Inspiring Conversations with Lance Pyburn of BraveNewLove

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lance Pyburn.

Hi Lance, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I created BraveNewLove to build a community dedicated to sharing stories and creating space to live authentically. We practice authenticity that is grounded in wellness and follow the BraveNewLove Authenticity Framework to build awareness around our own authenticity work and connect with the stories of others through empathy and creating space. In addition to the story-sharing and authenticity encouragement elements of the BraveNewLove community, I also offer massage and bodywork services, somatic coaching, and workshop facilitation all geared towards improving overall wellness through an active authenticity practice.

I grew up in a rural, religious town in central Texas where being gay was not only condemned but was virtually nonexistent as well. Even after coming out after college, I continued to edit and curate the image I presented to the world in order to be seen as ‘acceptable’ while building a successful career at a leadership development nonprofit and executive training and consulting firm. Eventually, the toll of not living authentically caused enough burnout that I had to take medical leave for mental health as I was diagnosed with PTSD, generalized anxiety, chronic depression, and ADHD.

My personal authenticity work helped me understand that internalized homophobia from my past had impacted multiple areas of my life, and I began to see parallels in my experience growing up in a small town where being gay wasn’t an option to my experience as a leader in corporate American regarding open discussion of mental health. This realization helped me clearly see how we all face perceived and explicit barriers to living authentically based on societal norms and expectations which can greatly impact our wellness. My lived experience showed me that hearing firsthand stories from others can help us better understand ourselves while also creating community support, and that is exactly what BraveNewLove is here to do.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a barrier for us all, and it heavily impacted BraveNewLove as well. I was only six months into offering massage and bodywork services which were my primary form of generating revenue to support the BNL mission when all in-person services had to be suspended for public health reasons. I began working virtually, offering authenticity encouragement and coaching sessions while continuing to have conversations with members of the BraveNewLove community to better understand perspectives on living authentically. These conversations eventually grew into workshops aimed at encouraging authenticity and I’ve worked with community and faith groups as well as corporate clients. Now that in-person work is picking back up, I’m hoping to continue offering these expanded wellness services through BraveNewLove.

As you know, we’re big fans of BraveNewLove. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
BraveNewLove’s approach to authenticity is grounded in wellness which means that we use our physiological, psychological, and social responses to the world around us to inform our work. We first identify discomfort in our life, work to build awareness around the cause and impact of that discomfort. We then develop sympathy and empathy for ourselves and others involved in our experience before identifying paths to move forward by creating space to live more authentically.

My work with BraveNewLove is heavily centered on the idea of identifying common elements within each of our stories regardless of our background, and a large commonality for all of us is how our body responds to stress. Teaching others about the autonomic nervous system, developing self-awareness to identify when our sympathetic (fight/flight/freeze) nervous system is activated, and ways to shift out of our stress response is a foundational element of this work. Massage and bodywork services help to facilitate this shift from our stress response to our parasympathetic (rest & relax) nervous system through manual tough, and somatic coaching offers clients options to know how to make this shift on their own.

If you’re interested in joining the BraveNewLove community, sharing a story, or better understanding how you can create space for others to live authentically within your day-to-day life, I’d love to start a conversation with you. If you’re interested in massage and bodywork services or somatic coaching to experience the shift from your stress response to a state of rest and relaxation, I’d be happy to find time to work together. Finally, if you’d be interested in learning more about BraveNewLove’s authenticity workshop services, we can discuss the needs of your group in order to develop a curriculum that will resonate with your members.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The most important lesson I’ve learned regarding living authentically is that there is no one set way of doing it right and that it can’t be easily condensed into a simple one-size-fits-all list. In fact, many times once we let go of our expected ideals of how we think something should be is when we create the space for us to finally be more authentically aligned.

Pricing:

• Massage Services Starting at $75
• Somatic & Authenticity Coaching: $40

Contact Info:

• Email: lance@bravenewlove.com
• Website: www.bravenewlove.com
• Instagram: @brave.new.love
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BraveNewLove