Dear Community,
It is winter in the region where I live, however the weather feels almost like spring today – leading to thoughts of growth and expansion. Often, when we are wrapped up in our day-to-day lives, subtle signals like the changing of seasons end up serving as our largest reminders that change is really happening—that we are moving forward, that something new is on the horizon.
In reflecting on 2022 and looking into 2023, there is so much to be said of the commitment and dedication of the yoga community. You have continued serving your communities through major disruptions and expand yoga’s reach, even when your resources and support systems were absent or inconsistent. And over the past few years, during the moments when the temptation (or even the demand) to just stop swelled—yoga and its healing nature gave our community the strength to continue. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for the community and for yoga.
With all of this, I feel if the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that the promise of “something new” may not be as simple as a change of season. So, in 2023, I am focusing our organization on something more.
At Yoga Alliance, we believe that if more people practice yoga, the better the world will be. This is proven every time someone experiences the release and reward of a deep breath. Our shared goal of creating accessible, equitable yoga for everyone sets the stage for real change—an actual shift in the paradigm—to center whole-person wellness for the betterment of all.
We believe that more yoga means:
- More health in all ways—physical, emotional, mental, social, and biological
- More community engagement and connection
- More self-reflection and self-understanding
- More peace and fulfillment in mind, body, and soul
And, we believe that through all of this, we are collectively more capable of:
- Creating true equity in more spaces, including those of yoga and wellness
- Showing up with more empathy, understanding, and patience in our relationships, jobs, and families
- Strengthening the endurance needed to fight systems of oppression
- Remaining present, intentional, and joyful in our lives
This is the gift yoga teachers like you share, and that I believe is the responsibility of Yoga Alliance: to do all we can to ensure that the potential of yoga is spread to as many people as possible, and done so in a way that is sustainable, accessible, and applicable for anyone striving to serve or experience the practice. For us, this can be summarized in two organizational commitments that will continue to guide our work going forward: 1) serving as a megaphone for the power of yoga, and 2) providing you with comprehensive tools and resources to teach, promote, learn about, and practice yoga wherever you are, under whatever circumstances.
Along with our commitments to those priorities, in the coming year you can expect to see enhancements and expansion in partner collaborations, social and advocacy work, community engagement strategies, member benefits, and teaching standards; all of which are designed to serve you and your own unique goals as yoga leaders and educators so that together we can impact as many people as possible with the healing benefits of a yoga practice.
I look forward to walking this next chapter with you; and I look forward to “the more” I know is coming.
Yours in service,
Shannon