Conference Presenters

Anjali Rao (she/her)

Anjali Rao (she/her) is a Yoga educator offering critical insight into the Yoga stories and histories that have been obscured by heteropatriarchy and colonization and is deeply interested in sharing the ancient wisdom of yoga in service to the challenges of the times. She brings an intersectional lens in integrating yoga philosophy and history, with storytelling, imagery and poetry.

She is an Indian American immigrant, a cancer survivor, an aspiring writer and the incoming President of the Board of Directors of Accessible Yoga, an international non profit organization dedicated to sharing the teachings and benefits of yoga with those who have been marginalized.

Connect with Anjali: www.yoganjali.me | @yoganjali

Conference Co-Host

Jivana Heyman (he/him)

Jivana Heyman (he/him), C-IAYT, E-RYT500, is the founder and director of the Accessible Yoga Association, an international non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings. He’s the author of two books, Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body, and Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion (Shambhala Publications).

Jivana coined the phrase, “Accessible Yoga,” over ten years ago, and it has now become the standard appellation for a large cross section of the immense yoga world.

He brought the Accessible Yoga community together for the first time in 2015 for the Accessible Yoga Conference, which has gone on to become a focal point for this movement. Jivana is also the creator of the Accessible Yoga Training and the co-founder of the online Accessible Yoga Training School with Amber Karnes, which is a platform for continued education for yoga teachers in the field of equity and accessibility. They also created the Accessible Yoga Podcast in 2020.

Over the past 25 years, Jivana has led countless yoga teacher training programs around the world, and dedicates his time to supporting yoga teachers who are working to serve communities that are under-represented in traditional yoga spaces.

Connect with Jivana: www.jivanaheyman.com | @jivanaheyman

Conference Co-Host

Amber Karnes (she/her)

Amber Karnes (she/her) is a yoga teacher trainer, ruckus maker, the founder of Body Positive Yoga, and a lifelong student of her body. Amber trains yoga teachers and movement educators how to create accessible and equitable spaces for liberation and belonging.

She also creates community for folks who want to build unshakable confidence and learn to live without shame or apology in the bodies they have today.

Amber is the co-creator of Yoga For All Teacher Training and the Accessible Yoga School, previous president of the Accessible Yoga Association board of directors, and a sought-after contributor on the topics of accessibility, authentic marketing, culture-shifting, and community-building. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Connect with Amber: www.bodypositiveyoga.com | @amberkarnesofficial

Opening Night Dance Party Host

Chetna Mehta (she/they)

Chetna Mehta is a granddaughter of Indian and South African diasporas. Her greatest muses lately have been the planet, the energy of ease, queerness, body wisdom, honesty, grief, spiders, and freedom.

Their training, education and experiences span social sciences, counseling psychology, yoga philosophy and practice from a liberation-oriented perspective, cultural exchange, leadership and mentorship, somatics, mixed media and expressive healing arts, ceremony and ritual, and cultivating peaceful circles.

Chetna continues her learnings in present-mindedness, compassion, authentic expression, freeing creativity, culturally-aware and strengths-based therapeutic approaches, growing and gardening, and ancient wisdom from her lineages and mitochondrial dna.

Connect with Chetna: www.mosaiceyeunfolding.com | @mosaiceye | Tiktok @chetnaunfolding

Keynote | Audacious Belonging to Me, We and Spirit

R. Nikki Myers (she/her/we)

An accomplished speaker and teacher, Nikki is an MBA, E-RYT500, Yoga Therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Addictions Recovery Specialist, and Ayurvedic Specialist.

Born from her struggles with addiction and work with countless students, Nikki is the founder of Y12SR, Yoga of 12-Step Recovery. Based on its theme ‘the issues live in the tissues’, Y12SR is a relapse prevention program that weaves the art & science of yoga with the practical tools of 12-step programs. Y12SR meetings are available internationally and the curriculum has rapidly become a feature of addiction recovery treatment centers.

Nikki’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Black Enterprise, The Huffington Post, Origin Magazine, CBSnews.com and countless podcasts. She is honored to be a co-founder of the annual Yoga, Meditation and Recovery Conferences at Esalen Institute and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.

Nikki has been featured as a keynote speaker at the International Association of Yoga Therapist (IAYT) conference and the International Conference on Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She was named a Yoga Journal Game Changer and is an honored recipient of the esteemed NUVO Cultural Visionary Award.

Connect with Nikki: www.y12sr.com | @y12sr | @nikisuemyers

Keynote | Moving from Me to We

Tejal Patel (she/her)

Tejal Patel is a first-generation Indian American yoga teacher, writer, podcaster, and community organizer.

She advocates for yoga through a social justice lens and educates and empowers individuals and groups around the world to do the same.

She accomplishes this with the Tejal Yoga online studio, the abcdyogi global community, and the Yoga is Dead Podcast.

Connect with Tejal: tejalyoga.com | @tejalyoga

Keynote | The Audacity of Hope for Yoga

Susanna Barkataki (she/her)

An Indian yoga practitioner in the Shankaracharya tradition, Susanna Barkataki supports practitioners to lead with equity, diversity, and yogic values while growing thriving practices and businesses with confidence.

She is the founder of Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute and runs 200/500 Yoga Teacher Training programs. She is an E-RYT 500, Certified Yoga Therapist with International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT).

Author of #1 New Release and International Bestseller in Yoga in Nov 2020 Embrace Yoga’s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice.

With an Honors degree in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in Education from Cambridge College, Barkataki is a diversity, accessibility, inclusivity, and equity (DAIE) yoga unity educator who created the ground-breaking Honor {Don’t Appropriate} Yoga Summit with over 10,000 participants.

Learn more and take her complimentary masterclass to embrace yoga’s roots without appropriation: www.namastemasterclass.com

Connect with Susanna: www.SusannaBarkataki.com | @susannabarkataki

Keynote | Reclaiming and Decolonizing Yoga

Teo Drake (he/him)

Teo Drake is an organizer, a teacher, and an artisan who works in wood and steel.

As a queer and trans long-term HIV/AIDS survivor, the practices and philosophies of yoga and Buddhism have been both life-saving and provided the foundation for his organizing and teaching.

He is a co-founder of the Transforming Hearts Collective, a collective dedicated to the spiritual care and liberation of queer and trans people, and has served in leadership in several different organizations in the worlds of HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ advocacy, faith and spirituality, well-being, and anti-oppression, including being a founding member of the Transgender Law Center’s project Positively Trans and serving on the faculty and board of Off the Mat, Into the World.

His writing can be found in the anthology Yoga and Body Image and at the blog Roots Grow the Tree, and his artisan crafts can be found at The Tinkering Gnome

Connect with Teo: www.transformingheartscollective.org | @TeoDrake

Keynote | Practice Isn’t Meant to “Fix”, It’s Meant to Heal

Matthew Sanford (he/him)

Matthew Sanford is an expert in the process transformation through the healing power of yoga.

Paralyzed from the chest down at age thirteen and beginning yoga at age twenty-five, Matthew knows firsthand the transformative effect that yoga can have on the mind-body relationship.

He is an internationally recognized yoga teacher, a sought-after public speaker, and founder of the non-profit Mind Body Solutions.

He is also the author of the critically acclaimed Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence (Rodale: 2006).

Connect with Matthew: mindbodysolutions.org

Pre-Conference Intensive Presenter

Natalia Tabilo  (she/her/ella)

Natalia Tabilo (She/Her/Ella) is a Chilean yoga teacher (500 RYT), journalist, and the founder of Yoga for all Bodies™.

After feeling left out and unseen in yoga spaces, she decided to create Yoga for All Bodies™, an inclusive, welcoming, and accessible practice based on yoga variations (not modifications) and freedom to invite students of all bodies to enjoy their body and mind where they are right now, all while taking their power back.

To fulfill the promise of sharing Yoga for All Bodies she has trained in Accessible Yoga, Yoga for All, Trauma-Informed Yoga, Yoga for Mental Health, Somatics, Prenatal, Postnatal, Restorative, Yoga for Seniors, Yoga for Chronic Pain and more.

In 2021 Natalia was featured as a “Game Changer” in Yoga by Yoga Journal.

Connect with Natalia: @YogaforAllbodies | www.yogaforallbodies.com

Pre-Conference Intensive Presenter

Ryan McGraw  (he/him)

Ryan McGraw approaches every class with the belief that everyone can do yoga. As a person with cerebral palsy who has been practicing yoga for 15 years, Ryan is well aware that yoga poses can be adapted to meet the needs of the student, no matter what their ability level is.

Ryan earned his 200-hour yoga teaching certificate in 2011 and has completed two adaptive yoga teacher training with Matthew Sanford.

Ryan received his Master’s Degree in Disability and Human Development from the University of Illinois at Chicago, in 2013. For his Master’s Thesis, Ryan created an adapted yoga manual for people with disabilities. He has written about his yoga experience in Yoga and Body Image, a collection of essays from people who are not the average yoga practitioner and recently published an article in Yoga International why it is essential to teach accessible yoga in 200 hour teacher training courses.

Ryan is the Healthcare Community Organizer at Access Living in Chicago, where he advocates for the full inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of society.

Connect with Ryan: www.access2yoga.com

Pre-Conference Intensive Presenter

Donna Noble  (she/her)

Donna Noble is an Author, Wellbeing Coach, Educator and Founder of Curvesomeyoga. She is widely known for her dedication to making yoga and wellbeing more accessible and inclusive. She is also a social justice and diversity and inclusion advocate.

She has been practising yoga since the late 1990’s and teaching since 2011. She has taught internationally in America, India, Spain, Turkey, and All over the UK.

Donna is also a writer and her work has been featured in print and digital media including HuffPost, Thrive Global, Stylist Magazine The Metro, Om Yoga and Lifestyle Magazine and on BBC and Channel 4.

Donna is the author of Teaching Body Positive Yoga and one of the contributors to the anthology Forgiveness is the Hardest Thing.

She believes that yoga is for everyone!

Connect with Donna: www.thenobleartofyoga.co.uk | @donnanobleyoga

Pre-Conference Intensive Presenter

Jessica Barudin (she/her)

Jessica Barudin is Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw, a member of the 'Na̲mg̲is First Nation living in Alert Bay, BC. She is a proud mother, Sundancer, doctoral student, doula, and trauma-informed yoga teacher.

Jessica is the founder of Indigenous Yoga Collective and co-director of the First Nations Women's Yoga initiative, a unique training for diverse First Nations women and two-spirit peoples that offers an 80-hour trauma-informed, culturally rooted yoga curriculum. Her doctoral research is in the thesis writing stage, titled: "(Re)Connecting through breath, language, and movement: Culturally-adapted, trauma informed yoga for First Nations women" that centers Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw ways of wellness and healing alongside the science of Yoga, and modern approaches to resolving trauma through embodiment.

She is the Traditional Wellness Specialist for Vancouver Island with the First Nations Health Authority. Her mandate is to stand up and embed a network of traditional wellness practitioners alongside the primary care health system. Jessica is the co-founder of Cedar and Gold, a grassroots wellness organization that provides art combined with wellness initiatives and consulting for Indigenous communities and organizations across Turtle Island.

Connect with Jessica: @jessicabarudin

Workshop | Braiding Knowledge: Trauma Informed Yoga for Indigenous Peoples & life

Dr. Sará King (she/they)

Dr. Sará King is a Mother, a neuroscientist, political and learning scientist, education philosopher, social-entrepreneur, public speaker, and certified yoga and mindfulness meditation instructor.

She is currently a post-doctoral fellow in Neurology at Oregon Health Science University, a Garrison Institute Fellow, and a core member of Google’s well-being think tank “Vitality Lab”. She is also the founder of MindHeart Consulting, leading the field that intersects neuroscience, social justice, and art to heal intergenerational trauma. Dr. King is also the Co-Director of the Embodied Social Justice Certificate Program alongside Rev. angel Kyodo williams and Dr. Rae Johnson.

In 2021, she made the November cover of Yoga Journal Magazine as a “Game Changer” for her award-winning work bridging neuroscience, social justice and contemplative practices. In 2022, she was also named one of the "10 Most Powerful Women in Mindfulness" by Mindful Magazine.

Connect with Dr. King: @mindheartcollective

Workshop | The Intersection of Yoga, Accessibility, and Authenticity

Rashid Hughes (he/him)

Rashid is the co-founder of the Heart Refuge Mindfulness Community, a Mindfulness Community in Washington, DC for Black, Indigenous & People of Color.

He is also a 2022-2024 Garrison Fellow at the Garrison Institute.​

Most recently, Rashid created a contemplative practice, R.E.S.T.: A Practice for the Tired & Weary. R.E.S.T. is made up of 4 Pillars. Each pillar is an "invitation for all people to become more familiar with being completely free of the energy of striving and becoming."

Rashid's teachings encourages us all to make time to remain awake to life through the practices of looking deeply, resting in/as awareness, and devoting ones actions to the liberation and wellbeing of all of life.

Connect with Rashid: rashidhughes.com | @justbeandbreathe

Workshop |The Intersection of Yoga, Accessibility, and Authenticity

Laura Burns (she/her)

Laura Burns (she/her) is a Body Liberation Guide who helps folks heal from body-shame and oppression so they can empower themselves to live the life they deserve. She is committed to helping all people honor their bodies as they are, and believes that we are all worthy and deserving of respect regardless of size, ability, age, gender expression, ethnicity, and experience with trauma. Accessibility, trauma-sensitivity, and body-autonomy are her guiding principles. Laura offers live and recorded yoga classes online as well as community-focused personal healing and growth retreats around the world. Her book, Big and Bold: Yoga for the Plus Size Woman is available everywhere books are sold.

Connect with Laura: radicalbodylove.com | @radicalbodylove

Led Practice | Yoga for Collective Care and Connection

Gabi Parkham (she/her)

Born in Brighton (UK), Gabi was lucky enough to start practicing yoga during early childhood. Alongside teaching yoga, Gabi is an LGBTQIA+ equity educator and consultant, leading trainings in various settings including running her own LGBTQIA+ workshops for yoga teachers and a 6-month mentoring programme for LGBTQIA+ yoga teachers.

In 2018 Gabi co-founded Laviot (www.laviot.org), a social and supportive community for LGBT+ Jewish women and non-binary people. Gabi also works at MindOut, the Brighton based LGBTQ Mental Health Service as the Online Support Manager.

Gabi has been teaching yoga for 8 years and is passionate about finding equity and justice through yoga. Her classes are free from assumptions and always taught through an accessible and fat positive lens with an emphasis on informed consent. Gabi's teaching pulls together her study of anatomy, biomechanics, and pain science, and her deep reverence for the heritage, wisdom, and ethics of yoga. Each class is an individual journey to self-discovery that everyone can explore.

Connect with Gabi: www.gabimarkhamyoga.com | @gabiparkham | Facebook

Led Practice | LGBTQIA+ Centered Yoga

Karen James (she/her)

Karen James has been consistently practising yoga since 2014 and teaching since 2019. The kind of classes she likes to teach are support-based gentle movement including yin and chair yoga.

Karen advocates that yoga should be for every body type, and tries to ensure classes are a space where individuals can appreciate and recognise they are enough in any given moment. She believes that taking time and showing up for yourself, no matter how you’re feeling, is important and valid.

Connect with Karen: karenjamesyoga.com | @karenjamesyoga.com

Led Practice | Chair Yoga

Maryam Ovissi (she/her)

Maryam Ovissi, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, RCYT, RPYT, YACEP, is a Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapist & Yoga Teacher.

"Yoga is a proven system and philosophy that provides tools for the individual to develop a self-care routine that meets them where they are. As a teacher, I am only the guide.” ~Maryam Ovissi

This philosophy is the foundation of Maryam Ovissi’s approach to wellbeing and has guided her through more than two decades of work in the yoga and health industry.

Maryam is the founder of Beloved Yoga, a studio and wellness center operating in Northern Virginia since 2005. Her vision for making Yoga accessible for all came to fruition in February 2018, with the opening of the flagship location of Beloved Yoga: A Sanctuary for All, a serene, safe, multi-studio space in Reston, Virginia.

Maryam’s passion for sharing the teachings of Yoga with reverence, integrity and accessibility for all is what motivates her to be of service to the Yoga commUnity. Maryam published her book in June 2020, Care of the Whole Self: Yoga Inspired Practices to Befriend the Self.

Connect with Maryam: www.maryamovissi.com

Led Practice | Yoga & Our Core Needs

Tamika Caston-Miller (she/her)

Tamika Caston-Miller, E-RYT 500 and Yoga Nidra Guide, is the director of Ashé Yoga where she curates yoga experiences and trainings in service of collective healing and community repair. Having begun her yoga journey in 2001 with a home practice, she now holds advanced certifications and training in Trauma-informed Yoga, Somatics, Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Yoga Nidra.

Tamika’s journey has been informed by chronic pain and injuries, social justice for QTBIPOC communities, the battle between shame and compassion and quest for ancestral healing, and the love for the practice and philosophy of yoga.

Connect with Tamika: www.asheyoga.com | @diva_transcending

Led Practice | Yin Yoga for the Overburdened Soul + Yoga Nidra

Shawn J. Moore (he/him)

Residing at the intersection of leadership and mindfulness, Shawn creates sacred spaces for stillness and self-inquiry to help changemakers align their strengths, intention, and impact. Through his integrative approach, he holds transformative containers for self-renewal, personal discovery, and capacity-building that ease clients on their journey towards peace, clarity, and freedom.

Shawn is committed to empower changemakers to become embodied leaders – unified in mind, body, and heart – with the tools to mindfully pause, reconnect to their inner knowing, make strengths-driven decisions, and lead the change they believe the world needs. The path to collective growth is rooted firmly in our personal growth.

As we work towards collective freedom, Shawn asks: How can you begin to support yourself to be able to support others? Are you pouring into others from the excess of your full cup?

Shawn has an intuitive way of weaving all that he has learned on his path to help those on the inner journey of discovery to reflect on those questions – including meditation, sound healing, yoga nidra, and coaching.

Connect with Shawn: www.shawnjmoore.com | @shawnj_moore 
| Twitter

Led Practice | Finding Peace, Clarity, & Freedom as Wellness Leaders

Riss Giammalva 

Riss is a storyteller, communications and marketing specialist, joyful movement enthusiast, and future skeleton living on land stolen from Peoria, Anishinabewaki, and Waawiyatanong peoples, now known as Detroit-ish, Michigan.

In the digital management realm, they’re working to aid folks in confidently communicate their ideas and aspirations on a grand scale, visually, verbally, and creatively through inclusive and diverse content creation and marketing management strategies.

Online, they’re taking big topics like anti-diet culture, yoga + movement, intersectional identities, and easeful marketing more digestible on popular social media channels.

In the movement and wellness space, Riss aims to assist those who do not typically ‘fit the mold’ find joy in moving their bodies, by reminding them that movement does not have to be spooky.

With specific interest and focus on supporting larger-bodied, queer, trans, neurodiverse, and disabled populations. 

Connect with Riss: www.spookiservices.com | @spookiservices

Led Practice | Hands-Free for the Hips, An Accessible Practice

Jessica Rihal (she/her)

Jessica Rihal is a plus-sized yoga instructor (CYT 200-HR) and a strong advocate of fitness and wellness for all bodies. Jessica believes that all bodies can be and deserve to be celebrated through movement and enjoys doing so by teaching students how to adapt yoga to the body they’re in today with no “end goal”. Through yoga, Jessica has been able to reconnect with her own body and discovered her passion for movement and exercise for the pure joy of it and is dedicated to helping others rebuild and redefine their connection to movement and exercise.

Connect with Jessica: @jessicajadeyoga | Tiktok @jessicajadeyoga

Led Practice | Soft and Slow Micro Flow

Rodrigo Souza (he/him)

Rodrigo Souza (he/him) is an RYT 200 Adaptive & Accessible Yoga teacher with experience in teaching yoga to folks who have gone through Trauma & Disability.

Rodrigo suffered a spinal cord injury (T3 complete) in 2014 after a fall accident and has been studying and practicing Mindfulness and Adaptive Yoga to help him deal with muscle spasticity, chronic nerve pain, anxiety, and many other secondary conditions that the injury has brought him.

Through direct personal experience with traumatic injury, and chronic pain, and discovering the need to take charge of his recovery to optimize long-term wellbeing, Rodrigo decided to become a Yoga teacher and teach from his own experience, creating Allihopa Accessible & Adaptive Virtual Yoga Studio.

Rodrigo also runs a non-profit organization called AllihopaBrasil to make yoga more accessible to marginalized groups in Brazil and also teaches newly injured folks in an active rehabilitation non-profit in Sweden.

He received his Adaptive yoga certification training under Matthew Sanford, the leading pioneer and “Jedi” of the Adaptive Yoga World. He is focused on creating a supportive community for those who have experienced trauma & disability through Adaptive yoga.

Connect with Rodrigo: www.allihopayoga.com | @allihopayoga

Led Practice | Seated Adaptive Yoga - A Self Love Boost Practice

Amina Naru (she/her)

Amina Naru, E-RYT, YACEP, is the founder of Posh Yoga, Co-founder of Retreat to Spirit, a Usui reiki master, trauma-sensitive yoga instructor, and chair of the Race and Equity Consortium in Yoga, with a specialty in providing yoga and mindfulness programs to incarcerated youth and adults. Amina is an active member on the board of directors for the international nonprofit, Accessible Yoga Association and serves on the board of directors for Bmore Empowered INC, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and girls of color through mindfulness and entrepreneurship in Baltimore City, Maryland.

She is the former executive director of the national nonprofit organization, Yoga Service Council, and served three terms as secretary for the YSC Board of Directors. Amina is a contributing author to the books Best Practices for Yoga with Veterans (YSC/Omega, 2016) and Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System (YSC/Omega, 2017). She worked as the project manager and contributor for Yoga and Resilience: Empowering Practices for Survivors of Sexual Trauma (Handspring 2020) and the Best Practices for Yoga with People in Addictions and Recovery Symposium at the Omega Institute. She also served as Executive Director of the nonprofit Empowered Community in Wilmington, DE, and is the first black woman to implement curriculum-based yoga and mindfulness programs for juvenile detention centers in the state of Delaware.

Amina has been featured in the books Yoga Revolution by Jivana Heyman, Yoga Radicals by Allie Middleton, and Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma, by Dr. Gail Parker. She has also been featured in Yoga Journal, Yoga Therapy Today, and the J. Brown and Yoga Alliance podcasts. Amina Naru’s yoga service work is deeply informed by her studies with master teachers Johnny Gillespie of Empowered Yoga, James Fox of Prison Yoga Project, B.K. Bose of the Niroga Institute, Nikki Myers of Y12SR, and Jennifer Cohen Harper of Little Flower Yoga.

Connect with Amina: www.posh-yoga.com | @poshyoga

Panel Moderator 

Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen (she/her)

Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen is an E-RYT 500, TCYM-T certified yoga teacher. Based in Finland, she’s passionate about making wellness through yoga seamlessly engaged in equity and justice so that more people of the global majority can live well and thrive.

Wambui has lead regular trauma-sensitive Ashtanga yoga workshops in Finland and Sweden. Her Ashtanga Yoga Half Primary practice video has received over 2.5 million views on You Tube. Since 2010, Wambui has co-taught yoga workshops and retreats with senior Ashtanga yoga teacher Petri Raisanen, who is also her husband, throughout Europe and Asia. Born in Kenya and raised in the United States, Wambui taught TESOL in Chile and Abu Dhabi. Wambui is currently based in Helsinki, Finland with Petri and their two sons. In addition to teaching yoga, Wambui has also written and edited books about yoga, including the English translation of Petri's intermediate series book, Nadi Sodhana: The Intermediate Series Practice Manual.

Wambui is deeply inspired by spiritual teachers and communities that apply the insights from their practices and teachings social, racial, political, environmental and economic suffering and injustices. She would like to see wellness spaces engage more in social justice + activist spaces learn to breathe deeply and practice sustainable self-care in the midst of mitigating systemic harm. This is her definition of community care.

Wambui provides consultation services for individuals and organizations who strive to operate from an ethic of embodied collective justice. She is also a writer, model and voice over actor.

Connect with Wambui: wambuinjuguna.com | @wambuinjugunaofficial | Patreon

Sara Clark (she/her)

Sara Clark is an international yoga and meditation teacher with over two decades of experience. She has been a Global Yoga Ambassador for Lululemon, faculty at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and has graced the cover of Yoga Journal twice along with Prevention Magazine.

Sara has created yoga and meditation programs for Shape Magazine, Yoga Today, Glo and currently for Apple Music. Known for her compassionate approach, Sara’s teachings merge the physical and spiritual practices of yoga. With mindfulness and meditation as the focus, she supports practitioners stepping into their limitless potential. 

Sara currently resides on the island of Grenada in the West Indies, however New York City will always be her first home.

Connect with Sara: saraclarkyoga.com | @saraclarkyoga

Kwasi Boaitey (he/him/we/us)

Kwasi Boaitey LMSW, PCC, SAP, RYT-200, NSCA-CPT, PhD student is a dedicated wellness professional with over 18 years of experience. Kwasi is the owner of Upperlevel Fitness Inc. where his focus is on using relational modalities of mindfulness and cultural humility to facilitate open lines communication, client resilience, and stress management. His work has been with individuals, organizations, families and adolescents facing professional and personal life challenges. Kwasi is also the Director of Culturally Responsive Management, University of Rochester Office of Equity and Inclusion and Senior Associate in the Department of Health Humanities & Bioethics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

He is a lifelong learner receiving his MSW from the University of Buffalo and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Human Development at the University of Rochester Warner School of Education, focusing on posttraumatic growth, identity development, and racialized trauma. Kwasi is a licensed master social worker, an International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Leadership Coach, Certified Substance Abuse Professional, Registered Yoga Teacher and a NSCA-Certified Personal Trainer.

Tristan Katz (they/them)

Tristan Katz (they/them) is a writer, educator, and digital strategist specializing in business and marketing coaching-consulting, web and graphic design. Based on the ancestral land of the Cowlitz and Clackamas peoples, now known as Portland, OR, Tristan teaches workshops and trainings centered around queer identity and trans* awareness with an intersectional lens, along with justice-focused digital marketing strategies for yoga and wellness professionals. Through their podcast, articles, digital resources, and workshops, Tristan supports those who seek to grow their work while staying aligned with the practices of yoga, equity, diversity, and inclusivity.

Connect with Tristan: www.katz-creative.com | @tristankatzcreative

Panel Moderator

Isazela "Zel" Amanzi (they/he)

Zel (they/he) is a multiply-neurodivergent and agender transbeing. Other identities include writer, hobby gardener and typewriter lover.

Formerly a classroom teacher and food sovereignty organizer, they now integrate their M.S. Ed in Social Justice Education, certification in Early Childhood Education and formal training in Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Western Reiki and Tantric meditation as a counter-colonial Sacred Energy Educator.

In addition to building Trans Yoga Project, Zel is the founder and Director of Pollination at Transgressive Medicine, a meditation and sound practitioner with CutiesLA, a trainer with Transgender Training Institute, and a writer for Translash Media.

Their work uplifts the liberatory practices of disability justice, neurodiversity, transgender liberation and intersectionality.

Connect with Zel: @transgressivemedicine

Noha Arafa (they/she)

Noha Arafa (they/she), Esq., RYT-500, is an Egyptian, Queer, non-binary, neurodivergent, person of color, a human rights attorney, movement and mindfulness teacher, and trauma survivor.

Noha is the founder of Our Ancestors’ Children, which offers community-based, accessible, trauma-informed movement and meditation classes, and co-founded the Trans Yoga Project, which creates Trans, Non-Binary and Queer-affirming healing spaces through class offerings, education, and community building.

They have worked in human rights law and advocacy since 2001, advocating on behalf of asylees, refugees, protestors, and survivors of gender-based, police, and carceral violence through direct legal representation and grassroots community organizing. Through their offerings, Noha aims to honor the roots of Yoga and empower their students with resources for self-regulation, self- care and collective care.

Their work is rooted in healing justice and centers BIPOC, Trans, Queer, neurodivergent people and people living with PTSD and C-PTSD. They are particularly interested in the intersections of Yoga, mental health, disability justice, and social and economic justice, and believe everyone has a fundamental human right to health, healing, and rest.

Noha is based in Los Angeles on occupied Tongva-Gabrieliño, Chumash, and Kizh land.

Connect with Noha: www.ourancestorschildren.com | @ourancestorschildren

Daniel Sannito (they/them)

Daniel Sannito (they/them) moves through this world as a trans, non-binary educator, writer, and facilitator of meditation and yoga asana.

Daniel shares offerings inspired by over ten years of personal practice and study in various traditions and lineages. They are a founding collaborator of the Trans Yoga Project and a collaborating teacher with Love Your Brain.

Daniel dedicates their voice to creating affirming space for all humans to discover connection with their own hearts in the ways that serve them best.

Connect with Daniel: danielsannito.com |  @danielsannito_

Reggie Hubbard (he/him)

Reggie is a certified yoga and meditation teacher and the founder/chief serving officer of Active Peace Yoga. His yoga and meditation practice have served as a sanctuary of peace and perspective while navigating the stresses of being a black man in the world and serving in pressure filled jobs at the height of politics. He began practicing yoga under extreme emotional distress at work and now shares his practice to all walks of life in service to helping people navigate this thing called life with more peace and ease.

Through Active Peace Yoga, he offers asana and meditation classes to help others nurture peace of mind, creativity, equanimity in spirit and physical health - helping people nurture well-being as foundational, rather than an afterthought. Reggie has taught Members of Congress, Congressional Staff, major labor unions, leading progressive organizations and individuals from all walks of life - simple tools for managing stress and bringing peace to mind, body and spirit. Reducing stress and taking better care of ourselves is a key to enhancing workplace safety, managing work/life balance and improving our quality of life.

In addition to his yoga teaching practice, Reggie has held many senior strategic and logistical roles across a variety of fields, ranging from global marketing, digital and community organizing, government relations, international education to Presidential campaigning. He recently left a senior position as a leading progressive political strategist to devote more time to his personal practices and how to share them with others in these challenging times to allow more people to live with more peace of mind.

Reggie's life work sits at the intersection of bringing more peace and balance to activists; guiding the wellness community toward being more engaged, concerned citizens; and, enhancing the well-being of all walks of life. Achieving this balance is how we catalyze transformative change in our society, which we are desperately in need of at this moment.

He received a B.A. in philosophy from Yale University and an MBA in international strategy from the Vlerick Business School in Belgium.

Connect with Reggie: www.activepeaceyoga.com | @activepeaceyoga

Panel Moderator

Harpinder Kaur Mann  (she/her)

Harpinder Mann (she/her) is a Sikh Punjabi-American yoga teacher and mindfulness educator currently living on Tongva Land. Her childhood consisted of trauma from domestic violence, sexual abuse, and bullying which set her on a journey of healing through yoga, social justice work, and brave community.

Since 2018, Harpinder has been working with womxn of color 1:1 on reclaiming their power & intuition to be free through yoga asana, meditation, breathwork, Buddhist teachings, and spiritual connection. She has over 800 hours of yogic training from respected teachers across the globe. Without her teachers, ancestors, and women before her, none of this would be possible.

She is also actively working to decolonize wellness by creating community and providing real accessibility to her ancestral practices for BI&POC as the co-founder of the Womxn of Color Summit.

Her life work is centered around becoming and teaching compassionate self-awareness so that all beings move through life with presence, wisdom, and integrity.

Connect with Harpinder: harpindermann.com | @harpindermannyoga

womxnofcolorsummit.com | @womxnofcolorsummit

Rose Felix Cratsley (she/her)

Rose Felix Cratsley is a Mindfulness Multiplier, Equity Activist and Founder of Ivy Child International, a nonprofit that develops and facilitates mindfulness-based health education programs for children and communities across the globe with a special focus on healing justice.

Rose was honored among, “Young Leaders pioneering global social change,” “Top 12 People Making a Difference in Central Massachusetts,” and named "Women Leading in Central Massachusetts".

Rose is a featured TEDx speaker on “Unlocking Children's Potential Through Mindfulness." Most recently, Rose was honored among the 2022 "Powerful Women Leading the Mindfulness Movement" by Mindful Magazine.

Connect with Rose: @rosefulness (IG) | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

Ekta Hattangady (she/they)

Ekta (she/they) is a psychotherapist, yoga/mindfulness trainer and writer based in Mississauga, Canada. They have 16+ years of experience of working in the non-profit space in clinical and program roles across India, the US and Canada. Ekta is passionate about liberation - from worldly systems, internal barriers, and any other oppressive components that keep us captive. Their personal journey spans 10+ years, with the Eightfold Path, specifically equanimity, insight and compassion practices being at the core. They are currently working on a Dhamma book. Ekta loves a good ramen and collects vintage vinyl and fountain pens. Connect with them on Instagram @journeywithcompassion.

Connect with Ekta: www.unitymindfulness.com | @journeywithcompassion