Ever since seeing you and working with more focus on this issue I can feel change beginning. It is such an interesting process. I have spent most of my life with disregard for my body– having to really examine its mechanics and marry my inner and outer selves is challenging– but i am having glimpses of success. It’s going to take a loooong time! Thank you so much for setting me out on this path, because really, you did.
Lunchtime on Tuesdays and Thursdays has been such a comfort to me. When I started your class, I was in need of comfort and was trying to learn how to give that to myself. In your class, I found the permission I needed to be comforted.
I have greatly appreciated the reminders of connection and deeper meaning of our practice to the work. Your words have helped center me and lift me every time.
When you first instructed us to create space between our toes, it had very little significance to me. After all, my nerve endings were history and I would have to learn to compensate to achieve balance. Recently, I noticed some space where previously there was none. And I cried and cried and cried.
Your presence for the last four years is the primary reason for my progress. We could not ask for and instructor more knowledgeable, dedicated, entertaining or enlightening than you.
My father, a holocaust survivor who spent five years in various concentration camps, used to say in Hebrew, gam zu litovah, everything happens for the best. If I didn’t have a back condition I many never have pursued yoga.
I will say Jennifer that your ability to find a positive way to learn in any experience is inspiring and your ability to unconditionally see good is amazing — what a true a example of devotion to the message of kindness.
Working out with Jennifer has expanded the capabilities of my mind, body and spirit. Her professionalism, knowledge and dedication have given me hope and confidence that I can enjoy my body, use it wisely and prevail against R.A., O.A and several severe mechanical issues that I face daily. I am truly lucky to have her in my life.
What a gift to have your wonderful classes, your lovely studio and your support. Thank you for contributing to my Santosha in so many ways.
With you I have learned to allow my fingers to reach out & touch my toes
With you I have learned to find joy in tailor’s pose & make peace with the pain in my hips
With you I have learned to kiss my aching knees & be thankful for them
With you I have learned to fly like a crow…even when my feet are still touching the earth
Your Yoga class is the highlight of my week. In the short period of time I have been a part of your practice I feel improved coordination as well as breathing, to name a few. The upper body stretches help to decrease the tightness in my chest where I tend to hold tension and is helping to prevent rounding of the shoulders and spine. I recognize and am grateful for your skill and all the focus you put into every class and pose.
It was great as always to see you again and to practice yoga with you. Thanks for all your good words. I couldn’t have done it without your wonderful teachers.
As a longtime practitioner of traditional conditioning and strengthening workouts, I am new to yoga. Jennifer’s sessions have been a pleasant surprise as I find myself mentally and physically challenged by the sequence of stretching exercises and poses. I already noticed an improvement in my flexibility and even more miraculously, my knee and shoulder pain is gradually dissipating. Jennifer’s passion and dedication to yoga is contagious and I have a renewed respect for the discipline.
You have in a real, measurable way, improved my life. Your classes are the highlight of my week, for both health and fun reasons. It is really nice to have a physical practice again. But, also your awareness and method of sharing what you know is really amazing. When I have thought about it and related it to something I know, what would come to mind are the master classes I have taken with great musicians. Your artistry very much comes thru in your teaching.
In your class I feel this great combination of being very cared for and very motivated. You are more than teaching, you are collaborating. Very spiritual. Very unique. You are truly gifted.
There are large number of people teaching yoga in the world, but few true teachers – people who carry with them an aura of mastery, ease, generosity and safety. For me, at least, you transformed the room into a deep dwelling of exploration, and created space for the practice, as well as the ongoing revelation of the unfolding of my inner life.
And there was room, in the rhythm of the class, to take it all in.
So thank you for all you bring and for the personal work you’ve so clearly done that allows you to bring it so cleanly.
I’m learning so much and it is incredibly comforting and empowering to know I have someone to go to with all my questions and ideas.
I’ve been enjoying class immensely and hope to keep coming. I’m so happy to have your expertise in my weekly landscape!
Thank you for providing such a wonderful yoga studio in our community – I always leave feeling better. And I really valued the support that you and your team provided for me when I needed to heal from my various injuries this year. It is through you that I found Vanessa and my way back to feeling better. While I hope I don’t need it again it is good to know you are a trusted resource in our community. I am a grateful student and so glad to be back to my yoga practice.
Your knowledge is boundless and I am confident that you know what to do with each and every body part. And more importantly, I know you would do no harm. If you didn’t know about something, you’d go out and find out. I love your spirit, your body, and your expertise. You are simply the best.
You are such a doll! We simply love you and your teachings. What a gift!
If you can get to one of her classes, please do. She is so creative and truly brilliant and subtle and understands the body and people in a way that not many people do. And she is goofy and funny and fun and super cool and I just want to share the wealth with you all!!!
You can count on all of your work with Jennifer Brilliant to be, totally brilliant.
It was by Jennifer’s example that I learned how every aspect of a class could be crafted around a central vision, unique each week but always captivating. I’ve never found her to shy away from expressing a controversial opinion or to speak her mind, qualities in a teacher I crave. Her humor, endless creativity, vast experience, and insatiable curiosity form a potent blend definitely not to be missed by those passionate about the human body, the art of teaching or the deeper dimensions of the practice of yoga.
I wanted to say how inspired I feel after today’s class. Inspired and physically different (for now). I have never done a headstand before and it felt very opening and widening for me. Also as a result of all the restorative poses for our backs, my back, especially around the thoracic and lumbar area feels broader and more open. Really a transformative class for me today; I hope I can hold on to it!
I am overwhelmed by your generous heart, expert teaching, kind support and my little booklet!!! It is EXACTLY what I needed. You are EXACTLY my kind of person and friend. True. You gave me insight into releasing, relaxing and resting. But who else could make these often overused terms resonate with freshness and ZING? So many exciting east-bound points ahead from me… and if you’ll have me, then Eloise will have to share grandma with her yoga teacher and mentor, Jennifer… who is Brilliant!
Today’s class was terrific. I honestly felt a different energy the whole day.
It was a pleasure to be a student in your Yoga therapeutics workshop on Saturday. We were all very lucky to be on the receiving end of your storehouse of knowledge, warmth and humor.
That was the FIRST time I have ever been confident enough to let someone bring me back up from a drop back… FIRST time. I am continually inspired not only by your knowledge but by your desire to continue to learn and provide support to those you have taught.
Also, just thought I’d share that I was hit by a truck while crossing the street in December and have needless to say, had a compromised if anything yoga practice since then. However, something about your class was able to give me the openness or courage to push up into full wheel for the first time in forever. It felt great so really, thank you so much!!!
Jennifer has what I believe to be a pretty unique and very rare ability to make a single class interesting and useful to all levels. Since my introduction to yoga, I’ve gone to classes with well over a dozen different instructors some of whom have tremendous notoriety on the web and media and never found one who could take a class and make it appealing to each and every student regardless of the dedication, ability and interest of the student the way Jennifer regularly did.
With most teachers, I find that when the class is over and you leave the mat, the yoga in your mind is gone after a few minutes. That’s not the Jennifer experience and I could not recommend her class enough to a person new to yoga and/or someone trying to go deeper into yoga and especially to men who are either intimidated, embarrassed or whatever the right word is. If a guy wants a great workout, he’ll get it and if he wants to learn to breath and live better, he’ll get that too. At least I did.
Thank you for being a mother. For caring. For guiding. For having eyes like a hawk. For letting us stray off the path when we need and encouraging us back on. For knowing when to let go, and when to push. For nourishing. For having higher (& real) expectations than we sometimes do. For knowing almost everything and for knowing when you don’t know. For listening with all your heart. For being silly. For being flexible. For loving unconditionally. For being brilliant. For crying. For being here, now, in my life. For being my teacher.
The breathing techniques that I learned from Jennifer helped me through many of my procedures and treatments. In this time of anxiety, as I was going through the MRI machine, I used the techniques to relax and breathe. I was able to get through without a panic attack. When I was going through my many treatment sessions, keeping a clear and healthy mind was very important. I was able to maintain a positive outlook. People who are going through chemotherapy suffer tremendously, body and mind. But knowing what to do in stressful situations, something as simple as breathing properly, helps in so more ways.
Thank you so much for being such a wonderful teacher and sharing your knowledge with me. Although I had never attended a yoga class before, and was very hesitant to begin, you made me feel comfortable. I have attended your class regularly for the past year and am always amazed that you can simultaneously teach to any level of student and always vary each lesson. Your class has made a positive impact on my life.
If I take another teacher’s class, I’m usually still practicing on my own terms. I think for some reason I was able to trust you right away and let you lead. This is because you don’t lead by putting people down or being unkind or disrespectful. I am able to relax and also stay present because I know that I have a lot to learn from you: anatomy and alignment, of course, but also the result of that work, which is harder to put a finger on. I don’t want to project a bunch of stuff onto you, but I will say that as a teacher you display qualities of mind and intention that I aspire to.
I recently wrote a yoga lineage and had you as the teacher for whom I am a direct descendant. It is always etched into my mind when after my final class you gave me the advice to go out and teach when I was on the fence about it. You have given me knowledge, guidance and support over the past several years that have allowed me to experience so many wonderful opportunities.
You have a wonderful gift not just to teach but to inspire. And you have taught me so much and inspired me more than you know.
I will continue to strive for Jennifer Brilliant legs (quads up, calves down!) and I know they will lead me back to you.
Your input was useful and illuminating.
I have loved having class with you — the depth of investigation and the specificity and the engagement with the practice that you bring to class, as well as the inventiveness and focus and encouragement and wisdom. It has been a great pleasure.
I absolutely love your class – it is an internal adventure every time. You are so knowledgeable and generous, and also very good at setting boundaries. I learn a lot from you in many ways. I feel like just from attending your class my teaching is growing so beautifully and I am looking forward to having you observe my class.
Jennifer’s teaching engenders respect for the principles of yoga, respect for the body, and respect for each other and our world. And she manages to do all this with a great deal of humor to boot!
Jennifer standing tall and moving with grace (complete with her signature mane of curly hair) through this mass of extended arms and legs, all the while exuding calmness and focus on the practice of yoga — it was great!