About Me.
Jasmine Chehrazi is an advocate for inclusive, accessible, trauma-sensitive yoga. She has taught students from around the world and celebrates the diversity of their backgrounds, which includes mental health counselors, individuals experiencing homelessness, humanitarian aid and disaster relief workers, torture survivors, military service members and veterans, incarcerated communities, people recovering from addiction, individuals in the grieving process, students at commercial yoga studios, and numerous professionals and government employees dealing with stressful work conditions.
Jasmine directs the 200 and 500 hour yoga teacher training programs at Yoga District, a collective of seven Washington, D.C., yoga centers she founded in 2006. Since 2009, she trained over 600 yoga and meditation teachers. As an advisor to yoga teacher trainees and experienced yoga teachers, Jasmine's mission is to share yoga’s teachings and assist others in doing the same. In her role as a yoga educator, Jasmine established and led the yoga teacher training program at George Washington University and previously served on Yoga Alliance’s Advisory Committee on Standards. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Yoga Service Council and she is the Executive Director of Yoga Activist, a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to assisting social service organizations and yoga teachers with yoga outreach program development. The Journal of Yoga Service published a seminal, peer-reviewed article on best practices in yoga service by Jasmine. The Give Back Yoga Foundation features the article in their teacher training manual. Jasmine presents on accessible, trauma-sensitive yoga at conferences held by Yoga Alliance, Yoga Service Council, and Yoga Journal. The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Yoga Journal, The Washington Times, and NBC have interviewed Jasmine on everything from trends in commercial yoga to the Bhagavad Gita. Jasmine trained in a wide variety of yoga traditions including Power, Bhakti Flow, Kundalini, and Sivananda. She is also certified as a Yoga Alliance Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher-500, Professional Yoga Therapist-500, and Dharma Yoga Teacher-800. Her favorite teachers are Dharma Mittra and Sage, her three-year-old son. With Persian and German heritage, Jasmine draws from Eastern and Western sensibilities as she explores the yogic path. Presentations: - Yoga Activist Teacher Training: Sharing Yoga with Homeless, Drug Recovery and Mentally Ill Communities, yoga studios in Philadelphia and Washington DC, multiple sessions from 2010-2017 - Inclusive Cuing: The Art of Offering Sensitive Cues for Diverse Experience Levels, Intentions, and Mobility Expressions, Omega Institute Yoga Service Conference, New York, May 2017 - Meditation and Mindfulness as a Basic Right, Fourth Annual Johns Hopkins University Women in Business Affinity Conference, April 1, 2016 - Self Empowerment, Yoga Alliance Leadership Conference, October 26, 2012 - Teaching in Shelters, Omega Institute Yoga Service Conference, New York, May 19, 2012 - Starting & Funding a New Yoga Outreach Program, Omega Institute Yoga Service Conference, New York, May 19, 2012 - Transforming Trauma: Self Soothing and Coping Through Yoga and Meditation, Visions in Feminism Conference at American University in Washington DC, March 24, 2012 - Meditation and Yoga as Practical Tools for Self Empowerment, Femex Conference in Washington DC, July 2011 - Meditation and Stress Relief, Lupus Foundation of America's Washington DC Chapter Annual Symposium at the Carnegie Building, May 2011 - Yoga and Meditation Practices to Soothe the Mind, National Alliance on Mental Illness Annual National Convention, Washington DC, July 2010 - Various other workshops relating to yoga outreach, chair yoga, yoga for pain management, and yoga for beginners at Yoga District yoga studios in Washington, DC since 2010 Interviews and articles: - Teaching Yoga in Service Settings, Journal of Yoga Service, 2014 http://yogaservicecouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/JYSChehrazi2014.pdf - A Call to Service: Sharing Yoga as a Tool of Self Empowerment, Huffington Post, May 13, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-schware/yoga-self-empowerment_b_3141147.html Press: - Hidden Benefits of Eight Healthy Practices, Fitness Magazine https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/health/hidden-benefits-of-healthy-habits/ - Psst, Guys: Interested in a $1,000 Yoga Mat?, The Washington Post, September 14, 2016 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/psst-guys-interested-in-a-1000-yoga-mat/2016/09/13/f80bcb54-6d8b-11e6-9705-23e51a2f424d_story.html?utm_term=.fc14c749add2 - New Sales Tax Defines Yoga as Exercise, and Yogis Fight Back, Yoga Journal, October 14, 2014 https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/new-sales-tax-defines-yoga-physical-exercise-yogis-fighting-back - Pose Harder, Vox, December 19, 2014 https://www.vox.com/2014/5/31/5717888/competitive-yoga-in-the-us - Yoga Activists Offer the Gift of Calm, Street Sense, July 30, 2014 http://www.streetsense.org/article/yoga-activists-offer-gift-of-calm/ - Yoga + Brunch? Yes Please, Yoga Journal, December 23, 2013 https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/yoga-brunch-yes-please - Yoga Outreach Brings Healing to All DC Communities, WTOP, July 8, 2013 http://wtop.com/news/2013/07/yoga-outreach-brings-healing-to-all-dc-communities/ - Yogi: Jacksons Satan Claim a Stretch, Politico, June 7, 2013 http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/yogi-ew-jackson-satan-claim-a-stretch-092394 - Not A High Price to Pay: How Yoga District Manages to Provide Low-Cost Classes and Keeps Adding Locations, Washington Post Express, May 8, 2012 https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2012/05/08/not-a-high-price-to-pay/?utm_term=.2a3c31443322 - Yoga District, Capital Community News, 2009 http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/PDF/2009/39_DCN_0109.pdf - Yoga: No Fancy Pants Required, Washington Post May 9, 2008 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050800988.html |