Across the Ocean and Home Again
My movement journey didn’t start in Canada. It started when I was living in Jamaica. I remember the first yoga class I had ever taken was in a new friend/fellow expat’s Kingston apartment; 5 or 6 of us had to position ourselves in his living room so that our limbs didn’t overlap as we moved together (sometimes they did, and we held each other in those moments)! Soon, Tuesday evening yoga classes became a ritual; my body and my heart were so filled with joy to move with this small community. But as time went by, the members of our group moved away (some back to Canada, some extending their adventures to other places in the world), and I longed for that community movement vibe once again.
Eventually, it was my turn to come back to Canada. I knew that I wanted to continue my journey with yoga, but I didn’t see myself reflected in the studios I tried out. I had a series of interesting experiences (including a yin class where the teacher turned the lights on, demoed each pose, then sat in the corner on her phone until it was time to demo the next pose), and I was starting to feel as though my movement journey would have to be traversed alone. But luckily for me, I was pointed in the direction of sweet GOODBODYFEEL. What happened next was life-changing.
Robin and the rest of the GBF team made me feel so held, seen, and understood. I felt so free to show up as myself: a loud, silly, Black woman who is sometimes profane and always passionate. GOODBODYFEEL is a bright and shining example of how to do the work of decolonizing the movement industry; in doing this, they have created space for people of all races, shapes, identities, and abilities to reclaim agency over their bodies through movement.
I’m sure anyone who is a part of the GBF community can attest to what this space has meant for them (even now, when GOODBODYFEEL is less of a physical space and more of a mindset). For me, GOODBODYFEEL started as a place to move, and has grown into a place where I can learn, grow, teach, laugh, cry, even bake! When Robin asked me to join the admin team this summer as a Client Relations person, I jumped at the chance to lean fully into this space.
GOODBODYFEEL is a space where:
You can move with a variety of fierce Black womxn, in all of the ways:
You can wuk up your waist in Martha’s Free-Up Dance, connect with your witchy aspects with Clairandean (through their tarot readings and their Mantra+Movement+Mindfulness class, or in their QTNB exclusive offering because we love intersectionality), you can lean into rest and relaxation with Stylo in Be Chill, PLUS Jasmine and Simone’s fire playlists and even more fire Pilates sequences in Be Grounded are the closest things you can get to the club these days
The studio owner (a non-Black WOC) facilitates an ongoing workshop about white-privilege, anti-black racism, and doing reparations work
All BIPOC are encouraged to move in community together, for free, on Sunday mornings in Liberated Moves - a series where we feature, platform, and pay Black movement instructors to lead movement classes away from the white gaze,
In general, ALL movers in ALL classes are encouraged to listen to their bodies, do whatever they want, and ditch whatever they don’t - this means so much to me in a world (and in an industry) where Black women are so often told how to move and judged for marching to the beat of their own drum (F*CK respectability politics)
GOODBODYFEEL is home because they encourage you to come home to yourself - version of you who was told to shrink by white supremacy, by capitalism, by homophobia, by the patriarchy, by all of the systems that stay alive by draining us all of the things that make us, US! At GOODBODYFEEL, you can leave all the systems at the door, and be the fiercest, loudest, biggest, Blackest version of you.
In Jamaica, there is an old proverb - “who cyaah hear muss feel” (who can’t hear, must feel). Essentially, it means that I can tell you all these things, but you’re probably going to want to see (read: feel) for yourself. I get it.
This is why I am inviting you, my fellow Black movers, to join us for 12 free classes this month.*
Black History Month aside, February is often the coldest and one of the most emotionally taxing months for Black people (as white-owned organizations scramble to throw last minute workshops together to prove that they’re “doing the work”). As we come up on the twelfth month of this pandemic, I want to ensure that we are doing whatever we can to encourage Black people in particular to take care as we continue to move through this wild, exhausting, challenging time. Robin taught me that the body is political. In order to prepare for the revolution, we need to feel connected to our minds, our spirits, and our bodies. I hope that you can carve out some time for self-care so that you have the strength to carry on.
This is a story of how you can travel almost 3000km and back, only to learn that home was inside of you all along. Come home to yourself, and if you cannot find the version of yourself that was made to be smaller, I’m sure our classes will lead you in the direction of the you you deserve to be.
*Email hello@goodbodyfeel.com to be set up with your free 12-class-pass exclusively for Black folks.