Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Jennings, MS.
Hi Jessica, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My path to Ma Yoga began more than 25 years ago, when I started teaching prenatal yoga. I became fascinated by how much yoga could help with the physical and mental discomforts of pregnancy, which eventually led me to earn a master’s degree in Kinesiology and develop Pregnancy in Balance, a group prenatal care program at Kaiser Permanente that brought together medical care, education, community, yoga and meditation.
Then I became a mother myself.
Despite all my experience teaching prenatal yoga, postpartum left me feeling isolated and depleted. I knew how to help pregnant women feel better in their bodies, but I realized I had never really learned how to take care of myself and support my own healing.
When my daughter was two, I left the traditional yoga world and created Ma Yoga for Pregnancy, Postpartum & Beyond. My vision: a “Ma Circle” in every neighborhood, where pregnant women and new moms could receive the kind of physical, emotional and community support I had realized we all need.
We eventually grew to 10 locations across Southern California and supported thousands of women and families, partnering with local businesses. When COVID closed our in-person locations, we moved online. What initially felt like a huge loss ultimately allowed us to train teachers and reach pregnant people in communities where prenatal yoga and support aren’t readily available.
“Ma” means mother in nearly every language, and in Sanskrit it also points to the most powerful and wise. I’ve come to see pregnancy as an opportunity to slow down, listen inward and learn to mother ourselves – and in the process, reconnect with our own wisdom and strength.
Over the years, Ma Yoga has become about something even bigger for me. I realized we’re all always pregnant with something – an idea, a project, or a new way of showing up. We can always begin by listening inward and opening to new possibilities.
I love helping teachers, birth practitioners and mamas all over the world step into their powerful and wise Ma Self. I never imagined I’d someday be part of a global Ma Circle!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Definitely not! One of the biggest challenges came when COVID shut down all 10 of our in-person Ma Yoga locations almost overnight.
I had spent more than a decade building a very local, community-based model. The whole vision was a “Ma Circle in every neighborhood,” so losing the physical spaces where women gathered felt like losing the heart of what I had created.
We moved online, but I had to rethink almost everything. How do you create connection through a screen? How do you support teachers when the places they taught no longer exist? And how do you keep serving pregnant women and new moms during a time when so many were more isolated than ever?
It ended up teaching me one of the core principles of Ma Yoga in a whole new way: sometimes we have to let go of what we thought something was supposed to look like so we can see what else is possible.
Moving online eventually allowed us to reach people far beyond Southern California and train teachers to bring Ma Yoga into their own communities. I never would have chosen to lose our 10 locations, but I can now see that the challenge pushed Ma Yoga toward a much bigger vision.
And honestly, there have been plenty of smaller challenges along the way, Building a mission-driven, non-profit organization while raising a family, figuring out the business side of work that began as a calling, and learning when to keep pushing and when to change direction have all been part of my journey.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Ma Yoga helps people experience the journey to motherhood as an opportunity to learn to turn love inward, reconnecting with their own inner wisdom and strength, while giving them practical tools to feel better in their ever-changing bodies.
We do this in two ways. Through Ma Yoga Living, we train and certify yoga teachers and birth practitioners in our unique alignment-based method, including the Five Sacred Steps for Pregnancy – biomechanical and energetic principles rooted in the universal wisdom of the five natural elements.
Our nonprofit, Ma Yoga, has a mission to provide yoga, birth and wellness education and community support for moms and moms-to-be everywhere, especially in underserved communities. Our online Ma Circle makes it easy for busy moms to click into a class and be guided through breathing, movement and restorative practices without ever having to leave home. Our classes are open to all – whether you’re pregnant, a mom, or simply wanting to connect with your “inner Ma.”
What sets Ma Yoga apart is that we don’t see pregnancy simply as something to get through safely or prepare for physically. We see it as an opportunity to learn to mother ourselves – to slow down, listen to what our bodies are asking for, and honor what we hear.
What I’m most proud of is that Ma Yoga is no longer something I have to deliver myself. By training teachers and supporting them in bringing this work into their own communities, one Ma Circle can become many.
My original dream was a Ma Circle in every neighborhood. More than 15 years later, that’s still the vision – we’re just finding new ways to make it possible.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Luck has definitely played a role in my life – although sometimes I wonder if it’s luck or what happens when you get really clear about what you want to create.
In 2004, I was completing my master’s degree in Kinesiology and needed to design a clinical study. I knew I wanted to study pregnancy and yoga, but there was very little research on prenatal exercise at the time. It was only in 2002 that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists had recommended 30 minutes of exercise a day during pregnancy. I had no idea how I was going to pull off a clinical study on my own.
Then one weekend, while I was in Denver for a yoga teacher training, I got a call from the Chief of OB/GYN at Kaiser Permanente.
She had just taken her first yoga class and couldn’t believe how much it opened her hips. It made her wonder what yoga could do for pregnant women. She wanted to study it, happened to find a flyer for my corporate yoga classes in Kaiser’s HR department, and called to ask: “Have you ever taught prenatal yoga?”
I had.
Together, we created Pregnancy in Balance, a program of 10 group prenatal visits that integrated medical care, education, community and yoga. We’d sit in a circle discussing a yoga-inspired theme while the OB or midwife saw each patient individually, then she’d join the group for education and discussion, and we’d finish with prenatal yoga.
Our initial study included only a few hundred women, but what we saw has been supported by a growing body of research since then: prenatal yoga can help reduce common pregnancy discomforts, stress and anxiety while supporting confidence and preparation for birth.
That one phone call changed the direction of my work. I went on to lead Pregnancy in Balance at Kaiser for six years, and so much of what I learned there eventually became part of Ma Yoga.
So yes, I’ve been lucky. But I’ve also learned that when we follow our “inner GPS,” the universe does seem to rise up in support somehow.
Pricing:
- Free week of live and on-demand yoga
- $30/mo or $240/yr
- Take a free prenatal yoga teacher training
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mayoga.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mayoga
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mayoga
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ma-yoga
- Other: https://prenatalteachertraining.com
