The Soft Light of September
marks a beautiful, atmospheric shift as late summer gently transitions into autumn. This phenomenon occurs because the sun's path sits lower in the sky as the autumnal equinox approaches, causing
sunlight to travel through more of the Earth's atmosphere.
August was full of connecting with friends and family. Some very special friends came to visit one of our favorite places on Mt. Desert Island in Maine. Later in the month, my youngest sister, her husband, and my almost-two-year-old niece joined our extended New Jersey family for a glorious stretch of cousin time.
My husband, Jeff, and I also celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary with a Roaring ’20s party—a little speakeasy, a temporary refuge from the world’s current woes. We dressed up, gathered close, and toasted on the hour with the sound of my Jupiter gong.
As the night went on, our friends and family requested more and more gong (because it is THAT good of a vibration) until the gong became the evening’s unofficial collaborator. A two-hour sing-along spontaneously unfolded, with gong replacing words like song, long, mom, and even thong.
It was completely organic, ridiculous and delightful.
I have always been more comfortable than most at thresholds—the places where worlds overlap, edges become blurry and something new can emerge. It takes a fair amount of courage, a little grace, and usually some awkward laughter to cross them.
This gathering felt especially sacred because some of these people had stood beside us twenty years earlier at our wedding, while others were newer friends, already deeply adored and cherished. And somehow, miraculously, they were all dancing, laughing, and singing together.
Sometimes, in the middle of laughter and song, the ordinary world seems to open and let a little magic through. To me it feels holy,
“Everything is on fire, but everyone I love is doing beautiful things and trying to make life worth living. I know I don't have to believe in everything, but I believe in that.” -Nikita Gill
Is there anything better than spontaneous singing, dancing, and laughing with friends?
If August brought nourishing personal gatherings, September brings the return of routines, children heading back to school, and long twilights steeped in golden honey. There is a particular softness to evenings at this time of year—a lingering light that seems to illuminate whatever it touches.
It reminds me of friendship: the way our people’s light can soften our edges, expand our sense of possibility, and make us feel more fully ourselves.
I am deeply grateful for friendships, trusted relationships, and the strange and beautiful collaborations that emerge when we bring our particular gifts, curiosities, and visions into the same space—with humans and with our more-than-human kin.
My brilliant friend and beloved collaborator, Dr. Emily Bessemer (pelvic floor physical therapist and so much more), created just such a space in 2021: an in-person community haven for teaching, movement, healing, strengthening, art, and connection, as an extension of her thriving Holistic Pelvic Care practice.
I was introduced to Emily by a mentor and friend—artist, dancer, and psychotherapist Lisa Verni—who seems to possess an uncanny ability to recognize a potential constellation before the stars have even met. She had a feeling Emily and I might have some magic to make together.
Lisa was right.
After meeting, being treated by, and eventually working with Dr. Emily, I began walking down the only dirt road in my town to the EmBodied Physical Therapy studio, where I found an extraordinary galaxy of teachers, healers, seekers, artists, and inspirational humans.
I taught Sound Practitioner Trainings, held space for powerful group and individual Transformational Breathwork sessions and Soundbaths, guided Kundalini Yoga, and created experimental art and healing offerings. I cannot express how dearly I came to feel about the amazing clients I worked with. But just as importantly, I was an appreciative student and participant—from Reiki master teacher trainings to goddess and herbalism workshops, yoga, strength-building, meditation, and art.
I found support. I found my people.
I was inspired and awed by others bringing their visions into form, offering their particular gifts back to the world. And I was reminded that community changes us—not because we become more like one another, but because we become more fully ourselves in the safety, play, and presence of others. People like my talented artist, therapist, wise, and long-time meditator friend Alison Zilai.
I am forever grateful to Emily for creating that space.
She is moving her flourishing practice a little further down the road—continuing to shine—and I will miss that golden season we shared. But I am grateful for the gift of having had it at all.
It existed because Emily was willing to share her magic—and the invisible, behind-the-scenes labor that all magic entails. Her courage, hard work, vision, generosity and magnetism created a place where other people could become more themselves.
She reminds me that when we choose to become more liberated, we create more room for others to become free, too. Sometimes one person’s willingness to shine makes it possible for an entire constellation to appear.
Lately I have been reading Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life's Greatest Collaborations by Rowan Hooper, whose bibliography seems to contain many of my favorite books about nature. If you know me, you know I am enthusiastic—perhaps excessively so—about lichens, mycelium, mosses, fractals, spirals and the improbable symbiosis of the fig and the wasp.
Nature's wisdom is the miracle of interconnectedness.
No one is really doing it alone. We are all more connected than we can imagine.
Perhaps this is why I am longing for more intentional collaboration in my own life:
In deepening relationships that allow life-giving sunlight to travel through my atmosphere.
More places where my gifts can mingle with someone else’s and become something neither of us could have made alone.
I think of my talented artist, teacher, and art coach Jenny Santa Maria, and how we might encourage others to create through play. I think of the on-going songwriting and art-making with my children and the hybrid writing pieces I’ve been working on . I think of upcoming coaching and retreat collaborations I’m dreaming up with my creative and talented husband. And I think of the people I have yet to meet, the ideas that haven't arrived, what else might be illuminated by this kind of warmth and cooperation.
There is something exciting about not knowing yet what else will emerge. It is how I feel when working with individual clients as well, that third space where we honor becoming, where I witness healing, self-realization, evolution, and courageous crossing of thresholds.
These reflections feel like September to me: a saturated golden hour, pouring a little more honey than expected.
Like the earth saying:
Linger a little longer with each other in the soft light.
Feel the beauty of what we make together.
And I am honored to bask there.
Shannon Hawley, I usually leave you with a song but this month I am sharing a new weird little piece of writing on substack, enjoy the snail videos:)
You can read about the songs on “a different kind of progress” and “STARTHROWERS” on substack.
I have been returning to this favorite spot in Maine to listen to the ghost pipe, lichen, mountain rock, glacial lakes, trees, mushrooms. loons and the atmosphere for 26 years. They have been some of my most gentle and nurturing teachers and collaborators.
I help people remember how to listen—deeply to themselves, to one another, and to the work they are here to do. From that place of presence arise courageous action, authentic expression, meaningful connection, and lasting resilience.
My work lives at the intersection of psychotherapy, transformational breathwork, sound healing, movement, creativity, art, and spiritual listening. Each session is guided by what is present for you, with an emphasis on safety, embodiment, and authenticity.
Clients often describe feeling more alive, more at home and peace in their bodies, and more connected to their inner voice and sense of meaning and purpose.
Wanna go deeper? Schedule a powerful six session Coaching Package, The Unfurling, here.