Scholarships & Training

We provide advanced training for yoga teachers to adapt yoga to community populations and offer scholarships for YogaCare students and community members to become certified yoga teachers in English and Spanish.

 Scholarship Program

First launched in 2015, this program offers full 200-hr teacher training certification and continuing education training scholarships in partnership over the years with Live Work Yoga, YogaSkills, Yoga Circle, Marigold Yoga (formerly Ganesha Yoga Chicago), Yogaview, and others as well as our in-house Spanish Language Teacher Training Program launched in 2021 with a linguistic and cultural adaptation of Marigold Yoga’s curriculum.

In response to the underrepresentation of people of color in the yoga workforce, YogaCare offers a full 200-hour yoga teacher certification and additional training to select program participants to build community capacity. “YogaCare Scholars” are teachers-in-training selected through a competitive application process, and “YogaCare Alumni,” are graduates of the Scholarship Program. YogaCare Alumni are now certified teachers that can adapt poses to different ability levels and body sizes, using non-violent communication and safe cueing; teaching trauma-informed yoga, and working with diverse populations.

We have awarded 24 scholarships to-date for teachers from communities that have little to no access to yoga teacher training programs. Check out the wall of Scholars and Alumni and their award year below!

YogaCare Scholars & Alumni

  • Roseann Chico (2015)

  • Adrienne Cherry (2015)

  • Darlene Blackburn (2016)

  • Yahdina U-Deen (2016)

  • Michelle Brown (2017)

  • Kalvin Fortenberry (2017)

  • Ayoka Mitchell (2017)

  • Mischelle Thomas (2017)

  • Marcella Winters (2018)

  • Velinda Alexander (2018)

  • Valerie Searcy-Cox (2019)

  • Marisa Cazy (2019)

  • Gerald Lamont Linnear (2019)

  • Celia Colón (2019)

Yoga en Español 200-Hr Teacher Training in Spanish

In 2021, YogaCare launched a new 200-hr Spanish Teacher Training Program in partnership with Marigold Yoga (formerly Ganesha).

  • The training began in January 2021 and will run through November with a unique curriculum registered by Yoga Alliance that aims to bring yoga to people of all abilities, shapes, sizes, identities, and means.

  • Flexible rates are available for external scholarship sponsors and self-pay trainees. YogaCare offered 10 scholarships (full and partial) for this first cohort of trainees!

  • Please sign up for our newsletter or follow us on social media to hear about the next application that opens up.

¡Felicitaciones a nuestro primer Alumno de Formación de Profesores de Yoga de habla hispana!

Congratulations to our first Spanish Speaking Yoga Teacher Training Alumni!

Gracias ¡Evelyn, Michelle, Molly y todos los miembros del equipo de capacitación de Yoga en Español por sus colaboraciones significativas y por hacer que nuestro programa de certificación de Capacitación de Maestros de Yoga sea un éxito!

Thank you, 

Evelyn, Michelle, Molly, and all Yoga en Espanol Training Team Members for your significant collaborations and for making our Yoga Teachers Training certification program a success!  

Yoga Teacher Alumni

Bertha Mariscal

Gina Reynolds

Grace Andrea Trujillo

Jasmine Luevano

Maria de los Angeles Castillo

Maria E. Romero de Alliey

Melissa Morales-Perez

Ruth Janett Melgarejo

Yoselin Colorado Rangel

Yoga en Español Training Team

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Ana Paliza-Brown, RYT 200, Reiki Therapist, Postpartum Support Specialist

Ana is a native of the Dominican Republic. She is a certified Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher, Children’s Yoga Teacher, Yoga Therapist in training, Professional Chef, Reiki Therapist, Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, and Postpartum Doula. She is passionate about sharing the healing aspects of yoga and food and is particularly devoted to supporting mothers in the postpartum period in healing, connecting with their newfound selves, and finding their own inner strength and peace, in order to walk their motherhood path joyfully. www.solbodymama.com

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DeePaola Picasso, CYT

DeePaola creates a space that allows you to connect with yourself and the pose on a deeper level, aligning the spiritual practice of yoga with the body, mind and spirit. Her alignment based class is encouraging and supportive and open to newbies or seasoned practitioners. She's studied under Maty Ezraty in Los Angeles and New York City. yogainvogue.com

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Dianna Calvente, 200 RYT, RCYT,  Ayurvedic Health Counselor

Dianna has worked in the non profit-sector for about 15 years, including at Howard Area Community Center as an HIV Prevention Case Manager and now a Caseworker and Health and Wellness Instructor. at Centro Romero. Dianna found yoga through a class she took in 2015 and knew there was more to it than just asanas. She completed her teacher training at Ganesha (Marigold) Yoga and was determined to learn more. She offers free summer classes for children and youth and also teaches individuals living with cancer and their loved ones through Gilda's Club. She is currently finishing up her YOGA 4 Cancer training. 

Evelyn Rodriguez, Teacher Trainer

Evelyn is convinced of yoga’s power to change lives. That is why she shares her passion by teaching yoga, so that more people can benefit from this wonderful discipline. She adapts her classes to the needs of her students with special attention to breath and alignment and focusing on the mind-body connection. She is currently in Chicago teaching bilingual classes in the Ashtanga lineage, as well as yoga for cancer. Evelyn has been collaborating with Alas Wings (Latina Association for Breast Cancer) and YogaCare since 2013. She has also collaborated with Univision and Northwestern University.

Elizabeth Vitell, J.D., E-RYT, RCYT, RPYT

Liz began her yoga journey several decades ago when she lived in South America and took yoga in the middle of a fragrant eucalyptus grove in Chile. After practicing different styles over the years, Liz connected to Baptiste yoga, completed her 200-hour training, and began teaching power Vinyasa. She also completed a 95-hour children’s yoga teacher training with Global Family Yoga ® in 2014 and holds certificates in Therapeutic Yoga for Children and Meditation instruction. Liz obtained additional certification in Yin Yoga (2014), RPYT certification as a pre and postnatal yoga instructor (2016), and Yoga Nidra teacher training with Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra (2017). In other parts of her life, Liz is a licensed attorney, currently retired, and speaks fluent Spanish. She has two grown children, five grandsons and a baby granddaughter.

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Lu Rocha, MA, MSW, LCSW, RYI

Lu is a bilingual Spanish speaking trauma therapist and yoga instructor. She has more than twenty years of counseling, organizing, activism, and advocacy experience within the Latinx community and other marginalized communities. Lu identifies as a Latina with indigenous roots, first born generation in the United States, a proud daughter of a Brazero. She is the founder of Multicultural Consulting Services, which helps institutions make their services accessible to everyone. Lu is dedicated to addressing trauma from a cultural perspective, while using evidence-based and trauma-informed methods. Her professional aspiration is to support the growth of providers of color in the mental health field so that communities of color have more options in obtaining services that align to their cultural beliefs and values.  www.lurocha.net

Michelle García, CYT, Lead Trainer

Michelle Garcia (she/her) is a 200-hour Certified Yoga Teacher with additional Yoga4Cancer (Y4C) training (2018). She teaches an adaptive style of yoga, which focuses on making yoga poses accessible to all people, in all bodies, with any limitation. Michelle obtained her Yoga Alliance certified 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training with Marigold Yoga in 2015. In 2016, Michelle participated with ALAS Wings (Latina Association for Assistance and Prevention of Breast Cancer) and Northwestern University in a study called Estoy Lista for Latino cancer survivors taking a 12-week Spanish-language yoga program. Michelle’s yoga journey began in her early twenties practicing with videos at home. She found that yoga helps balance her stress levels and strengthen her body, but more importantly, yoga continues to teach her to honor and respect her body just as it is in this moment.