ABSTRACT
Philadelphia -- a city home to a centuries-long fallacy of freedom and a brutal reality of state-sanctioned trauma -- is also home to an important legacy of resistance and radical healing. As educators, healers, and activists committed to a praxis of Black feminism, the Black Radical Tradition and holistic spiritual practices of our enlightened ancestors, Sood and Morales-Williams seek to build on this layered history, while also locating our practice of yoga in a framework committed to radical healing and collective liberation. This chapter invites readers into a local case study in which we offered “Yoga for Spirit” -- a 13-week yogic journey -- to a multi-generational group of working-class and mostly Black and Brown women at a community recreation center in a North Philly neighborhood. North Philly represents a neighborhood scarred by the infamous factory closures of the post-industrial era and the War on Drugs of the 1980's. This chapter builds on the limited scholarship for yoga’s role in revitalizing our political imagination and fortitude by: 1) Contextualizing Philadelphia within the larger historical timeline of trauma, resistance, and healing through watershed moments of the city, such as the state’s attack on the MOVE Organization; 2) Discussing our intentions, experiences and takeaways from the “Yoga for Spirit” series; and 3) Concluding with hopes and imaginations on what “radical healing” can look like in Philly’s future and how we are inspired to grow this legacy.
