prescribing yoga as a preventative medicine and prescribing yoga as a healing therapy.
Pricing:
- *New Student Class Card 3 Classes for $30
Contact Info:
- Address: 4845 N. Damen Chicago Il 60625
- Website: www.onekeyyoga.com
- Phone: 7732307805
- Email: onekeyyoga@gmail.com
- Instagram: onekeyyoga
- Facebook: onekeyyoga
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
