Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – The Kundalini Research Institute

Yoga is all about unity and Oneness. But we can’t get there by denying our differences – especially when we come from a privileged group. Are we willing to educate ourselves in what it means to have an inclusive language in our classes, trainings, and events?

Kundalini Yoga gives us the awareness and the inner wisdom to know what needs to be done. The world needs leadership from all of us. We are grateful for these teachings that give us strength and determination to take our practice off the mat and out into the world. We need to make Kundalini Yoga welcoming to underrepresented practitioners – and learning these skills among yogis have been shown to help. Many teachers and trainers are already integrating these tools in their teaching.

Sometimes looking at our own biases and the spaces where we fall short can be difficult but also lead to great transformation and self-growth. The more comfortable we feel with ourselves and others, the better prepared we would be to create inclusive and welcoming environments in Kundalini Yoga, and in our world.

In our mission to serve humanity, KRI is committed to embodying and cultivating a community that is inclusive and welcoming to a diversity of voices, lifestyles and practices around Kundalini Yoga, through creating a genuine community that is focused on mutual respect, accessibility, and awareness.

That all people feel welcome and that they belong to our KRI community.
That students graduating from our Level One Teacher trainings are racially, geographically, gender, economically, sexual preference diverse and reflect the local demographics of their region.
That KRI’s board, staff and teacher trainers are racially, geographically and gender diverse.
That our trainings and events are accessible to people across all intersections around the globe.

DEI KRI's Performance in 2022

Based on our demographic survey

60% of our trainers are white, 10% Latin@ descent; 1.5% Indigenous; 1% Black; 4.7% Asian; and 7.5% multiracial. In comparison to the European population of 90% of European whites, 1.2% European Blacks and 2.9% of African and Arabic origin (total of 22 million European Blacks out of 746 million people) and 0.5% of Asian origin. This is also in contrast to 19% of Blacks and 0.6% Asians in Latin America, 130 million and 4 million respectively. And in contrast to the 59% white population in the United States, 13.6% Black or African American, 1.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 6.1% Asian, 2.9% two or more races, and 18.9% Hispanic or Latino population (2021 US Census).

7.5% of our trainers belong to the LGTBQIA community in comparison to the 7.1% population in the USA (Gallup News). 7.4% LGBTQIA+ population in Germany, 6.9% in Spain and 6.4% in the United Kingdom, as well as in comparison to 3 to 5% percent in Latin America (Statista Design).

16% of our trainers want to participate in White/BIPOC or POC Affinity Groups

47% of our trainers feel they are racially and culturally competent above average when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion.

1.5% of our trainers have mental and physical disabilities that are an important trait of their identity.

37% of our trainers have a higher educational degree in comparison to the U.S. population of 37.9%.

The communities our trainers serve fluctuate between them having high school, associate’s, bachelor’s and doctoral degrees.

40% of our trainers feel they have more than enough financial resources and a desire to support access for others; 61% have fair access with sufficient financial resources who can pay fair value for their KRI experience, and 12.7% have limited resources who would benefit from access supplemented by the larger KRI community.

And the communities our trainers serve when teaching Kundalini yoga, 37% have more than enough financial resources, 59% have fair access and can afford fair value for KRI experiences, and 43% have limited resources and would benefit from supplementary access from the larger KRI community.