Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacqui Bonwell.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started off in Social Work after college in 1997. I went from zero to a hundred after graduation and started working for various domestic violence shelters everywhere from Ireland to Oregon and everything in between. I eventually landed on being a State Social Work in Massachusetts.
For 7 years I managed over 22 dysfunctional families at a time. At one point I was 26 years old and was the legal guardian of 14 children in the state of MA. On the surface, I was professional, driven and empathetic. I went above and beyond for my job, my families and my co-workers. The problem was that similar to putting your oxygen mask on first for a crashing plane, I never put mine on.
Behind the scenes I anchored my stress by gaining more than 60 pounds, smoked cigarettes, had horrific nutritional patterns and no one to talk about my stress with. I had nowhere to unload it so I just kept it in. This landed me on medication for ulcers (which nutrition didn’t help either) and with debilitating pain in my neck.
While all of this was unfolding I had one olive branch of health at a low impact aerobics class in Randolph, MA every week (as if it could really help!) I went there on the wrong day and Yoga was in the Aerobics time slot. I reluctantly decided to stay. Relaxing and breathing were like a foreign language to me. It was that class that led me to Yoga Teacher Training four years later. Even though I went to Yoga I still was not taking it off the mat. During those 4 years of Yoga, I was still a holy, hot mess! I felt I had to drive to a specific building in Randolph, MA, once a week to get peace. I wasn’t understanding that it was available anytime.
I had zero business entering Yoga Teacher Training. I felt like I walked into the Boston Ballet and said- “sign me and these additional 60 pounds up for the Nutcracker please.” I still don’t know what possessed me but I knew I found it interesting and wanted to know more. The first night of training I had limited use of my neck, was still on the ulcer medication and stunk like cigarettes. Upon leaving the first night the course instructor, Pat Iyer, recommended I go to her for a Reiki session so that I could get mobility back in my neck. I reluctantly went. I thought it was hocus-pocus or something but figured, what the hell–I’ll try!
It was in that session that I had a tremendous emotional breakthrough and the incredible insight that my biography had infiltrated my biography and stress was wearing on my inner and outer frame. I was holding a tremendous amount of emotion in from my job that I had no venue to express due to confidentiality and a Supervisor who was supportive but had 5-6 other workers managing just as much crisis. I excused myself from Social Work (still not sure I am done) and pursued teaching Yoga after this epiphany. My stress had won.
Since that Reiki session, I have a teaching connection with over 40 studios in the New England area that I visit and conduct workshops at frequently. I run my own 200hr & 300hr Advanced Yoga teacher training, Apprenticeships, Yoga Life Coaching courses and am a Reiki Master (I guess it’s not hocus pocus after all!) I am an E-RYT 500, YACEP continuing Ed provider through Yoga Alliance, Yin Yoga & Meditation certified, FMS Level 1 and Balanced Athlete (TM) Level 2 certified. What I am most proud of and humbled by is Motherhood. My two greatest teachers are my 10 & 5-year-old children, as well as my two children in spirit. It is them who continue to give me the heart for the struggle.
My most important goal is to use Yoga to spread awareness and continue to do Social Work in other ways. I have spent the past 10 years using Yoga to raise money for various Boston based (mostly) charities. I am honored to be an 8-time presenter at Gillette Stadium to over 1,000 Yogi’s every April to raise money for Children’s Hospital Boston.
Myself & my team of fundraisers have worked hard to raise over $400,000.00 for the Homebase Program for Veterans & families of Mass General Hospital Boston, the One Fund for Boston Marathon Victims, M.E.D.A, yogaHOPE, local families in need, Hurricane Harvey, Newton, CT families, the Chris Biggins Scholarship fund, the Fisher House, Home for our Troops as well as the Africa Yoga Project, Ben Speaks, Off the Mat and several others.
Has it been a smooth road?
I did a pretty detailed description of the road. The struggle has always been the balance of work and family. Making sure I keep my commitment to my purpose as well as being a wife, mother, sister, daughter, etc.
After reading “The Power of Intention” by Wayne Dyer in 2005 I realized that struggling or not struggling was my choice. I have worked hard to reshape my struggles and view them as teachers. “Nothing leaves you until it teaches you,” Pema Chodron says. Therefore, I perpetuate my own suffering and struggling if I don’t reshape and learn from the obstacles.
There are some days I feel I could go right from “Namaste” to “I’ll cut you” so I use the practice as a life preserver DAILY for compassion, empathy, moderation, and training to not go to every fight I am invited to. Not saying it’s always perfect. Just that it’s possible and it’s practice.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Owner of Canton Yoga Shala and Sacred Seeds Yoga School. Tell us more about the business.
What sets me apart is I am a lone wolf. I go around to other teacher training (Norwood, Dennisport, Weymouth, Portland, ME, Portsmouth, NH, etc) and teach teachers about Energetic & Emotional Anatomy, Teaching Methodology, and Yoga Philosophy & History. I’m kind of a Jill of all trades when it comes to Yoga. I have worked and studied hard (and still do!!) to develop and eclectic skillset of a balanced body, brain, mind, and soul.
I think I am most known for using Yoga as service and using my position widely to inform others & encourage them to do the same. I am super proud of the over 200 Yoga teachers that have graduated through my programs who have gone on to spread the good word of service, teach solid, effective & functional Yoga.
I think what also sets me apart is that I am not really what you’d think when it comes to a “Yoga teacher.” I feel like I have kind of always been the bastard of Yoga–regularly challenging poses & things we have taught for a while, I have a SUPER strong Mass accent which throws all Sanskrit out the window & I regularly struggle with daily life.
I often say that I don’t think I even have inner peace because of all of this Yoga I think it has shown me how to live with as much grace as possible and helped me navigate when I come up short. I think my levels of empathy and love have certainly grown but I am nowhere near perfect. I regularly admit this and bring a true, relatable authenticity to my teaching because of it.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I am excited to see Yoga focus more on stability than flexibility lately. The understanding that to say Yoga is a stretch, is a stretch! Teachers are orienting themselves with stability much more than letting their cues be only focused on flexibility.
I am also excited to see that Restorative Yoga and Meditation classes are having higher numbers at studios lately than the intensive, vinyasa style ones. People are understanding that 90 minutes of moving is just as powerful as 90 minutes of sitting.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jacquibonwell.com
- Email: jacquibonwell@gmail.com
Image Credit:
Tracy Rodriquez Photography
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