Transforming Ethnic and Race-Based Traumatic Stress with Yoga

Transforming Ethnic and Race-Based Traumatic Stress with Yoga is filled with beautifully crafted stories that are deeply meaningful and delightful to read. Dr. Parker offers a treasure trove of tools, practices, and life lessons to enhance our yoga practice of Svadhyaya (self-study) to liberate and transform the mind from damaging narratives, both self-imposed and external, and guides us toward the healing power of truth. Jana Long, Executive Director of Black Yoga Teachers Alliance

In her latest book, Dr. Gail Parker skillfully weaves a roadmap inspiring radical self-care for reclaiming self-renewal, liberation, and inner peace from the strands of your life, unraveled by the indelible wounds of racial stress and trauma. Compassionately threading timeless Yogic wisdom, affirming-restorative practices, and written reflection equips your inner loom of mindful awareness to continuously unveil the magnificent tapestry of your true authentic nature, a masterpiece of embodied wholeness, clarity, and resilience. Jennifer B. Webb, Ph.D., clinical health psychologist, associate professor at UNC Charlotte, Yoga and wellness equity researcher, and Advisory Board Member, Give Back Yoga Foundation

Gail Parker's previous book was a timely guide to helping us understand and acknowledge race based stress and trauma. Transforming Ethnic and Race-Based Traumatic Stress with Yoga is the follow up we need to actually DO something about it.


Race is a delicate conversation, but Parker has the gift of nuance that allows us to understand one another more deeply. If you're willing to unlearn your racial and ethnic stereotypes, prejudices, and biases, read this book and prepare to be transformed.

Tamara Jeffries, Senior Editor, Yoga Journal

This timely reflection on yoga is a gift for the ages. Dr. Parker personifies the growth, healing, and transformation she advocates and leads the discussion of social change by example. At a time when discussions about race are as violent as action, this book exemplifies working through race in positive and progressive ways. Stephanie Y. Evans, Professor and Director, Institute for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Georgia State University. Author, Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace

TRANSFORMATIVE...HEALING...COLLECTIVE GROWTH. With her first book, Dr. Gail laid the foundation of understanding race-based traumatic stress, but with THIS sequel, she guides the reader on an expedition of therapeutic self-discovery. Whether you are the cause or recipient of race-based traumatic stress, this book with the relatable stories, affirmations, and accompanying yoga asanas is exactly what EVERYONE needs to press forward to radical healing in the form of true transformation. Thank you, Dr. Gail, for your commitment to true and lasting healing. Daheia J. Barr-Anderson, PhD, MSPH, Associate Professor of Kinesiology at University of Minnesota, yoga researcher focusing on African-American women, and 250-hour RYT