It’s late September 2025, and I am looking out at the Autumnal weather and reflecting on the events of the summer.  

It was a wonderful summer with lovely weather and plenty of time to be out and about and sit in the garden on the long evenings. 

But this summer has had a black cloud over it as well – in June it was 19 years nearly to the day when I became aware that our days at Yoga for Harmony were numbered and 2 months later that mself and the current owner came to the difficult conclusion, that despite my efforts with numerous business plans, accounting and calculations  

my lovely yoga studio, Yoga for Harmony in Arthur Road, Windsor, would need to close. 

I am wondering why this decision brings a sense of loss and confusion over who I am now and how I will identify myself in my work and my passion for  

teaching yoga. I have been ‘Yoga for Harmony’ for nearly 20 years and although I will continue to teach at other locations and  

probably have many of my regular students follow me to the new locations, somehow the sense of loss remains.  

My own tutor and friend, Gary Carter, had to give up his studio in Brighton quite some time ago, and I was interested to hear  

that he had and still does feel the same sense of loss. My good friend Monica Voss is in the same positiion as I am and she fnds herself  

closing The Ether Myers Studio in Toronto almost on the same day as me, and is also feeling a deep sense loss after many many years of having her studio. 

We agreed, it’s not just the bricks and mortar of the building, the love and time we put into making the venue an expression of ourselves  

and our teaching, but the life experiences, the people we met, the relationships we made and the sharing of a common goal with those  

we started the adventure with, that now creates the feeling of loss for that era of our lives. 

The story of Yoga for Harmony began in February 2003 when my then partner, Barney, bought a large property at 143 Arthur Road, Windsor  

together with property that was called ‘the land to the rear of 143 Arthur Road’ and which later became 143a Arthur Road – Yoga for Harmony. 

The property was a strange combination of what seemed to have been some sort of office at the front and a pretty much derelict workshop on the back.  

I remember there was a huge safe on the first floor of the front house which was a massive undertaking to get down the stairs and removed. 

History seems to suggest it might have been a corner grocery store back in the early 1900’s and perhaps the studio was once the horse stables  

for the grocery store deliveries. It was a laundry at one time, and I spent a lot of hours removing old paint showing the letters  

of ‘Laundry’ and 'No Parking' from the brick wall outside the studio.  

It was also a storage space for’ Penguins Events’, who still have business premises on the Vansittart Industrial Estate 

The adventure was born out of a very non-conventional method of setting up a business. It was a chaotic challenge that involved 3 generations of family,  

both on Barney’s side and mine, all pulling together to make what was supposed to have been a large property of residential flats and bedsits.  

That eventually happened in the front house facing Arthur Road, although that was the last part to be completed and we called that the 'main house' or '143'. 

However, residential planning was refused for 143a and that by default became the Yoga Studio in 2006. To the side of the studio there was a 

'hidden' living space that Barney used on and off for a few years, and then I used as my home between 2014 and 2018, 

I restyled it to become the Therapy Room. We had just got that part established as the Covid lock-down hit in 2020. 

It took in total probably 12 years of tussles with planning departments, environmental health departments, utility companies,  

neighbours and who owns what parking (the list is endless), before we had what you now see as a whole building. 

A bizarre series of events saw the yoga studio become a reality. Quite soon after the purchase was completed, it transpired that the previous owner's  

residential planning application that was supposed to have beeen processed prior to the sale, had got tied up on the planning officer’s desk for 6 months due to ill health.  

It was a complicated purchase, far from straightforward, lots 'of strings had to be pulled' and in the complexities that took place Barney made the purchase thinking he had residential planning - he was never known for his attention to paperwork and admin, and had never thoroughly checked the status of the planning applications. He discovered that while the planning application was sitting on a desk in the planning office, the Jubilee Flood Scheme was pronounced incorrectly completed,  

and it put the premises of 143a and numerous other Windsor properties on the flood plan, when previously then had not been.  

Hence the planning when it eventually was considered was refused. Whilst it was a huge blow, it also set the tone of 'carry on regardless' for the years that followed. 

I was, at this time 2 years into my 4 year Yoga Teacher Training Course and was already teaching classes in a selection of cold and uninviting venues.  

Barney came back to my house one evening in 2004 somewhat disheartened by the news of the planning refusal and that he could not develop the site as  

he planned and he just said “if I build a yoga studio do you think you can make something of it?” I was not paying proper attention as I was cooking  

family tea amid the usual noise of family life, I think I said "Mmhh" so we discussed what would make a nice yoga studio space and we came up with  

heated floor, mirrors and natural light as essential and it started from there the next day. 

Barney was excited with these ideas, as a plumber and builder he was interested in finding out if it was possible to have water pipe heating under  

a solid wood floor – the advice was not, but 20 years later the floor is still perfect. He was also interested in how to best hang mirrors to fill a whole wall. 

It took a total of 10 mirrors purchased, and several return trips to Windsor Glass to get 6 finally fixed on the wall.  

One of those 6 cracked fairly early on, due to the hot yoga classes raising and reducing the heat in the room too fast, and it was removed.  

The other 5 have lasted the course and remain today. They have proved a real pain to clean every week, as my lovely cleaning ladies will testify. 

When we started in 2003/4 my 4 daughters were aged between 10 and 16 and over the years were helping out on the 'building site' together with  

Barney's Dad and his mate Lou, both of whom then would have been over 75, (they were like the Chuckle Brothers getttng the bricks up to the top floor  

of the main house using a bucket and rope - up to me down to you), and my Mum who added finance where she could and bought the mats, the blocks,  

the belts and cushions, many of which we still have in use today. Everyone else in between who was a friend or colleague all chipped in.  

Not to be forgotten here is Benny - somewhere in the Therapy Room there is part of a brick dividing wall that is all wonky. It was 'built' by 'Albanian Benny' who at the age of his middle thirties had a terminal brain tumour. It transpired that seeing straight and balance were two of his lesser skills. Nobody minded about the wall, we all liked him and he needed friends and jobs to do so Barney paid him, fixed it up himself and gave out smaller jobs thereafter, but  

Then there was also 'Slovakian Rusty', an iron welder and good friend who hand built and fitted the hidden corner sink.  

It remains there still, although that sink and the wash basin in the loo only got a hot water supply some years after they were fitted.  

It was a labour of love, and it was a case of 'get it sorted' and worry about the finances and the details later. There was never any money in the Bank, so once the studio opened each pound of profit went on buying something else that was needed. It was a mixture of fun and scariness, there were many tears and lots of laughter,  

disagreements and compromises, wonderful new friendships were made and existing ones sealed for years to come. Looking back,  

I recognise it was a phenomenal adventure that I remember with fondness and smiles At times I am amazed that we actually achieved what we did, especially when I have to concede that the big ideas were conceived, and the important decisions taken over a couple of glasses of wine and a couple of pints of Guinness and port in the local hostelry. 

Things were not completely finished when we opened the Yoga Studio in June of 2006, finishing touches continued and I was always buyng 'presents' for the studio 

to give it the homely and inviting feel I wanted. It was a week when a heat wave hit the country, and I must admit on those first few days  

I did wonder if my choice of underfloor heating rather than air conditioning was the right one.  

However, over the following 19 years the need for heating over the need for cooling was very evident in favour of the floor!!!. 

The early tutors were well respected colleagues and friends who were teaching locally and who agreed to join me on my journey.  

We had a timetable of 5 classes a week to start with and at the peak, just before we closed for the Pandemic restrictions in 2020, there was a very  

full weekly timetable of over 20 classes, as well as a wide range of specialist and guest tutor workshops. Our recovery after the pandemic only  

really returned around the middle of 2024 when classes started to regain their original numbers and more tutors started to hire  

the space for their own events and workshops. A few tutors, notably Amanda and Caroline, have been with me since the first week  

and Caroline actually taught the very first class on our very first very hot evening. 

Carrie a good friend and then a tutor herself designed by hand drawing our very first logo. Her husband managed to get it digital. We upgraded to a new logo with a new website about 10 years later. She subsequently became our very meticulous cleaner, taking care of all things that need cleaning and maintained.  

She is also the maker of the lovely mala beads you see for sale on the shelving. In the last few years she has been joined by Lilianna who 'covers' here and there. 

For about 10 years things really just 'bundled' along, somehow just managing to keep going and generally one year merged into the next. There were some bumps along the way and some easy ride months and years as well. We had new double glazed windows to replace the old metal framed ones, we had failed heating with boilers breaking down and replaced, we had front door locks break, we had a glass display cabinet 'explode' due to direct sunlight heating it metal hinges, hanging signs at the Arthur Road end get blown down and land in the road during a storms. We had many parking disputes outside and many attendees get told off by neighbours (many got the sharpness of Barney's tongue too!). Plenty of 'incidents' relating to the storage units opposite (lorries getting stuck, break ins, alarms going off) and not least the arrival of the iron railings which at the time I saw as a complete eyesore and disruption, but have now got used to. Of course, a massive disruption during the Covid lockdowns and all the restrictions and 'rules' we needed to follow to have in-person classes return, but also for most tutors, the advent of the 'on-line' class with all it's advantages and disavantages.  

We had tutors, therapists , students and clients come and go. We had numerous guest tutors, such as Gary Carter, Pete Blackaby, Monca Voss, Howard Napper, David Sye, Phillip Xerri and many more came for full day and half day workshops, First Aid Certification days and Teacher Training Courses. We have offered all styles of yoga including Hot Yoga, Iyengar, Flow, Kundalini, Yin, Child and Teen Yoga and of course Hatha, as well as Yoga Nidra, Kirtan, Sound Baths, Meditation, Yoga Philosophy, Tai Chi  

and, in the very beginning, children's Ballet Classes. 

But then in 2016 Barney started to develop some medical issues which remained unsolved for 3 years, until he was finally diagnosed with cancer in 2019. 

It meant the arrangements of 'mate's rates' and all the loose ends had to start being tightened. As he became more unwell, and then diagnosed as terminally ill, 

we had to change a lot of the ownership arrangements. In June 2022 the whole property was sold to Barney's friends, Russ and Tim, who had been part of the original team,  

to enable Barney to do all the things he wanted to do with his final years. 

By this time, to add to the difficulties, Barney and I found we could not keep our relationship and business interests compatible and,  

not without upset on both sides, we drifted apart. Terminal illness is a terrible thing to live through and then pass away from for all parties involved.  

He had a rough ride medically with so many mistakes, misdiagnosis and, at times, care that verged on negligent. His cheeky and charming zest for chasing the challenges and 

getting his way, were clouded by resentment and anger. Barney passed away in December of 2024, 3 weeks after his 56th birthday. 

Now, the business side of the property had to be looked at seriously. For myself and the new owner, ‘mate's rates’ and loyalty to friends just could  

not maintain the structure of the building or the business. We only ever broke even and that was with me doing all the admin for free, and often  

general upgrades and building maintenance out of my own money. When Barney was alive and in earlier times that was all we needed. He was satisfied  

and glad that people were enjoying and benefiting from the yoga classes and therapies offered, and that it made people in the local community happy.  

I was able to teach yoga in a lovely venue and enjoy the running of the business, for me a perfect combination. 

Today with the ever increasing difficulties consecutive Governments insist on imposing on small businesses, higher running costs, more and more legalities  

to be adhered to and a new roof being required within a year or so, the property as it stands simply is no longer viable.  

The owners and I have decided that probably the best option would be for me to disband and for them to sell. As I write this, that is the trajectory. 

I have many more anecdotes I could share, and perhaps I'll add to this in the future, but for now this is my story of Yoga for Harmony as I remember it.  

Soon the next chapter for the building and Yoga for Harmony will be known,  

but for now many people are sad and are already feeling a loss for what has been a weekly or monthly sanctuary for so long.  

As I write this, playing in the background are the Stereophonics - ‘Colours of Autumn’  

"There's nothing like the colours of October,  

Make you feel you can start it all over,  

Like pink blossoms in the spring…………." 

It might be the end of an era, but it’s also the start of a new one. Thank you Barney for the adventure, it shaped my yoga, my teaching and me as a person.  

So many people have benefited and found peace at Yoga for Harmony, but it would not have happened without you, your talent for seeing and  

acting ‘outside the box’, being determined, insisting on not being just one of the crowd, for being just a little bit crazy,  

exploiting your smile and your charm and living by your ethos of ‘having a go’.