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Several years ago I decided that I needed to learn yoga. I had been going to the gym on a regular basis but kept bumping into this thing called yoga and I wanted to understand it. NOW, there was no way I was gonna haul my fat ass around in a group/class situation so knew I needed private instruction. Our office had just done Jennie Lee’s tax return and I knew she taught yoga so I called her. One on one instruction is her specialty thru her Transformative Yoga Therapy model. Over the next 3 years she quietly yet forcefully pushed me forward to a (I think) real understanding of the practice of yoga. When I started I wanted to use it primarily as an exercise routine, and bypass all the spiritual mumbo-jumbo but to her great credit she did not allow me to do that. During our sessions, without making a big deal about it, she never lost the focus of yoga as a spiritual practice. Now keep in mind that these sessions probably sounded anything but spiritual as I cursed my corpulent self into all sorts of contortions that fat people are simply not designed to do! Jennie was, of course, inspirational and the perfect coach for me; she often said that she had never heard anyone say “fuck” so many times while doing yoga!

This week as I did my yoga while on vacation in Maine I thought of her as I often do, I recently told her that her voice would be in my head for the rest of my days: breath, straighten out the back, don’t forget to breath, engage your core, don’t think about the move, just do it (don’t over think it!) and (of course) DON’T FORGET TO BREATH!

I was also thinking about an excellent article Jennie wrote for Yoga Therapy Today (you can read it on her website) in which she spoke about yoga’s ability to meet you wherever you are (this is something she often said as we worked together). As I enter my 5th year of doing what I semi-respectfully call “fat guy” yoga I know that this is true. Even when you are tired, depressed, anxious, or worried (and fat!) you can do yoga it will meet you where you are and work with you and uplift you. In all this Jennie Lee gave me a lifelong gift and I miss her and wish her well on her new life away from Newburyport, I am sure there are great things awaiting her! For information please visit her website - www.stillnessinmotion.info

Posted by Peter Jason Riley at Sunday, August 15, 2010 0 comments

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Jennie Lee

Specializing in Yoga Therapy, Jennie Lee is the founder of Stillness in Motion Yoga & Wellness. With over 6,000 teaching hours to her credit, she is known for her creative and compassionate approach to teaching Yoga. Jennie offers challenging yet accessible asana classes infused with the deeper meanings and messages of Yoga Philosophy.

Jennie first experienced Yoga asana in an Ashtanga class sixteen years ago, taught by nationally renowned Bryan Kest. Kest was a student of K. Pattahbi Jois, founder and director of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute. Since then she has taken a multi-disciplinary approach, learning from a variety of lineages. In Yoga asana, her influences come from Kundalini, Kripalu, Viniyoga as well as Ashtanga.

Eleven years ago, amidst the loss of a child, a pending divorce and a recent cross country move, she began studying the inner meanings and deeper teachings of Yoga. She found that its true essence brought healing to her life. Drawing upon 21 years of study in personal development, spiritual psychology, body centered process therapy, bioenergetics, core energetics, combined with a deep well of Yoga philosophy, asana, pranayama and meditation; she overcame grief and depression. She was already teaching Yoga asana classes, but felt so strongly about sharing the organic process of healing she had just come through with others, that she began specializing in private Yoga Therapy.

For the past nine years, she has enjoyed a full private practice of individuals who seek the healing benefits of Yoga Therapy. Having overcome much loss herself, she holds tremendous compassion and understanding for those undergoing tumultuous life challenges. She has survived the deaths of a parent, a child and a partner as well as two divorces, and she continues to believe in the restorative power of love. She is a knowledgeable and deeply empathetic and intuitive guide to anyone undergoing or desiring positive life change.

Jennie says she believes there is truth in many teachings, many traditions, many faiths and ultimately, that this truth is about love...loving self, other and God, the animating principle that we are all a part of and that is part of us all.

“For the past 21 years, I have studied many world religions, philosophies, psychology and spirituality. I have read the sacred texts of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, the Tao Te Ching, the Bible, Incan and Mayan Shamanism, as well as Christian mysticism and traditionalism. Where they have all led me, is back to a simple experiencing of this moment of being and into a true knowing of myself and everything around me as a reflection and expression of Divine Love, Joy - God.

I teach from a heartfelt belief that we are all ONE and that as we journey inward through many layers of self knowing; physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, we realize that we are not our stories, but rather aspects of Divine Oneness. By unpeeling layers of stuff that have made us forget this truth, we become clearer, freer, more peaceful, more able to experience joy and love. To learn how to love more completely - ourselves, each other and, first and foremost, to love God - this IS the journey."

Jennie Lee is a Certified Process Therapist and an active member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Prior to opening her own studio in 2002 in Newburyport, MA, Lee started Yoga programs at the Newburyport Center for Yoga and Health, the Fitness Factory, the Governor’s Academy, the Kelley School and privately to individual clients.

Jennie writes about Yoga's benefits for Yoga Therapy Today magazine, Common Ground magazine, My Yoga Online, Conscious Moms online, and as an "Expert on Yoga" on Dr. Keith Ablow's Living the Truth website and the YogaFinder website.

She has authored a book entitled, Heart Centered Parenting and is working on a second Yoga related book. She has written curriculums on Yoga Philosophy and Creative Imagination; developed and led workshops such as: The Components of Wellness; Steps to Consciousness; Authenticity and Wellness; Conquering Fear; Chakra Opening; 8 Steps to Living the Truth with Yoga; Opening to More Joy; as well as published articles in several national magazines. In addition to her private practice, Lee leads retreats and seminars in the U.S. and internationally, teaching individuals and groups how to live more fulfilling and expansive lives through the practices of yoga, meditation, authenticity, mindfulness and self healing.

She now feels incredibly blessed to call O'ahu home.

"Jennie, you provide for me a humble, peaceful, joyful and assured example of a Spirit-led life where ego is put aside to spread loving teachings of the yogic lifestyle. I love you dearly!" ~ Sue Bade

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