Zaria's Bio

Zaria (she/her) is a queer Yoga Meditation Teacher and Integral Sound Healer as well as a trainee of Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy. They are currently residing on the ancestral lands of the Sauk, Meskwaki, and Ioway people now known as Iowa City, Iowa. Zaria serves on the boards of the Welcome Immigrant Network and Trauma Recovery Yoga Global. They are a member of the Iowa Queer Yoga Collective, an Accessible Yoga ambassador, and a Yoga in Action Facilitator.

Currently, Zaria is deep in study, teaching yoga, engaging in community organizing, and doing work for their yoga therapy practicums. Primarily in the world they have been a teacher, facilitator, and operations manager. In their evolving work, they engage with the streams of yogic and shamanic wisdom and somatic practices and seek to aid in facilitating healing and transformation for individuals, groups, organizations, and businesses. These days they are most passionate about learning and sharing at the intersections of yoga, integrative health, plant medicine, queer studies, equity, inclusion, and spiritual healing and medicine.

Read more about Zaria’s experience below.

About My Yoga Journey & My Evolving Work

I am a lifelong student and practitioner first and foremost and always will be! I am an Ayurvedic Yoga Therapist in training and study integrative health, religious studies, MindBody therapy, Vastu and Jyotish (Vedic astrology). I am in love with the healing arts and their intersections with social justice and our broad struggle toward collective liberation. I hold both privileged and oppressed identities. I have held many professional titles already in my young life and have worked in different capacities as a community organizer, operations manager, and campaign organizer, and have practiced various types of facilitation. Most importantly I am a humble student of these arts, of life, and of all the people I work with. I am most passionate about continuing to develop work that allows me the opportunity to guide others through the healing process, to help them ignite their inner flame so they may live a life that feels truly vibrant. I desire to help people heal and thrive! From there I seek to help others identify, embody, and live into their role in our ecosystem. The practices of yoga, Tantra, yoga nidra, Ayurveda and liberatory somatic psychology are the foundation of my practice and my work. I am passionate about offering services to historically marginalized and underestimated populations as well as working with trauma survivors and those in recovery.

I am blessed with the people who are in my life and who have and continue to light my path forward and honor the tradition of Tantra & Sri Vidya Yoga of the Himalayan Tradition. I owe a great deal of gratitude to my teachers Fannie Hungerford, Michelle Cassandra Johnson, Susanna Barkataki, Kathleen Whalen, Jacoby Ballard, Rebecca Sebastian, Indu Arora, Michele Lawrence, Natalie Brown, Yoli Maya Yeh, Christine Rodriguez, Jessica Patterson, faculty and staff at Off The Mat Into The World, Accessible Yoga, Embodied Philosophy, Yoga Veda Institute, Himalayan Institute, Inner Peace Yoga Therapy, and many others. 

Trainings, Experience, Influences, Inspirations

 
  • Embody Yoga's Roots 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training with Susanna Barkataki+Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute, Yoga History, JEDI, Trauma Informed Certification (2021)

  • Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy Foundations — YogaVeda Institute (2021)

  • Ayurvedic Practitioner Certification — NAMA | YogaVeda Institute (IP)

  • 200 Hour Kavi Yoga Teacher Training —Fannie Hungerford (2018)

  • 25 Hour Trauma Recovery Yoga Practitioner Training (2019)

  • Yoga in Action Facilitator Training w/ Off The Mat Into The World (2020)

  • LGBTQ Leadership Institute, LGBTQ JEDI Graduate | OneIowa (2020) 

  • Digital Media for Wellness Entrepreneurs with Monica Cadena (2020)

  • Yoga Nidra Training with Indu Arora (2022)

  • 300 Hour Integral Vedic Counseling — American Institute of Vedic Studies (In Progress)

  • MDiv University of Metaphysics — Intuitive Counseling (In Progress)

  • Ordained Minister — Universal Life Church (2020)

  • Integral Sound Healing Practitioner — Integral Sound Healing Academy, Natalie Brown

  • Vedic Astrology Certification — Komilla Sutton (IP)

  • Remembering, Responsibility, Reverence, & Reconciliation Immersion with Michelle C. Johnson, Vivette Jeffries-Logan, & Kerri Kelly, 2020

  • Skill in Action — Michelle C. Johnson (2020)

  • Embodied Activism w/ Rae Johnson and Nkem Ndefo (2020)

  • Social Justice, Human Rights + International Development Studies | The University of Iowa 

  • Human Rights Commissioner, City of Iowa City (2018-2020)

  • Human Rights Consulting Certification (2021)

  • Board Member: University of Iowa Center for Human Rights

  • Regional Fellow, Fair Trade Campaigns USA | Iowa City Fair Trade Coalition Lead Organizer (2018-2020)

  • Food & Beverage Industry Labor Organizing Consultant--Teamsters Local 238

  • 8+ Years working in management and multi-unit management positions in the Food and Beverage Industry 

  • Habilitation Home Supervisor — Successful Living, Iowa City, IA (2021-2022)

  • 800 Hour Yoga Therapy Certification— C-IAYT — Inner Peace Yoga Therapy (2022-IP)

  • Reentry Services Coordinator — Inside Out Reentry Community (Current)