The Ambassador Scholarship
Asheville Community Yoga always seeks to further grow and diversify our teacher roster and community! We are looking for leaders who are grounded in themselves and embrace an identity that is socialized as “underrepresented or marginalized.” We are looking for a team of leaders with diverse perspectives and different social positions to bring more unity and equity into our community. We would like to welcome those who identify as LGBTQ+, BIPOC, Differently Abled, Non-native English Speakers, Curvy Bodies, ASL speakers, first responders, other emergency workers, and anyone else who represents a diverse perspective. Our goal is to be proactive in our desire to enrich and diversify our community. Here at Asheville Community Yoga, we celebrate differences in all of its forms!
The Ambassador Program is a centerpiece of Asheville Community Yoga’s equity programming and is one fundamental way we strive to achieve our mission of keeping yoga accessible. The program invites more equity into our teaching roster and student base and helps us achieve a more accessible space where ALL can feel supported and served.
The Ambassador Program supports this goal by providing one fully paid spot in the program to an individual who represents a demographic that has been “underrepresented” by our society at large. In exchange for the fully paid spot in the training, recipients must be able to demonstrate:
- They represent an underserved population.
- They have a true desire to learn about yoga and are willing to incorporate the teachings and practices into their everyday lives.
- They are able to attend every weekend of the program, no exceptions.
We realize many western yoga studios fall short when it comes to representing the diverse nature of our shared reality. We understand that attending a yoga class is often a vulnerable experience and those feelings of vulnerability are often compounded when you’re not seen and understood by those around you. We believe that age, gender, body size, skin color, nor physical abilities and socioeconomics should not impact a person’s ability to learn about yoga.
We introduced the Ambassador Program as the “Diverse Perspectives Scholarship” for the first time in 2017 and our intentions for the program have taken root and flourished! Over the past few years we have increased our accessibility to underrepresented communities by offering a weekly Yoga en Español class. We have Seniors, Prenatal, and Chair Yoga. Prior to Covid-19, we had a class specifically for veterans, another for those who live in big/curvy bodies, and another for those who identify with the LGBTQ+ community. We are beyond ready to bring these classes back! We have teachers who represent a vast variety of colors, sizes, ages and genders.
We believe that by broadening our leadership perspectives we can create a more inclusive, culturally aware, and diverse environment which will support individuals and shift the cultural narrative about yoga and we want you to be a part of it! If you identify as an individual who represents an underrepresented group in the larger yoga community and wish to become a yoga teacher, we welcome you to apply to the Ambassador Program!
To apply, please email Amber (amber@ashevillecommunityyoga.org) and let us know how your diverse perspective can make our classes more accessible. Please share as much about yourself and the calling you hear to teach yoga. Are you ready, willing, and excited to share your passion for yoga; not only here at the studio but also in your everyday life? Then we welcome you to apply and help us create a more unified and diversified community and world.
Thank you for your support of Asheville Community Yoga and for your willingness to help us achieve our mission!!! We are in this together!
All essays due by: July 16th, 2024.