Standing at Another Threshold: Namaspa Turns 18!

If you’ve read our recent newsletters, blogs, or social media posts, you’ve seen that Namaspa is in a season of thresholds. Thresholds are those liminal spaces in life where endings and beginnings meet; where the familiar starts to dissolve, and something new takes shape. They are both exhilarating and tender.

Here at Namaspa, two big thresholds are happening simultaneously. As of September 1, our Redmond studio has been lovingly passed into the hands of Redmond local and Namaspa YTT graduate, Beth Gatchell. And our founder, Suzie Newcome, has stepped into a new chapter of her life, pursuing her longtime dream of attending law school at Lewis & Clark College in Portland.

And as if that weren’t enough, this month we also mark a joyful milestone: Namaspa’s 18th birthday on September 15th. Around the studio, we’ve been joking about all the things Namaspa is “finally old enough to do.” One of our favorite quips came from our assistant studio manager, Gina, who wrote: “Old enough to namaSTAY out late!”

The synchronicity is not lost on us. Just as Suzie launches into her own new adventure in law school, Namaspa, too, is officially “grown up.” It’s a reminder that growth is not linear but cyclical—woven with moments of pause, renewal, letting go, and beginning again.

But it’s not just our studios or community that are shifting. We’re living in a time when the whole world seems to be in flux. Whether you look at headlines about politics, economics, technology, or even the rapid advancements in AI and space exploration, change is constant.

And then there are the cosmic thresholds. Later this month, on September 22, we will arrive at the fall equinox—the precise point in the year when day and night are equal in length. It’s the second such balance point of the year, alongside the spring equinox, and it marks the turning from summer toward fall. Across cultures and traditions, this shift is seen as a time for reflection, harvesting the fruits of the season, and preparing to let go.

Inspired to honor and celebrate the fall equinox in community? Join us for our Equinox New Moon Circle: Astrology, Tarot & Sound Bath on September 21, 6:00-8:00pm.

Thresholds—whether personal, communal, or cosmic—are invitations. They ask us to pause. To reflect. To recalibrate our intentions and our sense of what matters most.

This September also carries another invitation: World Gratitude Day and the International Day of Peace, both observed on September 21st.

The story begins in 1965, at a Thanksgiving gathering at the East-West Center in Hawaii. There, Edna Fuerth Lemle introduced the idea of a “Gratitude Day” that could be observed internationally. She later recalled:

“We discussed the need for a globally unifying holiday and everyone was thrilled with my idea of Gratitude Day. Each person in the room pledged, therefore, to hold a Gratitude Gathering the following 21 September, when they returned to their own countries. That was the beginning. And since then Gratitude Day has been observed all over the world.” (“What is World Gratitude Day?”)

By 1977, the United Nations formally recognized World Gratitude Day, and a few years later it was renamed the International Day of Peace—a different name, but carrying the same seed of intention: to unite people across cultures in a spirit of gratitude, peace, and shared humanity.

As The New Yorker once described it in a story in 1984, World Gratitude Day “falls each year at the time of the autumnal equinox and serves as a sort of secular, global Thanksgiving.”

This timing is no coincidence. The equinox itself symbolizes balance—an equal measure of light and dark. Gratitude, too, is a balancing act: it doesn’t deny life’s challenges, but it places them in context. It reminds us that alongside difficulty, there is always something to be thankful for.

In yogic philosophy, there isn’t one single Sanskrit word for “gratitude,” but there are principles that align beautifully with it.

• Santosha — contentment, or the practice of being at peace with what is. Santosha teaches us to release the chase for more, newer, or better, and instead to rest in appreciation for what is already here.

• Asteya — non-stealing, which in the context of gratitude reminds us not to “steal” from our future selves by living in constant dissatisfaction or depletion. Gratitude is a way of honoring the present moment as enough.

• Ishvara Pranidhana — surrender to the divine, which is itself an act of grateful trust in the flow of life.

  
  

Together, these principles remind us that gratitude isn’t just a pleasant feeling. It’s a practice of perspective. As Edna Fuerth Lemle said decades ago: “When you’re bothered, just stop and think of something to be grateful for—what it is doesn’t matter so much as the emotion.”

Modern science backs this up. The HeartMath Institute has shown that gratitude and appreciation activate the brain’s reward pathways, release endorphins, and create coherent heart rhythms—physiological states that lead to greater clarity, resilience, and well-being. In their words:

“When we sincerely feel gratitude or appreciation for family, friends, nature, or the convenient things in life, a profound change occurs in our heart rhythms. They become more synchronized and coherent, which increases mental clarity, resilience and well-being needed for discernment and better choices, especially in today’s stressful environment.” (“Amplifying Gratitude,” HeartMath.org)

In other words, gratitude isn’t just a “nice idea.” It is a powerful medicine—one that steadies us through change, connects us to each other, and aligns us with peace.

In a spring equinox-inspired blog post in 2024, we highlighted a tarot card that embodied that seasonal threshold. In reflecting on the tarot for this post, the 10 of Cups card in the Motherpeace Tarot deck offers a visual meditation for this moment in Namaspa’s journey. In the card, a community of figures raises their arms in praise and gratitude toward a waterfall and rainbow. Cups line the bottom of the card, representing emotional fulfillment, shared joy, and abundance.

It’s not a personal or solitary image of achievement or success. It’s a communal one. The rainbow arches overhead not for one individual, but for all who stand together, celebrating the beauty of life itself.

This image feels like a perfect metaphor for Namaspa at 18! We are not simply celebrating the longevity of a yoga studio, but the community that has flowed together through so many seasons—the teachers, students, staff, and supporters who have co-created a culture of practice, healing, and growth. Like the rainbow and waterfall, Namaspa is both steady and flowing, both a structure and an ever-renewing source of inspiration.

At Namaspa, these global themes around balance at the fall equinox, and gratitude and peace celebrated worldwide annually on 9/21, find echoes in our own local transitions.

• Beth Gatchell’s ownership of the Redmond studio is a reminder that yoga thrives when it is rooted in community. Just as World Gratitude Day began with a gathering of people who pledged to carry an idea back to their own countries, Beth is carrying the heart of Namaspa into her own local community in Redmond.

• Suzie’s move into law school reminds us that yoga is not an endpoint but a path of ongoing transformation. Just as gratitude and peace are lifelong practices, so too is yoga—a foundation we carry with us into new arenas of service, growth, and leadership.

• Namaspa turning 18 is a celebration of endurance, of growth, and of the many people who have poured their energy into this community over nearly two decades. Like the figures in the 10 of Cups card, we lift our arms together in thanks for the waterfall that keeps flowing.

  
  

All of these thresholds and transitions—and the perspective that life may just be a series of thresholds—also offer us a chance to practice gratitude at every scale:

• Personally, for the simple miracles of breath, body, and being.

• Communally, for the gift of practicing together in a studio, online, or wherever yoga meets us.

• Globally, for the possibility of peace, the resilience of the human spirit, and the ongoing evolution of our shared world.

  
  

Yoga teaches us not to resist these moments and times of change, but to enter them with presence, with gratitude steadying our hearts, and the practice of inner and outer peace guiding us as we move forward. Thresholds are not meant to be rushed through. They are meant to be savored.

Happy International Day of Peace. Happy World Gratitude Day. Happy Fall Equinox. And—most of all—Happy 18th Birthday, Namaspa.