PRESERVE THE TRADITION AND STEWARD THE FORWARD EVOLUTION OF YOGA
For centuries, yoga has been the physical, emotional, and spiritual “eye of the storm” for practitioners around the world. Yet today, a perfect storm rages within the ancient healing art that has become a multi-billion-dollar global industry. This centering practice has become dangerously uncentered—not to mention unregulated, inaccessible, inequitable, and largely unsustainable, both as a collective good and an individual career path. In order to heal itself, the yoga industry needs leadership. And that leader is YŪ. And you.
Yoga Unify is a non-profit, participatory organization dedicated to empowering the evolution of yoga. Created by yogis for yoga—both the practice as a whole and practitioners at every level—Yoga Unify is a supportive blend of governance and guidance that honors ancient wisdom while meeting modern needs. YŪ aims to address the challenges plaguing every facet of the industry, from the poverty-line payment structure to the profound effects of the pandemic on our studios, from the subtle loss of continuous transmission to the ever-present elephants in the room: equity and ethics.
Our goal is not to standardize, but to create healthy and sustainable standards within which individuals can truly thrive—the individual lineages, schools, teachers, and students that make yoga the beautifully diverse and universally powerful practice it was meant to be. There’s a lot to be done, but the power is in our capable hands. The Evolution Begins with YŪ.
Because yoga, ironically, could use some unification.
– Eric Paskel
Vision and Purpose
That trusted access to and support of the lifelong study and practice of yoga – deeply rooted in tradition while continuously evolving the way yoga is shared – informs a wiser, more resilient, and peaceful collective, bringing about an evolution of consciousness.
Where the old school meets the new school. And the unschooling begins.
– Selena Isles
Recenter yoga from the transactional marketplace in which it has resided in its heyday of the last decade to the field of practice and study that it is.
Support the student of yoga in lifelong study and the yoga teacher in continuing to embody the path of a teacher. Guarantee skilled and ethical yoga teachers through qualification.
Bring the community together in mutual accountability, personal responsibility, collective governance, study, and celebration.
Invest revenue directly back into the community with scholarships, grants, and funding for research.
Remove barriers to the practice for the general public through portraying and embodying the field of yoga in a way that reflects the true diversity of practitioners and the full breadth and scope of the practice.
To make this vision come to life, and to serve these purpose, YŪ is organizing around three main pillars
Education and Lifelong Studentship:
Yoga Unify awards stepped Qualification to yoga educators and professionals for the purpose of illuminating the range of experience among teachers, and continuing career advancement with clear pathways to study. Advisors, mentors and the Yoga U Catalog support qualified teachers, as well as students, on their lifelong journey. LEARN MORE
Community Investment:
Investing in the community to increase excellence, equity, and to demonstrate efficacy supports the recalibration necessary at this time. Scholarships, grants, and funding for research are provided for with the majority of revenue above and beyond operating costs in this fund. LEARN MORE
Ethics:
Yoga begins and ends with ethics. We envision a field and a profession that is 100% committed to agreed-upon ethical standards which are rooted in yoga, supported by prevention and education, with clear understanding of our mutual accountability. LEARN MORE
The yoga community is invited to participate in the structure of the organization. By choosing transparency, facilitating collaboration, and implementing community-driven plans and policies we can, together, ensure that the field of yoga is both elevated and honored.
Core Values
We celebrate yoga in all of its forms.
We align with dharma: purpose-driven actions.
We choose transparent accountability.
We nurture pathways to learning for everyone.
We welcome and value all members–meet them where they are.
We mindfully choose diversity and include multiple perspectives in programs, decision making, outreach, and content sharing.
We maintain the highest quality interactions, programs, and products.
We live the ethical guidelines of yoga.
We collaborate, nurture, and support over competing.
We honor yoga practice as a lifelong pursuit and support the student journey.
Policies
Yoga Unify is committed to diversity and inclusion in our leadership, membership, programs, and activities. YU seeks to connect with those who value yoga and its benefits, creating an abundance of dedicated professionals, students, and volunteers eager and willing to advance the study and practice of yoga. YU strives to promote an environment designed to embrace our differences in which all community members are welcomed and valued. Successfully engaging people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives strengthens and unites our communities, provides essential student resources, and creates thriving sanghas. Broad participation by diverse people within our membership, the yoga community, partner organizations, yoga professionals, and other stakeholders is essential to fulfilling our mission.
Currently being established by the Governing Council on Ethics
YŪ intends to address the issue of professional ethics, and the need for students to feel safe and honored, by seeking the wisdom deeply rooted in the yoga tradition and referring to the texts that guide us in these principles.
YU is doing this by implementing policies for yoga teachers and students alike, focusing on prevention and education, and providing a secure, downloadable app – powered by #NotMe – to Yoga Unify members to easily report misconduct in the field of yoga, anonymously if they so choose.
Phase I policies are currently being developed for recommendation by the Founding Governing Council on Ethics and systems of accountability will be put in place for not adhering to the YU ethical agreement, with restorative or transformative justice models being considered along with where to draw the line for investigation.
