About Jenny Otto and Body Balance Yoga
Jenny Otto, E-RYT500
E-RYT500 (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher 500 hours; highest level of certification sanctioned by Yoga Alliance)
Certified Yoga Therapist since 1990
Exercise/Movement Therapist since 1980
Certified Anusara® Yoga Teacher
Senior Anusara® Yoga Teacher Trainer
Student of John Friend since 1994
IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists, member/member school)
Certified Professional KMI Structural Integrator
Jenny Otto, founder of Body Balance Yoga, is nationally known for her in-depth understanding of anatomy and therapeutics investigating the domains of functional rehabilitation, biomechanics
and the nervous system. As an innovative
and dedicated Yoga Teacher, a celebrated Yoga Therapist and Teacher Trainer, Jenny has been teaching and developing wellness/exercise programs in the greater Annapolis, Maryland area and nationally since 1980.
The capacity to transmit movement information depends on a teacher's embodiment. Central to embodiment is one's own kinesthetic empathy which Jenny owns through personal practice and teaching yoga for over twenty one years. Not only has Jenny studied with yoga master teachers including Stan Andrzejewski, Mary Dunn, Carolyn Bluemle, John Schumacher, Victor Van Kooten, John Friend and Rod Stryker among many others — but has also studied with Osteopaths, Chiropractors, Rolfers, Dancers and Movement Educators to develop her unique and innovative approach to physical well-being and pain management.
Jenny’s teaching is compassionate, inspirational and fun. Her clear and precise teaching style is authentic and is committed to awakening a deeper knowledge and understanding of the body, mind and spirit. She brings warmth, humor and creativity to her teaching, as well as detailed knowledge in working with injuries and special conditions.
Jenny teaches Body Balance Yoga classes weekly at Balanced Life Skills (Annapolis, MD), Willow Street Yoga Center (Takoma Park, MD), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, MD) and at other locations in the greater Annapolis, Maryland area. In addition to teaching yoga classes weekly, Jenny travels extensively teaching workshops, trainings and certifying Body Balance Yoga Teachers across the U.S.
Since 1994, Jenny has been affiliated with Willow Street Yoga Center in Takoma Park, Maryland, where she co-founded and
co-directed the teacher training programs from 2002 to 2007. She continues to teach the area’s first Yoga Therapy Class Special Conditions and Injuries at Willow Street Yoga Center in Silver Spring Maryland.
Having co-founded Golden Heart Yoga in 2004, Jenny Otto was both an owner and director until 2009 when she sold the studio; remaining on staff as a teacher until September 2010.
Yoga Teacher Trainings at the
200-hour and 500-hour level with Jenny were held there from 2005 to 2009. Jenny is known for continually evolving and expanding her studies to keep her classes innovative. The second half of her profession is as a Structural Integration Practitioner, having founded Body Balance Yoga for Functional & Structural Yoga Therapy in 2001. In 2007, Jenny began studying with Thomas Myers of Anatomy Trains and has participated in dissections of human cadavers with Myers to further her understanding of the body. She completed his accelerated program in Kinesis Myofascial Integration (KMI), graduating and becoming KMI Certified in 2008. Structural Integration, which is
based on the pioneering work of Dr. Ida P. Rolf, manually releases tensions in the body that prevent a more balanced alignment. Jenny's specialties include Visceral Manipulation, Visceral and Peripheral Nerve Therapy and Osteopathic Listening. Private Structural Integration sessions with Jenny are available in
Annapolis and other locations.
In 2010, Jenny also began her studies with Hubert Godard — Dancer, Rolfer, Professor and Movement Educator.
Her unending quest to bring a deeper understanding of the body to her students and to all of the teachers she trains, takes Jenny Otto around the world. And she shares the depth of her knowledge and her love of yoga as she travels worldwide leading Yoga Retreats and teaching Yoga Workshops, Yoga Teacher Trainings, Yoga Residencies and Yoga Therapy Trainings. All workshops, teacher trainings and classes with Jenny Otto fulfill Yoga Alliance and Anusara Yoga Teacher Continuing Education Requirements.
(Excerpt from "Get Local: Jenny Otto" — a District Kula blog; read the full interview here)
How Did You Find Yoga?
"Yoga found me. I was Executive Director of the Body Bank, an exercise studio dedicated to class fitness, and yoga was one of the programs I inherited when I was hired. I had a bad cycling injury that prevented me from teaching and taking the regular classes so I crawled into the yoga class since I could not do anything else. I hated every minute of it, as I was really tight from running marathons, 10Ks, and cycling half-century rides. I knew deep down it was good for me but it was so painful."
When Did You Know You Wanted to Teach?
"I had an experience at a personal training conference with an extraordinary woman that was a sports psychologist, Diana McNab. She led us through an exercise after meditation for us to write down our thoughts, feeling or interests according to the question. One of the questions was 'What would you do if you had more time that will benefit your growth?' Much to my surprise, I wrote down yoga. That really freaked me out because I hated it, but as I said, knew deep down it was good for me. I decided from that moment on I would work to become a yoga teacher. That was 1989."
What Do You Love Most About Teaching Yoga?
"Helping others to embody who they are and learning how to live without pain. I love figuring out the right combinations of how to get people into poses. I love dissecting what is actually happening biomechanically."
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Jenny Otto
"I believe that yoga is a kinetic process, involving every living cell."
— Victor Van Kooten
Jenny at the feet
of B.K.S Iyengar |
Jenny Otto's History in Healing:
1980-1987: Worked in wellness with a specialty in back care, working closely
with a chiropractor, orthopedics
and physical therapy
1987: Started practicing yoga
1987-1999: Practiced Iyengar Yoga with Stan Andrzejewski, Carolyn Bluemle, Mary Dunn
and John Schumacher;
Iyengar Yoga Teacher Training at Unity Woods Yoga Center with John Schumacher, Carol Cavanaugh, Carolyn
Bluemle
and Jill Cahn
1990: Began teaching yoga part-time
1990: Body Balance Yoga founded
1992-1994: Apprenticed with Stan Andrezjewski for two years
1993: Teaching yoga full-time
1993: Teaching yoga classes at NASA Godard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
1993: Began yogic studies with Victor Van Kooten
1994-present: Teaching at Willow Street Yoga Center, Takoma Park, MD — the largest Anusara Yoga Studio on the East Coast
1994: Met John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga
1994-present: Created and started teaching the area’s first Yoga Therapy Class:
Yoga for Injuries & Special Conditions at Willow Street Yoga Center
1995-2004: Teaching at Annapolis Yoga Center
1995-present: Established Monday Night's Level I/II Yoga Class
1995-present: Established Tuesday Morning's Level II Yoga Class
1995-present: Established Tuesday's Gentle Yoga Class
1995-present: Established Wednesday Night's Level I/II Yoga Class
1995-present: Established Wednesday Night's Level II/III Yoga Class
1998: Apprenticed with John Friend for one year
1999: Certified in Anusara Yoga and designated as a Senior Anusara Yoga Teacher Trainer
1999: Began studying with Rod Stryker, founder of Para Yoga
1999: The first Body Balance Yoga Therapy Training was held
1999-2004: Apprenticed with an Osteopath
2001: Founded Body Balance Yoga for Functional & Structural Yoga Therapy
2002-2007: Co-founded and co-directed the Teacher Training Program at Willow Street Yoga Center
2004-2009: Co-founded and co-directed Golden Heart Yoga in Annapolis, Maryland (with one
of her former students)
2005-2009: Teacher Trainings at the 200-hour and 500-hour levels with
Jenny Otto held at Golden Heart Yoga
2006, 2007, 2008: Honored with the Best Annapolis Yoga Award while owner of Golden Heart Yoga. Winning Best of Annapolis from What's Up? Magazine three years in a row for Best Yoga and Meditation Center.
2007: Began studying with Thomas Myers of Anatomy Trains®
June 2007-May 2009: Center for Anatomical Enlightenment, Boulder Colorado. Human Cadaver Dissection Lab. Anatomy Trains/Fascial Orientation.
October 2007: Harvard School of Medicine. First International Fascia Research Congress.
2008: Accepted into the Anatomy Trains® Accelerated Program for Structural Integration,
graduating in December 2008
2008: Certified as a Professional KMI Structural Integrator
2009: Body Balance Yoga Therapy Certification Program began
2009: Began studies with the Barral Institute of Osteopathy
2009: Sold Golden Heart Yoga, but remained on staff as a teacher until September of 2010
2010-2011: Body Balance Yoga Therapy Trainings held at Willow Street Yoga Center in Maryland
2010: Began studying movement with Hubert Godard (Dancer, Rolfer, Professor
and Movement Educator) in Italy
2010, March: Interdisciplinary Fascia Research Course, University of Ulm, Germany
September-December 2010: Body Balance Yoga classes at the former Annapolis Yoga Center
December 2010-present: Body Balance Yoga classes at Balanced Life Skills in Annapolis, Maryland
2011: Finalist for the The Capital Readers Choice 2011 Award for Best Yoga in Annapolis.
... Stay posted — A teacher's teacher and a
consummate yoga student, Jenny is always training and taking courses to keep her classes constantly evolving and truly innovative!
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Jenny with Mary Dunn
Jenny with Stan Andrzejewski
John Friend and Jenny
"An effective human being is
a whole that is greater than
the sum of its parts."
— Ida P. Rolf, PhD
Jenny at an Anatomy Trains®
human dissection event
with Tom Myers
Suzie Hurley, John Schumacher
and Jenny
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More About Body Balance Yoga
Body Balance Yoga, Inc., founded in 1990 by Jenny Otto, expresses the healing aspects of eternal wisdom through yoga therapy. In a time when what’s old is new and modern science continues to affirm what the ancients always knew, Body Balance Yoga, brings a fresh perspective to the current conversation. Yogic discussions have been ongoing for centuries ... Welcome to the conversation!
Body Balance Yoga is a Registered Yoga
Alliance School (RYS) at the 200-hour and 500-hour levels, a member school of
the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) and offers classes, workshops, teacher trainings,
yoga therapy trainings and teacher certification.
Yoga Classes: Body Balance Yoga classes with Jenny Otto are taught weekly at Balanced Life Skills (Annapolis, MD) along with Certified Body Balance Yoga teachers Barbara Devitt, Melinda Frisch, Janelle Jones and Sandy Moore. Body Balance classes with Jenny Otto are also held at Willow Street Yoga Center (Silver Spring, MD), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, MD) and other locations in the greater Annapolis, Maryland area.
At Body Balance Yoga, Special Conditions are Our Specialty. Through our classes, students report finding relief and/or pain management from symptoms of: Low Back Pain, Knee Pain, Meniscus Tear, Knee Replacement, Hip Replacement, Ankle Sprain, Hamstring Strain/Tear, Sciatica, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's Disease, Arthritis, Osteoporosis, Heart Disease, Hypertension, High/Low Blood Pressure, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Plantar Facitis, Heel Spurs, Achilles Tendonitis, Bunions, Fallen Arches, Shin Splints, Bursitis, Bakers Cysts, Illiotibial (IT) Band Syndrome, Meniscus Tear, Morton's Neuroma, Neuropathy, Tendonitis, Varicose Veins, Kyphosis, Herniated Disc, Whiplash, Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease, Neck Spasms, Scoliosis, Sacroilliac Syndrome, Gastrointestinal Issues, Rotator Cuff Injuries, Frozen Shoulder, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Golfers Elbow, Tennis Elbow, Headaches, Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Problems, Tinnitus, Vertigo, Whiplash, PMS, Delayed Menses, Menorrhagia, Menopause, Hot Flashes, Depression, Sleep Disorders and more.
Workshops, Teacher Trainings & Therapy Trainings: Not only will you explore timeless yogic teachings, but you will also leap into present day wellness and medical research. Thanks to Jenny’s mind and ability to make connections, you will be at the head of the curve with other visionary movement and mind/body specialists. In all Body Balance Yoga workshops and trainings, emphasis is placed on providing teachers with a range of tools to help each student express the essence of the human spirit.
Therapy Training is the heart of Body Balance Yoga. Yoga is extremely effective in a therapeutic way when following precise universal and sound biomechanical principles of alignment. With Body Balance Yoga Therapy Trainings, you will study connective structural relationships to find the trails that lead to pain. Students learn how precise alignment can actually begin the healing process and release chronic pain and tension. You will receive hands-on practical tools on how to help relieve pain.
Teacher Certification: With an ever-growing community of certified teachers around the U.S., Body Balance Yoga is a highly respected school of hatha yoga and yoga therapy — training teachers beyond yoga industry standards alongside of current developments in cutting-edge wellness and medical research. |
Jenny at a Biomechanics
Training in Maine |
Body Balance Yoga®, Body Balance Yoga® Therapy Teacher and Body Balance Yoga®
for Functional & Structural Therapy are trademarks of Body Balance Yoga, Inc. and Jenny Otto.
Anusara®, Anusara® yoga, Anusara-Inspired™ yoga, Anusara-Inspired™ yoga teacher
and Universal Principles of Alignment are trademarks of Anusara® yoga.
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