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

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📷 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

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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.

A bittersweet message of resilience.

Our deepest sympathies and prayers for strength and recovery go out to our friends, family, members, and EVERYBODY team who have been displaced or devastated by the fires. We know many of our staff, members, and friends have been evacuated from their homes and remain uncertain about the status of their living situations. Tragically, we also know some in our community have confirmed total loss of their homes, apartments, and belongings. 

Our hearts go out to EVERYBODY staff members Sonny and Lena who lost their home in Altadena this week. If you have the means to donate, here is a link to their GOFUNDME. We wish them and everyone else who have lost so much to these fires a swift recovery from this loss and the ability to rebuild their homes and lives.

We know this is a challenging time for everyone and we want to make it clear that we are here to support our community in any way we can. May we all do what we can to help our city and neighbors rebuild their lives with our incredibly strong community support.🤍

Please visit @mutualaidla for a LIVE updating document and links to local and regional resources for folks impacted by the fires and those who wish offer support.

Jan. 10th also marks our 9th Anniversary and although it feels like a strange time to ‘celebrate,’ we’re sharing this story in hopes that it can serve as a bittersweet message of resilience to help ease us through yet another ‘unprecedented’ time. 

📷 Some TBT’s from 2016-2017: EVERYBODY Wellness Practitioner Lena, Blueprints, Construction, and our very first Member!

It is truly a miracle that we have reached this 9 year milestone of business operations. We've survived so much-- in our first year alone we got through a flood caused by a fallen telephone pole that crashed into our roof. (Hello?!) The next three years of business were financially tough as we grew and people started to slowly spread the word about our unique and inclusive model.  Just as we were getting some good traction, we faced a global pandemic that shuttered so many businesses and especially gyms-- but we survived thanks to our incredibly supportive community who kept taking classes online when we transitioned to a livestream platform overnight.

📹 EVERYBODY Yoga Instructor Liz screams into a pillow during a zoom class at the beginning of the Pandemic.

We had to remain closed for 6 months during 2020-2021, but folks continued to support us by coming and using the gym one at a time during peak Covid as the vaccines were being developed. We started offering offsite services as our van made our gym able to travel to beaches, pools and parks where open space and clean air allowed us to gather and hold space for our community coming out of isolation. We have continued to expand our online offerings into a full scale Video on Demand program for folks who prefer or are not able to make it to us in person. And since reopening our physical space in 2021 again, we have been able to grow our services, expand into new spaces and become the indispensable resource to our community that we are today. 

📷 Takin’ it Outside. And inside (your home).

In 2015 Co-owners Sam and Lake planted the seeds for a brave and inclusive environment for ALL bodies to move, strengthen and heal.

Most importantly, we’ve witnessed the power of community at work in times of struggle, loss, and utter disaster. And as our Friends, Family, and Members recover from deeply devastating losses, time strangely carries on. Anniversaries are important things, whether they help us remember achievements or losses, to celebrate or to mourn. They are necessary markings of time even during a time that feels entirely absent of the construct of time.

There will eventually be an anniversary of the Eaton Canyon/ Altadena (and other greater LA area) fires which destroyed so many homes (and places called home) for folks close in relation and proximity to us. And while that pain may never subside, we can find some healing and comfort in community, an outpouring of local mutual aid, and knowing that we will always have memories and stories of the deep roots and rich histories of such a magical place in our hometown of LA.❤️‍🩹