The Story of The Blue Quail

Hi, I am Connie Gropler, founder of The Blue Quail. When COVID hit, I was working as a nurse. Not surprisingly, my workload increased tremendously as we had to deal with more patients. As a result, I would wake up, go to work for a long shift, come home, and go to bed. The next day it started all over again. There was no time to relax most days, and what little time I had off was spent in quarantine.

At this point in my life, I wasn't just physically exhausted; I was mentally exhausted, too. Dealing with the influx of patients suffering from COVID and the effect the virus had on them and the world at large exhausted me.

During this time of mayhem, I realized that if I wanted to have any time to recharge, I would have to use the time when I normally performed mindless tasks—such as washing my hands. And washing my hands is a task I spent a lot of time on during the first outbreak of COVID as we, as nurses, had to constantly sterilize our hands!

As my hands and body didn't seem to respond well to this increase in the use of various chemicals, I started doing some research. To my surprise, I found that most soaps are made of carcinogenic ingredients. Continuing my research, I also found out that you can make your own soap at home using natural products.

That's when the idea of making my own soaps with skin-friendly ingredients was born. The idea of using that soap for daily rituals also started to take root. As I didn't have much time to myself, how about I turned the habit of washing my hands into a ritual of re-centering myself, returning to my core; my peace…

Typically, you wash your hands while thinking about what to have for dinner, what your friend said, or if you'd look better in bangs. By shifting your focus to your breathing, washing your hands can go from being a completely mindless exercise to one where you re-center yourself.

You don't need twenty minutes to meditate. That's nice, but you don't need it—you can meditate while washing your hands or showering. You can incorporate breathing exercises while driving or walking to the grocery store. Turning hand washing and showering into daily mindfulness rituals worked really well for me—not least because, as a nurse, I washed and continue to wash my hands constantly!

Life consists of many different habits. Through mindfulness, we can change those habits into rituals. Such as turning the habit of washing our hands into a beautiful ritual.

I soon started playing around with things other than conscious breathing when washing my hands. At the beginning of the day, I'd set three goals while washing my hands, and at the end of the day, I'd think about three things I was thankful for that had happened that day.

And if you can do all that while washing your hands for a minute, just imagine what you can do while having a shower! On the Rituals page, you'll find several hand washing and showering rituals I've developed. Try them out, or come up with your own!

Since I started The Blue Quail, I've had the immense pleasure of seeing the positive impact the soap has had on those around me. Something as simple as a lovely soap and nice encouraging words to go with it has worked wonders for my clients. It has reminded me that sometimes, it truly is the small things that matter most.

Mission

To help people become more present and find inner peace and beauty through simple rituals using body care products.

Vision

To create a movement that helps people embrace their uniqueness and unleashes the power of self-love.