Years ago, Tamra Moroski worked at a Syracuse company that encouraged employees to entertain clients with cocktails at an on-site bar. An office perk also emblematic of a larger culture that too often equates drinking with socializing, Moroski says.
“Holiday events centered around drinking, too,” says Moroski. “I was in my 20s in the workforce and this was the norm.”
Moroski, now residing in Chagrin Falls, has created an alternative to the so-called norm – a community that replaces traditional weekend libations with gatherings centered around yoga and mindfulness practices. Ultimately, Last Call CLE is an offshoot of the rising “sober curious” movement, a cultural trend that promotes conscious and responsible alcohol consumption.
Coined by author Ruby Warrington, sober curiosity is characterized by a tempered approach to alcohol, rather than abstinence or religious condemnation. An ideal opportunity for Moroski, who found the strict guidelines of organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous off-putting.
Last Call CLE is characterized instead by high-energy yoga sessions, followed by mocktail-infused social hours. While Moroski does not have a dedicated studio space, she has partnered with like-minded local businesses including Verbena Free Spirited Shoppe, an NA café and retail space in downtown Cleveland.
“The yoga nights are where I’m driving this and building a community,” says Moroski, who held her inaugural Last Call CLE event in Aug. 2023. “I want people to have fun and mingle in a setting where they’re getting an authentic connection.”
Moroski’s first get-together sold out, despite her initial uncertainty regarding the community’s appeal. Some participants are in varying stages of sobriety, though most simply want a social option where imbibing is not a centerpiece.
Those interested in joining Last Call CLE’s next session in March can contact Moroski via Instagram or at tamra.moroski@gmail.com. She is also in the process of building a website to make registration easier.
Otherwise, participants are not required to share their experience with alcohol or sobriety. In fact, the event is structured to support more private conversations, Moroski said.
“This is an open space to meet people who are thinking about their relationship with alcohol,” she said. “There’s a social hour, and that’s typically where people start sharing.”
A self-professed “party girl” in her teens and 20s, Moroski quit cold turkey in 2021 after totaling her car during a boozy night out. Walking away with “only” a concussion, Moroski couldn’t help but imagine her two boys seeing her in the hospital, perhaps much worse off.
“Or what if I had hurt someone?” Moroski says. “Now I have so much gratitude for that event, because it changed my life. I needed it to happen to make those changes.”
Questioning drinking culture
Moroski believes the accident altered her brain chemistry, where alcohol suddenly had the same appeal as tap water. Yoga and spirituality pushed her further away from the party scene, though the journey had its lonely moments, she says.
“There was no real community out there besides Alcoholics Anonymous,” says Moroski. “So I said I want to do something on Friday night that’s fun, and be around other people questioning their alcohol use, or who’ve already given it up.”
Yoga, with its emphasis on mindful awareness of both thoughts and physical movements, empowered Moroski to identify the patterns that triggered her alcohol cravings.
“You’re a watcher of what’s happening in your mental space – yoga helped me tease out what led me to drink,” she says. “I started feeling those emotions that I was numbing.”
Alex Wasco felt a similar isolation to Moroski’s when quitting drinking in her 30s. Wasco also didn’t like the culture of shame that permeated her previous AA meetings. These converging thoughts led the Cleveland Heights resident to both boxing and Moroski’s yoga class – her first visit to Last Call CLE even fell on the fifth anniversary of her sobriety.
“It was amazing coming to this group that supported people wherever they were,” says Wasco. “And you’ve got this instructor with great energy, who was real about her journey. I said this is perfect. I’m there crying on the yoga mat holding my sobriety chip.”
Wasco is happy to see the current questioning of drinking culture, especially among younger people. A 2020 study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that alcohol abstinence is becoming increasingly common among Gen Z, with 28% of college students reporting that they did not drink alcohol, compared to 20% of respondents in 2002.
Communities like Last Call CLE emphasize this slow societal shift, Wasco says.
“There’s lots of places we can go now where we don’t need to be ashamed of who we are,” she says. “There’s so many alternatives now compared to when I first stopped drinking.”
For Moroski’s part, she would like to host more alcohol-free yoga events in 2025. Meanwhile, previous fears of losing her personality alongside alcohol have thankfully proven unfounded, she adds.
“I’ve had the most fun I’ve ever had since giving it up,” Moroski says. “I’m now saying yes to things that I never would have before, like cold plunges and salsa dancing. I can choose not to have a drink when I’m feeling anxious or depressed.”
Keep our local journalism accessible to all
Reader support is crucial as we continue to shed light on underreported neighborhoods in Cleveland. Will you become a monthly member to help us continue to produce news by, for, and with the community?
P.S. Did you like this story? Take our reader survey!
