(Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts)

The thing about being human is that we’re born ready to discover the world – the sights, the sounds, what makes us happy, what scares us, and even who we are. Our identity is something that comes to us piece by piece as we mature and explore the world around us. Can you imagine living a life that fully supports you discovering your identity?

Today, we’re speaking with Dr. Gwen Bass about her work in creating identity-affirming environments that promote belonging. She also wrote a book Called Immaculate Misconception about her journey to finding her biological siblings who shared a sperm donor as well as her family that was created around love and belonging.

She was one of the first children conceived in the ’80s to two lesbian moms. That journey of identity – hiding her identity in certain situations and being accepted in others – shaped her research and her academic work since.

In this conversation, she talks about risk factors and protective factors for identity.

Dr. Gwen shares some steps that leaders can take to ensure that folks know that they an be themselves while not getting in the way of others’ needs being met. We talk about how the concepts of belonging apply to the fitness space. Dr. Gwen chats through how yoga is an exceptionally inclusive fitness space because of the ways instructors cue leveling up and down, using props.

She talks about:

• Leadership in a fitness space
• Music in a fitness space
• The language used in a fitness
• The Peloton App and how the instructors take the modifications and how important that modeling is

References: 

• Dr. Gwen Bass
• Dr. Bass’s book: Immaculate Misconception
• Dr. Gwen Bass on aSweatLife.com in a previous article
• Peloton Digital fitness