Yin Yoga for Purity Culture Survivors

Our first Yin Yoga for Purity Culture Survivors was so popular that we decided to make it a regular class!

Feedback from attendees:

" This was so beautiful! I don't think I've ever done yoga with an intentional group of purity culture/religion survivors. Very powerful to do this together. I think i'll hear your gentle voice in my  head next time i'm doing yoga!"

"Thank you! This was delightful. Yoga especially on a Sunday is a special fuck you to religion I was raised with"

" Shauna, and Erica, thank you so much. This experience provided space for a long-needed breakthrough and was profoundly healing for me. filled with gratitude and light."

A key component of purity culture and high control religion is disconnection from our body's wisdom. When we are taught over and over again to disregard what our own bodies and inner voices are telling us, it can be challenging to find our way back. The practice of yin yoga gently invites us back into our bodies, to inhabit them and to listen. 

Join us for a virtual yin yoga class hosted by sexuality educator Erica Smith, and taught by yoga instructor Shauna Marigold.

We invite you to connect to your body through yin, a practice of making gentle shapes with your body and breathing. Yin is defined by long-held, passive poses, relaxed muscles, and a focus on your breath. The practice is slow, still, and often supported with props to allow the body to release tension safely. 

If you've never done yoga, that's ok! This is not an exercise class. If you are thinking of yoga as an athletic practice, that is NOT what yin is. It is a meditative practice designed to cultivate mindfulness, calm the nervous system, and reduce stress. It all takes place sitting or lying. We'll be lying on the ground with pillows and leaning into gentle poses. (You can leave your camera on or be off camera the whole time.)

This class is accessible to all abilities.

Here's what you can expect, description provided by Shauna:

A slow, restorative practice designed with gentle healing in mind. Long, supported holds invite you to settle into your body without demand or performance.  No pushing, no pressure, no “right way.”

For those of us unlearning the idea that our bodies are problems to be fixed or controlled, this is a quiet invitation to simply be in your body, perhaps for the first time in a long time. We will breathe, stretch and rest together as we resist the messages that our bodies are objects to be used or constantly producing.

Props are encouraged, modifications based on your own body’s needs are invited, and rest is a completely valid choice for the entire class. You are welcome just as you are.

Erica Smith is a sexuality educator and creator of the Purity Culture Dropout™ Program. Erica specializes in providing shame-free, affirming, queer inclusive, comprehensive, and evidence-based sex education to people who grew up in purity culture and high control religion. She is honored to partner with Shauna to bring in the somatic piece that many of her clients are missing in their healing.

Shauna Marigold is a 200-hour Yoga Alliance certified instructor with a passion for creating safe, nurturing spaces for healing and self-discovery. Shauna brings a grounded, trauma-informed presence to her teaching as well as a warm real-life humanity to everything she does, making her a natural fit for this deeply intentional somatic work. Having been raised in a high control religion herself, Shauna brings lived experience and deep personal understanding to this space. She knows firsthand the complexity of untangling faith, bodily autonomy, connection to oneself, and identity and is committed to walking alongside students in that process with compassion and care. A forever student, she believes that healing is an ongoing, ever-unfolding journey. Shauna is honored to co-lead this religious trauma-informed somatic class alongside sex educator Erica Smith, holding space for students to reconnect with their bodies, their breath, and themselves. 

 If you feel like you have trouble being present in your body or listening to your own inner wisdom because of purity culture messaging, this class is for you.