This is the final interview in our series about yoga organizations, how they operate, and our futures. And it is a good one. Jivana Heyman is nothing if not an expert in the operations of organizations, with such an amazing understanding of how they work and what they should be doing for us.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

*The point of an organization, any organization, is to speak for those who have less power.  Jivana put that beautifully.  If you are a non-profit organization that takes membership dues, even if your status doesn’t explicitly state that you are for the members, what is the point of you if you don’t speak up for those with less power?  

*PLEASE watch for orgs consolidating power.  When fewer and fewer people have more and more of the say, that is a KEY sign that things are not functioning properly in the organization.

*Accessible Yoga did best practices for online teaching.  I just need to repeat that as something that it is INSANE to me that the yoga alliance OR IAYT has not set forth.  This is going to be critical to us in the future as we look at a lot more of our work going online in the next 5-10 years.  Have YOU been thinking about online, AI and tech?  I have.  

*There IS something not working in the yoga space, and I agree with Jivana, I cannot quite figure it out either.  A lack of generosity, so much gatekeeping, resource hoarding, what else?  

*I will say this now until I die.  The Yoga Alliance and the IAYT have scope of practice issues.  What is best for yoga practitioners and yoga schools is not always the same.  What is best for yoga therapists in practice and best for yoga therapy schools are definitely not the same.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE sort your scope of practice issues out!!

*Jivana pointed out some operational things about the Yoga Alliance that I find SO STAGGERINGLY awful.  The Yoga Alliance is allegedly taking the money they make from dues, funneling it into another organization that has tax-free status (c-6 trade orgs are not tax-free), and each org has the SAME board and CEO.  Talk about conflict of interest.  Whatcha need that money for Yoga Alliance?  Tell us what’s going on, boo.

*Let’s figure out how to support each other in the next four years if you are in the US.  By all accounts things are looking dicey for us as an industry that exists in the “extra” bucket of most people’s budgets.  When people have less extra money to spend, we tend to see our numbers dip.  So how are we going to support each other and get through what will likely be a difficult period for our businesses?

*Finally, I want to share a few of Jivana's ideas about what an organization could offer its members. Free training, continuing education, legal support, liability insurance, waivers, contracts, more information and data about our industry, marketing, and the role of supporting unions are just some of the things they could be doing. And if any organization was doing this, they would for sure have my money.

RESOURCES

Working In Yoga Website

Working In Yoga Newsletter

Jivana’s Website1