Ellen Kennedy

All Levels Sunrise Yoga - Wednesdays and Fridays at 5:30 am
Foundations | Yoga Lite - Sundays 10:30-11:30 am

"In 1978, I was juggling an extremely busy and stressful life as a mother of 4, a part-time nurse and dancer in Los Angeles. Coincidentally, one of my dancer friends, Linda Lack had just opened her studio and suggested yoga as a way to conserve my energy. I saw her 60 years old plus students, standing on their heads, strong, serene and flexible and decided I wanted that so my first study of teaching methods was with her. I discovered first that I could use yoga practices as tools to quit a 25 year smoking habit, for weight management and to navigate a very challenging and dramatic life.

Fast forward to 1996 when I finally realized that yoga combined my two passions for physical movement and healing, I began teaching at Neighborhood Yoga in Pasadena. After seeing the dependency that was so often fostered in health care situations, I wanted to teach people tools like meditation, breath work and poses, to feel more empowered in their lives.

For me, it is a joy to share the gifts of yoga through teaching. I love to combine breath with movement, to refine alignment, to notice the movement of energy, to be mindful in the moment, to be kind to the self, to take time and space in the physical postures, to flow. My particular influences are Tracey Rich and Ganga White, Shiva Rea, Erich Schiffman and Judith Lasater.

I have since taught and studied yoga in Los Angeles, Ca., Groton, Ct. Corvallis, Oregon and now here in Jacksonville. I have Teacher certifications with White Lotus Foundation and Advanced Teacher Training in Santa Barbara, Ca in 1999 and 2000 and Mindful Motion Teacher Training in 2012 and am in the CPF Training. When I arrived in Jax in 2011 I knew immediately that I found my yoga home in MMY. I have many to compare it to since I have driven across the country three times, sampling yoga studios as I travel. Acceptance, compassion and accessibility are among the many ways I would describe the qualities that I love at MMY." -Ellen