Jacqueline is one of the best teachers I have ever had in any field of endeavor. I am almost seventy and had never taken any kind of yoga before. Now I can’t imagine missing a week with Jacqueline. She is one of those people who is in the sweet spot in life. She loves what she does and so does it extremely well. She is always in a good mood. She believes fervently in the value of Iyengar yoga. She is beginning to teach me things that I never would have dreamed of doing with my body. I always feel well-stretched and healthy after a session. Her explanations of how the body works make perfect sense. She is working full time at sixty-one and shows no signs of slowing down. She has the body of a twelve-year-old girl. She is always encouraging and never criticizes. She gentles you along and you make progress gradually. She frequently points out to me things that I absolutely could not have done when we started and that I now can do easily. My posture is better. I don’t lean forward in the way that I used to do, which is the worst thing you can do for your spine. I can’t even think of taking yoga from any other teacher. Jacqueline is the best.
I have been taking yoga classes for a year and half and let me tell you: Jacqueline is a wonderful teacher! Her knowledge of teaching Iyengar Yoga is unbelievably great. She delivers what she promises: “You will leave the class feeling rejuvenated, and assume sensations of calm, clarity, and well-being.”
Through the practice of taking her classes, she definitely aims to unite the body, mind and spirit for health and well-being. She is a well-organized teacher. Practing Iyengar Yoga with her skills will help you relieve the stresses of modern-day life, promoting total physical and spiritual well-being.
I have suffered from back pain for many years and Jacqueline has helped me immensely. I can even touch my toes now!
I am grateful for her help and her nice and warm smile!
Many thanks.
I discovered Jackie at Yogaworks last November 2015. I love her classes. She is a treasure as an Iyengar teacher and person. I feel safe in all positions and she makes sure that each student is in proper alignment during the class. I never do anything that is potentially uncomfortable for me and I ask for help if I need it. She is always there with a solution. She is upbeat and positive and I leave feeling stronger and calmer after each class. I am so happy to have found her.
I recently did a private session with Jackie. With her keen eye and brilliance, she instantly saw what I needed. The results have been stunning. I am just feeling more and more aligned each day.
I highly recommend Jackie for yoga. Her knowledge and training go deep and I trust her implicitly.
I completely switched to Iyengar yoga in February 2015. I was under huge stress at work for a while and ended up on medical leave due to adrenal exhaustion. I noticed that vinyasa flow classes added to my lightheadness and often I was feeling too agitated and tired after class. Sun salutations and high pace almost made me stop practicing. Than I tried Iyengar yoga class with Jacqueline and fell in love with yoga again!
Jacqueline’s knowledge of asana’s, human anatomy, attention to student’s injuries are incredible. Every class is different and challenging, she feels the class’s energy and skill level and modifies as necessary. The attention to details and precise instructions that Jacqueline gives are the key to practice. If you listen carefully and implement (or at least try) what is instructed the progress will be significant and noticeable. I keep discovering more about my body, flexibility and restrictions. Since February 2015 I made such progress in many asana’s, including headstand, that I couldn’t even imagine. Going to a retreat is on my agenda as deepening my practice and learning more from Jacqueline. I highly recommend Jacqueline as amazing teacher and Iyengar style of Hatha yoga as a better alternative to vinyasa.
I am new to Marin and came to yoga class with a sore right hip and sore right shoulder. I thought the soreness was something that I would just have to learn to live with as the price of getting older. My hip pain had been going on for years, and it was originally caused by a tennis injury, while my shoulder pain was more recent, having plagued me for about three months. Much to my amazement after several Iyengar yoga classes with Jacqueline’s capable teaching and wonderful opening positions, the pain in both my hip and my shoulder totally vanished. After several class, I felt healthier and more energetic than I have felt in years. I have been to many yoga studios and have had many yoga teachers throughout the years, but without a doubt, Jacqueline is the most knowledgeable, professional, and caring teacher I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. So do yourself a favor and try one of her awesome classes. After all, all you have to lose is your stiffness and your pain.
You know, I have been studying yoga with you for ten years now!
And the hardest work for me has been the chest opening. It took three years to get through the biggest barriers of locked up emotion and tension. Back bending was always a struggle. Now it is much easier.
This last Saturday, you focused the entire class on opening the chest – on bringing the shoulder blades into the spine. Your direction for every posture revolved around that axis.
Who knows what precipitates deep change, some combination of internal and external forces – maybe even the stars – but I felt so open and free after that class.
My eyes, my mind, heart, all my muscles from my neck to my toes all felt so open, relaxed and clear. And I have felt a pervasive wakeful calm since then, too.
Thank you for being so committed to your own understanding of Iyengar and love for teaching and for your students. Love for the truth and peace in the hearts of others and peace in the world.
I even asked in the men’s room tonight, “Do you guys feel like Jackie is getting better?” and they all said, “Yes, more focused and, well… I am not sure what, but definitely better, especially in the last month or two.”
You have always been among the top three Iyengar teachers in Marin to me – out of dozens I have taken class from – but you are always the one whose voice I have on my shoulder when I am in another class than yours.
Jacqueline came into my life because one of my favorite teachers was substituting in her class. I asked that teacher if I should go to her class. She told me “Yes, she’s the real thing!” She is — clear, caring, well paced and wonderful!
I’ve never been able to balance since I was a child and no other teacher has ever tried to help me. I thought I had a missing part in my brain. I’ve been doing Yoga for 40 years! After a month of her classes, I arranged a private session. That very 1st day I could balance a little. Apparently I’ve been standing incorrectly since I was a child which has affected my low back, hip, knee, and foot.
I’m going to Haramara this year to have a week of her remarkable instruction — I’ve arranged more private sessions and am so hopeful and pleased.
I was visiting best friends in the San Francisco area and they recommended a session with Jacqueline. I have had pain in my shoulder for the last couple of years. My shoulder and I have never worked with anyone better!! I squeezed in an extra visit and I left feeling more renewed than I felt would be possible Jacqueline’s technique, her ability to pinpoint what needs work and heal it, and her warm and caring personality are not to be matched. I would highly recommend that anyone who has intransigent discomfort and joint issues, and who has tried various modalities, seek her out. Jacqueline’s philosophy of care, unique approach, and results achieved combine for an exceptional outcome. I wish I could move to the west coast!!
I have practiced various forms of yoga with many different teachers for almost 30 years. I’ve sustained an Iyengar practice for the past 8 years with many wonderful teachers. I started working with Jackie about 3 years ago. I feel blessed to have found her. Her classes are filled with her loving energy, commitment to my healing physically and emotionally by the asanas. I love the warmth and humor she shares as she encourages us to do the best we can with any asana she is teaching, gently reminding us to respect the capabilities of our bodies at that moment, realizing that each day is different. She often says “this pose is a gift from God”. I sincerely believe that Jackie as a healer and teacher is a gift from God and I’m truly grateful to have her in my life.
I leaped up onto a bench. It sounded like a shotgun went off in my right knee. I went down in a heap. Torn Meniscus.
When the doctor, one of the best orthopedists in Los Angeles, saw the MRI he simply said, “What can I say. You’ve got bad knees. And I suspect the left is nearly as bad as the right. But then you know that.” And I did. I’d been plagued by knees that were increasingly wobbly for years. When the physical trainer, also one of the best at what he does, saw the MRI, he smiled (He has a weird sense of humor.) and noted, “Wow. That’s a lot of words. Usually you only see a couple of sentences. But you have paragraphs of stuff.” Despite his best efforts, my knees got only slightly better and I actually ended up slightly tearing my achilles from trying to partially heal my knee. Essentially my hiking days were over.
I had done yoga, on and off, since I was 21. Over the years, I went to classes, practiced at home and did privates. However, for the last few years, I had trouble doing warrior poses because my knee could no longer stay steady. It wobbled all over the place.
While I had known Jacqueline for years as a friend, we did not do yoga together until a bit over a month ago.
When I told Jacqui about the chondromalacia in my knee and all that kind of stuff, she smiled and said, “You pronate when you walk and your knees aren’t tracking right.”
She explained in very specific ways – biomechanical ways that I understood – what I had to do to get going again. She literally started from the toes up explaining what the real problem was.
And, guess what? – Two days after our first visit I went on a two hour plus rigorous hike up the side of Mount Tam. I constantly thought about walking and moving correctly and, you know what, there wasn’t even a twinge of knee pain, which, for me, was amazing. Even the achilles behaved.
I have had no knee pain since I left that first day. Most importantly, whenever I am in Marin, I will go back for maintenance – to get all of my body working again. I consciously use what Jacqueline taught each day. I think about the way I walk and sit and move and it pays off. She is precise in finding what the issues are in a particular body. The bad habits one unconsciously picks up over a lifetime that create problems. She literally re-built the way I walk and move. I’m grateful. I have a ways to go. But yesterday I did a decent warrior pose. No wobble included.
I have been plagued with a bad back for many years and have tried massage, acupuncture, cortisone shots, stretching, etc. Nothing has helped me as much as yoga with Jacqueline! Now I can play golf 3 times a week without pain. She is both helpful and thoughtful and never lets you do it the wrong way. Thanks Jacqueline.
I went to Jacqueline’s Yoga Retreat at Haramara in Mexico a few weeks ago, on crutches, in pain and wondering what I was doing there. Living in Santa Fe I don’t take her classes except when visiting one of her students who is also a friend of mine, Martine Saunier. Martine and I had planned the trip to Haramara many months before. As the time approached to go I developed severe sciatica. Martine insisted that Jacqueline would cure it. In one day Jacqueline was able to significantly reduce the pain. It felt like a miracle. I could put weight on one leg again and got rid of one crutch. On day two she worked with me again and away went the other crutch. It was unbelievable what a talented Yoga healer she is. I continue to practice the positions she taught and I’m now completely pain free. Thank you Jacqueline! Not only was I cured but I also loved the Haramara Retreat. The location, accommodations, food, Yoga and most of all the wonderful new friends I met. What fun! I will be back.
Three months ago my best friend invited to come to a yoga retreat in Calistoga. Neither of us had any prior knowledge of Jacqueline and had no idea what we were getting into…….except that we wanted to spend some time together and it sounded like fun.
That weekend transformed how I feel about my body. I believed that fixing my specific problems was not within reach and that yoga was helping me keep status quo. I had a break-thru moment that weekend when Jacqueline said to me, “I can help you”. I believed her. I felt that she was sincere.
So I started making the one hour drive to take private lessons with her. I have already made changes in my body, but the most remarkable thing is that I know I am getting better. I have hope and more joy and less pain in my life.
And I am very excited about Haramara. I can barely wait to spend a whole week in my favorite country, taking yoga twice a day with Jackie!
I am most grateful for that serendipitous weekend in Calistoga. And yes, I believe there are no accidents.
As a middle aged man with a background in classical and modern dance and a recent passion for distance trail running, I find Jacqueline Gerson to be an exceptional body awareness instructor. Her ability to phrase imagery that allows her yoga students to access postures in a direct and safe manner is marvelous. Jackie is alive with passion for not just the essence of yoga, but for the satisfaction and fulfillment her students experience in its benefits. She is truly interested and invested in my Eureka! moment of getting it – of personal direct awareness of the asana she is guiding us through at the time. Recently I had some low back issues that still needed some resolving, and Jackie conducted the entire class around my need with mini back bend work. She was a genius and my back has been nearly perfect since. This is the kind of care and generous approach she has to ‘sharing the wealth’ with everyone when one person has a need that day. Her knowledge is vast in its scope and after five years of studying with her I continue to learn something new every class. Jackie’s energy is infectious, her humor is alive with love and I am always happier and a more resilient person in every way when I bow to her in Namaste at the end of her class.
I have been taking private classes with Jacqueline for more than 4 years to address posture issues, back problems, neck tightness, anxiety and stress–you name it, she works on it. Her private studio is incredibly well-equipped, and her knowledge is unmatched. She is a very warm and inspiring person; I come away from each session feeling better than ever on many levels.
Jacqueline is a knowledgeable, fun, light-hearted yoga teacher in the Iyengar tradition. She has a passion for sharing yoga with her students and I highly recommend her!
In 2004, I was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer and was asked if I wanted to join a study on exercise and chemotherapy. I was very fortunate to be sent to Jacqueline Gerson who contributed to this program. I had never been exposed to yoga-this turned out to be a very fortuitous opportunity for me. The first meeting was right after my operation and first chemo. I found that this was truly the first time I had been pain free. Jacqueline was able to teach me to “be in my body” and lock everything else out except the amazing asanas she was teaching. From that day forward, due to Jacqueline, her enthusiasm, energy and dedication to Iyengar, I was “hooked”. I look forward to her classes and the many friends I have made because of her ability to create a safe haven for all who follow her. I have been able to do many yogic positions that 6 years ago I would have thought impossible.
This is even more amazing for me since I will only admit to being over 70 years young.
My husband and I have been studying yoga with Jackie since spring of 2003. Her techniques are creative, curative, and intelligent. If you can’t understand the first way, or the second way, she will figure out a way to teach you so that your body will begin to understand and respond. Jackie is as entertaining as she is energetic. Her classes are a pleasure, not only because of the physical benefits she provides, but also because she creates a welcoming relaxed environment where people can be in their bodies and enjoy themselves. It is amazing, in our household, that even though we are aging, our classes with Jackie keep us even. We are so grateful to have her.
I started working with Jacqueline in 2003, finding that her approach and style to teaching yoga inspired me and brought me to a deeper level with my yoga practice. And, that ongoing growth has just continued to get better and better for me throughout all these years. She has a gift in being able to articulate precisely and clearly how to come into an asana pose that allows each of us to achieve our optimal goal at that moment. Her classes are sequences of preparations that bring you, by the end of the class time, to the goal or final pose possible for you at that given point. And, that goal is different for each of us, yet possible for all in the same class time. She is able to suggest correction in a pose that enables anyone to receive more of the benefits available to them from the yoga pose. Her ability to address every one of her students in a class of any size is uncanny!
I truly believe that she has magical healing hands, too! If I ever have any physical aches or pains, she knows how to guide me in a yoga pose that will help me to resolve and heal the ailment, and avoid any future recurrence.
Most importantly, although her focus in class is on the yoga asana, she subtly integrates all aspects of the complete practice of yoga as taught and shared by Mr. Iyengar. Her classes are inspiring AND FUN! She attracts a most wonderful group of students with whom to share this experience. She is a real gift in my life!
Yoga with Jacqueline 
Jacqueline is one of the best teachers I have ever had in any field of endeavor. I am almost seventy and had never taken any kind of yoga before. Now I can’t imagine missing a week with Jacqueline. She is one of those people who is in the sweet spot in life. She loves what she does and so does it extremely well. She is always in a good mood. She believes fervently in the value of Iyengar yoga. She is beginning to teach me things that I never would have dreamed of doing with my body. I always feel well-stretched and healthy after a session. Her explanations of how the body works make perfect sense. She is working full time at sixty-one and shows no signs of slowing down. She has the body of a twelve-year-old girl. She is always encouraging and never criticizes. She gentles you along and you make progress gradually. She frequently points out to me things that I absolutely could not have done when we started and that I now can do easily. My posture is better. I don’t lean forward in the way that I used to do, which is the worst thing you can do for your spine. I can’t even think of taking yoga from any other teacher. Jacqueline is the best.
Jackie’s class at YogaWorks on Thursday was truly A SLICE OF HEAVEN. What more can I say except that I went back for more today! Thank you, Jackie!
I have been taking yoga classes for a year and half and let me tell you: Jacqueline is a wonderful teacher! Her knowledge of teaching Iyengar Yoga is unbelievably great. She delivers what she promises: “You will leave the class feeling rejuvenated, and assume sensations of calm, clarity, and well-being.”
Through the practice of taking her classes, she definitely aims to unite the body, mind and spirit for health and well-being. She is a well-organized teacher. Practing Iyengar Yoga with her skills will help you relieve the stresses of modern-day life, promoting total physical and spiritual well-being.
I have suffered from back pain for many years and Jacqueline has helped me immensely. I can even touch my toes now!
I am grateful for her help and her nice and warm smile!
Many thanks.
I discovered Jackie at Yogaworks last November 2015. I love her classes. She is a treasure as an Iyengar teacher and person. I feel safe in all positions and she makes sure that each student is in proper alignment during the class. I never do anything that is potentially uncomfortable for me and I ask for help if I need it. She is always there with a solution. She is upbeat and positive and I leave feeling stronger and calmer after each class. I am so happy to have found her.
I recently did a private session with Jackie. With her keen eye and brilliance, she instantly saw what I needed. The results have been stunning. I am just feeling more and more aligned each day.
I highly recommend Jackie for yoga. Her knowledge and training go deep and I trust her implicitly.
I completely switched to Iyengar yoga in February 2015. I was under huge stress at work for a while and ended up on medical leave due to adrenal exhaustion. I noticed that vinyasa flow classes added to my lightheadness and often I was feeling too agitated and tired after class. Sun salutations and high pace almost made me stop practicing. Than I tried Iyengar yoga class with Jacqueline and fell in love with yoga again!
Jacqueline’s knowledge of asana’s, human anatomy, attention to student’s injuries are incredible. Every class is different and challenging, she feels the class’s energy and skill level and modifies as necessary. The attention to details and precise instructions that Jacqueline gives are the key to practice. If you listen carefully and implement (or at least try) what is instructed the progress will be significant and noticeable. I keep discovering more about my body, flexibility and restrictions. Since February 2015 I made such progress in many asana’s, including headstand, that I couldn’t even imagine. Going to a retreat is on my agenda as deepening my practice and learning more from Jacqueline. I highly recommend Jacqueline as amazing teacher and Iyengar style of Hatha yoga as a better alternative to vinyasa.
I am new to Marin and came to yoga class with a sore right hip and sore right shoulder. I thought the soreness was something that I would just have to learn to live with as the price of getting older. My hip pain had been going on for years, and it was originally caused by a tennis injury, while my shoulder pain was more recent, having plagued me for about three months. Much to my amazement after several Iyengar yoga classes with Jacqueline’s capable teaching and wonderful opening positions, the pain in both my hip and my shoulder totally vanished. After several class, I felt healthier and more energetic than I have felt in years. I have been to many yoga studios and have had many yoga teachers throughout the years, but without a doubt, Jacqueline is the most knowledgeable, professional, and caring teacher I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. So do yourself a favor and try one of her awesome classes. After all, all you have to lose is your stiffness and your pain.
Dear Jackie,
You know, I have been studying yoga with you for ten years now!
And the hardest work for me has been the chest opening. It took three years to get through the biggest barriers of locked up emotion and tension. Back bending was always a struggle. Now it is much easier.
This last Saturday, you focused the entire class on opening the chest – on bringing the shoulder blades into the spine. Your direction for every posture revolved around that axis.
Who knows what precipitates deep change, some combination of internal and external forces – maybe even the stars – but I felt so open and free after that class.
My eyes, my mind, heart, all my muscles from my neck to my toes all felt so open, relaxed and clear. And I have felt a pervasive wakeful calm since then, too.
Thank you for being so committed to your own understanding of Iyengar and love for teaching and for your students. Love for the truth and peace in the hearts of others and peace in the world.
I even asked in the men’s room tonight, “Do you guys feel like Jackie is getting better?” and they all said, “Yes, more focused and, well… I am not sure what, but definitely better, especially in the last month or two.”
You have always been among the top three Iyengar teachers in Marin to me – out of dozens I have taken class from – but you are always the one whose voice I have on my shoulder when I am in another class than yours.
Thank you for being your generous self.
With Gratitude & Namaste,
Lonner
Jacqueline came into my life because one of my favorite teachers was substituting in her class. I asked that teacher if I should go to her class. She told me “Yes, she’s the real thing!” She is — clear, caring, well paced and wonderful!
I’ve never been able to balance since I was a child and no other teacher has ever tried to help me. I thought I had a missing part in my brain. I’ve been doing Yoga for 40 years! After a month of her classes, I arranged a private session. That very 1st day I could balance a little. Apparently I’ve been standing incorrectly since I was a child which has affected my low back, hip, knee, and foot.
I’m going to Haramara this year to have a week of her remarkable instruction — I’ve arranged more private sessions and am so hopeful and pleased.
Thank you, Jacqueline.
I was visiting best friends in the San Francisco area and they recommended a session with Jacqueline. I have had pain in my shoulder for the last couple of years. My shoulder and I have never worked with anyone better!! I squeezed in an extra visit and I left feeling more renewed than I felt would be possible Jacqueline’s technique, her ability to pinpoint what needs work and heal it, and her warm and caring personality are not to be matched. I would highly recommend that anyone who has intransigent discomfort and joint issues, and who has tried various modalities, seek her out. Jacqueline’s philosophy of care, unique approach, and results achieved combine for an exceptional outcome. I wish I could move to the west coast!!
I have practiced various forms of yoga with many different teachers for almost 30 years. I’ve sustained an Iyengar practice for the past 8 years with many wonderful teachers. I started working with Jackie about 3 years ago. I feel blessed to have found her. Her classes are filled with her loving energy, commitment to my healing physically and emotionally by the asanas. I love the warmth and humor she shares as she encourages us to do the best we can with any asana she is teaching, gently reminding us to respect the capabilities of our bodies at that moment, realizing that each day is different. She often says “this pose is a gift from God”. I sincerely believe that Jackie as a healer and teacher is a gift from God and I’m truly grateful to have her in my life.
I leaped up onto a bench. It sounded like a shotgun went off in my right knee. I went down in a heap. Torn Meniscus.
When the doctor, one of the best orthopedists in Los Angeles, saw the MRI he simply said, “What can I say. You’ve got bad knees. And I suspect the left is nearly as bad as the right. But then you know that.” And I did. I’d been plagued by knees that were increasingly wobbly for years. When the physical trainer, also one of the best at what he does, saw the MRI, he smiled (He has a weird sense of humor.) and noted, “Wow. That’s a lot of words. Usually you only see a couple of sentences. But you have paragraphs of stuff.” Despite his best efforts, my knees got only slightly better and I actually ended up slightly tearing my achilles from trying to partially heal my knee. Essentially my hiking days were over.
I had done yoga, on and off, since I was 21. Over the years, I went to classes, practiced at home and did privates. However, for the last few years, I had trouble doing warrior poses because my knee could no longer stay steady. It wobbled all over the place.
While I had known Jacqueline for years as a friend, we did not do yoga together until a bit over a month ago.
When I told Jacqui about the chondromalacia in my knee and all that kind of stuff, she smiled and said, “You pronate when you walk and your knees aren’t tracking right.”
She explained in very specific ways – biomechanical ways that I understood – what I had to do to get going again. She literally started from the toes up explaining what the real problem was.
And, guess what? – Two days after our first visit I went on a two hour plus rigorous hike up the side of Mount Tam. I constantly thought about walking and moving correctly and, you know what, there wasn’t even a twinge of knee pain, which, for me, was amazing. Even the achilles behaved.
I have had no knee pain since I left that first day. Most importantly, whenever I am in Marin, I will go back for maintenance – to get all of my body working again. I consciously use what Jacqueline taught each day. I think about the way I walk and sit and move and it pays off. She is precise in finding what the issues are in a particular body. The bad habits one unconsciously picks up over a lifetime that create problems. She literally re-built the way I walk and move. I’m grateful. I have a ways to go. But yesterday I did a decent warrior pose. No wobble included.
I have been plagued with a bad back for many years and have tried massage, acupuncture, cortisone shots, stretching, etc. Nothing has helped me as much as yoga with Jacqueline! Now I can play golf 3 times a week without pain. She is both helpful and thoughtful and never lets you do it the wrong way. Thanks Jacqueline.
I went to Jacqueline’s Yoga Retreat at Haramara in Mexico a few weeks ago, on crutches, in pain and wondering what I was doing there. Living in Santa Fe I don’t take her classes except when visiting one of her students who is also a friend of mine, Martine Saunier. Martine and I had planned the trip to Haramara many months before. As the time approached to go I developed severe sciatica. Martine insisted that Jacqueline would cure it. In one day Jacqueline was able to significantly reduce the pain. It felt like a miracle. I could put weight on one leg again and got rid of one crutch. On day two she worked with me again and away went the other crutch. It was unbelievable what a talented Yoga healer she is. I continue to practice the positions she taught and I’m now completely pain free. Thank you Jacqueline! Not only was I cured but I also loved the Haramara Retreat. The location, accommodations, food, Yoga and most of all the wonderful new friends I met. What fun! I will be back.
Three months ago my best friend invited to come to a yoga retreat in Calistoga. Neither of us had any prior knowledge of Jacqueline and had no idea what we were getting into…….except that we wanted to spend some time together and it sounded like fun.
That weekend transformed how I feel about my body. I believed that fixing my specific problems was not within reach and that yoga was helping me keep status quo. I had a break-thru moment that weekend when Jacqueline said to me, “I can help you”. I believed her. I felt that she was sincere.
So I started making the one hour drive to take private lessons with her. I have already made changes in my body, but the most remarkable thing is that I know I am getting better. I have hope and more joy and less pain in my life.
And I am very excited about Haramara. I can barely wait to spend a whole week in my favorite country, taking yoga twice a day with Jackie!
I am most grateful for that serendipitous weekend in Calistoga. And yes, I believe there are no accidents.
As a middle aged man with a background in classical and modern dance and a recent passion for distance trail running, I find Jacqueline Gerson to be an exceptional body awareness instructor. Her ability to phrase imagery that allows her yoga students to access postures in a direct and safe manner is marvelous. Jackie is alive with passion for not just the essence of yoga, but for the satisfaction and fulfillment her students experience in its benefits. She is truly interested and invested in my Eureka! moment of getting it – of personal direct awareness of the asana she is guiding us through at the time. Recently I had some low back issues that still needed some resolving, and Jackie conducted the entire class around my need with mini back bend work. She was a genius and my back has been nearly perfect since. This is the kind of care and generous approach she has to ‘sharing the wealth’ with everyone when one person has a need that day. Her knowledge is vast in its scope and after five years of studying with her I continue to learn something new every class. Jackie’s energy is infectious, her humor is alive with love and I am always happier and a more resilient person in every way when I bow to her in Namaste at the end of her class.
I have been taking private classes with Jacqueline for more than 4 years to address posture issues, back problems, neck tightness, anxiety and stress–you name it, she works on it. Her private studio is incredibly well-equipped, and her knowledge is unmatched. She is a very warm and inspiring person; I come away from each session feeling better than ever on many levels.
Jacqueline is a knowledgeable, fun, light-hearted yoga teacher in the Iyengar tradition. She has a passion for sharing yoga with her students and I highly recommend her!
In 2004, I was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer and was asked if I wanted to join a study on exercise and chemotherapy. I was very fortunate to be sent to Jacqueline Gerson who contributed to this program. I had never been exposed to yoga-this turned out to be a very fortuitous opportunity for me. The first meeting was right after my operation and first chemo. I found that this was truly the first time I had been pain free. Jacqueline was able to teach me to “be in my body” and lock everything else out except the amazing asanas she was teaching. From that day forward, due to Jacqueline, her enthusiasm, energy and dedication to Iyengar, I was “hooked”. I look forward to her classes and the many friends I have made because of her ability to create a safe haven for all who follow her. I have been able to do many yogic positions that 6 years ago I would have thought impossible.
This is even more amazing for me since I will only admit to being over 70 years young.
My husband and I have been studying yoga with Jackie since spring of 2003. Her techniques are creative, curative, and intelligent. If you can’t understand the first way, or the second way, she will figure out a way to teach you so that your body will begin to understand and respond. Jackie is as entertaining as she is energetic. Her classes are a pleasure, not only because of the physical benefits she provides, but also because she creates a welcoming relaxed environment where people can be in their bodies and enjoy themselves. It is amazing, in our household, that even though we are aging, our classes with Jackie keep us even. We are so grateful to have her.
I started working with Jacqueline in 2003, finding that her approach and style to teaching yoga inspired me and brought me to a deeper level with my yoga practice. And, that ongoing growth has just continued to get better and better for me throughout all these years. She has a gift in being able to articulate precisely and clearly how to come into an asana pose that allows each of us to achieve our optimal goal at that moment. Her classes are sequences of preparations that bring you, by the end of the class time, to the goal or final pose possible for you at that given point. And, that goal is different for each of us, yet possible for all in the same class time. She is able to suggest correction in a pose that enables anyone to receive more of the benefits available to them from the yoga pose. Her ability to address every one of her students in a class of any size is uncanny!
I truly believe that she has magical healing hands, too! If I ever have any physical aches or pains, she knows how to guide me in a yoga pose that will help me to resolve and heal the ailment, and avoid any future recurrence.
Most importantly, although her focus in class is on the yoga asana, she subtly integrates all aspects of the complete practice of yoga as taught and shared by Mr. Iyengar. Her classes are inspiring AND FUN! She attracts a most wonderful group of students with whom to share this experience. She is a real gift in my life!