Jenn had such a profound impact on my life as a whole that I have no idea who I would be today if we’d never met. Although I’ve known her for only 4 years, it’s honestly felt like lifetimes. I believe my soul sought her’s out on purpose — to grow. During that brief but transformative time she repeatedly touched me with her magic on such a deep level that I have become a more aware, honest, and loving person because of her energy.
Jenn set me on the path to quit my job in entertainment and embrace becoming a healer, teacher and mother. I was terrified of stepping into all those roles (and still a beginner at them all), but she supported me every step of the way. She gave me the courage to truly LIVE when all I wanted to do was escape. Life is MESSY, and it kicks all of our asses, but seeing Jenn meet that pain head on with a smile…I couldn’t help but stick around. She believed in me before I was able to believe in myself and saw parts of me that hadn’t even been activated yet. Her presence in my life is one of the greatest gifts I’ve received from the universe, and I am determined to not take it for granted.
The above video is a clip from our final Activated Awareness Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training gathering at her house on May 31, 2021. She mentions that it wasn’t a traditional teacher training but a very memorable and transformative one because it started in October 2019. It was only supposed to take 9 months, but ended up lasting over a year because of the pandemic, and she was there for ALL OF IT.
This gathering felt like a HUGE victory because all of us had been through SO MUCH, some had even physically moved away but still managed to show up on Zoom. As someone who has historically struggled with commitment, I shocked even myself that I too was there for it all, which even included waking up at 5am for 40 days straight to drive to the Yogi Tree and meditate for 2 hours when I just started a new job! Jenn made it all possible.
She never forced me to do anything, but her belief in me was everything. This Teacher Training ended up being one of the most difficult, emotionally demanding experiences of my life, but I wanted to spend as much time soaking up Jenn’s energy and learn as much from her as I could.
“Part of what this practice teaches us is ‘How do we evolve? How do we embrace what’s coming to light?’” She says. “We have empowered ourselves with tools to meet all that’s being uncovered. Some of it’s not easy and some of it’s amazing, and yet we have each other to get through it together and that’s a really beautiful powerful thing.
We were faced with a lot of tricky information over the past year and it’s such a huge opportunity to learn about ourselves even more, to learn about each other even more and to expand and grow. So thank you for taking this journey with me.”
I felt this video was important to share because it demonstrates the kind of person Jenn was, and her philosophy of how she approached the world — prioritizing constant evolution through Love. She had SO much planned, and so many big dreams to make the world a better place.
Her commitment to growth was astonishing, and I watched in disbelief as she met HISTORICALLY INSANE CHALLENGES like a champ, including the crumbling of the Kundalini Yoga community as a whole and addressing difficult issues like white supremacy and the climate crisis — all while raising 4 boys, attempting to build a sustainable farm and keep her studio afloat with a total rebranding campaign DURING A WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC. Although it really was NOT easy for her, I’m so grateful to have had the privilege and opportunity to witness her unbreakable spirit as she pivoted and adapted SO FAST to all the CONSTANT accelerated change that would’ve slammed most anyone else like a big rig vehicle.
In the video she also says there would “still be lots to come in the next 5-10 years”, but I don’t think any of us could have imagined that would include her own physical death… I suppose that’s one of the “not easy” things we now have to deal with. Ironically, I feel very prepared in handling the waves of grief that come with it though because one thing she promised was that she’d teach me how to “surf the waves of life,” and she totally did.
Like me, Jenn came from an entertainment industry background. When I met her at my very first Red Tent around the Lion’s Gate 8/8 portal in 2019, I was still working as a Character Designer at Warner Brothers Animation, struggling to return to “normal society” after recently returning from an Ayahuasca retreat in Peru in an attempt to find balance after my dad’s death and a bipolar diagnosis. Finding out she worked as a prop designer on Buffy The Vampire Slayer had my inner child starstruck and shrieking in awe, but the jaded artist and grieving daughter in me valued the yoga teacher in her more at this point in my life. I admired her so much for being able to leave that career behind in service to her family and the human race, taking a huge risk to start her own business and jump off the cliff without knowing what the hell she was doing. But wow did she learn how to build those wings on the way down.
Because her story resonated with me on such a deep level, she helped me believe in my own ability to do the same, and I quit what I had initially thought would be a “dream job” on Rick and Morty in 2020 to take the time to heal — a hugely empowering move on my part to become stronger as a person within, rather than an impressive character designer on the outside. As I write this in 2023, the animation industry has totally destabilized, and I am beyond grateful for the skills and confidence Jenn taught me to surrender to the creative process of life and roll with the punches in a similar way to herself. She paved the way and gave me permission to pursue a path I could have never anticipated and tools for the resilience and courage to walk it.
Choosing to do this “Activated Awareness” Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training with Jenn was truly one of the best decisions I have ever made for my own evolution as a human being, and I am so honored to have her as my teacher. We would “tune in” to each Kundalini class with “Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo,” which means “I bow to the divine wisdom that lives within me” from the great lineage of all the wise teachers who came before and who will come after us. I am beyond honored to have her as the primary Wise Sage of my own lineage — my very own “Obi Wan Kenobi” haha. She truly did leave pieces of herself in everyone she touched, and that spirit will live forever in our hearts as seeds waiting to sprout in their own divine timing.
Jenn gave so much of herself to so many people, and I can’t help but feel an immense responsibility to pay forward what I learned to keep that spirit alive. How? Not sure…there’s still so much wisdom to unpack from everything absorbed from her over the years, but I know it will bloom in its own way when it’s meant to. Guess I’ll just have to see “what magic happens next,” as Jenn would always say. It’s really all any of us can do ;)
