SAVE THE DATE!  Trauma-sensitive Ashtanga Training, July 2-6, 2018, details TBA!

WELCOME to Jungle Physician LLC, based in Denver, CO!  As an ashtanga yoga teacher, holistic coach, transpersonal psychotherapist and former neuroscientist with passions for zen, shamanism and the arts, I look forward to offering you presence and interdisciplinary support on your own individual path to healing & Self-realization —  Jen Peters, MA.

So… why this name JUNGLE PHYSICIAN?!  The invocation (from the Yoga Taravali of Shankaracharya) that we chant before yoga practice in my lineage mentions this character:  “I bow to the two lotus feet of the Gurus, which awaken insight into the happiness of pure Being, which are the complete absorption into joy, the JUNGLE PHYSICIAN, eliminating the delusion caused by the poison of conditioned existence.”  

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, who selected this verse and refined the Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga system with his guru Sri T. Krishnamacharya, is famous for saying, “Practice and all is coming!”  But what is coming?  In my personal experience, having practiced since 2003, I have noticed that as soon as we begin to bring awareness to our body-heart-minds and step out of our habitual fog, all sorts of insights and curiosities arise, perhaps simply because we are able to really pay attention and see that there is so much more than we may previously have intuited.  The practice shows us both our vast potential and our limitations, as well as our assumptions and relational patterns, and we are invited to live as fully as we possibly can given all of our gifts and challenges.

Any external teacher or guide is simply there to awaken our inner guru and in this way, the Jungle Physician can be thought of as our very own healing wisdom.  It is an aspect of our own intelligence that can be sharpened when we become mindful about such seemingly mundane things as how we carry ourselves, how we react to situations that arise, what we eat, how we spend our time, which relationships we cultivate, and how we can contribute to our environment in our own special and much-needed way.  When we open up to this inner guidance, we open to the possibility of profound change.  This process can be frightening and difficult, but once we have a taste of it, we can never turn back and there is nothing more rewarding.  My hope is to offer community and resources to those truly interested in exploring along with me…