Jenny Otto is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance, which acknowledges the completion of a yoga teacher training with an approved and active Registered Yoga School (RYS).
Jenny Otto, founder of Body Balance Yoga, is nationally known for her in-depth understanding of anatomy investigating the domains of functional rehabilitation, biomechanics and the nervous system. As an innovative and dedicated Yoga Teacher, a celebrated Yoga Teacher Trainer, Jenny has been teaching and developing wellness/exercise programs in the greater Annapolis, Maryland area and nationally since 1980.
The capacity to transmit movement information depends on a teacher's embodiment. Central to embodiment is one's own kinesthetic empathy which Jenny owns through personal practice and teaching yoga for over twenty four years. Not only has Jenny studied with yoga master teachers including Stan Andrzejewski, Mary Dunn, Carolyn Bluemle, John Schumacher, Victor Van Kooten among several others — but has also studied with Osteopaths, Chiropractors, Rolfers, Dancers and Movement Educators to develop her unique and innovative approach to physical well-being and pain management.
Jenny’s teaching is compassionate, inspirational and fun. Her clear and precise teaching style is authentic and is committed to awakening a deeper knowledge and understanding of the body, mind and spirit. She brings warmth, humor and creativity to her teaching, as well as detailed knowledge in working with injuries and special conditions.
Jenny teaches Body Balance Yoga classes in Annapolis, MD, at Willow Street Yoga Center (Takoma Park, MD), at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, MD) and at other locations in the greater Annapolis, Maryland area. In addition to teaching weekly yoga classes, Jenny travels extensively teaching workshops, trainings and certifying Body Balance Yoga Teachers across the U.S.
Since 1994, Jenny has been affiliated with Willow Street Yoga Center in Takoma Park, Maryland, where she co-founded and co-directed the teacher training programs (2002-2007). She continues to teach the area’s first Adaptive Yoga Class Special Conditions and Injuries at Willow Street Yoga Center in Silver Spring Maryland.
Having co-founded Golden Heart Yoga in 2004, Jenny Otto was owner and director until 2009 when she sold the studio. Yoga Teacher Trainings at the 200-hour and 500-hour level with Jenny were held there from 2005 to 2009.
Jenny is known for continually evolving and expanding her studies to keep her classes innovative. The second half of her profession is as a Structural Integration Practitioner, having founded Body Balance Yoga for Functional & Structural conditions in 2001. In 2007, Jenny began studying with Thomas Myers of Anatomy Trains and has participated in dissections of human cadavers with Myers to further her understanding of the body. She completed his accelerated program in Kinesis Myofascial Integration (KMI), graduating and becoming KMI Certified in 2008. Structural Integration, which is based on the pioneering work of Dr. Ida P. Rolf, manually releases tensions in the body that prevent a more balanced alignment. Jenny's specialties include Visceral Manipulation, Visceral and Peripheral Nerve work and Osteopathic Listening. Private Structural Integration sessions with Jenny are available in Annapolis and other locations. In 2010, Jenny also began her studies with Hubert Godard — Dancer, Rolfer, Professor and Movement Educator.
Her unending quest to bring a deeper understanding of the body to her students and to all of the teachers she trains, takes Jenny Otto around the world. And she shares the depth of her knowledge and her love of yoga as she travels worldwide leading Yoga Retreats and teaching Yoga Workshops, Yoga Teacher Trainings, Yoga Residencies and AdaptiveYoga Trainings. All workshops, teacher trainings and classes with Jenny Otto fulfill Yoga Alliance and IAYT Yoga Teacher Continuing Education Requirements.