Interviewed by Dayalan Clark

Jen started in-person classes with Integral Yoga Institute several months ago. She began coming regularly to yoga as well as some of the meditations and special events offered. We are glad to have the opportunity to feature her as Student of the Month for January.

Jen: I’m 57 now, so somewhere in my 30’s I was introduced to meditation. I had heard that meditation was the latest and greatest cool thing to do. I was a really crazy busy professional and single mom. I did not have much money then and noticed I could go as a student to Tassajara Zen Meditation Center to clean and prepare for their guest season. I didn’t know anything at all, so it was a real full on experience to a fairly restrictive Zen meditation practice. This introduced me to the idea of visiting Ashrams and the fact that people actually live or spend extended amounts of time there.

Due to some fairly significant depression, I had started to study Positive Psychology – Martin Seligman. He said that 3 things can bring greater happiness. 1. Volunteering, 2. Being part of Community, 3. Spiritual basis or belief. Ashrams really fit all these categories.

In following this advice, I ended up living in Grass Valley, CA in co-housing. There were a couple of ashrams in the area that I started to visit off and on, a Yogananda Ashram and I also visited the Sivananda Ashrams a couple of times as well.

I lived in Australia and New Zealand for a long time and again, I essentially went to where there was access to spiritual places. The Bihar School of Yoga with two associated ashrams in the Sivananda Lineage, became a favorite there. I would go off and on as the two ashrams were fairly remotely located. Bihar School of Yoga has a publishing company that has great books and a teaching and research institute at the main ashram in India.

Two years ago, I returned to the United States and spent time in North Carolina. I’d hoped to go to Yogaville, but they weren’t open due to Covid-19. I became interested in Integral Yoga as it was close to Sivananda lineage and tradition. I then arrived in the Bay Area and found Integral Yoga Institute, San Francisco.

Another reason for being drawn to Yoga and Meditation, was that it was helpful in combating episodes of depression and alcohol use.

I cautiously want to come out about how helpful the Ashram experience was for me with depression and alcohol problems. I think the longer you can spend in an immersive environment in an Ashram, the better. I would also like to say that I see alcohol problems and depression more as occurring aspects of the human condition than as negative ‘permanent conditions’.

I remember attending one extended retreat at an ashram and the swami that ran the ashram “noticed” I was sad and she said, “You just do everything on that schedule and tell me how you feel.” During my time in the ashram, I found that I didn’t crave alcohol at all nor did I feel particularly depressed. Spiritual institutions have a way of keeping you occupied while giving you purpose, interaction, guidance, sustenance, exercise and breath. I feel part of a greater whole and have found sangha to be important.

I wish to start a foundation to support folks around depression. I think about offering scholarships to students who may have interest in going to an Ashram to address depression through workshops, student immersion, etc.

Dayalan: Tell me about your studio in the Dogpatch and your art that you’ve mentioned to me.

Jen: With art, it is a process with all different mediums for me. I am mostly painting in the studio. I copied other artists first to learn. I now have one of my first original paintings in the surrealist tradition. I do this mostly for enjoyment and engagement. I have made lots of objects such as books and letterpress, furniture, glass objects, musical instruments, masks and many other things. I have also started to illustrate a book of Sanskrit terms and meanings as well and hope to get it completed one day

Dayalan: What else would you like to share?

Jen: I love to travel. I also recently bought a co-housing unit in Ashland, OR, and may move there or travel in between San Francisco and there. I actually met an Integral Yoga Teacher from New Zealand, currently teaching in Ashland, which I thought was quite a coincidence. It seemed almost like a bit of divine intervention to meet a kiwi IYI teacher in my new home. It certainly makes me more comfortable knowing sangha is there and that she is from New Zealand, a place I will miss.