Equity in Yoga Scholarship
The Equity in Yoga scholarship program at Create Power Yoga is an initiative started in 2021 to create better representation of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Color) in the yoga community. We believe representation matters, and BIPOC are under-represented in the yoga community and especially as yoga teachers. Our Equity in Yoga scholarship program aims to create equity in the accessibility of yoga training and help BIPOC to overcome barriers to yoga trainings.
With this scholarship, we aim to overcome some of the financial barriers to yoga education facing communities of color. In an effort to reach as diverse a community as we can, we plan to advertise this scholarship in different ways than we have traditionally advertised our program in an effort to reach more communities where there are yogis, but no programs for training.
We acknowledge that this doesn't address every barrier in the yoga community, and we have ongoing work to do to increase accessibility and create equity in yoga. This program is part of ongoing work. If you have suggestions for barriers that you think we can address in our community, or for ways to reach communities of color to continue our work on inclusivity and breaking barriers, please e-mail us at createpoweryoga@gmail.com.
If you are interested in helping to help fund the Equity in Yoga program, please e-mail us at createpoweryoga@gmail.com. Donated funds will go to covering the remaining 50% of a scholarship recipients' costs and/or book costs.
Scholarship details:
- Two partial Equity in Yoga scholarships will be awarded per 200hr Yoga Teacher Training program
- Scholarship covers 50% ($1,600) of yoga teacher training program cost.
- Our scholarship application includes our standard training application; accepting a scholarship automatically enrolls you in training.
- Applications for the Equity in Yoga scholarship are due by June 15. Scholarship decisions will be made by July 1. Scholarships are awarded randomly from the pool of eligible applicants; if an applicant turns down scholarship another random applicant will be chosen.
- We understand that the remaining 50% of costs is still a large sum - covering 50% is the best we can do right now and hope to cover more in the future. To help you cover the last 50%, we will advertise crowdfunding efforts to help you fund the remainder of your training fees (we do this for any trainee who creates a crowdfund).
- Payment in full is due the day before your training begins.
Training details:
- Our training curriculum has an emphasis on building skills to teach inclusively. We build these skills through reading, discussion and practice of teaching methodology that develops comfort teaching to all students regardless of body type or background.
- Materials include but aren't limited to Skill in Action by Michelle Johnson (racial equity and social justice); anatomy with Paul Grilley and Stacy Dockins (understanding anatomy/physiology to teach to body diversity); and trauma-sensitive yoga from Bessel van der Kolk
- In conjunction with this scholarship, our equity initiatives include diversifying our leadership team. Our training now includes an Equity in Yoga curriculum, taught by members of our Equity Leadership Team.
- We recognize that our lead teaching team does not represent the diversity we seek to see in yoga and know that it is important for us to do personal work in order to train BIPOC. Here are (some of) the resources and trainings our teachers are learning from:
Skill in Action by Michelle Johnson (along with her bookclubs/trainings); International Sites of Conscience immersive training; Trauma Informed Teacher trainings; and Accessible Yoga.
Our team is always open to training suggestions.
Scholarship Criteria:
- Our Equity in Yoga scholarship program is only open to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Color) folx.
- Applicants need to already have a yoga practice, regardless of whether it is home- or studio-based.
- Applicants should have the goal of teaching in some capacity upon graduation from training.
Training Schedule:
Please see our teacher training page for upcoming training dates.
All training weekends are Fridays 5pm - 10pm; Saturdays 7am-6pm; and Sunday: 7am - 4pm, with breaks for meals. Trainees must be in attendance for all 9 weekends in order to graduate from the program. However, we offer up to 12-hours of make up sessions for trainees as needed, and we accommodate illness through Zoom or recorded lectures to the best of our ability.
We always work with our trainees if issues arise around childcare or other logistics during training to help limit the number of make-up hours needed. Please let us know what potential barriers you might encounter in our training schedule and we will work with you and with our community to support you and your ability to participate.