Every Body Yoga by Jessamyn Stanley
/Jessamyn Stanley is known for her fresh Instagram account, posting pictures of herself in all kinds of yoga asanas. While this might not seem revolutionary to most, Jessamyn isn't your typical yoga practitioner - waifish and white. She's a big black lady who can twist into the most epic asanas I've ever seen.
I've been waiting for this book for a while, because I love yoga and I love seeing Jessamyn's Insta and because we need it. Yoga is good for most people - I know that it works for me. I'm more flexible, stronger, and more healthy mentally when I'm practicing on the regular and Jessamyn hits on those points in this book. But the more important message here is that EVERY BODY can do yoga. You don't have to get in shape to then try to get in shape. So many of the messages coming from yoga, outright and subliminally are that you have to be skinny and in shape to do yoga and it's not true. Jessmyn talks about her life and how she got to where she was and how she came into her practice and what that did for her. The book is also a solid beginner's guide to practicing yoga. Jessamyn covers basic asanas or poses, modifications, and also puts together some simple sequences to practice. I love the models in this book. They are diverse bodies - different sizes and shapes rocking different asanas. I will definitely be purchasing this for the library and putting it into the hands of several of my friends and patrons.
