Meet Jennifer Elliott of Yoga World Heart

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Elliott. 

Hi Jennifer, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
My journey with yoga began when I was 17. I graduated a year early and moved across the country and started to attend college. I was looking for a direction for my career, something that I believed in, that I was inspired by. One day my teacher told me I should write my paper on yoga and meditation. I wasn’t quite sure what that was but she left me a stack of books on the subject and sent me to my first yoga class. I doubt my paper was any good, I barely had scratched the surface of the subject, but it sparked my interest. That event changed my path and over the next few years I began to attend massage school and there I took my first yoga teacher training. 

Over the last 20+ years, my interest in yoga never diminished. I found that the more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. This led me to complete many yoga trainings including becoming a certified LMU Yoga Therapist in 2010. I traveled the world leading retreats and teaching at festivals. I’ve been a teacher trainer for YogaWorks since 2008 and have led trainings and taught at Wanderlust festivals since 2014. In 2012 I made a “Yoga For Cyclists DVD” and in 2016 worked with the L.A. Rams and appeared on HBO’s “Hard Knock’s”. 

What I love about this job is that I’m always learning, growing, and trying something new. That “something new” is our new online yoga studio, Yoga World Heart that Dawn Stillo and I started last year. It grew out of a need to pivot during the pandemic but stayed because of the community we created. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There are always obstacles on any endeavor and I think that helps you grow, or at least steer you in the right direction. Because we are new to “running” a studio, we had to learn how to use certain software to run the business and website. Both Dawn and I are also still YogaWorks teachers and trainers so we are conscious to do things in a way that is respectful to them and honors the studio that has always supported us. To sum it up, I would think that if we would say we needed 1 thing, it would be more Time! 

We’ve been impressed with Yoga World Heart, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I started Yoga World Heart with my friend and colleague, Dawn Stillo a little over a year ago. We’ve worked as YogaWorks Teacher Trainers together for almost the last decade. When the pandemic hit, we all had to immediately pivot to teaching online. I had an idea to get together some of the teachers who just lost their jobs due to the pandemic and create an online yoga community where everyone felt welcome. Dawn and I are both Yoga Therapists, so we originally wanted to create an online Yoga Therapy School. While we haven’t put the school together yet, we have had 2 Yin Teacher Trainings and plenty of workshops and mini trainings on the site. 

Our online yoga studio has 25 classes a week with 15 teachers on our regular schedule. We have everything from Yin, therapeutics, and Yoga tune-up, to Ashtanga, vinyasa, and sculpt. What sets us apart are our evening classes. We have Meditation on Tuesdays, Reiki on Wednesdays, and Philosophy talks on Thursday nights! On Friday evenings, we have a donation class, “World Heart Sangha”, that includes Metta Meditation, Dharma talk, and discussion. It’s coffee house style so participants can feel sharing as well. Everyone is welcome! 

Besides our broad and eclectic group of teachers and classes, what students love about us is that most of our classes are recorded. We upload these classes each night and they are available the following day to watch. Each class viewing is the same fee as a drop-in class or 1 punch of a package, so most find the value of our membership to be the best deal. That way students can take as many classes live or recorded as they want. 

Even though we have teachers and students all over the world, we still have local pop-up events in Thousand Oaks or surrounding areas where we host Yoga and Hiking or Beach yoga for example. 

Any big plans?
We are fairly new to the game, only 1 year old, so we would like to continue to grow our student base and classes. Most of our teachers are trainers so we still plan of hosting Yoga Alliance approved trainings like a 200hr, 300hr, and of course, eventually a Yoga Therapy course! 

Pricing:

• $15 drop-in class
• $20 new student unlimited access pass
• $79 1-month unlimited access pass
• $50 a month, 6-month minimum unlimited access pass

Contact Info:

• Email: info@yogaworldheart.com
• Website: https://yogaworldheart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yogaworldheart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YogaWorldHeart

Image Credits
Cristanto Santa Ana
Jen Rau