About me

Welcome to my blog page and thank you for being here! This is going to be a space for our community to connect with the primary focus being on mindfully moving through our lives. There is so much going on in the world it can get overwhelming in so many different ways, making it easy to overlook our daily accomplishments. Over time I have found that mindfulness is a great tool to help us slow down and notice what we are doing, giving ourselves the space to celebrate our wins. While I am so excited to share my knowledge, I wanted the first post to be a more in-depth introduction so you can get to know me.

My name is Jenna Kobel, and I received my 200HR-YTT from Kripalu in August of 2024. I was introduced to yoga at a young age thanks to my mother who loves the practice as well. My first memory is when I was around 10 y/o attending a yoga summer camp and I loved it. I remember on our Wii Fit growing up the yoga section was one of my favorites too. When I got to high school I saw there was a yoga club, I joined it right away with my favorite part being savasana, or the relaxation at the end. The club only lasted my freshmen year so I resorted to YouTube yoga, and while I did not have a consistent practice at the time it remained something I would always find myself coming back to.

After high school I attended University of Maryland where I grew a passion for sustainability, which was rooted in my existing love and appreciation for the natural world. In May 2023 I graduated with a degree in Environmental Science and Policy. I was very lucky in my time there to have found people who also had a love for yoga, especially my first roommate who is still one of my best friends. When registering for our last semester she asked if I would want to take a class together: The Philosophy and Practice of Yoga. Before that class I was mostly only familiar with the asana portion of the practice and it felt like the class opened up a whole new world for me.

I found the philosophy deeply inspiring especially because at that time in my life I had been struggling with my spirituality and what to believe in for years. I felt my internal compass aligned with many of the teachings in yoga’s philosophy and the answers it provided gave me peace. Learning the philosophy made me want to share it with more people in hopes it could bring them the same ease it brought me.

Once I had graduated college I felt lost when it came to deciding where I wanted to go with my future. My major had a wide range of potential and I had such a passion for so many topics that I felt decision paralysis. On my post-grad trip, at a sunset rooftop yoga class in Florence Italy, it occurred to me that I could get my yoga teacher certification. Once I had determined that was my next goal I committed to my daily practice and worked towards saving up for a teacher training program. I received my training at Kripalu in the Berkshires of Massachusetts over a four week program, and it was an incredible experience.

Since receiving my YTT I have bounced around in the service industry between serving and bartending while beginning to teach yoga part time in Severna Park. I still have my passion for sustainability and I want my yoga practice to be a place where I can utilize that knowledge and share it with my community. When it comes to mindfully living and sustainability I have come to realize a lot of what I thought was common knowledge is not widely known.

As someone in the industry I tend to lead a gentler approach to my classes because I see and feel the need to give the body a chance to slow down and recover, but I still enjoy a more energetic and challenging flow. I am also very excited to continue my education on the different styles of yoga, especially yin yoga and yoga nidra.

I recently moved to downtown Baltimore and I am looking to get more involved with my local community. When I’m not practicing yoga I enjoy playing with my two kitties, spending time at the gym, in nature, reading, listening to live music, shopping at local markets and coffee shops.