Jayne Ogata
More than 15 years ago, Jayne was working a more-than-full-time job, commuting a lot of miles, and caring for her young son while her husband worked his evening job. Somehow, she created some space amid all that to try out yoga classes. Initially, the basic moves were challenging for her, and she always fell asleep in savasana. “Is that the point?” she wondered. (Now she believes if you fall asleep in savasana, you need more sleep!)
Yoga classes provided a little haven, even if she didn’t know yet what was so compelling about them. While she appreciated the time and space to step out of the hubbub and focus on something for herself (and nap), she started hearing women—often with school-aged children—confess that yoga had saved their lives or had preserved their sanity in tough times.
It took time to realize that yoga has more dimensions than the poses, “flow” progressions, and physical conditioning, although she truly enjoyed those aspects, too. She discovered that moving with breath, being present in the moment, and engaging in meditative moments was helping to center, destress, and experience a path to deeper well-being.
Elyse Siegmann (formerly Foster), who taught at Healing Tree for many years, was the teacher who gently drew her into a regular practice. She connected with Elyse’s down-to-earth style and spiritual-seeming approach and teachings. Many years later, when she consulted Elyse about yoga teacher training, Elyse encouraged and supported her interest and progress.
Jayne has been teaching for a little more than five years now and mostly teaches vinyasa-style classes, guiding practitioners through purposeful and creative sequencing to develop strength, flexibility, and balance – on and off the mat. She seeks to challenge and nurture students to move mindfully with focused energy and breath.
She has also taught restorative yoga, chair yoga, and meditation. In any of the forms of practice, her belief is that the core teachings of yoga encourage awareness along with the alignment and integration of mind, body, and spirit/energy.
Jayne is an RYT-200, and completed her teacher training with Jacqui Bonwell through Sacred Seeds Yoga in 2017. She considers herself on a lifelong journey in which every teacher, student, and experience is a source of learning and inspiration.
During the pandemic, she took several Yoga Alliance workshops online and has appreciated the teachings of Khushi Malhotra and Angela Dharma Fears, in particular.
Fun Facts: 25+ years ago, she played taiko (Japanese drums) and was a founding member of Odaiko New England (ONE is still going strong). She enjoyed that experience as one of several performing arts she engaged in.
She also has taken workshops on a practice called TaKeTiNa, and is intrigued by and wants to further explore the role of sounds and rhythm patterns (think chanting and sound bowls) on meditative states, wellness, and healing.