Align with Jessica

07/23/2025

The art of life and work 💚 enjoy the integration. And truly so much action in this kitchen!

07/20/2025

And a clear yoga practise can help us clear the veil towards our authentic state of love. 💚

Adyashanti

The funny thing about enlightenment is that when it is authentic, there is no one to claim it. Enlightenment is very ordinary; it is nothing special. It plants you right in the center of a wonderful humility and innocence.

If you feel special in any way, then enlightenment has not occurred. I meet a lot of people who think they are enlightened and awake simply because they have had a very moving spiritual experience.

This isn't a journey about becoming something. This is about unbecoming who we are not, about undeceiving ourselves.
In the end it's ironic.

We don't end up anywhere other than where we have always been and we realize that the heaven everyone is seeking is where we have always been.

~ Adyashanti

07/19/2025

Pose of the Day: Adapted Baddha Konasana with Brick + Adho Mukha Forward Extension

In this version of Baddha Konasana, we use a brick between the feet to support stability and bring precision to the base. This containment helps activate the inner legs, draw the thighs back, and prevent the knees from collapsing outward.

As we come forward into Adho Mukha Baddha Konasana, the spine lengthens and the groins soften… creating space and quiet within.

This pose is especially beneficial for women—particularly during menstruation or anytime the body feels the need to descend, ground, and restore.

Why this pose?
• Pelvic release… softens the lower abdomen and inner thighs
• Supports the reproductive organs… relieves heaviness or cramping
• Quiets the nervous system… invites a parasympathetic response
• Brings space to hips and lower back… where strain and fatigue may settle
• Encourages inner focus… steady base, receptive spine, inward gaze

Let the brick guide the legs into intelligent containment. Let the breath deepen as you fold. This is where grounding and introspection meet.

Stay tuned tomorrow for another pose that builds on this theme of inner space, steadiness, and support.

07/15/2025

A heartfelt thank you to one of our students who quietly offers her time and care to clean our community blankets and returns them with the most delightful attention to folding. Each blanket is stacked just so with a kind of reverence that speaks volumes.

In the Iyengar yoga tradition, folded blankets are more than props. They are part of the journey toward sthira and sukha—stability and ease. In this creative and intentional practice, blankets work differently and wisely depending on the pose. They help us access these foundational, embodied aspects of yoga in ways that are subtle but powerful. They are trusted tools and our friends. (Nothing like an extra blanket in Savasana to melt beneath… 🙂

It is a quiet act of service but one that supports us all. We are so grateful for and her generosity, presence, and the spirit she brings into our shared space. 💛

07/07/2025

Summer Break in Classes. Book ahead for summer and September mini immersions - https://mailchi.mp/alignwithjessica/daily-yoga-feel-freedom-18234853

07/06/2025

📣 Class Schedule Pause: July 7–13 🧘‍♀️

Please note there will be a break in all public classes at Saltair Community Centre and private sessions from Sunday, July 7 to Saturday, July 13.

We return to the mat the following week:

✅ Monday, July 14
🔹 Alignment Yoga: 6:15–7:15 PM (public)
🔹 Private sessions resume

✅ Tuesday, July 15
🔹 Alignment Yoga: 10:00–11:00 AM (public)
🔹 Online class: 11:30–12:30 PM (Zoom + replay)

✅ Thursday, July 17
🔹 Alignment Yoga: 10:00–11:00 AM (public)

✅ Friday, July 18
🔹 Private sessions resume

During the break, I’ll be heading up Mt. Albert Edward… carried by breath, strong legs, and the quiet rhythm of the trail. Nature is a powerful teacher and reminder of presence.

✨ In the meantime, I encourage you to stay connected to your home practice with Your Yoga Library — $33/month for unlimited access to over 100 recorded Iyengar yoga classes.
✨ Explore classes in back care, shoulders, hips, restorative, and chair yoga… anytime, anywhere.

💫 After the break, join us in person with our 8-class flex pass, valid for any public or online class. All levels welcome. Join anytime.

We are a supportive, learning-focused community dedicated to the intelligent, foundational practice of Iyengar Yoga… where exploration and accessibility meet.

🔗 See link in bio or visit alignwithjessica.com to learn more, access Your Yoga Library, or register for upcoming classes.

07/01/2025

🌕✨ When the Universe speaks, I am attuned. ✨🌕

Funny thing. I accidentally scheduled a class on Canada Day
I almost cancelled it… but so many of you signed up
So I kept it
Now I know why 🌬️

At the end of class, a group of students asked again

“Would you ever offer a sound bath or sound yoga class?”

It’s not something I planned
For years, I’ve closed practice with mantra, the ocarina, and now my medicine drum from Norway
It was meant to gently seal the practice

But you’re not asking from your minds
You’re asking from your bodies
Your hearts
Something deeper is calling

🇨🇦 On this Canada Day I’m reflecting
This day can feel layered and complex
A call for unity can get lost in noise and tension
So I turn to the body
To the breath
To the felt sense of what is true
Beneath politics and identity, there is an essence
A shared field that remembers who we are
Yoga brings us there
To that place beyond roles, beliefs, binaries
To the space within that carries us all

Yoga may begin as a plan
A sequence
But yoga is sneaky
It’s multilayered
It moves quietly
It integrates beyond the physical
Often, what begins as movement becomes a fugue of memory
A subtle thread weaving through
Helping us reorganize from within
Helping us remember
Reintegrate
So we can feel the subtle essence of who we are
As we let go of the density of the physical
Many describe the end of class- adjustments, rest, sound,
as a feeling
'like being tucked in'
It brings me back to singing my daughter to sleep
Lullabies from my mother
Choral hymns
Folk songs
Musicals
I sang her into slumber
Night after night

🌀 So now, I’m listening to the thread
I don’t know what this will become
But I’m following a pulse
To attune to your calls and create

🎶 Send me your lullabies
Songs from your childhood
Your lineage
Your heart
Songs that stir something old
Something sacred

📩 Email: connect@alignwithjessica.com
Include a song title, story, or voice note

🙏🏼 Be respectful
Some songs are not meant to be shared
This isn’t performance
It’s remembrance

✨ This will become an Evening of Remembrance
We’ll begin with yoga to prepare the body
Then journey through sound and frequency
A shared ritual of rest, resonance, and remembering

Let’s co-create something meaningful.. together

07/01/2025

Join us Monday evenings from 6:15–7:15 pm for Alignment Yoga at the Saltair Community Centre.

Tonight’s focus: sourcing energy from the place where effort meets nourishment without overheating the body. We explored cooling poses like forward extensions with the head below the heart, gentle supported backbends, and quiet inversions. The practice supported a quiet brain and a calm, even heart, allowing the nervous system to settle and the breath to lengthen.

Because alignment isn’t just about form … it’s about how we move from within, how we conserve, channel, and restore.

And since we live where we live… you always have the option to end class with a cooling ocean swim on your way home. 💦

Drop in and try a class! Your first session is by donation AND if you stay with us, you can use an 8-class flex pass to join any of my public classes. 💚✨💚

And yes… I’ll share my favourite secret swim spots nearby when I see you. 😉

🖇 Register or learn more via the link in bio. or head to my website www.alignwithjessica.com

06/30/2025

Private yoga sessions have a rhythm all their own… focused… quiet… intentional. Even Selkie knows the cues. The moment I unroll the mats, she settles in like class is definitely for her. 🐾🧘‍♀️ thanks goodness for quality mat spray.

I have a few openings right now for new students interested in one-on-one sessions. Many students choose to keep these weekly sessions as part of their self-care, much like massage or physiotherapy because the benefits are that impactful.

A clear and consistent Iyengar practice doesn’t just refine alignment and strength,
It penetrates from the outer body inward… helping to balance the nervous system and prepare the body and mind for deeper work, including pranayama. Pranayama is the conscious extension of life force through the breath. A refined practise that we begin to open towards as we open the body,mind connection.

These sessions are about more than poses… They’re about presence. And I so love working one on one 💚

Want to learn more? Send me a message here or follow the link in my bio to explore my private session offerings in my cozy home studio in Ladysmith, BC.

📧 connect@alignwithjessica.com
🌐 www.alignwithjessica.com