Resources for a more accessible, inclusive and socially engaged practice of yoga & mindfulness

Jul 13

Being an ally, creating inclusive cultures, safer spaces with healing and growth potential, and practicing or teaching yoga or mindfulness in ways that are accessible, inclusive and socially engaged is a transformative lifelong journey. I will forever be a beginner in this journey and am incredibly grateful for the wisdom which comes out of the community of others engaged in this work. This is a list of resources which can support you in this journey. While I have read many of these, I have not read all of them. Where possible I’ve linked to the author’s as well. Many of them offer trainings, workshops or their own resources pages as well.

I will continue to add to this list and welcome suggestions for inclusions.

LGBTQ Specific

The Safe Zone Project offers a self-guided course on Foundational LGBTQ+ understanding & inclusion
Guide to being an ally to transgender and nonbinary youth
Language specific resources
- Guide to finding the right words - LGBTQ+ Glossary by the It Gets Better Project
- Understanding offensive terminology
- PHSA’s Guide to gender inclusive language
- Pronoun Guide - what they are, how to share them, about making mistakes
- Radical Copyeditor’s guide to writing about transgender people
Learning about gender and sexuality
- Queer: a graphic history by Meg-John Barker
- Beyond the binary by Alok Vaid-Menon
- A guide to gender by Sam Killermann
- My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity by Kate Bornstein
- The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships, and Other Freedoms in Sex and Love by Janet Hardy
- Genderbread.org offers many educational resources on gender and sexuality including Breaking through the Binary
- The trevor project: Coming out Handbook
- PFLAG’s Guide to being a straight ally

Yoga Specific
- Tristan Katz has written LGBTQ Awareness for yoga teachers by Tristan Katz
- Birthing Bodies: LGBT Inclusion in Prenatal Yoga by Jacoby Ballard & Destiny Olsen
Counseling / coaching specific
- Counseling skills for working with gender diversity and identity by Michael Beattie and Penny Lenihan

Books

Accessible Yoga by Jivana Heymen
A parent’s guide to high functioning autism spectrum disorder by Sally Ozonoff , Geraldine Dawson , et al
Diverse bodies, diverse practices: towards an inclusive somatics edited by Don Hanlon Johnson
How to be an inclusive leader, your role in creating cultures of belonging where everyone can thrive by Jennifer Brown
Interbeing: the 14 mindfulness trainings of engaged buddhism by Thich Nhat Hanh
Love and rage: the path of liberation through anger by Lama Rod Owens
Mindful of race: transforming racism from the inside out by Ruth King
My grandmother's hands: racialized trauma and the pathway to mending our hearts and bodies by Resmaa Menakem
Restorative yoga for ethnic and race-based stress and trauma by Gail Parker
Radical dharma: talking race, love, and liberation by Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams
Skill in action: radicalizing your yoga practice to create a just world by Michelle Cassanda Johnson
Stay woke: a meditation guide for the rest of us by Justin Michael Williams
The way of tenderness: awakening through race, sexuality, and gender by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
Teaching trauma-sensitive yoga: a practical guide by Brendon Abram
The body is not an apology: the power of radical self-love by Sonya Renee Taylor
The inner work of racial justice: healing ourselves and transforming our communities through mindfulness by Rhonda V. Magee
Trauma-sensitive mindfulness: practices for safe and transformative healing by David A. Treleaven
Trauma-sensitive yoga in therapy: bringing the body into treatment by David Emerson
White fragility: why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism by Robin J. DiAngelo