This approach aims to remove emotional suppression that has been societally enforced specifically towards women, girls, and gender expansive minorities at large as well as specifically towards neighborhoods impacted by systematic racism and economic inequality. Community residents have to prioritize survival over their self empowerment such as acknowledging their feelings. This barrier, while some may see as minor, actually causes long term impact such as “measurable physical harm across the cardiovascular, immune, digestive, and nervous systems, including elevated blood pressure, chronic inflammation, gut dysfunction, and heightened risk of depression and anxiety” based on therapeutic agency research. Acknowledging our feelings as Dr. Jason N. Linder states, supports us to understand ourselves, make better decisions, and have healthier relationships. We further recognize how emotional violence in domestic violence incidents is important to name and not erase.

Consent, the act of receiving and/ or declining permission, is a survivor driven practice that is essential when teaching any movement classes. We ask participants what consent is in the beginning of class and acknowledge that they are the ultimate guide to practice listening to their body by seeing what accommodations, modifications, and general movements align to them. We state as instructors that we do not offer physical assistance and we also state that if participants are doing any partner support that they always ask for each other’s consent. Consent is important to teach as well as practice consistently through modeling and verbal cueing in our classes because as noted by consent educator Sarah Casper, we are honoring each of our community members by building practical skills of bodily boundaries. This is a lifelong practice that isn’t normalized in many movement and fitness classes whether in individualized or group classes, so we aim to uniquely practice and implement consent in all our classes both within verbal cueing by instructors along with our infographic posters we display in our classes. 

Boundaries are crucial for respecting and understanding what our bodies are needing. Many people have been discouraged to listen to their own bodies, so it takes practice to listen to one’s body and exactly name the boundary. Boundary setting can supported by active modeling along with giving space to share as well as practice both verbally and in movement. We are not implementing the typical dance or fitness program. We are implementing intentionally crafted programs that are community-centered and foster each community member to honor their feelings, consent, and boundaries, which are key elements to empowerment. Our mission is to empower survivors through movement in community, and our mission aligned strategy comes through as we are ensuring the three elements of empowerment are within our classes to ensure we are truly making intentional impact.