Jessica Jennings, MS, ERYT

Certified Anusara Instructor
Founder, Ma Yoga for Pregnancy, Motherhood & Beyond

I began studying yoga in 1998, and soon found the amazing alignment principles of Anusara® Yoga and my teachers, Denise Benitez, John Friend, and Naime Jezzeny.  Since yoga healed my neck and back tension almost right away, I became interested in figuring out how I could help people out of pain and into a feeling of strength and openness.  The principles I learned in my first teacher training in 2000 were exactly what I was looking for: they work for aches and pains, for building strength and mobility, and for shifting our emotional and mental experience of being in a body into one of freedom and joy.

Soon, I took a prenatal training with Sue Elkind and fell in love with being part of this powerful, transformative time in women’s lives, when our choices feel like they matter more than ever.  I began teaching pregnant women in 2001. 

I quickly learned teaching prenatal yoga that just as important as the therapeutic, biomechanical alignment principles was the Sanskrit concept of kula: a temporary, chosen, heart-filled community.  I discovered that being part of a kula is life-enhancing - and sometimes feels life-saving – for moms and moms-to-be.

Women experience so much more power and sweetness just by being around each other and sharing tips and experiences. When we become moms, we can come back to a safe place to talk about poops and naps, to connect in again to the place we’ve come to know and love within ourselves: the heart.

Both alignment (moving muscles and bones in the direction of optimal stability and freedom) and kula (in a light-hearted, supportive setting) help me do what I love doing: help women become more and more of the mother they want to be. 

The root “Ma” refers both to the Great Mother, the bigger energy pulsating and dancing through our breath, the earth, plants and the cycles of nature; and the ability we can develop through yoga to be nurtured from within, to find a feeling of being safe, loved, and embraced by this energy within ourselves.  With practice, the voice of our highest Self becomes the clearest sound we hear in our heads, and we can more easily follow our own truth as we guide our babies into adulthood.

I feel grateful for the teachings I’ve receive from anywhere – science and art, West and East, studying the physical body and philosophy. I received my Masters in Kinesiology/Exercise Science in 2009, and became a Certified Anusara yoga instructor in 2006.

For my Masters thesis, I teamed up with the Ob/Gyn staff at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center and developed a group prenatal medical visit program called Pregnancy in Balance: Group Visits, Community & Yoga. From 2004-2009 I led group discussions side by side with doctors and nurses at Los Angeles Medical Center, and after the check-ups, we all got to do some prenatal yoga.

In 2010, I found myself longing to create a kula with other like-hearted teachers who felt drawn to serve this community. I re-connected with all of the graduates of my trainings over the years.

Some of the most well-trained and experienced pre and postnatal yoga teachers in LA and started offering classes together at one location in North Hollywood. Very soon, we realized we could be serving moms and moms-to-be better by spreading out throughout Los Angeles, so women could find a Ma Yoga class close to whatever neighborhood they were in. Thus, Ma Yoga for Pregnancy, Motherhood, & Beyond was born.

I feel so grateful to connect to women during this time of powerful transformation.  I learn so much from my students, the teachers I train and work with – and of course the babies who come and seem to recognize our OM!

For more about Jessica and Anusara Yoga, please go to www.YogaGroundwork.com.