Jennifer Leemann, certified modern dance, pilates and yoga teacher and soon to be ayurvedic nutritionist is passionate about sharing her love for a holistic lifestyle. After living in London and Munich for her professional dance career she is now back in Zurich and teaches yoga, pilates and dance while also working part-time as an assistant at a law firm. She tells us everything about her routines and her favorite ayurvedic tips and tricks to stay balanced and happy while living a busy life.
Tell me about yourself.
I am Jennifer and I work as a Yoga teacher based in Zurich. I have been teaching yoga for three and a half years and I’m currently doing an ayurvedic nutrition education. I also work as a pilates instructor for private clients and as a dance teacher teaching teenage girls modern dance. Next to that I work half-time as an assistant at a law firm in order to stay passionate about teaching. Having this balance gives me time to really enjoy teaching my passions while still having a stable income. I consider myself on a journey doing what I love, constantly learning and sharing what i learn about yoga and ayurveda. The journey is the goal, so to speak.
What inspired you to become a Yoga teacher?
I did not plan on becoming a yoga teacher. My fried dragged me to Thailand for a yoga teacher training because the person she was supposed to go with couldn’t go, so I went in her place. At that point I didn’t have a lot of experience in yoga, I had only gotten to know it during my professional dance education but I hadn’t really gone deep into it. I arrived in Thailand with the expectation of being on vacation but the first morning I woke up for our training and I realized that this was not a holiday! I went into the teacher training without much knowledge about yoga which I consider lucky, because I was able to stay open-minded and go into the training without any preconceptions. After the four weeks of my first intense yoga training I realized how healthy and focused I felt and I was hooked. When I got back home to Zurich I started teaching my friends and family and realized that I had found my passion.
I know that you started out as a dancer before you got into Yoga. Can you tell me more about that time in your life?
I finished high school at eighteen and then moved to London for a year where I studied modern dance at Laban, which was a very theoretical and choreography-based contemporary dance education program. Then I wanted to study psychology but I wasn’t quite ready to give up on dance so I decided to do another dance program, a three year education in Munich in contemporary, ballet and jazz dance.
Why was it a question to give up your dance career?
I felt a lot of outside pressure from family and friends wanting me to have a “proper” academic education to be secure and have a stable income. It was hard to pursue my dream of a professional dance career but I’m very happy I still did the dance education because it led me to where I am now. The last year in Munich was a bit toxic psychologically because the dance world is very competitive and there is a lot of pressure to become something that maybe you don’t feel you are. I needed a break from it and that’s how I found yoga. I had met my friend who took me to the teacher training in Thailand in my class in Munich. I don’t think that was a coincidence and I feel so much happier and like myself in the yoga world than I ever felt in the dance scene.
What do you love about teaching Yoga?
I love seeing people’s energy, face and aura or stress level change from when they sit on their mat at the beginning of the class to when they leave. Even an hour of yoga can make such a difference, many of my students seem more connected, content and calm when they walk out of the studio.
What have been the biggest challenges throughout your professional career so far?
Staying true to myself and trusting my instincts when it comes to what you want to do professionally but also who to trust and who to learn from. There are so many teachers with so many different styles and you have to figure out what’s right for you. It’s about trusting yourself and not listening too much to your monkey-mind. That’s a big challenge in general in life.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
I think this is a very hard question. I see myself doing what I am passionate about. At the moment, it is sharing yoga. And I hope it will be also sharing knowledge about ayurveda. In five years I see myself knowing more and sharing more about what I love, maybe even having my own business.
Take us through a day in your life.
Every day of the week is different for me. If I’m not at the office, it involves teaching two to four Yoga classes a day. I don’t eat breakfast and I usually teach lunchtime Yoga classes which means I will have a late lunch around 2 pm where I usually meet up with a friend or cook something at home. My day also involves talking on the phone with either my boyfriend, one of my girlfriends, my parents, I just love being in touch and staying connected with my loved ones. When I get home in the evening, I love my alone time. I try to take minimum of half an hour every day to be alone and reconnect, it’s super important for me. I try to meditate and let the day pass before going out and meeting friends again or I stay in and cook, read a book or watch a show before bedtime.
What does self-care mean to you?
Self-care to me means taking care of your physical body and taking care of your mental body. Actually, it means self-love. It goes from having no negative thoughts towards yourself to loving and taking care of your body. It means empowering yourself and becoming the best possible version of who you are. Self-care is self-love in terms of the body, the mind and the soul.
What does your morning routine look like?
There are two very important things that I do when I can, if I’m not traveling or pressed with time. The first thing I do when I wake up is scraping my tongue. Once you start with that you can’t go back, it’s impossible. Then I do the Neti pot cleanse which is an Ayurvedic practice that cleanses the nasal passages. I have a small Neti pot which I fill with warm water and salt to make a cleansing salt solution. The salt needs to be Himalayan mineral salt or Emser salt which you get from the drugstore. You pour water into one opening of the nose and it comes out on the other side and then you reverse it. It frees the breathing and prevents you from getting colds.
A new thing that I learned is also boiling my drinking water. I boil a litre of water on an open pot for ten to fifteen minutes which makes the water lighter so it can go deeper into your cells and carry the toxins out of your system. Boiling tap water makes the molecules lighter because our water here in Switzerland has a lot of scale. I drink this warm water throughout morning and noon until about 3 pm. When I’m out, I bring it with me in a thermos. You can also add spices like coriander, cumin or fennel seeds while boiling which helps to detox even more. If you do that for one week every day you should feel lighter.
I also try to add in at least five to ten minutes of meditation in the morning. It can even be standing. I ground my feet and come back to my breath. I have a few different meditation techniques but most of the time I just come back to myself by observing how I feel and focusing on my breathing. My favorite pranayama method is simply lengthening my exhale. Exhaling twice as long than I inhale has saved me many times from crying in public. It calms the nervous system immediately. Sometimes we get so worked up and we don’t realize that we do. And then it’s too late to catch it. This technique helps to calm down immediately and makes you think more clearly. Other meditation techniques I use are moving up and down the spine with awareness, moving light through the body or a chakra meditation. Sometimes just visualizing the room you’re in and coming into the present moment is enough. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. If I feel stiff, I loosen up the body with joint exercises, it doesn’t necessarily have to be yoga but if I have time, I will add in a practice.
What is your evening routine?
I love lighting candles and playing piano music from my Spotify playlist in the background. I either spend time on my phone or do some Yin exercises, cleaning up, wandering around and get relaxed before bedtime.
What kind of exercise do you do besides Yoga?
I do pilates. I just started Booster pilates which is a type of reformer pilates and I love it. It’s low impact but it’s still a workout. And you can decide on how hard you go. In yoga you don’t have a lot of pushing or pulling because you work with your own body so there is no resistance. Reformer pilates complements my yoga practice perfectly. I don’t do enough cardio though. Ideally I should be doing three to four times yoga a week and at least one time twenty minutes of cardio.
What is your approach to nutrition?
The two most important things for me are that the food is cooked and warm when you eat it. And to only eat when you are truly hungry. When you eat without being hungry, the body won’t metabolize the food well. You have to activate your metabolism or feel hungry naturally to activate the fire in your belly (or agni in ayurveda) in order to digest the food optimally and absorb all the nutrients. When you have to eat and you are not hungry, you can have some ginger tea before or have some specific herbs or spices to help the body to process the food. The body is much more intelligent than we think and we don’t trust it enough. You have to trust that your body will tell you what is good for you. That is also why I don’t believe in diets because everyone is different. That’s why I think ayurveda is so interesting because it targets individuality.
What is your clean beauty non-negotiable?
My almond shower gel from Weleda. I use it because it doesn’t dry out my skin like conventional shower gels. I also use Ayurdent ayurvedic toothpaste because I had cavity problems and that helped a lot. And them I use Neroli essential oil stick as a perfume.
How do you bring mindfulness into your day?
I try to catch myself whenever I can when I get upset, angry or frustrated. The reason I’m able to do that is because I meditate. Meditation every day for five minutes is a must for me. It doesn’t take a lot of time and everyone has five minutes. The easiest tool to bring mindfulness into your day to day life is breath. We often forget to breathe. As soon as we become conscious of our breath, we automatically become more focused, present, mindful and relaxed.
What are you grateful for?
Many things. I am grateful for believing in myself, having a fantastic boyfriend, family and friends. I am grateful for challenges because you only transform when you actually suffer a little bit. I am grateful for so many things and they are changing every day, but those are the main ones.
What brings you joy?
Meditation. I feel genuinely joyful after a great Yoga class or meditation. It’s when you get the feeling of wanting to bow down after namaste not because you worship something but because you feel so grateful and centered. This brings me a genuine feeling of deep joy which is not just happiness but goes much deeper.
Where do you find inspiration?
In really good talks and lectures. With friends, family, teachers, with interesting people in general. Like we are having right now. I also find inspiration in music. Music inspires me a lot when I create my classes or choreographies.
What little things do you do in your life in order to make a difference in the world in terms of sustainability?
Working on my self-awareness. It’s about the little things like not letting the water run and try not to use plastic bottles. I follow a lot of people on Instagram like for example @plasticfreemermaid who remind me to be mindful of my environment. But I think the biggest thing you can do is work on yourself and create awareness and a better you. There will only be change if everyone works on themselves, so I think by teaching yoga and helping people work on their consciousness I can help the world become a bit more loving, aware and sustainable too.
What was the last book you have read?
Schlampenyoga by Milena Moser
Favorite podcast to listen to?
I haven’t really gotten into podcasts yet.
Favorite app?
Code Check (tells you how clean a beauty product is)
Favorite clean beauty product?
Weleda almond oil shower gel
Favorite dish to cook? Salmon baked in the oven
Favorite indulgence?
Pasta
You can contact Jennifer and book private Yoga classes or Ayurvedic Consultations through her website jenniferleemann.com
