If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s the importance of taking care of yourself amid anxiety, uncertainty and stress. For Black women, who often face a disproportionate burden in society, self-care can also be a tool to counter the effects of systemic racism and trauma.

In a new book, Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace, Georgia State professor Stephanie Y. Evans highlights how Black women have historically used yoga to practice self-care. The book, which will be released in paperback in July, includes the personal self-care stories of dozens of Black women, including Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks and Tina Turner.

“The pandemic emphasized, more than any other prior time, that self-care can sometimes be effective community care,” says Evans, who leads the university’s Institute for Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Here, Evans discusses why self-care is so important for Black women and how yoga has fortified Black women for centuries.