“Do what feels good to you.”
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“Follow your heart.”
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“Go with your gut.”
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Sometimes it’s framed as advice, sometimes as an instruction, but I hear these phrases across contexts and all the time. And it’s good advice...right?
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Maybe. If you’re really in tune with your body, your desires, your intuition, your resources, it might be great advice. But what if you’re not? What if trauma, capitalism, oppressive constructs, or pressure from a dominant culture or a social norm has cut off your ability to feel or interpret your wants and needs? If you’ve forgotten what “good” really feels like, how do you honor it?
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I’ve been there. In some ways, I’m still there, still rebuilding a relationship with my pleasure and agency. But I feel a lot less stuck than I used to, and a lot closer to glimpsing what a self-determined future might look like.
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Many of us, particularly those of us in marginalized bodies, have experienced the systemic demonization of our desires. This is not an accident—it’s one way that systems of supremacy strategically work to make us less free. Sometimes this means that what we most need or desire is held out of our reach, and we need to work together to liberate those resources and liberate our communities. But before we can do that, we need to understand what it is we’re actually reaching for, needing for, longing for, consenting to, saying a full-bodied “YES” to. Do you know what you want? In your heart? In your gut?
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We’re exploring these questions and what the tools of #yoga can offer us in our quests for #agency THIS SATURDAY, Nov. 16 at @willowstyoga in Silver Spring, MD. Join us for community discussion, personal reflection, and opportunities to connect to your body and desires through exploratory movement practices. The studio is #accessible and no prior yoga experience is required. Register at willowstreetyoga.com/pleasure (link in bio).
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📸 @cinlife •
#desire #pleasure #agency #pleasureactivism #yogateacher #accessibleyoga #bodyneutrality #fatliberation #queeryoga #transyoga #fatyoga #curvyyoga #bodypositiveyoga #yogaforall #dcyoga #yogadc #whatayogilookslike #representationmatters
