Thick Girl Yoga brings meditation, neo soul music and body positivity to South L.A.
Community members of all shapes and sizes came together for a day of fun and mindfulness.
Originally published Jan. 31 to Annenberg Media
The scent of burning sage filled the air and smooth instrumental music echoed through a South L.A. yoga studio, as women of all shapes and sizes entered the room. Christina Wherry, the class instructor, spoke softly, directing the women to release tension and stress while they inhaled in unison.
The yoga experience with Thick Girl Yoga L.A. — Full Embodied Expression centers around promoting body-positivity. During the session, attendees were also treated to live neo soul music and even took part in some sidewalk double-dutch.
The event was hosted at the Tree South L.A. Yoga & Meditation Foundation and was led by Wherry, who worked and trained at The Tree for a few years before branching out and founding Thick Girl Yoga L.A. In her classes, she aims to celebrate all people and body types through meditation and other practices that allow yoga-lovers to stretch and move based on their personal comfort level. She said she started this circle of self-love and exercise because she didn’t see much representation for plus-size women, specifically black women, in the yoga industry.
“I wanted to make a place for women who looked like me and, also, I’m dealing with my own healing journey,” Wherry said. “I didn’t grow up with the privilege of having yoga and meditation, so reaching back out for the youth is big in the sense of them knowing that they can do it as well.”
Last Saturday, Wherry returned to the very studio that kick-started her passion project. There, she had the opportunity to guide women from her own community in breathing deeply, cherishing their bodies and creating the representation that she feels she and so many others deserve, she said.
“We’re making these healing tools accessible to everyone no matter what you look like, no matter how old you are,” Wherry said. “Yoga is for every body, and that’s what I thought I needed to share.”
For the class, Wherry collaborated with a fellow yoga lover and indie neo soul artist who goes by his stage name, Dorian. The duo connected with one another through yoga two years ago and have since combined their life’s passions. Dorian’s soulful lyrics and calming melodies matched Wherry’s body-positive messages as she guided participants through an hour-long yoga flow.
“This studio is definitely about social justice, a place for people of color in the world,” he said. “It’s about your own personal body and welcoming yourself onto the mat in a peaceful way.”
Halfway through the session, Dorian took the reigns, leading the class by encouraging participants to sing and groove along with him to release their stress and connect with the rhythm of the music. This, he believes, is a form of therapy within itself.
“I was looking for something deeper and the music and yoga became that,” Dorian said. “Yoga is more. Live music is more. Community is more.”
Multiple times throughout the class, Wherry demonstrated various positions on the mat — everything from downward dog to warrior pose, constantly reminding the group of women to do what felt right for them.
“Too many times we’re told what to do with our body,” she explained to the class. “But no one knows your body better than you.”
Inglewood resident and yoga-lover Allie Maxwell discovered The Tree three years ago and she’s attended classes ever since, but this was her first class with Wherry and Dorian.
“I live in Inglewood and there’s not a lot of yoga in my area,” she said. “Yoga just connects you back to yourself. It’s energizing and grounding and to have it here in this community — in my community — it’s such a blessing.”
After the yoga portion of the event, At The Playground, a group that works to promote physical activity in the community, took the class outside of the studio and onto the sidewalk where they swung two long jump ropes. Representatives of the double-dutch group, Gina Mariposa and Serena Jenell, showed off their moves and invited members of the class to jump with them and showcase some of their own tricks.
Mariposa said the At The Playground goes to various parks and other local places to unite the community. “We would just pop up anywhere,” she said. “All of a sudden we see a crowd, OK let’s just start turning the ropes.”
The event drew passersby, who pulled over and hopped out of their cars to join. Laughter and cheers rose from the group as participants of all ages took turns jumping rope.
Wherry said that there is an underlying idea that everyone in L.A. has to fight in order to “survive” and that by hosting more community events, people can learn to thrive through interconnection.
“[Yoga and mental wellness] are practices that we should be teaching each other,” she said. “It’s something that we can do so it doesn’t fall off anywhere, just because someone doesn’t have a certain amount of money.”
