Why Arrive?
One of my pandemic pursuits, aside from baking all the things, walking all the streets with my pup, and zooming all the groups, was an ever-increasing list of new names for Studio 26.
Why a new name?
The short TLDR version is: for so many of us the pandemic inspired a distillation of what truly matters. Having a generalized name (Studio 26) that didn’t describe or intimate the magic of what we’ve built here for 11 years no longer served. To shed the past, to look optimistically forward to the future, to be present…just felt right. So a spreadsheet was born with participles, associations, and puns to translate physical ideas into linguistic matter. I captured as many names as I could, later sorting them by category (those that were more Client-centric, or Trainer-themed, or physical sounding, or inspiring, or catchy…you get the idea.)
Of note for you entrepreneurs: it was imperative for me as a founder / CEO that any new name accomplish a couple strategic aims. It needed to both a) leap from our deeply local service and b) spread its wings towards an expansive future. From the trenches of 11+ years building an awesome product, while surviving the pandemic as a brick and mortar small business in a decimated industry, it had to speak to both loyal customers and new arrivals, to long-term professionals and folks who’ve just begun their careers. I have some clear and some not-yet-crystallized visions of what’s next with this business model, and the new name needed to provide shelter for our current product, umbrella for all that we offer, and kindling for what is to come.
I eventually summoned the courage to share my lil’ spreadsheet and canvased my most trusted sources of close friends, a client or two, a family member or three, an advisor or 4. I shared my favorite selections and even invited new iterations. I knew in my heart of hearts that one name, if it could survive the gauntlet of critical challenges from my very smart circle, would be the runaway favorite.
Why this name?
I’ve taught tens of thousands of private sessions, and observed equal numbers of other’s sessions. I’ve been at the front desk witness to innumerable transformations where a Client comes in feeling some kind of way, has their session, and leaves feeling better. I’ve witnessed countless Pros come in to work, do their thing, and go home tired but satiated for having helped others. Having been a student, client, mentor, a body on other people’s tables/equipment, presenter in front of large audiences sharing the magic of physical culture and practice and from dialogues with fellow studio + business owners…what I know to be true for all:
whatever you come in with you can leave aside, but can’t dispose of.
what you work on now is informed equally by what you bring in with you as what you aspire to be.
what you go to next is influenced by the choices, mindset, and actions you most recently experienced.
Each of the above is inexorably impacted by any human you work with along the way.
Arrive is about being present for the journey. You carry all of your baggage to the present moment, with all sorts of ideas, hopes and dreams for where you’re headed. But what’s next is anyone’s guess! In choosing to workout or receive treatment or build a business, you have only that with which you carry on you, right now; your body, your mind, and perhaps a guide. In this present moment, with everything you’ve experienced before, the very next moment is unknown. It’s a beautiful fact, terrifying and radiant in its simplicity. You may be ready or unready, but it is here, it is now, ripe for the taking. The future, dictated by current choices, however well or ill chosen, can be anticipated or dreaded, but it’s coming nonetheless.
You can:
Arrive for yourself, in your body, and for the life you want to experience.
Arrive ready to go, arrive with an idea in the mind, arrive needing help, but arrive no matter what.
Arrive at your best self.
Arrive with others who inspire you
Arrive for the business you’ve always dreamed of.
Arrive in NYC - that feeling of “making it” here
Arrive to a connected community of like-minded pros, where you’re reminded you don’t have to go it alone…
Arrive for what’s next, whatever that may be.
‘Arrive’ is active yet welcomes mindfulness, arrive is present but implies where you’re headed, arrive is light and concise and - perhaps best of all - is determined by you and those around you.
I’m so excited for you to arrive with us!