Five Years of Becoming- A Letter to the Yogi Institute Community

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Chapter One : The Dream Begins

Five years ago, on July 23, 2021, I received a letter from the IRS confirming that Yogi Institute officially existed.

Looking back, that letter wasn't really the beginning.

It was simply the moment a dream became official.

The truth is, Yogi Institute began years earlier on a yoga mat.

In 2017, I enrolled in my first yoga teacher training.

Not because I wanted to teach.

Not because I imagined opening a yoga school.

I enrolled because I had fallen completely in love with the way yoga made me feel.

Not physically.

Emotionally.

I've always experienced the world deeply. Being highly empathetic has always been one of my greatest gifts, but for much of my life it also felt like one of my greatest challenges. I carried emotions that weren't always mine. I felt deeply, cared deeply, and sometimes became overwhelmed by the weight of it all.

Then yoga quietly entered my life.

As my practice became daily, something began to shift.

I felt lighter. More grounded. More present.

I couldn't explain why.

Not then.

That understanding would come years later through hundreds of hours of study, thousands of hours of practice, and eventually thousands of hours spent teaching.

But even before I understood how yoga was changing me, I knew something extraordinary was happening.

For the first time in a long time...

I felt like myself.

That feeling changed the course of my life.

It also planted a question that would quietly grow over the next several years.

Could other people experience this too?

Not my experience.

Their own.

Could yoga become the doorway through which people rediscovered themselves?

Could it become a lifelong practice of self-study rather than simply learning postures?

Could I create a space where people felt safe enough to grow?

Those questions stayed with me long before Yogi Institute had a name.

Looking back now, I realize they weren't business questions at all.

They were the first whispers of a calling.

Chapter Two : When the World Changed

In 2020, the world changed. Like so many yoga teachers, I watched studios close almost overnight.

At the time, I was living in Texas.

The studio where I taught closed for about ten weeks before quickly reopening. The medical clinic where I worked continued operating with only minor adjustments.

Meanwhile, my family back home in Alberta was living an entirely different reality.

Studios and gyms opened.

Then closed.

Then reopened.

Then closed again.

Friends who owned wellness businesses were doing everything they could just to stay afloat while the people who needed yoga most often had the least access to it.

One conversation has stayed with me ever since.

In the spring of 2021, I called a close friend who owned a gym in my hometown.

Texas had been functioning relatively normally again for almost a year.

He was still navigating restrictions a year and a half later.

When I hung up the phone, one thought wouldn't leave me.

People don't stop needing yoga because studios close.

If anything... They need it even more.

Years of study had taught me how profoundly yoga supports the nervous, respiratory, immune, musculoskeletal systems and our emotional wellbeing.

I knew people needed these practices.

Not eventually.

Now.

That was the moment something shifted.

If people couldn't always get to yoga...

Maybe yoga needed to become easier to reach.

That simple thought became Yogi Institute.

Not because I wanted to build an online business.

Because I wanted to remove barriers between people and practices that had changed my own life.

Chapter Three : Showing Up Anyway

When Yogi Institute officially launched, I began teaching livestream yoga classes every weekday morning at 7:00 a.m.

I didn't have a polished studio.

I didn't have thousands of followers.

I certainly didn't know where it would lead.

What I did have was a webcam, a yoga mat, and a deep belief that someone, somewhere, might need this practice today.

So I showed up.

Morning after morning.

Class after class.

Long before online yoga became comfortable for me, it became consistent.

At first, I imagined I was creating classes for other people.

Looking back, I realize those mornings were shaping me just as much.

They became my training ground.

The place where I learned to teach different styles.

To trust my voice.

To experiment.

To grow.

One of my favorite reminders has always been:

"Use what you have, start where you are."

That's exactly what I was doing.

If I couldn't find opportunities to become the teacher I hoped to be...

I would create them.

Over the next several years, Yogi Institute moved with me from apartment to apartment.

If you scroll through our class library today, you'll notice something funny.

The background changes.

Different walls.

Different windows.

Different homes.

Five different places.

Life changed.

Addresses changed.

But one thing never did.

Every morning I got on my mat.

Looking back now, I smile because I realize something I didn't understand then.

Home was never the building.

Wherever I was practicing.

Wherever I was teaching.

Wherever people gathered to breathe together...

I was home.

One of the things I loved most about teaching online was knowing that somewhere, someone I'd never meet in person could roll out their mat and know they weren't practicing alone.

The world slowly reopened.

Studios filled again.

But the morning classes continued.

Because this had become so much more than a response to a pandemic.

It had become a way of life.

Chapter Four : The Courage to Begin

In January 2022, three incredible people trusted a brand-new school with one of the most meaningful journeys of their lives.

They enrolled in Yogi Institute's very first 200-hour teacher training.

When I think back to those early days, I don't remember curriculum. I don't remember schedules.

I remember faces.

Conversations.

Laughter over snacks.

Stories shared about families.

Connection.

Moments of self-doubt that slowly transformed into confidence.

Every few weeks, I'd surprise my students with little gifts. Not because it was expected.

Simply because I couldn't quite believe they had chosen me.

They could have waited. They could have joined a larger school.

Instead...

They chose to begin.

That mattered to me more than they'll probably ever know.

The first year, seven people trusted Yogi Institute with their teacher training. The following year, six more joined us.

Some of those trainings had just one student.

Some had three.

We never cancelled. We never postponed because the class was "too small."

We simply showed up. Every single time.

Because someone had answered a call toward growth.

And I never wanted them to feel like they weren't enough to begin.

Looking back, I don't see small cohorts.

I see courageous people who chose themselves.

People who were willing to become students again.

To ask difficult questions.

To practice with humility.

To discover not only what kind of teacher they wanted to become...

But what kind of human being they wanted to become.

That has always been the heart of Yogi Institute.

Not filling trainings.

Helping people answer the quiet call toward growth when it appears.

Those early students know who they are.

Although I haven't mentioned them by name, I hope they recognize themselves in these words.

Thank you for believing in a vision that was still finding its feet. Thank you for growing alongside me.

And thank you for reminding me, from the very beginning, that meaningful transformation has never depended on the size of a room.

It has always depended on the willingness of the people inside it to show up.

Chapter Five : Watching the Ripples

As Yogi Institute continued to grow, something remarkable began to happen.

The trainings were never simply about learning how to teach yoga.

They became spaces where people remembered who they were.

I watched students find the courage to leave unhealthy relationships.

I watched others rebuild their lives after addiction.

I witnessed people move through grief with more compassion for themselves.

I watched students fall in love.

Become parents.

Become more patient parents.

Start businesses.

Open yoga studios.

Create their own teacher training programs.

Lead retreats.

Support their coworkers.

Strengthen their marriages.

Show up differently in their communities.

Again and again, I realized something that humbled me.

Yoga wasn't changing people's lives because they learned another posture.

It was changing lives because people were learning to meet themselves differently.

Looking back now, I don't think we'll ever truly understand the ripple effect this community has created.

One person's healing changes a family.

One teacher supports hundreds of students.

One courageous decision quietly influences generations.

Those ripples continue long after the class has ended.

There is something I've never shared publicly that suddenly feels important.

When I was nineteen years old, I got a tattoo on my back, maybe you have gotten a glimpse and wondered.

It's not a tattoo I would choose today.

But I've always loved what it represents.

It's light creating ripples across water.

Even then, long before yoga entered my life, I somehow knew that I wanted my life to create positive ripples in the world.

Today I smile because I realize something.

Those ripples were never mine to create alone.

They belong to every student who has practiced beside me.

Every teacher who has gone on to support others.

Every family that has experienced healing because someone chose to begin.

Yogi Institute has never been about one teacher.

It has always been about a community creating ripples together.

Chapter Six : Leaving Home to Expand Home

In 2025, something happened that I didn’t expect but knew was a possibility.

It became clear that I needed to leave the United States and decided to return home to Canada.

Professionally, it made sense.

Personally...

It broke my heart.

I wasn't simply leaving a country.

I was leaving people I loved.

Students.

Studios.

Friends.

A community that had become part of my everyday life.

For a long time, I thought what I missed most was teaching in person.

Then, recently, something happened that helped me understand what I was truly grieving.

I was lying in Savasana at the end of class.

The teacher gently placed a cold towel into my hand.

I rested it across my forehead (as WE do).

Without warning, tears began to fall.

In that quiet moment, I wasn't thinking about myself. I was thinking about every student I had ever placed a cold towel on over the years. Thousands of them. One by one.

As I quietly placed each towel across their forehead, I found myself repeating the same words silently in my mind.

I see you.

It had never really been about the towel. It was about acknowledging the human being in front of me. Thanking them for showing up. For doing the “work”. For choosing themselves, even if only for an hour.

Whether we practiced together in a studio...

In a park...

In my living room...

Or online...

That moment always meant the same thing.

I see you.

When I left Texas, I thought I was grieving a place.

What I was really grieving were those moments.

Because there is no greater privilege than witnessing another human being becoming more fully themselves.

Chapter Seven: Beyond Place and Time

As difficult as that transition was, it also revealed something beautiful.

The mission had never depended on geography.

It simply needed room to grow.

Since returning to Canada, Yogi Institute has expanded in ways I never imagined when I first turned on that little camera for a 7:00 a.m. livestream 5 years ago.

The Yogi Institute App launched, creating one place where students can practice, learn, and stay connected wherever they live.

The Yogi Institute Mentor GPT launched, making educational support available around the clock, no matter the time zone.

Students continue joining us from new provinces, states, and countries.

Sometimes I pause and smile.

The very thing that once felt isolating has become one of Yogi Institute's greatest strengths.

This community is no longer limited by a physical studio.

It lives in living rooms.

Bedrooms.

Backyards.

Home studios.

Hotel rooms.

Airport terminals.

And wherever someone chooses to practice.

The mission that began because I wanted people to have access to yoga has become something much larger.

Today, people have access not only to classes, but to mentorship, community, continuing education, and support regardless of where they call home.

Looking back, I realize I wasn't leaving my community.

I was learning that community could exist beyond place.

Beyond borders.

Even beyond time.

That realization has changed me.

Yogi Institute is no longer defined by where I teach.

It's defined by how we choose to show up for one another.

Chapter Eight : Looking Forward

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As I celebrate these first five years, I find myself asking the same question I'll be asking during our Connection Sessions.

What's next?

Not just for Yogi Institute.

For me.

For you.

For all of us.

One of the greatest gifts yoga has given me is the understanding that growth is never really finished.

Every ending quietly becomes another beginning.

Every practice invites us to know ourselves a little more deeply.

Every season asks something new of us.

As I look toward the next five years, I don't dream about building the biggest yoga school.

I dream about expanding a community where people feel seen.

Where questions are welcomed.

Where mentorship is valued.

Where technology expands connection rather than replacing it.

Where people from anywhere in the world can find support, education, and belonging.

Most of all...

I hope Yogi Institute continues to be a place that reminds people of something they may have forgotten.

That everything they are searching for has always begun within.

Over the past few weeks, while reflecting on these first five years, I finally found the words for what I believe has always been at the heart of this community.

Become Your Safe Space.

Not because life will always feel easy.

But because when we learn to meet ourselves with unconditional compassion, curiosity, courage, and honesty, we carry that sense of safety with us wherever life leads.

If our paths have crossed over these past five years—whether through a livestream class, a teacher training, a retreat, a studio, the app, or even a single conversation—thank you.

You have become part of this story.

And I hope you'll continue writing the next chapter with us.

To celebrate these first five years, I'd love to reconnect.

I've opened complimentary Connection Sessions for anyone who has been part of this journey.

No agenda.

No expectations.

Just an opportunity to catch up, celebrate where life has taken you, and explore what you're being called toward next.

Because if these five years have taught me anything...

It's that the greatest gift of Yogi Institute has never been the classes.

Or the certifications.

Or the milestones.

It has always been the people.

Thank you for trusting me.

Thank you for allowing me to witness your journey.

Thank you for creating ripples that extend far beyond anything we'll ever fully see.

And thank you...

for becoming.

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With so much love and gratitude,

Jill Enticknap
Founder, Yogi Institute

The business may have begun with me. The story belongs to all of us.