No Anthony, No Yoga Soup: A Love Story

Today is #WorldFoodDay , a day to focus on the importance of food security around the world. ⁠
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Organic Soup Kitchen has been a staple in our studio for years. The soup kitchen ensures that low-income cancer patients will receive the immune-recovery support they need. Organic, plant-based Soup Meals are hand-delivered throughout the Santa Barbara community, bringing oncology-based nutrition and kindness directly to clients’ doors. They do it for the love.⁠
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Did you know that Yoga Soup may not have been possible without Anthony Carraccio of Organic Soup Kitchen?
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No Anthony– no Yoga Soup. ⁠
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Here’s #breadcrumb about how our studio came to be, from Eddie:⁠

There are many small milestones where I can’t help reflecting, yes, that’s exactly what I had hoped for and its a miracle that it’s happening. Serving soup qualifies.

We started serving Organic Soup Kitchen soup about two years ago, everyday. I never had enough money to open a cafe, but providing healthy, comfort-foodish snacks — sweet potato Sunday, organic carrots, Oatmeal Bar Saturday, etc. — has been part of studio life from the beginning. Surrounded by books, having couches to sit upon, offering a daily nutrient-dense organic soup embodies the environment we want to create and sustain here. Feeling at home prepares us for the deeply unique inner work awaiting us.

No Anthony–no Yoga Soup.

16 years ago I ran into Anthony who I kind of knew but not that well and he says, “hey, I hear you’re opening a yoga studio. If you need any help let me know. I used to mess around in construction.”

I didn’t think much of it.

After a lot of looking I found the perfect space that was floor to ceiling with old storage bins, broken displays, cubicles, junk every where.  It turned out I have a natural talent for ripping things apart and taking them to the dumpster. After that I was basically useless.

I asked Anthony to check the space out.

Without any official proclamation he became the contractor, with his son Tony as the indispensable worker bee.

I’d text him ideas at 2 a.m. and he’d respond with a plan at 7 a.m.

He was here with me through everything.

When we finally opened he said, you need a front desk that’s worthy of the space, so he built us one. Same with the tea bar. Same with the staircase leading to the massage room, and the thick mahogany sliding door in Studio 2.

I think working here gave him time to sort out the next stage of his life, the Organic Soup Kitchen stage. He also met his wife here, Drea. I married them, on Ledbetter Beach. It’s a good Yoga Soup story, taking turns helping each other, playing giver and receiver when necessary, not making too big of a deal out of it. It’s the way life is meant to work.

Organic Soup Kitchen ……

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