Thank you for writing this, and for writing it the way you did. Publishing your vision alongside an honest accounting of where others may find some weaknesses in your conclusions takes a particular kind of courage. It's also, not coincidentally, the positioning I think this moment calls for: humility and boldness held together by conscious action.
I keep coming back to the initial question: "What is the purpose of yogic education?" It doesn't let the reader off easy, and I mean that as the highest compliment.
This feels like shared territory for us at Yoga Alliance. It echoes what we’ve heard from the community through the Standards Review Project, insights that have shaped our six-year Strategic Plan, and the listening that continues to guide our work.
A few points that resonate the most for me:
- Reframing 200 hours of teacher training as a necessary floor, not the ceiling, of a yoga teacher’s education. That was actually the founding concept that drove YA’s credentialing program in 1999, though I think we can all agree that this does not reflect the current common understanding in practice. I’m happy to share that this built into an evolution of YA‘s credentialing structure, to be grounded in ongoing mentorship, recognition of expertise, and lifelong learning, which we will be sharing with the community later this year.
- Your call for reinvestment over extraction speaks to work that is happening across our community, through scholarship funds, teacher support programs, and emerging community investment models aimed at returning resources to the people who sustain this practice. Yoga Alliance is honored to play a supporting role in that larger effort, but the deeper challenge you're naming, how we build lasting reinvestment within a discipline, that’s also become an industry, which also operates within a larger market dynamic, isn't something any one organization or person can solve alone. I'd love to keep exploring that question together, as a community working toward the same goal.
- Your vision for decentralized, portable credentials is the one I sat with longest. The conversation about credentials often centers their value from the teacher's perspective, and rightfully so, but I wonder how we also weigh the perspective of students and employers, who rely on well-known credentials as signals of trust and readiness. YA approaches this from a particular vantage point, given the role we play in the ecosystem, but we're not attached to any one model winning out. I hope that what matters most to all of us is a stronger system overall, one that works for everyone invested. I'd love to open this question up to the broader community: how do we honor a teacher's ownership of their journey while also serving the needs of people who depend on credentials to serve as a particular signal?
What I appreciate most is that you’ve asked hard questions, specifically around equity and sustainability. Who might be excluded? What assumptions need revisiting? Those aren't rhetorical for us either. They're the questions shaping our work in real time, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be in dialogue with individuals and organizations asking them well than pretend we've arrived at any singular certainty.
Please consider this an open hand, not just a comment. I'd love to find a real way to continue this conversation together, whether through direct exchange, a co-hosted community dialogue, or simply staying in touch as our collective work evolves. The future of yoga won't be shaped by one organization or one person. I’m grateful for you and for Black Boys Om's continued leadership in this space.
Thank you Shannon for taking the time to read and thoughtfully respond. I welcome the open hand. I’m grateful the seed is planted and I’m grateful for the dialogue that the wider community will have around these ideas.
Dear Danny, I really enjoyed reading your letter. Thank you for writing it as it shows how much you care about Yoga, its potential for transformation and your fellow human beings. Many of the ideas you shared are already a part of American Yoga Council’s ethos when it comes to credentialing, especially the bottom up equity based systems which we’re trying to accomplish through a revenue share model as well as a model that respect the background of a teacher, regardless of the specific certifications they have but also include their life experiences. We’ve also built a credentialing system that allows for all different types of new credentials to be formed, and new (or rather old) teaching models such as mentorship instead of cohort structures by using a competency based standard instead of an hours based standard. Additionally, when we first came up with the idea for American Yoga Council the goal was to put the credentials on chain in a similar way that you proposed. However, in trying to raise the funds for that endeavor, and in our initial testing we had to abandon that model for now. To build a national or global credentialing system, as you can imagine, is no small task. That said we at AYC are very open to this dialogue. I look forward to engaging more with you. Sincerely, Andrew Tanner, CEO of American Yoga Council.
Andrew, thank you so much for reading and thank you for sharing your own process and what you have done with AYC. Deep bow. I just updated the paper with a few links at the bottom. WhatsApp Group, Change.org petition and other links as well. Thank you again. I look forward to engaging more as well.
Hey Everyone, 300 reads so far, thank you! I have a special announcement on July 31st. It’s a first step in collective dialogue about these ideas. I’ll announce here on Substack and there will be a chance to be engaged in a greater way. Feel free to join the WhatsApp Group as well.
Learn more about sharing your voice on this. Google Doc is now Live https://dannyangelo.substack.com/p/credentialing-and-transmission-next?r=49dy7&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Dear Danny,
Thank you for writing this, and for writing it the way you did. Publishing your vision alongside an honest accounting of where others may find some weaknesses in your conclusions takes a particular kind of courage. It's also, not coincidentally, the positioning I think this moment calls for: humility and boldness held together by conscious action.
I keep coming back to the initial question: "What is the purpose of yogic education?" It doesn't let the reader off easy, and I mean that as the highest compliment.
This feels like shared territory for us at Yoga Alliance. It echoes what we’ve heard from the community through the Standards Review Project, insights that have shaped our six-year Strategic Plan, and the listening that continues to guide our work.
A few points that resonate the most for me:
- Reframing 200 hours of teacher training as a necessary floor, not the ceiling, of a yoga teacher’s education. That was actually the founding concept that drove YA’s credentialing program in 1999, though I think we can all agree that this does not reflect the current common understanding in practice. I’m happy to share that this built into an evolution of YA‘s credentialing structure, to be grounded in ongoing mentorship, recognition of expertise, and lifelong learning, which we will be sharing with the community later this year.
- Your call for reinvestment over extraction speaks to work that is happening across our community, through scholarship funds, teacher support programs, and emerging community investment models aimed at returning resources to the people who sustain this practice. Yoga Alliance is honored to play a supporting role in that larger effort, but the deeper challenge you're naming, how we build lasting reinvestment within a discipline, that’s also become an industry, which also operates within a larger market dynamic, isn't something any one organization or person can solve alone. I'd love to keep exploring that question together, as a community working toward the same goal.
- Your vision for decentralized, portable credentials is the one I sat with longest. The conversation about credentials often centers their value from the teacher's perspective, and rightfully so, but I wonder how we also weigh the perspective of students and employers, who rely on well-known credentials as signals of trust and readiness. YA approaches this from a particular vantage point, given the role we play in the ecosystem, but we're not attached to any one model winning out. I hope that what matters most to all of us is a stronger system overall, one that works for everyone invested. I'd love to open this question up to the broader community: how do we honor a teacher's ownership of their journey while also serving the needs of people who depend on credentials to serve as a particular signal?
What I appreciate most is that you’ve asked hard questions, specifically around equity and sustainability. Who might be excluded? What assumptions need revisiting? Those aren't rhetorical for us either. They're the questions shaping our work in real time, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be in dialogue with individuals and organizations asking them well than pretend we've arrived at any singular certainty.
Please consider this an open hand, not just a comment. I'd love to find a real way to continue this conversation together, whether through direct exchange, a co-hosted community dialogue, or simply staying in touch as our collective work evolves. The future of yoga won't be shaped by one organization or one person. I’m grateful for you and for Black Boys Om's continued leadership in this space.
Sincerely,
Shannon Roche
President & CEO
Yoga Alliance
Thank you Shannon for taking the time to read and thoughtfully respond. I welcome the open hand. I’m grateful the seed is planted and I’m grateful for the dialogue that the wider community will have around these ideas.
Dear Danny, I really enjoyed reading your letter. Thank you for writing it as it shows how much you care about Yoga, its potential for transformation and your fellow human beings. Many of the ideas you shared are already a part of American Yoga Council’s ethos when it comes to credentialing, especially the bottom up equity based systems which we’re trying to accomplish through a revenue share model as well as a model that respect the background of a teacher, regardless of the specific certifications they have but also include their life experiences. We’ve also built a credentialing system that allows for all different types of new credentials to be formed, and new (or rather old) teaching models such as mentorship instead of cohort structures by using a competency based standard instead of an hours based standard. Additionally, when we first came up with the idea for American Yoga Council the goal was to put the credentials on chain in a similar way that you proposed. However, in trying to raise the funds for that endeavor, and in our initial testing we had to abandon that model for now. To build a national or global credentialing system, as you can imagine, is no small task. That said we at AYC are very open to this dialogue. I look forward to engaging more with you. Sincerely, Andrew Tanner, CEO of American Yoga Council.
Andrew, thank you so much for reading and thank you for sharing your own process and what you have done with AYC. Deep bow. I just updated the paper with a few links at the bottom. WhatsApp Group, Change.org petition and other links as well. Thank you again. I look forward to engaging more as well.
Hey Everyone, 300 reads so far, thank you! I have a special announcement on July 31st. It’s a first step in collective dialogue about these ideas. I’ll announce here on Substack and there will be a chance to be engaged in a greater way. Feel free to join the WhatsApp Group as well.