Black Women's Yoga History

Stephanie Y. Evans is a Professor of Black Women's Studies, Director of the Institute for Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Affiliate Faculty in the Department of African American Studies and in the Center for the Study of Stress, Trauma, and Resilience at Georgia State University. Her books include Black Women and Social Justice Education: Legacies and Lessons (coedited with Andrea D. Domingue and Tania D. Mitchell); Black Women's Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability (coedited with Kanika Bell and Nsenga K. Burton); and African Americans and Community Engagement in Higher Education: Community Service, Service-Learning, and Community-Based Research (coedited with Colette M. Taylor, Michelle R. Dunlap, and DeMond S. Miller), all published by SUNY Press.

"…useful to a broad range of readers, including students and scholars in women's studies, Black women's studies, intellectual history, and religion and health. The life stories of the popular figures whom they respect will attract general interest readers. Her well-indexed text makes this encyclopedic volume easy to read selectively for this interdisciplinary range of research purposes." — Nova Religio"Extensively researched and candidly personal, this history of Black women's self-care practices explores the African roots to the current multitude of ways Black women have for resting, healing, managing stress, and finding restorative inner peace." — Ms. Magazine"Truly a labor of love and a gift, this groundbreaking book demystifies Black women's self-care by providing very explicit examples of what it looks like and how to do it! I look forward to recommending and sharing it." — Karla D. Scott, author of The Language of Strong Black Womanhood: Myths, Models, Messages, and a New Mandate for Self-Care

• IllustrationsForewordJana Long, cofounder and executive director, Black Yoga Teachers AlliancePreface. What Lies Inside: Writing Myself WellAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Mental Health, Healing, and Wellness: An Intellectual History of Self-CarePart I: Look Inward. Healing Traditions (A 1975 Portrait) 1. Yoga is Self-Possession2. Managing Traumatic Stress3. Medica, cura te ipsum—Physician, Heal Thyself: Meditation on a Fiftieth BirthdayPart II: Look Backward. Historical Wellness (Pre-1975) 4. Blue Zones for Black Women: Centenarians on Mind, Body, and Spirit5. Weathering the Weary Blues: Enslavement, Jane Crow, and Migration6. Everyday Violence, Everyday Peace: Civil Rights, Black Power, and a New AgePart III: Look Forward. Toward Mental Health (Post-1975) 7. Memoirs are Mentors: Narratives of Africana Yoga8. Survivor Self-Care: Midlife Mindfulness and Wellness Activism9. The Purpose of Black Women's Studies: Meditation on a Fiftieth AnniversaryConclusion. Woosah—Remember to Breathe: Ancient Peace, Self-Care Pedagogy, and the Future of Africana YogaCoda. My Last Will and Testament: Stress and Inner Peace during a Global PandemicNotesSelected BibliographyIndex