As a plus-size scholar at a Charlotte college, Geornee Jefferies seen a evident hole: The college had no dance golf equipment that embraced curvy girls with rhythm and confidence.
“I’ve been plus dimension my total life,” she says. “And I grew up in a world the place magnificence not often appeared like me.”
To handle the void, Jefferies created Curvaceous Conduct (CB), a campus dance workforce for ladies the place dimension didn’t matter.
“We imagine in genuine illustration and have a good time everybody precisely as they’re,” mentioned Jefferies, who has danced since age seven.
Now, years later, Jefferies has registered CB as a nonprofit. Its purpose is to supply group outreach initiatives, together with wellness and arts-based applications. To assist fund her imaginative and prescient, she utilized for and obtained a grant from the Arts and Science Council.
On Sunday, I joined Jefferies and 24 others at her first “Self-Care Sundays,” a sequence of 9 free classes incorporating yoga, sound bowls and rest – all free to the general public.
As a health skilled, I’ve taken loads of yoga lessons. Sunday’s class was a welcome change.
The category started with dim lights, and individuals have been instructed to seek out snug positions on yoga mats – mendacity down or sitting up. Then we moved to sound meditation led by therapist Donielle Smith, a primary for me.
Sound meditation, or sound bathing, refers to ideas (typically paired with yoga) that promote rest by way of sound. Proponents imagine that sure sounds, frequencies and vibrations can positively affect the physique, thoughts and spirit.
Through the session I attended, Smith softly tapped on a sequence of seven coloured tin bowls, designed to assist the category loosen up, increase consciousness and launch rigidity. As she tapped, she moved gently across the room, whispering mantras. Mendacity comfortably on my again as sounds swirled, I felt relaxed, calm and peaceable.
“Every bowl resonates with a unique frequency that corresponds to one of many physique’s seven important chakras, or vitality facilities,” says Jefferies. For instance, a pink bowl is a root chakra, representing grounding & stability.
Subsequent was half-hour of yoga, led by Cheyene Booker.
Like Smith, Booker moved all through the room, connecting individuals to her voice and weaving in directions for various yoga actions. She additionally recited mantras, encouraging individuals to breathe deeply.
The room appeared to reply properly, together with the lone male in attendance, who mentioned he got here searching for an inexpensive health class. “It was a religious and peaceable guided meditation of expression,” he mentioned afterward.
Jefferies mentioned she was purposeful in finding her CB classes within the Sugar Creek group.
“In areas like Ballantyne and SouthPark, entry to a wellness expertise is considerable,” she mentioned.
In case you go:
🗓 Dates: Sundays, August 3 – September 28, 2025🕑 Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM📍 Location: Sugaw Creek Recreation Center943 W Sugar Creek Rd, Charlotte, NC 28213💵 Value: FREE and open to the general public 🎉 Offered by: Curvaceous Conduct🏆 Sponsored by: Arts & Science Council GrantOther – Convey your personal yoga mat.
Correction: This text was up to date to right the spelling of Donielle Smith.
