our Yoga Teacher Training Instructors
Meet our certified Yoga Alliance–experienced instructors guiding our 200-hour, 300-hour YTTs, and YACEP courses online and in-person.
MEET JED
Yogi, surfer, father, healer.
“Spirit moves all: the body a vessel, the mind a servant, and the heart our master.”
Born of the earth and sky, flesh and spirit, Ganapati’s mission in life is to share unconditional love in all the forms it takes. Through mindful living he plays his part in awakening spiritual consciousness on this planet, in devoted symbiosis with mother earth, the six directions and his spirit allies.
Celebrating all things play – his joy arises from his own infinite connection to source that has been purified through the flames of deep loss, trials, and many years of personal practice. His spiritual journey began with the sudden death of his younger brother, which put him on his quest for ultimate truth and self – realization.
His active practice is in fully surrendering the ego, sense of personal separation and effort, while simultaneously deepening awareness of consciousness itself.
Many roles have come and gone in his life: son, athlete, student, teacher, husband, father, yogi – yet he lives from the inner joy that is ever present. He enjoys Self-Enquiry, nature, surfing, art, laughter, breath, movement, sadhana, hatha and nada yoga. His physical yoga practices began in 1999 under the tutelage of Sujita Sklenar (Sujita.org) at Oregon State University. Here he found a path for radical transformation of the body and a portal to the infinite spirit. Revealing the depth of the path, through personal practice and apprenticing in Sujita’s intuitive flow style, he began a lifelong journey into the heart.
In 2004, he began training with School Yoga Institute (SYI). After graduating college, he moved to the coastal redwoods of northern California where he taught high school physical education and his own weekly community yoga classes for five years. In 2012, he took a leap of faith into full time yoga teaching and followed his soul’s calling in becoming a facilitator of Yoga Teacher Trainings with SYI. He has taught dozens of YTTs in power locations throughout the Americas – in Peru, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and beyond. His yoga focus shifts and evolves over time, always meeting students where they are at, and gently bringing them the spiritual healing aspects of yoga as a holistic practice. Classes often infuse laughter, play, shamanic wisdom, yogic philosophy and sutras into organic flow based movements of the spine, body and breath.
Spending time with his wife Keri and their four children – Kalani, Phoenyx, Orion, and Lotus – is his highest blessing. Along with a beloved team of souls, they run SYI and Sacred Lotus Productions, offering divine service of transformation through the integrated spiritual practices of mystical yoga, applied shamanism, and holistic living.
What’s your favorite yoga pose and why?
Shirshasana. Headstand allows me to feel the oneness of all creation. It tunes me in to the vibration of the earth. With my head above my heart all is right. I love the feeling of blood leaving my legs and rushing back to my heart, the gentle draining of lymph, and the overall sense of clarity I feel during and after this pose. It also brings me to the deeper roots of yoga, the asana just being a portal to infinite awareness.
What is your favorite quote?
“Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing there is a field, I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other” doesn’t make any sense.’ — Words, ideas, concepts, though often helpful, are only pointers to the great beyond. So often we can be stuck in the mind, yet when we break free into the space of the heart all is clear. Only separation is an illusion, just being we find perfect peace, perfect silence.
What inspires you in your practice?
It is practice itself that inspires me! Having a daily practice over the years has been like polishing a mirror. Refining, getting clearer, wiping away the stagnation, the dust that collects from living. Each morning and every time I come to my mat I find rejuvenation, purpose and exploration. There has been a softening into the practice for me, I enjoy a slower paced practice these days, getting into the deep juicy bits of experience.
Contact Jed
Email: jed@schoolyogainstitute.com
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
~ Jed is playful, lively, and wise. He woke us up every morning playing the flute and always reminded us of valuable mindsets to keep close. He led us through journeys and sang with us and made the training more than a simple training for sure.
~ He is very supportive, empowering, he is such a good guide and inspiration! I always felt safe in his surroundings. I take away so many life lessons that Jed shared with us.
~Joyful Jed brought knowledge, openness, spirituality, songs, warmth, cheers, and laughter. And gave us the space to be vulnerable and ourselves.
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