FAQ: Why Did You Move Back to Austin?

On March 18th, 2019, I moved from my home of 10+ years (DC) back to my hometown of Austin, TX. Lots of people have lots of questions about my move, and so I did my best to anticipate and answer them here!

Are you Selling ESY? Heck no! This is my baby and I'm holding on tight! Thanks to the magic of technology, I will still be *very* involved in operating the studio. And I've got a team rockstars to handle all the in-person stuff for me.

Why did you decide to move? Austin is my hometown, and I want to be closer to my family. But also, I'm ready to expand my empire, and the Austin market has a lot more opportunities for me.

When are you opening your second studio? Honestly, I don't know. For one thing, I need to find a space in which to open! And then I have to put the Alia touch on it, which could take a little while, depending on what I'm working with.

But also, I want to take a moment and breathe. I've devoted pretty much all of my time and energy to opening and running ESY for the past four years. And while I've loved every moment of it, I want to take a little break and focus on other projects.

Other projects? Like what? Well for one thing, I've been playing the role of Teacher almost exclusively for the past four years. It's time for me to be a student again! In addition to taking all the yoga classes I can muster, I plan to attend trainings and spend time diving deeper into my own yoga studies.

I'm also finally going to launch the online Foundations of Yoga Course that I've been talking about for like two years now.

And I want to create regularly-recurring retreats in the Austin area that are more than just a yoga-filled vacay. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!) I want to combine my various passions and areas of expertise to offer my tribe something above and beyond the typical retreat experience.

And I want to build other ways for people to practice with me remotely, whether that's through Skype Private Sessions, live-streaming group classes, or building an online class library.

And I want to WRITE. I have so much rattling around in my brain that I'm just dying to share with y'all and anyone else who is interested. I've only just scratched the surface of the lessons my career change journey taught me, and have many, many thoughts on how yoga philosophy can help each and every one of us live our best lives.

Oh, and also, it'd be cool to actually have a personal life too ;-)

I'm pretty sure I'll open a second studio at some point in the not-too-distant future, because nothing has made me feel happier or more fulfilled than creating and running ESY. I just want to spend some time on the things that I've had on the back burner before diving into round 2.

Want to know more about my move to Austin? Drop me line at alia@aliajkhan.com, you know I always love hearing from you!