Meet Trailblazer Taylor White Moffitt

Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor White Moffitt.

Taylor, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In 1995, I graduated from the University of Denver. I was so excited to start a career as a psychotherapist. In no time, I began envisioning myself in private practice, working for myself and choosing who I worked with and how I worked for them. I began to ask everyone around me their input and feedback to help me get started. What blew me away was how discouraging ALL of them were except my boyfriend (now husband). They literally told me things like, “you’ll never make it work,” “the market is saturated,” “it’s too risky.” Thankfully I only listened to my boyfriend who said, “this is the thing that lights you up more than anything. Give it everything you’ve got and if it doesn’t work you’ll know you did your best.” Fast forward to current day where I have been in private practice for 20+ years.

During that time, I developed a rewarding personal yoga and meditation practice. In 2008, I decided I wanted to start giving away the tools that helped shape my life in the most meaningful ways. I realized that incorporating the tools of yoga, meditation and psychotherapy into a retreat would be just the way. Having never taught a public yoga class, in 2010 I put down $20K to rent a retreat center in Mexico with a chef and staff and advertised my first retreat. Ten years later, I am offering 2-4 retreats a year all over the world; Mexico, Italy, New England, Colorado, etc. Taking 40-80 students a year through transformational retreats is so meaningful and powerful for me, I now have a few students who were so inspired by the experience that they are donating up to $70K/year to send students through the experience that wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity. My most recent leap of courage is beginning to teach a year-long yoga leadership program for others who want to serve and teach.

I think I got where I am today by saying YES, especially when I was uncertain and fearful.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In almost 50 years, there is one thing I know for sure–the easy road leads to the hard life and the hard road leads to the easy life. If it doesn’t scare you a little and thrill you a lot, you are likely in the wrong spot. There are always struggles and yet often those struggles lead to the next path through the next connection, the next opportunity. If we can see the struggles as information and lessons and take them less personally, I think things go so much better.

There are two words that nudge me forward most days that I am happy to loan anyone….willingness and courage. Those two words will take you farther than you can dream, beyond where you are comfortable and amazed at the possibilities out there for you that you never dreamt of.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I wear three primary hats in my career.

(1) As a psychotherapist I see individuals and couples age 18+ in my office. I am a direct, straight shooter, truth teller so my job is to work myself out of a job from your first appointment. I have the capacity to help people move themselves forward with more clarity and honesty.

(2) Teaching yoga and meditation allows me to directly connect to the physical body, my students and my own. It’s a cherished break from all the thinking we do, dropping me into what I feel both physically and mentally. I bring the teachings of yoga in a practical and applicable way to real life so you can walk out the door and use what you learned in the parking lot.

(3) Facilitating personal growth and transformational retreats are why I was put on the planet. Talking, moving, sharing, connecting, laughing, crying and being vulnerable make me feel most alive. If you experience a retreat with me it might be one of the first times in your life you define something as BEFORE retreat and AFTER retreat because I am committed to retreat being one of your most profound experiences in your lifetime.

So much of the media coverage is focused on the challenges facing women today, but what about the opportunities? Do you feel there are any opportunities that women are particularly well positioned for?
One of the superpowers women have is that we are more encouraged/allowed to be vulnerable. This is a natural authenticity. It’s scary, it’s intense and it is the future of where the world is going. Studies of small children show that girls are wired to keep “the game” going, changing the rules, using inclusivity and creativity to stay connected. Those same studies show boys are wired for “the game” to have a winner/loser and follow the rules. This is such a great example of how women are leading already from a place of including more humans, acknowledging that the human traits we experience are to be celebrated, not hidden, and to persevere.

A long overdue platform for women currently is the follow up from the #MeToo movement. Women are finally acknowledging our own value, our strengths, our abilities. No one is coming to save us, we must save ourselves and we do that but owning our stories, the beauty and the pain. And although no one wants to be defined by their worst moments, those moments are catapults for women to share their stories, help repair the past and bring others forward. We grow stronger and more powerful by helping one another along rather than doing it alone.

I am turning 50 next month and am in the process of writing fifty letters to people who have inspired me in these first five decades. So far, the articulateness of Chanel Miller, the grace of Christine Blasey Ford and the grounded compassion of Sylvia Boorstein have made some of these first letters re-invigorating. Let women inspire you and commit to being inspiration for other women.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3445 Penrose Place #240
  Boulder, CO 80301
  USA
• Website: TaylorWhiteMoffitt.com
• Phone: 303-384-8677
• Email: twhitemoffitt@comcast.net
• Instagram: @TaylorWhiteMoffitt
• Facebook: @TaylorWhiteMoffitt
• Other: taylorwhiteLCSW@comcast.net

Image Credit:
Kellie Brown

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