A Study of Mental Health and Wellness
Black Women's Yoga History
YOGINI ELDERS, PRE-1975
Research
SELF-HEALERS
I study how African American women's #historicalwellness is recorded in memoirs and autobiographies since at least the mid-nineteenth century. This work demonstrates how Black women's self-care traditions, including meditation and yoga, are feminist-womanist acts of liberation. My inner peace and wellness research began in 2013 and has been quite a journey. In my work, I highlight power brokers (redefining power through writing), self-healers on a quest for mental health, and elders in their 90s and 100s who offer guides for longevity. Rosa Parks (who lived to age 92) is a primary example of Black women's yoga history: she learned "stretching" from her mother, took formal classes with nieces and nephews and--in her 60s--taught yoga to communities in Detroit and Akron. As cited in a Yoga Journal, this healing history is part of understanding the struggle for civil and human rights. For more info, check out the resources on this website.
POWER BROKERS
|
|
|