JENNIFER WINTHER (she/her)

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WHO I AM:

Mixed race Japanese, French, and Norwegian, cis-gender woman. 50-something. Raising two mixed culture teens with my Ashkenazi husband in what is now known as Los Angeles.

I’m a breast cancer survivor who lost her mother to colon cancer at age twelve. My spiritual home is Buddhism. Tending my garden, burning incense, and meditating amplify the lived connection to my ancestors daily.

I’d rather bike or walk. Anywhere. Always.

I dream of owning land one day - land that isn’t held by colonizers. I’ll build a refuge for healing, a garden, a space of quiet and connection.

WHAT MY PRACTICE LOOKS LIKE:

  • Yoga & Martial Arts based movement

  • Mindfulness meditation

  • Deep tissue release with Yoga Therapy balls

  • Subtle body awareness:

    • Deep rest & relaxation

    • Pranayama

    • Yoga Nidra

    • Chakra Meditation

    • Soundbath

  • Nervous system reset & Trauma healing:

    • Marma point self massage

    • Qigong tapping

    • Breath work

    • TRE trembling

  • Reading & Writing & Journaling

  • Walking meditation

WHAT I TEACH:

All of the above - in bite size classes, immersive workshops, on retreat, and in teacher trainings. And even on social media.

Before I started sharing healing practices, I spent many years in academic research and teaching. That love of learning and depth continues, and I share generously with students and clients from day one. Whether you show up as a beginner, mentee, or fellow teacher, you’re going to get the good stuff.

I aim to teach in a way that opens you up to find it all for yourself. It’s all in you. I’m just the assist. When you practice with me, there will will be joy and there will be challenge. There will be no competition or performance.

Welcoming. Deep. Real. A teacher’s teacher. These are words that students have blessed me with.

WHY I TEACH:

Because I suffer, and I know that you do, too. Because I am called to teach. And because I’m damn good at it.

Practice regularly if you want your practice to bear fruit.

If you can, sign up for a retreat. It will jumpstart your practice and transform your life. Truly.

If you’re ready for your practice to be a daily refuge, I’m here to guide you in a yearlong practice and training program.

On Teaching Yoga As A Mixed-Race American:

My Asian heritage does not include a lineage or practice of yoga. Where the spiritual path of yoga connects to my Buddhist heritage and practice, I celebrate those connections and share them in my teaching. Where my own cultural heritage diverges from yoga, I study deeply, and continually, to learn from those who have ancestral ties to it.

I am profoundly grateful for the grace and wisdom of my own South Asian and other teachers of the global majority for their loving guidance as I continue to unlearn culturally appropriated and harmful practices from earlier trainings, and from deep in my own consciousness as a mixed race person raised in the United States.

I hope you’ll join me on a path of learning, unlearning, reckoning, dismantling, healing, uplifting, and liberating through engaged practice.