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Participants from seven countries received financial support and coaching to expand their ideas and impact
Arlington, VA (June 15, 2021) – Today Yoga Alliance Foundation (YAF) announced that 25 yoga teachers from seven countries were selected to be part of its inaugural Teaching for Equity (TFE) program—an ongoing initiative that supports yoga professionals across the globe who serve for little or no pay in bringing the healing benefits of yoga to communities who have experienced marginalization. The teachers received stipends to provide 10 free yoga classes to the communities they serve, as well as professional and personal guidance to support their long-term success.
Each of the participating TFE teachers serves a community which has historically less access to yoga, including but not limited to LGBTQQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, plus), BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), differently-abled, those with substance-use disorders, schools in under-resourced areas, correctional institutions, and communities with limited geographic or online access to yoga. The teachers represent the countries of Canada, Colombia, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Peru, and the United States and Puerto Rico. Selection priority went to those who teachers are more economically vulnerable, and who have previously taught to and come from the communities they serve.
Teaching for Equity inaugural participants include: (in alphabetical order)
- Sowmya Ayyar (India)
- Beatrice Bachleda (USA)
- Sandy Boutros (Lebanon)
- Namurembe Rita Brown (Kenya)
- Ivelise Castillo (USA)
- Ameerah Craigg (Canada)
- Marsha Danzing (USA)
- Jennifer Fischer (USA)
- Jasmine Hines (USA)
- Leonie van Iersel (Peru)
- D. Jylani Ma’at (USA)
- Krista Marzewski (USA)
- Paul Menard (USA)
- Dede Monette (Canada)
- Susan Ocholla (Kenya)
- Victor Onyango Odhiambo (Kenya)
- Maria (Amma) Claudia Fandiño Orozco (Colombia)
- Eternity Philops (USA)
- Dawn Rivers (USA)
- Elisha Fernandes Simpson (USA)
- Gary Steeves (USA)
- Casey Valencia (USA)
- Carmen Oquendo Villar (Puerto Rico)
- Wangui (Kui) Wanyoike (Kenya)
- Adam Wetterhan (USA)
“The Teaching for Equity program highlights the intersectionality of economic recovery, yoga service, and community outreach. We found that many yoga professionals working in communities that have been historically marginalized often receive little to no compensation, often putting their own livelihoods in jeopardy. With the onset of COVID-19, the need to support yoga professionals amplified tenfold,” said Yoga Alliance Foundation Managing Director Kristina Graff. “At a time when everyone could benefit from yoga, Teaching for Equity not only ensures that teachers can keep teaching, but that the communities that can potentially benefit the most from yoga still have access to the practice.”
In addition to amplifying the participating teachers, their work, and the importance of their service, TFE recipients also receive continuous support that promotes long-term emotional and mental wellbeing, helping them to maintain their outreach teaching beyond the program and well into the future. This includes access to peer-to-peer support, as well as resources and workshops for obtaining sustainable funding sources for their work. For example, YAF’s implementing partner, Synergy Yoga, organized workshops on fundraising and marketing for the teachers.
“The Yoga Alliance Foundation is committed to expanding education, service, and economic opportunities for yoga teachers, while cultivating and fostering greater equity and more diverse representation in yoga,” said Graff. “As a key programmatic focus of the foundation, we’re looking forward to evolving and expanding the program in the future for even greater reach and impact.”
Nominations for program participation opened in late 2020 and were available to Yoga Alliance members and the broader yoga community worldwide. Implementing partner Ivy Child International, a global social change nonprofit organization which also assisted with YAF’s Emergency Relief Fund, facilitated and administered the application and selection process.
To learn more about the Teaching for Equity Program or to make a donation to the Yoga Alliance Foundation, visit yogaalliance.org/foundation.
About Yoga Alliance and the Yoga Alliance Foundation
Founded in 1999, Yoga Alliance is a member-based, non-profit organization that serves yoga schools and teachers across the globe, providing world-recognized, best-in-class credentials and unifying its members around a shared ethical commitment. Yoga Alliance’s goal is to support and foster the high quality, safe, accessible, and equitable teaching of yoga. In addition, Yoga Alliance delivers a strong value proposition to its members through community-building initiatives, educational resources, advocacy efforts, and social impact programs.
Its partner organization, the Yoga Alliance Foundation, leverages yoga for social impact and fosters an expansive, accessible, and equitable yoga community. It does this through broadening access to yoga’s healing potential, fostering greater equity and more diverse representation within the yoga community, and expanding educational, service, and economic opportunities for yoga teachers.
For more information about Yoga Alliance and the Yoga Alliance foundation, visit yogaalliance.org.