I remember the day clearly… Jo and I… Andrea Ross and her husband: we walked into the space that is now Heart of the Village Yoga… office cubicles, exposed telephone and computer cables running everywhere. It was the Autumn of 2013. My father had recently passed. It was another important turning point in my life, and in our lives together. I suggested a studio layout and a name for the studio. Jo took it from there, and has led the way now for almost 13 years now.
I would soon resign from my position as Director of Mountain Sports at Stratton Mountain; I continued the journey of being a caregiver for my mother in Burnt Hills, NY (until her post-pandemic passing in 2023), and while also continuing to design timber frame homes and coach adaptive snow sports at Mount Snow. in 2016, I retired from engineering and snow sports management positions, and became a full-time yoga teacher and personal coach. We had some very wonderful years, Jo and I, working together, leading retreats and teacher-trainings, and welcoming so many special guests to the Studio and into our home. Jo has always been very much in the leadership role; I’ve always been allowed to take a supportive role and just teach and coach.
The pandemic shifted things for us. I became married to my roles and responsibilities, at work and at home (which in a quiet way had become the same thing for me). With the exception of my aerial classes, I worked at my home studio, and became a bit of a post-pandemic recluse. I was trying my best, but I was exhausted, and in some very meaningful ways, had lost my way. I was working hard, usually teaching at least 25 classes per week (while making one or two trips each week to care for my mom), doing what I thought I needed to be doing to keep things going with our home and with our livelihood, the Studio. As much as I tried, my effort to save things was not sustainable for me, nor for our very-intertwined married life.
Fast forward to 2026… another important turning point: At Jo’s urging, we stepped out on our own beginning in January, at work and at home, and we have been learning to disentangle our lives so that we might each grow more freely and more energetically into our separate futures. As friends, still pledging to support each other, we have agreed to avoid working together, at least for the foreseeable future.
You all still see Jo every week at Heart of the Village Yoga bringing her compassionate smile to our Manchester community. I have found a small studio space in the center of town (across from the Manchester Center Post Office at 3429 Richville Road), where I continue to teach and coach private students, online and in-person, and online classes, as Perspective Coaching, LLC. I will continue to lead workshops somewhere, and host our annual retreat to Costa Rica (which I led alone last December). In my own way, I hope to share my ever-opening-again heart with each of you too, wherever we meet again.
Of course, with every door closing, new ones are opening. Throughout the last two decades, I have developed a deeper spiritual practice; I am now aware of the more constant healing-energy of love flowing through all of us, and I have felt empowered to share a more authentic and sacred expression of my own compassionate nature with my students and friends. And with the growth of Zoom after the pandemic, I am now blessed to be able to reach students all around the world.
I am still learning all of the online, social media, website, and technology-driven marketing work, with which Jo is so capable. I am 68 years old now! Remember, I went to high school before calculators!! But, I’d love to connect with you, one way or another. Look for me walking on the Rail Trail when I have the opportunity to spend time with our dog, Rumi, who all of you know well, or come visit me at my new Perspective Coaching studio!
To see what I am up to, visit my home-made website and join my email list at www.perspective-coaching.com (you can message me there), email me at bob@perspective-coaching.com, or follow me @bobspeck_perspectives on Instagram, where I try to be creative and inspirational and share some personal perspectives and “Baba” (elder) insights everyday. I’d love to have your support. Thanks!
Thanks to Jo. I have had the gift of a lifetime, for 30 years, sharing adventures with Jo all around the world, and being a step-father for Alex and Natalie (and now grandfather for Oliver, Jack and Gigi)..
Thanks to all of you. It has been my gift, for 13 years, to share special moments with you at HOTV Yoga.
I’d like to especially thank each of you who have reached out to me personally to remind me that I am okay, indeed special, just the way I am. You continue to remind me that, through it all, I remain a gentle, caring soul. My students have indeed been my teachers, helping me find my way on this long and winding road with a sense of presence, purpose, power, and of course perspective!
I am here. If you need me, please know that I will always stand present for you, to protect, shelter you, and provide a space where you can exhale and safely be yourself again.
As I enter my sage-ing years, I will quote John O’Donohue:
“In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge….
Though your destination is not yet clear,
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.”