These traditions, which seem to indicate a fluid and mutable approach to gender identities—often rooted in the idea that gender can be exchanged or, ultimately, transcended, are of increasing interest to queer practitioners seeking to examine religious traditions that embody the performative nature of gender.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a masterwork of spirituality, psychology and philosophy, are attributed to Patanjali. Compiled a few hundred years before the Common Era, these teachings arose out of a most prolific and sophisticated civilization – ancient India.

My forthcoming considerations may be seen as situated in a tradition of apologetics, if we understand something different by that word.

As I read the ‘Handbook’ I was reminded that trauma and abuse need to be understood from a biological perspective and not solely from behavioral, sociological, and psychosocial perspectives.

Trauma impacts much more than just our thoughts and actions. Trauma is far-reaching and systemic—it cuts us to our bones.

Fascia, long ignored as just excess flesh to be cut away in search of the “stuff that matters”, like muscles, bones, ligaments, and veins, is now being acknowledged as considerably important to a holistic understanding of functional anatomy.