CORE VALUES & BELIEFS
LEVÄTÄ is built on 12 core values and beliefs.
(Too long; don't wanna read? Jump to LEVÄTÄ's Community Agreements, which activate
these values and beliefs and guide how we create loving community space together.)
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YOU BELONG HERE
Everyone deserves to reach their greatest sense of wellbeing. All are enthusiastically invited into LEVÄTÄ programs and services regardless of race, ethnicity, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, incarceration history, education, health, ability, body size or socio-economic status.
(Important caveat: If you are a TERF, you do not belong here. Trans men are men. Trans women are women. And non-binary people are the shit.)
BRAVE SPACE
While there is no such thing as a truly “safe space” - as it is impossible for anyone to fully understand and mitigate the numerous ways we can experience (and inflict) harm - with LEVÄTÄ I aim to create safer, brave spaces where harm is minimized. I am trained in trauma-informed teaching and, to maintain a brave container, all participants, facilitators and guests are expected to follow LEVÄTÄ’s Community Agreements.
IMPERFECTION & VULNERABILITY
Westernized yoga emphasizes perfection: picture a (thin, white, able-bodied) woman in fancy yoga pants doing a perfectly aligned/ Photoshopped headstand. Also, she is very happy and serene because those are the only two acceptable feelings, right? The thing is, learning is messy and imperfect and emotional. That’s the very nature of it. That also happens to be the very nature of being human. So at LEVÄTÄ, we embrace messiness and imperfection and ALL THE FEELINGS, and celebrate the vulnerability necessary to be our full, human selves.
CREATIVITY
At LEVÄTÄ, creativity takes two forms: creative expression and curiosity. As noted in Emily and Amelia Nagoski's amazing book, Burnout, creative expression (writing, singing, dancing, making things!) is an evidence-based way to help your body move out of a stress response and into a sense of calm and safety. Many of LEVÄTÄ's offerings include creative play - such as origami, playing with poetry, trying out non-traditional yoga props, moving to music - and all programs include being curious, which is really all creativity is. Let's ask questions like: What might happen if...? How could I feel even better? What does my body want to do today? What is my next right step?
CRITICAL INQUIRY
Critical inquiry of the wellness industry, and especially the harm caused by the Westernization and commodification of Eastern health traditions, is necessary, ongoing work. As a settler of European heritage teaching primarily Eastern wellness practices, I am engaged in ongoing work to honour the lineage of these teachings, acknowledge and reflect upon my mistakes and offer transparency around gaps in my knowledge and experience. I prioritize Eastern teachers in my own learning and I'm exploring what reparations might look like in relation to teaching Eastern traditions in a white body and Western context. I also welcome feedback and ideas for my growth.
SOCIAL CHANGE
It is essential that self- and community-care occur alongside work to enact systemic change. We can’t keep healing from burnout only to head straight back into the fire. LEVÄTÄ is committed to both supporting personal healing and engaging in collective work with community partners to enact broader change, such as a cultural rejection of hustle culture and an embrace of rest, improved access to healthcare (including alternative modalities) and the implementation of basic income.
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ACCESSIBILITY
As noted by yoga teacher Jivana Heyman, “If it isn’t accessible, it isn’t yoga.” All LEVÄTÄ programs and services are offered using tiered pricing, with an optional discount code, by donation or for free, and in-person programs are offered in fully-accessible spaces whenever possible. I strive to offer additional accessibility supports - including ASL, captioning and child care - as LEVÄTÄ grows.
AGENCY
I believe in giving "choice and voice" (and credit where it is due: thank you Breathe for Change for this phrase). It is only possible to feel safe and brave in any space if one feels a sense of agency - empowered to confidently say "That's not for me!" or to adapt an activity to make it right for you, just as confidently as you might dive head long into something that feels on the money. I believe in options, opportunities to share your voice (but only if you want to) and ongoing conversation about what I can do to best support you as you learn, heal and grow.
PLAYFULNESS
I believe that playfulness and humour are powerful access points to both relaxation and our truest selves. One of the yamas (or moral codes) outlined in Pantanjali’s Yoga Sutras is satya, or truthfulness, which means more than “not lying”: It refers to striving to reach our true essence, and I believe that we are our truest selves when we are having fun. Yes, yoga is profoundly sacred, but I believe that not only can the sacred and the silly co-exist, but they are meant to. To be playful is to be open to all the world offers. To be joyful is to bring our full selves to the moment. If that’s not divine, I don’t know what is.
WELLBEING OVER WELLNESS
Wellness and health are complex and controversial topics. For example, for some with chronic illness, like myself, wellness is an unrealistic goal, and our culture’s celebration of good health as the “be all and end all” feels alienating. While I use the term “wellness” on occasion to locate LEVÄTÄ within its most aligned business sector, I seek to refocus the conversation on wellbeing and support you in defining what wellbeing means for you.
YOU ARE YOUR ONLY HEALER
I believe two things: we can all heal ourselves* (with support including Western medicine and Eastern traditions) and we can only heal ourselves (although we can support others in their healing). I can help you heal but YOU are the one doing the work: by signing up and showing up, by being present and open, by learning and growing and by practicing your agency to take what works, adapt what I offer so it works for you and leave the rest.
*Although we may not be able to heal ourselves of all things (e.g. chronic illness, terminal illness), I believe we can heal what in us is ready and able to be healed.
COMMUNITY CARE
While self-care is valuable and empowering, there is a false narrative in our culture that suggests that self-care is the one-stop shop for healing and balance, and our success or failure to live a healthy, balanced life (by our society’s definitions) comes down to our personal success or failure. This not only ignores vast societal issues at play (e.g. capitalism), but it devalues the importance of community care: we need other people. At LEVÄTÄ, all programs and classes provide opportunities for supportive community connection.
Pssst... you are beautiful and you are worthy of care.
And if you have read this far, you are a superstar.
Thank you.