From Stillness Into Motion: Navigating Change With Balance

Jan 20

Episode 09: From Stillness Into Motion

In this episode, I explore the idea of moving between stillness and action while experiencing grief and an identity shift. Learning your own unique rhythm is part of the path to a deeper understanding of yourself. Listen to this podcast episode when you’re feeling out of balance or stuck with no clear path forward.

Episode Summary

In this episode, I’m sharing an update on what has been unfolding for me recently and reflecting on the shift from stillness into action. I explore an idea that has stayed with me for years, the concept of moving between two modes, resting and action, and how learning to recognize these rhythms has helped me understand myself more deeply.

I talk about how the last few years, especially the past year, required deep slowness, rest, and open space. That season shaped my identity in ways I didn’t fully realize at the time. Recently, I began to notice that the stillness was no longer nourishing me in the same way, and that lingering in thought without movement was becoming draining rather than supportive.

I share how a conversation with my coach and a long dormant desire to complete my Pilates certification sparked a shift into action. This episode explores what it looks like to take aligned steps forward without attachment to outcome, and how momentum can build naturally when intention meets movement.

This is an invitation to notice where you may be lingering too long in one mode, and to trust when it feels time to gently pivot. Stillness and action both have wisdom, and learning to move between them is part of honoring your own rhythm.

Welcome to The Shoreline, where we explore the tender in-between seasons of the human experience. My name is Kim, and I'm here to support you as you navigate your next becoming. Here, we don't fix, we listen. We don't rush, we allow. Hello, and welcome to today's episode. I'd like to just kind of update you on what's been happening with me recently, and talk about making the shift from stillness into more action. So let's get into it. Back when I was doing my inner voice facilitator training in the fall of 2020, we talked about this idea of the two modes of a cheetah. There's the cheetah in still mode, so kind of like resting, non-movement. And then when it was time to shift, the cheetah would step into action. So cheetah in still mode, cheetah in action mode. And that idea has really stuck with me throughout the years, and I feel like it really, it embodies a lot of who I am as a person. And so the last few years, and especially last year, I've really been cheetah in still mode. I needed a lot of rest, a lot of slowness in my days. I needed my days to feel really open-ended, and I didn't want to pack my calendar too much or be busy. And I've ebbed and flowed between these two modes, I think my whole life, and really only recently have I been able to kind of identify that. And this cheetah in still mode phase that I've been in, it's lasted such a long time. It's been probably years. And then last year was just kind of the most intense version of kind of being in still mode. And it lasted so long that I kind of thought that this is who I am now. Maybe I'm not meant to be busy to have a packed calendar. Like that doesn't feel good. It's not aligned. And I kind of let it shape my identity of like, okay, I'm just living a slower, quieter, smaller life, and that's okay. And that's what I want. And then, last week, I was in a coaching session with my leadership coach, and we were just kind of talking about goals, and I mentioned that I've been pursuing a Pilates certification. So I signed up in fall of 2024, went through a series of intense training weekends where you go through a bunch of different modules. A Pilates comprehensive training is a 500-hour certification. So you go through six or so weekends of intense training, and then you're kind of released to complete a certain number of hours, and then you take a test to certify, and then you become a Pilates instructor. Well, right about the time that my dad passed away last year was when I was finishing the intensive weekends. I actually had to miss the final weekend because I was at home with my family kind of processing my dad's death. And last year, I really decided to let this go. I was like, I love Pilates, I love movement. Building community through movement has always been something that's really important to me. I grew up dancing, I played team sports, I played volleyball for a long time, and then in my adult life, I loved and still love doing group fitness classes with friends, and it's just something that is really important to me. And I had really just let go of the idea that I would ever finish this Pilates certification. And last week in my coaching session, my coach was just kind of like, I think you need to get back to teaching. I was a bar instructor for a couple of years before I injured my ankle, and she was like, you know, I think it's time. Like, what do you think about that? And I was like, well, actually, you know, I've been pursuing this Pilates certification, and it's not like I had stopped doing Pilates. I've kept up a Pilates practice. I go to classes. I've been, you know, practicing for a while, and it's something that's really been become integrated into my life. I had just really let go of the outcome of finishing my certification. And so we talked about that, and she was like, do you want to certify? Like, do you want to teach Pilates? And I was like, I do, but it feels overwhelming the number of hours I have left and the whole process. And it turns out that my leadership coach has some experience in the Pilates world, and she really offered some support and was like, let me reach out to who I know and kind of see how I can support you in the process. And that conversation really just gave me the momentum to get things going again. And it's so funny because before that conversation, I had been receiving little nudges. I was at a class at the Pilates studio I go to, and I was buying little sticky socks, and the instructor I was purchasing them from was like, oh, when you start to teach, you'll know that you can save your older sticky socks for when you're teaching versus the newer ones that are going to be a little bit stickier and better for doing Pilates. And I remember when she said that, like, when you start teaching, you can do this. I just felt this wave of like, I just felt super bummed out. Like, my heart kind of sank, and I was like, oh, am I ever going to teach? Is that going to be me? And that kind of unlocked this desire that had been dormant. And then I think another, I felt like another nudge at a different point. And then I had this conversation with my coach, and I started getting all of this momentum. And then my Pilates instructor, the one who I take private lessons from, she reached out and she was like, oh, do you want to observe these sessions? And she was like, you can even start practice teaching with me and offered me support. And I just was so amazed at how when you set that intention, even if you don't verbalize it to anyone, that starts to put things in motion, and then things start to manifest in the physical reality. And so I feel like that feeling of my heart sinking and when I was talking about Sticky Socks really unlocked that desire. And then all this support and all these opportunities started to come in. I expressed to my coach that I wanted this. I took action and I received opportunities and said yes to them. And I feel like this is a really great example of shifting from stillness into action. And the whole Pilates conversation came up with my coach because every week for the past month or so, I've been coming to session and just saying like, oh, oh, I want to do this or I did this and it doesn't feel great. And I kind of got to this point where I was just really almost like stewing in my thoughts and thinking about taking action versus just taking the action. And so part of I think what sparked her to push me in this direction was this need for me to take action more than think about taking action. And I think that's a really great indication that it's time for you to shift from cheetah in still mode to cheetah in action mode. If you're in a space where you've been still for a long time and you've needed that slowness and then for whatever reason, that starts to not be as nourishing. I think that's what I noticed for myself is I started to feel myself get into these little thought loops and really start to ruminate and overanalyze. And I was feeling more depleted by having an excess of time in my day and having not that many things on my calendar and all of the thinking and the journaling and my more stillness activities started to deplete me more than they energized me. And that was a great indication that it's time to step into action mode. I've completed the cycle of stillness and I'm ready to start building again. And so I just wanted to share that because it might be helpful to you. Maybe you've been in a season of stillness and you're not feeling as nourished by it. It might be ready for you to start taking action. And I think for myself, the what I've been doing as kind of an exercise is when I find myself sitting for too long and thinking about taking action and trying to figure out the best way, the right way to do something, I just get up and I do something. And I think that thinking about taking action versus just taking action is a good distinction. So maybe if you're in a place where you're trying to kind of jumpstart into action mode, just start taking actions. They can be big, they can be small. It doesn't really matter what it is, but get yourself into more of that movement and that busyness and that momentum. And as you're doing that, kind of releasing the attachment to the action, releasing the need for a specific outcome, and just kind of start doing things and seeing what manifests. And that's not to say you shouldn't act with clarity and intentionality. I think that's the really great thing about these two modes is when you're in stillness mode, you're building your intentions, you're thinking about your values, you're processing where you've just been, and it creates a really beautiful foundation for you to kind of launch from and move into action. And I think that when you shift into action mode, you can trust in what you've already built and the work you've already done and know that you are moving intentionally and with clarity, and you don't necessarily need to stop and think, okay, what's my intention? Am I clear about this? Let's do the thing. You can just kind of do the things because you already know where you're wanting to go or what you're wanting to do. You've already built that intentionality and clarity into yourself. So that's kind of what I've been doing specifically with my Pilates journey. I'm really refocusing my energy. I'm looking at the hours I have, the hours I need. I've expressed that my goal is to certify before the end of the year, and now I'm looking for those opportunities and receiving the support I need to actually make it happen. And the momentum that I've created in my Pilates journey has kind of created other little sparks elsewhere. I think I have to be more intentional and on top of my schedule, so I'm being really focused with how I'm spending my energy and I'm really refining what my days look like. And by doing that, I'm really only doing things that align with my values and are really important to me. So taking care of myself, moving my body, nourishing myself well, pursuing my Pilates certification, meeting with my coach to get even more clear on what I want, scheduling time to work on my novel, setting a routine to record podcast episodes for you. And it's created this beautiful kind of cascade of now I'm noticing by being in action mode, I'm having a lot of days that feel really full and fulfilling. And that's not to say that stillness mode, cheetah in still mode is not fulfilling and not full. It's just a different energy. And I think that I got a little bit stuck in still mode and it feels really good to have shifted out of it. I think too naturally, I like being in movement. I like moving my body a lot, but I also like kind of bouncing from thing to thing. And I'm learning that it's okay to have a lot going on and to be multi-passionate. And I can do so in a really intentional and focused way. It doesn't have to be this chaotic energy that maybe I used to embody when I'm younger. And it feels really good to approach a season of action mode with this new perspective and with all of the new wisdom that I've gained from my still mode, that I've gained from kind of going through this initiation of grief. And that's not to say that the grief isn't still there. It very much is. But we are complex people. Humans are complex, and we can hold many things at once. So yes, I'm holding my grief. It's something that's a part of me now. And also it's brought me so much wisdom and perspective. And I think what I've learned is that, you know, life, this is really tripe, but life is really precious. And we have a finite amount of time here on Earth. And I want to make sure that I'm using my time well, and I'm doing the things that really light me up and that align with who I am and what I care about. And it takes that kind of ebb and flow from still to action to really refine that. And I think that both sides of the coin are really important. If you're only in action mode, you might lose that intentionality. If you're only in still mode, you might just kind of live in your head forever. So I think it's this beautiful kind of an ebb and a flow. I'm thinking about kind of an infinity sign, and you kind of you move to one side, and then you stay too long on the other side, and it's time to kind of shift, and you're just kind of moving in this figure eight forever. And I think that's what's really exciting is, you know, now that I've shifted more into action mode, I know that I'll move into a phase of stillness again, and that'll be really fruitful, and then I'll come back to action. It's not a goodbye forever. It's just a goodbye from now. I'm transitioning into new energy. I think that this is so funny, this shift into action mode for me specifically, because I just talked about, you know, a quieter start to the year, New Year's energy not necessarily aligning for me, and here I am just like ready to like take action in winter. So I think that's a really wonderful part about life and being human is it's things that are unexpected happen all the time. It's unpredictable, and you can have a plan for yourself. You can fall into a rhythm, a cadence, and then things change. And I think that's why we have to build in our ability to be agile, to pivot when necessary, to understand what makes each of us tick, and to know yourself really well, so that you can honor your own rhythm, so that you can, when a pivot comes, when something unexpected comes, you know, like, is this, whether it's a distraction, or whether it's something that's really true for you. And so, that's what I have for you today. I hope that this was helpful. And if you feel like sharing whether you're a cheetah in still mode versus a cheetah in action mode, I would love to hear from you. You can reach out to me via my website, using the contact page. You can send me a DM on Instagram. I'm at @kimkogane there. And I would love to hear from you. If you're not sure whether you're a cheetah in still mode or a cheetah in action mode, or you're feeling like you're still stuck in that foggy middle, I'd invite you to explore The Shoreline private coaching sessions. You can find more information or schedule a time to chat with me at my website, www.kimkogane.com. So that's it. I hope you take good care while the waves carry you closer. Your next version is already waiting on the shore.

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Kim Kogane is a writer and intuitive guide helping you navigate the tender in-between seasons. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her dog, Cauchy, and three cats. Learn more about Kim.