Graham - Yoga as Resistance: Equity and Inclusion On and Off the Mat

Praise for Dr Stacie C.C. Grahams Yoga as Resistance

A powerful analysis of the current and historical challenges that plague the yoga industry due to colonization and white supremacy. Yoga as Resistance is a transformative book that can reorient the Western yoga industry by bringing attention and care to South Asian, Indian, BIPOC, Desi and queer voices and experiences, while at the same time challenging colonization, white supremacy, cultural appropriation and other systems of oppression.

Grahams book is accessible and clear, offering readers an opportunity to learn and do better. She links the benefit of the practice with clarity to the powerful work of social change. Her direct approach invites self-reflection, compassion and care. She gives us delightful practice breaks throughout that invite integration of this important work. This book is a must-read for yoga studios, training schools, teachers and practitioners.

Susanna Barkataki, author of Embrace Yogas Roots

Many of us dedicated to the liberatory path of Yoga know and understand the challenge of engaging with such a profound path that has for some time been disrupted by colonization, capitalism and white supremacy. In a clear, direct and compassionate voice enriched by years of authentic practice, Dr Stacie C.C. Graham opens up a way forward for practitioners, teachers and yoga communities to do the real work of decentring the violence of exclusivity and recentring the profound and accessible liberatory teachings. Yoga as Resistance will become an important guidebook helping all of us to reconnect to the real expression of Yoga.

Lama Rod Owens, author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger

This is an important book for our times. Structural racism, inequity and inequality are rife throughout societies and yoga is no different. There has been a systems-level exclusion of people of colour, and anyone else whose face or body shape was deemed not to fit. Far from the unity and oneness expressed in Patanjali, we have had far too much yoga that is obsessed with gymnastic shapes (usually slim white women) and has insulted the cultural and wisdom heritage of the Yoga tradition in favour of a mindset reminiscent of colonial appropriation. Yogas reaction to all of this has been a predictable mix of guilt and denial there is no problem; me, racist? Yoga as Resistance is a wake-up call to the un-awakened, providing the information and analysis to become fully conscious of structures of inequity and exclusion in yoga and the importance of dismantling them. Dr Graham leads the reader step by step through the conceptual framework and vocabulary needed to address these issues, alongside practical strategies for studios, teacher training schools and yoga brand holders to change direction. All this important work is lightened by insights from yogic texts, journaling prompts and practices to enable the reader to reflect and embed the knowledge to become agents of change.

For many of us, yoga on and off the mat has always been a foundation for the struggle for social justice, equity, equality and inclusion. Yoga is about health, wellness, and transformation. It should also be Yoga as resistance.

Paul Fox, Chief Operating Officer of the Yoga In Healthcare Alliance and former Chair of the British Wheel of Yoga

Through the lens of social justice activism, Dr Stacie Graham shares information, light bulb moments, unlearning tips, yoga practices, journaling prompts and real-life examples to invite yoga studio owners, yoga schools, yoga teachers and yoga practitioners to think about and reflect on how yoga is taught, who teaches it, and who practises it within their locations. She challenges us to engage in self-study sydhyya and to distinguish our own personal truth from the Truth satya and to face our own hypocrisy when we claim that yoga means unity, all appearances to the contrary. But thats not all. She tells us how to make the changes within our business practices, our yoga schools, our yoga studios and ourselves that will demonstrate the diversity, equity and inclusion that we advocate, so that these are more than just words on a page. If you want to make a difference, if you want to be part of real change, this is an important read.

Gail Parker, Ph.D., E-RYT 500, C-IAYT, psychologist, yoga therapist educator, President of the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance Board of Directors, and author of Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma and Transforming Ethnic and Race-Based Traumatic Stress With Yoga

Yoga as Resistance is a voice of compassionate strength. Dr Grahams writing empowers her readers to see yoga as a tool that can translate our inner experience into an outer form of social justice and change. Inspiring, challenging and forgiving, Yoga as Resistance confirms why racial equity and justice sit unmistakably within the framework of classical yoga philosophies. By grounding theory into tangible practices and action, she brings ancient teachings into clear, present-day relief. I hope her book will be read far and wide by people within the yoga community and serve to move our individual and collective experiences together towards greater equality, liberation and freedom.

Mimi Kuo-Deemer, author and teacher of meditation and the movement arts

Yoga as Resistance is a call to action that artfully explores a much-needed pathway towards a more equitable and sustainable yoga and wellness industry. Dr Graham offers an accessible, engaging and practical guide that draws on relatable stories while balancing self-enquiry and equitable strategies. Highly recommended to all sincere students, teachers and studios as a go-to resource for driving change on both an individual and collective level. As Dr Graham states, the smallest well-informed actions will pave the way for lasting change; this book asks us all to act, meaningfully and intentionally, and offers doable steps and refined tools to aid us all in the process.

Julia Midland, Founder and Director of The OmPowerment Project

Dr Graham has given us a gift in writing this book and offering specific, step-by-step guidance for anyone in the yoga industry to make their work more just and equitable. Yoga as Resistance offers a clear call to yoga teachers, studios and brands to do the often-difficult work of examining our motivations, assumptions and practices. It also outlines a pathway of accountability and action that we all must take in order for our work to have integrity and align with the true spirit of Yoga which is resisting the status quo and guiding people towards liberation personally and collectively.

Hala Khouri, M.A, SEP, E-RYT, co-founder of Off the Mat, Into the World and trainer for Collective Resilience Yoga

This book is a call to action to go beyond poses and performance and live Yoga out in the world. Through Stacies guidance, we return to the wisdom tradition and recalibrate to the practice of justice that is inherent to Yoga. It is a tool and a journey towards the freedom we are yearning for.

Kerri Kelly, author of American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal

Wise, fierce and compassionate, Dr Stacie C.C. Graham calls us into action to practice deeply and do the work for real change. Yoga As Resistance offers a clear framework to create equity and inclusion, transform ideas into action, and break free from oppressive dominant culture in the yoga and wellness industry. As a white woman and teacher of yoga, this book offers essential ways to dig deep, listen on every level, identify blocks that prevent showing up to do the work, face the fears of getting it wrong, and rise up to create yoga spaces that benefit all. Yoga As Resistance is an essential resource for every yoga teacher, and I feel it should be in the core curriculum of every yoga teacher training.