She has been teaching in Los Angeles since 2008, with a focus on seniors with dementia and other severe impairments. In the past Mary credited her kundalini yoga practice as part of the intervention that saved her life following a personal tragedy in 2003. She spent many years as a devoted practitioner, teacher, and teacher trainer. In 2018 she spoke out about the community profiting from human detention through a business relationship with ICE. She created a petition and website to bring attention to the issue, and then worked with a group of activists to demand change. But when the chronic abuse, corruption, and hypocrisy at the root of kundalini yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan was exposed in 2020, Mary knew it was officially time to move on. She is pursuing a new approach to her teaching and practice, one that better reflects her values of integrity, transparency, and authenticity. She completed Accessible Yoga Training in September 2020 and is committed to a teaching style welcoming all abilities and backgrounds. She brings her natural sense of humor to her classes, which focus on breath, movement, meditation, and self-acceptance. Mary considers herself (and all humans) a work in progress and encourages students to find honesty, accommodation, and introspection in their practice both on and off the mat.
During her pregnancy she was introduced to whole food nutrition, homeopathy, herbs, essential oils and kundalini yoga. The experience was so transformative that it changed her life path. She left a 16 year career in film and TV to become a Post Partum Doula, Kundalini Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master, Functional Nutritional Wellness Specialist, Certified Hypnotherapist, Wellness Life Coach and is CARE Certified in Raindrop and Vitaflex Technique.
Today she owns and operates INlighten Community, The Yogi Tree Center for Growth in Toluca Lake, CA and Healing Talents bringing the gift of yoga, nutrition and wellness to the LA area.
She had plans to do a yoga teacher training in India but quickly felt at home with Kundalini yoga here in Los Angeles. She has since become an IKYTA Certified Kundalini Yoga Instructor. Upon receiving her certificate she immediately began leading Sadhana classes and now leads yoga workshops as well conducts private classes, and teaches at various studios around LA. She is also part of the team of facilators educating the new kundalini teachers in training. Devi Atma is honored and blessed to share the ancient practice of yoga with her peers. She is also a certified HypnoBirthing Coach and a healer through Self -Love Meditation, and the EFT Technique. Her classes focus on the loving heart, openness, vulnerability, and the connection to all beings. She brings a calm and openness to her classes. Her yoga and healing sessions incorporate breath, movement, mantra and meditation to bring you back to a space of nothingness, which is everything, and where infinite possibilities await. When she is not teaching yoga, leading HypnoBirthing workshops, or healing through meditation, she is working on camera as an actress. All of her endeavors encompass living in the present moment, a great passion of hers. Her teachings derive from all great teachers, with one of the most important teachers’ being, our-selves!
In June of 2012 Beverly attended the 200 Hour LOAY Teacher Training in NY under the loving guidance & instruction of Sri Dharma Mittra. Becoming an instructor has given Beverly a new opportunity for self discovery, she adds, “The same spiritual light in all beings is a piece of the divine being that makes up this entire world, universe, and beyond… we are one.”
She blends mantra, the gong, and alchemy quartz crystal singing bowls to her classes. Along with potent kriyas and meditations to bring an accelerated awareness of Sat Nam (True Self). Japa Devi has always been magnetized to health and wellness leading to being a Massage therapist practitioner and earning a Bachelor of Science in Wellness Leadership, with a focus on nutrition, physical training, recovery, and injury prevention. Japa Devi found Kundalini Yoga, where the yoga captured and emphasized all aspects mentally, physically, spirituality, and connection to source.
Having been a teacher of one thing or another most of her adult life, she knew teaching Yoga was her destiny and chose to merge it with her other great passion, music. As well as being an international recording artist and performer, Jap Dharam has been blessed to assist several Masters and teachers throughout the years with annual trips to India. She has continued independent study through Master classes, a vibrant curiosity and a deep, personal practice.
She started by taking yoga classes, visionboard workshops, and meditation hypnosis classes. This inspired her to delve into a path of healing. Laura became a certified Hypnotherapist, a Level 2 Reiki Healer, and studies goddess rituals and tantra. Laura has a kind and gentle touch, a passion for working with pre-teens and teens and inspires all she works with.
and teaches to share this transformative practice with everybody as yoga is for everyone. She believes that we all are wise beings who have the best teacher inside us always whispering guidance. The secret is to quiet the mind to tune in and yoga offers various methods to achieve this ultimate goal. She is influenced by her mentors Amy Lafond and Patti Lewis. Blending Hatha, Iyengar, and other movement practices her classes consist of alignment based asana while allowing space to reflect and check in with the internal world.
Jeri completed her 200 Hour at Yoga Works with David Lynch and Joe Kara. Always hungry to learn more she has also studied with Anna Forest and takes diverse workshops to advance herself. It is her joy to lead others towards realizing their power and raising their vibration.
He has studied with Yogi Ram at the Arhanta Yoga Ashram in Khajuraho, India for his 200 and 300 hour yoga instructor certification courses. He is expert in Asana, Pranayama and Meditation. Nathan has been teaching full time since 2011 in Los Angeles, CA and has taught several workshops to yoga teachers on advanced topics. He has also been a lead instructor in Yoga teachers training courses in Los Angeles since 2014. Nathan has studied at and practices meditation in the Sant Mat tradition based in Beas, India. He enjoys teaching Philosophy and working Stories into his classes to provide a depth of understanding that can help take the practitioner beyond Asana.
always enjoying the benefits his meditation practice had on his overall well-being. When he first took an asana/physical yoga class, he immediately felt a difference in his physical, spiritual and mental state. Becoming more interested and fascinated with how Ashtanga Yoga (8 Limb Yoga) was a combination of the spiritual, mental and physical practice, he enrolled in the 200-hour teacher training program at The Soul Shack in North Hollywood, CA in 2017 and is now a Yoga Alliance Certified 200-Hour Yoga Teacher and Level 2 Reiki Attunement Certified as well.
Charles is a full-time working musician, playing drums in several bands along with writing music for TV and film. His yoga practice has changed and influenced his approach to drumming, song writing and playing with other musicians in a large way. Charles is honored to have the opportunity to teach at the Yogi Tree!
certified in TFT/EFT, and has her MBA. She is dedicated to creating a world in which no one experiences PMS symptoms, everyone feels connected, and women experience their natural cycle with power, easy and joy. Her passion for women’s health and hormone balance is what led her to creating the Mastering My Moon®🌙 class and program. She uses the moon phases to stay in sync and empowered as the cycle plays out month after month so she and all women can be and feel their best.
who thrives in holding spaces for women to rediscover their innate power, heal ancestral trauma, and rediscover the wisdom of the womb. She is also a certified transformational life coach who helps women artists and entrepreneurs to live their wildest dreams by tapping into their inherent life force using spiritual law. Diahnna is also a scholar, actress, and activist, and an Emmy-winning writer, director, & producer.
ending her flourishing dance career. Doreen transformed this debilitating event into a life-affirming experience.
Welcome to Doreen Rivera’s The Bodyful Mind, where seeking the value of each life experience is the lesson, the opportunity, the gift. This gift is the source of self-empowerment that creates a ripple effect of change in every aspect of your life.
Doreen has been called “The Godmother of Stretch”. She brought her original stretch program to Jane Fonda’s Workout, (which included the original exercise Barré Class) and introduced Jane Fonda and the world to the idea and importance of stretching. People began to quickly understand what doreen was always expressing “when you move muscle, you move emotion… it’s that simple.” As a result, Stretch classes have become a staple in the exercise world today, which also made room for yoga to take hold. Her work is the inspiration for many exercise programs, videos and books, which paved the way for the yoga movement.
inside and I used food, alcohol, drugs and men to suppress those feelings and experiences. I was introduced to The Bodyful Mind® Institute and began participating in class, individual sessions and workshops, where I learned to explore my life through my body and pay attention to what I was feeling. I began to realize that those painful experiences I had been hiding from were my life’s greatest teacher. A whole world of wisdom opened up to me, my BODY’S wisdom, the wisdom of my feelings, MY wisdom. Eight years ago, I joined The Bodyful Mind® teacher training program to become a full-time Bodyful Mind® educator. I learn everyday that my feelings are my power.
was born in the suburbs of Los Angeles and was raised by an American father and a Peruvian mother. After graduate school, she held positions in non-profit, academia, and corporate settings. For the last 20 years, she’s been on a path to reclaim her indigenous identity. In 2020, she established Sage Spirit Farm, a White Sage/Native Plant sanctuary at her home in Altadena, where she truly began remembering and integrating her ancestral wisdom. By being of service, she is fulfilling her longtime aspiration of upholding the traditions of the indigenous people of Peru.
She currently practices energetic and hands-on healing, shamanic journeying, and invites in our plant relatives via essential oils, sacred smoke, and herbal waters. Her practice is based on the Andean shamanic traditions, which have been passed down to her by Q'ero healers of Peru (known as P’aqos).
STATEMENT FROM JENNIFER LAKHMI CHAND KELLY, YOGI TREE CENTER FOR GROWTH OWNER/TEACHER, AND MARY JACOBSON, YOGI TREE ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER/TEACHER:
Silence Is NOT An Option
The murder of George Floyd was a tipping point in a long history of brutality and violence by police
against Black people in the United States, which speaks to a much larger sickness and evil that
permeates our society. The trauma and injustice endured by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
(BIPOC), as well as LGBTQi, and other marginalized populations is a stain on all humanity. We must take
responsibility for our part in this problem and do the internal and external work necessary for change.
The Yogi Tree has always welcomed students and teachers of all backgrounds to practice yoga and to
gather together in community. Despite our long-held values of equality and diversity, we resemble the
majority of yoga studios in Los Angeles as a predominantly white community with an orientation to
white privilege. Therefore, we now believe that it is not enough to say we are inclusive, that “we are
all one.” This historic moment is calling us to pivot toward the more proactive, loving action of
cultivating an anti-racist space. We must take this opportunity for specific action in our studio, among
our teachers and students, and in our trainings and events. In this way we will begin to support and
elevate the non-white voices, perspectives, and leaders in our midst. We humbly acknowledge our
complicity in white supremacy and how so-called “conscious” communities like ours have propped up
toxic systems and racial injustice. For this reason, we have taken two immediate steps to lay the
foundation for ongoing, substantive changes:
1. We are listening, learning, and following. Clearing the fog and recognizing our privilege is a relief
for some and a shock for others. White people must unlearn assumptions and behaviors
afforded to them by their privilege, and engaging in this process exposes the white fragility that
shuts down progress. Because we are a predominantly white studio in demographic and in
culture, we believe our goals cannot be met unless we confront this white privilege and fragility
in ourselves and others. Otherwise the insidiousness of systemic racism in our spiritual
community will prevail.
2. We are providing space for discussion and education. We are committed to creating safe spaces
for BIPOC/LGBTQi/marginalized people as we conduct our group discussions and education. We
welcome input and critique from our students and teachers directly affected by our
shortcomings in this area, although we are not asking for your labor. This work is messy, painful,
and ESSENTIAL. We will make mistakes along the way. We are committed to handling our
macro- and microaggressions – past, present and future – with accountability and reform.
Specific complaints about The Yogi Tree staff, students, or environments should be directed to
Jennifer Kelly at jennifer@inlightencommunity.com or Mary Jacobson at
mary@inlightencommunity.com.
While engaging in our personal work to confront white fragility and white privilege, we support the
following agenda taken from Ben & Jerry’s, whose full-throated dedication to anti-racism is the most
recent development in their commitment to racial and social justice. While we are only beginning our
work in this area as a community, we want to provide unequivocal communication about where we
stand on the issue of white supremacy, its manifestation in systemic racism, and our role in it.
Our Society faces an urgent need to take concrete steps to dismantle white supremacy in all its forms.
To do that, we are calling for four things:
First, we call upon President Trump, elected officials, and political parties to commit our nation to a
formal process of healing and reconciliation. Instead of calling for the use of aggressive tactics on
protestors, the President must take the first step by disavowing white supremacists and nationalist
groups that overtly support him, and by not using his Twitter feed to promote and normalize their ideas
and agendas. The world is watching America’s response.
Second, we call upon the Congress to pass H.R. 40, legislation that would create a commission to study
the effects of slavery and discrimination from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate
remedies. We cannot move forward together as a nation until we begin to grapple with the sins of our
past. Slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation were systems of legalized and monetized white supremacy for
which generations of Black and Brown people paid an immeasurable price. That cost must be
acknowledged and the privilege that accrued to some at the expense of others must be reckoned with
and redressed.
Third, we support Floyd’s family’s call to create a national task force that would draft bipartisan
legislation aimed at ending racial violence and increasing police accountability. We can’t continue to
fund a criminal justice system that perpetuates mass incarceration while at the same time threatens the
lives of a whole segment of the population.
And finally, we call on the Department of Justice to reinvigorate its Civil Rights Division as a staunch
defender of the rights of Black and Brown people. The DOJ must also reinstate policies rolled back under
the Trump Administration, such as consent decrees to curb police abuses.
Unless and until white America is willing to collectively acknowledge its privilege, take responsibility for
its past and the impact it has on the present, and commit to creating a future steeped in justice, the list
of names that George Floyd has been added to will never end. We have to use this moment to
accelerate our nation’s long journey towards justice and a more perfect union.
RESOURCES FOR ANTI-RACISM WORK
“Justice is what love looks like in public, just like tenderness is what love feels like in private.”
— Dr. Cornel West, Professor of Philosophy at Union Theological Seminary and Professor Emeritus at
Princeton University.
The first yoga sutra of Patanjali, Atha yoga anushasanam, is frequently translated to mean “Now, the
practice of yoga begins.” While we may have only applied this sutra to our time on the yoga mat, we can
now engage this wisdom as both individual and community yoga practitioners in confronting the
problem of racism in our lives. In this context, we can remember that what is asked of us is simple:
BEGIN. Similar to the action of stepping onto the mat, we can begin our practice by coming to the
subject, staying present and beginning our work exactly where we are in that moment.
We offer these recommendations as a doorway into personal and group learning. The suggested
material moves from basic review to more in-depth exploration of anti-racism through the lens of
current events and the origins of the current policing crisis – but racism affects people in all marginalized
groups and the resources listed are by no means exhaustive. Understanding anti-Black racism is one way
to appreciate the many forms of discrimination, exclusion, and injustice endured by all marginalized
communities.
The first and third Thursdays of the month are devoted to community check-in and discussion of our
anti-racism agenda. Everyone is welcome in these sessions, however, we understand as a community
we represent a spectrum of awareness. You may be coming to this work for the very first time or you
may be well-versed in this issue from personal experience. In order to create some shared
understanding of how we will approach this work, we ask that before joining the community
discussion you read/view the material in the “Start Here” section.
START HERE:
I need to talk to spiritual white women about white supremacy (Part One)
http://laylafsaad.com/poetry-prose/white-women-white-supremacy-1
Yoga, Race, and Culture
https://yogainternational.com/article/view/yoga-race-and-culture
Robin DiAngelo on White Fragility | Amanpour & Co. (9 minutes)
Jane Elliott: The Brown-Eyed/Blue-Eyed Exercise (40 minutes)
The tenets of Black Lives Matter
https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/
Holy Post – Race in America | Phil Vischer (18 minutes)
DEEPER EXPLORATION:
13 th is a documentary by Ava Duvernay. Netflix has made this film available for free on YouTube. (100
minutes)
How to Talk to Your Kids About Anti-Racism: A List of Resources
https://www.pbssocal.org/education/at-home-learning/talk-kids-anti-racism-list-resources/
Robin Diangelo full lecture (84 minutes)
You Asked, I Answered: 7 Difficult Questions About Racism
I need to talk to spiritual white women about white supremacy (Part Two)
http://laylafsaad.com/poetry-prose/white-women-white-supremacy-2
Conan and W. Kamau Bell (34 minutes)
FURTHER STUDY:
“When They See Us” a four-part miniseries by Ava Duvernay on Netfli
“Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad
“How To Be An Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi
“Radical Dharma” by Rev. angel Kyodo wililams, Lama Rod Owens, with Jasmine Syedullah, PhD.
“White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo
“The Pandemic Is A Portal” by Arundhati Roy
https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca
“The Science of Justice: Race, Arrests, and Police Use of Force,” by Center for Policing Equity
https://policingequity.org/what-we-do/research/the-science-of-justice-race-arrests-and-police-use-of-
force
Defunding the Police: What Does it Really Mean?
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2020/0616/Defund-the-police-What-does-it-really-mean-
Three-questions
Free Course from Yale University: African American History: From Emancipation to the Present
https://oyc.yale.edu/african-american-studies/afam-162
ACTION OPPORTUNITIES:
There are many existing organizations that have been doing amazing diversity, justice, and anti-racism
activism and need support to continue and thrive. These are only a few:
People’s Budget LA (affiliated with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles) Home
Until Freedom
The Marshall Project
https://www.themarshallproject.org/
Equal Justice Initiative
https://eji.org
Nationwide Bail Fund
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd
GLOSSARY
Below are some terms that may be helpful when exposed to or participating in discussions about racism
in ourselves, our community, and our society.
Institutional Racism — the policies and practices within and across institutions that, intentionally or not,
produce outcomes that chronically favor, or put a racial group at a disadvantage.
The Aspen Institute
Intent vs Impact – the understanding that our intentions don’t always align with what we say or do, and
this can impact how others receive what we say or do.
she+ geeks out Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Blog
Racism — 1, a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial
differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race; 2, a doctrine or political program based
on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Systemic Racism — (sometimes used synonymously with "structural racism") The historical, cultural and
social psychological roots and results of a system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural
representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group
inequity.
The Aspen Institute
White Fragility — the tendency among members of the dominant white cultural group to have a
defensive, wounded, angry, or dismissive response to evidence of racism.
Dictionary.com
White Privilege — whites’ historical and contemporary advantages in access to quality education,
decent jobs and liveable wages, homeownership, retirement benefits, wealth and so on; described by
white author Peggy Macintosh in 1989’s “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” as ”an invisible package of
unearned assets which I can count on cashing in every day, but about which I was meant to remain
oblivious.”
The Aspen Institute
White Supremacy — a term used to characterize various belief systems central to which are one or more
of the following key tenets: 1) whites should have dominance over people of other backgrounds,
especially where they may co-exist; 2) whites should live by themselves in a whites-only society; 3) white
people have their own "culture" that is superior to other cultures; 4) white people are genetically
superior to other people.
Anti-Defamation League
STATEMENT FROM JENNIFER LAKHMI CHAND KELLY, YOGI TREE CENTER FOR GROWTH OWNER/TEACHER, AND MARY JACOBSON, YOGI TREE ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER/TEACHER:
In conjunction with our Anti-Racism Initiative and in light of the revelations of abuse and sexual misconduct in the kundalini yoga community, The Yogi Tree humbly presents our Anti-Guru Initiative, which is intended to break dysfunctional patterns that can be associated in spiritual/healing communities.
Our Initiative will be built on the following basic components:
Transparency – we will be honest about our intentions and transparent about our methods.
Compassion – we believe and support survivors of abuse.
Integrity – we uphold the highest standards for our individual and collective self-awareness and accountability.
Ongoing Study – we will pursue study of classical texts and credible academic research about the origins of various teachings in yoga as well as other spiritual and healing traditions.
Flexibility – our desire for reform will be flexible; we will avoid replacing one dogmatic approach for another.
Respect –we will respect and support each other’s process, even though we will not all share the same needs or paths forward.
Our efforts will manifest in discussions, study sessions, and changes to our class offerings and structure. We are in the very early stages of planning and we are taking time to be thoughtful with our process. We will keep you posted on the developments and, in the meantime, we welcome your input and feedback. If you would like to contribute to this initiative, please contact Jennifer Kelly at jennifer@inlightencommunity.com or Mary Jacobson at mary@inlightencommunity.com.
THE LIBERATION INITIATIVES
The Liberation Initiatives describe the collection of efforts in our community to evolve beyond the
hierarchical and fear-based limitations of the Piscean Era. The intense upheaval of 2020 exposed the
many societal constructs that no longer serve our individual and collective humanity. The INlighten
Community has confronted two issues most prominently in this era thus far: racism and guru culture.
Our kundalini yoga community was shattered when our once-revered leader, known as Yogi Bhajan or
the Siri Singh Sahib, was exposed for decades of corruption, sexual predation, violence, and fraud.
Shortly after these initial revelations, while the world was shut inside their homes, we watched a
uniformed, sworn police officer kill George Floyd by cruelly depriving him of his breath for nearly nine
minutes. These twin events, while comprised of significant distinctions, both reflect the dysfunction in
our culture of twisted power dynamics and violence brought on by the false understanding of avidya and
the blanket of confusion of the mind described in Patanjali’s yoga sutras.
From a yogic perspective, our ultimate goal is to liberate ourselves beyond the false boundaries of maya.
How do we begin to address these issues? We can not experience or claim true liberation without
spending a significant commitment of time and heart excavating the unseen and unacknowledged biases
and victimization we hold. This process requires that we engage in the “anti” work before we move into
the true liberation described in the sutras as “non.”
Racism –> Anti-Racism –> Non-Racism
Guru –> Anti-Guru –> Non-Guru
