Hi, I’m Jill.

For me, yoga has always been a way of remembering who I am beneath the expectations, habits, and experiences that shape us.

That understanding influences every class I teach, every training I create, and every conversation I have with students. I love watching someone understand an anatomy concept, find their teaching voice, or lead a class with new confidence. I also value the quieter discoveries: trusting themselves, asking for what they need, and feeling more comfortable being who they are.

Over the years, I’ve immersed myself in yoga, wellness modalities, functional nutrition, mindfulness, business development, and personal growth. I remain curious about how we move, how we learn, and how we build lives that feel meaningful to us.

That curiosity has shaped both sides of my teaching: the practical understanding of the body and the personal experience of being human.

I specialize in anatomy, alignment, and practical teaching formulas because I want students to understand what they’re doing and why. I want you to feel confident adapting a posture, building a sequence, and teaching the body in front of you. Alongside those skills, I want you to have room to discover your own perspective and voice.

When you study with Yogi Institute, we get to know each other. I’m the person answering your emails, reviewing your work, and meeting you at Tea Times and office hours. Your questions are welcome, including the ones you think you should already know the answer to.

Whether we meet through a class, teacher training, Compass, a retreat, or a conversation, my hope is that you leave with greater understanding, confidence, and connection to yourself.

I’m honoured that you’re here, and I look forward to learning about you, too.

Jill’s Becoming: A Personal Journey to the Self

If you’ve found your way here, perhaps you’re curious about the experiences behind my teaching.

My education has given me knowledge and tools I use every day. My life has given me questions I continue to explore:

• Who am I beneath my conditioning?

• Why do I react the way I do?

• How do I heal?

• How do I love more fully?

• What does it mean to live authentically?

Those questions have guided me for decades.

Where My Curiosity Began

When I was around ten years old, my mom introduced me to the work of Anthony Robbins. Looking back, I can see how those early experiences encouraged me to become curious about myself and the choices available to me.

By eighteen, I had enrolled in my first transformational personal development program. It opened a door to self-exploration that I’ve continued walking through ever since.

I began to recognize how much there was to understand about my thoughts, beliefs, relationships, and responses to life. I wanted to know what shaped me—and what I could choose for myself.

That curiosity has never left me.

Exploring Different Paths

Over the years, I’ve explored many approaches to self-discovery. I’ve attended Vipassana silent meditation retreats, studied Reiki, explored the Emotion Code, participated in ayahuasca ceremonies, and attended seminars with Abraham Hicks and Anthony Robbins.

I’ve also learned through books, courses, conversations, relationships, and the ordinary experiences that ask us to look at ourselves honestly.

These are parts of my personal story. They’ve given me different perspectives to consider and helped me understand how individual the search for meaning can be.

They’ve also shaped my respect for different beliefs. I don’t expect another person’s path to look like mine. I value the opportunity to listen, remain curious, and recognize connection across our differences.

Finding Yoga

Yoga entered my life in 2010 during a season of heartbreak. I came to the mat looking for a way to feel better and reconnect with myself. Over time, the physical practice became a steady place to notice what was happening within me.

I became more aware of my thoughts, emotions, patterns, and fears. I also began recognizing my strengths.

Some days, practice felt energizing. Other days, it gave me space to be with something difficult. Returning to the mat helped me develop patience and a more compassionate relationship with myself.

Through many different seasons of life, yoga remained a practice I could return to.

Why I Trust the Physical Practice

As I began teaching, I watched students experience their own changes through movement, breath, and consistency.

People discovered strength, confidence, awareness, and possibilities they hadn’t expected. Those experiences could emerge without me explaining what they should feel or believe.

That continues to influence how I teach.

I believe in guiding the physical practice with knowledge and care, then allowing students space for their own experience. Anatomy, alignment, and thoughtful adaptations help me make that practice more accessible to different bodies.

My approach is spiritually rooted and open to all religions and belief systems, including those who follow none. I believe we can be connected while holding different understandings of the world.

You’re welcome to bring your beliefs, your questions, and your own meaning to the mat.

From Personal Practice to Teaching

As my practice deepened, so did my desire to share it.

Teaching brought together things I care deeply about: understanding the body, communicating clearly, and connecting with people.

I became interested in helping students understand how a practice works for them. Where could a prop offer support? How might a change in positioning affect their experience? What could help an aspiring teacher understand a sequence well enough to adapt it?

Those questions led me further into anatomy, alignment, and teaching methodology.

They also reinforced the importance of conversation. A student’s question often reveals exactly where learning needs to happen. Taking time to explore it together can help an idea become something they understand and can use.

How Yogi Institute Began

Yogi Institute began with a belief that continues to guide me: meaningful yoga education should be accessible, and every student deserves personal support.

In July 2021, I registered Yogi Institute LLC in Texas. That December, the school was approved as a Registered Yoga School at the 200-hour level through Yoga Alliance. In January 2022, I welcomed three brave students into our first hybrid teacher training, bringing together in-person and online learning.

The school started in a town of fewer than 10,000 people, about 45 minutes outside the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. At the time, there wasn’t another yoga teacher training school in town or the nearby communities.

During that first year, I offered four 200-hour trainings and celebrated seven graduates. Small groups meant time to know each student, understand their questions, and support their development. The number enrolled mattered less to me than their desire to learn and share the practice.

Making Room for Yoga in My Community

Building a yoga school in a predominantly Christian, conservative community came with challenges. Yoga was unfamiliar to many people, and I sometimes encountered judgment about my work. I was even called a “devil worshipper” because I taught yoga.

Those experiences strengthened my commitment to helping people feel comfortable exploring the practice without asking them to change their beliefs.

In the studio, I emphasized physical movement, breath, and awareness of the connection between the body, thoughts, and emotions. Students could experience the practice for themselves and discover what it meant to them.

That approach remains central to Yogi Institute today. My teaching is spiritually inclusive, grounded in physical practice, and welcoming of all religions and belief systems.

Growing a School, One Student at a Time

In 2023, I registered Yogi Institute at the RYS 300 level and celebrated our first three advanced training graduates. I also made Yoga 200 available entirely online while continuing to offer annual in-person and hybrid trainings.

By 2024, the Yoga 300 curriculum was fully available online as well. My focus was still largely on building our local community, but the school was becoming accessible to students farther away.

Between 2022 and 2025, 21 students graduated locally from Yoga 200. Two went on to open studios in neighboring small towns, while others began teaching throughout the community. From 2023 through 2025, 10 students completed Yoga 300, with others continuing their studies.

I’m proud of those numbers because I know the people behind them. I’ve watched their confidence grow and seen them create opportunities for others to experience yoga.

A Difficult Move and a New Direction

In December 2025, immigration instability forced me to leave the United States and the community I had worked to build. I returned to my home country of Canada.

Leaving was difficult. I missed the students, relationships, and everyday connections that had shaped the school. But the online programs gave me a way to continue supporting students and carry Yogi Institute into a new chapter.

I turned my focus toward developing the online school and reaching students internationally.

In 2026, 15 students from four countries enrolled in Yoga 200 or Yoga 300, with additional students joining continuing education programs. I’ve loved getting to know people in different places and supporting the goals, questions, and experiences they bring.

I still miss having a local community to pour into, and I’m exploring opportunities to teach in a local studio again. Alongside that, I remain committed to growing Yogi Institute online and making its education available across borders.

Why This Work Is Personal

Yogi Institute has grown through small classes, persistence, close relationships, and a willingness to adapt. Through every change, my commitment to students has remained.

I want to make yoga education affordable while giving students access to the person teaching them. I want them to understand anatomy and alignment, develop practical teaching skills, and feel comfortable asking questions.

My hope is that every graduate becomes a knowledgeable, confident, and kind instructor who brings thoughtful yoga teaching into their own community.

This has become my life’s work. It’s why I care deeply about the education I offer, why I make time for my students, and why their connection to Yogi Institute continues beyond graduation.

What Learning With Me Looks Like

You’ll have opportunities to bring your questions to one-to-one Tea Times, weekly office hours, and monthly cohort sessions. I personally review your required work and answer your emails.

We might discuss how to adapt a posture, refine a sequence, prepare for a teaching evaluation, or think through your next step.

My role is to share what I know, offer useful feedback, and help you develop your own judgment. I want you to understand your teaching choices and feel increasingly confident making them.

Your welcome continues after graduation. Tea Times and weekly office hours remain available as your experience grows and new questions arise.

Becoming Your Own Safe Space

“Become your own safe space” is personal to me. It describes the relationship I continue building with myself: learning to listen, respond with compassion, recognize my needs, and trust that I can keep growing. That relationship has developed through practice and experience. It continues to evolve.

Today, whether you join me for a class, a training, a retreat, or a conversation through Compass, I hope our time together helps you feel more connected to yourself.

I hope you gain knowledge you can use, support you feel comfortable reaching for, and confidence in what you have to offer.

I look forward to getting to know you.

With warmth,
Jill Enticknap
Founder & Lead Educator, Yogi Institute