February 2024 Minutes

IMIYA BOARD MEETING
Thursday, February 15, 7:30PM

ATTENDING
President: Joanne Pearson
Vice President: Rebecca Wallace
Treasurer: Cecilia Huisman
Membership: Kyoung Suk Kim
Communications: Alyssa Sikora
Guest: Ada Van Roekel

NOT PRESENT
Secretary: Charlotte Hardwicke
Scholarship: Mandy Coates

BOARD

Welcome Ada Van Roekel. She is visiting to learn about IMIYA. Ada knows Alyssa and lives in the Denver area. She has studied at YCD for many years and is currently pursuing the path to becoming a CIYT. Ada works for a major healthcare company in the area of data analysis and is interested in studying inclusivity as it pertains to our Iyengar region. In her professional world, she sees that people are chasing affordability. So how as a yoga community can we provide yoga to more of these people? The other board members introduced themselves and talked about their roles.

IYNAUS
Submission for next Samachar is March 1st- short paragraph on happenings (1/24-4/24) Send to Jennie Wiiiford@yogasamachar@iynaus.org – Alyssa will submit the article Peggy Berg wrote regarding mentoring and how her role as an Iyengar teacher has changed over the years.

IYNAUS Regional Representative
Communication with Ramona Atencio regarding the Regional Representative role. Originally, there was a deadline of February 4th to provide nomination(s) for this position. Ideally, this role could be filled by a current or former board member or someone who is familiar with IYNAUS and has volunteered in some capacity. Ramona understands that we are looking for someone to nominate but that this may take some time.
Regional Rep position description Wallace emailed all board members the job description and read it during the meeting.

IYNAUS Member Meeting: February 18th, (12-2)- register on
IYNAUS WEBSITE

IYNAUS: Check Website for EVENTS and REGISTRATION- IYNAUS has many current offerings; check the IYNAUS website for registration/sign-ups regularly. Alyssa will also post about these opportunities on IMIYA’s Instagram.

Brad Denning reports there are potential opportunities to volunteer to teach at Denver Health in certain settings. Brad is interested in posting in the IMIYA Newsletter. – This would be a volunteer position and would require training through the Denver Health volunteer program. This would most likely be a 6–12 month commitment. More information is needed from Brad. Ada will reach out to Brad for more information.

SCHOLARSHIP (Mandy Coates)
Mandy’s committee has completed their review of the most recent round of applications and will provide their recommendations for awarding scholarships. Mandy will send an email tomorrow to all board members since she was unable to be present for this meeting.

MEMBERSHIP (Kyoung Suk Kim)
Friday, June 21st, is International Yoga Day and may serve as an opportunity to celebrate and reach potential new members. Maybe there are yoga students in studios who are curious but not yet committed to becoming Iyengar yogis. Maybe IMIYA can pay some teacher(s) to offer a class on this day. Further discussion on this idea is to come. Do we need to find old brochures or create a new one? It is thought that the old brochures are outdated and something new should be created. Another idea is to feature younger teachers. Suki feels there is a perception that teachers are older people and that the road to becoming a certified teacher is very long and difficult and discourages students who might have an interest.

TREASURER (Cecilia Huisman)
Update on monies and tax filing. Cecilia indicated that IMIYA did not give away all monies allocated for scholarships in the past 2 years. This is in part due to IYNAUS providing some scholarship funds for attendance at the National Convention held in May 2023. Cecilia is having challenges with Quickbooks online not recognizing and/or allowing the classification of funds distributed via Zelle. Cecilia has a CPA she will consult with to get this resolved.

YOGA AND EQUITY (Charlotte Hardwicke, Joanne Pearson)
Joanne attended the IYNAUS DEIJ program on 2/10 with Aaron Johnson from Holistic Resistance. There was a reminder that many of these programs are available to members via the IYNAUS website. Most require registration, and most are free to IYNAUS members.

WEBSITE (Charlotte Hardwicke)
Charlotte was not present for this meeting. Joanne will meet with Charlotte about the website in the coming week.

OUTREACH/COMMUNICATION (Alyssa, Suki)
See comments under membership for ideas regarding spring events. Alyssa has asked Angie W to provide thumbnails for a short senior sequence that she can post on IMIYA’s Instagram

BYLAWS (Rebecca)
Rebecca reported that she used what appeared to be a free online template for creating new bylaws that pertain to 501c3, only to find out that there are fees associated with its use. This along with learning that it required an upload of Articles of Incorporation which IMIYA doesn’t have, means that something different needs to happen. Rebecca plans to update IMIYA’s current bylaws and use some language from the online template for 503c3 nonprofits as that is available without payment.

Other
Angie Woyar is offering IMIYA members a 25% discount to attend an Iyengar immersion. Alyssa posted this on Instagram. Use the code IMIYA25 at checkout.

The Sadhaka must, by constant practice, light the divine flame from within himself.BKS IYENGAR