Jivana Heyman 0:02
Welcome to the Accessible Yoga podcast where we explore how to make space for everyone in the yoga community.
Amber Karnes 0:08
This podcast is brought to you by the Accessible Yoga Association, a nonprofit organization focused on accessibility and equity in yoga.
Jivana Heyman 0:16
Hi, I'm your host, Jivana Heyman, my pronouns are he and him. And I serve as the director of Accessible Yoga.
Amber Karnes 0:22
And I'm your co host, Amber Carnes. My pronouns are she and her, and I serve as president of the Accessible Yoga Board of Directors. Hey, everybody, welcome to Episode 40. We're back. Hey, Jivana.
Jivana Heyman 0:34
Hi, Amber.
I missed you.
Amber Karnes 0:37
Yeah, I missed you, too. Yeah, right. We talked like every day, but still, I've missed sitting down to do this.
Jivana Heyman 0:44
I have actually, I was just thinking before we started how excited I am to be recording another podcast with you. I don't know why I like it so much. But it's such a great format.
Amber Karnes 0:55
It's just because we like talking to each other. And then we can force everyone to listen, who thinks we have something important to say.
Jivana Heyman 1:02
This is the secret part of me that is really an extrovert like I'm, I'm so introverted, but it's true. Like part of me just loves teaching and talking and sharing. I just can't help it. So
Amber Karnes 1:15
Enough of that over the pandemic, so here we are.
Jivana Heyman 1:18
That's true. I'm definitely a little deprived of social interaction. Yeah, and especially teaching Oh, my gosh, I was just actually someone just asked me if I would be interested in leading an in person training next year. And I'm like, oh, wow, is it time to start scheduling? Again? Like, I don't know.
Amber Karnes 1:38
I don't know. I've been wrestling with the same thing. Because like, obviously, you know, events are happening. People are finding ways to do it safe ish. But I'm also like, very mindful that there's a lot of pandemic still going on. And healthcare systems are overwhelmed. And is it right to gather people for a wellness context when they might go home and not be able to get care? Like, it's really, you know, it's not an easy yes or no. And so, yeah, I'm wrestling with that stuff, too.
Jivana Heyman 2:08
Yeah, the pandemics very serious. Still, I think we're just tired of it. A lot of people are just tired of hearing about it. But right seems really rough. How are you doing? I know you had shoulder surgery?
Amber Karnes 2:21
I did. I am. Yeah, I'm getting stronger every day. I am in PT for several months, like so my surgery was July 8, and I injured it back in April. So it's been, you know, a good long time that I've been dealing with this now. And the first two months were really rough after my surgery, like I didn't work for like more than a month, I had like, no energy and a lot of pain and had trouble sleeping and ended up like renting a recliner to sleep in. And like that was you know, was the whole thing. And it was really amazing to me, like how much because I was in a sling, like was it immobilized for about eight weeks. And which is, you know, was really difficult for me just being, I don't know, more like self reliant person, or I like, you know, I'm a busy person I active and whatever. And so like, having to, like being forced to slow down a little bit was a big, I don't know, lesson and challenge for me. But things have, like, turned around really quickly. About a month ago, or three weeks ago, basically, like, after I came out of the sling thing started getting better really fast. And so I'm still, you know, maybe at like, I don't know, I say like, 60% but it's feeling pretty good. And I have more energy. I you know, I'm mostly out of pain, unless I you know, do some strenuous stuff, PT or whatever. So, anyway, yeah, it's been a big adjustment. It's definitely affected everything from like, the way I sleep to even be able to, like lay flat on any surface, you know, like, you kind of take some of these things for granted. Or maybe I did that, like, Oh, yeah, I can just like lay down if I'm tired and like, you can't just do that. So anyway, I'm glad to be on the right trajectory. All my check ins are going well with the docs and everything so
Jivana Heyman 4:20
Well, that's great. I mean, it is it's such a journey. Like that's a temporary disability, it's serious. To have a whole different way of being in the body.
Amber Karnes 4:28
Yeah, and managing my mind about that, you know what I mean? Like that, for me was maybe one of the biggest parts of it was just like, you know, not making every sensation mean something about the future kind of thing, you know? Yeah, it's, it's, it was like, I think really intense for a while and a little scary to be like, Okay, well, am I gonna be able to still, you know, feel like myself, even though, you know, that stuff comes from inside me too, but yeah, like when your body's not okay, how do you feel? Okay, it's kind of a question that I was wrestling with a lot. And so, anyway.
Jivana Heyman 5:12
Yeah, well, it's important Actually, I like what you said about not. How do you say it like not projecting into the future? Because I think a lot of like, for me with my anxiety, that's where it goes, like when there's pain. And it's just like, I worry, well, is this going to continue? It's like, is this is this a momentary sensation? Or is this mean that I'm like, getting very sick or something? And especially with COVID? I think we went through that too. Like, wait, wait, do I have COVID?
Amber Karnes 5:37
Like any little tickle in your throat? Right.
Jivana Heyman 5:41
But I mean, I feel like that's just kind of human nature to, you know, to kind of just constantly be projecting into the future worrying about stuff like that. And I definitely
Amber Karnes 5:51
we're trying to being you know, what'd you say,
Jivana Heyman 5:55
I say I always work on bringing my mind back, you know, trying to be now here now. But what were you saying?
Amber Karnes 6:01
Oh, yeah, just like, I don't know, when you get a sensation. And then it's like, is this gonna, you know, last forever? I feel like, yeah, bringing your mind back to the, I don't know, the fact that like, actually, this has changed like day to day. And if I look back three weeks ago, I was a totally different place than I am now. And so like, I don't know, that kind of, I guess, evidence that like, being attached to I don't know what's going on right now, in this moment. Like, that's not really going to work. Because like, the body will keep changing, even if, you know, you've got an ongoing issue. Like it's never static. Right. So I don't know, it also helps.
Jivana Heyman 6:43
It makes me very compassionate for people who have chronic pain, because I just think, Wow, yeah, that really does just keep going. And I mean, that's, that's a lot. It's a lot to handle, you know, so I feel I feel that for sure. Yeah. So what are we doing here? We're back. And Amber. Yeah, maybe you could talk a little bit about some of the changes, because there's some big changes happening on this podcast.
Amber Karnes 7:09
That's right. So we will, one thing we're doing, which, you know, might not make a ton of difference to your experience of the podcast as a listener, but definitely to Jivana and me is that the podcast is now going to live at the Accessible yoga.org website, over with Accessible Yoga Association, the nonprofit. So I don't know if a lot of people even realize this. But the Accessible Yoga training, which is something that you and I both worked on, and the training school is separate, actually, from the Accessible Yoga Association, which is the nonprofit that you started, and that I currently serve on the board of directors of, we're going to talk a little bit about what Accessible Yoga Association has been up to and our board and our staff here in a minute. But that's one of the major changes. So it's going to be basically an extension of the programming that Accessible Yoga is already offering each month. I don't know if you want to talk about that, or I can't even Yeah, sure.
Jivana Heyman 8:09
I mean, I just echo what you're saying that the nonprofit is, I can give a little backstory just that when when we started the conferences, it was clear that I for me, it was clear that we needed a some kind of nonprofit entity to support that organization moving forward. And so that's why I formed a nonprofit. And you know, we can talk about that the board and all and the staff and all that. But it's exciting because I feel like the nonprofit is really growing. And it's such a it's a beautiful organization doing amazing work. I'm very proud of it. And right now, the way we work at the nonprofit is we have monthly themes. So we have like, trying to address all different aspects of accessibility as well as the obstacles to accessibility and yoga. And so we're kind of going through many different various topics each month, and creating a whole bunch of programming around that. So we each month we have a theme like this month in September, it's cultural appropriation and yoga. And we had a workshop which is on abarca taki. We'll have a community forum with a bunch of amazing presenters led by onto the Rao. We have Asana class, and we also have blog posts. And we'll have this podcast which in the future will focus on that theme as well. That what you meant?
Amber Karnes 9:34
Yeah, yet definitely so you know, some themes that we have coming up. So October is when we have our Accessible Yoga conference, which we're going to be talking more about today. But for the month of November, we're exploring the topic of yoga in prisons. And so we'll be bringing you a guest expert about that as well as Jivana and I sitting down and having a chat about something related. So for November, we're going to be talking about trauma informed teaching. And so for each month, you know, we'll have some some complimentary content. And I'm really excited to be able to, you know, supplement and support the really good work that Accessible Yoga is doing with, with a little bit more on this end. So, yeah, it's gonna be fun.
Jivana Heyman 10:21
Yeah. And I thought maybe we could just explain more about the nonprofit. So the idea with the nonprofit, maybe everyone knows this, but it's not owned by anyone, you know, it's run by a board, the board actually can't benefit financially from the organization. They're serving as volunteers. And you're generously serving as our president right now, which is awesome. I'm very grateful to you that you take that on. So thank you. Amber, do you want to talk about the board a little bit?
Amber Karnes 10:48
Sure. Yeah. And I just want to give a shout out to our board of directors, we meet once a month as a big group. And then many committees meet at various times to work on different aspects of our organization, from programming, to development, fundraising, all of that kind of stuff. And so I just want to give a shout out to the board. And I'm gonna read out their names. And some of these folks you might know and if you don't, we encourage you to go to our website. We'll link in the show notes and check them out. Check out their work, the great work that they're doing in the yoga world, and beyond. So we have Priya Patrice Wagner, Sarani Beth Fedman, there's me. Amber Karnes, Matthew Taylor, Mary Medellin Sims, Pamela Stokes Eggleston, Amina Naru, Ashley Williams, Tristan, Katz, Colin Lieu and Anjali Rao, a really great group and a lot of wisdom there. And it's it's been a pleasure to get to, to work with them on some of the projects like the community celebration that we did back in May, that was like a pretty big collaboration between the board and the staff. And our conference is really similar that like the board, the staff and the volunteers that we have really, you know, work hard to make those events success. And so I just want to thank y'all for being on the board. And
Jivana Heyman 12:14
yeah, thank you for I also want to thank the staff because you know, Accessible Yoga Association, we have an amazing staff that I feel like don't get a lot of accolades for their work. So I just want to mention them. We have Brina Lord, who's our general manager, M Camellia, who runs, operations and a lot of our web design. Deanna Michalopoulos, is our communications director, Robyn Bell, customer service. Garrett Jurss is the ambassador coordinator. Heather Sevika Ford is our graphic designer. And Tiph Brown does special projects. So thank you to the staff, I really appreciate what you're doing. Oh, also, Sarah Nuttridge runs our Accessible Yoga community Facebook group, which I invite everyone to check out the Facebook group, we have I think, 10,600 people over there right now. And it's just it's a free resource from the nonprofit for the community to talk about making yoga accessible. The one other thing I'll mention about the nonprofit is that we have an amazing ambassador program. And so one way that people can get involved with Accessible Yoga Association is by becoming an ambassador, which is a member where you either pay a monthly amount or an annual fee, or you can get a scholarship, and get free access to all this programming that we're talking about and a discount at the conference. And ambassadors are really our, I don't know, members at large. They're like our boots on the ground are doing the work making yoga accessible out in the world. And I'm just want to thank all of our ambassadors out there who are listening and how, you know, I just know how much it means to me, to have you connected and doing this work in the world. So thank you.
Amber Karnes 13:54
Yes, thank you so much to our staff, and to the ambassadors, I think of y'all as the Accessible Yoga like Rockstar street team out there, like you said, boots on the ground, like y'all are making it happen. And I'm just really grateful anytime I, you know, see a post in the community, the Facebook community that Jivana mentioned, like, I feel like that's one of the biggest resources that I've had, you know, throughout the pandemic, definitely anytime I feel well isolated about something or like, can't really figure out, you know, what to do that community's been very supportive. And I know our ambassadors are a big part of that. So and we, you know, we couldn't do it without your financial support. So it's really a big deal. We appreciate y'all.
Jivana Heyman 14:38
I know, I feel like for PBS right now, I'm doing one of those. I don't know.
Amber Karnes 14:44
Well, maybe it's just you know, This usually happens when we do some kind of fundraiser, but like, we need to give more shout outs to the people that you know, support this work. So we're great.
Jivana Heyman 14:54
Yes, yes. And ambassadors are going to be involved with this podcast, which is a new thing we're doing. I want to talk about that.
Amber Karnes 15:02
Yeah, definitely. So as much as Jivana. And I love talking to y'all, and one way where you can't get a word in edgewise. We know that, um, it's always beneficial to have more voices. And so one of the things we're going to do is to pose a question or a prompt, and ask our ambassadors to share about your experience or your work or to answer a question that we want to discuss. And so Garrett is going to be working on the podcast a little bit, including, as Ambassador coordinator, posting these prompts or questions, we have a Google Voice number that you can call into and leave us a little message, and then you might get featured on the podcast. So we'd love to encourage you to call in don't feel like you have to be some kind of expert or be super eloquent, or whatever. You know, these are very informal conversations that Jivana and I have. And so we just want to hear your perspective and your voice. So please do if you join us an ambassador, which we hope you will call in and share with us. So we can let your voice be heard on the podcast,
Jivana Heyman 16:09
How do they find that number? Is that the ambassador dashboard, or?
Amber Karnes 16:13
Yeah, it should be in the back both places. Yeah. So in the dashboard, as well as in the Facebook group, so Garrett will be posting our prompts each month in the Facebook group, as well as probably sending out an email communication. So just keep your eyes out for those.
Jivana Heyman 16:30
Yes, and you can always join our ambassador program at accessibleyoga.org. That's where you find the information about this and sign up. And you'll get access to this private Facebook group that we just mentioned, as well as a special, private email like newsletter that ambassadors get free access to our monthly programming, like I mentioned before, which is a lot actually, as well as access to the archives and all the past episodes, we are the past programming dead, which has a lot. By the way, there's a lot of programming this year alone, we covered some amazing topics, yoga for larger bodies over for mental health, yoga and racism, yoga, anti aging, like they were just amazing presenters and topics there and all that's available in archive that people can access when you're an ambassador. So I'd really encourage people to sign up for that. And we also have other Facebook groups. I just mentioned other languages. So if you're listening to this in English, but we have Spanish, German, I don't know lots of other language groups out there if you're interested in joining those two.
Amber Karnes 17:33
Yeah, definitely. So all the info for everything we're talking about. You can find it Accessible yoga.org. And, and we definitely want your questions and suggestions for the podcast. So occasionally, we're going to release q&a episodes as we've done in the past. So we want to hear from you what topics what guest experts you'd like us to interview, what questions you might have, just go to Accessible yoga.org and hit the contact form and let us know. And so we're gonna send out an email about this. But if you're listening, hopefully you figured out where we are. But you can subscribe to the podcast as well. And then you won't miss any updates. So wherever you get your podcasts, you can just search Accessible Yoga podcast, and be sure to hit subscribe so that way, every time a new episode comes out, you'll get notified. And so we're planning to release about two episodes a month, but we're not kind of committing to a date or time on that, because we're allowing our everybody to have a bit more flexibility as life demands these days. And so if you subscribe, that's the best way to get notified when we post something new. So
Jivana Heyman 18:45
Yeah. Great. That sums it up around the new podcast, don't you think? Yeah. Um, let's talk about the Accessible Yoga conference online, which is really the big event that the nonprofit puts on each year.
Amber Karnes 19:01
Yeah, I'm really excited about this year's. I know, last year was like, the first the first time that we had the conference online. And the attendance was what like three times what it usually is, and it was like, way more and and i think a lot more accessible for people folks can kind of work through the material at their own pace. We got a lot of good feedback about that format. And so we're doing it again. Even better.
Jivana Heyman 19:30
Yeah, we're doing again, it's to like since you know, we started the conference in 2015, here in Santa Barbara, California, where I live. And, you know, we then did them in person. I think we used to do about two a year, really all over the world. And it was awesome. But going online, like you mentioned is actually a lot more accessible, we could reach a lot more people, as well as have presenters from all over the world. So it really gave us just a whole different approach. And I feel like It's the right approach for our organization. And so I'm thinking we're gonna stay online. As far as I can tell, it just worked so well. So this year we have, well, one of the things we set up for ourselves as a challenge this year, you know, we're looking at doing our second online conference. And we really are dedicated to uplifting voices into really sharing platforming, marginalized teachers who normally don't get that kind of platform in the yoga world. And so we decided that we would have all new presenters than our previous conference, and even previous conferences. So I would say, we have about over 50 presenters this year, and I was like, almost all of them are new for us have not presented at our conferences before, which is so exciting. And they're also just amazing people. And so I love I love that part of my job, which is I get to do research about who's out there doing great work. And then one of the ways I get to work with our board of directors is that we have a committee from the board that helped to then make the choices and also recommend people to be presenters. And so there were it wasn't just up to me, we have a whole committee making decisions about who's going to be presenting at the conference. And we have just such an incredibly diverse group. And we kept with that theme. So our theme is elevating voices and embracing change. tell you more about it.
Amber Karnes 21:25
Yeah, keep keep going. I'm excited about.
Jivana Heyman 21:29
Well, the other thing I'll say that's new this year is we are offering our first pre conference intensive, which is a completely free event on Thursday, October 14. And so this is the day before the conference will actually the conference is gonna officially be in that evening. But on the 14th of October, we have a program that's being offered by the race and equity in yoga Consortium. It's called rebuilding and reimagining a whole self and community. So it's specifically addressing yoga and racism. And it's this amazing panel of presenters, including Amina Naru, Colin Lieu, Michelle Cassandra Johnson, Lakshmi Nair and Dr. Terry Harris. So this is a free event happening on October 14, you can find out more about it on Accessible yoga.org I hope everyone will attend live for free. And then the archive will be available for anyone who signs up to attend the whole conference. And the conference begins that evening, we'll have a kickoff party, a keynote address by into Aurora as well as a party review. Amber, right. You're going to DJ
Amber Karnes 22:35
Yeah. So I'm going to DJ again, which has been so fun at the last few events. I did the opening night dance party at the conference last year in our community celebration, and I have a lot of fun with it. So I hope you'll come out and, and dance with us or just hang out and dress festive or whatever.
Jivana Heyman 23:00
It's so much fun. You know, it's fun to dance when you're watching other people dance online. It was definitely a new experience for me. But it was fun to make that have that celebration as part of the event. So we're doing that again. We also have keynotes from Tracee Stanley, Reggie Hubbard, Jacoby Ballard. Colin Lieu is also doing keynote and myself. I'll be doing keynote.
Garrett Jurss 23:26
Hey everyone, we'll get back to our episode shortly. I wanted to take a second to introduce myself. My name is Garrett. I use he/him pronouns. And I have the honor and privilege of serving as the Accessible Yoga Association's Ambassador community coordinator, which is basically a fancy way to say that I get to be in community with a bunch of folks who are out there sharing Accessible Yoga within their communities, as well as helping to support Accessible Yoga has mission and vision of increasing access to yoga for people regardless of their background and ability. With our conference coming up, we asked our ambassadors to share about their experiences at previous conferences. And we'll hear from two of our ambassadors, Sally and Anita.
Sally Denton 24:14
Hi, this is Sally Denton, my pronouns are she her and I'm in St. Louis, land of the Osage nation. My most favorite thing about the Accessible Yoga conference was meeting and getting to know so many people from all over the country and even from other countries who are like me, just wild and crazy and in love with Accessible Yoga. I'm now in close contact with many of them and sharing ideas and supporting each other, offering suggestions and following their successes on social media. It's like actually having brothers and sisters all over the world. It's a great, great experience and I hope you will come.
Anita Haravon 24:57
Hi Garrett. This is a Anita Haravon, my pronouns are she and her. And I am currently in what I believe is Canarsie land, otherwise known as Brooklyn, New York. And my favorite thing about the Accessible Yoga conference is the people. Over the years, I've met really wonderful people from all over the United States and the world. And every year that I go, whether it's in person or online, I get to see many of them again, and it really feels like a homecoming. So I encourage folks to come and then keep coming, and you will feel like you're part of the community.
Garrett Jurss 25:54
All right, thanks, y'all. We hope to see you at this year's conference. And now let's get back to our episode.
Jivana Heyman 26:05
I want to list a few of the other presenters so I'm sorry if I don't get to everyone but it's been mentioned a couple names. Who you may or may not know but Shanna Small, Tristan Katz, Natalia Tabilo, Jesal Parikh, Hien Hong, Melissa Shah, Arpita Roy Patrice Wagner, Rajni Tripathi, Shailla Vaidya, Rebby Kern, Mary-Jo Fetterly - should I keep going? Oneika Mays, Shannon Kaneshige is that - how do you say her name? Shannon?
Amber Karnes 26:40
I don't know. We need to find out. Your name right.
Jivana Heyman 26:44
Let me see. Kaneshige? I love you Shannon. Linda Natera, Evan Soroka, Pooja Virani, Chara Caruthers, Danny Fluker, Anjali Sunita, Lekisha Middleton so many more, we have these amazing panels, you're reading a panel. Right?
Amber Karnes 27:02
I am, I'm doing a panel with Dr. Jennifer Webb, Kimberly Dark and Emily Anderson on yoga and diet culture. So we're going to talk about, you know, how the yoga world has has changed, how it has been affected by diet culture, and sort of this thin ideal and where that comes from and how it's developed over the years. And maybe like how that puts up invisible barriers for people to access the practice how we mitigate that stuff, and foster like a better sense of body autonomy and agency and I guess embodiment in our students. So I'm really excited to talk about that topic with these three folks. In particular, I think we've got a really great panel of folks with different, you know, intersecting identities that are coming at this from different perspectives. So I'm really excited about that mark.
Jivana Heyman 28:03
And we have also panels on increasing increasing access to yoga through health care with Jana Long, David Elton, Alyssa Wostrel, who's executive director of the IAYT led by Matt Taylor building online community with Avita Bansee. Shannon Crowe is moderating that the Lekisha Middleton, Tejal Patel. Also beyond the buzzwords power privilege and yoga with Rebbie Kern, Kelley Nicole Palmer, Kallie Schut, run - that'll be moderated by Anjali Rao. And then yours as well. Also, I didn't mention all the presenters, but I don't think I'm going to get to all of them today. So I'm just gonna say there are more on the website, go visit Accessible yoga.org click on the conference. There's so many incredible people I would say like I mentioned earlier, it's maybe the most not only a group of new presenters for us, but the most diverse group you've ever put together from all different backgrounds. I mean, really quite amazing all over the world to it's very exciting.
Amber Karnes 29:04
Yeah, it is exciting. You know, I feel like, I don't know, it was like a long time, before I ever wanted to, like go to a yoga festival or conference or anything, because it seemed like, I don't know, all the presenters were like, the same. And I think this is really a place where you can meet people who are doing I think the really exciting cutting edge work and yoga, you know, really figuring out like how to make it accessible for folks who previously you know, couldn't access the practice or maybe have been told that they can't and so like, I don't know, this, this is where I meet my new heroes. You know, I'm saying like my new teachers, and so I'm really thrilled to be able to check out some of these.
Jivana Heyman 29:49
Exactly. That's such a great point. I feel like I'm always learning and I'm always interested in hearing new perspectives instead of from the same people including You know, I feel like I get a lot of interviews and I just I'm, like, tired of hearing myself talk sometimes. And I just want to hear other, you know, that I haven't heard from before. Like, that's, that's how we learn and grow. You know, that's I think that's the heart of the teachings too, is like embracing diversity, I want to mention a few other things that we're doing this year that are exciting one is that we're have are having these meet and greet sessions that are live. So when you attend the weekend, so that's, again, it's between October 14 through 17th, two times a day, we're gonna have these kind of open meet and greets where you get come, there'll be a moderator there, but you're just come and talk about your work focused on a specific theme, share about what you do, and then hear about what other people are doing, who are attending the conference. So this is a way to do that kind of networking piece that happens in the hallways, at an in person conference. And that I think is so essential. I also give everyone an assignment. There's something I've done in every conference, I call it even as homework, which is about finding somebody at the event, another attendee, or even a presenter that you could support in some way, like, how can you lift somebody up either by sharing about their work on your social media, doing some kind of collaborative project with them, introducing them to somebody, you know, helping them get some work, whatever it is, like, I've actually have to say, over the last, you know, six years now, whole organizations have even started based on that homework assignment, like it's been really successful way to work at building this kind of alternative yoga community outside of mainstream the mainstream commercial yoga world. So maybe we're gonna talk about that in a future episode, too, I'd love to explore that more with you is like collaboration, you know,
Amber Karnes 31:42
Yes, I would love to talk about that. I think it's such an important part of community building, and like becoming part of a community. And so if you've been wanting to get more involved with the Accessible Yoga community, or even find a community and yoga, maybe that's not something you feel like you've ever had, I feel like the conference is a really amazing opportunity for that. And we're facilitating spaces to make that happen. So please take advantage of that meet your fellow teachers, like get to know each other's work, help each other out, it's, uh, you know, I think it's really crucial, especially for folks that are working, you know, with populations that aren't centered in the sort of corporate yoga world, or that are marginalized themselves, you know, it's important for us to find each other and support one another, because dominant culture often does not, so we gotta be there for one another.
Jivana Heyman 32:35
And also, you know, the benefit of having this online is that people, you don't have to go to every session that weekend, you'll have access for a whole year to the recording. So you can go to the ones you like, and then listen to and watch others later. It's it's more relaxed that way. I think with our busy lives, like for me, it's really hard to dedicate an entire weekend to something. But it's nice to know that I can go back later and listen to the ones I missed. Also, there's CPUs available, people need them, like for yoga Alliance, or for a whitey for yoga therapists, those are available. So I feel like, you know, there's ways that we can get going online has made this work more available and also useful so that as yoga teachers, we can use it for our continued growth, and also get the credits we need, like, as a yoga teacher, you need to do continuing education, right, you have to keep learning. And so here's a chance to do it.
Amber Karnes 33:31
Yeah, for sure.
Jivana Heyman 33:33
All right. So is that enough about that?
Amber Karnes 33:36
I think so. Um, there's, you know, tiered pricing is available scholarships are available. So there's no reason not to attend actually. Our conference is really one of the places where we have a lot of freedom with, you know, scholarships. And so if you have any, you know, financial difficulties are your thinking, like, maybe I just can't afford it, please do apply for a scholarship, we'd rather have you there. We want your contributions to the community, we want your voice to be part of the conversation. So I really encourage everybody to go to conference dot Accessible Yoga org, or you can just go to the main website, you'll find it. And that has all the info about signing up.
Jivana Heyman 34:17
Great. Anyway, hope to see everyone there. And I will probably have another episode before that. Right. We'll talk about the conference again. But I think it's just good to share about the nonprofit about the changes we're making here on the podcast, focusing on a monthly themes and that we're back. So it's great to hear you Amber and to you know, know that people are back engaging with us. Thank you for to anyone who's listening. We appreciate it. I knew I do.
Amber Karnes 34:46
Yes, thanks for sticking with us or if you're here and you're new welcome. We are really looking forward to bringing you this on a regular basis and letting it just be one of the pieces of Accessible Yoga. Advocacy that I think is so important. So thank you for coming along for the ride. All right, should we leave it there?
Jivana Heyman 35:06
Yeah. Bye, everybody. Have a great day. Thanks for joining us for the Accessible Yoga podcast. We're so grateful to be in community with you.
Amber Karnes 35:16
Please check out our website Accessible yoga.org. To find out more about our upcoming programs, including our annual Accessible Yoga conference. at our website, you can also learn more about how to become an Accessible Yoga ambassador and support the work that we're doing in the world.
Jivana Heyman 35:31
Please subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review wherever you listen. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
Amber Karnes 35:35
You can also submit a question or suggest a topic or potential guests you'd like us to interview at accessibleyoga.org See you next time.
