Can Yoga Inspire Inclusion? A Special Live Panel!
March 9, 2024 @ 9:00AM — 11:00AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)
Yoga Gives Back International Women's Day 2024 Virtual Event
For International Women's Day 2024 and beyond, let's #InspireInclusion. When we inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion, we forge a better world. And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there's a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment that also includes all communities including BIPOC and LGBTQ. The IWD 2024 #InspireInclusion campaign aims to collectively forge a more inclusive world for women and beyond. To truly include women means to openly embrace their diversity of race, age, ability, faith, body image, and how they identify. Inspire others to help forge an inclusive world by sharing your #InspireInclusion image across social media using #IWD2024 #InspireInclusion.
Join our esteemed Global Ambassadors in this critical dialogue for today's yoga world. Can we inspire inclusion with YOGA? What does "inclusion" mean to you?
This is much needed conversation in today's yoga world and we will start with this message from YGB Ambassador Vikram Singh:
"Despite the foundational philosophy of yoga emphasizing unity, diversity, and inclusivity, a disconcerting reality prevails in many yoga spaces.
1. Cultural Considerations2. Access and Affordability
3. Representation MattersI believe that being a yoga teacher is a personal journey, but as ambassadors of this practice we do share a collective responsibility to do our part in making this practice inclusive and accessible, within our respective communities and outside."
BONUS! After the dialogue, join Kerem Brule in a mini workshop to learn some simple yet essential foundations of sound healing that anyone can do! Kerem will offer a sound healing experience as part of the workshop. Visit www.soundtravelers.co for more info.
Minimum donation of $15 for registration. Students may send a photo of their School-issued ID to info@yogagivesback.org for complimentary admission.
Date: Saturday, March 9th
Time: 9:00 AM PST / 12 PM EST
Panelists: Joseph Armstrong (Miami Life Center, Florida), Michelle El Khoury (Yogamazia, Pennsylvania,), Pranidhi Varshney (Yoga Shala West, Los Angeles), Nadine McNeil (Universal Empress, Jamaica), Tamika Caston-Miller (Ashe Yoga, Texas)
Moderator: Harmony Slater (Canada)
Bios:
Joseph Armstrong, Miami Life Center, Florida
Joseph Armstrong, an Authorized Level 2 Ashtanga Yoga teacher. He teaches yoga with feet planted firmly in tradition and gaze turned towards the future. His search for a more present and peaceful life first led him to the practice in 2008. A few years later he was in India, studying intensively.
After finally overcoming a long struggle with addiction, Joseph began experimenting with Ashtanga Yoga. He understood quickly that the lineage was calling to him to deepen his practice. He underwent a 2-year apprenticeship program at the world-renowned Miami Life Center, continuing his education under his teachers Tim Feldmann and Kino MacGregor. In 2016 he completed 2 months of study in Mysore under Sharath Jois. 2017 brought Joseph to Guatemala where he taught Mysore Style for over a year while also traveling and giving workshops in Europe and the Americas. 2019 brought him back to Miami and his yoga family at MLC.
Joseph teaches yoga because attempts to do any and everything else end disastrously. But when he finally devoted himself to his passion, he became an asset to himself and others. He hopes his practice allows him to be ever more loving and to exist gently.
Tamika Caston-Miller, Ashe Yoga
TexasTamika Caston-Miller is a yoga educator and urban farmer in Houston, Texas. She curates nature-immersive yoga workshops, trainings, and retreats in service to collective healing and community repair. Focusing on moving traditionally marginalized people beyond marginalized realities through truth-speaking, collaborative work, and collective rest, Tamika aims to build intersectional, intergenerational, multiethnic communities in which radical compassion, agency, and self-acceptance are normalized. Her modern application of ancient principles is inspired by her understanding of yoga as a practice of the right relationship with others, the planet, and the Self.
Michelle El Khoury, Yogamazia, Pennsylvania
Dr. Michelle El Khoury is the founder of Yogamazia, a yoga studio specifically focused on maternal and children’s wellness based in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She brings over twenty years of healthcare experience and is a published author and speaker, apart from her various yoga and birth worker credentials. Her mission is to empower and inspire as many women and future generations of leaders to be a voice for positive change in their communities.
Nadine McNeil, Jamaica
Nadine McNeil – humanitarian cum yogi – is regarded as an influencer for global transformation. For over 20 years, she served the United Nations as a ‘crisis responder,’ across the world, eventually leading to her current passion. Nowadays, her work includes teaching yoga, guiding women’s circles, as well as being a personal development coach for individuals and ‘conscious’ corporate entities.
As a non-fiction writer, she weaves yoga philosophy, spirituality, ethnicity, gender, and current affairs. McNeil’s work has been published in several online and print publications, including Elephant Journal, Yoga Herald Magazine, Essence Magazine and more. publications. In 2023 she published her first e-book entitled: Self Love Is A Practice.
To learn more about her, please visit: www.universalempress.com
Pranidhi Varshney, Yoga Shala West, Los Angeles
Pranidhi Varshney is the founder of Yoga Shala West, a community-supported Ashtanga yoga studio in West Los Angeles. She is also the mother to two courageous and wise little beings. The thread that runs through all her work is the desire to build community and live authentically.
Harmony Slater, Calgary, Canada
Harmony is a Mastery Certified Life + Biz Coach, Breathwork expert, and Certified Ashtanga Yoga Teacher. She is one of less than 20 women in the world to hold a recognized teaching Certificate from Mysore, India. She began traveling to East Asia in 2002 to study Buddhism and Indian philosophy. She’s founded two yoga schools in Canada and has been running her own yoga and coaching business for the past 20+ years. She’s taught workshops on yoga, breathwork, personal development, and meditation in over 30 different countries. She’s the host of the Finding Harmony Podcast and has been featured in two anthologies on yoga, pregnancy, and motherhood in ‘Yoga Sadhana for Mothers’ and ‘Strength and Grace: A Collection of Essays by Women of Ashtanga Yoga.’ She specializes in supporting women to boldly claim the life they truly desire and is an active Board Member and Ambassador for Yoga Gives Back.
https://harmonyslater.com/ancient-breathing-2-0
Kerem Brule, Beautiful Sounds, San Diego
Kerem has been in the Sound Healing field for over 20 years, offering her meditative soundscapes for retreats, private groups, workshops, circles, rituals, yoga, dance, breathwork, and medicine journeys. She has been teaching community workshops and educating healing professionals in sound healing approaches for 9 years. Kerem is an expert you can trust on your learning path. As the owner of Beautiful Sounds Healing Music Instruments based in San Diego, California, Kerem offers artisan sound healing instruments that are loved by customers around the world (www.beautifulsound.co). Check out her new Sound Healing Mentorship for Beginners: www.soundtravelers.co. 10% of all instrument sales from Beautiful Sounds and the mentorship program go to Yoga Gives Back.