Yoke

It has been nearly ten years since Jessamyn Stanley began breaking barriers in the world of American yoga. In that time, she has been celebrated for her trademark confrontational approach to tackling big topics—fat-shaming, refusing to compromise her queer Black identity in a society that privileges the heterosexual white experience, and the tyranny of unattainable beauty standards. Today, she is an inspiring entrepreneur and thoughtful provocateur, founder of The Underbelly, author of Every Body Yoga, and a pioneering advocate for body liberation who champions making room on the mat for bodies of all sizes, colors, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. 

 

Stanley’s book YOKE: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance takes readers on an autobiographical journey to self-acceptance. Jessamyn writes generously and openly about her search for authenticity. She takes a hard look at the limitations and hypocrisies she has come to see in yoga culture—the consumerism, the cultural appropriation, the racism. And she draws readers into the corners of her life, writing about tarot, music, and cannabis. Tying it all together is Jessamyn’s singular voice—funny, frank, and warm—producing a work that is a unique and compelling blend of memoir, philosophy, and self-help. 

 

In Sanskrit, yoga means to “yoke.” To yoke mind and body, movement and breath, light and dark, the good and the bad. This larger idea of “yoke” is what Jessamyn Stanley calls the yoga of the everyday—a yoga that is not just about perfecting your downward-facing dog but about applying the hard lessons learned on the mat to the even harder daily project of living. For Stanley, to yoke—both on and off the mat—is to find authentic self-acceptance, which she believes is the best path to true wellbeing. Accepting that light and that dark. That good and that bad. 

 

Readers will find the book’s themes critical and universal, covering topics including white supremacy and cultural appropriation in American yoga; combatting residual fatphobia, self-hate, and imposter syndrome; the power of meditation—why it should be the most normalized and basic practice on earth; the tension between ambition and self-acceptance—the pressure to cultivate her digital avatar at the expense of understanding her identity; and more.

 

YOKE is everything Jessamyn has become synonymous with over the years: electric, thoughtful, honest, and funny. Her narrative invokes powerful emotions and invites all readers, no matter their identity, to find a way to love themselves, despite the things they might not like.

 

This discussion guide and book of the month was shared and sponsored in partnership with Workman.