Yoga in the Black Community - by Charlene Marie Muhammad & Marilyn Peppers-Citizen Paperback

About the Book

This pioneering resource takes an Afrocentric approach to yoga whilst exploring and dismantling barriers that hinder access in Black communities. By contextualising core aspects of yoga teacher training into Black cultural norms and historical healing modalities, this practical book helps facilitate equitable yoga classes for Black people.

Book Synopsis

As the practice of yoga continues to flourish within Western Black and Brown communities, this transformative, Black culturally centered toolkit highlights the barriers that hinder access to yoga. It takes core aspects of yoga philosophy and contextualizes it within Black cultural norms, religious taboos, and historical healing practices, and teaches readers how to foster a safe haven for their clients and communities.

Based on decades' worth of experience and expertise, this dynamic author duo discusses important topics such as health disparities, complementary healthcare, and the rich heritage and resilience of Black communities. This is an invaluable and practical resource that offers practices and actionable guidance and supports practitioners to explore a Black culturally centered approach to yoga whilst facilitating better health and wellbeing for Black people.

Review Quotes

Yoga in the Black Community is a rejuvenating dive into yoga's true essence, far beyond the surface-level asana. This book is a call to reconnect with both yoga practices and rituals from our African ancestors, offering a path back to self and nature in our technology-driven world. It addresses health disparities in the Black community, presenting yoga and spiritual practices as powerful healing tools, complete with facts and recipes. This book will be a treasured resource for my studio and trainings.--Dana A. Smith, ERYT 500 Owner, Spiritual Essence Yoga & Wellness

Yoga in the Black Community is an essential book for Black people who engage in yoga practice, as well as for anyone who teaches yoga in communities of color. Along with instruction about the physical and contemplative aspects of the practice, Muhammad and Peppers-Citizen acknowledge the historical, social, and spiritual context in which Black people are practicing yoga. This understanding is critical to a skillful and safe practice. This book will have a prominent place on my yoga book shelf.--Tamara Jeffries, yoga teacher, writer, and former Senior Editor, Yoga Journal

This is a book that I will return to time after time. It delves into the historical and social challenges faced by the Black community, offering a perspective that's both thought-provoking and empowering. It has answered so many questions about the reason why yoga is not readily embraced by the Black community.
It is a compelling read for anyone who wishes to make yoga and well-being spaces truly diverse and inclusive.
Thank you, Marilyn and Charlene, for writing this much-needed book. This book is a gift to the Black community and a vital message for all yogis who want to see the practice evolve into a truly welcoming space for everyone. A powerful read for people of all races.

--Donna Noble, Author of Teaching Body Positive Yoga

Muhammad and Peppers-Citizen are making an incredibly important to contribution to our understanding of yoga, what it is, its relationship to Black communities and who it is "for." This ground-breaking book blows apart the stereotypes around yoga as exercise for "other" people, to explore Black people's deep historical and cultural relationships to the practice. The authors provide evidence based research on the positive impact of yoga on reducing violence, improving health, and advancing healing in our communities and, perhaps most importantly, they go on to show us how to create vital spaces of practice in our own communities. Part history, part guide, part clear-eyed critique of the harm Black people suffer living under racism and anti-Blackness, Yoga in the Black Community is a must read for anyone committed to health and healing in Black communities.--Makani Themba, Chief Strategist at Higher Ground Change Strategies and author of Making Policy, Making Change

This book is a celebration-of community, vitality, joy, and health. Whether you are a committed yogi or just a seeker looking for more peace and wellness in your life, Muhammad and Peppers-Citizen are excellent companions on the mat and on the page.--Karen Valby, author of The Swans of Harlem

This is a powerfully written book that enhances interconnection with mind, body and spirit.--Thomas W Johnson MD, MBA

Yoga in the Black Community expertly weaves the culture, legacy, and history of being Black in the US with the spiritual grounding offered through yoga philosophy and practices. Charlene Muhammad and Marilyn Peppers-Citizen give shape and context to their explanations by illuminating both the African and American influence on Black culture while relating all of it to the spiritual practices of yoga. This book is a desperately needed guide to those in the Black community considering yoga as a health practice.--Kimberly Middleton RN, MPH, MS, RYT500, Founder and Owner of Path of Compassion, LLC https: //path-of-compassion.org

Yoga was originally taught and practiced as a tool for spiritual growth, as a way to integrate the spiritual self with the physical self. Its origins come from indigenous people with roots in India and Africa. Black people have a rich history of spiritual and healing practices that support health, resilience, and well-being that are compatible with yoga philosophy and practice. Yoga In the Black Community: Healing Practices and Principles offers a well-documented and comprehensive overview of these practices and gives voice to the presence of Blacks within the yoga community. A must read.--Gail Parker, Ph.D., CIAYT, Psychologist, yoga therapist educator, and author of Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma, and Transforming Ethnic and Race-Based Traumatic Stress with Yoga

About the Author

Charlene Marie Muhammad, MS, CNS, LD, E-RYT500, C -IAYT serves in a variety of leadership capacities within the yoga world: Chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force at the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT), Secretary on the Board of Directors at the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance and member of the yoga advisory council for the Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation. She is a wellness practitioner, and has been practicing yoga for over 30 years. She served as the lead trainer for the 200-hour yoga teacher training lead for Love Yoga, a Black-owned studio in Hyattsville, Maryland, and facilitates YTT 200- and 300-hour core requirements workshops for yoga teacher training schools around the United States. She is also a licensed dietitian and certified yoga therapist. Since 2006 Charlene has been teaching weekly yoga classes for communities of color, and she serves as a mentor teacher for the Yoga for Arthritis teacher certification. She has presented workshops and lectures at local, regional, national, and international venues, including at the 2021 Global Yoga Therapy Day Conference. She lives in Columbia, MD.
Marilyn Peppers-Citizen, PhD, MS, MBA, C-IAYT is president-elect of the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance board of directors and is a board member of Integrative Rest Institute (iRest) and Aromatic Research Quality Appraisal Taskforce, a grassroots effort to appraise and create meaningful standards for nonpharmacologic aromatic research. She is a certified yoga therapist, national board-certified health and wellness coach, and faculty for the Maryland University of Integrative Health Master of Science in Yoga Therapy program. She has presented at national seminars and conferences and has more than 35 years of military and business leadership experience in various senior-level capacities. Marilyn is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel experienced in strategic planning, international and interagency collaboration, logistics planning and integration, and program management. She studied holistic health and wellness and embraced the practice of yoga 26 years ago, studying multiple traditions. She has taught accessible fitness, yoga, and meditation to various communities and to veterans and their families and caregivers through the Art of Movement and the Military in the Arts initiative at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA. She approaches achieving health and wellness through yoga and lifestyle and is also a Brain Longevity(R) specialist and ambassador for the Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation yoga advisory council. She lives in Southbridge, VA.