Leigh Ann, USA
Hello, my name is Leigh Ann Lesho and I live in Tucson, Arizona with my husband Billy and our 11-year-old son Rylan. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all your words and I feel a deeper sense of connection to the community, especially since there are some of you that I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting.
My husband and I are Electrical Contractors, and our company is Fiesta Electric. We work mostly in new custom residential construction, but also some remodeling and commercial work as well. I am also a singer-songwriter and a yoga teacher. Once upon a time I owned a yoga studio and boutique called the Yoga Tree and I spent a significant amount of time and energy supporting it. My son was only 2 years old when I opened the studio, and he was diagnosed with Autism only 6 months later.
The plan I had going into it quickly changed, and although a large and wonderful community was established that provided an incredible amount of support for me in the beginning of the journey with Rylan, and most importantly led me to Acarya, the amount of time and energy it demanded began to negatively impact my health, so it was eventually necessary to let it go.
Saying good-bye to The Yoga Tree enabled me to devote more time once again to my family, our business, my yoga practices, and music. I have written, recorded, and produced two full-length albums and have spent many nights and weekends playing live concerts with my band. The main motivation behind the decision to begin writing and recording my music was to create tools that could help Rylan develop speech…he was practically non-verbal until the age of 5 and is now able to hold some meaningful conversation. Witnessing his journey has been incredibly enlightening and inspiring. The music has been a big part, but I also have Acarya to thank for the support that has greatly contributed to his remarkable growth over the past 9 years.
So, what has changed during this time of Covid? Well, the live music performances and private yoga classes I was teaching have been put on hold, but what’s interesting is that I had actually decided to put these things on hold and socially distancing myself a few months prior to the pandemic happening…perhaps there was some intuition involved here, but nonetheless, after many years of leading a very extroverted life I had found myself very strongly desiring more solitude and chose to take a big break toward the end of 2019 and go into retreat at home. The lockdowns began shortly after, so I found it strange that the sudden circumstances seemed to meet me where I was at.
A big, unexpected change is that I am now homeschooling Rylan full-time. He attended the Tucson Waldorf School for 6 years, but I have also worked with him at home on the things that he needs special attention with, so we already had a homeschool rhythm but now for much longer periods of time. His classmates have gone back to in-person learning but we have decided to keep him home for the time being, and possibly for the rest of his schooling because it is working well, and he is incredibly happy with it. Over the past year, we have planted many trees and finally started the garden we had been wanting to for some time. It has been a wonderful part of our daily homeschool activities, providing so much peace and valuable lessons in addition to delicious fruits and veggies!
One extremely fortunate thing for our business is that we already operated from our home before Covid, so nothing really changed in this area except for the safety protocols of course. We usually experience steady business, but we have been busier than ever during Covid now that everyone is home and tending to repair and/or dreaming up new construction projects. It has been challenging at times to navigate the safety aspect of it all as we do our best to support our employees and customers, but we have been truly fortunate thus far. Overall, the break from the more social parts of my life has created the space necessary to re-prioritize my duties.
It is always such a gift to receive teachings from Acarya, but I feel the lessons that have been offered during this time have been especially supportive. Also, the Yoga Sutra and Samskrita classes with Ganapathi have been a wonderful addition to my week. My discipline has strengthened, and my practice has deepened. I am eternally grateful for all the love and support Acarya, Bharati Yoga Dhama, Sadvidya Foundation, and this beautiful community continue to offer.
I am so happy the Spring season is finally upon us after the very unusual weather we have had in our desert town this year. Our usual summer monsoons passed us by with only one good day of soaking the sunbaked earth and vegetation. The cold of winter arrived earlier and stayed longer than usual…we had actual snow fall just a week ago! This is very strange for these parts. Our plants were confused, but I did my best as a rookie gardener to keep them protected and learned a lot! We are all feeling refreshed now with a spring in our step.
Love to you all.
