RESISTANCE & RESILIENCE
We have felt an overwhelming outpouring of love and gratitude for and from our community these past two weeks. So many members have shared how important it is for them to have a truly safe and welcoming space at this time where they can connect with their bodies and work through the rage, despair, fear and even hopelessness that so many in our community are feeling right now.
📷 Pro Trans sign in our window circa 2018, filming Zumba with Camila during the 2020 shutdown, EVERYBODY Trainer and AIDS activist Sabel Samone Loreca, TGENBY Project on the patio.
In the wake of this week’s news cycle, we are more passionate than ever about finding ways to connect with community between the brick walls of real time and space. This is and always has been where the real revolution happens.
📷 Author and poet June Jordan, LGBTQ/ AIDS activist Cleve Jones
I hope among the networks you are building offline, EVERYBODY can play a part in connecting you with community, support, resources and resilience. We have always (and always will) protect and prioritize the needs of the most marginalized in our communities, including immigrants, LGBTQIA+ folks, disabled folks and people most targeted by this hateful administration that seeks to erase our safety, wellbeing and even our basic existence.
📷 Yoga Instructors mxpujasingh and Naima Merella on HOMEBODY VOD.
The concept of “safe space” might feel as elusive as ever right now. There are many who do not trust that such a space is possible, especially now. The truth is we can never ensure safety, no matter how much we would like to. But we can keep building a culture that understands that the safety of our community is not predicated on perfection or some kind of utopic haven set apart from the flaws of humanity.
📷 Good Damage group strength class with Sonny & our Community Board.
True safety is born of courage; the courage to admit when we are uncertain, to take accountability when we are wrong. The courage to come together even when we sometimes disagree. The courage to show up and be part of something greater than ourselves. The courage not to numb but to feel everything deeply. The courage not to isolate, even when everyone and everything feels stacked against us. The courage to get offline and to find our people.
We must find that courage again right now, and we will be open and ready to create space for building the kind of resistance training we have always been most interested in: the strength to rise up and refuse to allow fascism and dictatorship to eclipse our lives.
We are here for all of it. We are here for all of you.
- Sam/ EVERYBODY
📷 Group Classes, Personal Training and monthly Self-Defense workshops with Vanessa Carlisle, PhD are just a few ways members can build community, confidence, and skills.
PHYSICAL FITNESS AS RESISTANCE
The only people that benefit from us being weak, tired, and unable to fend for ourselves are our oppressors. Become physically fit not just for yourself, but for the people around you that desperately need you here!
EVERYBODY Personal Trainer Paulo shares the importance of physical fitness as resistance. Read more here.
When you start letting go of daily stress through movement and physical activity, you might find that focusing on one thing at a time, and the extra energy and positivity that come with it, helps you stay calm, clear, and focused in everything you do.
Consistency and progression are going to be the most important aspects of whatever fitness route you choose! Keep track of what you do every week and attempt to make each week a little bit more difficult. Our bodies are great at adapting and will need to be challenged constantly.
I believe in you, I believe in us, let's be ready so we never have to get ready. - Paulo Diaz
OUR STANCE ON DEI
The principles of diversity equity and inclusion have always been foundational to our business and shared community values, and that is not about to change now. As DEI programs are being cancelled and those in power seek to erase our queer history and deny our lived experience altogether, we will continue to divest from companies that do not support Black, Brown, Queer, immigrant and other marginalized communities.
We will continue to honor Black History Month, Pride Month and to always uplift our Trans and immigrant communities and support businesses that recognize the inherent worth and dignity of all marginalized communities whenever and however they can.
Now more than ever, it is important to SHOP SMALL and to support Small Business, especially Black and minority owned businesses, many of which have also been severely impacted by the recent devastating Altadena fires. Collectively we have the power to effect change with our dollars and we will continue to do so amidst the onslaught of attempts at rolling back basic human rights by this Administration.
Many Black and other minority-owned products stocked at Target, Walmart, Amazon (and other companies that have prematurely cancelled their DEI programs in the wake of the new Administration’s federal slashing of DEI initiatives) can also be purchased directly from the businesses themselves. Visit @strikeforall for links to Black-owned and other minority owned businesses to support directly.
We hope you can find some time to connect with your body and community this week. We are always stronger when we come together.
📷 ‘RESIST’ - Our outdoor mural by artist Maria Pineres
Stay tuned for a spotlight on artist Maria E. Piñeres, creator of our gorgeous outdoor mural, appropriately named ‘RESIST’ in response to the 2016 election. Maria recently carried the RESIST theme into the interior of the gym in a recent revamp.
TBT// Our ACLU Pancake Brunch Fundraiser💔in 2017 featuring Ponysweat, Pancakes by sponsored member Sol Alvarez of L.A. Habana, and Sound Bath. We’ve been resisting ever since our very first week of opening and will continue to seek ways for folks to MOVE, BUILD or just BE in community.