Training Schedule

Here is the anticipated training schedule for January-February 2021. Minor changes may be made, but hours and content will remain the same.

Jivana Heyman

Jivana Heyman, C-IAYT, E-RYT500, is the founder and director of Accessible Yoga, an international non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings. He’s the author of the book, Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body (Shambhala Publications 2019), co-owner of the Santa Barbara Yoga Center, and an Integral Yoga Minister. He lives with his husband and two children in Santa Barbara, California.

Jivana has specialized in teaching yoga to people with disabilities with an emphasis on community building and social engagement. Out of this work, the Accessible Yoga organization was created to support education, training, and advocacy with the mission of shifting the public perception of yoga. In addition to offering Conferences and Trainings, Accessible Yoga offers a popular ambassador program.

Jivana coined the phrase, “Accessible Yoga,” over ten years ago, and it has now become the standard appellation for a large cross section of the immense yoga world. He brought the Accessible Yoga community together for the first time in 2015 for the Accessible Yoga Conference, which has gone on to become a focal point for this movement. There are now two Conferences and over thirty-five Accessible Yoga Trainings per year, as well as a strong underground yoga community supporting them.

Over the past 25 years, Jivana has led countless yoga teacher training programs around the world, and dedicates his time to supporting yoga teachers who are working to serve communities that are under-represented in traditional yoga spaces. For more information head to www.jivanaheyman.com

Kelley Palmer

Kelley Palmer is a writer, wellness advocate and community organizer committed to using the tools and philosophies of yoga to cultivate liberation, joy and peace for herself and others. Her connection to the living practice of yoga, a path of mindful wellness and self realization fuels her work, impacts her life and propels her to want to share it with others through her writing, events and guest teaching opportunities. She remains focused on making this healing practice accessible to all, connecting to communities that are normally excluded or ignored in mainstream wellness circles.

Being a mother of two liberated souls has created a point of focus that brings these tools to the way she is mothering them and also calling her to share this with all parents. Through in person and online offerings, Kelley centers her work on making these connections with authentic and sustainable tool building. Her writing, offerings and more about her can be found at www.peacefilledmama.com.

Amber Karnes

Amber Karnes is a yoga teacher trainer, ruckus maker, the founder of Body Positive Yoga, and a lifelong student of her body. Amber trains yoga teachers and movement educators how to create accessible and equitable spaces for liberation and belonging. She also creates community for folks who want to build unshakable confidence and learn to live without shame or apology in the bodies they have today. Amber is the co-creator of Yoga For All Teacher Training and the Accessible Yoga Training School, an Accessible Yoga Association board member, and a sought-after contributor on the topics of accessibility, authentic marketing, culture-shifting, and community-building. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband Jimmy. You can find her at bodypositiveyoga.com.

Melanie Camellia

Melanie “M” Camellia (they/them) is a yoga teacher and advocate, called to create profoundly accessible spaces for self-inquiry by integrating mindfulness and adaptive movement practices with the spirit of social justice. They believe that the goal of yoga, as of life, is collective liberation and in turn challenge contemporary yoga practitioners to dismantle the systems and beliefs that hold us all back. Melanie teaches group and private classes in the Washington DC Metro Area and as a Founding Instructor on the online class platform Core to Coeur. They offer regular workshops exploring queer identity, body image, and agency. Beyond their direct work with students, Melanie co-leads the Yoga & Body Image Coalition and trains teachers in accessible teaching methods for all bodies and abilities through their one-on-one teacher mentorship program and as an Accessible Yoga Trainer, and manages operations for Accessible Yoga Trainings internationally. They’ve been called a “tour-de-force of encouraging radical self-love” (DC Refined) and listed among the “top thinkers and activists in the field of body positivity” (OmStars). Melanie lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with their wife and two cats, Matcha and Chai.

Susanna Barkataki

Susanna Barkataki, M.Ed. E-RYT is a teacher, coach, inclusivity promoter and yoga culture advocate. She helps yoga teachers, studios, nonprofits and businesses become leaders in equity, diversity and yogic values so they can embody thriving yoga leadership with integrity and confidence. Growing up a mixed Indian and British woman in the diaspora has led her to the healing work of honoring yoga as unity. She puts her Honors degree from UC Berkeley, Masters in Education, years of training, retreat in India and the U.S. to use as a modern day yoga diversity consultant. She is the founder of Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute that has online and in person yoga and diversity trainings. She runs a Yoga Leadership and Safe Space Mastermind, that offers teaching and coaching in small groups so yoga teachers, studios, classes, and programs are well prepared to be inclusive, accessible and welcoming while honoring the roots of yoga. She's the creator of the Honor Don't Appropriate Summit and Honor Yoga's Roots Teacher Training.

Dani Anderson

Dani Anderson is the Executive Director of the Independent Living Resource Center (ILRC). Ms. Anderson has been working in the disability advocacy field for over 14 years in the state, federal, and non-profit arenas. She is focused on community education around disability pride and improving communication between individuals with and without disabilities. Dani is a Governor appointed member of the State Independent Living Council (SILC), a member of the Ventura Area Agency on Aging Advisory Committee. She was Chair of the California State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) and a member of the California Advisory Commission on Special Education (ACSE). Dani has a great appreciation for the Independent Living Movement for providing the opportunity for individuals with disabilities to assist their peers to be more independent through shared experience.

Amma Fandiño

Amma Fandiño, RYT500, MSc, has been a devoted yogini for over 28 years and a passionate biologist for 27 years. Certified Integral Yoga and Accessible Yoga teacher. Amma’s passion is to share yoga with communities with challenges and conditions of vulnerability on a physical, mental and emotional level. Her initial teaching experience was in Santa Barbara CA under the support and mentorship of her teachers Jivana Heyman and Rev. Vidya Vonne (†) to whom she professes immense gratitude for their teachings and their example of life that inspired her on her journey as a yoga teacher. Upon the return to her home country, Colombia, Amma has been dedicated to teaching cancer patients and their caregivers. Her inspiration is to help alleviate pain and support symptom management associated with chronic and terminal diseases, accompanying patients to improve their life quality and their ability to cope with the difficult circumstances of the disease. Another facet of Amma´s vocation is teaching yoga to people with anxiety, depression, and addictions. Amma offered Yoga classes at the Santa Barbara County Jail, CA, and currently teaches in two prisons in Bogota. She dedicates her efforts to provide a space that promotes empowerment, rehabilitation, and healing of those deprived of liberty, as well as supporting their addiction recovery processes. Amma is contributing to the Accessible Yoga Program since 2015 and is a regional representative of the AY group in Spanish. As a Yoga Accessible trainer, she feels honored and fortunate to support the training of yoga teachers in the Spanish-speaking community. She lives in Colombia with her husband and two kids and loves to spend her free time in contact with nature.

Maria Kirsten

Maria Kirsten is originally from New York City but has lived and taught yoga in Northern New South Wales, Australia for 20 years. She is a yoga therapist, occupational therapist, yoga teacher and teacher trainer. Maria specialises in making yoga accessible for students of all ages, and levels of experience and ability.  She uses her understanding of anatomy and functional movement to empower and educate students to modify and individualise their yoga.  Maria’s special interests are in yoga for older grownups, yoga to support mental health and yoga therapeutics.  Maria’s teaching style is unconventional, practical and fun, with lots of “real life” application and a big picture approach to yoga practice. Maria loves to share all her experience and learning to empower others to teach yoga in a safe, accessible, empowering way. She teaches advanced trainings in Yoga for Older Grownups and Yoga for Mental Health. She is the co-host of the Live Like you Love Yourself Podcast with Chara Caruthers. yogaforgrownups.com

Frequently Asked Questions