Sometimes life goes unexpectedly.

This past spring, one of our dear members lost a loved one.

In response, our member has decided to honor her daughter’s passing through the Ashley Joy Memorial Fund. This fund is to help students who need financial assistance towards Francisco’s Practice Intensive.

More about Ashley written from her mother’s perspective.

Our daughter, Ashley, began her yoga practice in earnest after graduating from law school. Several years later I took yoga classes when my daughter was estranged from our family.  My hope was that this would give us a connection.  It worked.  Ashley and I enjoyed the practice together for several years and the family reestablished a loving and supportive relationship with her. In March of this year Ashley took her own life after struggling several years with depression.

Ashley genuinely loved her work, and through her short but intense career, she made a positive impact for millions of Coloradans. As an attorney with a labor law firm, she represented plaintiffs and classes in the Fair Labor Standards Act and litigated before federal and state courts. As an attorney with the Colorado Department of Labor she continued to investigate systemic labor law violations, then recommended and implemented legal positions protecting workers, including paid sick leave, which have become law in Colorado.

Ashley was a deeply spiritual soul – the only tattoos on her body were a verse from the bible and a lotus blossom.  In her personal life, Ashley was profoundly loving, generous, and thoughtful. Her kind, impromptu gifts let those she loved and cared for feel her presence, even if she could not be physically there. She collected children’s books to donate to prisons. She had a smart, ironic, and appreciated sense of humor. She was beautiful. She loved tulips, white orchids, raspberries, candles, shiny jewelry, mirrors, and the beach. She experienced peace & solace in yoga, delving deep into the teaching and philosophy of the tradition, and practiced loving kindness meditation. At the time of her death, she was enrolled in Vinyasa and Hatha Yoga teacher training with the intent of teaching yoga to women who had experienced trauma.

We want to honor Ashley’s passion with this gift to Kaiut to enable others to experience the joy she experienced through the practice of yoga.

If you need financial assistance in attending Francisco’s Practice Intensive, please send us an email.

If you’d like to keep Ashley’s spirit alive and contribute to the Ashley Joy Foundation, then please send us an email.