In January of 2005, the new Yoga Center for Newburyport received a major facelift, fueled by our wonderful community volunteers.  From the "Hearts" -- the new directors, the practitioners who work here, architects and designers who gave the space a vision -- to all the helping "Hands" and experienced builders who made something physical of that original desire.  So many great ideas offered and received!

Here is a photographic trail of our steps -- sometimes laborious, but never exhausting -- to wooden floors, larger space, and new paint.
 
The greatest desire in renovation was to get the sanctuary space "Back to Yoga" and "Down to Wood".  We removed all of the old fluorescent fixtures from the ceiling, and a contractor was hired to do the floor. They began by tearing up the carpet...

... then a layer of linoleum, then a sublayer, then another layer, finally striking oil!  A layer of tar adhesive on the original wooden floorboards.  Here we see the last corner of grocery-store linoleum near the front windows.
 
Old building, anyone?  History is almost as difficult to remove from a floor as it is from a life.  The contractor faced despair any number of times, and yet another layer had to come up, then the tar had to be sanded down (slowly!), and some of the old flooring patched with new.

To top it off, the contractor lost his assistant to the flue, and wound up doing it all himself.  Well, sweat in a good cause must be better than plain old sweat.
But bitten nail by bitten nail, the old came up, the new went down, and two days before the first class was to be held (three days after the first first class was to be held), the poly was on, and the floor shone!

The feet felt grounded, and one could feel the sound -- no longer absorbed by the carpeting -- vibrating in the room, in the feet, in the body.  An unconsidered fringe benefit!

And then there was paint. We decided to go with lots of light: at left, co-Director Manny and Great Friend of the Center Laura work on the walls. At right, GF of C Maura paints in a Hitchcock film set (!).

There were more than enough brush strokes to go around, as we painted the ceiling as well.  What a great project, with so much generosity and involvement by members of the community -- a real Barn Raising, where every drop of sweat was the salt of ownership in something quite special.

We cleaned the outlet covers, washed the windows, blew a couple of fuses -- the literal kind -- and swept up loads of dust.  At left, perennial volunteer Georgia Schultz, an import from Minnesota, scrapes old paint from the windows...

... while the greenery waits in the small meditation room, wondering where the light has gone.  Just a few days, and it was back in the front windows of a finished sanctuary!

 

Meanwhile, in the back hall...
We had a problem. It was easy to come to the Center and practice Yoga; it was hard to hang around and chat. The building was originally a grocery store, complete with a massive cooler (at the end of the hall in the picture at left), and a steel merchandise conveyor and stairwell (concealed by the box, at right).

We had this beautiful new sanctuary. Maybe with a little more effort...? That sort of hypothetical question should never be asked at certain times of night. 

So we had at it, removing the Offending Box in a single evening's work -- destruction being easier than creation -- leaving an Offending Hole. At left, Manny Muros surveys the scene, the top of the steel conveyor behind him.

Next hurdle: get the 20-odd foot, few-thousand-pound conveyor out of the way... without anyone getting hurt. GF of C Peggy, who owns a farm and myriad tools, supplied chains and metal come-along.  

Having never done this sort of thing before, it took several false starts before we found the Recipe for Conveyor Removal.  The first best idea, at right, was solid enough, but lacked clearance by just a few inches.

At left, Manny Muros practices being a counterbalance, while Mark Schultz prepares another support structure.  

Then at last -- down it goes, a few inches at a time.  Chris Muros watches from the top of the Offending Hole, at left, while Mark Schultz lowers away.

Other members of the ensemble?  Manny Muros, Nick van Alstine and Peggy are in the basement, helping guide the conveyor into place, while photographer, worker and all-around good company Nick Schultz (Mark's son) takes these pictures.

A ton of steel laid gently as a (rather heavy) feather on the basement floor, where it may remain until the end of time.

Meanwhile, above it we needed a floor in place in a couple of days, so the carpet-layers could cover it, and the walls, hidden by the Offending Box, could be finished and painted. We framed the floor -- with the wrong measurements.  Then Manny and Mark ripped it out, and we framed the same floor again.

Much help from teacher and Contractor Extraordinaire Jen Truppner, right, with Mark Schultz looking down. Other hammer-swingers: Peggy (of the Tools), Eric Snow, Nick Schultz...
Framed enough to sit on, Manny Muros patches wall in preparation for paint, while Mark Schultz thinks about floor hatches.

More good ideas, and more hammer swinging, and the hatches were done.  Victory! (or peace) from Bert Snow, right.
Then we were down to details, and the volunteers pitched in again.  Georgia Schultz sands electrical outlet plates in the only place to sit, left; Nick Schultz allows the lens to be turned on himself -- the midnight oil already burned.  
Leigh and Manny, Manny and Leigh -- who else to jump in and open up a new kind of energy at our Center?  At left, the Green Room -- our small meditation room, sans fluorescent lights, ready for use; at right, in the back hall, recently beautified by wonderful faux painting. 

 

And in the end, voilá!
 

And here we are! It's done! Great company, finished work, and good food.

That's what it's all about.