02/21/2026
It started simply enough.
We needed wall space for inversions.
So, the mirror was moved and the wall laid bare.
But.
It needed MORE.
When you have a talented watercolor artist in your roster of teachers, you MUST make the ask...
"Tina. Would you be willing to paint a mural on the kula room wall?" She grinned at me and her eyes sparkled immediately. She was IN.
And so, the seed was planted...but WHAT?
Through days of discussion and brainstorming, the mandala was conceived. But not just any random pattern. A wagon wheel. In homage of the past identity and function of the space. You see, creative energy has ALWAYS flowed throughout this building. It permeates the very mortar of the walls. In days of yore, artisans... craftsmen... gathered here to build wagons, pouring their energies into the act of creating functional art from raw materials.
It is no different now. The artists at Electric Graffiti continue to tell stories visually for their clients downstairs. Fire Horse Yoga assists its clients in telling stories energetically.
We create.
All of us.
As Tina labored over sketches, patterns, and preliminary paint swatches, attempting to capture the symbology within the mandala, members of our community tuned in to that creative flow and began imagining the final piece as well, offering suggestions for a horse of fire. Thus, the final layered art piece emerged. Coalesced from past images of horses (Tina acknowledged to me midway through the process that she'd had a dream of the "red horse" in the late 80's, but never really knew what the image meant), dreams and fiery bits of imagination from contributors as far away as Florida, the powerful image now gracing the back wall of our studio morphed into existence.
Tina, in her artistic fervor to complete the mural, found herself trudging in through 15–20-inch snowdrifts to breathe life into the image. She told me she enjoyed the immense quiet, the stillness she experienced, as she made those laborious walks. There was peace and clarity in that frozen stillness. Punctuated only by the sound of her breath. Each journey was, in itself, a yogic exercise. She balanced that icy stillness with the activity and movement of the fiery image she was creating. Final touches and refinements were worked out from the teaching mat, as she critiqued and lingered over every brush stroke, line width, and textural addition as she led students through asana in the days that followed.
I cannot describe how truly special it is to have this labor of love grace our studio. Tina, owner of FHY from 2008-2017, mentor and friend, leader, teacher of both asana and art, has left both heart and soul in that mural. If you haven't yet experienced it in person, I invite you in studio to FEEL it for yourself.
Thank you, Tina Stroud Drew, for sharing your talents with us EVERY DAY at Fire Horse Yoga!🙏
Additional thanks to:
Gary and Rosie Stroud- for gracing this world with the artistic and loving soul that IS Tina Stroud Drew...and for decades of FHY support and membership
Mel and Mike Harder- for allowing artistic liberty while embellishing the studio
Lyn Blume, Patty Oser, and Bridget Keller- for creative contributions to concept
Raj Nadkarni- for creative "flaming horse" images and unwavering FB support
Tasia
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