Hi. My name is Jennifer Hojnacki, and I'm the owner of Valley Vinyasa Yoga Studio. Unlike most yoga studio owners you meet, I am not a yoga teacher, just a student who saw an opportunity to bring yoga to West St. Louis County and was inspired to go for it!
I started my own yoga practice fairly recently, in 2009. Like many of you reading this, I often felt overwhelmed by my life (work, family, and what seemed like endless other obligations). I was also bored with my workout routine, and as a result, wasn’t working out as much as I needed to or feeling the benefits I knew I could get from exercise.
I decided to give yoga a try, believing it would give me a form of exercise, center me, bring me peace and clarity, and more or less make me a better person. I am well known for my unrealistic expectations! The funny thing is that, once I found the right group of teachers and a great yoga community, the practice of yoga actually exceeded all of my unrealistic expectations.
The physical practice of yoga has been the most challenging workout I have experienced, and my teachers have helped me to go places I could not have imagined I could go a year ago. The amazing feeling of power and accomplishment that can come from yoga is like nothing I have experienced. And I can still see, without pressure or expectation, that I can still take this part of the practice much further, with patience and a regular practice led by challenging and encouraging teachers.
The practice yoga requires a mental focus that accentuates the power felt in the physical body. After practicing, you will often hear yogis talk about their yoga “buzz,” which encompasses both the awesome physical feeling from stretching beyond your personal physical limits as well as the calm, focused energy that comes from the focus on the breath. Probably the greatest benefits I have received from my yoga practice have been these mental and emotional benefits; I am more centered and peaceful when I have an active practice, and those closest to me have noticed the difference. Do I still get stressed and overwhelmed, angry and moody? Sure, but not quite as often, and I have gained such a wonderful tool in yoga that it never seems to last as long.
After a year of regular practice, while on a retreat with a group of women, I made a commitment to myself to practice yoga every day for one year. As an independent marketing consultant working full-time (and then some), this was a challenge. Most of my clients had offices in West County which meant that I needed to find a great yoga studio nearby. Several internet searches and phone calls later, I discovered to my amazement that no such studio existed.
Entrepreneur meets yoga enthusiast, and the rest is history. Through an incredible series of events and introductions, none of which I clearly foresaw until they happened, none of which were allowed to be forced or rushed (after all, this was yoga, it had to have its own flow and force), and with the unbelievable and enthusiastic support of my friends, family, and most of all my husband Mike, Valley Vinyasa was born.
My intention with this studio is to share the incredible gift that yoga has been in my life with other people who could benefit as I have.
