My feminist heart is being pulled in a thousand different ways.

It feels like the fires are burning everywhere, and there is very little I can do to put them out.

Maybe people view my daily job as just teaching some cool fitness movements to people. But I think it’s so much more. It’s helping people (predominantly women) feel empowered in their bodies through fitness and movement. I strive to help them feel safe, confident, and comfortable in their skin, even when the world says it’s not ok.

But the truth is that sometimes our bodies are weaponized against us.

Whether that is because of our female form, size, skin color, sexuality, or even the hair on our head, the world can be dangerous.

I teach empowerment, yet it feels like it is not enough to make a dent in what is happening around me. When I see the news, I’m confronted by my rage boiling under the surface.

The injustices keep on coming. And it feels to me that women bear the weight of most of them. It makes me furious. Turning the rage into action is the only way I can sleep at night.

What I am currently doing:

• I am registered to vote in the USA and in Germany’s integration election.
• We help refugee families, refugee youth, and at-risk youth in Nuernberg.
• We donate money to vetted organizations.
• I sign petitions.
• I stand outside at rallies to protest war and injustice.
• I have hard conversations, even when it’s uncomfortable with friends and family.
• Keep in contact and offer support for clients, friends and colleagues living in war zones.
• I read books to understand history and situations outside of my lived experience.
• I continue to teach, support, and empower people through movement.
• I hold space in the studio for rest and reprise for our health professionals that have been battered down over the last years.
• I teach classes that are free of body shaming and judgment.

Every little thing is a step towards a better world. And although it’s small, if we all do something, it will add up.

What we can’t do is turn our backs now because we are tired, although the fatigue is real.

Staggered breathing is a technique used in a music ensemble to create a continuous sound. When I used to sing in a choir, we would stagger our breaths, so the beautiful tone we sang was left unbroken.

In some dance performances, they would ask the dancers to scream on stage. We would use the same method. Drawing breath in and screaming our lungs out while the person next to us took their breath.

The collective sound would cover the audience like a blanket.

Sometimes we need to be the scream, and sometimes we need to be the beautiful note.

Let’s all take a deep breath and work in the ways we have been called.

Take action from our collective rage.

 

Tools and Resources

How to help Iranian Women

Be a better Ally 

How to help Ukraine

Harnessing anger for social change

The Commons: Social Change Library