Why nonprofit yoga?
Hi, my name is Ashika {uh-she-kah} {ah-she-kah}, allow me to reintroduce myself.
I’ve held many jobs over the years. I’ve dressed up as the Statue of Liberty encouraging people to file their taxes. I’ve served as a bark ranger welcoming dogs into a dog-park bar. I’ve worked with ESPN to film big south conference basketball games.
But the field I’ve spent the most time in is the nonprofit sector.
My journey led me to serve as an AmeriCorps member, in school social worker, consultant, obtain my LMSW and trauma-informed yoga certification.
Through this work, I’ve partnered closely with nonprofit professionals across all roles: executive leaders, program staff, volunteers, and board members. No matter the title or organization, I’ve consistently witnessed the same pattern: a lack of time and space to prioritize wellness. Physical, mental, emotional & community wellness.
Most nonprofit professionals are either: recovering from burnout, quietly carrying it, or so accustomed to it that it feels normal. As a social worker, I’ve seen how this shows up not just emotionally, but in the body and nervous system. How chronic stress accumulates in the body when rest is treated as optional or earned.
After building my yoga practice, Aashiq Yoga, I wanted to bring the gift of yoga into nonprofit spaces. And in partnership with Central Texas nonprofit Urban Roots, I launched grounding together: nonprofit yoga, a unique space for meditation, movement and connection on a farm.
So what is nonprofit yoga?
It is a monthly dedicated space to pause and rest in your body, rest in nature and rest in community.
In practice, this looks like one hour of facilitated movement and meditation, an intentional pause to give back to yourself while being in a community space. All yoga levels are encouraged to join, newbies to daily yogis.
This space is offered on a sliding scale, to welcome nonprofit professionals of all roles and levels: interns, frontline staff, managers, directors, and executive leaders.
This is also a space for connection, you’re invited to learn about one another through shared presence and rest. Coming into the same space without hierarchy or pressure.
This offering exists as an alternative to wellness being reduced to staff happy hours or adding ice breakers to meetings. It’s an invitation to slow down and tend to the people doing the work, because burnout should not be the cost of service.
So if you identify as a nonprofit professional and you want to find a community space to prioritize your wellness, I encourage you to join us on the farm for nonprofit yoga!
For nonprofit senior leadership: this is an opportunity to invest in your teams in a way that honors their humanity. Encourage participation. Protect the time. Model that rest is not a reward, but a necessity.
For nonprofit professionals: this is your invitation to carve out space for yourself, to pause and rest in the community of others.
Nonprofit yoga exists because care belongs at the center of our work, not at the margins.
Click here to learn more and register
If you are curious about this but unsure how to implement wellness within your team or organization, I would love to brainstorm ideas with you.
Send me an email at aashiqyoga@gmail.com
with love,
ashika