Jasmine Marie is… helping us breathe
“We're not here to prove our strength sis. We're not even here to prove we're strong enough to make it through. We're focused on ourselves and everything in our power to live fully and freely, day by day, one breath at a time.”-
Jasmine Marie, Black Girls Breathing.
My new year starts in February. I like to ease into January, rest, reflect and plan ahead. I'll be honest though, I entered this new year with anxiety. The daily news is overwhelming and it can be ten times worse if you’re a highly sensitive person. So, I’ve been trying to cut down on doomscrolling and get back to reading some books. I checked out Jasmine Marie’s Black Girls Breathing: Heal from Trauma, Combat Chronic Stress, and Find Your Freedom from my local library and it was exactly what I needed to start the year.
The book’s author, Jasmine Marie, is a former brand development professional, who created Black Girls Breathing to support black women’s mental and emotional wellness through breathwork. I loved this book! It felt like hanging out with a friend over coffee or some good tea in a cute cafe, and just pouring life into each other. Jasmine Marie wrote the book like a sister who sees you in your wholeness as a black woman navigating the world.
If you grew up in an African or Black American household, you know that black women aren’t raised to confront trauma and address stress. We don’t know how to stop. We can’t afford to-there are bills to pay, families to take care of, jobs to overperform at and relationships to prove our worth in. We have to keep going so there’s really little or no time to just take a breather.
As I read the book, I also thought of how revolutionary Danielle Mckinney’s paintings of black women at rest are-images we don’t really see much of. In fact, a quick google search of “African women”, for example, will mostly show photos pertaining to labor and caregiving.
Black women are exhausted and weathering is real.That’s why Jasmine Marie makes the connection between trauma, exhaustion and chronic stress, while offering tools and guidance for self-care, healing and managing mental wellness through her beautiful and engaging writing. The book offers guidance on how to rebuild a sense of self, reclaim your time, confront and address emotional pain, and dream bravely about the life you want, among other gems.
As black women, we still have to navigate external factors like systemic racism, socio-economic inequality and misogyny. However, I hope this book can help readers see that we have some agency when it comes to connecting with our bodies and giving ourselves permission to find peace and rest. We can engage in community while making sure that we are okay individually. I also hope we can collectively work towards a world where it’s okay for black women to rest without feeling shame or guilt.
Check out Black Girls Breathing: Heal from Trauma, Combat Chronic Stress, and Find Your Freedom from the local library or buy from an independent bookstore.