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- Mindful Eating Class ParticipantI’ve been part of groups in which Jen has talked us through some mindful eating strategies and meditation before starting a meal. Each time, I’ve been amazed at how the meal “comes alive” for me, filling all of my senses, not just filling my stomach. And each time, I remind myself to carry these lessons home!
(I’ve been so inspired by this that I’ve asked Jen to share more of it during an upcoming class I’ll be teaching!)
- Online Community MemberI am joining this community to participate in well-being with others. I see Grow Well as a beautiful expression of ~umbutu~ . . . you know, where our greatest happiness comes in making sure, with compassion and intelligence, that everyone has what they need and want. “I am because you are.” Is that exciting or what??
- Community collaborator and Co-teacherI love how Jen weaves mindful eating into our Seasonal Food Workshops. Cooking workshops are a whirl of activity and conversation and new techniques. People are chopping and grating and tossing and tasting and then Jen comes along and reminds us to stop and pay attention. To engage with our senses and our bodies and all the effort that’s gone into bringing this food to our plates. In these quiet moments before we eat, I can see something shift for everyone in the room and we all take our first bite of what has become truly nourishing food.
- Online Community MemberI have found that expressing appreciation, gratitude, or respect to another person, especially about their acts of kindness to be of benefit. Being mindful of their kind acts makes it far easier to do so. The sharing by all of you over the past month has meant a lot, I appreciate and honor the kindness in all of you and in your acts.
- Yoga Basics participantThe Yoga Basics program really allows and urges you to listen to your body and do what feels best for you. It was great to have so many options for different body types and body pain issues so that most every pose could be done by most everyone. Amazingly, even after only 10 days (of Yoga Basics), my body feels less aches when I get out of bed in the morning. My body feels pretty good and I felt that with Emily at the helm (and no one in the room!), I felt that I indeed could be a yoga person.
- Program particiantThe biggest thing I took away from the program are techniques to look at my behaviors in non-judgmental ways. This is very powerful, because from this perspective I am finding it a lot easier to figure out the changes I want to make in my life and feel motivated to act on them.
- Program participantI don’t think I’ve ever met anybody as sincere as Jen in her desire to find ways to help others grow and succeed in life. She is completely open to the way things are, and then seeks to respond in a helpful way.
- Class memberIn class Jen was welcoming and professional! I would suggest her meditation course for any beginners and its a Must-Take course for any health professionals that often forget to “practice what they preach” when it comes to meditation and mindfulness!
- Program participantI have thought several times this summer about how Jen changed my life.
It was something she said at one of her cooking workshops as we sat down at the table: that we might pause before we took our first bite to reflect on the work of the farmers who had raised our vegetables. It was a day in the high nineties, and we had spent a few minutes walking through the fields where our dinner was grown. We then returned to an air-conditioned room. How simply and gently and firmly she said this. It had a profound effect.
- Newsletter subscriberJen‘s newsletter always seems to come just when I need it. It also comes with just the words I need to reconnect with what I value most, and to remind me that I’m not alone in this struggle to remain connected.
- Community collaborator & Program participantJen carries an infectious enthusiasm for everything that she’s part of, leaving you feeling that there’s nothing you can’t accomplish together! Jen’s approach to “work,” to change, and simply to life appears to be one of slow, deliberate actions that guide us in sustainable ways to new outcomes.
- Yoga Basics participantI did not know yoga was something to be done with such self-compassion and with a smile! It is at once inspiring and comforting to know I can now return to these poses, challenges and my own breath any time I want. Thank you.
- Online Community memberJen masterfully guides and engages online communities, interacting with them in a way in which she becomes an inspiring part of and friend to the community rather than a “leader” of of a group. She shares intimate parts of herself that give the community the courage to do the same, allowing for important insights and breakthroughs in self-awareness and behavior. It’s an amazing experience to be in community with her!
- Online Community MemberJust know that the engine you kick started (with the July Daily Kindness Challenge) continues to purr away daily in my life. Awareness is heightened and with it also production, recognition, and gratitude. A week has not gone by that I did not have a reason or an opportunity to reflect on the challenge and continue to observe and practice kindness. Thank you for the heightened awareness and for the habit. I plan to make it a life long habit even more than it already was. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
- Yoga Basics participantMy biggest takeaway from Yoga Basics is that even just a little bit of yoga, a few poses, a few stretches, makes a big difference in how my body feels and how my day goes! Also, I completely got that there is no “˜right’ way to do yoga, and it is most important to do what feels good to my body and listen to my body. My favorite thing about Yoga Basics is Emily creates such a friendly, safe, supportive environment to do yoga in a way that works for me.
- Program participantJen is so encouraging, so supportive, and so non-judgmental, and works hard to find the small openings of change readiness within me so that she can use those openings as opportunities.
- Community collaborator and co-teacherIt’s a pleasure to work with Jen. She’s possibly the most thoughtful collaborator I can imagine. Even when she’s technically in charge, it feels like each person is fully encouraged to step up and lead.
- Yoga Basics participantMy biggest takeaway from Yoga Basics is I can actually do yoga!!!! All the wisdom shared in the writings touches the soul while the poses nourish the body. My favorite thing about Yoga Basics is the patience and attention to tiny details that make the poses doable for everyone and the chance to ask questions about any issues that arise.
- Newsletter readerI sent two of Jen’s essays to my 41 year old daughter, Pilar, herself a wise person; she wrote back that Jen’s pieces came closer to her own complicated relationship with eating than anything else she had ever read. Jen, she said, was speaking for their generation.
