August 2026
Recently I received a teaching on the Answered Prayer. Sarah MacLean Bicknell was speaking on Summer, the season of manifestation, in her Sacred Directions class. This is the garden we dreamed of in Winter, the seed we planted in Spring, the full fruiting of our intention and labor combined with the turning wheel of time and the cycles of nature. We were invited to consider the difference between the one who prays and the one who receives- how our needs shift, the moment passes, we grow and change, the prayer arrives, and we may have moved on. In the Fall, we return to the earth what is ready to be composted, and the cycle begins again.
Once upon a time, about 25 years ago, I had a dream. I think it started with wanting a hot tub, and being a renter, and not wanting to have to maintain a hot tub just for myself. Then I thought it would be cool to have hydrotherapy available for my clients, and wouldn’t it be amazing to have other practitioners around who had complementary practices? The dream got reaaaalllly big. I spent a lot of time working on a business plan with a potential partner; the vision was for a healing arts center with all that plus a movement studio and a healthy food cafe. I wanted to build a whole-health facility in the heart of Pioneer Square. I even had a friend who bought a historic building and I could see the whole thing happening there, got some architect friends to play with designs for me. For a variety of reasons, including pregnancy, none of that happened. I’m pretty grateful— even writing about it now kind of exhausts me.
About ten years ago I got all worked up again about a much smaller version of what I had called “Thrive”. Once more I launched into a bunch of number crunching and planning and thinking about funding and… the landlord didn’t want to rent to me. I lost steam.
While working through both of those plans I could feel friction beneath the excitement, some part of me that was aware that this was not quite the path I should be walking. I didn’t really want to be anyone’s boss, for one thing, and I needed the whole thing to pencil out so that it wasn’t about me working a lot more for very little reward. The skills of people management, while worthy, are not necessarily ones I want to spend a lot of time developing.
About two months ago my friend Kate showed me the space above hers in a little live/work complex in Columbia City. She works on the second floor and sublets to a couple of other bodyworkers, and the building owner had been working upstairs. He no longer needed his office, and had offered it to her at a reasonable rate. It’s a large, clean, bright space in a vibrant neighborhood close to my home. My bodyworker friends are downstairs, there is a PCC two blocks away, and a yoga studio around the corner. As I considered all of this, something inside of me got really wobbly and I began to feel emotions I didn’t understand. When I sat with the feelings, I realized that what I was experiencing was my prayer, answered at long last.
At some point along the way I had surrendered the need to be in control of this dream, laid down the expectation of how it should look, and now I find myself receiving this offer— a place to Thrive Together.
I release with gratitude the parts of the dream that I no longer want to carry. I am happy to connect to other practitioners out in the world with a strong referral network, let PCC or the Farmers Market feed us healthy food, find movement at Columbia City Yoga or Vitality Pilates, and visit one of the sweet little saunas popping up all over the city. I have had a hot tub at home for many years now thanks to my loving husband, who also maintains it.
What I have really always wanted is a place to do my work that supports the work, that supports me doing the work, and my community through the work. I think this is it. I’m saying yes, thank you, let’s go!