Yoga & Mind-Body Offerings

Jo’s Yoga and Mind-Body Background

Mahalo for checking out my offerings in Yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and mind-body wellbeing techniques!

From July 2024, I’ll be based in Honolulu and will offer sessions online and in person. These could be one-off classes or workshops, or a series for yourself, group, or organization.

Over the years, I’ve had the honor of providing classes for ashrams, nonprofits, behavioral health clinics, schools, high end resorts, studios, and event spaces globally, including Hawaiʻi, India, Thailand, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Brunei, New York, Massachusetts, Arizona, Maryland, California, and Ireland. Classes can be customized and co-created depending on your goals or intentions (for example, wellbeing techniques could be values-identification, progressive muscle relaxation, journaling).

A little bit of my Yoga background, case it’s helpful: From 2013-2021, at the height of my growth and leadership in Yoga, I decided to engage in trade-only Yoga teaching to contribute to efforts at decolonization in Yoga spaces—making room for more Desi teachers and de-commodifying what, for me, is a spiritual and philosophical practice. It was a tough decision to make, but ultimately I decided dismantling structures of inequity needed to start with me. Now that Yoga spaces are rich with South Asian talent, and my call to engage in teacher training arrived, I’ve decided to return to offering Yoga teachings on a larger scale once again.

I do my best to tap the power of experience with each session:

• Deep love and respect for the philosophies, cultures, and spiritualities in which these practices were formed

• An effervescent joy and clarity when teaching and supporting students on their unique journeys of discovery and healing

• 24 years of experience in contemplative practice, lifestyle, and spirituality

• 18 years of experience teaching trauma-informed mind-body practices (Yoga, meditation, mindfulness, relaxation techniques)

• 10 years of experience designing and delivering culturally sustaining wellbeing workshops and programs that integrate empirical science from the fields of psychology, integrative medicine, and education

• Certification as a Yogacharya (master) at the 750-hr level by Yoga Alliance-registered trainings from Sivananda in Madurai and Trivandrum, India, as well as the nonprofit, Yoga Connection

• Training and delivery of multiple styles of Yoga: Sivananda, Vinyasa, Restorative Yoga, Yoga for Kids, Prenatal Yoga, Back Care Yoga, Chair Yoga, Hiking Yoga

• Prioritization of vulnerable communities (this has included girls in halfway homes, residents at government subsidized housing facilities, Native American reservation residents, BIPOC, sexuality or gender minorities, folx with behavioral health challenges, Global Majority)

• Integration of expertise in trauma with contemplative practice by incorporating my background in research and practice in clinical psychology (PhD); Traumatic Stress Studies (Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute); and two certifications for Yoga and Mindfulness for Trauma, Anxiety, Depression, and Substance Abuse

• Publishing background on the topics of mindfulness, Yoga, meditation, and breathing techniques in peer-reviewed journals and general public spaces

• Meditation content provider for Greater Good Science Center

• Currently engaged in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Teacher Training through Brown University’s Mindfulness Center

• Awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine

• University-level lecturing background on Psychology of Emotions, Health Psychology, and The Science of Wellbeing

• Co-leads Project Koa Yoga’s teacher training which diversifies Hawaiʻi’s wellness sector by providing grant-funded training to BIPOC and SGM students; we center decolonialism in a Kanaka ʻŌiwi context, accessibility, and authentic Yoga. My specialized module offerings include Karma Yoga, prāṇāyāma, meditation, behavioral health in Yoga spaces, decolonialism, and Kanaka ʻŌiwi wellbeing.

• Previous collective co-owner of Third Root, a cooperative worker-owned holistic community health center which challenged systematic health disparities and hierarchies within different modalities of healthcare, providing a trail-blazing model of care that grew out of love

• Trained in progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic training, and biofeedback.

• Graduate of Off the Mat Into the World

• Received Yoga service awards from Yoga Alliance and the Yoga Service Council at the Omega Institute for global Karma Yoga efforts

• Media features on the front page of The Arizona Daily Star and The Gulf News, and in SHADES Magazine, the Hindustan Times and Natural Awakenings for Karma Yoga efforts. Quoted on the subject of meditation in The New York Times

• My PhD in clinical psychology (pending defense June 2024) often comes in handy in these spaces :) One of my primary research interests is in the integration of culture in mind-body interventions such as therapy and Yoga

• Coming from multiple lines of healers, I feels a deep responsibility as a teacher, facilitator, and co-creator. I’m a descendant of ʻanāʻanā practitioners, Kahuna (spiritual leaders) who served warring chiefs in Kohala, lifting curses and spearheading rituals. My great grandfather was a Chinese medicine doctor in Fukushima, Japan before moving to Hawai'i. And my father, former director of mental health for Hawai'i's state correctional facilities, was President of the Theosophical Society in Dublin.

• I love working collaboratively, but can translate your needs into a bespoke offering without you lifting a finger, if you prefer. Sessions are designed by integrating information about your community and context (e.g., values, location) to support transformative pathways to liberation. I draws from both svadhyaya (self-study) and the wisdom of ancestors/ʻāina to ensure clients and students experience the healing, transformative, and expansive potential of each offering.