Jyllin's Story

Holistic Health Practioner, 2004

BFA Dance Equivalent, 2008

Mixed Technique Full-Body Massage, 2015

Foot Reflexology, 2016

ERYT 500 Yoga Alliance Certified, 2016

EFT Practitioner, 2019

Trauma Informed Yoga & Health Practitioner, 2019

Deep Tissue Massage, 2020

I grew up a dairy-farming gymnast in Wisconsin, strong yet plagued by anxiety, ashamed and resentful to live in a human body. I struggled with eating disorders and tendencies of pushing too hard and too fast, too much perfectionism, too much thinking, analyzing, stressing, achieving, rebelling, burning out.

In 2000, I left my academic focus on social and political theory at the University of Minnesota and moved to Portland, Oregon. There I discovered the world of holistic health. I was young, intrigued with consciousness and the unconscious mind, and opened into the lifelong journey of healing and transformation.

Through an intensive yoga practice with TriYoga — a unique blend of Vinyasa and Kundalini — and as a self-student of vegan holistic nutrition, I was called to receive certification as a holistic health practitioner in 2004 with the Global Institute for Holistic Health.

Meditation also cultivated visions of dance, leading me into the contemporary and post-modern dance worlds where I learned and lived embodiment and awareness in mindful (and consciously abandoned) movement.

From 2005 I developed a BFA equivalent through Zenon Dance School in Minneapolis and in 2008 started teaching ballet, modern dance, break dance, and hip hop.

I was particularly drawn to release technique and in-depth study of the body and efficient movement mechanics. From 2005-2008 I studied somatics, which combined an experiential anatomical and physiological approach with therapeutic movement and touch, weekly with Deborah Jinza-Thayer.

Somatics heavily influenced my teaching of yoga-asana years later.

After I completed an MFA in writing from the California Institute for the Arts in 2012,  I moved to Hanoi, Vietnam. There I was offered a teaching position by the Iyengar-based studio owner upon completion of a Vinyasa teacher training course with Dominique Renucci. After six months of teaching, I had over 20 classes per week, private clients, and was managing two studios.

I left Hanoi after two years to teach, pack in senior-teachers’ workshops and trainings, and study and give massage throughout the continent of Asia.

After my first advanced TTC with Dominique Renucci in Rishikesh, India in 2014-15, I studied Ayurvedic, Swedish, and Indian head massage at the Tattva Ayurveda & Panchkarma Center.

I then moved to Bali and studied foot reflexology at the Sanur Bali International Spa Academy in 2015 and took my second advanced TTC with Tina Nance in Ubud, Bali in 2016.

Tina Nance’s TTC, co-taught with Chinese Dr. Jimi Wollumbin, was my dream course, weaving the meridian system and five-element theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine with Hatha Yoga. This has been the heaviest influence of my asana teaching since, both with Hatha and Yin.

Through all of my studying and teaching, however, I still struggled with C-PTSD, anxiety, shame, and secrecy. Yoga and meditation guided me to open up and begin shedding the layers of sabotaging coping mechanisms while living in Bali. I then focused on developing sustainable daily habits to support my growth using an Ayurvedic approach.

As my inner landscape shifted, I was called to mirror that radical change externally. I moved to Spain and began a new chapter of my healing journey — integrating nearly two decades of study and practice — while intensively focusing on transforming my subconscious mind and beliefs.

EFT (tapping) was the key that helped me shed layer upon layer of trauma and stress, enough that I got certified as a practitioner with Graham Nicholls in 2019.

Becase trauma was a core element of my story and is for too many others as well, I started my journey of becoming trauma informed in 2019 through the Tracing Trauma Conference: On the Science and Somatics of Healing Trauma and Overcoming PTSD Conference with Avaiya University.

And as demand of my massage services became central to my work in Essaouira, Morocco, I formally studied deep tissue massage with Mark Perren-Jones.

My ongoing studies and personal practices focus on mindfulness, vegan holistic nutrition, herbal support, micro- and macro-lensed chronic stress & illness treatment, somatics, and Ayurveda & TCM principles.

In December 2018, within my first few months of living in Essaouira, Morocco, I woke up at 4am with a clear vision: I sat in a circle of women on my rooftop. We were closing a program I’d run that focused on how to develop a lifestyle of holistic healthcare.

From that point I knew that I had to create holistic lifestyle programs that addressed the root of my struggles — chronic stress patterns stemming from the core wound of unworthiness.

The question then was how. When 30 days wasn’t long enough. And making people travel and stay for months was inaccessible.

Six months later I was developing the online Holistic Liberation Program. This way I could see people through the complete transformative process in a fraction of the time it took me — all while entering straight into their lives through their computer.

Thanks for this blessing, modern world.

Let’s take advantage of this gift… and connect. Whether you’re in need of help or do the helping yourself, message me. And if you haven’t yet, subscribe below.

♥︎ Jyllin