The mission of Positive Force Movement is to provide educational and empowerment-related services to people who have historically faced systemic marginalization, and to do so in a way that honors the full selves and identities of all who seek our services; our vision is a world in which all people have the opportunity to develop a joyful, playful, and present relationship to their embodied selves in a way that honors the holistic needs of each person.

The Positive Force Movement (PFM) was built through the commitment that spouses Christine Walker-McSpadden (they/them) and Lore McSpadden-Walker (they/them) have for using their skills in the interest of empowering individuals and dismantling the forces of injustice and inequity.

Although PFM is most commonly thought of as a gym, it is so much more than that. Christine and Lore’s focus is to invite joy, healing, and education into the lives of all of the people they serve, and they do so through a multifaceted approach: the three divisions of Positive Force Movement, LLC are Positive Force Movement, Fat Folks Can, and The Wild Within Healing.

Our work at Positive Force Movement focuses on helping folks who have faced systemic oppression learn about their physical selves through movement, education, and facilitated conversations about important topics related to understanding, empowering, and freeing our bodies.

In addition to offering movement-related education, Christine makes amazing works of art through their sewistry at Fat Folks Can, the most colorful (and glittery!) division of Positive Force Movement. Their focus is on providing fat folks, trans folks, witchy folks, and disabled folks attire and accessories that celebrate their full selves; Fat Folks Can is also the home of our Etsy shop.

Through The Wild Within Healing, Lore offers handmade micro-batch herbal healing products (using herbs they grow themself whenever possible!) that bring together ancestral witchy wisdom, medical herbalism research, and their deep desire to help folks heal and believe in their inherent, embodied empowerment. They also offer restorative movement coaching; Reiki healing; and education regarding meditation, traditional uses of herbs, and kitchen witchcraft/green witchcraft. They are furthermore pursuing a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling at SUNY: The College at Brockport, and look forward to adding counseling to the services they can offer upon the completion of their degree.

Positive Force Movement, LLC was originally founded by Lore, and promptly thereafter joined by Christine. They were both disheartened and enraged by the difficulty of manifesting their values while working in traditional gym spaces, so with an incredible amount of passion, help from their communities, and work, they broke away from traditional gyms and created a space where fat folks, queer folks, trans folks, neurodivervent folks, BIPOC folks, and other folks who have faced systemic marginalization could explore movement and other embodied experiences in a safe space of empowerment.

Our focus is not on providing "workouts" or "exercise." Rather, it is on bidirectional sharing of knowledge in a way that promotes unfuckwithable confidence and empowerment while honoring the wisdom of each person who comes to us.

Lore was raised on Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo) land in what is currently called Indiana, while Christine was born in Japan on the indigenous land of the Ainu people. They currently reside on unceded Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga (Haudenosaunee) land in what is currently called Rochester, NY.

Lore and Christine both descend from Celtic ancestry from Northern Ireland and Scotland, and offer the deepest gratitude and acknowledgment to the folk traditions, magic, medicine, and ancestors that came before them.

To learn more about the land you are living on, please visit Native Land.

We are boldly and unapologetically:

pro-fat,

pro-LGBTQ+,

pro-Black,

pro-neurodiversity,

pro-science,

anti-racist, and

anti-ableist.