Meet Jamie Hanson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Hanson.

Jamie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have been practicing yoga for 15 years and teaching for 10. What brought me to yoga was purely physical. I didn’t know anything about this practice that has since saved my life. I was living in Guatemala City and it was not safe to do what I loved to do the most…run. So, I joined a gym and they had yoga. I practiced once or twice a week. I was curious. My body started to feel the benefits for sure after years of injury. But, what I hadn’t anticipated was the massive change it had on my mental/emotional body. I am a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence and for the first time I was able to be present to my emotions without feeling a sense of panic. It was empowering to learn tools that allowed me to sit in the discomfort of my emotions and allow them to pass rather than running from them.

Teaching has always been my passion. It is my dharma. I was a high school social studies teacher for eight years and shifted to teach yoga full time in 2012. I have been studying trauma-informed yoga since 2010 and this has been my path. I believe that one cannot understand trauma without also looking at systems of oppression and this is why I am passionate about the intersection of yoga and social justice.

After having my daughter in 2015, I found myself needing more self-care and I couldn’t get to my mat as often as I had before she was born so I started to dig a little deeper into Ayurveda. Through my own experimentation with dinacharya and my studies with Cate Stillman I am now also a certified Yoga Health Coach and I have designed Align & Awaken, a deep, transformational journey that allows participants to take small, simple steps to realign their physiology so that they have the energy to really show up for themselves, their loved ones and the whole.

Has it been a smooth road?
The path of yoga and any spiritual practice requires a level of self-inquiry that can be very confronting. It is challenging to become aware of our own habitual patterns of behavior that have been holding us back. There have been moments of deep shame over mistakes made and moments of release in admitting those mistakes. And ultimately moments of great joy in knowing that I have chosen a path of purpose and worked my ass off to be where I am today.

And I have been very lucky. I have had the support of my family in everything that I have set out to do. I have a partner that has my back and a community that pushes me forward.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Jamie Hanson Yoga – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I am a yoga educator, yoga teacher trainer and a yoga health coach.

What sets me apart? I have a passion for truth and justice. It isn’t always popular to invite people to investigate the bigger issues in our culture, like racism, White Supremacy, trauma, etc. But, I don’t believe we are truly doing yoga if we continue to ignore these issues. Especially in this moment in time.

What do I specialize in:

In addition to teaching public classes (vinyasa and prenatal yoga) in South Orange County, I am the founder and lead teacher of the Empowered Yoga Teacher Training™, a 200 hour yoga school specializing in trauma-informed yoga and the intersection of yoga and social change.

Align & Awaken is my newest program. It is a year-long online group coaching program that invites participants into a deep, transformational journey that allows them to take small, simple steps to make self-care a priority. With the support of a motivated group all working together to evolve and nurture the daily habits one need to feel present, clear, easeful, energized, on purpose. Because we cannot live into our full potential when we are living in overwhelm and exhaustion. And I believe that the world needs each and every one of us living on purpose…especially in this moment. The world needs us.

I am one of the yoga teachers on Ma Yoga Living, an online platform for women during pregnancy, motherhood and beyond. We are a community of yoga teachers, birth professionals, healthy lifestyle educators and parenting experts bringing the wisdom of yoga to mamas across the globe.

I am currently a faculty member of Embody Love Movement® and I am a facilitator trainer. Our mission is to empower girls and women to celebrate their inner beauty, commit to kindness, and contribute to meaningful change in the world.

A few years ago, I co-founded Bridge Yoga Programs™ as a way to offer additional education to local yoga teachers who were interested in bringing their teaching into non-traditional settings. We designed Teaching Yoga to Those in Recovery in 2016 and have been training yoga teachers throughout Orange County.

I am most proud of following my heart and believing that yoga is more than a work-out. That I have committed to creating programs and classes that speak to people’s hearts even when I have been afraid that they won’t show up. After seven years of teaching here in Orange County, I have been absolutely blown away by the people who continue show up for the deeper practice of yoga.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I live in San Clemente. What I like best about this city is the climate and that I get to see the Pacific Ocean every single day. What I like least about my city is that it is smaller than I am used to and therefore lacks the diversity I had while living in larger cities like Minneapolis and Chicago.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jamiehansonyoga.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/jamiehansonyoga
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/jamiehansonyoga

Image Credit:
Topher Delancy Photography

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