Jivana Heyman (he/him), C-IAYT, E-RYT500, is the founder and director of the Accessible Yoga Association, an international non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings. He’s the author of Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body, and Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion (Shambhala Publications), and the upcoming book The Teacher's Guide to Accessible Yoga: Best Practices for Sharing Yoga with Every Body (January 2024).

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. Jivana is also the creator of the Accessible Yoga Training and the co-founder of the online Accessible Yoga Training School with Amber Karnes, which is a platform for continued education for yoga teachers in the field of equity and accessibility. They also created the Accessible Yoga Podcast in 2020 (now The Love Of Yoga Podcast, hosted by the Accessible Yoga Association and Anjali Rao).

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.

Connect with Jivana:
www.jivanaheyman.com
@jivanaheyman
facebook.com/jivanaheyman 

M Camellia (they/them) is a yoga practitioner and facilitator, writer, consent educator, and advocate called to create profoundly accessible spaces for self-inquiry. They believe that yoga is a practice of collective liberation and challenge contemporary yoga practitioners to dismantle the systems and beliefs that hold us all back.

M is a co-founder of the Trans Yoga Project and serves on the staff of the Accessible Yoga School, among other roles within the realm of yoga service. Their teaching and writing center Queer and Trans* identity, consent and agency, body liberation, and disability justice in relation to yoga philosophy and practice, and they serve as a mentor for other yoga teachers and practitioners desiring to deepen their understanding of accessibility, power dynamics, trauma, and yoga as social justice.

M lives in Southern Maryland amongst beloved community and regularly makes offerings online and in the Washington-Baltimore metro area.

M is also a Study Group Mentor for our Accessible Yoga Training Online.

Connect with M:
foundspaceyoga.com
@foundspaceyoga 

Anjali Rao (she/her) offers critical insight into the Yoga stories and histories that have been obscured by Brahminism, heteropatriarchy and colonization. She brings a multi disciplinary approach, integrating yoga philosophy and history, with storytelling, imagery and poetry.

Anjali is an Indian American immigrant, a cancer survivor and believes that a dedicated practice of yoga in all its expansiveness can alchemize and heal the world by creating ripples of change within and around us.

She is an aspiring writer, the host of The Love of Yoga podcast, President of the Board of Directors of the Accessible Yoga Association, an international non profit organization dedicated to sharing the teachings and benefits of yoga with those who have been marginalized.

Connect with Anjali:
www.yoganjali.me
@yoganjali

Tanisha, or Tan (they/she) is a caregiver, movement instructor, facilitator and aspiring activist. While the physical practice of yoga is what drew them to the mat, it was the calling of something deeper that led to the decision to complete a YTT. The introduction of the 8-limbed path during training was the starting point of their curiosity of the intersection of yoga and social justice. Forever a student of the practice, Tan is always eagerly seeking out spaces where crucial conversations around accessible wellness and movement are being held. This includes completing workshops and trainings for Yoga For 12-Step Recovery, Accessible Yoga, and Skill in Action.

In the summer of 2021, they wrote their first published blog post for Accessible Yoga Blog on caregiving and how it relates to Yoga as a practice. They believe in empowering others to disrupt the narratives and stories that uplift perfectionism and hyper-productivity. In movement classes, expect practices that encourage individual healing, as self love and care is a part of collective liberation.

Connect with Tan:
@tan_h_squared 

Tristan Katz (they/he) is a writer, educator, digital strategist, and equity-inclusion facilitator. They offer training and consulting on gender equity, trans inclusion, queer competency, and justice-focused marketing practices. Tristan’s intention is to share this work with an anti-oppression and intersectional lens.

Tristan is honored to have worked with and supported organizations and clients such as Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Accessible Yoga School, HubSpot, Stanford University’s YogaX program, Northwest Harvest, LoveYourBrain, Breathe for Change, Williston Northampton School, and so many more.

He was named one of Yoga Journal’s 2021 Game Changers and awarded the Reclamation Ventures grant in Spring 2021 to expand his offerings and dedicate time to writing their first book.

Tristan is proud to serve on the Board of Directors at the Accessible Yoga Association —a non-profit working, through education and advocacy, to share the teachings and benefits of yoga with those who have been marginalized, and to identify and remove barriers to access, build strong networks, and advocate for an accessible, equitable yoga culture.

Connect with Tristan:
www.katz-creative.com
@tristankatzcreative

Dani Anderson (she/her) is a disability advocate and public affairs professional with over fifteen years of involvement in the disability field, including the state and federal government, corporate, and non-profit arenas.

Anderson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from California State University Channel Islands. In addition to her lifelong lived experience, she was a Governor appointed member of the State Independent Living Council (SILC).

In 2020, Anderson was recognized by California State Senator Hannah Beth Jackson and Assemblymember Monique Límon as Woman of the Year. Dani is focused on improving communication between individuals with and without disabilities.

Rodrigo Souza (he/him) is an RYT 200 Adaptive & Accessible Yoga teacher with experience in teaching yoga to folks who have gone through Trauma & Disability. Rodrigo suffered a spinal cord injury (T3 complete) in 2014 after a fall accident. He has been studying and practicing Mindfulness and Adaptive Yoga to help him deal with muscle spasticity, chronic nerve pain, anxiety, and many other secondary symptoms conditions that the injury has brought him.

Through direct personal experience with traumatic injury, and chronic pain, and discovering the need to take charge of his recovery to optimize long-term wellbeing, Rodrigo decided to become a Yoga teacher and teach from his own experience, creating Allihopa Accessible & Adaptive Virtual Yoga Studio. He also runs a non-profit organization called AllihopaBrasil to make yoga more accessible to marginalized groups in Brazil and also teaches newly injured folks in an active rehabilitation non-profit in Sweden.

Rodrigo received his Adaptive yoga certification training under Matthew Sanford, the leading pioneer and “Jedi” of the Adaptive Yoga World. He is focused on creating a supportive community for those who have experienced trauma & disability through Adaptive yoga.

Connect with Rodrigo:
www.allihopayoga.com
@allihopayoga

Nityda Gessel (she/her) is a somatic psychotherapist, trauma specialist, yoga teacher and educator, mom and heart-centered activist. Nityda is the founder of the Trauma-Conscious Yoga Institute, creator of The Trauma-Conscious Yoga Method℠,  and author of forthcoming Norton book: Embodied Self Awakening: Somatic Practices for Trauma Healing and Spiritual Evolution (release: July 18, 2023).

Nityda’s integrative work over the past two decades has significantly contributed to the integration of the mental health and yoga/embodiment professions. Nityda has devoted her life to supporting the upliftment of others, working at the intersection of Eastern spirituality, holistic mental health, and embodied activism.

Nityda founded the Trauma-Conscious Equity Foundation to narrow the health disparity gap between served and underserved communities by providing funding for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ mental health professionals to receive yoga and somatic training.

For you, Nityda wishes a life of joy, freedom and peace. During her time off, she loves getting dirty with her toddler, being in nature, dancing and traveling the world.

Connect with Nityda:
traumaconsciousyoga.com
@trauma_conscious_yoga_method

Ann Swanson (she/her), MS, C-IAYT, LMT, RYT500, believes that scientific research on yoga is key for increased access and accessibility of the practice. She is the author of SCIENCE OF YOGA, which is being translated into 15 languages. Ann is a certified yoga therapist, Yoga for Arthritis Teacher Trainer, and Accessible Yoga Teacher. 

After studying yoga in India and tai chi in China, she became fascinated by why and how these practices improve health–and significantly eased her own chronic joint pain. She went on to explore the science of the human body. Filled with curiosity for both the western and eastern perspective, Ann dove into the pre med university courses, became a massage therapist, worked in a cadaver lab, and ultimately earned a Master of Science in Yoga Therapy from Maryland University of Integrative Health. Now, she helps people relieve pain (like from arthritis or persistent back pain) through practical and accessible yoga and mindfulness practices. She also enjoys educating about the fascinating science of yoga to spark curiosity and motivation for folks to practice more, because yoga works! 

Our Accessible Yoga Training Online includes pre-recorded content from Ann on the topic of the Science of Yoga. Ann looks at which of yoga's benefits are actually backed by scientific research, and how to consider contraindications to yoga practices while you're teaching.

Connect with Ann:
www.annswansonwellness.com
@annswansonwellness

Amma Fandiño (she/her), RYT500, MSc, has been a devoted yogini for over 28 years and a passionate biologist for 27 years. A 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 has contributed 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.

Amma is also a Study Group Mentor for our Accessible Yoga Training Online.

Our dear friend, colleague, and community member, Maria Kirsten sadly passed away in April 2021. You can learn about Maria’s life and work, and her journey with cancer, via the episodes of the Live Like You Love Yourself podcast that she recorded with Chara Caruthers, and via her website. She was a passionate teacher, who made the most of every moment she was given. She is greatly missed, but the legacy of her passion for yoga continues through all of the students and teachers she taught over many years, and all of the incredibly valuable resources she left for us all to continue to learn from – which was her wish. We are eternally grateful for Maria, and she is forever in our hearts. The recording of Maria's session of Yoga for Mental Health from our January 2021 Accessible Yoga Training Online is included in the pre-recorded content for our ongoing Accessible Yoga Online courses.

Maria Kirsten (she/her), originally from New York City, lived and taught yoga in Northern New South Wales, Australia for 20 years. She was a yoga therapist, occupational therapist, yoga teacher and teacher trainer. Maria specialised in making yoga accessible for students of all ages, and levels of experience and ability.  She used her understanding of anatomy and functional movement to empower and educate students to modify and individualise their yoga. 

Maria’s special interests were in yoga for older grownups, yoga to support mental health and yoga therapeutics. Maria’s teaching style was unconventional, practical and fun, with lots of “real life” application and a big picture approach to yoga practice. Maria loved to share all her experience and learning to empower others to teach yoga in a safe, accessible, empowering way. She taught advanced trainings in Yoga for Older Grownups and Yoga for Mental Health. She was also the co-host of the Live Like you Love Yourself Podcast with Chara Caruthers.

Maria loved using Instagram as a platform for sharing and teaching - check out her archive of posts: @yogaforgrownups