This is part of our Yoga Style Guide series, exploring diverse practices and the teachers who bring them to life. Whether you're deepening your current practice or discovering something new, these guides are here to inform and inspire. This edition features Primal Moves instructor Olivia Jaye Brown.
Primal Moves is a bodyweight movement method designed to get you out of your head and into your body. The practice combines active stretching, functional mobility, and conscious body awareness through a structured class format that addresses the limited movement patterns of daily life.
To learn more about the practice, we spoke with Olivia Jaye Brown, a Primal Moves instructor who teaches at Primal Moves’ Venice, California studio.
The Primal Moves Approach
The core objective is simple: move every joint in every direction in order to move the body through its full range of motion. The way Primal Moves achieves this is what sets it apart.
"What makes us different from other movement modalities is the structure and container of the class," Olivia explains. "Our objective is to get you out of your mind and into your body. Our studios are built-in community centers; we foster connection over everything."
Strength at Primal Moves is defined as structural efficiency—the body's ability to move and load itself evenly and intelligently. The practice focuses on distributing force through the joints, releasing tissue stiffness, correcting posture, and improving both muscular strength and flexibility.
Inside a Primal Moves Class
A typical Primal Moves class follows a three-part structure designed to systematically address mobility, strength, and body awareness:
Floor-Based Routine: The first portion focuses on mobility and flexibility through a largely consistent sequence. This repetition is intentional, allowing students to fully embody the movements rather than constantly learning new choreography.
High Bar Sequence: Students transition to working with a bar, integrating what they've developed on the floor into more dynamic movement patterns.
Floor Conditioning: The class concludes with core strength work and additional mobility practice, reinforcing the patterns established earlier in the session.
This structure creates a predictable container that allows students to track progress over time. The class is also designed to allow for conversation and connection, fostering relationships with fellow movers based on the belief that it's easier to build healthy routines with community support.
Building Confidence Through Consistency
Primal Moves supports transformation through noticeable progress and repetition.
“The practice encourages every student, regardless of skill level, to get out of their head and into their body—one of the guiding principles,” Olivia explains. “The more consistently students practice embodiment in the studio, the easier it becomes to stay connected in the real world.”
This emphasis on embodiment allows students to develop deeper body awareness, learn to trust their capacity, and cultivate resilience in their nervous system—all transferable skills that serve them outside the studio.
Getting Started
For anyone new to Primal Moves, the guidance is clear: lean in.
“Keep showing up and trust the process,” Olivia advises. “During your first few classes, it's important to listen to your body and move at your own pace. There is nothing to prove in this practice. We leave the ego at the door, and we move our bodies to feel great in our bodies.”
Primal Moves has studios in Venice (California), USA; Ibiza, Spain; Barcelona, Spain; and Lisbon, Portugal; with classes also available through their digital studio platform for those wishing to practice at home.
Meet the Instructor
Olivia Jaye Brown is a Primal Moves instructor based in Los Angeles, California. Born and raised in Southern California, Olivia performed in youth circus from age four and continued professionally into her early twenties. She later moved to Los Angeles to pursue stunt performance. Finding Primal Moves ignited a new passion, and she began teaching shortly after discovering the practice.
Olivia's teaching centers on creating space for joy, creativity, and authentic connection—values that extend beyond the movements themselves to the community built around them.
You can follow Olivia on Instagram at @oliviajayebrown.
Interested in exploring other movement practices? Check out our full Yoga Style Guide series for more insights into diverse modalities and the teachers bringing them to life.
