Conference Schedule

This four-hour session is just one step toward rebuilding and maintaining a sense of wholeness in a world of loss, grief, and damaged hope.

As a whole group and within affinity spaces, we will interrogate the impact of whiteness in yoga, which has increasingly become part of a tradition, practice, and language that Black, Indigengous and People of Color use to reinforce and define self-identity and community. At a time when the fear, exhaustion and grief of BIPOC folks are on public display more than ever, we explore different ways self-care and self-resourcing can encourage a sense of release, empowerment, and interconnectedness.

Yoga is a work-in not a work-out. The Yoga that the vedic and tantrik texts mention is subtle, deep and transformative. Use of mantra, mudra, shavasana, pranayama and yoga nidra not only makes us experience the depth of Yoga but also makes the practice accessible. These tools are often sidelined or considered boring or even time consuming. This cannot be much further from the truth. The true adventure is the world within and it is these subtle practices that transform the external yoga to internal yoga. Yoga is not to be done and mimicked, it is to be explored and realized through tools and practices that are accessible, practical and impactful. Reach the heart of Yoga through simple, effective and approachable means - Subtle Practices!

Our opening night party will be hosted by Amber Karnes. Featuring kīrtan with Sheela Bringi.

Transition is the liminal space of creativity, innovation, and inspiration. This keynote address will be a weaving of meditation, self-inquiry, and lecture as Tracee guides us to explore our relationship with the dark space of the void and the power of our infinite potential. 

Both the health benefits of yoga and the access challenges to yoga and healthcare are well known to attendees. Join these leaders in a robust discussion about how through collaboration and planning healthcare can be a high leverage point for increasing access to yoga [Leverage points are places in a system where, as systems theorist Donella Meadows has said, “a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything.”]

The panel will begin with a brief orienting presentation by David Elton, DC of United Health Venture Capital Group about access to care and how data demonstrates the potential for bringing yoga at scale into healthcare. The panel will then dive into the opportunities and challenges of implementation, and how through future collaborations we can bring this forward. The discussion will also highlight how attendees can work in their local communities and larger organizations to join this process effectively.

In this workshop, we discuss how you can make your classes more LGBTQ+ inclusive by integrating modern social movements and ancient history.

We will start by examining the (mis)representation of LGBTQ+ persons in yoga and society, how this contributes to harm, and the need for greater representation in yoga and community spaces. We will briefly journey into yoga’s past with stories of LGBTQ+ historical and mythological figures and learn the lessons they provide for the future.

We will then explore tools we can use to make yoga safes safer for LGBTQ+ folx while honoring yoga’s cultures and traditions. This workshop is open to allies and LGBTQ+ identified persons.

We recommend having a notebook or journal for this session.

Meet & Greets are your opportunity to connect with other conference attendees. These are moderated conversations with conference participants focused on different aspects of Accessible Yoga. This session will be focused on getting started as a yoga teacher. This includes overcoming the fear around teaching, as well as the real obstacles that new yoga teachers face. Come share with your peers about your journey, and share with them about yours.

Everyone deserves access to self acceptance, relaxation, and rest. In this workshop we will explore prop supported restorative postures and variations that may be more accessible for folks in larger bodies with varying levels of mobility. We will explore variations on the mat or bed as well as seated options. We will also discuss language and using invitational cuing to allow folks the agency to find support and rest in their own way. Recommended props for this session: 2 Blocks, Bolster, 2 Blankets, 1-2 Chairs or Bed

As the yoga world shifted online through the pandemic there has been an increased need for effective and useful online community building. Join panelists Avita Bansee, Tejal Patel, and Lekisha Middleton in a conversation about online community building moderated by Shannon Crow. They'll share some of their successes and failures, as well as consider some best practices for online communities. In particular, they'll reflect on how yoga practitioners from marginalized groups can organize and connect through online communities.

Jesal Parikh is a yoga teacher and movement educator. And even though she loves movement science...it's still racist.

Based on the blockbuster panel discussion that Jesal led in September 2020, this 75-min presentation will unpack how racism and cultural appropriation are deeply entrenched in the science of movement, wellness and medicine - which are all increasingly grabbing hold of the yoga industry. She’ll break down how communities are impacted by these embedded biases and how it compromises our students’ ability to show up as their full selves.

Meet & Greets are your opportunity to connect with other conference attendees. These are moderated conversations with conference participants focused on different aspects of Accessible Yoga. This session will be focused on skills, knowledge and training needed to make your teaching accessible. Come share with your peers about your journey, and share with them about yours.

The ancient practices of yoga offer a pathway to personal liberation, but how do we live the teachings of yoga today? In this workshop we’ll consider how we can apply the lessons of yoga to our contemporary lives in the context of social justice and the movement toward equity. The yoga teachings focus on spiritual enlightenment and the journey inward. Jivana will explore the impact this inner journey can have on our community experience and communal awakening as he expands on the lessons he shares in his new book, “Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion.”

Join Natalia Tabilo, the founder of Yoga for All Bodies™ in this workshop that will explore tips and techniques to create welcoming spaces and offerings that will allow the students to enjoy their bodies and minds just the way they are today! We will dive into the importance of offering yoga variations, honoring the sensations and needs of diverse populations, and the importance of moving from within in our yoga practice.

We recommend having a notebook or journal for this session.

Danny will share a brief talk on the importance of Black Male representation in wellness spaces, followed by light somatic movement, breath work, mindfulness, a guided mediation and a time of journaling / contemplation. We recommend having a journal for this session, along with anything soft and commutable if available to support your practice.

Coming from her experience as a Yoga Therapist and Physician Assistant for over 20 years, Priya Verma has been on the frontline of Covid since the inception of the pandemic. She will explore the discomfort of having “difficult conversations” and how to shift perspectives about the Covid Pandemic, “Infodemic”, and sovereignty in health decisions. Priya will discuss Svadyaya (self-reflection), Yamas and Niyamas in approaching conflicting issues around Covid-19, using a Trauma Informed approach. Join Priya in exploring different choices, modes of communication, assumptions and strategies in seeking safety, community and accessibility in shared spaces with compassion and clarity. Learn how yoga’s framework gives us connection in walking together through these uncomfortable conversations by naming our deepest needs and calling out our fears that lead to separation and harm.

Priya Verma has pioneered the integration of trauma-informed Yoga Therapy practices into the traditional medical model of care, specializing in non-pharmacologic pain management, and trauma informed strategies with Orthopedic Surgery, Sports Medicine, Asthma, Immunology, Allergy Medicine, Integrative Medicine and Interventional Radiology. She is the creator of the Clinical Resiliency Program developing self-care practices and self-regulation for clinicians, and behavioral and healthcare workers across the spectrum. She lectures globally on integrating Yoga, Cultural Appropriation, History of Yoga and more. She serves on the DEI Task Force for IAYT.

Meet & Greets are your opportunity to connect with other conference attendees. These are moderated conversations with conference participants focused on different aspects of Accessible Yoga. This session will be focused on tips and tricks for teaching online, which takes special skills that not all of us are trained in. Come share with your peers about your journey, and share with them about yours.

We live in a fairly dualistic world: good vs bad, right vs wrong, day vs night. This can make for a very judgemental and fragmented reality - ours. This is evident in the love-hate relationship many have with their body and mind. Feelings of betrayal and disassociation can dominate the special and unique relationship that we can have with our intelligent bodies and Life-force synergy or Spirit, especially in bodies or circumstances that are unique. The Vedanta Tantra approach views the one supreme reality as inherently blissful with the energy of love. This Supreme reality is fluid, expansive and peaceful, it is our natural state no matter what our physical embodiment. Will explore how to move into that together. Beginning with mindfulness and meditation, we will then unpack the nature of the mind and then move into exploring our own energetic anatomy and how we can use it to our highest good.

For this session we recommend having a notebook, yoga foam block, strap, blanket.

"Listen to your body." What does that phrase really mean when we are taught that our bodies are problems to be solved? Diet culture and fatphobia are part of our collective conditioning, which trickles down to the way we teach and practice yoga. Join panelists Kimberly Dark, Dr. Jennifer Webb, and Emily Anderson in a conversation about yoga and diet culture, moderated by Amber Karnes. They’ll share from their lived experiences as folks in marginalized bodies who incorporate body acceptance and disrupt diet culture in their work and yoga practice. They’ll discuss what works when it comes to helping students learn to come home to their bodies and rebuild trust. In particular, they’ll reflect on challenges we face as a yoga community and industry, as well as ways to promote transformation and change, one class at a time.

Chair yoga is a gentle form of yoga that can be done sitting on a chair or standing on the ground while using the chair for support.

Chair Yoga is a general term for practices that have variations of yoga poses so that they can be done while seated in a chair. These variations make yoga accessible to people who have various physical limitations It is also a great form of yoga for beginners or anyone who wants to focus on a gentle practice.

While seated comfortably in a chair, students can enjoy versions of twists, hip stretches, forward bends, and mild back-bends. In addition to a good stretch, chair yoga participants can enjoy other health benefits from yoga, including improved muscle tone, better breathing habits, reduction of stress, better sleep, and a sense of well being.

Recommended props for this session: Yoga blocks / yoga straps / bolster or pillow / chair 

Join Melissa for a thought-provoking workshop on pranayama practices, the function of prana in the body, and how to apply these tools therapeutically. We will take time to discuss why pranayama is more than breathwork and how think of it as a process when guiding others through breathing practices. Melissa will close out the workshop by guiding participants through a restful and accessible pranayama practice.

Meet & Greets are your opportunity to connect with other conference attendees. These are moderated conversations with conference participants focused on different aspects of Accessible Yoga. This session will be your chance to share time with Jivana Heyman, AYA's Founder and Executive Director. There will be a chance for you to ask questions and learn more about Jivana's leadership and vision.

When connected to their best selves, our young people navigate the world with the knowledge that they’re on the path to becoming a neurosurgeon; purchasing mom a new home and winning Student of the Week (again!). The hormonal roller coaster makes it hard enough for young people to stay connected to their best selves. For poor kids, the likelihood and intensity of adverse childhood experiences are increased leading to potential long-term effects such as mental health issues, substance abuse, partner violence and more. COVID-19 has made it worse. Using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data and local mortality figures, scientists found the Bronx, NY ranked as the worst county in the country for COVID-19 death rates and respiratory hazards. The Bronx also has a 25% unemployment rate. This is a crisis. No magic wand can help ensure the wellness of our kids. It’s meaningful work multiple times a day -- everyday.

The recommended set-up for this session is to have a desk and chair for a short practice.

Our world is changing…

and so are we.

The yoga world is changing

But our yoga… not so much.

As our individual and collective needs shift, how can we evolve our approach to yoga to have it better serve us. What can we teach and practice to give us a firmer foundation for individual resilience and wellbeing.

In this session we’ll explore:

• Current challenges to teaching and practicing yoga for wellbeing
• A few key things that are missing in our approach to training yoga teachers
• Two things yogis can do to make their practice more effective
• What yoga teachers can use to elevate their classes

Ashtanga Yoga is largely inaccessible, vigorous style of vinyasa yoga that is strengthening to the body and mind. This class is about making the standing series of Ashtanga Yoga more accessible through use of a chair.

For this session we recommend having a chair for your practice. 2 Blocks, a bolster and a blanket would also be helpful, but optional.

This panel will bring diverse approaches to discuss how power and privilege manifests in Yoga spaces, from ancient to modern times. We will look at how we can call in each other and co-create a space for collective liberation.

Meet & Greets are your opportunity to connect with other conference attendees. These are moderated conversations with conference participants focused on different aspects of Accessible Yoga. This session will be focused on reflecting on your conference experience - what you’ve learned or discovered here. Come share with your peers about your journey, and share with them about yours.

This keynote will present a queer dharma: Jacoby will orient around key obstacles in mainstream yoga in the U.S. to authentic and deep love and justice, and reiterate the heart practices that enhance social justice. Jacoby will then invite attendees to collectively envision a queer, anti-racist, anti-capitalist manifestation of yoga that honors its roots and sheds what is not oriented toward both individual and collective freedom and wellbeing.

For this session all you'll need is a comfortable place to be, and possibly a notebook.

‘My mind won’t stop’
‘I can’t meditate because I can’t stop thinking’
…are some of many statements individuals have made about meditation.

Meditation can feel daunting and out of reach at times due to preconceived ideas of what meditation is or what it should look like. Sometimes it seems we’ve been trying forever with no luck. That luck is deeply tied to expectations, some experience, and conditioned thoughts.

Allowing meditation to be accessible, is similar to how yoga is made to be accessible.

As a teacher, it means to clarify its ‘purpose’ or ‘goal’, re-align expectations, focus on physical modifications and comfort, encourage imagination, and more.

As practiononers, accessible meditation means routine not rigidity, exploration of different teachers, forgiveness and intention.

We’ll explore all of this, when to include what verbiage which honors the roots of meditation that we know thus far, and discuss that while meditation does not have a goal, modern society does have to start with them. We’ll talk through the impacts of meditation and their residual benefits, and participants can experience a 15 – 20 minute guided meditation w/music.

Audre Lorde wrote “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” This workshop is an invitation to explore the idea of what it means to take care ourselves through a QTPOC lens. We’ll explore movement, writing, meditation and other mindfulness practices that can assist QTPOC folks strengthen resilience, celebrate and rest.

(Influences for this workshop: Adrienne Maree Brown, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel and Gloria Naylor)

Who is this for? Folks who identify as QTPOC.

What can participants expect? Participants can expect 90 minutes of compassionate gentle trauma informed conversation, compassion, care.

This space will also be safe for collaboration and sharing. By the end of the workshop participants will have the ideas, practices and tools that they can take with them.

For this session we recommend having a yoga mat, blankets, pillows, tea and a journal.

In Sweeten Your Life with Self-Compassion, you will learn how to cultivate self-compassion in your daily life. Although it’s tempting to give into the inner critic, you can start choosing differently and find more steadiness and ease in your body and mind. In this workshop, you will be introduced to the the basics of self-compassion, the practice and philosophy of lovingkindness, simple tools to nourish yourself during stressful times, the relationship between self-compassion and space holding, and how to sustain self-compassion. Half of the workshop will be a presentation, and the other half will be a gentle yoga and meditation practice.

For this session we recommend having a notebook, as well as props for comfortably sitting and lying down.

This special Meet & Greet is an opportunity to meet the members of the Accessible Yoga Association Board of Directors, led by Board President, Amber Karnes. Amber will share a little bit about our nonprofit’s structure and mission. She’ll also introduce all the board members, and explain their roles. There will be a chance for you to ask questions and learn more about how the board operates, as well as future plans. 

There are some within the yoga community that think politics and yoga should not mix. That the purpose of yoga is to escape from the pressures of the outside world and find inner peace.

But yoga at its essence is the refinement of conscious awareness to meet life circumstances with more clarity, courage and compassion. To find inner peace and then engage with the world more fully - serving from that sense of peace.

This talk will explore how to merge yogic practice and civic engagement, as well as why it is important to do so. Reggie will share from his personal experience and teaching practice how yogic practice and civic engagement have become inextricably bound, and how we might better serve our communities, students and society through forming such a union.