In July 2020, the NAMA Board of Directors formed the Diversity & Inclusion Committee in response to an increased awareness of the need to make certain that NAMA maintains a culture of diversity, inclusion, and transparency. The board charged the committee with developing opportunities for community involvement and helping to ensure the path to all roles within the Ayurvedic profession and NAMA are accessible to all members.

As a result, the committee has hired diversity, antiracism, and inclusion trainer Mariama Boney of Achieve More, LLC, who will present a three-part member training starting in February and continuing through April of 2021. The training, titled Reveal, Realign & Restore, will offer four PACE credits and serve as a helpful resource for members:

• Explore issues such as power, privilege, cultural competence, awareness, and sensitivity.

• Explore the role that identity and intersectionality have in our work as Ayurvedic professionals.

• Address how to hold space for clients to operate in their self-awareness and assess our own awareness and biases.         

• Discuss the social, emotional, and physical impacts of unconscious bias and the stress from various forms of discrimination and prejudice.

• Uncover ways to use our Ayurvedic practice in response to bias, oppression, and injustice.

• Discuss methods that create an inclusive environment within our Ayurvedic practices and the profession.

• Identify strategies to restore hope and a sense of belonging within our community and for our clients.               

“As professionals in the healthcare field, we must be models and leaders in so many ways. Working with and understanding the wide array of people whose lives we touch is critical to the work an Ayurvedic professional must be skilled at,” says NAMA Executive Director, Hilary Garivaltis. “This training will help all of us to become more educated in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion and will only serve to advance us as individuals and uplift our profession.”

“I truly believe that in our Dharma as Ayurveda practitioners, we must be spiritual truth-seekers and change-makers in our communities, leading the way in creating a more equitable and just society,” says committee member Sandhiya Ramaswamy. “Our shared Vedic knowledge calls upon us to see the inherent divinity within each and every one of us. Unconscious biases get in the way of that. I am so looking forward to learning from the upcoming trainings and uncovering my own inherent biases and prejudices, and I am proud of the Ayurvedic community for collectively embarking on this critical work of equity and social and racial justice that so needs to happen, especially at this time.”

Please watch the following video to hear from other members of the NAMA Diversity & Inclusion Committee who’re working to bring the forthcoming trainings to our community.