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february2016yogajournal.comJENNIFER GRAHAM PHOTOGRAPHYA former corporate executive
turned yoga teacher, community
organizer, and political disrupter
shares her method for finding and
activating your unique passion on
the yoga mat and beyond.
By Seane Cornan interview
withThis is the final in a yearlong series of interviews conducted by
guest editor Seane Corn, co-founder with Suzanne Sterling and
Hala Khouri of the yoga service organization Off the Mat Into the
World, each featuring a different leader in yoga service and social-
justice work. This month, Corn interviews Kerri Kelly, founder of
CTZNWELL (ctznwell.org), a group that activates communities to
focus their collective energy toward transforming our planet into
a place that ensures well-being for everyone.SEANE CORN What first brought you to the mat and
why did you focus on mobilizing the yoga community
to create leadership?
KERRI KELLY If I’m being perfectly honest, what first
brought me to the mat was my obsession with being fit.
My wake-up call came on 9/ 11 , when I lost my stepdad,
who was a firefighter in New York City—that’s when my
practice became so much more. Everything until that
moment had been quite ordinary, expected, and individu-
alistic. I grew up in a white, privileged suburb, excelled
in overachieving, and was on the path of corporate domi-
nation. September 11 disrupted that story and forced me
to engage with the world around me. In that moment,
whether I liked it or not, I understood what interdepen-
dence really meant—I could no longer just stand by and
let it happen. My practice enabled me to navigate that cha-
otic time, see a new perspective, and chart a new course.
From then on, it just rolled. My practice led me to my
purpose, and my purpose led me in 2oo7 to Off the Mat
Into the World. Through that work I bridged my practice,kerri kelly
my business background, and my passion for personal and
social change. At the time, we were asking the question, How
do we engage in the critical issues of this moment through the
lens of our practice? It was a question that deeply resonated for
me, personally, as that was my experience. And so I became
curious about the relationship between personal transforma-
tion and social change, and what was possible if we could lift
up a new kind of leadership—one that was conscious, con-
nected, and courageous. My journey was a step-by-step pro-
cess. You don’t go from o to 8o. You go from o to 1 o, and then
you discover a new thing about yourself—and that creates
more capacity to step in, be courageous, and make change.
SC How did Yoga Votes inspire you to become more politically
involved and ultimately launch CTZNWELL?
KK Over the years, I had witnessed yogis, meditators, and
mindful practitioners waking up through their practice and
translating that into their lives—even if it was a small thing
like transforming the way they ate or how they parented. This
awakening started to inform our social views of one another
and of the world, and my colleagues and I saw people get
actively engaged in conversations about social change. That
was the inspiration for YogaVotes (yogavotes.org). In 2o 1 2,
we launched the campaign as a grand experiment of what’s
possible when the yoga community finds its voice, comes
together, and votes for change. It was an incredible experience
that ignited conversation about the relationship between our
practice and political engagement.
Coming out of that experience, we dug deeper. We found
that the well-being market—the aggregate community of
continued on page 34GAME CHANGERS
live well