This Small Business feature is all about being a warrior, in every sense of the word. Austin booked a virtual session with me & after we chatted a bit & really connected. I am all about her mission & knew I wanted to help get Warrior Womxn in front of as many womxn as possible. More womxn need this kind of support than we know.

  
Introduce your small business… My name is Austin Dempers of Warrior Womxn: Self-Defense & Yoga. Our mission is to provide an empowering, supportive, equitable space for all Womxn to breathe, move, share, connect and level up their already badass ways. We do this through gentle Yoga, reflection, self-defense drills and so much more all with a focus on whole body connection, through a trauma aware lens. Warrior Womxn provides empowering and accessible self-defense and mind-body tools for Womxn. WW is designed to support Womxn in their healing journeys, grab hold of their power and thrive.

How/why did you get into this career? 
I got into the Yoga world a few years after moving to Denver, CO from Flint, MI. I was very hesitant at first and definitely didn’t go in with an open mind. Next thing I know I am in Savasana totally loving life and feeling better then any of the drugs I had ingested in days prior made me feel. Weekly classes turned daily which turned into signing up for a 200 hr Yoga Teacher Training program at Whole Yoga in Denver. I began awakening and healing parts of myself and my past that I wasn’t fully aware existed and I wanted to share this work with the whole damn world. About a year after said training I found bhavanaKIDS, a Yoga and Mindfulness organization for young people and it totally changed my life. I dove in head first and quickly made the connection of the benefits Yoga and Mindfulness would have had on me as a teen and for anyone else. I began teaching full time my first year and really crushing life. A few months into my first year or providing with bhavanaKIDS I experienced an assault. It was a gnarly time and I am forever grateful to the incredible support system cheering me on through my process. I began talk therapy and EMDR and became glued to my Yoga mat. Two years of teaching from a wide open heart space, educating myself, healing, opening and empowering I began the beginning stages of Warrior Womxn. I hit up my bff and martial arts queen and together we built Warrior Womxn.

Who can really benefit from working with your small business?
We truly believe every Womxn can benefit from Warrior Womxn. With many years involved in trauma education and post-traumatic growth research and practices working together we have created a curriculum that covers a wide variety of experiences and situations one can encounter. Our curriculum supports whole body awareness, understanding how our bodies respond to stress, and provides tools for the real world while covering fundamentals of self-defense. This program provides a base knowledge to aid in protecting ourselves in situations through a mind-body experience. It is our mission that by teaching Womxn Yoga & Self-Defense they too can continue to feel empowered, supported and thrive in their lives.
During the building stages of this and if we’re being honest, all the way through the first two weeks of our first five week series, I was so hesitant to really let myself feel into the self-defense portion of things. I was rehearsing some bullshit story about my, “grounded Yogi nature.” I was great at holding space for all of these Womxn and staying in my comfort zone. Lindsay was great at supporting all of them in taking up space and grabbing ahold of their power. Then the day to learn grappling came AKA ground defense. The first time I (lovingly) tossed my partner off of me and successfully stood back up on my feet was like a lifetime of therapy, yoga and every other kind of healing experience out there all wrapped up into one amazing move called, “Shrimping.” And that shiny moment of badass, ready to mindfully fuck shit up vibe is what I hope to give every Warrior Womxn who enters our space.
Check out what other people are saying about Warrior Womxn!

Most rewarding part of your small business?
The most rewarding part of this career is seeing similar healing, lightbulb moments and connections being made that I experienced and continue to experience on this path. Showing up and taking up space in a new way. I am forever grateful for the privilege of healing resources and having a support system. I hope I can spread a whole lot of that opportunity as Warrior Womxn continues to grow.Also, hanging out and doing business with my bff Lindsay AKA bug is pretty damn cool.

And since we heart Blue Flame Studio Co. so much we would love to offer all of you badass babes access to our new online platform. Warriorwomxn.com/virtual-ww
PW: empower

Website: Warriorwomxn.com

IG: @Warrior.womxn