Maya Breuer (E-RYT 500, YACEP) provides support for the advancement of cross-cultural competency across all Yoga Alliance programming and activities. Celebrated as one of America’s distinguished Black Yogis by Black Enterprise Magazine, Maya is the co-founder and Emeritus President of the national Black Yoga Teachers Alliance and a preeminent yoga teacher, speaker, practitioner, author, and community activist. Maya has been training and certifying yoga teachers throughout the United States at her Santosha School of Yoga since 2001. In 1998, she founded the Yoga Retreat for Women of Color™, offered bi-annually at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, where she is Emeritus Trustee. She has been featured in Yoga Journal Magazine, Black Enterprise, Essence Magazine, Heart and Soul Magazine, Common Ground, Black Women’s Health, Upscale Magazine, and many Kripalu publications. Maya co-authored an NIH study, now included within the Annals of Internal Medicine; “Back to Health: Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Minorities with Chronic Low Back Pain.” Her mission and dharma (right living) for the past 30 years has been to educate and support people of color to integrate yoga practices and its philosophical perspectives into their daily lives. Maya promotes global equity in yoga to empower all to renew body, mind, and spirit.
Rose Felix Cratsley is a cross-cultural mindfulness expert, child-specialist, educator, and Founder of Ivy Child International. Her research interests range from applied positive psychology, the study of human flourishing, and mindfulness-based learning with children/youth to systems of education and care with a special focus on cross-cultural competencies. Rose’s professional experiences have led her to partner with UNICEF and World Vision. The Worcester Business Journal honored Rose as one of the “40 Under 40 Rising Stars” in Central Massachusetts in 2010, 2011 “Young Leaders pioneering global social change,” “Top 12 People Making a Difference in Central Massachusetts” in 2012 and she named “Women Leading In Central Massachusetts” in 2013/2014. She was also a featured TEDx speaker on “Unlocking Children’s Potential Through Mindfulness” in 2014.
In November 2007, Ghylian Bell founded the Urban Yoga Foundation, a 501c nonprofit designed to create yoga and mindfulness programs that specifically target the needs of students of color. The Urban Yoga Foundation also creates a platform for teachers of color to help their communities reclaim self-love and healing practices founded in a mindful culture and serve all who seek a path to wellness.