"Feminism Lives in the Body": The Healing Experiences of Feminism and Yoga for Women Survivors of Sexualized Violence

Abstract

Research exploring the intersection of feminism and yoga with women survivors of sexualized violence in scant. It has been shown that sexualized violence survivors have experienced significant healing through feminist practices of linking the personal to the political and through yoga practices of reestablishing a positive relationship with the physical body. This research sought to explore the intersection of feminism and yoga with women survivors of sexualized violence. Through a feminist foundation, interested participants were invited to take part in individual interviews, a focus group, and artistic creations to share their experience of the intersection of feminism and yoga. Participants overwhelmingly asserted that both feminism and yoga were instrumental in their healing process, and that neither feminism nor yoga were all-encompassing healing experiences. The findings demonstrate that an intersectional approach of feminism and yoga would provide comprehensive healing through an exemplary experience of embodying the linkage of the personal is political.