Show Notes
In this Season 2 finale, Amber and Jivana discuss:
Their lives and current challenges
How our activism and practice is showing up for us in this moment
Amber’s bike reels on instagram
Themes from Season 2:
Community Care/Sharing Power/Community Collaboration
Shift from top down teaching to community led
Jivana’s remixes on instagram
The current contemporary yoga world is complex, shifting to local
Not getting caught up in a binary of “advanced” vs gentle
How Accessible Yoga is often misused to make us fit in rather than to celebrate our differences and individuality
Encouraging students to find individuality in community
Marginalized folks are some of our greatest innovators
Your difference is your superpower
Safety and inclusion in yoga
Be sure to visit past episodes with our amazing guests like: Matthew Sanford, Nischala Devi, Michelle Cassandra Johnson, Octavia Raheem, Jacoby Ballard, Marlysa Sullivan, Reggie Hubbard
What Accessible Yoga Association is up to:
New online Accessible Yoga Community, ambassadors get first access (join here)
Accessible Yoga Community Studio - online studio where people can study with teacher leaders from the AY community, dedicated AY content
Conference coming up, Moving from Me to We, October 14-16
Pre-conference intensive on Increasing Accessibility - Matthew Sanford, Natalie Tabilo, Ryan McGraw, Donna Noble, and Jivana
Upcoming monthly themes: August: Yoga & Environmental Justice, September: Yoga & Cancer
Amber’s term as President of AYA’s board of directors is up, Anjali Rao stepping up as our new president
More from Accessible Yoga Podcast
In this episode, Jivana sits down with Sally SJ Brown, author of the newly released book The Diversity Gap in UK Yoga: Outsider Perspectives, which examines barriers to yoga access and ways the yoga community can address exclusion. Sally shares how the book draws from interviews with 17 people from marginalized groups in northern UK cities, her PhD research, and her experience as a community yoga teacher. Together, Jivana and Sally examine why good intentions are not enough and what it would actually take to make yoga accessible to the people who need it most.
Join Jivana as he talks with Theo Wildcroft and Beverley Nolan about their new book Leading Safe and Simple Yoga Nidras. Theo and Beverley unpack the complex history of yoga nidra, its relationship to sleep science, and why demystifying the practice is one of the most important things we can do to make it safer. Together they explore the ethical responsibilities of anyone who leads this practice and why yoga nidra is ultimately a neurological process that any skilled yoga teacher can learn to lead with confidence and care.
Join host Jivana Heyman and guest Becky Aten, founder of Yoga for Neurodiversity, for a conversation about making yoga accessible and affirming for neurodivergent students. Becky shares how their autism diagnosis at age 38 shaped their approach as a yoga facilitator and led them to create peer support spaces for neurodivergent people. Together, Jivana and Becky explore what makes a neurodiversity-affirming space different and why affinity spaces and more welcoming general spaces are both needed.
In this episode, Jivana sits down with Tracee Stanley, author of the newly released book Living Ritual: Infuse Each Day with Purpose and Spirit. Tracee shares how she treated the writing of the book itself as a ritual and shares how practicing Bhakti Yoga through chants, mantras, and mental puja (manas puja) blossomed her personal practice. Together, Jivana and Tracee talk about the devotional aspect at the heart of the yoga tradition and why contemporary yoga has drifted away from Bhakti Yoga and devotional practice.
Join host Jivana as he talks with his friend and fellow author, Indu Arora, about the philosophical essence of yoga, the householder path, and the importance of individual experience. Indu shares about what it really means to "teach" yoga, why she calls herself a student rather than a teacher, and how her own teachers shaped that humility. They talk about living yoga philosophy and why yoga's health and wellness benefits are only side effects of a much deeper spiritual purpose.