The Cabin

Hey there SANARA!

Happy September to you - what an unexpected blessing to already feel and see and smell a hint of this amazing fall weather! 

Writing this month’s blog from the back porch of our cabin on Cedar Creek Lake during an unexpectedly gorgeous holiday weekend just feels both surreal and idyllic in every sense of the word. In only three short weeks, we will gather a group of eager yogi students here for a kickoff weekend as they pursue the next level of their practice with 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training (200 YTT). Sharing this space with them feels vulnerable and necessary and transformative and exactly right.

We bought this cabin in the summer of 2019, not having any idea what this place would become to us. Never mind that old houses tell you what to do next - we were just excited to have a place to get away to on the weekends between the kids' activities and our busy lives. Jason lived on this lake for most of his life, and you could literally watch as his shoulders relaxed and his brow unfurrowed as we watched the skyline of Dallas get smaller in our rear view mirror on a Friday afternoon. 

The next spring – when the world came to a screeching halt almost overnight - we found ourselves actually living here. School was virtual, work was virtual, and sports and activities were canceled; so we loaded up our computer monitor, the Peloton bike, and a case of toilet paper and stayed down here for several months. Avery Grace was logging into first grade on a very spotty internet connection with other computer-illiterate six year-olds and she would paint canvases and string beads for jewelry in her spare time. Audrey was juggling Zoom classrooms, swimming back and forth across the cove to keep up with her training and learned to weave macrame from YouTube videos. Jason and I were taking turns on the Peloton and the computer monitor while submitting loan applications to the SBA to keep getting paychecks to our employees. We went on walks as a family, played board games, woke up super early for sunrise fishing trips and truly checked out and leaned in. 

2 Timothy 1:7 is still written in cursive with a black sharpie on a large piece of paper that hangs on the outside of the game closet door facing our open living area. The sign is dated April 2020 and it reads “God has not given us a spirit of fear - but of love, power, and a sound mind.” The bonds we formed during that time, the healing that took place in our broken but blended family and the ground we recovered from the enemy was truly transformative. We would all actually get COVID-19 almost a year later in March of 2021, and looking back now, the timing of that physical attack on our family was truly significant.

The next couple years were ROUGH. We will not go into detail, right here and right now, just trust. The times down here were still so much fun - many projects were accomplished, holidays and birthdays were extra special, and family and friends were always aplenty. But there was a war raging for our marriage, our children, our family and our business. In July of 2023, Jason would find himself alone here and he would ultimately find Jesus while watching the sunrise from the back porch every morning for two months. Once again, healing was inevitable and ground was reclaimed. But it took a pretty minute for us to be able to look back at our times here and be open to seeing how powerful a place can become in both your head and to your heart.

Sharing our lake cabin with SANARA for the first weekend of 200 YTT was never a question in our minds. We know firsthand what can happen, here in this space, and we are excited to hear the stories they will tell. Personally, the four months Rachel spent in her own 200 YTT with SANARA last fall was quite possibly the most fulfilling, introspective, healing and memorable time of her life. Our prayer is that by allowing our cabin to be the launchpad for something new in each one of our students-turned-teachers, truly amazing things will happen here and it will one day trickle down to you as their students. Just like the testimony of our cabin on the lake.

Big hugs,

Jason & Rachel