Before I discovered yoga asana and yoga nidra with Jennifer, I experienced regular body pain, fatigue, anxiety, and high levels of disassociation. I arrived at Jennifer’s Kripalu yoga classes in 2011 as a twenty-something.
Undiagnosed at that time, I was struggling with both post traumatic stress disorder and fibromyalgia. I didn’t know how to ‘be’ in my body. I felt pain everywhere, all the time. I couldn’t comfortably rest while conscious, and I was very high strung.
I can honestly say that without Jennifer’s yoga and yoga nidra instruction I would not be the person or the teacher I am today.
While working as an employee of Kripalu Center, I attended Jennifer’s classes whenever possible. Her approach was the perfect balance of self-observation, physical challenge, and self-care that I needed. There was, and is, something to how she leads yoga postures that has taught me both how to find my way into a deeper physical experience, and how to be in a place of self-acceptance as well as self-love.
What also sets Jennifer’s classes apart is that she leads yoga nidra during savasana pose and practice. l didn’t know anything about yoga nidra when I began practicing with Jennifer, but I knew that whatever she was guiding me in during relaxation/ savasana, left me feeling like a new person every time!
After moving across the country from Jennifer and Kripalu Center (before Zoom classes were a thing) I continued practicing with Jennifer’s Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra recordings whenever I started to feel a need for a recharge. Her yoga nidra practice lifted me out of pain, emotional drain, fatigue, and depression.
In 2015 I returned to Kripalu to receive my 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training with Jennifer because I knew I wanted to teach the complete and nourishing kind of yoga that she taught me. I got everything I was looking for and more from my training – and post-graduation I took small steps into my role as a yoga teacher.
In 2020 I was offered an opportunity to teach meditation online and quickly realized that although I had been practicing yoga nidra for what seemed like a lifetime, when I guided it, something was missing. That’s when I took Jennifer’s online Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra teacher training and found exactly what I needed in order to confidently lead yoga nidra.
I had thought I knew how yoga nidra worked, but I quickly learned during the training that there was so much more to discover. Not only did I leave the training more confident in my ability to guide my students through this imperative practice, but I revitalized my passion for integrating yoga nidra into my own practice and daily life.
Since those first days practicing with Jennifer, I have developed into a grounded, comfortable, level-headed individual, and yoga teacher. I love practicing meditation, yoga, and breathwork – because now I know how to ‘be’ in my body. I’ve learned how to be with all the sensations, emotions, and feelings within me.
This has given me a greater sense of ease in both my body and mind. I feel deeply blessed to have learned how to practice and teach these healing modalities. They truly are a priceless gift.
