Our ethics committee

Our ethics committee is a multidisciplinary team composed of yoga students, yoga teachers, physicians, social workers, professors and other well respected members of our community. The Committee has three main purposes.

  1. Review complaints that are reported by EMBER students, teachers or staff.

  2. Recommend sanctions and/or further actions in accordance with the severity of the complaint.

  3. Support EMBER yoga founders by reviewing new policies or procedures that may impact an ethical issue.

Meet our committee members.

Anti-Harassment

EMBER-recognized teachers are responsible for maintaining an appropriate professional relationships and boundaries with clients, students and other teachers. This includes understanding power dynamics, emotional and sexual boundaries, and creating and maintaining safe environments for students and colleagues to practice yoga and meditation. An EMBER-recognized teacher acknowledges that cultural frameworks across the country and globe afford different value and power to people according to their identities related to age, race, gender, sexual preference, socioeconomic status, differing abilities, body size, and primary language. In their practice, EMBER teachers shall:

  • Respect that a student’s lived experience in their body may vary dramatically from the practitioner’s, depending on their identities listed above;

  • Refrain from being discriminatory towards clients, students and peers;

  • Identify, learn and engage in processes for understanding their own cultural and personal biases, and seek out education and supervision especially if issues arise related to any of the identities listed above.

  • Affirm that they will not harass or abuse any students and that they will avoid getting into personal or sexual relationships with students because that may result in the impairment of their professional judgment or may compromise the integrity of their teaching. If a relationship begins to develop, the teacher should share this information with EMBER management.

  • Prohibit sexual misconduct in our classes. Sexual misconduct is any unsolicited and unwelcome sexual advance including requests for sexual favors, sexual touching, and verbal, visual, or physical conduct that creates a sexually hostile environment in a yoga class or studio.

As a teaching organisation we do not:

  • Permit managers, employees, teachers, independent contractors, students, or others in the workplace to harass any other person because of age, gender, pregnancy status, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, genetic information, or any other basis proscribed by law

  • Tolerate sexual harassment in our collective. Sexual harassment refers to any unwelcome sexual attention, sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal, visual or physical conduct of a sexual nature when the conduct harms the person’s employment or working environment.

Reporting

We encourage anyone who has been the subject of sexual misconduct or any other action that violates our policies to report the incident to our Ethics Committee (EthicsCommittee@EmberYoga.org).

The report should contain the following information: • Your full name; • Your email and phone number; • The name of the person who the grievance is against; • A description of the alleged policy violation; • The date and location of the policy violation; • Names and contact information of any witnesses with first-hand knowledge of the situation; and, • Any other credible evidence that is available to support the grievance.

All reports must be made by the person who has personally experienced the misconduct. We will not investigate a matter based upon a third-party report of misconduct. All reports must be made in good faith based on information the person reporting the incident reasonably believes to be accurate. Of course we will review anonymous complaints, but there is less that we can do without being able to verify the information.

We may request additional information from the person reporting the incident throughout the course of review of the report. We will take appropriate action to ensure compliance with our policies. The reviewing body will impose any sanctions that it feels are fair, just, and reasonable under all circumstances.

We will not allow anyone to retaliate against any person for making a report in good faith or providing information in connection with an investigation into an alleged violation. Any information provided during a grievance report review will be treated on a confidential basis. Similarly, any actions that the taken in response to the report will also be confidential.

EMBER yoga’s Values

We believe that teachers have knowledge to share, and also affirm that each student is the ultimate expert of their experience.

We believe that students have a right to decide who touches them and how.  Adjustment consent cards are used in all of our classes.

 We believe that joy, equanimity and internal spiritual liberation are the birthright of all beings.

 We have found that authentic spirituality is revolutionary.

 We recognize that many of the ancient healing and awakening practices that we teach originated in Asia and Africa.  This training was founded by white, American women who are deeply grateful for these practices and the ways they have supported and enriched our lives.  We strive to stay away from practices and language of cultural appropriation, and also recognize that at times, we might fail in this endeavor.  We are open to being held accountable and will work to educate ourselves, staff and teachers so as to better serve the community and society in general.

We are committed to making time for communication and collaborations that aim to grow accessibility, inclusivity, diversity, respect and sensitivity to all our students.  (Have ideas, comments, recommendations, feedback? Please get in touch!! We want to hear from you.)

We endeavor to create a welcoming space for all to practice yoga.  While we whole heartedly wish to create classroom spaces that feel safe to all, we also recognize that the determination of safety – whether it’s felt or not – is wholly up to the discretion of you, our students.  As such, we do not call our classes “safe spaces”.  They are, however, created to be intentionally safer spaces.  We invite you to let us know if there are ways that we can more fully support you in finding feelings of ease and wellbeing while you’re in our classes.    
We disavow guru culture.  Each of our teachers will meet you right where you are and partner with you to co-create your best, most authentic and empowered healing journey.