Portrait of Jessica Patterson

Jessica has been practicing and discovering yoga for over seventeen years, during which time she has had the great privilege of exploring many methods and approaches. As her yoga practice deepened, so too did her understanding of its profound transformative power. After completing her 200-hour teacher training in Colorado Springs, Jessica sought out more opportunities to learn and grow as a practitioner and teacher. Her dedication and commitment to nonviolence led her to the Jivamukti Yoga method, which bridges ancient teachings and modern lifestyles in a challenging, uplifting, and deeply compassionate practice. In April 2008, she completed the month-long 300-hour Jivamukti training in NY to become a Certified Jivamukti Teacher and is an 500-hour Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Allicance, indicating 2000+ hours of teaching. Jessica joyfully continues to delve deeper into her own education through Jivamukti immersions and master classes, Sanskrit studies, and to workshops with beloved and inspiring teachers like Alanna Kaivalya, Mark Whitwell, and more. In addition to her regular class schedule at PlaYoga in Colorado Springs, Jessica leads workshops and retreats throughout Colorado and the Southwest and teaches Internationally (most recently as faculty for the Taipei National University of the Arts annual summer program, TaipeIDEA). Jessica is the Director of the RootEd Apprenticeship & Teacher Training Program (a 6-month yoga training immersion that prepares apprentices to teach authentic, embodied yoga as 200-hour RYTs). She is honored to be on faculty for other teacher training programs in CO and NC, including Lahiri School of Yoga, Yoga Durango, and Cambio. With an M.A. in English and as a graduate of the renowned Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Jessica weaves together her diverse passions as a teacher, writer, nutrition therapist, and integrative consultant to emphasize integration and wholeness in all she does. Her forthcoming book is a personal exploration of the transformative experiences of death, divorce, and loss, and how the yogic teachings help us navigate and find center. She believes that the ultimate purpose of yoga is to liberate every being from suffering, granting freedom and happiness to all through its emphasis on union. As Jivamukti founders Sharon Gannon and David Life remind her, we cannot "do" yoga; yoga is our natural state. What we can do are practices that show us where we are resisting that state of yoga--which is love and joy. The goal of her teaching is to help students free themselves from limiting thoughts and ideas; we are limitless and divine, and that is the sole focus of her classes. Jessica's dedication to and respect for all these practices have enabled her to infuse her teaching with deeply spiritual, physically rigorous, and truly uplifting classes that seek to liberate and bring joy to each student.