Author

Tamara Y. Jeffries

As a writer, editor, researcher, and yoga instructor, Tamara covers a wide range of wellness topics, with a special interest in the intersection of wellbeing of women and families of color, and yoga’s history and health impact.

Tamara was a Senior Editor at Yoga Journal from 2020-2023. She has also been Executive Editor of Essence magazine and an editor at Health and HealthQuest. She is also a college journalism professor and taught the first for-credit yoga course at a historically Black college.

She completed yoga teacher training and became a registered yoga teacher (RYT-200) with the Yoga Alliance in 2013.  Additional training includes Yoga as a Peace Practice training (2018), meditation training with Susan Piver of the Open Heart Project (2021), and Intuitive Eating training (2024). She is a member of Black Yoga Teachers Alliance advisory board.

Tamara has published research on Alice Coltrane/Suryiasatchidananda’s role as a yogi and vedantic leader in Black Women and Public Health (SUNY Press, 2022) with Santiba Campbell and Yasmeen Long. She has presented about yoga, diversity, and health at the National Association of African American Studies National Conference; HBCU Faculty Development Network Conference; Black Communities: A Conference for Collaboration; Depression on College Campuses Conference (University of Michigan); Yoga Service Conference; Conference on African American & African Diasporic Cultures & Experience (CACE); National Association of Black Journalists; YogaFest NC and others.