Use of Accessible Yoga Terminology and Accessible Yoga Teacher Badge

Guidelines for Accessible Yoga Training Graduates & Accessible Yoga Teacher Badge Request Form

*This page, which includes our Accessible Yoga Teacher Badge Request Form, is for Accessible Yoga Training Graduates only. To maintain the integrity of our Accessible Yoga Teacher Badge, we ask that you please don't share this page. A publicly shareable page including these guidelines is linked to our public website, and can be found here.

The following details and guidelines have been created and shared with the intention of:

providing transparency and clarity
upholding the integrity of Accessible Yoga and the Accessible Yoga Training program
maintaining the trust our community holds in our training programs and our graduates

Our priority is to create and deliver quality training programs, which center safety, active inclusion, and approaches to teaching which are truly accessible to anyone who wishes to practice, while uplifting those who hold marginalized identities and/or have limited access to yoga training / practice resources.

As a yoga education provider, we aim to maintain the integrity of the term 'Accessible Yoga', and our Accessible Yoga Teacher Badge, to provide assurance to our community members that those who promote themselves as Accessible Yoga Graduates, and their offerings as Accessible Yoga Classes, have completed adequate training, are sharing the practices of yoga in accordance with our values of accessibility and inclusion.

Clarification of Terminology

Accessible Yoga:

A yoga training school, led by Jivana Heyman, offering various continuing education training programs, which promote accessibility in all aspects of yoga teaching and practice

AYS Website | Instagram | Facebook | Email

Accessible Yoga Teacher:

A teacher who has completed either:

200 hour Accessible Yoga Teacher Training with Accessible Yoga, OR
30-40 hour Accessible Yoga Training with Accessible Yoga (online or in-person) + a 200 hour (minimum) yoga teacher certification training

Accessible Yoga Teacher Badge Eligibility

We invite those who meet either of the following training criteria to display our Accessible Yoga Teacher badge on their website, business cards, social media, promotional materials etc. when promoting appropriate / relevant offerings, to show they have completed Accessible Yoga Training with Jivana Heyman and the Accessible Yoga School:

Have completed our 200 hour Accessible Yoga Teacher Training

OR,

Have completed our 30-40 hour Accessible Yoga Training (online or in-person) + a 200 hour (minimum) yoga teacher certification training
- Because these is a lot more to practicing and teaching yoga than we are able to cover in 30-40 hours, our Accessible Yoga Training Online is not designed as a stand-alone training to certify graduates as qualified yoga teachers/certified accessible yoga teachers, as there are areas we don't have the time/ability to cover in this short program, which is designed as continuing education for qualified yoga teachers.
- Those who have completed a minimum 200-hour training prior to / in addition to completing our Accessible Yoga Training will become a Certified Accessible Yoga Teacher.

Guidelines for Use

Those who meet Accessible Yoga Teacher training eligibility criteria (outlined above) are welcome to:

Promote themself as an Accessible Yoga Teacher
Display the Accessible Yoga Teacher Badge on their website, social media, business card and/or promotional materials when promoting appropriate / relevant offerings
- We ask that any digital display of the Accessible Yoga Teacher badge is linked to / includes links to our Accessible Yoga School website or social media:
- www.accessibleyogaschool.com
- @accessibleyoga
Include in their website / social media bio that they:

Have completed Accessible Yoga Training with Jivana Heyman / Accessible Yoga
Are Accessible Yoga certified
Have trained with Accessible Yoga

Promote their offerings as Accessible Yoga Classes
Offer non-certification workshops on the topic of making practices more accessible, for students or teachers

Examples of acceptable terminology:

Accessible Yoga classes with Sarah Jones (YES)
Integrated Chair/Mat Accessible Yoga classes with Sarah Jones (YES)
Adaptations to Make Your Practice More Accessible - a Workshop with Accessible Yoga Teacher, Sarah Jones (YES)

Completion of our Accessible Yoga Training does NOT qualify graduates to:

Use the Accessible Yoga logo (or previous Accessible Yoga School / Accessible Yoga Association logos) on their website or promotional materials
Offer / promote their own Accessible Yoga Training certification courses (training others to become Accessible Yoga Teachers), Eg.
- X Accessible Yoga Certification Training with Sarah Jones (NO)
- X Accessible Yoga Teacher Training with Sarah Jones (NO)
- X Accessible Yoga Training with Sarah Jones (NO)
Promote themself / their business as ‘Accessible Yoga’ in ways that suggest a direct affiliation with Accessible Yoga LLC and the training programs developed by Jivana Heyman, eg.

Eg. X Accessible Yoga New York, @accessibleyoganyc - business name / handle for an individual teacher's classes or studio located in NYC, suggesting they are an official /affiliated branch of Accessible Yoga (NO)

Replicate any parts of the Accessible Yoga Training manuals to share with students or teachers, without express permission from Jivana Heyman / Accessible Yoga
Share course content from our Accessible Yoga Training with students or other teachers (including videos, slides, handouts etc) - these materials are copyrighted

Inclusivity & Accessibility Guidelines

We ask those who have completed our Accessible Yoga Training to acknowledge that promoting offerings as “Accessible” is much more than a marketing term or trending phrase.

When promoting your offerings as “accessible yoga” please consider the following:

Are your classes being offered in an accessible venue (for in-person classes), where details of the venue accessibility are provided (and can easily be located), or that accessibility considerations are in place for online offerings (eg. live captioning)
Are props to support the practice available within the venue, or guidance given (which is easily located) for options for bringing own props
Are your classes welcoming and are you actively including all who may want to practice, with options for chair practice if getting down on the mat is not available
Is your teaching approached with consideration of acknowledging and challenging racism, ableism, diet culture / fat shaming, ageism, homophobia, transphobia etc (eg. being actively anti-racist, anti-ableist etc)
Do you practice land acknowledgement, and acknowledge the roots of the practice through your offerings, ensuring respect and appreciation rather than appropriation
Is your class pricing financially accessible (eg. tiered pricing options / class scholarships available - without the need for work trade)
Do you engage in ongoing learning / unlearning / professional development, specifically in areas where you are socially located in closer proximity to power (eg. white, non-disabled, cisgender)

Please note - this is a non-exhaustive list of considerations. We encourage teachers to be in a continual space of further learning / unlearning.

Accessible Yoga Teacher Badge Request Form

Once you have reviewed the Terms & Guidelines outlined above in regards to use of Accessible Yoga Terminology and the Accessible Yoga Teacher Badge, and have confirmed that you are eligible, please complete the following form to request your Accessible Yoga Teacher Badge.

The form asks you to confirm the details of your completed 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training, and the location / cohort of your Accessible Yoga Training (either online, or in-person).

Your badge will be provided via email if all eligibility criteria has been met.

If you have any questions, please contact our support team.