In this eye-opening episode I talk with a truly inspiring woman, Dee de Lara! We discuss her work with the paradigm shifting movement hub, What Time, co-creating BIPOC-centred online space and disrupting expectations of how and where to find movement.

Places to connect with Dee on Instagram:
Dee de Lara
What Time - Movement Class Hub

A few of things our conversation touched upon:

Dee's experience coming into a nourishing relationship with her body in a studio environment and how that sparked her up to questions like: "Who's not in the room right now and why".
Why conflict is part of a healthy studio environment and can be the very thing that leads dismantling oppression in movement and wellness communities
The complicated future for the studio wellness communities in Toronto (and beyond) as a result of the pandemic as well as the paradigm shifts that are disrupting systems of oppression in the community. What's going to be birthed out of this loss and struggle?
How racism shows up in our lives as Canadians, and the lies we tell ourselves about the nature of white supremacy in the Canadian cultural context

Quotes from Dee to inspire you:

"To experience deep connection and intimacy, we have to do both. We need to be able speak with passion, assertiveness and confidence and also listen with openness compassion and humility. "

"This idea that wellness shouldn’t or isn’t up to one figure or authority to decide who deserves it or who gets access to it."

"As human beings, we want to feel like we’re a part of something, but there’s more than one way to feel that."

About Dee:

Dee de Lara's (she/her) life and passion is all about listening to and telling stories, her own and those of others. She aims to co-create spaces to weave a web to between humans to share their experiences and feel more connected by: teaching MOVEMENT that aims to inspire curiosity, facilitating CONVERSATIONS that spark more reflection and action with Dinner Confidential and Insights in Color, making JEWELRY that reframes context and expectations. Dee is also here to ask QUESTIONS to disrupt the status quo, to elevate and amplify the voices of BIPOC and to critically interrogate the systems that exist. And ultimately to learn widely and deeply from others.

Today, one of Dee’s core values is disruption: not about interfering, but about trusting natural processes and interrupting patterns and behaviour to foster abundance and growth. At the beginning of August, with Bea Palanca, she launched @WHAT_TIME___, an Instagram hub to aggregate and connect independent, emerging and BIPOC movement teachers' offerings. WHAT_TIME is committed to disrupting the expectations of where to find movement, how it is organized and from whom you can find it. The ultimate aim is to centre BIPOC voices and experiences. Connect with her @deedelara.