Governing Council on Ethics
Purpose:
Safety
Elevate the Profession
Education and Prevention
Mutual Accountability
Personal Responsibility
Peaceful Relations
Proposing ethical boundaries for a global organization is tough. This is the elephant in the room that no one wants to speak about – the good, the bad, and the consequences. It’s important that we collectively set these boundaries as we establish new professional ethical standards. Together, we will formulate a code of conduct that encompasses all traditions.
– Judy Weaver
Anticipated Outcomes:
Phase I* Policy on professional Ethics. (Use: for agreement upon accepting Qualification Award, or becoming a member school or studio.)
Phase I* Consequences for misconduct.
Process of / Approach to addressing Grievances.
Resources for membership.
Prevention / Education (with #NotMe App, website/social, qualifications process, etc
Engage Founding Circle Membership in this process
Present these policies for adoption by the Advisory and Executive Boards.
*This policy will be revisited and reviewed annually
Founding Council
Acharya Shunya
Acharya Shunya is a globally-recognized spiritual teacher and Vedic lineage-holder who awakens health and consciousness through the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Vedanta, and Yoga. She is the driving force behind Vedika Global, an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community, and the author of the best-selling book on the Vedic art of mind + body + soul well-being and health, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom (2017) and a forthcoming second book with Sounds True, Sovereign Self (2020).
Allison Rissel
“My passion and inspiration for helping other yoga teachers are contagious and I harness this to inspire other yoga teachers to overcome self-doubt and burnout. I am dedicated to assisting yoga teachers to connect with their authenticity, enabling them to become powerful leaders of transformation in their yoga communities.
I became a yoga teacher in 2006. In addition to my master’s degree in exercise physiology, I have completed over 2,000 hours of formal yoga and yoga therapy training (C-IAYT).
I am the founder of the Yoga Teacher Conf, which provided affordable continuing education, community support, and connection for teachers.
I’m an extroverted optimist and I love hiking, skiing, and connecting in nature with my husband, Sean.”
Amy Aparna Lewis
Andrea Fiondo
Andrea Fiondo, MA, LLP, Educational Psychologist, 500 RYT
Andrea Fiondo is a yoga student since 2010 and has taught Kundalini Yoga with her husband since 2015, at their studio, Kundalini Yoga in Detroit, LLC. She worked as a middle and high school science teacher for five years, and as a School Psychologist for 27 years in the Detroit Public Schools, serving the special educational needs of children from age 2 to 26, within a wide variety of schools.
She is a life-long learner, and an avid reader and writer.
Danni Pomplun
David Schrodetzki Ph.D
As a practicing Ashtangi, I began my journey with Eric Schiffmann and Maty Ezraty at the original Yoga Works in 1993 and since then remain passionate about showing others the pathway to self-realization that yoga provides.
I own a yoga studio (since 2015) and have trained 30+ yoga teachers on a platform using the Ashtanga Method and Patanjali Sutras; where yoga is taught as a Preparation for Meditation in a studio that exemplifies Mindful Ethics. I have attended countless Ashtanga and Ashtanga Confluence workshops and continue to see myself as a lifelong learner of this amazing practice.
Having a Ph.D. in Education who taught Ethics and Cultural Diversity (Professor at the Univ. of California) I can offer a wealth of community knowledge to Yoga Unify in this regard. Prior to my work in academia, I rose to the level of Vice President for a Fortune 100 Company in the bank and investment sector of our economy, a work experience that might benefit the plan for Yoga Unify’s economic growth.
Judy Weaver
Judy Weaver is a yoga therapist and a yoga teacher. Using her 30 years of learning and teaching she founded Connected Warriors in 2010, a non-profit, delivering Trauma-Conscious yoga programs to veterans and their families around the world and BodyMind RecalibrationTM a multi-discipline practice building cognitive and somatic body-mind relationships. She is known as a trauma specialist developing protocols for 3 clinical studies used by Connected Warriors and health care practitioners. Judy lectures and leads 200/500 teacher trainings and workshops at universities, festivals, and conferences, is a Yoga Alliance On-line Presenter and part of their Standards Review Project, and a contributor to the YSC book “Best Practices for Yoga for Veterans”.
LeBaron Meyers
LeBaron Meyers has had an eclectic career in investment management, radio, and digital media/tech. She specializes and consults on business development, effective leadership, and strategic communication. Her passion for the intersection of tech & humanity mirrors her love of business & yoga.
Marsha Danzig
Marsha Therese Danzig, Yoga Teacher, C-IAYT, RYT 500, M.ed Harvard ,is a below knee amputee and Founder of Yoga for Amputees® by Marsha T Danzig, a program to help amputees move forward in their lives through the healing power of yoga. Marsha lost her leg in 1976 to Ewing’s sarcoma. She has been teaching and training others in yoga for over two decades. She is passionate about imparting her lived experience of adaptive yoga and embodied movement.
Oneika Mays
Oneika Mays (LMT, E-RYT) transitioned to yoga and meditation from a career in corporate retail over 10 years ago. Oneika used that experience to support social justice non-profits and teach meditation and yoga inside jails. Today, she is the first Mindfulness Coach at Rikers Island Correctional Facility. At Rikers she works one-on-one with community members in a therapeutic/medical setting. Sessions are a combination of modalities and are infused with compassion. These sessions are meant to help people foster resilience and agency. Oneika also facilitates workshops, trainings and retreats around the country centered around resilience, liberation and compassion. Oneika is committed to dismantling whiteness and oppression in wellness and other spiritual communities. She believes that meditation and mindfulness practices can forge a path to freedom. Power for the people.
Pat Lillis
Pat Lillis, MD, MHA, RYT, retired colonel with the U.S. military, has more than 30 years of clinical and operational military medical experience, including a combat tour in Iraq as hospital commander. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Legion of Merit twice and a Bronze Star. Pat served in the office of the Army Surgeon General, and played a key role in the task force that established the practices of yoga, meditation, and acupuncture as accepted therapies in the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs practice guidelines for the treatment of PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and pain. She brings her unique military expertise as well as extensive yoga studies and knowledge to her teaching.
Process
The Founding Ethics Governing Council Develop began meeting Fall 2020 to reveal strategies for new paradigm approach to yogic ethics applied to both the teacher and the student, rooted in tradition. They are discussing prevention, education, and communication, as well as what must we collectively agree to, and how do we hold one another mutually accountable.
Founding Circle Members have the opportunity to share their ideas and solutions, and have access to council session records through the member portal. Beginning in 2021, Yoga Unify will accept nominations to run for any of the three Governing Councils and put a vote to membership.
Ethics Governing Council meets the 2nd Monday of the month 5pm – 6:30pm Pacific Time.