by JenYoga! | Jan 25, 2026
As a special education math teacher, I slowly burned out from pouring myself into my students and classroom while neglecting to refill my own cup. I shifted to working as part of a project management team in a construction company and enjoyed it better.
Even still, stresses were rising at home: my husband and I began trying to get pregnant, assuming it would happen easily. Instead, it took longer than expected, filled with tracking, timing, monitoring, and trying to outsmart nature, all of which only amped up my tension and slowed things down even more.
Eventually, I loosened my grip, stopped trying so hard, and made peace with not having a child. Not long after, we conceived! It was then, during pregnancy that I began to practice yoga and meditation as a way to support myself physically and mentally during my prenatal journey. As someone who was obese at the time, it was important to me to find a physical practice I could participate in, but one that was accessible and safe since I had not been active prior to pregnancy.
I started by using a meditation app and began to feel calmer and more grounded. I felt connected with my body and my breath. I was able to feel peace and a sense of non-attachment with the entire pregnancy process, surrendering to the fact that many outcomes were out of my control. It opened me up to trust intuitively that my body knew what was best.
I found gentle yoga classes in my area and my practice helped me to feel the most centered and relaxed I have ever felt. It was incredible!
After having my son, life got busy as a ‘new mom’, and I entered my third career: working in healthcare payroll systems. Yoga and meditation got pushed into the background so I could focus on one ‘fire’ at a time as life was fast and furious. In hindsight, this was counterproductive and the opposite of what I needed, but in this time of stress I reverted back to digging in the claws of ‘control’ and hyper-productivity.
When the pandemic struck, my son was two, and my role transitioned from the office to working from home and navigating new routines. I began to practice yoga virtually with various studios around the world, but struggled with making the time to regularly show up for myself as there was always something else I could be doing around the house instead.
I had a sense that something in my life was waiting to be recognized. It felt like there was something hidden inside that needed to be revealed – a slight feeling of discontentment, but without a source. Nothing was ‘wrong’, but I didn’t feel ‘right’.
I began searching for a clue through books, online, journaling, and oracle cards, hoping that perhaps an answer would appear. It lingered in the back of my mind, and I could feel it in my body, but wasn’t sure what my heart was asking for.
I found I was drawn to Buddhist Meditation centers, meditation retreats, intuition workshops, as well as mindfulness, yoga philosophy, and identifying the meaning of one’s life. But I knew there was a hidden piece of the puzzle not yet discovered.
I woke up one day and questioned, “why don’t I do yoga anymore?” I reconnected with my local studio and found a renewed sense of community and purpose there. There was a piece of myself that needed a space like that to thrive. At that time I discovered Jennifer Reis and began practicing with her Yoga Nidras and Series yoga classes. I felt drawn to attend Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra Teacher Training to dive deeper.
In fact, practicing her Yoga Nidra every day in the afternoon, and also in the evening, with my journaling practice to report what I noticed within myself, I would say has significantly changed my life.
Now I feel a sense tranquility and the ability to flow with life. I have been able to reflect on my limiting beliefs, and notice what I want to release, and also what I wish to cultivate. My practice has helped me embrace abundance and a sense of self-worth.
Yoga Nidra has allowed me to unlock my creativity and connect with the deeper layers of myself, which has led to many significant personal developments.
I have started teaching an afterschool children’s yoga class, and supporting adults with disabilities yoga class. I guide yoga nidra to friends and family. And I am looking forward to presenting in expos, as well as guiding a women’s recharge and restore retreat in 2026.
I feel I have unlocked a part of myself that I did not know existed! Now I am tapping into my potential. I feel a sense of purpose flowing through me. And I’m so excited to share this out into the world.
As a former classroom teacher, I find it incredibly fulfilling to share both movement and yoga nidra meditation with children. I have overheard my students reminding each other to tap into their affirmations, like “I am strong” or “I am brave,” if they are doing something challenging.
They love when I lead them in Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra at the end of yoga class. And its my hope they will be able to practice the self-regulation and relaxation tools they learn with me in their daily lives.
My son enjoys practicing yoga nidra at night. He also has begun helping me brainstorm new yoga nidra journeys. We enjoy finding landscape images for yoga nidra inspiration. We also love finding good ‘describing’ words for scenes. He is an emerging writer, and I am excited to see how the creativity and imagination within yoga nidra will impact his writing in the classroom.
For myself as practicing yoga nidra, I’ve found a great deal of relaxation, peace, and the ability to accept things as they are. This spills into my daily life, bringing me more mindfulness and ease every day. Now challenges do not impact me as they use to. I have a sense of being connected to something greater and larger beyond myself.
Guiding yoga nidra has given me the opportunity to unlock my imagination and creativity, something I haven’t done since childhood, and I feel grateful for it’s reentry into my life. I love Jennifer’s online community of teachers and students, whom I have learned a great deal from and made strong personal connections.
The resources and guidance Jennifer provides in the trainings helped me gain confidence to find my authentic voice. Previously, I was concerned if I would be able to mirror Jennifer’s voice, but she reassured me that it’s not about trying to become Jennifer, or anyone else, but instead applying Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra framework while staying true to myself. I was supported that I am ‘enough’.
Jennifer has created a program that allows for a smooth knowledge transfer to others, regardless of their prior experience, so the gift of yoga nidra can be shared globally. Jennifer creates a welcoming, safe, non-judgmental environment where teacher training participants can lean into vulnerability and feel supported and nourished.
When Jennifer leads Yoga Nidra it’s truly magical. Her exceptional creativity and writing skills have helped me to go inward and rest within gratitude, spaciousness, and acceptance, for example, in a space that feels warm and supportive. I am able to explore places I have never visited, like Egyptian pyramids or a crystal cave, while deep parts of my imagination and layers of my essence are revealed and nourished.
By devoting a few quiet moments to engage in my yoga nidra practice, I am able to be more fully present and show up as the best version of myself. I am grateful for the opportunity to practice and learn from Jennifer, as well as continue to develop my skills in service to others. I have found and opened a treasure chest of gems just waiting for me to discover within myself and the world.
by JenYoga! | Apr 5, 2025
I had asked myself perfection in absolutely anything I did. Growing up in a culture that glorified achievement and hard work, where rest was rarely valued, until recently I couldn’t conceive the idea of what it meant to slow down.
I was playing hard and fast game. Along with the fact that I am naturally a ‘fixer’, as well as highly biased for action. If there is ever a problem, I take it on and solve it. And trust me I didn’t stop until every task was completed, and all issues resolved, which was draining me.
On top of it all I am a very creative and highly sensitive person, thus I have always felt a lot, and many times felt totally overwhelmed. I struggled for a long time with what felt like the impossible task of regulating my nervous system. I longed to understand myself more deeply to bring a shift into my habits and outlook.
I moved to the USA from Italy and built my career in the tech industry. For over ten years, I did a great job and learnt so much, but also experienced burnout. My health suffered. For more than 15 years I was in constant pain with other symptoms no one knew why. I had to make adjustments to my career and take time to rest. During this time of recovery I became a yoga teacher and this has led me to so many great things, including Jennifer and her teachings.
In the last couple of years it has been quite difficult for me as I was finally diagnosed with a chronic condition that has ‘no cure’. Overall things seemed to pile up in my life. I felt it was impossible for me to slow down. I was absolutely unable to rest. So I tried but really struggled with traditional sitting meditation.
And then I met Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra! A yoga teacher recommended Jennifer Reis and I looked into her online work and offerings. I plunged in and started attending her 6-week Yoga Series as well as deep rest with weekly Yoga Nidra Thursdays. And I noticed how healing and nurturing this time that I carved our for myself in yoga nidra has just wonderful for my nervous system.
I even started finding joy in life again! I could feel my nervous system began to have more tolerance for the stresses in life. Although I’m still in not optimal situation as the chronic disease challenges me every day, yoga nidra has become a tender nest! I especially rest deeply when I am overwhelmed–and being an highly sensitive person I can be overwhelmed a lot.
The effects of yoga nidra on my pain has been nothing short of amazing! Far less pain now. Other incredible effects is that I digest and receive nourishment more fully, and I can now fully rest as well as sleep better. It has helped me teach yoga in new ways, allowing them to become more relaxed and present. I see they are able to land in the moment now.
Overall yoga nidra has been life changing for me, and I can’t wait to offer it now that I am a recent graduate of Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra Teacher Training. I love the training as it was truly such an amazing content and experience. I can’t wait to offer this gift to my students!
I can’t say enough about the impact that Jennifer’s teaching is having in my life. I am still new as a yoga teacher, and her 6 weeks Series courses (that I attend religiously) have been key in shaping the teacher I am becoming. From her words, mudras, pranayama, yoga postures and incorporating the Elements, I receive so much.
Jennifer’s knowledge of the body both physical and energetic is so evident in the very original way she brings everything together. And I love her Workbooks and Manuals, as they’re just so well written and designed that I use them all the time.
I love Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra every Thursday on zoom with Jennifer and it is a true treat for me. She comes up with creative imagery that she builds for every journey.
My life has changed because of yoga nidra and I am forever in gratitude!
by charology | Apr 13, 2023
Before I practiced yoga, I had very few skills to deal with anxiety and stress. Being a creative person, I have an active mind that sometimes is flooded with ideas and things to explore, investigate, and create. Being bombarded with “thinking” caused anxiety and panic in my daily life to the point that it became unbearable.
This lack of self-regulation affected my sleep, ability to travel, and even my social interactions. My world was getting smaller and smaller. I knew something had to change and I was searching. As a person in long-term recovery from alcoholism, every tool and every layer of learning supports my continued sobriety and mental health.
Then I found yoga! Practicing yoga postures and breathing taught me how to get out of my head and into my body and being. My first time in class at a yoga studio, I was so deep into the practice with presence in my body that the 75 minutes just flew by.
I was amazed! That was the beginning of my journey into creating a yoga-centered life. After practicing yoga steadily, I finally found a sense of inner spaciousness where my thoughts could actually slow down.
Eventually I wanted to offer this gift to others and became a certified 500-hour yoga teacher with the intention of developing Yoga4Sobriety – my school based on the Chakra energy wheel system. And as it turned out, yoga has been the biggest gift for me! Yoga allowed me to both focus my thoughts and inspirations to flow in a steady rhythm so that I could create and implement something real, tangible and valuable. And it gave me a deep wisdom tradition and practical practice methods to help others – this is my contribution!
Recently I found Jennifer’s Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra. Practicing yoga nidra gives me a deeper understanding of how to sink into stillness, and how to shift out of human “doing” and into human “being.” I took Jennifer’s online training which renewed my love for yogic wisdom, especially the layers of being called koshas, which Divine Sleep is based on. I found the whole training, and this style of yoga nidra, has been a great complement to my chakra-focused work.
Personally for myself, I find yoga nidra helps me to hear from my heart. It allows me to clarify my intentions and supports me in manifesting what I’m here to do. I feel even more productive now!
Forever a student, and wanting to grow and evolve, after the training I began to work with Jennifer Reis through mentorship. This has been a tremendous help to bring practical wisdom into my life as I find the mentor relationship keeps me accountable and grounded.
I align with Jennifer’s teachings and philosophies on and off the mat, which makes this relationship very special.
I continue to integrate the wisdom of yoga into all aspects of my life, and I find anxiety and panic are mostly a thing of the past. Yoga has assisted me living fully, mindfully, creatively, joyfully, productively – and for this I am forever grateful.
by Anwar Baksh | Sep 24, 2022
It was a natural progression for me to begin to practice with Jennifer online during the pandemic. I understand well what it is like to spend a sustained amount of time in ‘stress mode’. Prolonged stress was familiar to me in my younger years—in fact, a friend who recognized my stress levels at the time gave me a t-shirt that read “If it were not for stress, I would have no energy at all!”
Although I had substantially decreased stress from my early life, the “fight or flight” response was certainly amplified by the pandemic for me. My life had been steadily moving in the direction of a regular yoga nidra practice; it was not an accident that I found Jennifer’s classes and her particular style of practice. I had earned my 200-hr yoga teacher training 2012, and in 2017, I participated in a workshop given by the team at Veterans Yoga Project.
It was through work with the Veterans Yoga Project that I was introduced to yoga nidra as an effective way of obtaining a type of relaxation that can go deeper than savasana alone. I was curious that yoga nidra was utilized effectively when working with practitioners having a history of trauma.
Jennifer’s Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra practice gives me permission: this practice allows me to be where I am at. For me, it creates a unique space in which I can release tensions and deeply relax. I always emerge refreshed, renewed, and restored.
Thanks to Jennifer’s online yoga nidra classes, and my own consistent practice, I now have a space to go to any day and receive this gift of renewal. And that makes all the difference. I have also passed along Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra to my son and his friends. The earlier kids can learn these practices, the better. An early start allows them to have these tools for life!
Practicing online with Jennifer has also introduced me to a sweet community. There is a sense that we all share in consistent practice of self-care, as well as an intention to connect more deeply with oneself, with others, and with ‘source’. It feels like home!
As I practiced with Jennifer during her livestream teachings I wondered if how she presented online was really how she is in-person. I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to go to Kripalu Center and practice with her. I attended her weekend retreat and it was amazing! Now I can say she is the real deal: genuine, kind, and a brilliant teacher. And, I cannot wait to attend another class with her through the ethers and in-person!
