Posts In: love story

Part 5 of how Yoga One founders Amy & Michael Caldwell turned their love story into a thriving yoga community! Read Part 4 here.

After backpacking around the world for 3.5 years, Amy and I felt that returning to LA seemed too familiar and too intense. So we settled in San Diego. I became an account manager at a graphic design studio and Amy worked for a family business coordinating the distribution of vegetables.

A few times a week, Amy practiced yoga in the Redwood Circle area of Balboa Park. With increasing frequency, people would stop and ask her what kind of dance she was doing (it was 2001). When she told them it was yoga, many asked if they could join her. As her following grew and winter approached, Amy and company started looking for a space to practice inside.

We tried out residential community centers, dance studios, and friends’ living rooms. For a period of time, Amy even led classes in a Hillcrest night club undergoing renovation. To access the space, everyone literally climbed over a pile of rubble. 

Eventually the classes migrated to 1150 7th Avenue downtown, in the exercise room of what was then Bodyworks Gym. The owner, Rich, allowed Amy to lead classes rent-free as long as his members could attend complimentary. It was a great arrangement, except that there was no direct access to the space. Amy and students had to go up the steep gym stairs, down the back stairs, through the long, narrow hallway and then wait until the spin or aerobic class let out. It was worth it since the room had high ceilings, sky lights and a beautiful hardwood floor. (Sound familiar yet?) 

However, it also had some challenges – the massage therapist working for the gym could only access her treatment room by walking through the exercise room. Often she would walk through multiple times during class – going to meet her client, going to wash her hands, leading her client out, even during savasana! Amy became adept at deep conscious breathing (: 

Still, classes were going well – the people and space had good energy. Rich suggested Amy lease the space directly. After not too much thought, Amy gave up the distribution of lettuce to teach full time.

PS. We loved our time in Redwood Circle so much we got married there. <3

Part 4 of how Yoga One founders Amy & Michael Caldwell turned their love story into a thriving yoga community! Read Part 3 here.

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The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, a slight ocean breeze. Our stay on the island of Viti Levi, Fiji had been serenely stimulating (like the kava ceremony in which we had participated). Pretty perfect.

But we wanted more. More perfection. 

What we hadn’t yet done was to explore another island. So we gathered up our things and the food we had: a bag of rice, some water, a submarine sandwich and a packet of Twizzlers. Our conversation went something like this:

“Let’s go down to the dock and see if one of the boat crews will take us to a deserted island.” 

Cool, like the blue lagoon?” 

“Sure, yeah, why not?”

So we did. And to our surprise, almost immediately, we’re bumping along in a small boat, stunned and a little nauseous from the gas fumes. What had we done? 

Some time later, we cleared the open water and drew near to an idyllic island. We could almost see all the way around. There were about 15 people of a variety of ages milling about collecting shell fish and sea creatures. As we approached, some of the small boys took an interest in us. After some short socializing, everyone began to depart, including our boat crew. 

“How long do you want to stay?” They asked.

Amy and I looked at each other, amazed. We could read each other’s minds. Wait, what? Everyone is leaving!? This island is uninhabited and you are actually going to leave us? 

Awesome! We take a quick accounting of our supplies. 

“How about four days?” We said.

“Ok, see you in four days.”

Then they motored off.

And just like that… Amy and I are alone. On an uninhabited island. In Fiji.

For sleeping gear, I think we had a sheet, toiletries, um, a toothbrush, I think… Phones or other communication devices? Nope. We did have a small camping stove. When we cooked the rice, we used too much water and it got soggy. There was no refrigeration and it was hot during the day and yeah, so…

It was glorious.

We literally slept in a cave. It was expansive and dry, not at all dark, damp and dingy. We bathed in the deep azure ocean. We didn’t need a change of clothes because we didn’t need clothes. Except for the time the little boys paddled their canoe over from the adjacent island. But we could see them coming from literally a mile away. Jamme, Eli, and Joe taught us how to create sand suits and face masks.

At another time, we traversed the slim trail through the jungle to the other side of the island and were enjoying the secluded beach when a sailboat of French travelers arrived. Needless to say, they were as shocked to see us as we were to encounter them. 

During the days, we climbed rocks, swam, explored, stretched, did absolutely nothing for hours and had some amazing adventures. At night, we listened to the lapping of the waves, counted the stars and our blessings. Then on the fourth day, we heard the sound of the boat’s engine and it was over. It had been more than perfect.

(The photos are us after we relocated to an adjacent island.)

Part 2 of how Yoga One founders Amy & Michael Caldwell turned their love story into a thriving yoga community! ? Read Part 1 here.

“After living on an uninhabited island in Fiji for four days, we returned to the main island Viti Levu where we met a man whose parents owned an apple orchard in Australia. Months later and wanting to make some extra money to fuel our backpacking adventures, we traveled to Stanthorpe and began a two-month grueling and glorious time as apple pickers. 

At the crack of dawn, we rose like zombies and made our way to the orchard. There we fired up the tractor and rumbled to our assigned paddock. For the rest of the day, we frantically scaled up and down ladders grabbing as many apples as we could and then unloaded them one bag at time into the trailer bins. At night, we returned to our cabin, hastily made sandwiches for the next day, enjoyed a quick dinner and went to sleep.

If there was any spare energy, we would read a section of “Fit for Life” by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. We had become vegetarians a year or so before and were trying out veganism and food combining. The book also suggested we do yoga and there were some super simple stretches included. After picking apples for ten hours a day, ten days in a row without a break, the handful of poses felt tremendous. And that was the genesis of our asana practice. Perhaps in retrospect, we had already begun our yoga practice by becoming conscious of our diet and lifestyle; the poses helped to further expand our awareness. 

Once you turn on to something you often see it all around you. As we traveled from country to country, we found additional inspiration to deepen our practice. By the time we got to India, we knew yoga was something we wanted to embrace more fully, and we began an earnest practice, study, and discipline. During a ten-day Vipassana meditation near Bangalore, we first heard the mantra, “Start again.” – Amy & Michael Caldwell

?Stay tuned for Part 3! ?