Jahmal Clemons

Namaste! I am Jahmal, an Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga teacher from Houston, Texas. A few activities that I engage in to find enlightenment are community service, mentoring, art, and travel. I teach heart-centered, challenging, yet accessible flow classes that focus on wholeness. I have maintained a dedicated personal practice for a decade. I intend that every student leaves my class feeling confident, creative, and capable of navigating their own lives better.

I am originally from Wichita, Kansas, and moved to Houston in 2015. This was a significant change for me, but I was ready to tackle the big city. As a marketing professional by trade, I was prepared to take my skills to the big city. My first job was working at one of the country's top community colleges as a digital marketing manager. Our student population was primarily first-generation BIPOC, and I enjoyed using social media to help them connect to the challenging higher education environment. During my time, we were awarded the first or second spot as the best college social media accounts by the Texas Institute of Social Media Research. As a life-long volunteer, I did not wait to find opportunities to serve my new community and spent two nights a week volunteering at a local adult literacy center. During this time, I saw two classes of my students graduate with their GED. Nature is also a passion. I am a volunteer with the Woods Project, a non-profit which provides inner-city high school students an opportunity to experience the great outdoors through weekend camping trips as a site volunteer. A memory most special to me is a trip I attended after Hurricane Harvey, whose floodwaters devastated Houston and the surrounding area. Despite many students being personally affected by the losses facing the city, they were determined to make play a central part in their healing process and as fuel for the resilience. I think of that group often and use that memory as fuel when I need to be uplifting. As a result of my commitment to my community, I was personally recognized by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and given the Key Influencer Award, and rode with them in their jet!

I am grateful for the experiences I have had in Houston so far.