MamaNurture Prenatal School Code of Ethics

At the MamaNurture Prenatal Yoga School we believe in empowering individuals to explore their own unique health and well-being through the study and practice of yoga.

Upon completion of your RPYT MamaNurture training, you will have gained specialized training to support the pre- and postnatal yoga student.

As MamaNurture prenatal yoga teachers, we acknowledge our responsibility to create a safe and inclusive environment for the students in our classes.

The founders, directors, assistants and teachers at MamaNurture are committed to conducting ourselves in a manner that is consistent with the principles of yoga. We value the ethical principles of yoga outlined by Patanjali in the yama and niyama 8-fold path. We strive to incorporate these principles into our professional practice.

Personal Development

MamaNurture teachers will:

  1. Stay informed about new developments within the yoga and other related fields through continued education
  2. Seek out and engage in collegial relationships, recognizing that isolation can lead to a loss of perspective and judgment
  3. Manage our personal lives in a healthful fashion, seeking appropriate assistance for personal problems or conflicts
  4. Maintain our own practice and engage in opportunities to learn from others and continue our evolution on the yogic path
  5. Cultivate an awareness of how we can bring the yama and niyama into our own daily life
  6. Be committed to personal and professional growth

Teacher – Student Relationship

MamaNurture teachers will:

  1. Demonstrate respect to all students regardless of age, gender, religion, ethnicity, national origin, family dynamics, physical and psychological limitation or sexual orientation
  2. Respect the values, level of experience, beliefs and aspirations of all yoga students
  3. Protect students’ privacy and right to confidentiality, treating all information about students as confidential
  4. Obtain consent from students before photographing, audio or video tape recording or permitting third party observation of yoga sessions
  5. Observe all privacy policy laws. Obtain permission for any mailing lists. Clarify the content of mail-outs and respect the students’ right to opt out at anytime
  6. Report any concern they have for the safety and wellbeing of their student to the appropriate emergency support
  7. Communicate with students in a polite, respectful, compassionate and honest manner
  8. Communicate respect for students through actions, language and behaviour
  9. Consider and listen to the needs, concerns and preferences of the student
  10. Teach to the level of experience and physical capacity of the student
  11. Offer ample modifications, without suggestion of there being a “full expression” or destination in any pose. Modifications are shared with everyone as options
  12. Teach within their scope of practice, training and experience. Refer students to specific health professionals when anything is beyond their scope of practice
  13. Recognise if and when they do not have the knowledge or capacity to safely teach a student. Obtain appropriate training or decline any teaching beyond their professional capacity
  14. Allow students to own the responsibility for their safety, giving them the information they need to do so. This does not absolve the yoga teacher from responsibility but it acknowledges that adults also take responsibility for themselves
  15. Have a way to obtain consent before offering any hand-on assists. When assisting, being respectful of the yoga student
  16. Communicate in a way that empowers students, sharing comments that are constructive, helpful and positive. Never using comments that are disrespectful
  17. Seek the information they need to teach students in an informed way. Obtaining health information before teaching as well as observing students during class
  18. Keep a record of any reportable injury. Check with specific labour laws to define what is a reportable injury
  19. Adhere to relevant legislative requirements relating to safety and care including Occupational Health and Safety and Duty of Care requirements
  20. Maintain public liability and professional indemnity insurance requirements
  21. Not abandon or neglect students. If we are unable, or unwilling for appropriate reasons, to provide professional help or continue a professional relationship, every reasonable effort is made to arrange for continuation of instruction with another teacher
  22. Only make realistic statements regarding the benefits of yoga
  23. Avoid imposing our belief on others, although we may express them when appropriate in the yoga class
  24. Recognize the trust placed in and unique power of the student-teacher relationship. While acknowledging the complexity of some yoga relationships, we avoid exploiting the trust and dependency of students. We avoid those dual relationships with students (e.g. business, close personal or sexual relationships) that could impair our professional judgment, compromise the integrity of our instructions and/or use the relationship for our gain. We do not engage in harassment, abusive words or actions or exploitive coercion of students or former students
  25. Abstain from any sexual contact with a current client/student after the professional relationship is established
  26. Understand that all forms of sexual behaviour or harassment with students are unethical, even when a student invites or consents to such behaviour involvement. Sexual behaviour is defined as, but not limited to all forms of overt and covert seductive speech, gestures, and behaviours as well as physical contact of a sexual nature; harassment is defined as, but not limited to, repeated comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature
  27. Recognize that the teacher-student relationship involves a power imbalance, the residual effects of which can remain after the student is no longer studying with the teacher. Therefore, we suggest extreme caution if you choose to enter into a personal relationship with a former student
    Relationship with Peers

MamaNurture teachers will:

  1. Speak respectfully of other yoga teachers, traditions, lineages, training and health modalities
  2. Treat other yoga teachers and colleagues in a respectful manner
  3. When appropriate, refer to and work cooperatively with other yoga teachers and relevant health practitioners, to meet the needs of the student
  4. Consult and take advice from colleagues and mentors, when appropriate
  5. Take responsibility as a fellow member of the yoga teacher community, especially when sharing new information that is informing your teaching. Share from a place of “we used to do this” instead of pointing out an individual teacher or style of yoga as “wrong”

Professional Practices

MamaNurture teachers will:

  1. Use knowledge for the benefit of the people they serve and not to secure unfair personal advantage
  2. Discuss fees, financial arrangements and refund policies first in a straightforward, professional manner
  3. Represent facts truthfully to students, sharing referral sources and third party payers regarding credentials and services rendered. Correct any misrepresentation of our professional qualifications
  4. Refrain from slander of colleagues or other professionals
  5. Refrain from knowingly soliciting another teacher’s students
  6. Respect copyright and acknowledge sources when drawing on the work of others
  7. Abide by all relevant business and legislative requirements, including, but not limited to, insurance, work cover, pay and conditions, taxation, accounting, marketing and advertising, and copyright
  8. Ensure all information relating to the benefits of yoga and information used for promotional and marketing purposes is accurate, fair, clearly stated and not misleading in any way
  9. Treat all employees, assistants, the community, students, colleagues and other yoga businesses fairly, transparently and honestly in the course of all business transactions
  10. As much as possible adhere to environmentally friendly and sustainable business practices, including, but not limited to, recycling, using energy efficient products, being energy efficient, reducing waste, saving water and travelling smarter

Inspired by the California Yoga Teachers Association Code of Ethics, the Colorado School of Yoga Code of Ethics, the Yoga Australia Code of Professional Conduct, the IAYT Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibilities and the British Wheel of Yoga Duty of Care