Dr. Stacie C. C. Graham on Her Model OYA, New E book Launch, and Extra

In our new month-to-month profile sequence, Fitbit is searching for to amplify range on this planet of wellness and health by that includes the voices of POC trail-blazers on the helm of those industries—industries which have discredited voices like theirs for too lengthy. 

For our July profile, we’re highlighting the unbelievable work of Dr. Stacie C. C. Graham and her new ebook Yoga As Resistance: Fairness and Inclusion On and Off The Mat. We’re excited to share the dialog we had with Dr. Graham about how she acquired began in wellness; her model, OYA; and her ebook.

Initially from Miami, FL, and now based mostly in London, UK, Dr. Stacie C. C. Graham has a diverse skilled background. Nonetheless, one fixed has been her work as a administration and technique advisor. She’s additionally an authorized coach, mindfulness teacher, and E-RYT 500 (a yoga teacher who has taught no less than 2,000 hours—500 of those hours being after finishing the 500-hour certification, and has a minimal of 4 years of educating expertise).

Dr. Graham shared that her imaginative and prescient is a world the place there’s a collective settlement and consciousness that each human (and even sentient) being has the best to be nicely. “The understanding of being nicely have to be generative, non-linear, and inclusive of individuals of various talents,” she says.

As to how she acquired her begin in wellness, she informed us that as a younger athlete she suffered from a recurrent damage and was finally advisable to strive yoga. “Outdoors of bodily follow, I additionally developed a mindfulness follow in parallel,” she says. “It was not till a few years later that I realized extra concerning the origins of each yoga and mindfulness and located my very own path to aligning these practices.”

Now with a profitable model and a brand new ebook, Yoga as Resistance: Fairness and Inclusion On and Off the Mat, underneath her belt, Dr. Graham continues to make waves within the trade for Black and POC ladies. Hold studying for a deep dive into her spectacular work.

FITBIT: Are you able to inform us about your model, OYA?

DR. GRAHAM: I based OYA: Physique-Thoughts-Spirit Retreats in 2016. It’s a holistic wellness model providing weeklong, weekend, and day retreats for Black ladies and girls of coloration. After internet hosting a digital Circle of Sisterhood to supply assist throughout lockdowns and sheltering in place because of the pandemic, we additionally just lately launched everlasting digital areas for motion, mindfulness, and breathwork. 

I work with a college that’s made up of ladies who’re consultant of the folks whose wants we’re striving to satisfy. Our college consists of individuals from totally different backgrounds with respect to our intersectional social id classes. We acknowledge that our target market serves as the biggest group of caretakers of the world. They’re typically so busy caring for everybody else, that there isn’t any time left to care for themselves. OYA Retreats is dedicated to creating experiences and areas through which Black ladies and girls of coloration can merely be. 

We will focus on our challenges with extra ease and understanding. We will really feel seen and heard. OYA college supply instruments and practices that our neighborhood members can combine into their each day lives. We love a spa day! However OYA Retreats is concentrated on the combination piece. It’s not an away day. It’s a sort of self-care that we are able to follow day by day if we’re prepared to prioritize our wellbeing.

FITBIT: OYA is devoted to underrepresented communities usually underserved by the mainstream wellness trade. What drew you to this work?

DR. GRAHAM: It was not one thing I spent plenty of time enthusiastic about and planning. I had carried out a lot of my very own work in many various communities, and I used to be all the time the “just one”—it didn’t matter which non secular retreat or yoga house I used to be attending. If I used to be someplace in Europe or North America, I most all the time discovered myself to be the one Black lady or Black individual or individual of coloration. That’s actually difficult when making an attempt to take part in deep non secular and therapeutic follow. Ultimately sufficient was sufficient. 

On the time, my craving was to create areas for these people, as a result of I see them. I wish to honor them. I wish to have a good time them. I wish to maintain them in no matter method I can. It was solely later that I made the connection to my very own experiences (sure, this might sound very apparent, nevertheless it wasn’t for me initially!).

FITBIT: Why, in your view, is it so vital for there to be communities like yours which might be supposed for Black ladies and girls of coloration?

DR. GRAHAM: If we’re the bulk group of caretakers, and we aren’t caring for ourselves, what does that imply for these in our care? Collectively, we’ve got a lot work to do. If we have a look at what’s going down across the globe, and within the US particularly, we are able to see that individuals and the planet are usually not nicely. The local weather disaster is actual, and the folks disproportionately affected are Black folks and other people of coloration. Populist politics within the US and Europe is placing Black folks and other people of coloration underneath intensified menace. Systemic oppression impacts our our bodies in ways in which trendy science is simply catching as much as in recent times. 

For instance, Black ladies are three to 4 instances extra seemingly within the US and 5 instances extra seemingly within the UK to die from being pregnant or childbirth-related issues than white ladies. A big variety of these deaths are preventable. Research clearly point out that these outcomes are associated to the adversity that’s particular to their race and gender. That’s why we emphasize holistic, built-in wellness. It’s not nearly a exercise, and it’s undoubtedly not about shedding pounds. It’s about discovering calm within the chaos. It’s about expression of grief. It’s about releasing disgrace. It’s about realizing and discovering pleasure within the physique.

FITBIT: How do you hope to encourage and inspire others in your neighborhood with OYA and your different work?

DR. GRAHAM: I’m probably not motivated by inspiring others. Greater than something, I hope that my work encourages and empowers folks to belief themselves extra, to like themselves unconditionally, to hunt, construct, and nurture neighborhood.

FITBIT: What are some core themes and takeaways that you just’d prefer to share out of your ebook, Yoga as Resistance: Fairness and Inclusion On and Off the Mat?

DR. GRAHAM: I don’t wish to give an excessive amount of away. There’s a entire chapter devoted to the TL;DR people. The best takeaways could be that all of us play a job in oppressive methods and—deliberately or unintentionally—replicate them in our actions. Thus, all of us have a job to play in undoing them. It’s attainable to take part within the yoga “trade” and, on the identical time, reduce the hurt we trigger folks of South Asian heritage, who’ve grown up in these knowledge and religion traditions. It’s attainable to create areas through which everybody—irrespective of how they present up—can absolutely take part. Nobody individual can do it alone, but nobody individual is just too insignificant for his or her actions to matter.