Jennifer Atkinson

I was introduced to yoga back in 2010 while on a visit home from living overseas in Glasgow, Scotland. I fell instantly in love with the practice as a whole and began taking in as many classes as I could, wherever I could. Between yoga and a passion for swimming, I had finally found a way to reverse and heal the effects of chronic body pain and misalignment from years of surgeries and long hours as a bartender. I discovered this little studio called Yoga Grow that had just opened in my hometown of Fredericton, NB in Canada during a summer home in 2014. Then and there I knew I had found something special and my new second home. The fluidity of the words and movement of the transitional-based Vinyasa classes being taught by Amy Murphy (the owner) and friend Ally Tomo took my practice to a whole new level. In February, 2015, I took their inaugural 200-hour teacher training and graduated in July, 2015, with a completely new way to look at the body and mind.

Shortly after I completed my first training, I moved to Vietnam with my partner to work and travel around Asia. I continued to practice there, visiting countless studios, and began teaching private sessions in my spare time. I also began to sub classes at a local gym that had both an expat and local clientele. When we started travelling I spent a week at a retreat in Siem Reap, Cambodia where I learned about the philosophy of yoga and trained daily in meditation. I also spent a week in Ubud, Bali where I attended several classes a day at Radiantly Alive studio. I also completed a Roll and Release course (similar to Yoga Tune-Up).

When we moved back to my hometown in 2016, I began teaching three classes a week at Grow Studio (formerly Yoga Grow) and have been happily moving bodies there ever since. I have still to find a studio that offers so much variety and knowledge in respect to body-awareness, anatomy and therapeutics. I took a 30-hour Restorative Teacher Training at the studio in the fall of 2018 with Toronto-based Andrea Peloso and am awaiting my certification. In March, 2019, I will be participating in a 20-hour Vinyasa Redefined course with Amy Murphy and am looking forward to picking up some new tips and ways to practically teach the yoga asanas. As of April, 2019, my partner and I are setting off yet again to travel South America for a year and I am looking forward to taking my teaching on the road again.