Jacoby Ballard

Jacoby Ballard, a social justice educator and writer, has been teaching yoga for 15 years. He cofounded the worker-owned cooperative Third Root Community Health Center in Brooklyn, New York, and Bending Towards Justice, which trains contemplative teachers in diversity, anti-oppression, and justice.

Much of his work centers on embodiment, trauma, and social justice, which earned him the 2015 Game Changer Award, and in 2016 he received a Good Karma award for his work in queer and trans communities. His writing appears in Yoga, the Body, and Embodied Social Change; the Trans Buddhist Anthology, The Yoga and Body Image book, and Real World Mindfulness for Beginners.

A continual theme of Jacoby’s work is with his queer and trans community, deepening compassion, connection, courage, and resilience. He offers mindfulness and yoga tools on college and high school campuses toward healing for activists, leadership development, and solidarity and alliance. Jacoby serves on the advisory board of the Yoga Service Council, and is on faculty at Off the Mat, Into the World.