The Victorian-style home at 72 North Ave. served generations of families shopping for toys, playhouses and infant furniture.
Meyer's Toy World closed its doors in 2014. The residential and commercial building has since undergone a dramatic transformation, becoming part of a neighboring Buddhist monastery that purchased the property in 2017.
Now, the SokukoJi Buddhist Community is preparing to open the former toy store as Karma House, a secular yoga and wellness studio.
"We've been working on renovations for three years now. Wanting to revitalize the Northside a bit and felt the wellness center would fit in nicely," said Chiezan Tomczyk, a Buddhist monk and yoga instructor. "The idea is to have a book store, meditation... a massage studio. Just have it be a resource for the community with activities, we really hope to cater to this particular neighborhood and make it accessible."
Building a community
The SokukoJi Buddhist Community is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, operating exclusively off donations. Its spiritual leader is Bob Brown, an abbot and Battle Creek native whose dharma name is Kyoun Sokuzan.
Sokuzan was a Marine who spent nights in the service reading about Buddhism and its teachings. In 1975, he established the Dharma Study Group of Battle Creek and it eventually became the SokukoJi Temple, meaning "Temple of the Immediate Life," at 33 Anderson Court.
The SokukoJi Buddhist Community added an apartment building adjacent to the monastery, as well as the former Meyer's Toy World. Ten individuals live at the compound full-time, including three ordained monks.
Junshu Bailey Agattas moved into the upper levels at 72 North Ave. roughly three years ago and now leads guided meditation sessions. The group says they meditate between four and six hours daily.
"I met Sokuzan and it resonated with what he was teaching," Aggattas said. "It was a really slow process for me. Over the course of a couple years, I started to come down and learn how to meditate, and come to retreats. I figured I should devote more time to it, so I moved in.
"I grew up Catholic, so it was difficult for my family to understand what was happening, but it was helpful for them to come and meet everybody and have that personal connection with the community. I still don't think they understand what's happening here and why I'm doing this, but that's OK. They see that I'm happy here and I think that's enough."
Spiritual awakening
Chiezan, whose legal name is Kyle Tomczyk, moved to the monastery eight years ago after graduating from Aquinas College. The St. Johns native was an athlete in high school, and had hopes of playing baseball in college before injuries derailed those plans.
While at Aquinas, Cheizan says he found meditation.
"I had gotten into meditation, as most of us do, based on some difficulties," Chiezan said. "I tried this and I tried that. Drugs were fun. It was like the first time someone said maybe you can see for yourself, you don't have to believe anything or sign up anywhere. Just sit down and find out who you are, and I really appreciated that."
Chiezan runs the residential program and lives in the monastery building with his wife, Ashley Mannion-Woodward (Senshu), and their 1-year-old son, Rumi Tomczyk.
"I finished my master's degree in social work at Grand Valley and was taking a walk one morning and Sokuzan... happened to be doing a weekend retreat," Mannion-Woodward said. "I walked past the center on a Saturday morning and ended up staying because I was curious. I felt a really strong connection to what he was saying. Stayed in touch with him and started coming down here for services, then a year later we moved in with the intention of staying a year, and six years later I'm still here and married with a baby."
Yoga and meditation
Mannion-Woodward operates her secular practice out of the facility, with a focus on holistic therapeutic approaches, while also running the business side of the Karma House yoga and wellness studio.
The studio had a soft opening with free yoga classes for several weeks before the planned May 2 opening was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The studio isn't expected to open until Michigan reaches the next phase of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's MI Safe Start plan.
In the meantime, Chiezan is offering free yoga classes from the 900-square foot yoga room virtually on Zoom, which can be accessed through the Karma House Facebook page.
Chiezan emphasized that visitors to Karma House and yoga practitioners do not have to follow Buddhist teachings or feel like they are trying to be converted.
"We're not proselytizing. We're not interested in getting a bunch of Buddhists in town, but just providing resources for people that might want them," he said. "I like to have a beer sometimes. We come out and play corn hole. We watch 'South Park.' Just really ordinary people that realized we didn't have to struggle like we were... It's not like you start meditating and everything is better. There's just a practical, pragmatic side to just, 'Hey, spend some time looking at your mind.'"
Source: Former Meyer's Toy World now a Buddhist monastery, yoga and wellness studio - Battle Creek Enquirer