Yesterday I had a conversation with J. Brown.
He asked how I was and I paused. I’m not sure he caught this. It was slight, so there’s no reason why he should have. Maybe I imagined it. Maybe there are always pauses, yawnings open, cliffs in the act of conversation.
I recently attended one of Yoga Alliance’s listening tour events. It was a small gathering, with sixteen or twenty people in the room. I nodded to one of my own students as I walked in and thought it interesting that she was there. She had brought another teacher with her, who later said our mutual student seemed to know more about Yoga Alliance than she did. I thought this was interesting, too; we yoga teachers, as a group, don’t tend to know what our wider group is up to.
The recent Jivamukti sexual abuse allegations have reignited a long-running conversation on power dynamics, teacher-student relationships, and cult-like status within the yoga community. Each time news breaks of another guru abusing their power, the yogasphere erupts in further controversy, but as much talk and (sometimes therapeutic) conversation there is, are we really making progress when [...]
Last month, the Yoga Alliance announced a new policy regarding “yoga therapy terminology” that creates a significant new precedent. A lack of any public debate and transparency in the process has made it difficult to discern why exactly this was needed and what purpose it serves.
by J. Brown News that the saving grace CEO of the Yoga Alliance, Richard Karpel, is leaving after only two years was met with little more than a collective: “whatever.” But to anyone who wants to see the reformation that Karpel ushered in continue, his departure is both surprising and concerning. The reason for Karpel’s [...]
Earlier this week Yoga Alliance quietly announced in an email to its members that Richard Karpel, President of Yoga Alliance and the Yoga Alliance Registry, will be stepping down later this year. This is somewhat unnerving and unfortunate news. Some may remember Karpel joined the organization as president in 2012 and basically saved YA from [...]
Yoga Alliance has come out in opposition of the Washington D.C. “Yoga Tax” that would impose a 5.75 percent sales tax on prior-nontaxable services like gyms and yoga studios, as well as other services like car washes and bowling alleys. Many opposers have already voiced their disapproval of the proposal, which would kick in Jan. [...]
Many of you will remember the YogaGlo patent fiasco of yesteryore. Actually, it wasn’t really so long ago. At the end of September, we heard that online yoga class service YogaGlo had sent cease and desist letters to various other online yoga websites, including Yoga International, who broke their silence about it online. The letters served [...]
These are interesting times for yoga. For instance, for the first time ever, a major American university is offering a master’s degree in Yoga Studies. And the Yoga Alliance, essentially an online directory, is starting to make some real moves in a potentially positive, somewhat corporate-y direction, even speaking out in the public forum in [...]
