Many of those who practice yoga don’t see their identities represented by those who teach it.
Our Scholarship Program provides underrepresented individuals an opportunity to not just become certified yoga teachers, but also to apply their knowledge to create inclusive and equitable yoga spaces in their local communities.
Specifically, we seek to support applicants who embody four key elements:
Diversity and Equity
We provide an accelerated path to yoga teacher training for historically underrepresented minorities in the yoga space in order to create a more equitable and inclusive yoga culture.
Intersectionality
We seek to understand the diverse and intersecting identities of our applicants and provide support to those who are often underrepresented in mainstream yoga culture.
Economic Hardship
We support individuals whose financial and life circumstances mean they might otherwise never have the opportunity to complete yoga teacher training.
Community Engagement
We support individuals with established local engagement and a vision to create new spaces to practice yoga in their communities.
Who Can Apply
Before you apply for a scholarship, please make sure that you that you meet these criteria:
Ethnic Minority: While we wish we could provide scholarships to all deserving and underrepresented applicants, you must be from a non-white ethnicity in order to apply.
Economic Need: We are pleased to accept applications from applicants facing economic hardship (e.g. reduced or unemployment, unpaid care for a loved one, single parent responsibilities, etc).
Community Engagement: We specifically seek to fund applicants who plan to use their teacher training to create new spaces to practice yoga in their local community.
Leadership program
Our leadership program aims to help new yoga teachers apply their knowledge to create safe and equitable yoga spaces in their local communities.
A select number of scholarship recipients will receive: a package of yoga mats, funding and mentorship to support their first year of teaching, as well as continuing education opportunities to further their teaching.
FAQs
We are pleased to accept applications from black and minority ethnic people of color facing economic hardship. We specifically seek scholarship applicants with an established track record of community engagement and an intention to lead yoga classes in their local community.
You can increase your chances of receiving a scholarship by sharing a clear and impactful plan to use your training in your local community. In particular, we are interested in providing scholarships to applicants who want to:
- Provide an ongoing yoga program that continues for at least six months
- Offer yoga classes to individuals who might not otherwise have the opportunity to practice
- Explore ways to modify and adapt their teaching to better serve the people in their community
- Invite new students to the yoga practice for the first time
During the application process, you will be asked to select your preferred training. We do our best to assign scholarship recipients to their first choice of training, but availability is on a first come first serve basis.
All applications are reviewed by our scholarship committee. Following review, we aim to provide a funding decision within no less than six weeks before the training you are assigned.
Bear with us! Scholarship applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and we do our best to respond to applications within thirty days. Please note that supply does vary throughout the year. Due to the number of applications received, we sometimes have to turn down eligible applicants.
If your application is successful, you will be notified of your scholarship award via email. Our partner YogaWorks will then send you instructions to register for and access your training.
Yes, we will ask you to complete follow-up reports one month and one year after your training has ended. We love receiving testimonials and pictures from our scholarship recipients, so please do keep track and share how you use your training.
Our Partner
