Meet our NEW MIGHTY TEACHER!

WelcOMe Jess Shepard to the Mighty Family!  We're so excited for her to become part of our star teaching crew. Want to meet Jess? (We know you do!) Come to Jess's class, our NEW $5 Community Class, Saturdays at 6pm. Here's a little info for a sneak peek...Jess Shepard everybody!

How did you come to yoga? 

My first Power practice was at Mighty with Liz. What I remember is showing up with feelings of curiosity about what was so powerful about this style of yoga, and a desire to move my body in a completely different way. At the time I felt stuck in my skin and wanted a challenge. That particular sequence involved a lot of side planks and backbends so I got what I was initially searching for - empowerment, fresh and fierce ways to move, and a challenge. 

What do you like about Power Yoga? 

In short, this practice serves as a mirror. Every time I step onto the mat (or the grass, concrete, sand, et cetera), I am face-to-face with how I am choosing to show up to life. Sometimes it's messy and unclear and sometimes it's fluid and light, but either way this practice is making it okay for me to be human, to make mistakes, to fall and to fight. What I am watching unfold are my patterns of pitfalls that are keeping me trapped in a body of unworthiness and fear. This practice teaches me to loosen the grip on judgment and doubt and to relax into the experience as it is, unleashing an awareness that every breath is an opportunity to refresh your perception, to embrace the beauty of being alive, and to love yourself just as you are (even on the days you feel like a pile of fertilizer).

How has your yoga changed since the first time you practiced? 

Oh man, I can write a few pages on this, but to make it simple, I am currently learning how discipline and consistency brings transformation, but also how there is a tendency to hook in and attach to the poses. With awareness, a sense of freedom and vulnerability within the practice begins to unfold the layers of the gripping and striving, which eventually allows your body to respond to your breath verses your mind. So that's where I currently am - exploring movement without containment as a way to wake-up to how I am confining and compromising my life off the mat. 

Why did you decide to teach yoga?

I committed to teacher training with no intention to evolve as one who facilitates the practice; I was solely searching for a deeper connection within myself and the community I was living in at the time. What unfolded was a fiery passion to share this transformation - the asana (poses) along with conscious connection to the breath can offer a tool to break out of the framework of old patterns and behaviors, and choose to live a life with more awareness of the basic human right to feel good everyday. Sharing this practice with the role as a 'teacher' is the first honest decision that's made sense in my life.

Any tips for someone new to yoga?

1. Hydrate 2. Show up with open ears and an open Heart. 3. Active feet! 4. The voice inside who questions and doubts is the one who is not on your side. The voice that is soft and gentle is the one that needs to stay and be heard. So when you want to bail and run from any pose, emotion, drip of sweat, stay. Stay and just breathe.

What is your favorite pose?

Currently I have no pose striking me as a favorite, but one I am always grateful for is paschimottanasana, or seated forward fold. This pose calls on stillness and deep breath, which is an honest reflection of how I am showing up to my intention to practice every pose with a sense of an empty mind and surrender using big inhales and exhales. It's also a simple pose to remember that life can also be simple, yet full of powerful energy, if only we can detach from the need to always challenge and strive.

What fuels you?

Water. The Night Sky. Live music, especially drumming. The mystery and fullness of the woods. Dancing to Mary J Blige, Beyonce and Rihanna. Matcha Green Tea. Fierce and sassy high heels.

What makes you Mighty?

Showing up again and again with the courage and willingness to explore what my life would like if I believed what I know in my Heart to be true, and to start trusting the teacher within, even when things get messy.