BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Our community-centered Board of Directors provides guidance and direction for Community Yoga Center and its offerings. Co-Founders of CYC, Inga Buchbinder, Allison Hagen Kennedy, Tobias Moyneur, Cherie Robinson, and Kristin Varner approach this responsibility as stewards of yoga. They seek to lead through a love ethic and to relate to one another as anam cara - soul friends.
Photo: Community Yoga Center’s Board of Directors at the 2024 graduation ceremony.
inga buchbinder
A radical voice, Inga speaks truth to power with the rawness of a brilliant badass. Her fierce honesty and compassionate heart make her a trusted friend. She’ll shine an intuitive light into your life, illuminating “what is” and igniting what binds you. responsibly, and ensure every decision reinforces long-term value creation.
ALLISON HAGEN KENNEDY
Embodying the essence of Mother Nature, Allison is grounded in wild creativity. She has a patient and tender way of feeling into what’s most needed to nurture life. With a sense of fun and adventure, she’ll show you how to look fear in the eye and give it a hug.
CHERIE ROBINSON
Like sunshine, Cherie radiates the warmth of love and light of wisdom. Her elegance and deep appreciation for life is contagious as she spreads joy like glitter in wind. She’ll inspire you to repel ignorance with ease and live intentionally with grace and gratitude.
TOBIAS MOYNEUR
Leaping tall mountains with a single bound, Toby is a real-life superhero. His open heart and true grit make the world a better place. With great integrity and courage, he’ll challenge you to do what scares you and celebrate the freedom you feel after doing it.
Kristin Varner
Kristin likes connecting with others almost as much as she likes yoga. Forever following her heart, she’s committed to touching the depths of truth and love with unwavering resolve. She’ll take you with her if you’re willing.
“Love is the whole thing. We are the pieces.”
STEWARDS OF YOGA
We understand yoga as a gift. Our Board seeks to honor that gift by studying, practicing, and sharing yoga with wisdom, respect, and humility. We recognize the limits of our own understanding and the vastness of a tradition whose depth cannot be fully grasped by any one person. We understand that we will not always get everything right, and remain committed to listening, learning, and responding to our mistakes with openness and care. Having experienced the many ways yoga continues to sustain and transform our lives, we feel a responsibility to care for what has given so much to us. Like caretakers nurturing something precious, we approach yoga with reverence, curiosity, and commitment. Our deepest aspiration is that our practice and sharing of yoga contribute to the well-being of everyone and everything.
GUIDED BY A LOVE ETHIC
Our Board is guided by what bell hooks describes as a love ethic: an orientation toward life rooted in the many dimensions of love, including kindness, compassion, joy and trust.
We practice meeting life with awareness, honesty, and love. We make room for the whole of human experience - the pleasant and unpleasant, blessings and sorrows, joys and suffering - and practice responding with care.
We choose collaboration over competition, relationship over hierarchy, and belonging over conformity. You are welcome to come as you are.
ANAM CARA
Anam cara is an Irish phrase meaning “soul friend.” In his book Anam Cara, John O’Donohue describes this kind of friendship as one that awakens possibility within us and offers a true reflection of who we are.
Our Board members aspire to be anam cara for one another—soul friends joined by affection, trust, and mutual respect. This friendship is more than something we value personally. It informs how we hope to serve.
We believe communities flourish when people care for one another, tell one another the truth with love, remain curious about what they do not know, and recognize that none of us walks the path alone.
We practice yoga together because awakening, like life itself, is relational.