We’ve Arrived at Our New Space!

Well, here we are in our new home at 22 E. 30th St., just West of Madison Avenue. We’ve been here a week and a half but we’re still getting used to some big changes both in the building itself and in the neighborhood.

The first big change is the feeling of spaciousness. As many of you know, every nook, cranny and closet on Spring Street was used for office space. Now we have airy, often light-filled offices and large, high-ceilinged classrooms – five of them, in fact, rather than three and a bit in Soho.

The second difference is simple beauty. Even though we loved our old home, quarter of a million participants over the last 25 years had taken their toll and the building no longer sparkled the way it did when we moved there in 1984. 22 E. 30th St., in contrast, is painted with refreshing pastel colors that have an uplifting effect. Its wide corridors and bamboo panels convey a sense of openness and serenity, and give me the feeling that we have taken a major step forward and that we really are ready to move to another level in our service to the holistic community of greater New York.

After decades in Soho, our new neighborhood of Lower Midtown (does anyone have a more evocative name?) is an area of broad boulevards, huge Persian carpet stores, and elegant 19th Century architecture with numerous mythological figures prominently placed on stylish buildings. As I write this, two benign lions, mouths carrying garlands of flowers, peer down on the street below from the building opposite our offices. The imagination was vibrantly alive among the architects and designers who built this neighborhood. Its stone animals, saints, medieval figures and Romanesque arches lend a soulful quality to the area in marked contrast to the featureless, rectangular, utilitarian edifices of modern times.

And above us always is the totemic form of the Empire State Building which flatters our sense that we really are at the center of the universe. Certainly, we never imagined back in 1983 when the Open Center was just an idea embraced by a few dedicated souls, that we would one day occupy a magnificent, 15,000 square foot space near the foot of the 20th Century’s most famous building.

Of course, much remains to be done. Banners and awnings need to be placed outside, the café has yet to open, the row of bamboo plants that will greet visitors at the entrance has yet to be installed (with an accompanying fountain), and a large mural inspired by the palaces of Andalusia is not yet painted. New levels of beauty and restfulness are still to come.

But don’t let that deter you from visiting us. By the time of the Open House on September 10th, most of the missing pieces will have been put in place and we will be delighted to welcome you to a new home that is larger, more gracious, more spacious and liberating than we had ever dared hope. It feels like a blessing to be here – a gift that we are thrilled to share. So do come over to see us, and lend your good vibes to the ensoulment of this enchanting space.

Ralph White