About Jessica & the WHY Practice
Yoga is an ancient discipline that connects us to our bodies, breath, present surroundings and inner worlds. As the industry continues to grow and thrive, more and more have turned to the practice as a way to manage the myriad stressors of daily life and find a sense of ease within their bodies - physically, emotionally, energetically and spiritually - and within their minds. It is my belief that yoga be accessible to anyone who wants to practice, and that it is the teacher’s responsibility to make every participant feel safe, welcome, supported and respected. The Wild Heart Yoga practice asks its students to soften any expectations they may have of what yoga is supposed to be or how it is supposed to feel. Approaching the practice from this clean perspective allows for a deeper, more intelligent and transformative yoga experience.
Wild Heart Yoga is a creative, light-hearted, alignment-based harmony of many styles both traditional and contemporary. It is a SLOW and intentional practice, sequenced and taught with an emphasis on safety. Slow doesn’t mean easy, in fact moving in and out of shapes in an unhurried and deliberate fashion is quite demanding, as is sustaining a shape for more than a couple of breaths. Every class is different because every day is different, and we need something different every day. The WHY practice builds strength and resilience by challenging its students to be adaptable, not take it all so seriously, and slow down long enough to invite presence into the practice.
My yoga practice began as a way to maintain my professional dance career. I found that the symmetry of the practice helped to realign my body, offering physical restoration at the end of a long day of rehearsal and performance. Most of us come to yoga this way, initially viewing the practice as purely physical; as a workout or simply a good stretch. But overtime the practice deepens and something begins to shift. That shift - the when, the how, the what - is different for every yogi, and that’s what makes this practice so incredibly intimate, so incredibly fascinating, and ever-evolving. You find you feel better, not just physically. You find you’re more compassionate towards others, and towards yourself. You find you’ve got the ability to rebound when life doesn’t meet your expectations, because you’ve relearned how to breathe, and learned how to gain a broader perspective of the situation you’re currently experiencing.
We work with the physical body in order to access the subtle body - our mental, emotional/energetic and spiritual bodies. We learn to let go of the way we think things should be, should feel, in favor of directly experiencing how things actually are. We deepen our proprioception, train our minds to focus, and do our best to live in the present moment. And it’s not easy, but rarely are the things that are worthwhile. Some days it all feels doable, some days we revert back to old habitual patterns of behavior and thought that don’t help the situation nor make us feel any better. And it’s all part of the practice. Every day is different. Every body is put together differently. Knowing what you need when comes from feeling into where you are now. To tap into our wild hearts, we must first give ourselves permission to be fully present, to try things that are unfamiliar and unusual, and be willing to laugh at ourselves through it all. I hope you’ll invite me to join you on your journey. I’d love to practice with you.
Bio-like info: I am an E-RYT 200 hour yoga instructor registered with Yoga Alliance and a certified Pilates instructor. I love anatomy and physiology and believe yoga is not a one-size-fits-all practice. I am not interested in virtuosic tricks, one-armed handstands or pictures of myself doing these things - which I cannot. I believe the safest and most advanced practice is slow, intentional and purposeful. I received my 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2014 and taught in NYC & Brooklyn from then until my recent move to CT in May 2020. I had the honor of managing Brooklyn Yoga Project for 5 years (2015-2020), and am forever grateful to that community of teachers and students, especially the incomparable Ossi Raveh, Be Shakti & Diana Ross-Gotta. I have run yoga retreats in Mexico, Nicaragua & Upstate New York with the incredibly talented Gretchen Williams. Big huge thank you to Stefanie Boyd-Berks for designing the WHY logo and for over 20 years of best friendship, and to Lena Beug who so seamlessly captured the essence of WHY in her beautiful photos (and so compassionately dealt with someone who doesn’t like having her picture taken). I am grateful every day for my extraordinary family: my parents Ellen & Woodie Weiss, my sisters Margot, Rachael & Laura, and my amazingly sweet & steady husband Mike and our joyful little bundle Eddie.