We recently connected with Jenny Clarke and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenny , thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I’d say it’s the moment that catalyzed my personal healing/spiritual awakening quest 30 years ago. As the youngest child in my family with two older brothers, I was raised to be a “good girl” and follow the rules. Naturally sensitive and introverted, I appreciated plenty of solitude and the company of just a few friends. I attended a very rigorous private school where the focus was on academic excellence and high achievement. I often felt overwhelmed by the workload, struggled to maintain average grades and felt awkward and out of place socially. I felt more at home with the kids in my neighborhood that went to public school, smoked cigarettes and spent the weekends beach going and surfing.

I followed the expected trajectory–graduated from high school and went directly on to college. I spent my first two years at a small school called Elon College in North Carolina. While I enjoyed the new environment, parties, people and expanded opportunities, I felt completely lost. I had no idea what I wanted to study and found myself experiencing my first “dark night of the soul.”. After years of trying to live up to the standards set by others and feeling absolutely no sense of satisfaction or meaning, I fell into a very deep suicidal depression that resulted in my return home and entry into therapy.

Mental illness runs through both sides of my family history and I wasn’t exempt. I was put on medication and told that I’d have to take it for the rest of my life. While I was very grateful for the relief that the medication provided (it did help to save my life) I knew in that moment that my journey was to discover what it would take for me to really heal beyond a reliance on the pharmaceutical support and the trajectory of my inherited biology.

I began reading self help, philosophy and spiritual books and had my first real awakening experience while reading Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” In this story, he speaks of prisoners, bound in a cave facing the wall with a fire behind them. The light of the fire casts large, looming shadows of their bodies on the wall so that the prisoners only know these distorted images of themselves. Until one day, a prisoner escapes and finds his way out of the cave and into the light of day. He can see the world as it really is and becomes “enlightened.” He returns to tell the others of his discovery and how they, too, can free themselves to experience Truth. Guess what–they think he’s crazy and want him dead! In that moment, it was as if the one who freed himself also liberated something very deep within my own consciousness. I knew that I would return to college and study philosophy. After a year off, that’s what I did. I graduated with a dual BA in Philosophy and Comparative Religion from the University of South Florida.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I began the practice of yoga shortly after I was diagnosed with clinical depression as an avenue of healing in the vast holistic paradigm. In my very first class, I felt a sense of homecoming. It felt so good to be focused on my body and breath rather than my overly analytical mind. I realized how disconnected I really was from my physical body—as though I had only been partially here, in my body and on this earth. I became a devoted practitioner, beginning with Hatha yoga and eventually transitioning to Ashtanga yoga. I found that I needed a rigorous physical practice to combat my propensity to depression.

I wasn’t seeking to teach, but one of my favorite instructors was moving out of town and asked if I’d take her place. Without hesitation I accepted and just like that moved my mat from the back of the room to the front. Teaching felt like a natural extension of my studentship as I simply shared my love for the practice. Eventually I did complete a 500 hour yoga teacher training and after several years led my own teacher training through my local studio, One Yoga and Fitness.

Marriage and motherhood became my main focus for many years and yet I continued to teach a few classes a week. I began to sense that there was more for me to explore in my psycho-spiritual development and when my youngest child started pre- school I went back to school to study Transpersonal Psychology. I appreciated the inclusion of the “Spiritual Self” in the Transpersonal approach and it helped my to deepen a connection to the expansion of my own consciousness from a limited; finite perspective to recognizing that I am part of something much bigger—an Infinite Intelligence. My area of focus was Creativity and Innovation and I wrote my thesis on the healing power of the creative process in expressive arts therapy. With each step of my journey, I was discovering that I was healing myself and experiencing a much greater sense of wholeness and inner peace.

The transformational healing journey isn’t linear though. As I was moving beyond depression and into deeper self-connection, my marriage began to dissolve. This is an incredibly difficult and painful passage as anyone who’s been though it knows. It was during this time that I found my way to Kundalini Yoga and I couldn’t believe how a single Kundalini class left me feeling better than years of therapy! I became a dedicated practitioner and I credit the practices, along with my family/community support, with getting me through that major life challenge. My Kundalini awakening and passion for the practices led me into a Kundalini Teacher Training in 2018. I now teach weekly classes, workshops and lead a 60 hour Kundalini Immersion called “Becoming the Living Prayer.” Kundalini Yoga is a self-healing technology that utilizes a combination of breath, sound (mantra), physical postures, visualization, mudras (hand gestures) and special meditations to activate the Infinite, Creative Life Force energy of the body/mind. It works very quickly to transform the unhelpful habit patterns of the subconscious mind and awaken higher states of consciousness naturally. Kundalini Yoga makes you radiant, magnetic, vital, creative and intuitive—that’s why I love it!

In the last two years my service work has expanded beyond the yoga studio and into the corporate realm. I work as consultant and coach to develop wellness programs for local organizations. In addition to teaching weekly yoga for the employees, I created a life coaching program called “Growing Whole” that focuses on developing the skills and strategies for living a balanced life, personally and professionally. I also teach a methodology called “Non-Violent Communication” to help build awareness and empathy in relationships and to aid in conflict resolution. Bridging into the corporate domain has been both challenging and very rewarding. I recognize that there’s a great need for the worlds of wellness and the workplace to converge to help give people the tools to manage stress and uncover a greater purpose for their lives.

Whether in a yoga class or boardroom, I’m blessed to be in a position where I can share what I’ve learned and love with others and inspire them to awaken to their greatest potential.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think that having a daily personal practice is a must for being an embodied leader. We can talk about concepts all day. We live in the information age–it’s not more information that we really need, it’s about having a direct experience of something beyond the ego, mind and emotions and establishing a continuity of higher awareness that really creates impact in the world. Also, community support–we need to find our people and foster collaborative relationships that honor our diverse gifts.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Staying power. I’ve consistently showed up as a teacher in my community and seek to deliver the best possible experience for others to heal and grow. I’m grateful to say that opportunity has found me as I keep sharing what lights me up and brings me alive in new ways.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.nourishcreatetransform.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenny_habibah/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOGVAYW3GGZJq5KhV4px6dg

Image Credits
Brianna Kay Photography (Head shot, yoga pic, kids)