Name:  Jennie Cohen

Who did you study with?  Jenny Aurthur, Tzahi Moskovitz (YogaWorks)

How long have you been teaching?  Three years

What other jobs have you had?  Freelance proofreader, Subsidiary Rights Associate (publishing), English teacher in a French high school, professional quilter, do you really want to hear about all the coffee shop jobs I had in my early 20s?

Favorite place that you have traveled to?  Now that's a doozy. I've been to every continental state except for North Dakota (because, really, how often do you find yourself on Route 94?); I don't think I can choose one spot. I was about to say that my choice certainly would not be below the Mason-Dixon line, but then I have to give a shout out to the Big Easy... I lived in Provence for two years, so la belle France holds a special place in my heart. Oh, and I must mention the refuge that is the Green Mountain state. Where else? I spent time in Russia both pre and post 1991, so that part of the world also holds a continuing fascination for me...

List 3 words your students would use to describe your classes:  Precise, Instructive, Cultivates diligence

How does your own practice influence your daily life?  It makes me more patient with others, with situations, and with myself. It teaches me to see the humor in messing up (no different, really, than falling out of vrksasana--tree pose). It generally infuses me with a sense of overall well-being and calm and, over time, has taught me how to tap into those more settled, solid places at will. It reminds me that there's always a new challenge to grapple with and to overcome--and then to say "Check. What's next?"

Favorite asana?  Depends on the day you ask. Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand) is the final frontier. Getting up is one thing, but then you gotta stay there, then you gotta stay there sans wall, then you gotta stay there sans wall and do different stuff with your legs, etc. Final frontier. Then I have to mention Parighasana (gate pose), a delicious posture we just don't teach enough. And I've yet to meet a forward bend I don't like. Oh, and anything where I get to suspend myself upside down from, or wrap myself around, a chair...

Who is a teacher who inspires you?  Tzahi Moskovitz! He's a master sequencer, he's everywhere in the classroom at once, he's taught me more than any other teacher about how to contain my flexibility--and he can transition from Sirsasana 2 to Eka Pada Bakasana I. (I still maintain that having one's center of gravity closer to one's shoulders than to one's hips helps greatly, but he doesn't usually let me get away with that excuse...)

A great yoga class makes you feel... you tell me!