Hello, I’m Jo, and I’ve been a leader in the yoga industry for more than 16 years. My experience includes managerial, start-up, co-founding, teaching dynamic classes that draw large crowds, and—of course—being a student of yoga. My strengths are teaching yoga, team building, and finding creative ways to grow business.
Education
I trained with Baron Baptiste and the Baptiste Power Yoga Institute, and completed my Level 1 and Level 2 trainings in 2006 and Level 3 in December 2018. I’m a 500-Hour E-RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) with Yoga Alliance, and have completed Lisa Black’s Teacher Assisting Program (TAP) at Shakti Vinyasa Bellevue in 2007. I completed my Yin Yoga certification with Bernie Clark in November 2015, and my iRest™️ Yoga Nidra certification with Audrey Benton at Be Yoga Burien in 2018.
Management
I elevated my management and community-building experience as the co-founder and Director of Yoga Urban Yoga Spa, a downtown Seattle yoga studio and spa, in 2008. I was instrumental in starting and growing the business with the owners (who were not yoga teachers at the time), and was responsible for hiring all of the teachers and creating a brand of yoga that made Urban Yoga Spa a successful force in the thriving Seattle yoga community.
Yoga Teacher Trainings
Urban Yoga Spa, Shakti Vinyasa Yoga, Open Up Yoga Teacher Training, and Hot Yoga Inc. have hired me for their Yoga Teacher Training programs. I have facilitated teachings in my strongest areas: leadership, teaching from the heart, sequencing, alignment, hands-on assisting, and yin.
Yoga Teaching & Workshops
I teach yoga because I have healed so much of my own life with yoga, and I want to teach others that they can do the same. A lifelong battle with depression, anxiety, and weight issues led me to try yoga 16 years ago, and my life was completely changed forever! People flock to my classes because they are authentic, inspiring, fun, encouraging, and challenging. My ability to connect with my students and understand their suffering and their triumphs (emotional, physical, and spiritual) is as unique as I am. Some of my most favorite teaching opportunities were co-leading the City of Dreams Yoga Retreat in Port Townsend, Washington, from 2010-2016 I teach yoga because I have healed so much of my own life with yoga, and I want to teach others that they can do the same. A lifelong battle with depression, anxiety, and weight issues led me to try yoga 16 years ago, and my life was completely changed forever!
Some of my most favorite teaching opportunities were co-leading the City of Dreams Yoga Retreat in Port Townsend, Washington, from 2010-2016, being the featured teacher 2012-2015 for Yoga for Hope, and teaching fundraising yoga classes for Yoga Behind Bars and Africa Yoga Project.
Vision
I teach because I believe in yoga’s healing powers. So much of my own healing started with amazing, inspiring, and powerful yoga classes that I took 15+ years ago from my mentors Lisa Black, Vidal Bitton, Scott Francis, Toni Best, Jane Malico, and Linda Burch. Every class was magical! Now, I aspire to bring that experience to every class I teach. I believe in keeping the magic alive because it’s important. Healed people heal people! It all affects the whole.
