September 2021 Meeting Minutes

IMIYA BOARD MEETING

Thursday September 30, 2021

7-8 PM

ATTENDING

President: Theresa Hartmann 

Vice President: Joanne Pearson

Secretary: Rebecca Wallace

Treasurer: Darren Christensen

Marketing: TBD

Membership Chair: Mandy Coates

Scholarship: Peggy Berg (interim through year end)

Communications:  Cecilia Huisman (incoming)

ABSENT

AGENDA

1. BOARD

• Joanne attended (along with 64 others) the online “Harmony in Communications” training with Lisa Jo Landsberg offered by IYNAUS.
  •  Joann reported lots of  interesting discussion however those attending voiced discontent in the Iyengar community
  • Many are  concerned about the lack of anything but white people: little to no diversity
  • It is difficult to  move up in the Iyengar structure (IYNAUS world)
  • There appears to be a lack of people understanding about why people are not drawn to Iyengar yoga
  • One participant from California reminded the group that BKS was a “brown” man who brought yoga to the world
  • Lisa Jo focused on establishing harmony and creating communication of those who are in front of us and inviting them into the Iyengar community

• Rebecca shares website training available through Aaron Fleming (see notes below)

• Mandy updates on membership drive. 
  • There is no reason to wait, Mandy will send out the script soon
  •  Theresa will help Mandy get emails from IYNAUS website

• Peggy served as the Scholarship Chair several years ago and brings experience to this valuable position.
  •  IMIYA’s current goal is to  support our members, to attract new members, and  support studios especially during pandemic times. 
  • Obstacles to distributing scholarship monies-
  • currnetly are no Teacher Trainings in our region
  • Previous application form required the applicant be an IMIYA member so  then non members were not eligible

•  YOGA SAMACHAR – IMIYA has been asked to submit an article for the upcoming edition, Peggy will write an article about IMIYA’s plans to distribute money to support students, teachers and students during this continued COVID times

       2)SCHOLARSHIP (All)

• Peggy shared ideas via Zoom with other board members. Here are some of the ideas.
  • Propose up to 10 scholarships to studios and/or teachers to be distributed to students (IMIYA or no IMIYA members)
  • Studios would have the responsibility to disperse the monies
  • The board will decide on how many scholarships and what the amount will be
  •  Peggy would like the deadline for applications to be November 30th so decisions can be made by December 31st and money distributed in early January 2022. 
  • Peggy proposed a committee as it would help to be objective. Peggy, Mandy and possibly Darren will serve.
  •  Darren reported that $K7-8K still available for scholarships

• Education

Continuing Education: Applicant opportunities …  Coast to Coast coming up (November 11-14) and is offered free for IYNAUS/IMIYA members

Teacher Training: Applicant possibilities _ can we offer an online community in our region, a possible subset 

         3)TREASURER (Darren) 

• Share of financials/Update to come in month/s ahead.

            4) MEMBERSHIP (Mandy)

• Membership Update: Next steps to finalize/ zoom approach/teacher emails/date to begin…
• Studio Script was reviewed and approved by the board
• Online Drive October TBD

             5) YOGA AND EQUITY (Joanne)

• Summary of Yoga and Equity meeting in September
  • What needs to be done to build a broader Iyengar community
  • Economic barriers could be perceived as being demeaning
  • How do we break out of the molds to find a different vision 

              6) WEBSITE (Rebecca)

• Update on website improvements 
  • Aaron Fleming (flemcodesign.com) proposed approximately 5 hrs of work 

4 hrs // Front end adjustments

• Style and populate header and footer, tweak the content layouts
• Header: Add logo to the header, Reorganize menu, Add Facebook button
• Footer: Quick links, email list sign up, social media, etc
• Client edits and revisions

1 hr // Back end adjustments

• Remove unused themes and plugins
• Install and configure security and back up plugin(s)
• Set up SSL security certificate
• Upgrade WordPress
• Install Google Analytics

The board approved using Aaron for this work. 

• Who is interested in training on the website to make board transitions easier?
  • Aaron will offer a “boot camp” for board members once updates are complete. More information on that in the following month.

              7) OUTREACH/COMMUNICATION (Cecilia and Theresa)

• Durango:Telluride:Peonia  Still on hold. Delta Virus uptick
• Native American Reservations, Afghan Refugee Work

                 8) OTHER

• IMIYA FRIENDS 
• Studio News… YOGA SAMACHAR 

              MISC:

Mission Statement: “The Intermountain BKS Iyengar Yoga Association is committed to serve the Iyengar yoga community, by offering both educational and financial resources to current Iyengar yoga teachers, Iyengar yoga students and the wider yoga community.”