lead trainer
Jennifer Lenders Professional Yoga Therapist C-IAYT, E-RYT500, YACEP, RYS 200
"When one discovers a stretch, a position, a thought, a phrase, or a breath that creates a shift within themselves, there is empowerment."
Jennifer began practicing yoga 20 years ago as she was looking to find balance as a mom and professional in business consulting. She knew almost immediately that the serenity in body and mind from yoga would be a mainstay in her life, as she had been challenged with anxiety and depression and the body-mind connection made a healing impact from the start. Lower back pain and joint pain was also resolved through a committed yoga practice. The desire to bring wellness in body, mind, and spirit to her parenting and presence in family was a driving force to return to the mat, again and again.
"Over the last 20 years, I discovered a progressive opening- towards greater self-love, self-acceptance, and a non-judgement that allowed me to deepen my commitment to realizing that my true Self as whole and complete."
Each retreat and training in reflection was an opening energetically to understand the holding patterns of stress that were bound to my body and mind, and allow a gentle release. I realized the commitment to be with the uncomfortable can bring just as much of a blessing as the comfortable, when we establish a practice of discernment. With a willingness to inquire within and understand our human emotions, we understand the cycle and habits of thinking that perpetuate stress."
Teacher Training
Several years later she became a ACE certified professional trainer and certified yoga instructor. Her yoga teacher and workshop trainings include YogaFit, David Swenson, Beryl Bender Birch (Ashtanga), Amy Weintraub (Yoga for Depression) and 200 hours of yoga therapy and meditation with Ann Arbor Yoga and Meditation (Satyananda lineage). Finally, completing her 800 hour program with Kripalu’s Integrative Yoga Therapy. Now a Professional Yoga Therapist certified through the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Jennifer is currently is progress with Robin Rothenbergs' Restoring Prana Certification program for Pranayama. She completed many programs on the history and philosophy of yoga through Embodied Philosophy School of Yoga, as well as studies on Kashmir Shaivsim, tantra, and Sally Kempton's goddess work. Somatic training includes work with local professional, Eric Cooper, Inspired Somatic, and In-depth Anatomy and Physiology with Tom Myers, Anatomy Trains. Additional mental health training includes Polyvagal Theory and applications in Befriending the Nervous System by Dr. Deb Dana.
Teaching Experience
Jennifer is an employee of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital as a yoga therapist teaching individual and group sessions in cardiac rehab and Mercy Elite Sports Performance (working with all age athletes and teams), and a hatha yoga teacher at Schoolcraft College. Her work in cardiac rehab is especially attuned to stress and lifestyle balance, inviting support for the mental health side of healing and recovery. This includes teaching workshops on Healthy Sleep for a Healthy Heart, Recognizing and Reducing the Impact of Stress, New Thoughts and New Behaviors, and Managing Moods and Relationships.
She has taught workshops on the Prana Vayus and Marma points in work with cardiac patients for students in the International Institute of Yoga Therapy.
In 2021 she founded Softstone Yoga Studies, a 200 hour registered yoga school with Yoga Alliance. Integrating her work and teaching as a yoga therapist with training new teachers, her love of the healing power of yoga continues to expand.
Jennifer teaches private classes in yoga, yoga therapy and meditation, and has taught Nia to groups and individuals. In the past she owned her own studio (Softstone Yoga), and has taught at local health clubs, churches, community education, local groups such as AAUW, Girl Scouts of America, parents of special needs children, and high school sports teams.
Jennifer is passionate about being a guiding others to find their own connections to body, mind, emotions and spirit. Her teaching emphasizes the teacher to discover within yourself. A compassionate guide for all levels of health and fitness, she has worked with those suffering from chronic pain, depr.ession/anxiety, knee/back pain, and cardiovascular disease as well as conditioned athletes. Her approach is trauma-informed, gentle and allowing of a natural process of awakening.
Her former teacher and yoga master gave her the name Karuna- a (Sanskrit) Pali word for compassion, which infuses her voice, guidance, and practice for life.
QUOTES REFLECT WHAT I'VE FOUND TO BE TRUE FROM MY TEACHING AND PRACTICE............
"Teaching others to begin the journey of Self-discovery, of health-discovery, starts with a voice of compassion and permission for self-care."
"The simple connection made by closing the eyes and inhabiting a body again-the comfortable and the uncomfortable- may be the first step towards the stillness beyond the illness."
"Strengthen the commitment to notice self talk and habits of doing- invite in new thoughts that bring in possibility and establish an intention for living with grace."
"When one discovers a stretch, a position, a thought, a phrase, or a breath that creates a shift within themselves, there is empowerment."
"When we wake up to what the body, mind, and spirit are saying to us, we begin to build a relationship within that can be accepting, loving, and non-judgmental toward where we are in this moment-and we heal."