May 2022 Meeting Minutes
IMIYA BOARD MEETING
Thursday May 19, 2022
7-8 PM
ATTENDING
President: Theresa Hartmann
Vice President: Joanne Pearson
Secretary: Rebecca Wallace
Treasurer: Darren Christensen
Scholarship: Mandy Coates
Membership Chair: TBD
Communications: Cecilia Huisman
IMIYA friend Melisa Sweet
AGENDA
BOARD
- Future roles to be filled – Darren and Cecilia are in discussions about Cecilia possibly moving into the position of Treasurer
- Attending IMIYA friend Melisa Sweet – candidate for Communications position, the board will vote via email regarding Melissa’s confirmation.
1)SCHOLARSHIP (MANDY)
- New committee/application/approach for next round of applicants – Mandy is making a list/suggestions/guidelines regarding this position for the next committee
- Update on scholarships sent – Kelly, Diane and Debra have received their scholarships. Mandy is creating a document with details regarding how the funds are being used for each recipient to complete and to determine if all the funds have been used to date.
- T-shirt distribution – aim would be to give out during an IMIYA summer gathering, maybe hold a Potluck for all IMIYA members at Blue Spruce after Swati workshop (July 15-17), Mandy to speak to Leslie Bradley about possible dates and times. An IMIYA gathering would provide a place to distribute t-shirts, solicit donations and ask members to explore open board positions. All this information could be put in Samachar. More to come.
2) MEMBERSHIP (TBD)
❖ Spring Community Interactions: Steps made and new ideas
- Continuing Education: Events/News ahead
- Basecamp Regional Boundary Meetings : Update on subcommittee conclusion – This meeting took place on 4/19/22 with 3 regions attending. The focus was regarding smaller regions addressing growth options versus being absorbed into IYNAUS. A main idea that surfaced was: maybe small regions could become subsidiaries of IYNAUS. They would not have to maintain a board or websites (IYNAUS could host a page for regions), would not have to pay or file taxes, and wouldn’t have to maintain liability insurance. Theresa also mentioned that IMIYA’s scholarship work has a positive impact on those in our region, perhaps this could be a suggestion for other regions.
- Teacher Certification updates
3)TREASURER (Darren)
- Cecilia is interested in learning about the treasurer position. She and Darren are having conversations about the role of Treasurer
- Monthly financial record : stable.
4)YOGA AND EQUITY (Joanne)
- Yoga Equity IYNAUS New Chairperson is Theresa St Siegel. Many regions are struggling as members have been lost during the pandemic. Joanne reported about the Breathe program in Boston, MA. (taking yoga to underserved communities), getting out in the community however possible. What are the obstacles to Iyengar Yoga?
IYNAUS needs volunteers to be leaders in the DEIJ forum.
People are interested but are struggling to do much beyond their personal responsibilities. In the future it might be possible for CIYTs to get credit through IYNAUS for community yoga. This began an IMIYA discussion amongst our board to create a survey to gather input from members regarding their Iyengar community as we try to move out of the pandemic with rates of virus fluctuating again. The aim would be to provide information/ideas amongst studios. Two to three board members may create the survey within the next few weeks.
5)WEBSITE (Rebecca)
- Ideas for working with Tracy and marketing : Instagram
- Latest Posting was April
6) OUTREACH/COMMUNICATION (Cecilia : Melisa)
- Upcoming Quarterly Regional Meetings via Basecamp
- Instagram – This would be taken on by Melisa, as Communications Chairperson. She uses social media regularly and has suggestions regarding a regular presentation of IMIYA events/happenings in order to relay current news to members and create dialogue.
7) OTHER
- Take down or keep up Yoga Equity Library – Joanne reported that her retired librarian friend went through all the IMIIYA materials then looked at how other regions were handling their libraries. She found the NW region to be organized and had a policy of sending materials to members to use and then the member is responsible for returning the materials. IMIYA has a list of all materials and will ask 1 or 2 senior teachers which of those are worthwhile to keep and or make usable videos from VHS tapes. More to come on this.
Resume meeting as a board in person was suggested by Joanne and Mandy. This is under discussion since we have board members in Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder and Carbondale Valley now. Currently, we look forward to meeting at Swati’s workshop on Saturday July 16th. A new model for meeting as a board, as our region reopens following the pandemic, is under discussion since we’ve expanded geographically. Geographic expansion/involvement is an IMIYA goal. We invite IMIYA FRIENDS to join our work when possible.
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.”
.