04/01/2026
NO JOKE. DIYM TURNS 8 TODAY!
Turn an 8 on its side and what do you get: ♾️
Story time, with tears in my eyes:
When I opened Double Iris Yoga and Massage 8 years ago in Shepherdstown, I had no business education or background. I majored in English with a minor in Journalism, and concentration in Creative Writing at Shepherd University. No one in my family had owned their own business (except for farming), and luckily, I acquired and honed some management skills when I managed the bar at the restaurant I worked at for 8 years. On April 1, 2018, opening a business was a small risk, as I continued to work my restaurant job and had some financial cushioning should my start be rocky. I continued to take risks, buying our first home in Charles Town in October of the same year.
I was a 2 year old business, when the Covid Pandemic sparked global panic. Still maintaining the bartending and managing job (in what capacity we could at the time) making way less than normal, but still enough - In 2020, I decided to take a bigger risk. While other businesses were closing down, I thought to myself, this will either be the best or worst decision of my life - to open a second location in Charles Town. During our remodeling of the CT location, without warning, I was let go of from my bar management position over in-house political unrest. Uneasy is a gentle way of putting how I felt… Gratefully, the let-go was a blessing in disguise and the decision turned out to be one of the best. I hired more contractors as mandates lifted, and more people started coming as a means of gathering, socializing, and healing once again.
Hiring others was also one of the best decisions I ever made. I have learned many lessons and have been humbled greatly through this process. Besides the obvious, being able to expand a variety of offerings at more times during the week, and grow the business; I have forged a family, team, and collective of amazing, talented, responsible, trustworthy, and irreplaceable Licensed Massage Therapists, Yoga Teachers, and Event facilitators. Double Iris would not be what it is today without them and my gratitude is endless. They have also seen DIYM through 3 of my maternity leaves…. No easy feat!!!!! My team continues to keep me straight!
And lastly to all of our clients, students, friends and COMMUNITY that make up our DIYM FAMILY, none of this would be here without YOU. Thank you for trusting us with your stories, with the intimate arts of bodywork, yoga, breathwork, and meditation. Thank you for your support, understanding, patience, love, and friendship.
To my children, husband, parents, and family: I owe you everything.
The world of Double Iris is one of the greatest blessings of my life.
To visionary healing! Thank you for walking the path with me. 👁️
2 more years until a decade of visions.
May there be an infinity more.
Love,
Tricia
“Now you are moving through the eye of the needle, and on the other side of the eye there is no longer the separation of two points of consciousness. There is one consciousness - or oneness. This is where all possibilities exist.” - Dr. Joe Dispenza
