Body-Positive Exercise

Why does the thought of going to the gym inspire such anxiety? Because exercise—literally moving our bodies—is so wrapped up in fatphobia, ableism, sexism, and other nasty stuff. On this episode, we try to extricate exercise from all the body-shaming stuff that's usually tied to it. Bitch Media editorial intern Emily McCarty brings us a dispatch from roller derby training with the Rose City Rollers and listeners share ideas for feel-good exercises ranging from rugby to trampolining. In the last half of the show, we dig deep on yoga. Fat femme yoga sensation Jessamyn Stanley drops some knowledge, then writer Mika Doyle joins us to talk about the science of using yoga to heal from PTSD. The band featured on this episode is Juniore.