by | Jul 28, 2021
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.
by Anwar Baksh | Jun 16, 2021
Grappling with the many setbacks and disappointments that arose for me during the pandemic, I enrolled in Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra Teacher Training live online with Jennifer to give myself the gift of rest and self-care. I am a yoga studio owner, and mother of three children. The challenges and responsibilities of 2020 (a year I will never forget!) left me feeling emotionally drained and exhausted.
The two weekends with Jennifer proved to be an effective at-home meditation retreat! I felt profoundly restored in my soul, my emotions, my body and mind. One of my favorite parts of the training was the opportunity to truly embody the five levels of being (called the koshas) on which Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra is based. I gained true understanding beyond the intellect.
Yoga nidra is a unique form of meditation, which has proven to be the most effective tool I have discovered thus far for quieting the fluctuations of my mind. Jennifer’s training gave me the space to both tend to, and befriend myself. I received the deep rest that I desperately needed.
Jennifer is a beautiful, shining light, and has the unique ability to hold a safe, uplifting space for a wide variety of students. Her teachings were not diluted by the fact that the training was online, and she did an incredible job of formatting the content in such a way that time and space were transcended. We were all united as a cohesive group on Zoom and the teachings were top notch.
Now I feel beyond prepared to lead yoga nidra meditations to my students! Jennifer and her husband Michael take such pride in their offerings, and they go above and beyond to generously and professionally give of themselves and make you feel loved, supported, and prepared. They exceeded my expectations in providing a plethora of resources.
The online market for yoga and meditation trainings is becoming extremely crowded, and it can be confusing to know where to find quality content. I am so comforted to know that I can always turn to Jennifer with her large range of classes, workshops, and trainings when I am searching for quality training and certification.
My primary goal is to learn and understand the nature of my mind, and to create an inner world of love and peace. When I shift my interior landscape with Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra, I am able to navigate the daily demands and blessings of life with intention, heartfulness and strength.
by | May 31, 2021
When I moved to Los Angeles from Ireland, I found that I was missing friends, floundering in my life and having no real direction, and in short, I was depressed.
They say you find your teacher at just the right time, and I stumbled upon a donation studio and started going to the 7:00 am yoga class three times a week, with the most wonderful teacher. I realized I was not alone, I had community, and that my ‘thoughts’ were not to be taken so seriously. Overall yoga helped me become more awake to myself.
Eventually I did my 200-hr Teacher Training and started teaching yoga. I had first come to yoga in the late 90’s in NYC, and it intrigued me, but it didn’t give me that ‘aha’ moment you hear people talk about, and I guess I longed for that.
As much as I have loved the physical yoga postures, meditation practice has been such a challenge over the years. Even when I had the opportunity to be in India, and found myself sitting by the banks of the Ganga, I still had a really hard time calming my mind.
Then I found yoga nidra! It has been such a beautiful gateway into meditation and stillness. I feel so at ease with myself and the world around me when I practice. Along came Jennifer into my life with her incredible Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra Teacher Training. I am so happy that I took the time to do her training. I feel so much more confident in my ability to bring deep rest into my classrooms both in-person and online. Now I have so many more tools to share with my community.
The main focus in my teaching and continuing yoga education has been on restorative forms of yoga. I’ve been lucky to have some incredible teachers, and yet I still felt like there was more I that I wanted within my own practice, as well as more depth that I wanted to offer my students. I am so happy that I found Jennifer and Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra.
It has already been such a gift to share yoga nidra with my students, community, and family. And what feels even more important is how it has expanded my meditation practice. Yoga nidra also has helped me in my daily life, off of the mat too. For example, when I can’t sleep, I guide myself in the body scan, and it helps to calm me, and often put me to sleep. And if I have an argument with my partner, I can feel how the body scan helps me to stay grounded and embodied.
I am so lucky to live in Ireland where I swim outdoors in streams a few times a week, in every season, including winter. We have incredible hikes right outside our door, and yet my yoga nidra practice has enlivened my senses, making me feel even more awake and alive when I’m in nature, and my life. Now I feel like my whole life is my ‘aha’ moment: moment to moment as I live it.
by | Apr 30, 2021
As I reflect back over this past year of changes that Covid has brought into our lives, the one thing I attribute to making the most difference in my life is Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra with Jennifer.
I’m prone to stress and worry, and have tried many ways to cope over the years. I started meditating when I was 23 years old, and have practiced various forms, as well as trained in two styles of meditation. After dabbling with yoga for many years, it’s now become a regular practice for me: focusing on breath helps me to slow down. I love to dance, and walk as well, and all of these practices have helped to tame my IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), manage my anxiety, and keep me resilient. Until yoga nidra took me to a whole new level…
I met Jennifer at Kripalu Center a few years ago and took a couple of yoga classes with her over the weekend. I loved her warm and easygoing presence, and immediately signed up for her newsletter. When Covid hit, I began attending her online yoga nidra classes – and have been with her ever since! In the beginning, I did about five classes a week – her voice melted me! I was hooked. I found such peace and utter bliss each time I did it, I just wanted more.
Being a yoga practitioner and daily meditator, I thought I knew what relaxation felt like in my body, until I found deep healing bliss with Divine Sleep ® Yoga Nidra. During the practice, I find I am extremely relaxed, yet aware, as Jennifer guides me through all the different layers of my being – body, breath, senses, with contrasts like hot and cold, and her beautiful journeys filled with imagery – all while feeling safe and secure.
I often doze off and Jennifer explains that this is quite common, and that ‘my body would get whatever it needed’, and so it does! She said this deeply relaxed state was the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the body’s relaxation response to stress and is crucial for healing. I feel an inner sense of calm that I had never truly experienced before.
Practicing yoga nidra with Jennifer continues to be a blessing! I have several of her recordings on CD and listen to the Insomnia Track to put me to sleep almost every night. No matter what my day has been like, hearing her voice relaxes me, and makes me feel peaceful inside.
Jennifer is gifted, and I’m so grateful she chooses to share her gifts with me and so many others in person and now online. Her yoga nidra has been my refuge and anchor this past year and has become such an important priority in my life, and I can’t imagine that ever changing. In fact, I took her Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra 40-hour online training in January as a 70th birthday gift to myself, and I can’t wait to share it with others in my community.
My daughter is in Guatemala, so sharing yoga nidra with her online is a great way for us to connect now.
I look forward to taking more of Jennifer’s workshops. I love her relaxed teaching style. She radiates compassion in every class and makes learning fun! From Five Element Yoga® and Immune Boost Mondays, to Mudras and of course, Divine Sleep®, I’ll be there with her as my guide. Her classes are always informative and interesting, and it always helps keep me balanced and healthy in body and mind.
My husband said to me the other day, “You seem happy almost all the time now…it’s really nice, and I like it!” He’s not one to give compliments, so that felt big! And my favorite yoga teacher in my area has said to me several times that I’m her ‘poster child’ for being positive through Covid.
I guess I have weathered this year well partly because I accepted it, as it presented itself, one day at a time. I’ve found that I enjoy being more introspective. And I believe Jennifer is part of the reason. Her positive, generous spirit is contagious. She’s so welcoming and gracious and brings joy to others. So thank you Jennifer, for being my guiding light this year.
Clare Harlow, MSW, Career and Life Coaching
www.itsyourlifemakeitwork.com
by | Feb 16, 2021
In 2020 I experienced deep fear, anger and grief – along with renewed appreciation for human connection, and the little things that added sweetness to life. My physical ailments intensified, like allergies, eczema and an infection that required three months of antibiotic treatment.
During the antibiotic treatment, I found myself feeling weak, foggy headed, tense and anxious, with pre-existing chronic digestive issues getting worse. I had just moved into a new home with my partner, and was out of work, only teaching a few yoga classes a month on zoom. Feeling unfulfilled and ‘not good enough’, I fell hard into an old habit of perfectionism. I felt critical of myself and my partner, and I found my yoga practice becoming more and more rigid. I’d only been teaching a year, and I felt I was already losing my enthusiasm for it.
Fortunately, that’s when I found Jennifer’s Five Element Yoga®️ once again. I had received an introduction to her yoga during my 200-hour yoga teacher training. I knew there was something special about it, and wanted to learn more. Over a year later, I cam across her website. Not coincidentally, she was offering training in less than a month!
I took a few Five Element Yoga® virtual classes before confirming my attendance. It was so balancing and grounding, and I began to experience spontaneous joy again. I wanted more! I registered for the upcoming training.
Jennifer truly is a master teacher. I find her classes work on the subtle level, guiding me to explore my body, mind, and spirit with curiosity, playfulness and unconditional love. These qualities which I cultivate during class, have naturally moved ‘off the mat’ and into my daily life.
Since graduating from Five Element Yoga® Teacher Training I feel more balanced. My sense of grounding and security has deepened. I find I treat myself and others with more gentleness. An overall sense of spaciousness emerged, which has helped me to navigate life’s ups and downs with grace.
I find I have an overall sense of spaciousness of time and in my days. I also feel more energized and have a rekindled my sense of purpose, creativity and joy. My physical issues have definitely improved: the eczema cleared up, my tensions dissolved, and my digestion is stronger than it’s been in many years.
My partner, relatives and friends have noticed and made positive comments on the changes they’ve seen in me since the training. My relationships have improved, and I feel more at ease and accepting of myself.
One of the greatest gifts is that I am LOVING teaching again! I just finished guiding a 5-week series, and the response was so positive, I’ve decided to expand my offerings. I’ve also finally started working on the yoga website I had wanted to make for months!
This message came to me from my heart during the journaling portion of Jennifer’s Uplift Your Gracious Heart Workshop.
Spend more moments loving,
forgiving misunderstandings,
practicing kindness.
Keep checking in with me
and opening to my wisdom.
It will lead to freedom,
freedom of the heart.
Thank you Jennifer for sharing yourself and your teachings of Five Element Yoga®️. I look forward to deepening my practice and sharing it with others.
With love and joy,
Amanda
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.
