Yoke

Starred review from May 1, 2021

With her book Every Body Yoga and her online yoga community, Stanley has helped change the idea of the "yoga body" and open discourses about the importance of decolonizing fitness. Stanley's voice is a practical complement to books like Sabrina Strings's Fearing the Black Body or Christy Harrison's Anti-Diet. Here, Stanley shares stories of being excluded from all-white Western yoga spaces, and explains that loving the bodies we inhabit must be a part of any form of antiracist, anti-capitalist work. The book begins with raw discussion of imposter syndrome, and Stanley's experience of it; with each chapter, it becomes clearer that her experiences in yoga have engendered a powerful motivation to interrogate the discourses that made her feel marginal. Her book reads like a conversation with a friend; a friend who drags you to yoga class and calls you out when your negative self-talk functions as microaggression. VERDICT This is a book for all readers, as a practical manual for embodied spiritual activism, a guide to decolonizing wellness, a tool for recognizing privilege, and a reminder that yoga isn't the corporate fantasy businesses make it out to be. Essential reading.--Emily Bowles, Lawrence Univ., WI

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2021
Yoga teacher and artist Stanley (Every Body Yoga, 2017) continues to inspire audiences with her charm, elegance, honesty, and intelligence. Writing in a straightforward, unapologetic tone that will make readers laugh and feel heard, Stanley explains the history of yoga, the differences between American and classical yoga, and the American yoga industry and its problematic issues, such as cultural appropriation. Stanley teaches readers the yoga of everyday life, which offers flexibility and strength through life's difficulties. As she puts it, "when someone cuts you off in traffic and you resist the urge to road rage on them? That's yoga. Even if you do road rage on them, that's STILL yoga." With conversations on body size, race, sexual orientation, faith, and self-love, Stanley takes readers through a personal journey, covering everything from relationships and cramped apartments to coming out and racist yoga experiences. Readers who have dealt with struggles of impostor syndrome, self-doubt, and the difficulty of fitting into a space where no one looks like them will relate strongly. Abstract, funny, heartfelt, and inspiring, Yoke is a fundamental book for those learning to feel present in their emotions and to take up space for themselves, both on the yoga mat and off.

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