Jess Duncan
500 Hr Registered Therapeutic Yoga Teacher
You and Jess Yoga
Therapeutic Yoga for your individual needs
What is therapeutic yoga?
Therapeutic Yoga or Yoga Therapy is a sequence of movements designed for an individual’s specific physical and/or mental needs. It can include movement, meditation, and breath work depending on the individual’s goals for their body and mind. Therapeutic yoga is meeting the person where they are at, it can be gentle or energizing, whether someone is dealing with pain, stiffness, recovery or wants to build muscle and stamina.
Check out my instagram for videos of remedies I have used in previous sessions
What’s the Process?
First we will chat over the phone for a 15 minute free consultation to determine if Therapeutic Yoga fits your needs. After that we will have a 1 hour intake to review current physical and/or mental health, which will inform our first session together. In the first session we will go through the sequence I have designed for you and will review what works and what doesn’t work. As our sessions progress we will continue to check in to fine tune your sequences of movements to ensure we are meeting your goals.
Location - Where do we practice?
You are invited to practice in the Monarch Studio, which is in my backyard with beautiful trees, sounds of birds, and sometimes the laughter of children from the nearby elementary school. Photos of the Monarch Studio are below.Should you prefer to practice at your residence I can do that too. Whatever is most comfortable to you.
Private therapeutic yoga session vs yoga classes
Yoga classes at a studio may not target your individual movement goals whereas a therapeutic yoga session is centered around what is best for your body with a strong emphasis on safety. There are many movements and drills in a therapeutic yoga session that you will not experience in a regular class. For many, a regular yoga class may be too fast, poses could be too challenging, which can increase injury, or perhaps there may not be enough focus on where your body needs more attention.
Public Yoga Class Offerings
I currently teach at Soma Yoga and Wellness in El Cerrito (9951 San Pablo Ave) on the following days:Monday at 7:30am - 8:20am - Power Vinyasa
Tuesday 5:30pm - 6:30pm - Foundation Flow
Wednesday 7:30am - 8:20am - Power Vinyasa
Saturday 10am - 11:15am - VinyasaWorkshops comings soon!
About Jess
I began my yoga journey in 2018 when I was a Special Education Teacher due to the burnout and high levels of stress I was experiencing from the demands of the job. I took a bit of break until I was experiencing chronic back pain due to a car accident I was in. I came back to yoga as a way to heal the pain I was experiencing due to the benign arthritis and scoliosis in my spine.Upon returning to yoga I experienced a meditative moment in savasana that made me think perhaps I could teach yoga as a way to afford taking classes. Shortly thereafter, I lost my dad and with that awoken in me a need to heal more than just my physical ailments.I began going to therapy for the first time in my life and researching how trauma stores in the body. The pain I was feeling was not just from the car accident but also from years of pushing away unprocessed trauma.This is where Yoga Therapy came into my life.In 2024, I began my Yoga Therapy certification to learn how to heal myself and support others in their healing journeys. In the last year I have been learning and unlearning ways of being in my body. I quit my full-time job in education to pursue my passion of healing through movement and yoga has been a big part of that.
Have a different inquiry or have something else on you mind? Message me here!