Jessamyn Stanley is a yoga teacher, body positivity advocate, and writer based in Durham, North Carolina, and her classes use high energy vinyasa flow as a way to move past mental and emotional barriers. She provides a body positive approach to yoga which celebrates students’ bodies and encourages them to ask “How Do I Feel?” rather than “How Do I Look?” when practicing yoga. Jessamyn studied with Kimberley Puryear and Stephanie Keach of Asheville Yoga Center and her eponymous yoga lifestyle blog and Instagram attract thousands of followers daily, offering tips and advice for other yoga practitioners while documenting her home yoga practice.
Jessamyn found yoga while caught in the undertow of depression, after her weight had spiked to its peak. Her yoga practice transformed her life and helped mend decades of self-imposed body shame and negativity. Jessamyn’s mission is to spread the practice that saved her life into the future by expanding visibility of diverse bodied yoga practitioners at every possible opportunity.
Jessamyn has contributed to a number of print and online publications including Glamour, BUST, Bustle, Lenny Letter, Gaia, and Mind Body Green. She’s been featured by a wide range of international and national media outlets including Good Morning America, Al Jazeera English, New York Magazine, and The Huffington Post, among others.