Now an advanced yoga teacher and healthcare provider bringing yoga into clinical settings, Dr. Floro (she/her) is a licensed counseling psychologist and Interim Co-Director of Stanford University's Weiland Health Initiative, who specializes in working with queer folx of color, sex and sex therapy, identity exploration, and interpersonal relationships. Her work is focused on serving queer folx, folx of color, and femmes. Dr. Floro has explored identity development of biracial and bisexual femmes, queer Asian American experiences, resilience within queer communities, and solidarity efforts of intersecting communities. In a blog for YogaX, she shares important wisdoms about working with queer communities. Following is a teaser sharing excerpts from her upcoming blog.

“I have learned much from YogaX, my yoga classes, and my queer communities over the past 4 years. I have learned that there are specific considerations necessary to cultivate physical and emotional safety for LGBTQ+ communities. First, a trauma-informed lens is imperative; second, ongoing education in concepts of queer identity and language is necessary; third, specific yoga principles and concepts may be particularly resonant with queer communities; fourth, learning about history can be illuminating.

I was (and continue to be) humbled by the vast amount of wisdom, tradition, and history of yoga, how yoga has provided so much for so many people across the world and across millennia, including queer folx. I commit to continuing to learn from yoga, queer history, and western medicine to better support my LGBTQ+ clients in yoga and in therapy. I hope that my own learning journey informs yours so that we can all provide space for queer thriving!”