Keynote: Justice Roe

Redefining Inclusion: Deconstructing the Fitness Industrial Complex

Understanding the intersections where all Bodies meet and the power of a collective.

Body Image, Inclusion and creating more spaces for our bodies. A discussion about why it’s important to use a social justice approach within our movement practice.

The Intersections of Power, Consent, Autonomy & Pleasure within Fitness 

Our bodies remember it all.   

We remember consenting to pleasure and the ways it captures our bodies. 

We remember grief and loss, slowing us down and shifting our existence. 

All things considered –  Our bodies can answer questions our trainers cannot. 

Let’s keep it real – the mainstream power dynamics and logistics of consent within fitness culture are not only toxic, they are outdated. Embracing our autonomy allows us to challenge the systems of wellness that continuously put our bodies at risk. 

In this presentation, we will 

• Examine ways to reclaim our agency regarding movement, food, and the power of consent as a pathway to discovering what our bodies are capable of. 
• Explore possibilities of experiencing pleasure within a consistent workout regimen by actively enforcing safety and consent
• Cultivate curiosity about what types of power dynamics can be possible within fitness and how we can nurture them
• Identify how fitness-based power dynamics impact our relationship to movement and health

Candace Liger (she/they) is a queer Tedx speaker, fitness coach, harm reduction educator, performance artist, and the founder of the Center for Body Autonomy. Blending her background of social justice and movement, her organization helps create safe, healthy, and inclusive spaces for bodies to thrive through strategic education and programming. Her signature programs, JahRation Nation Dance Fitness and Fortify and Flex, helps teach folx how to tap into the power of their bodies through dance and strength-training. She is the creator of the #ConsentConscious campaign creating more comprehensive, sex-work informed consent education to support health, pleasure, and safety.

Learn how to think and make choices like a designer when selecting fonts, colors, and layout for legible and accessible messaging that will point your audience where they want to go.

Jack Juris is a trans certified personal trainer and started Omnis Fitness to help people of all bodies and experiences find out what they are capable of. They enjoy exploring and researching the alchemy between mind and body produced through movement and weight training. They are also a  designer with over a decade of experience with focus on branding.

omnis.fit @omnisfitness

This session will be hosted on the gather app.

In this workshop Laura Khoudari, a pioneer in trauma-informed strength training, will present how trauma affects our nervous systems and then shows up in the gym, as well as ways in which we can begin to turn strength training into a practice of compassionate care and healing. Participants will come away with practical tools to use in the gym to intentionally turn lifting weights into a practice that allows them to tend to their nervous systems, and help them connect more deeply with their bodies and personal agency.

Laura Khoudari is a trauma practitioner, certified personal trainer, and the author of the book Lifting Heavy Things: Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time. She is passionate about giving people the tools they need to heal from trauma and cultivate mental health and wellness. Her work has been widely recognized by the trauma and fitness community, and she has been featured on NPR, Buzzfeed, UpWorthy, Outside Online, Medium, Vice, and Nike.com. She has presented her work for Somatic Experiencing International, The Breathe Network, Reebok, Les Mills, The Goodwill Excel Center and fitness studios in the US and Canada. She lives in New York City with her family and two cats.

CARs – Controlled Articular Rotations as a means of daily joint maintenance.

This session is designed to uplift and celebrate trans and queer wellness leaders of color are carving their own spaces, beyond studio spaces. Mental health and wellness offerings, including therapeutic spaces, yoga and meditation, fitness and recovery, have been build upon white supremacist values prioritizing dominant culture. In this session we will unpack the ways the wellness industry generates billions of dollars of revenue while excluding QTBIPOC people.

Rebby Kern (they/them) is a wandering spirit shining light into the lives of others. Rebby’s personal mission is to operate from connection, seeking justice and empowering voices. Rebby generates space for connection, empowerment and self-discovery through their 10+ years in LGBTQ policy and activism drawing connections to yoga asana and philosophy while uplifting experiences of intersectional identities. Their experience drives their passion to include diverse identities around race, gender identity, sexual orientation, body, ability and more. 

Rebby is an awarded national facilitator on race equity, gender justice and queer liberation within Rebby Kern Yoga, HRC Welcoming Schools and All Children All Families, as well as a consultant to educators, wellness leaders and professionals. 

Rebby serves as the Director of Education Policy at Equality NC, advocating for and investing in young changemakers, supporting policy reform and implementing LGBTQ-inclusive training and professional development across North Carolina. Rebby also serves as a board member of Youth OUTright, empowering LGBTQIA youth.

In 2019 Rebby was selected as one of the first lululemon Ambassadors for the newest Charlotte store, Atherton Mill. As a lululemon Ambassador, Rebby is able to lead in power in the Charlotte community and beyond. Rebby is the first non-binary person of color to represent lululemon in the region and continues to uplift voices of LGBTQ and BIPOC people who often don’t find themselves represented within the lululemon brand. 

As a person in recovery for 10 years, Rebby is a facilitator for Yoga 12-Step Recovery grounding their own practice in an addiction recovery model which connects yoga, neuroscience, and the practical tools of 12-step programs. 

We all know that making moving physically accessible is important. Did you know that finances can also be a reason why peeps aren’t showing up? Come learn how to not only make your movement classes physically accessible but also financially accessible as well.

Teresa R. Ellis, owner of Pilates Barre and Jams, teaches deliberately paced Pilates classes where she offers multiple options for each exercise. She also has been running a successful scholarship and pay-what-you-can program as well. She’s got options, come learn what may work for you.

This presentation covers language concerning disabled communities, brief history of US legislation related to disabilities, teaching considerations for movement professionals, and recommendations & resources for further learning. 

Dr. Marcia, PT, CYT

Moderator 
Lauren Leavell

Panelists:

Dr. Marcia (she/they) is a doctor of physical therapy, black spoonie, and powerlifting strongwoman from South Florida. She is the owner of @MovewithMarcia which provides both free and affordable resources to help people move better through mobility exercises and yoga. Marcia also co-hosts the @DisabledGirlsWhoLift podcast. 

Luca Page They/ Them  Luca Page is the founder of Radically Fit, the Bay Area’s body positive community gym for all queer, trans, BIPOC, big bodied and fat identified folx and their allies, regardless of experience or ability. They have been working in the fitness industry for 9 years & strive to help folks move their body in ways that disrupt white supremacy, fat phobic & capitalistic ideals. Their work, along with the staff at Radically Fit is community based & aims to be accessible to all. 

Anusha Wijeyakumar MA, CPC, E-RYT, Dip Mentoring she/her/hers
Anusha is the Wellness Consultant for Hoag Hospital, one of the leading hospitals in the USA where she leads on integrative medicine and implementing mindfulness and meditation practices for maternal mental health programs, early risk assessment for breast & ovarian cancer prevention programs and breast cancer survivorship programs. Anusha is very passionate about her work in STEM and is one of the first people to co-lead clinical research around meditation with a program she created exploring the efficacy of mediation for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients at Hoag Hospital. Anusha is a sought after motivational speaker around the world on the science of mindfulness and meditation and the intersection of Yoga and social justice. 

Anusha is an Adjunct Professor at San Diego State University where she lectures on Yoga philosophy and the intersection of wellness and social justice. Women’s health and social justice is at the heart of all that Anusha is involved with. Anusha is on the Medical Advisory Board of the national non profit Living Beyond Breast Cancer and an Advisory Board Member with Yoga Ed, an organization focused on merging science and Yoga and introducing these practices to children and teens in educational settings around the world.

Anusha co-founded the movement Women of Color + Wellness @wocandwellness which is focused on decolonizing wellness and making yoga and wellness more equitable, accessible, and inclusive. Anusha’s first book Meditation with Intention: Quick & Easy Ways to Create Lasting Peace was released in January 2021 by Llewellyn Worldwide.

Kanoelani Patterson. I am 40 years old living in Lawton, Oklahoma. I am a SHW Black & fat-positive powerlifter. I currently hold a master’s degree in social work (MSW) & am a licensed masters social worker (LMSW) and am under clinical supervision for licensure as a clinical social worker & I work in a community mental health center as a children’s therapist & supervisor/team lead. I practice an anti-diet philosophy & from a liberationist framework & believe you can be active without striving for intentional weight loss. I intuitively eat and believe that food is more than calories and fuel: food is culture, food is love, food is memories, etc. I believe freedom can be found in movement & food but to do that we have to decolonize the way we view the to. WE ARE ENOUGH AS WE ARE & should be affirmed as such. My work is towards liberation(Black, body, fat liberation etc) as a whole from all the systems of oppression that are keeping us in shackles. We deserve FREEDOM!