This Black Yoga Instructor Explains How Yoga Can Improve Black Mental Health And Wellness

Black History Month may be gone, but that doesn’t mean conversations about Blackness and the realities of being Black in America should stop, especially when it comes to mental health.  The statistics are troubling. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 21% of Black people report having a mental illness, and suicide is the third leading cause of death of Black Americans 10 to 24 years old and among Black men 25 to 34. Mental health is a significant issue in the Black community.  It seems like an insurmountable problem to fix, one that requires multiple methods and changes to improve. But it isn’t impossible, and there are steps forward. Yoga is one of them.  “Yoga was like a big leap of faith for me,” Quamay Sams, a yoga instructor on Glo, a digital yoga and wellness platform, told Blavity in a recent interview. “Initially, I had very little knowledge about yoga philosophy and anything as far as the tradition. Then I went on a little social experiment one day, and decided that I wanted to dive deep. And I took a chance. I was like, ‘I’m gonna sign up for a teacher training just to get...