Community Highlights: Meet Raikeis Timm of Charismatic Movement

Today we’d like to introduce you to Raikeis Timm. 

Hi Raikeis, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
In 2017 I had a couple of back-to-back life-changing things happen, from relationship drama to dealing with my dad’s health, to ultimately questioning my faith and what I believed in. All of that propelled me into realizing the way I was finding healing at the time was no longer working for me. 

On a whim, I decided to try a free yoga class. Very first class I went to I experienced some microaggressions, being the only person of color in the class, yet, my body and mind felt like never before, so I kept coming back all summer. I continued my practice through winter by practicing at home and going to local indoor classes. 

Yoga helped me unlock a new level of self-awareness and healing that I realized more people who look like me and come from similar backgrounds as mine (cultural and generational trauma), also needed to experience. I also knew from my own experience; those same people would benefit best from having an instructor who could truly relate to them on multiple levels. 

So, I began yoga teacher training in August of 2018, at Underground Yoga (formally known as Axis yoga), became certified, and started Charismatic Movement in March of 2019, to begin offering yoga to my community. 

I was also the peer yoga specialist from 2019 to 2021, at The Center for Trauma & Resilience, did a photoshoot for the 2020 compassion issue of Yoga Journal, and currently sit on the Urban League of Young Professionals Metro Denver leadership board, as the Wellness Chair. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Due to finances, my first year of classes were held in the backroom of a barbershop, and you could hear, in the background, the buzzing of the clippers, shop talk, and music that was not on my playlist, at every class. That was difficult because I was worried that the message of healing would be drowned out by all the distractions of the space. I also find that I run into hesitation from those I want to serve, due to what society has sold us about yoga, rarely offering diversity in body types or skin color. I spent a lot of time in the beginning just trying to show people in my community that this practice is for them too. I still have some work to do, but I have seen a huge turnaround from when I started to now, of more black and brown bodies willing to try yoga. I also find that because there are not many black yoga instructors, that I have to work a little harder to be taken seriously and make more people aware of myself and the practice of yoga. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Charismatic Movement?
Charismatic Movement is a healing movement, centered on helping black and brown bodies heal with yoga. By providing safe spaces, beginner practices, and tools intended to help release trauma in the body, we encourage navigating new ways to heal, inspiring a level of self-awareness and authenticity that naturally pours into everything you do, ultimately benefiting the community around you. The goal is to not only heal but to heal together, with your community, which is why our tagline is, “Let’s heal together.” 

Since 2019 we have worked with multiple businesses and organizations including; WeWork We of Color, National Center of Victims of Crime, Comcast western division, Oracle Corporation, Manifest House, The Crowley Foundation, Urban League of Young Professionals, Curls on the Block, Auraria Student Lofts, Black Educators Connect, Black Love Mural Festival, and many more, including multiple elementary, middle, and high schools throughout metro Denver. 

In 2022, we work with Fit & Nu, a woman of color-owned fitness center in Aurora, C.H.I.C, working with women and children, and with DBOA, a mentoring program for troubled youth, offering yoga to the Arapahoe and Denver County juvenile detention centers. 

Currently, Charismatic Movement also offers donation-based, community yoga classes, every Sunday, at 10:30 AM, at GVM studios, in Denver. 

Once warmer weather comes back, we will be outside again for Yoga in the Park, at City Park, on Sundays. Those classes are tentatively set to begin again in May 2022. 

We are also really excited about our first yoga retreat coming up August of 2022. 

All information about upcoming classes, events, products, and private sessions can be found at www.letshealtogether.us 

Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
A couple of my favorite resources that have really helped me along this journey are My Grandmother’s Hands, a book by Resmaa Menakem about generational racial trauma in different types of bodies. Sisters of the Yam by Bell Hooks is another book that has been helpful. Nipsey Hussle music is a big part of my daily motivation, especially when I am feeling discouraged. The app/website I use the most for my business is Canva.com, for graphics and flyers. Honestly what has been the most helpful, is showing up as myself, unapologetically, in whatever space I am in. I notice the more I show up as my authentic self, the more I am able to connect my community, eventually gaining the trust that is needed to welcome others to heal with me. 

Contact Info:

• Email: hello@letshealtogether.us
• Website: www.letshealtogether.us
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letshealtogether.us/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdTDLV_IdF1MuGSJsFpJYvQ

Image Credits
Daniel Choi
Osamas Productions
Trap fitness