Jessamyn Stanley isn't your average yogi, so it makes sense that her new book, "Every Body Yoga," isn't your average yoga book. Part comprehensive guide, part reveal-all memoir, the book (Workman, $16.95) is refreshingly frank, laugh-out-loud funny and more than a bit profane (F-bomb alert!). Stanley, who calls herself a "yoga enthusiast and fat femme," believes that everyone can practice yoga and that yoga can help everyone move past the obstacles in their lives.
Q: Why did you write "Every Body Yoga"?
A: Everywhere I go, I get questions about yoga. And I get why people have questions. Is it a religion? An exercise? A diet? I thought I'd never have the time to answer all the questions I get, so I decided to write a book.
I know there are lots of yoga books. But there are very few books about modern yoga that tell the truth about how most people come to yoga. Typically, a yoga practice is rooted in some kind of life event, a trauma, an injury, an unmet need.
Q: You differentiate between ancient and modern yoga. Why?
A: Ancient yoga is very deeply rooted in Hinduism. Since yoga has come to the West, it's very different here. It's a new, modern kind of yoga. It's still a spiritual practice. The union of breath and movement and looking within yourself is a deeply spiritual practice. But it's not religious. Yoga is a therapeutic and healing practice that helps you build up from the inside.
Q: Whom did you write your book for?
A: It's for every single person who ever felt left out in a physical sense, who ever felt left behind. I wanted to write from the perspective not of a teacher, but of a friend. To say, "Yeah, I know what it's like."
