Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Avery.
Courtney, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
While in grad school for my Masters of Public Health, I took a yoga teacher training. I had no intentions of actually teaching yoga, I just wanted to learn more for myself. I was studying methods for health education & behavior change in the areas of reproductive health, maternal & child health, and disease prevention. I started teaching yoga, and I quickly realized that I was implementing an important aspect of health education that is often missing from conventional methods- I gave my students the opportunity to become more aware of their bodies, so they could FEEL more.
We can tell someone about healthy behavior changes until we’re blue in the face, but when that person actually FEELS the difference in their body, they are much more likely to incorporate these changes into their lives. Apply this to sexual health education, and you give people permission to feel more pleasure in their bodies. For my Master’s capstone project, I implemented a health education program that incorporated yoga for body awareness amongst women in and indigenous area in Panama.
It was a successful program, and since then, I’ve been able to apply this methodology into Intimate Health Yoga: combining sexual health education with yoga to experience more pleasure. I became a birth doula, and taught prenatal yoga (along with other types of yoga) and found that the pelvic floor awareness techniques I used in my prenatal classes could benefit everyone! The more aware we are of our pelvic floor muscles, the more we can use them to experience pleasure… and I am on a mission to educate EVERYBODY about this!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This has been a WILD ride! There are so many barriers when it comes to sex, and we live in a culture that considers sex taboo! This is a very important aspect of our overall health, yet instead, we are told to be hush-hush about sex. My goal with my workshops, retreats, and yoga classes is to create a safe space where people can discuss their sexual health openly and freely. I encourage people to try what they learn at home and to confidently explore their bodies on their own, however, many people hear “sex” and assume we’ll be doing weird things together… we won’t!
It has been a challenge to educate people about what to expect before they assume the weirdest! While sex is still considered taboo, it makes advertising my services on any public platform difficult! My biggest piece of advice for women getting into topics that go against the social norm… keep going, don’t give up, because there are people out there who NEED your message, even when the odds are against you. There are times when I feel like I should just go back into more socially accepted aspects of health education because there are entire institutions against what I do!
My Instagram posts get flagged if I discuss self-pleasure from an educational perspective (even using cartoon images that show NOTHING). I’ve lost job opportunities because people have googled my name and found “vagina’s” on my website. Things like this happen… and then I remember, some people just aren’t ready for this. For young women looking to get into this industry…. keep going! Don’t give up! The more we discuss this openly, the more we normalize our bodies and create a society where your sexual health is accepted and loved.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I host yoga retreats, yoga workshops, and yoga classes with the intention of improving your intimate health. I also host online yoga immersions, where we gather remotely from anywhere in the world, and I encourage you to try things on your own time in the comfort of your own home. The majority of my events are for women only because it creates an environment where we can share and express our intimate health needs more openly. I always incorporate health education into my events, and I share pleasure-inclusive sexual health education.
My favorite workshop to teach includes Orgasmic Health Education where we learn about the different types of orgasms you are capable of experiencing (yes, there are many!) I also love to host events for couples, where I open their minds to other ways of connecting intimately with their partners. I specialize in yoga for pelvic health: reducing pelvic pain and tension, building pelvic floor strength, and building awareness of these muscles to maintain pelvic health to experience more pleasure! I also specialize in yoga for prenatal health, postpartum recovery, and increasing pleasure.
There are not many yoga teachers that incorporate sexual health education into their classes and not many health educators that use yoga to drive home concepts. I love to bridge the gap between the spirituality of yoga and the science behind evidence-based research. I offer a true holistic approach to everything I create, always shining a light on different perspectives!
What’s the most important piece of advice you could give to a young woman just starting her career?Believe in yourself. Get feedback. Grow from there.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.intimatehealthyoga.com
- Email: courtney@intimatehealthyoga.com
- Instagram: @intimatehealthyoga
- Facebook: @intimatehealthyoga
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