Starting in 2008, Jaeda (she/her) practiced yoga in India for over five years and completed a 7 month, 1100 hour teacher training at The Yoga Institute, the world’s oldest organized yoga center. She received her RYT 200 hour teaching certification from Arhanta Yoga Ashram. Recent teachers include Michelle Cassandra Johnson, Jivana Heyman, and Rodrigo Souza. Drawing on her training, Jaeda strives to honor yoga’s roots while integrating newer practices and acknowledging the current context in which we are living. 

Recognizing that many people may feel that “yoga is not for them” due to body type, age, class, disability, race, gender, or other identities, Jaeda is actively building her skills to increase accessibility to the practices of yoga. She is also asking questions about how our yoga practice can serve us not only individually, but collectively. She is currently focused on integrating chair yoga into her classes, with particular attention to practices for older adults. Jaeda looks forward to continued learning, including learning from missteps, on a path to foster greater inclusion in her classes. 

For Jaeda, yoga is much more than physical exercise. It is a holistic practice rooted in yoga philosophy, the foundation of which is the practice of nonviolence. In addition, the yogic path offers mindful movement, working with the breath, and meditation as tools to help settle our minds and connect with the highest parts of ourselves. Jaeda continues to come back to her practice because it helps her feel grounded and nourished, while increasing clarity to see what is unfolding in herself and in the world.