IYNAUS Yoga and Equity Symposium: Yoga Hierarchies, Power and Equity

In our current moment, we are being called to deepen our understanding of what it means to be a yoga practitioner.

This series of facilitated discussions and presentations, offered in 2021 by the IYNAUS Outreach DEIJ Committee, aims to help us understand equity and inclusivity related to our personal yoga practice, our studentship, and our teaching. We will discuss how to create safe spaces for all who wish to practice and teach Iyengar Yoga. And we will examine causes, effects, systems, and solutions to issues of equity within our yoga community. We will collectively shape the future of Iyengar Yoga in bold, truthful, and empowering ways.

Please join us on May 15, 2021, for “Yoga Hierarchies, Power and Equity.”

As members of the Iyengar Yoga community, we are fortunate and grateful for the legacy of B.K.S. Iyengar; his relentless questioning and boundary-breaking practice, teaching, and leadership. As we grow as a community, how do we approach questions of power? Who has power and who doesn’t within hierarchies like ours, and what are the effects? Are all voices being heard? How has Iyengar Yoga evolved, and how is it evolving? 

In this session, CIYT Lisa Jo Landsberg will facilitate a conversation between CIYTs Hong Gwi-Seok and John Schumacher. John and Gwi-Seok will share a brief history of B.K.S. Iyengar, discuss the development of Iyengar Yoga in the context of colonialism and how we’ve inherited the concept of the guru in the West. Together we will discuss how we, as contemporary practitioners, can support an equitable and inclusive tradition.

CIYTs can receive CE hours for this workshop, which is free and open to all. Donations are always appreciated.