Not long ago, we celebrated the arrival of a new decade and with it, new possibilities. But a quick look back at 2019 reminds us that we have a long, long way to go when it comes to equitable representation in the yoga industry. Last year, it seemed like every month, a magazine, Instagram-famous blogger or media-platform landed themselves in controversy by underestimating and under-representing yoga teachers of color.

But the irony is that people of color are contributing to yoga in remarkable and meaningful ways on a variety of fronts. Midway through last year, Sophie Griffiths and I decided it was time for someone to showcase those contributions. And so we created a list of 19 Women of Color to Watch in Yoga in 2019. This year, we wanted to expand on what we built, by including greater diversity in terms of gender identity, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, geographic location, body shapes/sizes, and types of work and activism showcased. While we also considered age and ability, we weren't able to showcase the range we would have liked. We hope that through your support and nominations, we will be able to include even greater diversity in next year’s list.









Speaking of nominations, we had well over 500 nominations!!! We are so grateful to those of you who nominated and we hope you continue to do so. If your nominee didn’t make it to this list, please know that it was an extremely difficult decision for us and that there’s always the possibility of next year!

This year, we’ve partnered with Reprise Activewear, who is supporting us in showcasing greater diversity in yoga by making this work sustainable. Reprise is a line of plant-based activewear designed to create a softer, healthier, and more comfortable way for you to care for your skin. Find out more at http://www.repriseactivewear.com/

And now without much further ado, we proudly present to you our list of 20 Yoga Teachers of Color to Watch in 2020. We are in awe of our finalists, who represent a variety of expertise, teaching styles, non-profit work, causes and more. You can scroll down to read more about them.