It’s a season of change here at the magazine as we welcome three new staff members and bid adieu to their predecessors.

First: We say farewell to our yoga editor, Sheila Ewers. My first impression of Sheila came from the first article she wrote for us. DAMN, she can write! Within three paragraphs, I knew we had found our next yoga editor after Graham Fowler’s prolific two years with us. I was thrilled I wouldn’t have to search any further.

One of the benefits of working with extraordinary people is the pleasure of their company, but I don’t think Sheila and I met more than twice after our initial meeting. Truth is, she ran the department so well that there wasn’t really a need to meet. As I told her recently, “If you don’t hear from me, that means all is well!”

Well, not really. I believe it’s a failure of management when excellence isn’t recognized in the moment. While that can’t be rectified in a brief farewell piece, let me say that I can’t imagine a more sensitive, thoughtful, compassionate and heartfelt response to the events of 2020 than Sheila’s. As I review her writings, I am struck by how my appreciation for her work deepens even now.

Perhaps the best I can do to honor Sheila is to quote her. This is from her July 2020 piece, “The Yoga of Dismantling Racism.”

“The action of dismantling systemic racism and working for social justice is yoga. It is an advanced practice that requires every one of us to, first, do the deep work of svadhyaya, self-study, and then bring our awareness into the world and skillfully do our part to create the union we profess to believe…

“This is no comfortable or easy endeavor. It requires what my meditation teacher, Jonathan Foust, once called ‘ruthless self-observation,’ particularly for many of us who are white and unconsciously benefitting from hundreds of years of white supremacy and privilege. It takes courage and resolve—and it won’t happen overnight. When the voices of protest we see in the streets today quiet down, it will be more important than ever to continue our efforts. We must not look away.”

Dear Sheila, I cannot thank you enough for your two years of stewardship. Your inner beauty, compassion and devotion to personal evolution are remarkable, and I feel forever blessed by our association. May you always have that which is for your highest and best.

Second: Hello, Mila Burgess, E-RYT 500, our new yoga editor! Recommended by Sheila, Mila is different from her predecessors in that she is not a studio owner; she is the master teacher for Life Time Atlanta. Based on her story ideas for the next year, I can tell that the direction of content for our yoga department will push the boundaries, too. Consider it “Yoga Plus”—as in “Yoga and Creativity” or “Yoga and Emotional Competence.” I hope you are as excited as I am to read what will soon spring from Mila’s fingertips!

Mila did not come to yoga readily—and I like that about her. She was a fitness advocate and practitioner; training hard was her way, and she saw yoga as “too squishy” to be of value. She loved her first yoga class, not because it induced a peaceful mind, but because it was “fitness yoga,” and she got a great workout. With this background, I hope that Mila’s tenure will expand the interest and readership in the yoga community and beyond. Her first article will appear in January 2022.

Third: We are thrilled to announce the addition of a seasoned journalist as our new staff writer. Sandra Bolan, whose first article appears this month, is an award-winning reporter with over 25 years of experience. She served for nine years as a reporter for the Stouffville Sun-Tribune of Ontario, has published educational and photographic books about dogs, and is a dedicated extreme athlete in her spare time, having competed in Ironman and marathons.

It will be impossible for Sandy to replace her predecessor, who happens to be my son, Noah Chen. He’s now getting considerably more work than I can provide, with better pay, from his mom! So the good news is that his talents stay in the family.

Working with one’s offspring can be a double-edged sword, but how sweet it is to see him to meet the challenges—and beat them by a mile! Some of Noah’s best work shined in the lead article in our August 2019 package, “Black & Vegan in Atlanta.” He surpassed even that with his penning “Inherited Trauma: Is It Real? Clues to Post-traumatic Slave Syndrome” in our February 2021 special section, “Healing the Trauma of Slavery.”

Finally: We send gratitude and good luck to our copy editor of two years, Patricia Staino, as she moves on to new opportunities. As is often the case in our current work world, I’ve never met Patricia since she lives in North Carolina. Taking her place is Sarah Donnell, a neighbor of mine here in East Lake Commons from whom I’ve taken yoga classes! Sarah has more than a decade of writing and editing experience and recently completed her Master of Arts in Social Change from the Starr King School for Ministry. She will be ordained within a few days of this writing. Sarah started with us last month and has already made her presence felt on the national level as a copy editor on December articles for Natural Awakenings corporate as well. ❧

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Paul Chen has been owner/publisher of Natural Awakenings Atlanta franchise since January 2017. He is a practicing Buddhist and a founding member of East Lake Commons, a cohousing community.