Supporting LGBTQ+ Clients and Queer Thriving

I entered Stanford’s staff orientation, fresh from completing my Gender and Sexual Identities Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford’s counseling center and excited to start work as a campus psychologist serving queer, trans, and non-binary students. To be honest, I was initially mostly concerned with finding coffee and free food as I made small talk with the woman sitting next to me, a fellow early career psychologist whose work had something to do with some program called YogaX. When my need for caffeine was finally satiated and my brain cells grudgingly started working, I became increasingly interested in Dr. Freeman’s work: the integration of yoga into healthcare. As we talked more, exchanged numbers, and slowly built a friendship and collegial relationship, I learned more about the many ways in which yoga could benefit the queer communities that I served.

Over the next few months, Heather and I chatted about yoga philosophy, trauma-informed care, community-building, and establishing a potential yoga offering for queer students. Research and my own personal experience speak to the ways in which queer folx, especially trans, non-binary, and folx of color, feel disconnected from their bodies. Because of harmful and hateful social and systemic structures, queer communities have disproportionate rates of mental illness, substance issues, eating disorders, and other negative physical health outcomes. As such, the body, the breath, and connecting to the present are not always safe for queer people. When COVID lockdown sabotaged our initial vision, we adapted our plans and created Queer Yoga, a drop-in virtual space for queer folx at Stanford to connect with themselves and each other. Through Heather’s warm, thoughtful teaching we created a connective, tight-knit weekly yoga group that closed the gaps of isolation and fear in that horrific first year of COVID. Watching my queer community create new relationships with their breath, body, thoughts, feelings, and peers in the wake of such uncertainty, I was humbled by the impact of yoga. Inspired to further my own clinical work and service to queer communities, I took Heather’s suggestion and enrolled in YogaX’s 200hr program.

With the combination of weekly Queer Yoga sessions led by Heather and my continuing education in YogaX’s 200hr program, I learned so much about yoga’s eight limbs, anatomy and body issues, traditions and history, nervous system regulation, breath processes, meditation and mindfulness, and so much more. As I moved through the program’s education, I began teaching in the Queer Yoga space under Heather’s mentorship. Integrating so many different teaching considerations, community and identity issues, and anatomy and body cues while also trying to monitor others online was challenging indeed! But with YogaX’s support, I continued to expand my teaching and my learning. When lockdown lifted on Stanford’s campus, Heather and I began co-teaching Queer Yoga in person in a lovely outdoor space by my office. Teaching in person was a whole new anxiety-producing opportunity! And as our little community expanded along with my learning, so did Queer Yoga. With the support of Heather and the collaborative teaching of a fellow yoga teacher and coworker named Diane, I have now been singularly responsible for Queer Yoga for two years and am currently finishing YogaX’s 300hr teacher program.

I have learned much from YogaX, my yoga classes, and my queer communities over the past 4 years. I have learned that there are specific considerations necessary to cultivate physical and emotional safety for LGBTQ+ communities. First, a trauma-informed lens is imperative when creating space for queer individuals both in the therapy room and on the yoga mat. Elements such as detailed informed consent, thoughtfulness in the choice of physical space so that folx feel welcomed and not exposed, description of class process to better inform students, intentional sequencing to support intuition and discernment, consideration and variation around specific poses, etc. all help to cultivate an environment of trust and transparency. Second, ongoing education in concepts of queer identity and language is necessary to create an inclusive learning space. By modeling and inviting a pronoun practice, removing gendered assumptions of students and poses, using gender neutral language and examples, etc. queer clients may be able to show up in space without misgendering, deadnaming, or microaggressions impeding their journey to connect to themselves and the world. Third, specific yoga principles and concepts may be particularly resonant with queer communities. Exploring santosha and multiple truths makes space for the nuanced experiences of queer individuals. Cultivating internal discernment, compassion, and embodiment through the yamas and niyamas can be transformative for folx who have been marginalized due to systemic homophobia, transphobia, and racism. Pursuing liberation through sangha, exploration of our koshas, and informed action can also help queer individuals feel connected and empowered in a world that has sought to silence and erase queerness and authenticity. Fourth, learning about history can be illuminating in the ways we can connect to ourselves and our communities. For example, the same British colonial laws that outlawed yoga also outlawed same-sex intimate behavior, silencing gender and sexual diversity along with spiritual legacy and connection for Indian communities. Queerness has and continues to exist in not only South Asia, but all cultures. Research shows that connection to one’s own cultural queer legacy and spiritual rituals can be a foundational part of healing. These are just some elements that I have attempted to integrate into my own teaching. I have collected them in this introductory slide deck to help others provide queer affirming yoga.  

I was (and continue to be) humbled by the vast amount of wisdom, tradition, and history of yoga, how yoga has provided so much for so many people across the world and across millennia, including queer folx. I commit to continuing to learn from yoga, queer history, and western medicine to better support my LGBTQ+ clients in yoga and in therapy. I hope that my own learning journey informs yours so that we can all provide space for queer thriving!

With appreciation, Marissa

Now an advanced yoga teacher and healthcare provider bringing yoga into clinical settings, Dr.  Floro (she/her) is a licensed counseling psychologist and Interim Co-Director of Stanford University's Weiland Health Initiative, who specializes in working with queer folx of color, sex and sex therapy, identity exploration, and interpersonal relationships. Her work is focused on serving queer folx, folx of color, and femmes. Her academic, advocacy, and writing work has paralleled this specialty: Dr. Floro has explored identity development of biracial and bisexual femmes, queer Asian American experiences, resilience within queer communities, and solidarity efforts of intersecting communities.