Jennifer Elliott

Jennifer Elliott, ERYT500 is a senior teacher and director of AYC. She has been a dedicated student for more than 30 years and teaching for more than 20. She was blessed to have found her first yoga teacher, Richard Freeman, when she was an undergraduate student at University of Colorado. (1981). Since her first introduction to yoga with Richard, she has studied with many other gifted and acclaimed teachers.
She did graduate studies in California where she was introduced to Eleanor Criswell (Somatic Yoga). She took and then taught classes in Hatha Yoga at Sonoma State University. (1987)
She returned to Boulder to continue her studies with Richard to find him engaged in the Ashtanga-Vinyasa method of practice of yoga. From Richard’s, Yoga Workshop, she was introduced to Tim Miller, who taught her the transformative and healing power of the vinyasa system of synchronizing breath with movement, focusing mental energy with driste and bandha. During her years in Boulder she also continued her studies of Aikido with Ikeda Sensei of Boulder Aikikai, where she earned her black belt. Her previous teachers in California were Wendy Palmer and Richard Strozzi-Heckler, who she considers prime influences on her life and her work in the mind-body arena.
Jennifer continued her studies with Richard Freeman until 1997.

Jennifer began teaching the Asthanga Vinyasa method once she moved back to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1998 ( her childhood home).
She opened Ashtanga Yoga of Charlottesville in 2005, a place dedicated to teaching the ashtanga method as she learned from Shri K Pattabhi Jois, Richard Freeman, Tim Miller, David Garriques, and many other senior teachers in the tradition.
She has made 3 pilgrimages to Mysore, India to study with Shri K Pattabhi Jois and his grandson, Sharath.

Jennifer’s dedication and devotion to Ashtanga Yoga is evident in the clarity of her teaching. Jennifer’s primary intentions are to maintain the purity and integrity of Ashtanga Yoga as taught to her by Shri K Pattabhi Jois, at the same time to maintain the accessibility of the yoga experience to all levels of practitioners.

Jennifer, along with Jen Fleisher and Kate Hallahan leads a 200 and 500 Hour Teacher Training each year in the Krishnamacharya lineage, focusing on philosophy, teaching methodology, and practice.

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434-531-5441