SUSAN LEWIS

Refreshed By Five Element Yoga®

by | Dec 20, 2020

My family has a history of mental health issues, and I was first introduced to yoga by a sibling, who uses yoga as a way to alleviate anxiety. I myself struggle with clinical depression, generalized anxiety, excessive worry, a heightened sense of responsibility, and perfectionism. I’ve spent a lifetime worrying about a future I can’t control and torturing myself over a past I can’t change. I get very tired and feel like often I’m often running on empty!

I found Five Element Yoga® and Jennifer Reis through Kripalu which offered information about her. I began taking classes with her and love the combination of movement and rest. The self-care in terms of activating meridians and gentle massage is nice, too, as I’m sometimes anxious, and as I enjoy caring for others, I often forget to care for myself.

Yoga nidra has been a wonderful way to calm myself in the midst of stress, tension, and anxiety. It’s a vital tool in terms of rooting myself in the present moment, aware of where my body is in space. A few years ago, I added a yoga nidra training to my growing list of certifications. Because I’m often tired, yoga nidra adds some time of deep rest and relaxation. Following Jennifer’s warm voice keeps my mind busy enough so that I can truly sink into Mother Earth and rest into her loving presence.

Yoga postures have become a moving meditation for me, providing peace and relaxation. And, when I rise from my Five Element Yoga® practice, I feel refreshed, present in the moment and accepting of myself. My husband Ken (featured in one of the photos) is ever so supportive! And my cocker spaniel Domino loves yoga too, usually joining me on my mat.

Jennifer radiates warmth, caring, patience, and welcome. As a retired massage therapist whose hands still hurt sometimes, two knee replacements, as well as struggles with my weight, I’m pleased to feel at home with her yoga that is easily accessible and easy for me to modify.

I recently completed my teacher training in adaptive yoga and been teaching yoga for about two years. I’m delighted to have completed Jennifer’s Five Element Yoga® teacher training live online at the end of 2020. I love to teach gentle, beginner’s, chair, and yoga nidra. Given my interest in providing adaptive yoga, I’m thrilled to have Five Elements Yoga® in my toolbox! This model of yoga will certainly help me welcome students of all abilities.

CAROL TEDESCO

Great Medicine For Me

by | Nov 30, 2020

I discovered Jennifer Reis a few years ago through a Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra session led by one of her students, who was visiting my home of Key West. Something deep opened up within me during that yoga nidra – I released a well of emotion – and later that day something quite wonderful and serendipitous occurred: I consciously reached out to my late father in my meditation.

I acknowledged an apology he’d offered while still living, which at the time I had awkwardly brushed off, minimizing the cause behind the apology, and saying it was ‘unnecessary’. And now, in the meditative state, I was able to graciously accept his apology, as I wished I had done while he was living. And I also asked his forgiveness for my part in the dynamic.

That very day I received an email from an old friend of my father’s who said he’d been cleaning out old emails and “came across this.” What “this” was doesn’t really matter here. What matters is that I’ve found when I practice Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra, my antenna goes up and those kind of serendipities start happening.

That first session a seed was planted and I wanted more. I realized I wanted to take Jennifer’s Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra teacher training. However, time, travel, and finances were not all lining up. I work as a publicist, photographer, and historic shipwreck professional and I was very kept very busy with these threads in my life.

Then COVID-19 happened. Go figure that something so dire could be the catalyst to allow me to do the training, but it was. Jennifer reconfigured the course for live online training. I can’t imagine that an in-person experience could have been any better. The training was an uplifting and enriching experience from beginning to end, and not surprisingly, was accompanied by a series of “divine serendipities” that came one after another. A few of which involved the emerald cross painted by artist Kate Peachey in the “rock art” photo shown here.

And honestly, since then, each time I’ve attended Jennifer’s classes or workshops online, some wonderful serendipity has taken place, which I perceive as divine ‘high-fives’, like a smattering of golden stardust assuring me I’m in the right place, at the right time, with the right tribe. This has been an amazing boost during this pandemic time.

Next up is Jennifer’s Five Element Yoga® teacher training! A significant component of my work as a photographer requires balance, stamina, and flexibility. It’s not unusual for me to have to sprint for a few blocks while carrying a ladder, a couple of cameras and a backpack full of accessories, jumping onto platforms and over obstacles! At the age of sixy-one, yoga is an essential part of my life that helps me to stay fit for my very physically demanding and exciting work.

As well, I was born with an extraordinarily well-developed sense of urgency and work-ethic, so much so that when I’m not immediately engaged in some kind of work production, I feel guilty. Connecting with Jennifer and her teachings and practices, as well as the community that has developed in our classes and trainings, has been great medicine for me and my over-motivated spirit. I feel much more reconnected to my intuitive and creative nature.

The more I come into contact with higher vibrations, the more I respond with higher vibrations of my own. In today’s “cult of personality” – self-defined and pre-packaged celebrity society, Jennifer stands out as the real deal. Honest, true, caring, and wise. Indescribably refreshing. Her knowledge is deep – the kind of deep that takes many years and extensive study to achieve – layer upon layer upon layer. In other words, one does not “become” a Jennifer Reis overnight. How wonderful that all that knowledge is contained in a being of such enormous warmth who also possesses a delightful gift for teaching.

I’m so looking forward my next workshop experience with Jennifer – and Michael, the man behind the scenes who keeps all the wheels turning. In these days of pandemic, with livelihoods so disrupted, it can feel difficult to justify directing funds to something that one might consider non-essential for survival. In my opinion, this type of investment in oneself is more crucial now than ever! And this will be beneficial not only for me personally, but those in my orbit – a ripple whose effect is immeasurable.

Thank you, Jennifer for sharing your many gifts, and thank you Jennifer and Michael for bringing this wonderful work online, making it possible for me to attend and benefit.

EDNA MILLER

My Life Improved With Five Element Yoga®

by | Oct 30, 2020

Eighteen months after being diagnosed with osteoarthritis, I had to undergo a total hip replacement. I tried everything possible to avoid surgery, but my quality of life kept deteriorating to the point that I could no longer take walks. I had to use a cane, when I walked anywhere, and eventually, even around the house.

A lover of nature, instead of taking walks along Lake Ontario where I lived, I could only drink in the healing beauty by sitting on a large lake-side rock. And my yoga practice, which I had been practicing to some degree for decades, was limited to floor work, breathing and meditation. My new bionic hip gave me back my life! Gradually, over many months, I slowly reached my prior range of motion and cautiously worked my way back into most of my postures.

Something was missing though. I felt the need to reset. I needed to recharge and to somehow invigorate myself and my yoga practice. I hadn’t been to Kripalu Center for a while and thought it was time, so I searched for an appealing class. The description of Jennifer’s weekend FIVE ELEMENT YOGA® retreat sounded like exactly what I needed!

Five Element Yoga® resonated with me immediately! Jennifer’s retreat far surpassed my expectations. I was accustomed to steeping myself in nature: that’s where I go for grounding, balance and solace. Weaving nature’s five elements into yoga practice was a natural for me! This was a way to deepen my practice and knowledge. I left the retreat inspired and rejuvenated, ready for my new practice!

Five Element Yoga® feels holistic and complete, and I embraced every aspect of it: nature’s elements, chakra wheels, postures, breath work, mudras, self-massage, creativity, and introspection. Also how it draws from ancient roots of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda gives it such wisdom and depth. I went home with Jennifer’s guided CD and knew I’d be back for Five Element Yoga® Teacher Training that same year! I wanted to take a deeper dive into it to immerse and to experience all its benefits. I also was interested to bring something new back to my yoga students.

I practiced regularly with Jennifer’s guided CD’s including her Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra too!  And then Five Element Yoga® Teacher Training was amazing and gave me the depth of experience and learning I was looking for.

The effects of Five Element Yoga® on my life have been far-reaching. Now my yoga practice takes me to a deeper place. I have a clear keen awareness of its healing power, and how its healed me in many ways. Now when issues needing my attention bubble up during or after practice, I feel more empowered to face and resolve them.

I truly enjoy all aspects of this approach to yoga, and eagerly look forward to each session! It’s got me excited about yoga again. I weave aspects of Five Element Yoga® into my work with private clients, and I’m delighted to see the heart-warming and positive effects this practice has on them.

My relationship with the natural world has also intensified and deepened. Over the past several years I traveled around our beautiful country, visiting over 20 state and national parks and monuments. Now I see everything differently in nature: I feel and know I am a part of it all. And I see myself in nature.

One morning I practiced Five Element Yoga® next to the Colorado River at sunrise, with the sun casting deep red and orange hues on the water and rocky cliffs around me. It was thrilling! I was integrated right into the landscape. I had a similar experience near Zion National Park, practicing my elements with the majestic red-tinged cliffs supporting me.

Jennifer is a gifted and creative yoga teacher who demonstrates a breadth and depth of knowledge. Her very presence and soothing voice instill peace and calm in me, and her expressive style of guiding yoga takes me to a profound level of experience.

Fast forward to 2020, with the limitations and uncertainties imposed by Covid-19 and other critical situations around our country, it has been challenging for me. When I learned that Jennifer was offering a Five Element Yoga® Workshop on TRANSITION + TRANSFORMATION, I signed up immediately. I knew she would bring her extensive healing and yoga background with her creativity to give me guidance and tools to help me through this unprecedented time.

I came away with a fresh new perspective and realization that because the world is in transitions, I too am in the midst of transitions. She reminded us that many of the emotional and physical effects we may be experiencing, such as depression, anxiety, insomnia and emotional swings, are ‘normal’ for transitional periods. Jennifer gave me wonderful tools to navigate this rough terrain all tailored for coping with transitional times. We finished with a delicious Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra. The experience left me feeling calm, reassured, empowered and hopeful.

Thank you Jennifer, for sharing your gifts with me!

MINKI DUNN

I Have Found Fresh + Bright Energy Within

by | Aug 29, 2020

Around nine years ago, I had a serious health scare, that left me with joint pain and neuropathy in my feet. Having been an athlete most of my life, I had to somehow make a shift in my daily living. I had a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, standing and walking.

Yoga somehow found me, it was something I could do with my body, and I loved it! I wanted to learn more and to deepen my new practice. For my own depth of knowledge, I decided to do a 300hr Teacher Training. I had absolutely no intention of ever teaching. EVER. That led me to want more, and so I took a 500hr Teacher Training!

To this day, my teacher Mary Ann has had a large impact on my life, as well as a major influence on my yoga journey. Along the way she introduced me to the practice of yoga nidra. And because I liked it so much, she suggested Jennifer Reis, since she herself had taken Jennifer’s trainings.

I bought two of Jennifer’s Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra CD’s. I listened to them mostly every night when I couldn’t sleep from pain! Her journeys are incredibly healing, and after practicing them for months, I was experiencing less pain, which among other things, tremendously improved my quality of both sleep and healing sleep.

The effects of yoga nidra allowed me to start moving more freely and becoming more active again. I had organically started teaching yoga after teacher training. Classes to teach always seemed to find me, and eventually, I decided to go with the flow of the universe, and with what was apparently needed by so many by teaching yoga classes!

We moved to another state, and my teaching evolved into opening up a small private yoga studio. As time passed, I felt as though my teaching was getting a bit ‘tired’. And I too was exhausted with living in a warmer climate that I was not use to. It was a big period of adjustment. Always lingering in the back of my mind was Jennifer’s yoga nidra training. I signed up for it several times over the years – but life kept getting in the way.

Recently I went on a trip to Bali with a friend and the yoga teacher invited me to teach with him in tandem: we had no rehearsal, no discussion, all improv – we just went for it! I felt such a newfound freedom in my teaching!

That inspired me to expand even more. Yoga nidra is becoming popular in my yoga community. So, I signed up for Jennifer’s in-person training, and was so excited! Alas, it was thwarted due to COVID…

But Jennifer was offering her first live online Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra Teacher Training and I jumped at the chance! I wanted to do this training for myself, to experience it deeply, and to gain knowledge of the practice. It felt like it was something I needed to do all along. And now I couldn’t be happier!

Jennifer delivers a very fine sophisticated training. Her knowledge and experience is vast, and using her many talents, she weaves and paints a beautiful experience for the students. I’m still processing the information for myself personally, and in my daily yoga nidra practice.

Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra is a gift that keeps on giving.

I had no idea the depth to which Jennifer’s training would continue to impact me, my practice and my teachings. My yoga nidra meditation practice is so much deeper now. The calming effects of Divine Sleep® are always with me! And during the pandemic time, it has helped me to have balance on all levels of being, and it continues to work within me for the better.

Everything in life feels richer now, now that I’ve found fresh bright energy within. Because of Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra my creative energy has been awakened and I find that very exciting! My teaching feels transformed and strengthened.

I’m so grateful to Jennifer and this beautiful practice, and training. I also love her live online classes that she teaches daily. I continue to feel the effects and grow each day.

PATRICIA ENRIGHT 

Now I'm Proactive Instead of Reactive

by | Jul 31, 2020

I was diagnosed with breast cancer over 20 years ago during my thirties. Having never been ill before, I felt the wind knocked out of life as I knew it. A good friend gave me books to read on mind-body medicine, and introduced me to meditation and yoga. These were a welcome source of comfort and strength as I navigated the uncharted waters of a scary illness and treatments. I am happy to say that chapter ended successfully and also helped shape the person I’ve become.

For one thing, it began my yoga journey! Over the years, I took a number of different yoga classes, but it wasn’t until I went to Kripalu Center for the first time in 2008 that I really fell in love with it. I took a 5-day class for women and met some incredible people – and learned lifelong lessons in taking better care of myself. It was also at that time that I discovered Jennifer Reis and her gentle wonderful yoga classes and workshops. I have been following her Radiant Being Newsletter since then, and happily nurtured by it over the years.

Life’s journeys and ups and downs always found me seeking grounding and peace of mind through yoga and I often turned to yoga videos from Kripalu and Jennifer’s Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra journeys on CD.

As I was recovering from a successful surgery this past March, the world suddenly fell apart with COVID 19. Open one day, closed the next. How could I stand up straight when the world is turned sideways and the doors are swinging backward? All I seem to see, feel, hear, taste and smell was unwelcome change, isolation, pain and loss in some way. I was slipping and sliding on the daily doses of bad news, feeling out of control.

I was furloughed from my job due to the pandemic and was looking for an anchor, something to ground and calm me on this unsteady terrain called life in 2020. But shining lights do exist in the darkness, I have found new light! One of them was in the form of an e-mail from Jennifer stating that she was offering daily Live Online yoga classes!

I began taking Jennifer’s online Yoga and Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra classes in May. They have become addictive! I especially love her Immune Boost class on Mondays! I find my days are not complete without her sessions.

Before I practiced online with Jennifer, I felt unfocused, had trouble sleeping, and was a bit overcome with the world. Now that I’ve been attending her online classes, I feel better able to approach life in a proactive way, instead of reacting, by choosing to help out where I can, instead of hiding. Now I understand that I can make choices and I feel more empowered.

I know that I have the grounding protective inner forces I need to help me become ever more resilient and kind. And I am able to find joy in the grief. This work, and these realizations, are so important to me at this time.

Jennifer’s passion for what she does is evident. Her soothing voice, her compassionate presence, her uplifting, vivid and powerful guided meditations in Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra help make me feel more positive – not only about what is happening outside in the world – but most especially what is going on inside of me. I never really knew before that I can dare to swim, and run and fly and soar if I want to, AND that I am always safe and nurtured.

I was able to finally acknowledge my heart’s truest longing, and put my intention out to the universe. That was a particularly emotional healing moment for me during Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra.

Jennifer’s classes are different from others in that she combines yoga with energy channel work, the Five Elements, Ayurveda, and Chinese medicine. Jennifer is healing, positive energy in all she does! Her Workshops are wonderful too! I found so much help in her Self-Massage and Mudra workshops. I look forward to learning something new each day with her. Now I’m able to balance my energy better. I am more awake and aware and connected. It’s comforting to me that now when I stir myself up in a good way, I settle in a better, more harmonious way. That is something I’ve struggled with in the past.