Change & Bravery
Hey, hi…long time listener, first time caller here, aka…my (!) first (!) blog post (!!)
My name is Patricia Hawley but I prefer Tricia and many people (who’ve ignored my pleas) call me Patty. I feel so strongly about this that it’s the only name I give when I place my order at Starbucks. Of course they spell it wrong but when I reach for that steaming cup and see Trisha or Tish or Tanya scrawled near the rim I can’t help but feel like I’ve come home.
Every once in a while I’ll devote an entire afternoon to the pursuit of legally changing my name but so far I haven’t made it official. Not that making it official will change the hearts and minds of the kids who knew you in the third grade. (We do, don’t we, default to the path of least resistance? Of familiarity?) But maybe someday.
I’m keeping my options open.
And you should too. Because people and plants and tides change. It’s how we know we’re alive and not just furniture. Change is good. And necessary and scary and we should do it often. I mean, we really should….but we don’t…and this is why:
Because that scary part is…uh…problematic.
I should know. I’ve spent the better part of 2023 feeling untethered to what’s long been familiar. After eight years of teaching - and many more years of practicing before that - at my local yoga studio I made the difficult decision to step away because…because…maybe everything had become predictable and maybe a little too comfortable and maybe I felt like I was that piece of furniture. Always there, getting creaky (oh, hello knees!) So I did the things that one does:
Informed the owners;
Told my students;
Wrote the farewell posts on social media;
Left.
And here I am. Writing my first blog post. Creating content for my website. Learning how to edit videos. Hoping that I am enough because it’s weird not to have the support of a studio behind you. At least it is for me. At least it is for someone (still talking about me) who finds strength and safety in numbers.
Now, most mornings, I wake up and whisper “Today you will be brave.” And most days I fall short. But then I remember that change is hard and requires a hefty dose of gumption. Especially when you are flying solo…when everything feels a little foreign and a little lonely, and a little scary. But - and here’s the “a-ha moment” in case you were looking for one - there is nothing in the operating manual that says you have to be fearless.
Be afraid and make the change. Do it anyway…with your trembling knees, your quivering voice. Do it with your unfounded worries and sleepless nights, your screaming into the void. You do not have to be fearless to be brave. I’m gonna say that again: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE FEARLESS TO BE BRAVE. Might I suggest that that’s what makes you Capital-C-Courageous?
That’s what Moon & Quill is. It’s the culmination of what I thought I might be if took that leap. It’s a place where we can find ourselves in the midst of change and learn to move in new and mindful ways that honor the bodies we have today (and the bodies that got us here). Where we learn how to bring calm to our nervous systems or balance our pelvic floor or begin to meditate. It’s where we write our stories but we’re open to revision. It’s a place where yoga and movement are sensible and reflective. There are no bootcamps, no plank challenges.
Let’s face it: change happens whether we want it to or not. Whether we’re ready for it or not. So let’s embrace it, whatever phase of life you’re in. We can change. We can be afraid. And we can be brave.
Oh! And…
Moon & Quill launched on January 20. I’d love for you to check it out, click around the site and see what we’re all about. You’ll find a link for a FREE Sa Ta Na Ma Meditation as well as an “evergreen” (it’ll always be available!) Seated Hip Mobility class. Healthy hips are happy hips, right? Right.
If you’d like to work with me right off the bat then sign up for the Discovery Call that’s part of my 1:1 offering. We’ll co-create a yoga practice (yes, you read that right..YOU and I will sit down to discuss all the things you want to see - and the things you don’t) in a yoga class. Then I go away for about a week to put it all together in a 60-minute session. We meet to practice together over Zoom, deciding what we like and what we want to tweak. I make the changes and deliver the final practice to you a week later - shared via a private YouTube link.
So that I can devote my full attention to this offering, I only accept two students per month. Register for your Discovery Call today!
