May 2025 – Meeting Minutes
IMIYA BOARD MEETING Wednesday, May 21, 7:30PM
ATTENDING President: Joanne Pearson Vice President: Rebecca Wallace Secretary: Charlotte Hardwicke (Absent) Rebecca will take notes) Treasurer: Cecilia Huisman – Absent Scholarship: Mandy Coates Membership: Kyoung Suk Kim – Absent Communications/ Newsletter: Alyssa Sikora Communications/Social Media: Sara Mahowald Invited Guest – LeeAnn Woodrum
BOARD Regional Representative (Rebecca Wallace) Abhijata will give a free one hour talk via Zoom on Sunday, July 20th (the time has yet to be announced) about why to have and attend conventions. Please save the date. The U.S. convention will be held in Philadelphia, PA, May 22-27, 2026. Ticket sales will open following her talk and the best pricing will be available at that time. There’s a new IYNAUS volunteer sign up form on the IYNAUS website with specific roles needed by committees. Rebecca encouraged all board members to open the email sent to IMIYA board members 5/20/25. Maybe they or someone they know might be appropriate for one of the positions. Rebecca reported her term as Regional Representative is up September 30, 2025. IMIYA will need to provide a nomination by July 15, 2025. Rebecca has indicated an interest to continue to serve and would accept the nomination if the board sees appropriate.
BYLAWS: (Rebecca Wallace) Rebecca and IMIYA Secretary Charlotte spent a few hours proofing and combing through the bylaws. They are recommending the board change the standing committee Scholarship Committee to Grants Committee. The board agreed to accept this wording edit. A google form will be sent soon to conduct a vote to approve the bylaws.
TREASURER (Cecilia Huisman) – no report
YOGA AND EQUITY (Charlotte Hardwicke, Joanne Pearson) ATTACHED is IYNAUS Equity Workbook which can also be found on the IYNAUS websiteWelcome and Belonging Workbook 1-29-2025.pdf . A board member who reviewed the workbook said they felt challenged by it and wondered what and how IMIYA could change to serve a greater population. She was impressed by it and encouraged each board member to look at it. Maybe this can be shared with IMIYA members before the annual gathering in hopes there could be some discussion/brainstorming. Joanne mentioned an offering by Iyengar Yoga UK titled Dealing With Challenging Life Experiences (and how yoga has helped) as an idea IMIYA could foster. An idea for a book club (maybe 2x/yr). One book suggested Embrace Yoga’s Roots by Susanna Barkataki. Board members shared some experiences with students who have attended their classes and are visually or hearing impaired.
WEBSITE (Charlotte Hardwicke) – Absent
COMMUNICATION/OUTREACH/MEMBERSHIP (Alyssa Sikora, Kyoung Suk Kim) Alyssa will teach at CO VEG FEST, June 8th. You can get tickets vegfestco.com/yoga. Alyssa asked if anyone had updates to add to the newsletter. She also looks at studios events and adds links if appropriate.
GRANTS (Mandy Coates) There was one applicant for the funds that were offered by IMIYA for anyone who was going up for assessment. There was discussion regarding the dollar amount. Rebecca motioned to award $850, seconded by Sara. The board unanimously voted YES to award $850 to the recipient. Mandy will soon contact the person with a letter and ask Cecilia to send a check to that person.
COMMUNICATION/SOCIAL MEDIA: (Sara Mahowald) Sara asked for ideas and it was suggested that maybe there could be a “a pose of the month”, possibly showing Mr Iyengar doing the pose and some comments from teachers and even some connection to nature. An idea was shared suggesting to tie into national health awareness campaigns. For example, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Maybe the pose for the month could support the health of the awareness campaign.
SURVEY UPDATE (Joanne Pearson) The survey responses from the IMIYA board members were reviewed. Another question that will be added before sending to the IMIYA membership is “are you planning to go up for assessment?”. The hope is to send the survey to IMIYA members in June 2025.
Avery Kalapa Workshop in September- Two IMIYA board members met with studio owner Tiffany about the 10% discount for IMIYA members and how best to handle this. It will be mentioned in the IMIYA newsletter but not on IMIYA’s social media outlets. At this time there will not be partial registration for the workshop.
DISCUSSION Ideas for future programs- Yoga Day possibly at Living Yoga in Fall 2025 as a way to introduce Iyengar Yoga to newbies. Other ideas included Movie Night, creating a panel to discuss how Iyengar yoga has made a difference in life, having a presence at festivals like Sangha Yoga Festival (June 12-15th), Hanuman, Yoga at Red Rocks, Bhakti Fest, etc.
“Do not stop trying because perfection eludes you.” BKS Iyengar